1st time booking - timescale help

[Laniy]

Hi everyone, been doing a lot of lurking on and off for about 3 years now but am finally getting around to serious planning for a 2015 mega trip to Florida.

Now this trip is going to consist of three parts and as I'm hoping to pay out as little as possible on flight/accomodation I've been playing around with combinations of how to book things ie packages vs all seperately.

The components I've broken it down to include:

Flights (from any London airport)
1 week accomodation at WDW (I'm hoping for Pop Century but if I can't get a good deal I'm open to the All Star Resorts)
1 week accomodation at a international drive hotel (probably a Rosen Inn from the prelimenary research I've done)

We are also planning to spend a few days in Georgia before heading back to get the flight home from Orlando but I'm going to arrange that closer to the time.

My main question is about the timing of the bookings for the three main components. We're looking at an arrival date of either 26th or 28th of October 2015 and will be spending the first week at a Disney resort before hopefully hopping over to a I Drive hotel.

I'm planning on getting the flights as soon as they become available and roughly match the prices I've been following online. However, for the accomodation I have no idea when or how I should be booking for the best deal. I've seen that on expedia if you book 2 weeks in an I Drive hotel with your flights the hotel cost is almost negliable and using the official Disney website for tickets and accomodation is one seriously high rack rate.

Sorry for such a long post and I know it's a bit too far off to be getting accurate data but I just want to be ready with the credit card so I can get the best deal. So overall, is there a best amount of time beforehand to book packages/accomodation?

 

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

If you aren't booking a package then your flights can only be booked about 11 months from departure for each leg. I would sign up to the BA and Virgin email alerts so you know when they are running sales. Virgin often run flash sales at New Year which, if you are not too set on a specific date, can be worth waiting for.

We are heading off on Saturday but when I was booking flights it was cheaper with BA to buy the flight and car together than it was for just the flight so test out various options before jumping in.

You can also save money by flying indirect. If you are prepared to write off your first night and don't mind the extended journey this can save you a fair amount of money compared to the direct flights to Orlando. It is always worth playing with Skyscanner.net to see how the different options compare.

Good luck with the planning.