Room-only vs Pkg - undecided on DDP for tent camping

[elaine amj]

Hi everyone,

I am dreaming of our first tent camping trip to the Fort for Christmas 2019. It's a long way away and a lot of things are up in the air. We will most likely want to add DDP to our reservation (but not 100% sure as an annual pass & TIW may be in our future). Would it be best to set up our reservation right now as a room-only or a ticketless package? I know they are run by separate departments so worried about converting from one to the other.

My instinct is to go with room-only and then later get them to convert it to a ticketless package so we can add DDP. Will they be able to do it without losing my very precious Christmas reservation??!!

I have already snagged 2 reservations - one for Dec 21-26 and another for Dec 27 (CRAZY that I couldn't just modify the first to add the other!). I am going to be stalking the website to try to get a tent site for the week after Christmas. Any other tips for stalking such an elusive reservation?

My plan is for this to be a chilled-out 2 week trip with our 2 teens and my mom. But my DH is rather reluctant to camp at Disney (we're flying with 2 free checked bags each) - he much prefers the sound of a real bed and a bathroom. Still, I am well on my way to convincing him if we add DDP so we won't have to worry about lugging cooking supplies. We do love our tent camping trips (usually in rustic state parks) and I've been lurking here on and off for years listening to all of you rave about the Fort and have been dreaming about camping there over Christmas.

SIDE NOTE: Why oh why is it soooo expensive to camp at the Fort?! $130/night for a patch of dirt plus I will likely rent a golf cart (my teens would LOVE it) so likely an extra $500+ to rent from an offsite place. Almost $200/night to camp - ouch!

 

[2goofycampers]

We have booked room only and added the package later many times. Be sure to ask a WDW reservationist if anything has changed. As for booking just keep calling/online searching for your days. If you get the right person they should know how to merge your 2 reservations into one if they are the same type of site. On the DDP, research the cost verses what you would order. Also reservations will be hard to come by and meals will take a while that time of year. Lately we come out better using the Disney rewards Visa for a discount or buying gift cards from Sam's club and paying out of pocket. About the $, WDW has really raised the prices on their real estate.

 

[North of Mouse]

SIDE NOTE: Why oh why is it soooo expensive to camp at the Fort?! $130/night for a patch of dirt plus I will likely rent a golf cart (my teens would LOVE it) so likely an extra $500+ to rent from an offsite place. Almost $200/night to camp - ouch!

Location, Location, Location!!

And, because they can get it, with people waiting in line!

 

[PaHunter]

Christmas is one of the most expensive times to camp there, and well, as you can see trying to get a reservation, many a person are willing to pay it.

We have done the DDP when it was just my DW and I. We were park ninja's that trip and did not want to have to come back to the campground for lunch or dinner. We still had a few snack credits at the end of the week, we bought snacks for the trip home. When we have done the trip with our nephew 9yrs old at the time, DDP was not cost effective. At that age they can not go from sun up until midnight. So we needed to break up the day.

 

[rideswithchrist]

We are not doing the DDP because it is a waste of money for us.
BUT- we are also not going to be cooking (per my hubby who says yes we are camping but we are at Disney and that's that)
We will have breakfast items and sandwich stuff and eat in the parks like we did last time.
We will only have the popup fridge, which is small anyway so that's about all we can fit and he does not want to have raw meats around.

 

[mickeyfan0805]

I'd get your dates locked in as soon as you are able and worry about the package later. They can make the switch for you at that time.

As for DDP - you have to make your own call on that. We've never found it even close to worth it for us, but it depends a lot on your eating and spending habits.

 

[Sleepy425]

For our Fort trip, we split it into two reservations so we can have the deluxe dining plan for a couple days (saving lots of $$$ this way), then a site only reservation the rest of the time. You may want to consider doing it that way and doing all of the more expensive meals on the days with the plan.

 

[elaine amj]

@Sleepy425 That's a great idea -I've had the thought at the back of my mind and I might do it. I've done deluxe before with a 2 night reservation. Right now I will continue plugging away at getting reservations and later decide what I want to link or not. Thanks!

I have been reflecting on what everyone said and will book as room-only for now.

I've been working on a rough plan for luggage and it looks completely doable since we will have an allowance of 10 checked bags between the 5 of us. My thoughts now are for a 17/18 night stay with 6 park days and 2 Sea World days (free tix with Air Miles) sprinkled in between chilling at the campsite and enjoying the Disney area in general.

I have to say - my eyes bugged out a bit when I saw how expensive adding DDP would be. Been a bit spoilt with free dining. Really - eating out for nearly 3 weeks will kill our travel budget. So DH has agreed to only 3-4 special meals out and primarily cooking at the campsite the rest of the time. We already have a cruise planned next year so this will have to be a budget trip - or as cheap as I can get despite spending over $2k on a patch of dirt!!

I think overall we will be looking at about $4-5k (incl groceries and a few meals out for 5 ppl but not including tickets) to be able to camp at the Fort for 2.5 weeks. Sigh - and I thought $5k for 2 weeks at Saratoga Springs with tickets and free DDP was pricey (our trip last summer - only 4ppl though).

I REALLY want to camp at the Fort over Christmas though!