Booking Disney Resort from 3rd Party

Hello,

Right now if I book through a 3rd party I can save over $125 per room for our 7 night stay and I need 3 rooms (so savings would be near $375). Wondering if it is worth it, or if I could miss out on potential future advantages (such as if Disney offers a free dining package). Note that I already have park tickets from my cancelled March 15, 2020 trip. For that trip I had planed to stay off property. My dates for our future trip is for our fall break which starts October 3, 2020.

Thank you in advance,
Scott

I would generally recommend caution for booking via third party, even the reputable ones, as I have heard of struggles around the reservation itself and have even heard of people arriving to find no room available. I don’t know the particulars around any of that, to be transparent.

I think use of caution would be especially important during uncertain times. I feel like right now it is safest to go direct to the source. Ask yourself if the savings is worth the potential loss if something goes awry. For me it almost never is.

2 Likes

Almost every free dining package requires park tickets in the package. Historically, it’s been a minimum of 3 day park hopper for each person. Post Covid 19, though, who knows what it could entail. Heck, they may not have much in the way of discounts as a crowd controlling measure… It’s really up in the air right now in that sense.
Now if Disney offers a room only discount, then yes, you’d miss out on that unless your third party booking engine allows for free cancellation. Undercover Tourist is one that does.
ETA: UT is one of the third party booking sites that allows you to connect your reservation in MDE, so less likelyhood of arriving to find no room - you’ll know right away if WDW has your reservation. (And no, I don’t have any connection to them.)

1 Like

Thank you for the information. The 3rd party company I am looking it is UT.

1 Like

I actually cancelled my reservation for December direct through wdw to rebook with UT, who offered 35% off the room if you book a rental car for bookings through 12/31.
I have no need for the car, but for a one day throwaway car rental at $45, I saved $1000 total over my WDW reservation. Within minutes of paying for it, I was able to link it in MDE. I think UT books rooms like a TA, so it’s not exactly like a third party like Expedia or Priceline.
The UT reservation is free cancellation until 7 days prior. So if WDW offered you something better, you could cancel and rebook through WDW.

1 Like

This 35% is great. I just saw it added to my UT “cart” as well.
Question: How is UT for modifying reservations? There is a good chance we might modify our 7 nights to 6 or 8 nights. Thanks!

That I don’t know much about, because this is my first time booking rooms with them.
I will say though that I looked them up on various wdw boards (including this one) and they seem to be very good about refunds. Their site says modifications can be done, but sometimes modifying may require a cancel and rebook, subject to availability, and may incur fees. I personally suspect that it would be easier to shorten your trip than lengthen it.

1 Like

I have had a very great experience with UT. I bought tix and room from there last year for April 2020 trip that did not happen. Even during all of this craziness, they were able to answer my questions and refund my room via a email. I asked them if they would honor the free dining Disney was offering to those that had rescheduled. They said I would have to call Disney. Disney was helpful and said that I could, if I also got my tickets refunded from them and then purchased everything directly from Disney. After crunching the number, it STILL was not worth the free dining! UT prices were so good it didn’t make sense to go for the free dining.

Anyway, their customer service via email has been exceptional on other matters, as well. I’m very happy with them!

2 Likes

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for their input! Take care!

1 Like