First-timer needs booking tips!

[Disney2012]

So many questions - please bear with me! Once you decide when to book (ugh - like that's easy!), how do the pros do it?

Doing a package with everything seems simpler and safer to me, but am I better off to book flights separately? I almost never fly and don't know how to get the best rates. Expedia?

Should I seek out room-only rates?

And if I were lucky enough to get a pin, would I get a bigger discount if I had package versus individual parts?

Lastly, what months do they typically offer free dining, and how far in advance will you know?

Please help this newbie!! I understand everyone has different needs/preferences, but any advice is appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Well, I like to call and do it directly through Disney. I find it easier, and I like to control my own reservation whereas if you use an agent, they own your reservation, so you have to go through them for any changes.

I like to book a package. We book room, dining, and tickets all at once, then we wait for a pin or a special for free dining and shift our dates if we need to. If you have an idea of when you want to go...well, let me just give you a scenario to make it easier: Say you want to go in October. You book and then they announce that free dining will be offered for the month of September all the way through the 30th. As long as you book one of your days during the free dining special time period, the rest of your trip will have free dining as well. This actually happened to us this year. We were booked in October, so we just shifted our dates to September 27th for arrival and departure being on the 7th of October. We have free dining from the 27th through the 7th b/c our arrival day landed within the free dining dates. Hopefully that was easily understood! I would have a couple backup plans for dates just in case. Here is a link to the historical discount dates for when specials and pins have been released in the past: http://www.mousesavers.com/historicalwdwdiscounts.html

As for flights, it is really up to you. We've done both. I sometimes play with Disney's booking feature on their website to see what the flight prices would be if I booked them through Disney. They are comparable/the same as if I were to do it myself. The only difference being that I would have to pay for the flights up front doing it that way. I would rather find my own and pay for them after I save the money. I just go directly to the different airline sites and look up the flights. I find that there are more options that way. When we have the money all saved up, we will book through the airline and then give Disney our flight info for Magical express. That way they know our arrival time as well, and our room has always been ready. That is not guaranteed of course, but between them knowing our arrival time and using online check-in 10 days in advance, our room has always been ready.

As for pins with packages and such, it really depends on what would be the biggest discount for your family. I would encourage you to play with the booking feature to get to know the different ways you could book and what everything would cost. I love free dining, so I will often plug in a room and tickets package and leave off the dining plan so I can see how much it would be with free dining. Sometimes I will plug in the room only and figure out how much the discount would be off of just the cost of the room. Free dining always wins out for our family, but some people save more on the room. We have to get two rooms for 7 people in our family, and for our extended family we need one more room. Free dining saves us thousands.

Some people are going to suggest staying offsite b/c of the savings, but we love staying onsite. You just have to decide what works for you. We love doing all the table service restaurants and think of them as part of the whole Disney experience. That is just how we roll though. Some people don't care about that. I figure, if it's free it's for me.

 

[Disney2012]

Blackbeltdisneygirl,

Thanks soooooo much for all the help! I actually did a good bit of research last night, some with your suggestions, and learned a lot! I'm feeling much better about knowing how to proceed. Now if I could just make the days fly by and triple my savings potential, things would be perfect!

I'll bet most first-timers can't stand the wait!

Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm!

 

[Blackbeltdisneygirl]

Blackbeltdisneygirl,

Thanks soooooo much for all the help! I actually did a good bit of research last night, some with your suggestions, and learned a lot! I'm feeling much better about knowing how to proceed. Now if I could just make the days fly by and triple my savings potential, things would be perfect!

I'll bet most first-timers can't stand the wait!

Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm!

Not a problem! Feel free to ask me anything! It was my dream to go to WDW for 32 years. I finally got to go 2 years ago for the first time. Since then we have gone again and are going again in September. In that time I have gained as much knowledge as I can retain. I may not have gone 45 times like others have, but I have learned so much, and my last trip proved it. Our first trip was rough b/c my parents took the kids and we tagged along. We were at my parents' mercy, and they crossed the parks constantly. I cried my second day b/c my feet injuries hurt so badly. I knew there had to be a better way to do it, so I got on the Disboards and learned everything I could. I applied everything last May, and it was a WONDERFUL trip! My family was over the moon with how well it went. I am actually considering becoming a Disney travel agent now. I would love to spread the Disney magic every day!!!

I know what the anticipation is like, but you will be there before you know it. You will love it!!!! It is my favorite place in the world. Good luck, and again, if you need help, let me know!

 

[ktlm]

I agree that you should book your flights separate from the WDW package. Seems like we never got the best flight times through WDW. I checked prices on a few occasions and they were exactly the same whether you booked through the airlines or WDW.

As far as how to book flights, I always book directly through the airline websites. You might check expedia to look at some prices and options, but booking through the airlines generally makes it easier to deal with the airlines with changes; delays, cancellations etc. Plus, expedia doesn't have all the airlines. I just go from airline website to airline website and check flights. The prices fluctuate a lot from day to day. Bing.com travel is another good place to check flights because they have a "know when to buy" predictor that predicts whether the fares for your trip will rise or drop. I have find that the prices on the airline websites seem to be lower when you check flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. They very often increase on the weekends (probably because they figure a lot of people are planning their vacatiosn on the weekends).

We always book online with WDW. We do a package of room and tickets (and magical express, but that is free-- we never rent a car at WDW). We do not do the dining plan. I figured out the cost of the dining plan as opposed to what we would spend out of pocket and it would not save anything for us. We don't eat as much as the dining plan provides. You might want to do some math before adding that onto your trip, although not having been to WDW, you may not really have an idea of how you will eat yet (portion sizes, activites, etc). Allears.net has list of all the restaurants with all their menus and prices. It is a great resource.

As far as discounts, the best for us is the room discount. Some people love free dining. If you go ahead and book when there is no discount available, then you keep watching for one to come out and when it does you immediately contact WDW. In most cases, they will apply it to your package, or cancel and rebook with the discount.

After booking, I would highly suggest easywdw.com to help you figure out what parks you want to be in which days. Once you have figured that out, the next step is to make your dining reservations, the earlier the better. There are people that get up at the crack of dawn the first day they can make ADRs (180 days before the trip) to book them. I tend to be one of those people. If you want to eat TS (Table service) meals at all, you will want to book some things because the popular places book up and when they do they do not talk walk ups at all. Again Allears.net, is a great place to go to look at menus and see what appeals to you.

Have a great trip!

 

[Hootch]

we have booked room and tickets separately. We haven't done the dining plan for several trips. Disney changed the plan and our touring preferences have evolved as the kids have gotten older. It just doesn't make sense to us anymore.

I have booked a room through Disney for a AAA discount. Last trip we had a room only pin that was better than the AAA discount. Every time I have looked at places like Expedia, the room rates appear to be the same as Disney's site.

We have been buying ten day non expiring tickets that would work over a couple of trips. It was cheaper than buying tickets for each trip. Disney has been increasing the non expiry option more than ticket prices so we may change to tickets for the trip only. I will still buy tickets from Undercover Tourist. It's only 2%-3% less than Disney but it's a simple process. The UT tickets can be added to you room key when you check in.

There are a number of forum users that swear by travel agents. There are agents that are well versed in WDW and can guide you through the entire process. A good should ask probing questions so they understand your wants and to help you flesh out what you want to do.

 

[ARAITHEL]

Blackbeltdisneygirl,


I'll bet most first-timers can't stand the wait!

Disney annual traveler here...I can't stand the wait either!

 

[Disney2012]

Thanks so much for all of your advice! I love how enthusiastic and helpful people are on here. Can always count on informed answers and encouragement! Thanks again!

 

[WDW Points]

It all depends how much work you want to do and how much money you want to pay. If you use a travel agent, you tell them what you want in what budget and they do the work. If you want the control of which resort, what flight times, what type of rental car, which park tickets. .... you can do a lot of research and do it yourself.

There is no shortage of information out there. Hundreds of websites, e-books, trip reports, blogs, etc. You can spend hours researching every little detail. If you want simple, go for a WDW package (room, park tix, dining plan) and get flights separately.

If you ask 100 people, you'll get at least 100 different answers. Get a good travel book or read the information on this website .

Dreams Unlimited Travel is very good. AAA is good too, but not as user friendly. Remember, your goal is to enjoy your vacation, not kill yourself over planning it. You do need to be informed though. Have an idea, what type of resort, how many days in the parks, can you have relaxing days too. The worst thing would be to show up and not have any idea.