Traveling from Alabama to Disneyland

[DCTM]

I hope this is the correct place for this question! We have traveled to WDW many times since we live 12 hours from there, but have always wanted to visit Disneyland. It is not the cost of the tickets, the hotel, etc. that is holding us back it is the cost of the flights. I have watching the flights since last year (mainly Southwest) and it would cost us approx. $2400 round trip for the 4 of us to fly. My question is, for those who have traveled from Alabama to California before, have you ever seen these prices decrease? Any help is appreciated! We would most likely travel in the summer months - end of May - beginning of August due to kids school schedules.

 

[DizMe]

I'm sorry I don't know about flights between Alabama and California, but could you possibly take advantage of the 50,000 bonus point offer SW currently has? They have it every now and then and it just got reinstated a few days ago. If you sign up for a SW card, you'll get 50,000 points. If you and your spouse sign up or if you sign up for two types (there are 2 personal kinds and 1 business) you would get 100,000 points plus all the points you would accrue from the money you spend. There is a requirement that you spend a certain amount on the card within 3 months. I believe it's $2 or $3 thousand.

Anyway, that's a lot of points! It might help quite a bit with your costs. I'm sure there are other cards that could give you a break on flights but I'm only familiar with SW. Oh, for reference, 60 points = $1, so 50,000 points is worth $833. With 2 cards, you would have $1667 worth of flight points. It's not as hard as it sounds to spend the required amount in 3 months, either. I used my card to pay all my bills and just reimbursed it immediately from my checking account online.

Good luck!

 

[DCTM]

I'm sorry I don't know about flights between Alabama and California, but could you possibly take advantage of the 50,000 bonus point offer SW currently has? They have it every now and then and it just got reinstated a few days ago. If you sign up for a SW card, you'll get 50,000 points. If you and your spouse sign up or if you sign up for two types (there are 2 personal kinds and 1 business) you would get 100,000 points plus all the points you would accrue from the money you spend. There is a requirement that you spend a certain amount on the card within 3 months. I believe it's $2 or $3 thousand.

Anyway, that's a lot of points! It might help quite a bit with your costs. I'm sure there are other cards that could give you a break on flights but I'm only familiar with SW. Oh, for reference, 60 points = $1, so 50,000 points is worth $833. With 2 cards, you would have $1667 worth of flight points. It's not as hard as it sounds to spend the required amount in 3 months, either. I used my card to pay all my bills and just reimbursed it immediately from my checking account online.

Good luck!

Thank you I will definitely check into this

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We are headed to DL from Ga next week, and flights for my family of 4 were $1300 on Southwest. I watched and waited until they had a sale, and got tickets for $326 per person round trip. I booked flights in March for a June trip.

 

[pennyring]

That price sounds ridiculous.

What airport are you flying out of?

Check prices on weekdays (T, W, Th). Check websites like Kayak who compare rates. Make sure you're staying over a Saturday night.

All of those things can make a difference.

Are you also trying different California airports? LAX, SNA, LGB

 

[ctalley]

We are headed to DL from Ga next week, and flights for my family of 4 were $1300 on Southwest. I watched and waited until they had a sale, and got tickets for $326 per person round trip. I booked flights in March for a June trip.

That is a great price based on what I have seen so far. This gives me hope. I have not committed to a Disneyland trip for our family of 4 yet due to the flight costs from Alabama. Enjoy your trip!

 

[DCTM]

That price sounds ridiculous.

What airport are you flying out of?

Check prices on weekdays (T, W, Th). Check websites like Kayak who compare rates. Make sure you're staying over a Saturday night.

All of those things can make a difference.

Are you also trying different California airports? LAX, SNA, LGB[/QUOTE

No I have not checked into flying into another airport but I will. We fly out of Birmingham

 

[DCTM]

We are headed to DL from Ga next week, and flights for my family of 4 were $1300 on Southwest. I watched and waited until they had a sale, and got tickets for $326 per person round trip. I booked flights in March for a June trip.

Wow that is a great price

 

[Angela72181]

We watched and waited as well and I scored round trip tickets for 4 paying and A lap child for $1100 with Southwest as well from Detroit, MI to LAX...about $288 each...you just have to stalk their prices...I first checked they were about $1600 and held off and now they are ridiculously high...good luck

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I should also add that our original dates were Sunday - Saturday, but we changed them to Wednesday - Tuesday to get that price. Fine by me, the same flights today are $400+ each way!

 

[MVC1225]

My girlfriend (who is from Alabama) and I (from Florida) are going to Disneyland this December. Since she is from eastern Alabama it was much cheaper to fly on SW from Atlanta. Also my flight connects through Atlanta so we fly together for most of the trip. Her Atlanta flight was around $350 round trip. Birmingham (which is closer to her) was about $575 and a lot less choices. Have you considered Atlanta even if you have to spend the night before in a hotel by the airport it may be worth it.

 

[DCTM]

My girlfriend (who is from Alabama) and I (from Florida) are going to Disneyland this December. Since she is from eastern Alabama it was much cheaper to fly on SW from Atlanta. Also my flight connects through Atlanta so we fly together for most of the trip. Her Atlanta flight was around $350 round trip. Birmingham (which is closer to her) was about $575 and a lot less choices. Have you considered Atlanta even if you have to spend the night before in a hotel by the airport it may be worth it.

Atlanta would defintely be an option since we are only about 2 1/2 hours from there. I will definetely check into that also

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

I am in Savannah, Ga (teeny tiny airport) so that's what we're doing. We're driving to Atlanta and spending the night at an airport hotel and flying out the next day. ATL is about 4 hours from us, but totally worth it to save that kind of money!

 

[KellaCat]

Another vote for Southwest, although they just ended their big sale. Hopefully they will have another. I got tickets from Ohio for $160 each way. Now they are up to $338 each way! Airfare is always our biggest expense, but keep an eye out for sales, and use the various travel sites, too. We fly into SNA, it's usally cheaper (and closer!)

 

[grumpyskirtgirl]

Another vote for Southwest, although they just ended their big sale. Hopefully they will have another. I got tickets from Ohio for $160 each way. Now they are up to $338 each way! Airfare is always our biggest expense, but keep an eye out for sales, and use the various travel sites, too. We fly into SNA, it's usally cheaper (and closer!)

Look for another sale in a couple of weeks or so. They historically have an anniversary sale around then. Not nearly as good as the 72 hour sale, but a sale nonetheless.

 

[GoofyMac]

We normally vacation at Walt Disney World one long 7 - 10 day vacation and one to two weekend trips. Being from Atlanta helps as the drive is only about 7 hours with a stop or two. We are quite used to Walt Disney World. our daughter has never been to Disneyland though mommy and daddy have several times.

We are a Delta Air Lines family and are traveling to Disneyland smack dab in the middle of September. It will be our Daughters first Airplane ride. I promised her one a while back and wanted it to be something special so we are surprising her with Disneyland. She just thinks we are going on a plane ride.

I just purchased our Delta Air Lines tickets for $550 per person round trip upgraded to Economy Comfort for $59 per person after that.

I wish I had booked the tickets a month ago at $350 each. Loads are pretty high to LAX so the cheap seats go fast and sales do not last long. I am quite adverse to flying on anything but a full service Air Line especially when vacation is on the line. The old adage "You get what you pay for" rings true here. Though no airline is perfect a Full Service Air Line can be much more helpful when something happens along the way.

Best advise is to fly from a major hub such as Atlanta. Depending upon where you are in Alabama that could save you a bundle as traveling from a small market can cost quite a bit extra. Book EARLY as in our case waiting cost quite a bit. You will have many more options from Atlanta. All the major airlines fly from there. Delta Air Lines has over 10 non stops a day to LAX alone and a few to other airports in the region. Southwest and AirTran do as well. American Continental / United both do with connections. Through St Lewis, Denver, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and others.

Kayak is a great website for pricing your travel costs.

I hope you are able to book your trip relatively affordable. Everyone should experience Disneyland. After all it is where it all started.

Safe journey.

GoofyMac

 

[Castle2Castle]

We'll be taking our first trip out to Disneyland later this year. We're flying out of Louisville, KY into Orange County's John Wayne Airport (SNA) since it was cheaper to fly into than LAX and is closer than LAX, so that we can get to the parks sooner on our first day. I originally purchased tickets in April for about $430 RT each, even though I had read that the best window to shop was 49-79 days out. Well, the first day of that window was last Tuesday and the prices dropped $216. We made the change, but will now have to use the $216 in credits within 12 months per Southwest's policy.

Anecdotes out of the way and long story short. . .keep a window like the 49-79 days out in mind when shopping. Look at departure days that are less busy and subsequently have cheaper pricing. Tuesday afternoons and Wednesdays tend to be good buying days due to Southwest typically announcing sales on Tuesday and other airlines trying to offer similar deals over the next 24 hours. Check multiple airports for both departure and arrivals to see if you can capture additional savings there.

If you're willing to explore multiple options and check pricing regularly, you should be able to find a deal somewhere. Good luck!