Disney’s Magic Your Way Package

The main Walt Disney World Vacation Package is called Magic Your Way. Funny, that’s what the tickets are called too. It includes a room reservation and Magic Your Way park tickets. The Disney Dining Plan, airfare, Magical Express, and other items can be added as options to the Magic Your Way package.

The Magic Your Way package system lets you pick all the elements of a vacation that work best for you and put them all together in one booking. Here are the components of a Walt Disney World Vacation Package:

Tickets

Every Magic Your Way Disney World vacation package starts with Disney’s primary ticket media, the Magic Your Way ticket. You can choose how many days of park tickets you want, and whether you want to add on the Park Hopper or Park Hopper Plus options.

Dining

If you want to add the Disney Dining Plan to your reservation, you must have Magic Your Way tickets and a room reservation. The Disney Dining plan is only available for those guests staying in Disney hotels (or Disney Vacation Club properties at WDW) on Magic Your Way tickets (or annual passes).

Magical Extras

Disney adds some cute extras to the Magic Your Way package. They call them “Magical Extras”. These little gems can save you money on some of the best things that Disney has outside the parks that you might not normally experience. Some of these “extras” are really fun.

Here’s a list of the current “Magical Extras”:

• ESPN Wide World of Sports entry vouchers
• Free mini-golf
• Recreation discounts on Marina rentals and Bowling
• Dining discounts at House of Blues and Joffrey’s
• Shopping discounts at Something Silver, Arribas Brothers, Curl, Pop Gallery, and Shore.

Airfare

Believe it or not, as part of your Disney World vacation package you can let Disney book your airline tickets. Yes, you can … maybe … then again … Years ago, getting airline tickets was easy. You called up your local travel agent, they’d put together an itinerary, call back and if it was OK, you’d pay for it. Now the airlines want their money right now. No time to discuss options. Book now or forever lose those great flight times. Yep, that’s progress.

Yes, you can “go Greyhound and leave the driving to us”, but it’s hard, and Disney doesn’t always come up with the best options when it comes to times. I’ve got to say, their prices are competitive when you find the times you want.

MagicBand+

When you arrive at your Disney hotel and check-in, you will be given your MagicBands (or if you booked early enough and live in the USA you’ll receive these in the mail before your trip. A MagicBand is a colorful, waterproof, RFID bracelet that you wear during your stay at WDW. It acts as your room key, park ticket, dining plan, charge card, and FastPass+ entry. (It is pretty impressive.)

Your MagicBand contains all the Disney-purchased options for your trip. (Except specially ticketed events and tours.) It will not only open your room, it’s your park ticket. You’ll use it to enter the FastPass+ line at attractions. It will sync up all your PhotoPass photos to your account. If you get the Disney Dining Plan, it will keep track of your meals. When you check in to the hotel you will be asked if you want to put charge privileges on your card. They’ll even ask if you want to put it on for the kids.

Other Disney Vacation Packages

From time to time Disney offers special promotions that bundle several of these options together and offer them at a discounted price. Play Stay and Dine packages are common and include your room, tickets, and the Disney Dining Plan for a slightly lower cost than normal. Free Dining is a popular promotion offered on occasion that gives you the Disney Dining Plan for free with a full-price room and ticket package. Sometimes packages come with MagicBands in a limited edition design. And this Christmas, there was even a holiday package with all sorts of festive extra inclusions.

When you go to book a package with Walt Disney World, be sure to investigate all of the packages and special offers currently available to make sure you get the best deal on your trip.

Creating Your Own Disney World Travel Packages

Disney has made it very easy to create your own travel packages. Too easy.

Disney World Tickets

There are some places where you can find discount Disney World tickets. Some are legitimate, some aren’t. Be very careful when buying Disney World tickets off the internet. Big discounts on Disney World tickets don’t happen. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Dad’s Cheap Disney World Tickets page

Disney World Hotels

Once you have tickets, you’ll need a hotel. Disney also has what are called room-only packages. These Disney World travel packages allow you to call up and just reserve a room. This is great if you got your tickets from The Official Ticket Center or have an Annual Pass. Disney even runs specials where you get a discount on just a room.

Disney Area Hotels

I don’t know why (yes, I do, but I just don’t want to talk about it), but some people just don’t want to stay in one of the Disney Resort Hotels. There are several hotels on the Disney World property that aren’t owned by Disney. These hotels range from the Waldorf Astoria to the Best Western in Disney Springs.

Orlando Area Hotels

If you don’t want to stay with Disney, you might need to find a hotel in the Orlando area. Orlando has over 150,000 hotel rooms. You should be able to find something that fits into your very own Disney World Vacation Package. You can create your own, but you never know what goodies you might be missing out on.

Bottom Line

Are Walt Disney World Vacation Packages necessary for every trip? Yes and no. Yes, you are going to have some kind or package whether it’s from Disney or you make one up yourself. Just make sure you don’t just blindly trust Disney when you book, they like making money. Sometimes too much.