Hi Deb!
Welcome to the Disney Parks Moms Panel! Thank you so much for bringing this great Walt Disney World Resort vacation planning question to us hEAR!
I don't blame you one bit for wanting to build your vacation in individual pieces vs. buying a package. The majority of my trips to Mickey's house have been planned as room-only
Disney Resort Hotel reservations where I later added
Disney Theme Park Tickets. So far none of my trips have later turned into a package; however, I will say I haven't purchased or reserved the two in the same transaction, always separately. I think this has something to do with when at the time of purchase of any of the individual elements, of a specific package, or even a promotion from the
Special Offers, Deals & Discounts section, you are knowingly agreeing to the terms set by those specific offers, including that of when the final payment is due. If you purchase your tickets and book your room separately, you're pretty much agreeing to two different sets of terms and agreements, and those are kind of final unless you call to turn them into a package.
The benefit of a Room + Ticket package that I do like is that you can add a
Disney Dining Plan, which means that even my meals are pre-paid a good four weeks before my first Disney Day. On the flip side of that, when planning your Disney details separately you will need to pay for the total of your Disney Theme Park Tickets in one payment. But, the good thing is that no matter what you decide, you absolutely can make payments on your Room-Only Resort Hotel reservation or vacation package in advance, in any increment you wish.
If anything, you are also more than welcome to book your Disney Resort Hotel Room-Only reservation over the phone with a friendly Disney Cast Member who can also advise you on how to best move forward with purchasing your Disney Theme Park Tickets with 100% certainty of accidentally buying a package. Their phone number is (407) 939-1936.
I hope this helped to clEAR some things up, Deb, and if you have any more Walt Disney World Resort vacation planning questions, We're All Ears!
~Kristen