Booking through USA site

[Lozzi]

Looking for some guidance please.

If I book our 2021 holiday through the Disney site, we make a considerable saving. Is their any downside to doing this ?

[Dr.JumbaJookiba]

None, apart from being at the mercy of currency rate fluctuations. We have booked over 30 stays since 2004 on the US booking system without issue - it's the only way of accessing AP rates when we run out of DVC points.

[sky13]

I'm not in the UK... but have booked multiple WDW stays (mostly room-only) through the WDW USA website. No issues at all, and the room-only bookings have extremely generous change/cancellation policies.

Just a note that WDW USA tends to release their offers a lot closer to the date than the UK site... but you can always just book (provided change/cancellation policies are OK) and then change the booking when offers get released.

This is all pre-COVID though and I am not sure if things have changed greatly in the past few months...

[Lozzi]

Thanks, we are going at Easter and we're going to book via DVC rentals however I'm nervous with the uncertainty. This way at least we know we have a cancellation option.

[YorkshireT]

No downside just need to use a VPN nowadays. I’d booked Caribbean Beach on a DVC deal for Xmas (as well as Dolphin as we were in two minds) and I’ve just cancelled. No issues cancelling, once it’s on MDE it behaves just like a UK booking.

[diby5]

Originally Posted by sky13

Just a note that WDW USA tends to release their offers a lot closer to the date than the UK site... but you can always just book (provided change/cancellation policies are OK) and then change the booking when offers get released.

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I would perhaps suggest using a US travel agent to do the booking for you, they don't charge anything earning their money through commission from Disney and the good ones will proactively change your bookings based on the above in order to save you money where they can.

[Lozzi]

Originally Posted by YorkshireT

No downside just need to use a VPN nowadays. I’d booked Caribbean Beach on a DVC deal for Xmas (as well as Dolphin as we were in two minds) and I’ve just cancelled. No issues cancelling, once it’s on MDE it behaves just like a UK booking.

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Excuse my ignorance, what's a DVC deal ?

[sky13]

Originally Posted by diby5

I would perhaps suggest using a US travel agent to do the booking for you, they don't charge anything earning their money through commission from Disney and the good ones will proactively change your bookings based on the above in order to save you money where they can.

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Thanks for the suggestion but from my previous experiences I think it is easier for me to book directly with WDW, especially for last minute changes/cancellations!

For example - a few years ago I was caught up in hurricane Irma and had to at the last minute change my flights and hotel bookings (cutting short my stay at Pop). Because I had booked directly with Disney, it was extremely easy for me to just pop down to the front desk and change things, whereas if I had used a travel agent it would have added an extra layer of complexity to things (unless I'm mistaken, I would have had to find some way to contact the travel agent, wait for them to contact Disney, wait for their reply, and so forth).

Also, one year I got an annual pass and immediately found a better offer for my booked hotel rooms with the prevailing AP discount and changed it with Disney (this was while I was already in Orlando) - although the travel agents are very good I don't think they would have picked up on this sort of situation!

I think travel agents may be useful for certain types of people but probably not as useful for me personally as I much prefer to book directly with the provider!

[YorkshireT]

Originally Posted by Lozzi

Excuse my ignorance, what's a DVC deal ?

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I’m a DVC owner and they had cheap room rates, or in fact it may have been an annual pass deal, can’t remember which one it was now, but I basically got 40% off.

[Ayefour]

Just go with the best deal imo. The fact there is no free dining really removes the advantage of booking through Disney UK.