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You may think your only choice when booking a Disney vacation is a package or a room-only reservation, but there’s one very handy option a lot of guests don’t know about: The base package. A base package is different from a regular Disney package in that you don’t add dining or tickets. You’re probably saying to yourself “Duh, Chris, that’s a room-only reservation.” Well, it is. And those work great as long as the deposit is only a couple hundred dollars, but if you’re booking a deluxe room or villa, your deposit can be hundreds of dollars. No one wants to pay that months before you travel, right? This is where the base package comes in.
A base package is essentially a fiction: You book a room-only reservation with the intent, but not the obligation, of adding tickets and dining at a later point. This isn’t cheating Disney out of the full deposit; they’re aware that guests do this. You’ll pay a $200 deposit to secure this package, the same as a regular package. Like any Disney package, you pay the final amount in full at the 45-day mark. One nice advantage of the base package is that unlike a room-only reservation, if you have to cancel after the grace period*, you’re only out your $200 deposit rather than the cost of one night’s stay.
Next time you book a room-only reservation, consider this option. It can save you a hefty down payment.
*For Disney packages, you’ll receive a full refund if you cancel 45-days prior to travel. For room-only reservations, it’s 5-days prior to travel.
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