Who do you?

[tyniknate]

Who do you all use when you book your trips? I'm looking at the most economical way to book because I can only book if I can keep to an exact budget. We have used two different agents for our previous trips, but was wondering if you all had a better idea since you have probably been there more times than we have.

[PrincessNancy96]

I always book myself that way I know my budget will not be busted! But that is just me!

[tyniknate]

OK, that sounds good. How do you find out about promotions and codes? I can only book if I can promise my DH we will not go over budget.

[hopemax]

We always booked ourselves too. http://www.mousesavers.com is your friend.

[PrincessNancy96]

Mousesaver's like Hope mentioned and I have also utilized disney.com. Use the park/travel

We are always on a budget... each year I have set a goal to come home with...and I usually exceed it... This year I spent a little extra but came home w/ my goal amount.

[LaniesMom]

I also do everything myself. I'm kind of a control freak like that; and these days with the ease and availability of the internet, Disney makes it super easy to do it yourself.

[wdwmickey]

I plan all of our trips too. I usually start on the Disney site and look for specials, then price compare with mousesavers codes.

[morgansmom2000]

I have a friend I met on another SB board who is a TA. I keep my finger on it all, but she's good if I have a specific question.

[AlexWyattMommy]

Okay, give me the dates, peoples and ages and your resort level. Staying off site is cheaper, but you lose out on the free internal transportation and EMH.

The Hilton in DownTown and Swan/Dolphin are not Disney owned, but do participate in EMH and S/D uses the transportation.

Are you planning on using the Dining Plan? You will need to stay at Disney Hotel to use it.

Are you needing hoppers or the extras on your tickets?

[rlovew]

I have used boith the sponsers of this board and the sponsers of ALLearsnet.com- both agencies are really good about changing your package to reflect any discount they can (at least they did that for me) but usually I just book everything myself- also both places will do ADRs for you or let you do them yourself.

Rebecca

[tyniknate]

OK....next question. Does anyone know if they do free dining at Thanksgiving? A friend of ours says she did it last year, but I've never seen anything about it at that time. Have you all seen it offered?

Oh....and where do you find the best airfare? I've been on those value websites and they don't really seem to be a deal.

Oh.....and how far in advance do you start booking? Is it too early for Thanksgiving next year? Once you book can you make changes and can you get promotions applied if you've already booked. Or do you have to book specifically for that promotion when you make your reservation? I know it seems so far away, and yet I need something to look forward to. It's been too many years since we've seen the mouse.

AAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

[AlexWyattMommy]

The dates for this year - Nov 12 - 18 • Nov 27 - Dec 2

Looks like Thanksgiving week is blocked from the free dining, unless you arrive on the 18th and are staying through.

Next year's free dining only goes through September.

[tyniknate]

It would work out if we arrived on Thanksgiving for a two day reservation and then checked back in on the 25th for the free dining, right? We would just miss the free dining the first two days?

[AlexWyattMommy]

Depends upon whether you are willing to pay for extra tickets.

With the free dining you have to purchase tickets to make it a package.

You may also have to change rooms. They don't guarantee you can stay in the same one.

[tyniknate]

Wow, didn't think of that. What if we checked in later on Friday and just hung out at the hotel.....got some R&R.......maybe hit downtown disney......and then checked back in on Saturday for the dining promo. We don't mind having to change rooms since we will know ahead of time and just won't unpack. Does this sound ridiculous?

[AlexWyattMommy]

That actually makes a lot of sense.

We also usually do DT on the first day there to save a park visit for a full day.

Did you want to price it out yourself or did you want me to play agent?

[tyniknate]

Feel free, if it's not an imposition. Are you able to book that far in advance?
Is there a way I can figure out when they released the free dining for that time during this year, so I know when to plan on looking for it for next year?

[tyniknate]

BTW - were my sketch pages OK? Please be honest - I want to know so I know how to improve next time.

[AlexWyattMommy]

The current round of discounts is not typical. They didn't give this much advance notice before. Most on the boards start salivating around April to find out free dining dates for Fall. :rotfl2:


Where did you want stay and what tickets did you want and how long.

[AlexWyattMommy]

BTW - were my sketch pages OK? Please be honest - I want to know so I know how to improve next time.

OMG :rotfl2: You are so funny!

I love the paper you used! Where did you find the two sided one?

Yes, everything looks awesome. Thank you for the brads. :cloud9:

[morgansmom2000]

In 2008, we had free dining for TG. We go Friday to Friday (the Friday before to the day after TG). I think we checked in the day or the day before the free dining ended. As long as you check in before it's over, the entire trip would be for free dining.

[AlexWyattMommy]

Dang. The best we can do is 40% a night at Sarasota springs or 25% a night at the All-Star Sports.

No free dining at any resort for your dates.

[tyniknate]

OK - here's why I'm looking for someone else to book with. I just got our quote from a major disney travel company - and they have quoted me a price of $10,100 for an eight-day stay, two rooms in a value, without any upgrade options (hopper or water parks) and with just the basic counter-service meal plan. And this isn't including airfare.

:scared1::scared1::scared1:ARE YOU KIDDING ME? :scared1::scared1::scared1:

Does this sound right to anyone else?

[AlexWyattMommy]

That's crazy.

I can get you two rooms at a moderate 8 nights, with the added adult per night on one room, 9 day tickets for everyone, basic dining plan - $7490. Insurance, hoppers, preferred view extra. Based on this years pricing.

[tyniknate]

I almost had a heart attack! :sick: Looks like I will be booking for myself (with a little help and creativity from my DIS friends). :wizard:

[AlexWyattMommy]

If they offer free dining - it would be just about $5100. Give or take for increases and taxes.

[tyniknate]

That's more like it! Maybe you should be doing this for a living - apparently the agent who quoted me has lost her mind!:confused3
What do you charge for your booking services?

[AlexWyattMommy]

I'm not sure how she came up with that unless she put you in the suites at the values?

[tyniknate]

I don't know either. The quote didn't seem to indicate any special room type. I'm not going to think about it too hard......really think I should be the one booking this instead of using an agent. That way I control what I get. ;)

[AlexWyattMommy]

As far as I know, agents don't get any better deals than you can find yourself.

[ccgirl]

They do not get you better deals than you can get yourself. Go to the www.disneyworld.com website and hover over Tickets & Packages then click on Special offers. That is where all of the discounted packages will be.

As for your earlier post regarding arriving on Thanksgiving day then getting another reservation two days later with free dining....that can be done. You can pick up your park tickets 3 days in advance so can go to the parks those first two days as well.

Check out travelocity and expedia. They were giving crazy discounts on room only. I think it was actually a misprint but they honored it.

Free dining is not always the best as it's really not "free" as you are paying rack rate for your room.

As for airfare, I use the discounted airlines such as Southwest, Jet Blue, and Air Tran. I have never flown the "major" carriers as they can't be the others even with the added baggage/seat fees of Air Tran.

No, it is not too early to book.

[tyniknate]

Question about free dining not being the best value. With eight people staying in two rooms, isn't is going to be the best way to go? Even with a room discount I doubt it can be that big of a discount. Am I wrong in thinking that way? Also, I thought the number of days for tickets had to equal the number of nights for the dining package. Could I book the free dining package for eight days and park tickets for 10 days?

[ccgirl]

OK - here's why I'm looking for someone else to book with. I just got our quote from a major disney travel company - and they have quoted me a price of $10,100 for an eight-day stay, two rooms in a value, without any upgrade options (hopper or water parks) and with just the basic counter-service meal plan. And this isn't including airfare.

:scared1::scared1::scared1:ARE YOU KIDDING ME? :scared1::scared1::scared1:

Does this sound right to anyone else?

Sounds way off to me. What are your exact dates?

[AlexWyattMommy]

I haven't looked at the details for this offer because they may be different for your trip next year.

Last year you could just a one day park ticket for the package. Your room nights will equal the free meal package. Like an 8 night will get you 8 credits of the dining plan.


I do think for 8 people, being only one considered a child, free dining works best for the moderate resort level.

[wdwmickey]

As far as free dining being the best discount. That depends (I'm inclined to think with 8 peeps you are probably right ;)). What are the ages of the folks going, where do you plan on eating, how do you eat when you're at the parks (ie-will you use all of the credits)? We didn't do a dining plan on our last trip in March, because, we could eat a little more cheaply out of pocket (we don't do tons of snacks). However, we've never been at free dining time and the trip in March was the first trip we've taken to WDW where we could get a room discount. We have previously paid rack rate for the room AND paid for the DDP. When we did that I made sure we used every dining credit and got the "biggest bang" for our buck. KWIM?

[ccgirl]

Question about free dining not being the best value. With eight people staying in two rooms, isn't is going to be the best way to go? Even with a room discount I doubt it can be that big of a discount. Am I wrong in thinking that way? Also, I thought the number of days for tickets had to equal the number of nights for the dining package. Could I book the free dining package for eight days and park tickets for 10 days?

Depends on where you want to stay. Discounts this year were up to 40% off in deluxe resorts. That would be more of a discount than the dining plan. Sometimes we get the dining plan, sometimes we don't depending on the discount. We look at the menus at allears.net and price out what we would typically order and compare than with the room only discount. At the values, the "free" dining is typically the better "deal" but we work the numbers on the other hotel categories. With 8 people, you may want to look into renting points at one of the DVC properties and split it out. There will be a full kitchen and you can have groceries delivered. This will cut down on the $$ on food spending. Points are typically rented out for around $10 a point.

[tyniknate]

Is there any one place that lists the promotions and discount codes that Disney is offering?

[ccgirl]

They do not get you better deals than you can get yourself. Go to the www.disneyworld.com website and hover over Tickets & Packages then click on Special offers. That is where all of the discounted packages will be.

As for your earlier post regarding arriving on Thanksgiving day then getting another reservation two days later with free dining....that can be done. You can pick up your park tickets 3 days in advance so can go to the parks those first two days as well.

Check out travelocity and expedia. They were giving crazy discounts on room only. I think it was actually a misprint but they honored it.

Free dining is not always the best as it's really not "free" as you are paying rack rate for your room.

As for airfare, I use the discounted airlines such as Southwest, Jet Blue, and Air Tran. I have never flown the "major" carriers as they can't be the others even with the added baggage/seat fees of Air Tran.

No, it is not too early to book.

Is there any one place that lists the promotions and discount codes that Disney is offering?

See my post above. It is in the Special offers section. Mousesavers.com also keeps very good track of them.

[AlexWyattMommy]

mousesavers.com is a good central location

[tyniknate]

Duh.....I did read that. My brain is on auto pilot today.