HELP!!! Who to use - when booking a Walt Disney Package from Canada/Ontario

[Corbella]

We are looking to book a Walt Disney Package from Ontario for May 2016 for our family of 5.

After looking into some websites (Disney, Expedia, Sell off Vacations) they all are in USD and with the horrible exchange rate, it's becoming a very expensive holiday.

Has anyone booked a Disney Package through Air Transit?

Where have you found the best priced Disney package from?

We are looking at the Orleans Riverside Hotel??

Any suggestions or reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Cottager]

Have a look at this site, www.portorleans.org. They do a great overview of the 2 sister hotels, Port Orleans Riverside and Port Orleans French Quarter. Unfortunately, you won't find any discounts with the Canadian dollar. The Canadian sites adjust for the difference in the US/CAN dollar daily so it really doesn't matter. If this is your first time visiting, you may want to use a travel agent to help you out rather than going it alone and booking through the sites you mentioned. The travel agency that is associated with this message board is Dreams Unlimited: www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com

 

[mort1331]

We are looking to book a Walt Disney Package from Ontario for May 2016 for our family of 5.

After looking into some websites (Disney, Expedia, Sell off Vacations) they all are in USD and with the horrible exchange rate, it's becoming a very expensive holiday.

Has anyone booked a Disney Package through Air Transit?

Where have you found the best priced Disney package from?

We are looking at the Orleans Riverside Hotel??

Any suggestions or reviews would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Welcome to the boards. Port Orleans is a wonderful resort and a great start. As for the dollar, there is no escape it is horrible. And finding one in Can dollars isnt going to be any better. As the PP pointed out. For a first timer yes Dreams is great, I havent used them but I hear good things about CAA. The nice thing about Dreams is if there is any deals they will find them and adjust them if it gets better closer to your arrival. Very knowledgeable and helpful. The problem with some of the Canadian agents is if something comes up they have to change, Disney says you booked with them so deal with them. We ran into this issue with our first time and using flight centre. Since then we have done everything ourselves if we havent used Dreams.

 

[DisneyRookie2007]

I booked my 1st trip to WDW with Mousesavers (I think)...since then I've always booked myself direct with Disney.....although once is found a decent deal with Westjet.

Even if you find an online travel site to book in Cdn funds, don't you think the prices will be adjusted to reflect the current exchange rate anyways?

I should also mention we have always booked our flights through Airmiles. We only pay for the taxes (in Cdn funds) which only costs us about $150 Cdn each for a return ticket

 

[allybabba98]

We have always booked right through the Walt Disney World site. The only thing I book separate was the flights as we would drive to Buffalo and fly from there instead of Pearson. We saved over a thousand for the five of us to fly from there.
Unfortunately with the dollar, it is just going to be pricey. I have heard May is a lovely time to go. Have fun planning!

 

[ixmnrs]

They're right about the dollar, the only thing that may help is having a no foreign exchange fee credit card (Chase Marriott Visa or Rogersbank M/C, for example) which saves you 2.5% on the exchange rate. We used the magical vacations travel TA last time we went and they have agency exclusives through the year including one at the beginning of May.

 

[ixmnrs]

Also, there seems to be a lot of factors coming up that will point to an even lower Loonie in the near future.

 

[Debbie]

I had a friend who did an AirTransat vacation years ago. She stayed at POR on my recommendation, and loved it. I don't believe she had any issues at all with the vacation.

 

[jamescanuck2001]

Westjet has this http://www.westjet.com/guest/en/about/disney-frozen-themed-plane.shtml

Although the cheapest is likely through magical vacations (google it) and southwest airlines non-stop buffalo to orlando (~$100 US one way)

 

[Donald - my hero]

Yes Westjet does have 2 super snazzy planes BUT they do not fly exclusively to MCO ...has even shown up in Germany once or twice!! BUT we have booked packages through Westjet if for no other reason than keeping as much of our money within Canada as possible Always have great service from on-line, to on the phone and thru to face-to-face contact with Westjeters

 

[bababear_50]

Hi
I always travel from YYZ (Toronto) to MCO (Orlando) return.

I check
Air Canada's web site for flights (They have flights out of Hamilton on Sat to Orlando) sometimes cheaper. Airport code YHM

Air Transit for flights.

West Jet for flights.

Then check Disney web site OR Expedia.ca for hotel accomodations.
I do have a few small DVC contracts so we usually stay in a DVC resort.

For package deals
I would check Sunwing airlines flights and package deals

http://shopping.sunwing.ca/cgi-bin/...922,3334,1871&sorted_by=selling_price_tax_out

For tickets
I transfer all my Petro points into CAA dollars and then buy Park tickets at CAA.
(Hey I have to buy the gas so I might as well get a reward).
Sometimes I buy Park tickets with https://www.undercovertourist.com/

Have fun planning
Hugs Mel

 

[I Run Long]

You may want to take a look at the Canadian Disney travel agents at Fairytale Dreams & Destinations. I've used them twice before myself and they've been wonderful. You can find them if you google them. As everyone here has said you can't escape the exchange rate - you're going to get hit with it no matter what.

 

[Corbella]

Thank you all for your replies and infomation.

I'm not to worried about the dollar. Not too much we can do about it, unless if we hold off, but it sure doesn't sound like our Canadian dollar is going to get better anytime soon.

I just looking for advice to be sure, that if we book through a tour operator like Air Transit, when we get to Disney, it's not going to leave us in a booking nightmare.

On their site you can book the hotel, park passes, dining and flights, all in Canadian dollars.

I did price out the hotel, park passes and dining on the Disney site in USD and then converted it into Canadian dollars. ....I would need to find air fare for 2 adults and 3 children for $1000- CDN to meet the Air Transit package price.

Thank you all again for any advice or suggestions.

 

[striker3636]

I ended up booking through selloffvacations (in CAD) for a Sunwing package offsite. There were onsite options but as we are travelling march break, none fit into our budget. I found that booking my tickets as an add on with the package saved me $240 over booking them straight through WDW online using that days exchange rate. Not sure why it worked out that way, but I took advantage of it! Yes...the exchange rate is going to get you anyways, but knowing your costs and doing some comparisons can sometimes help you ferret out a bit of savings.

 

[minnie56]

Transat holidays are more than safe to book with!!!
As for Port Orleans when my daughters were smaller they loved French quarter for the pool ..I like Riverside myself now. Both being on the Sassagoula River are great!

 

[youngb1978]

I just booked a hotel through air transat for universal...I actually paid less then I would have if I booked directly with universal and it was in canadian funds. For my 8 nights I paid 1046 cdn...universal was 1100 usd...so for sure look into air transat

 

[youngb1978]

Also check flight centre

 

[robinsnest49ers]

You could try CAA, you don't have to be a member to book through them and your price would be in CDN $. We book on our own, flying out of Detroit (they have better flight times than Toronto, and we book our room directly through Disney. We have priced out all the others and it is not much difference when you factor in the exchange. The $ is horrible but we have gone when the dollar was almost $0.50. You just have to budget everything else (share meals, bring snacks from home etc.) if you are renting a car, hit the grocery store, this could save you lots.

 

[Tashsco]

Can't speak for flights because we always drive, but we have booked our last 4 trips directly through Disney. Always works well for us, you can call them direct and make changes or request etc. Also everything automatically links to the MDE app for you as well. Just what works for us. We compared with a travel agent before and she basically just rang up the same deals we were getting on the Disney site. Going in May this year as well but to Coronado Springs. Have stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and really enjoyed it! Highly recommended

 

[alc571]

We always book our room directly with Disney. We tried one of those "exclusive Disney" vacation places, but they were horrible and took all the magic out of booking our trip. We keep our eyes on Air Canada, Westjet, Sunwing and Airtransat for flights. Just as an FYI, if you book your flights through Expedia - the prices are generally the same, but you can usually pick your seats for free. Airtransat doesn't let you - but we didn't have to pay to pick our seats for our Westjet flights. You can also combine - so we are flying down Westjet and back Airtransat in June. The flights were a lot cheaper than booking direct with either. We keep our eyes out for car rentals and try to book Canadian dollars - sometimes Expedia will have a deal to book your flight and car together. Otherwise, we book a good deal through Alamo directly.

Port Orleans - Riverside is an awesome resort! We've stayed there 4 times. It's currently our favourite!