Any Canadians going to Disneyland?

[tanyaewa]

We are flying Alaska out of Bellingham. Direct to SNA then returning from Long BEach after a cruise. This is the first time for us using Bellingham. The prices were much better than YVR this time so hopefully it works well!
Alaska has price guarantee as. I have done an adjustment before and they were great about it.

Momrow- which air miles did you use to find tickets? I have both.

I didn't think BCAA dd tickets anymore? Last time I cashed in my BCAA dollars for park hoppers and loved the free parking perk.

 

[kayleigh83]

I've noticed the opposite for flying out of Bellingham - way more expensive!! Just did another quick Priceline check for our dates - for flying out of YVR roundtrip departures are mostly in the range of $399+ per person, but for the same dates Bellingham is all $500+!

 

[mystic_path]

We are leaving from Coquitlam, heading down to Bellingham and flying out on Alaska on the 26th and staying at the Sheraton Park. Booked the hotel on points. I still need to get the park tickets for the family. See you down there.

Coquitlam & Port Moody people on these boards. Awesome! I'm from Maple Ridge. I too am flying from Bellingham.

 

[mystic_path]

I've noticed the opposite for flying out of Bellingham - way more expensive!! Just did another quick Priceline check for our dates - for flying out of YVR roundtrip departures are mostly in the range of $399+ per person, but for the same dates Bellingham is all $500+!

There was something on the news about this just last week. The Bellingham airport is now expanding due to all the Canadian travelers coming down to fly out of there. The Canadian tourism is taking a hit and has to now decrease their prices to keep Canadians flying out of Canada airports. I booked my trip (Flight & Hotel) to fly out of Bellingham next month to go to Disneyland. Several months ago when I booked the package, I saved almost $1000 for the family by flying out of Bellingham compared to Vancouver. Now I look up my package from Bellingham compared to Vancouver deals and Vancouver is actually comparable to what Bellingham prices were like, if not better.

 

[squirrel]

Must be the dates are closer than mine. The prices have gone up since I booked back in Dec for Sept. but not too much.

For us Bellingham is not that bad. The boarder shouldn't be too much trouble compared to driving into Vancouver (although we would be going opposite of rush hour).

 

[MICKEYFIL]

There was something on the news about this just last week. The Bellingham airport is now expanding due to all the Canadian travelers coming down to fly out of there. The Canadian tourism is taking a hit and has to now decrease their prices to keep Canadians flying out of Canada airports. I booked my trip (Flight & Hotel) to fly out of Bellingham next month to go to Disneyland. Several months ago when I booked the package, I saved almost $1000 for the family by flying out of Bellingham compared to Vancouver. Now I look up my package from Bellingham compared to Vancouver deals and Vancouver is actually comparable to what Bellingham prices were like, if not better.

They can lower the prices all they want, it's the taxes that are killing YVR. As for the price difference, a base fare on Alaska from Bellingham to SNA is $121 each way after taxes, $242 round trip. Out of Seattle to Long Beach is $102 each way or $204 round trip. Granted the price may be higher for specific days due to seat availability, but if you plan far enough ahead this shouldn't be an issue.

I have heard of cheap fares out of YVR, but these seem to be remote one offs that need to be hunted down on a daily basis. The flights out of Bellingham are more predictable for cost.

As for the expansion of the Bellingham airport, this was due in part to Alaska and Allegiant offering flights from Bellingham to Hawaii. As for Canadian content, 62% of all flights from Bellingham are done by Canadians.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Must be the dates are closer than mine. The prices have gone up since I booked back in Dec for Sept. but not too much.

For us Bellingham is not that bad. The boarder shouldn't be too much trouble compared to driving into Vancouver (although we would be going opposite of rush hour).

Whiel the border is a problem I always think of the upside. You don't have to go through customs when you land in California if you leave from Bellignham.

 

[Sally_fan]

Just adding to the flight part of this thread...We usually fly out if Seattle into LGB on Alaska (have flown out of YVR & into LAX as well). For this coming Oct I paid $182 pp return, taxes in. They have since gone up considerably (I always check to see if they go gown so I can get credits). It is a bit of a drive though. But we do prefer crossing the land border as opposed to customs at the airport so for us it has its ups & its downs.
I too am looking for good deals on park hoppers as I still need to buy 2 before our trip.

 

[Rubygoose]

Wow! I just checked the add on their website and no longer says anything about taxes and surcharges! I'm definately calling tomorrow morning to make sure they refund my $220! Thanks so much for letting me know about this!

Called westjet vacations this morning and they refunded the $243 I had paid in taxes for my 2 kids! (That will cover one 3 day park pass!) The lady I spoke to said there is a list of the people who booked before they changed the promotion, and they are slowly working their wy down the list to refund the taxes, but it's better to call and ask for the refund because it will take them a while to get through the list.

 

[Momrow]

We are flying Alaska out of Bellingham. Direct to SNA then returning from Long BEach after a cruise. This is the first time for us using Bellingham. The prices were much better than YVR this time so hopefully it works well!
Alaska has price guarantee as. I have done an adjustment before and they were great about it.

Momrow- which air miles did you use to find tickets? I have both.

I didn't think BCAA dd tickets anymore? Last time I cashed in my BCAA dollars for park hoppers and loved the free parking perk.

I got the park hoppers at airmiles.ca. Maybe BCAA doesn't sell them anymore - our last trip was 2010, so it's been a while!

 

[kayleigh83]

Coquitlam & Port Moody people on these boards. Awesome! I'm from Maple Ridge. I too am flying from Bellingham.

I notice lots of people from the lower mainland on these boards!!

 

[sweethannah]

Pitt Meadows here! Hello my Maple Ridge neighbor! I lived in MR years and went to HS there

I'm calling Westjet Vacations to see if they'll refund the cost for my daughters flight/taxes. Not sure if they will though since the overall package price has actually gone up.

 

[MICKEYFIL]

I notice lots of people from the lower mainland on these boards!!

Well it is so easy to get down to Disneyland from here so it seems a likely destination for lower mainlanders to go to. It is cheaper for me to go to Disneyland than to stay here and travel within the province. On top of that, I am pretty confident in the weather in southern California, something that can not be said for in BC.

 

[kayleigh83]

Well it is so easy to get down to Disneyland from here so it seems a likely destination for lower mainlanders to go to. It is cheaper for me to go to Disneyland than to stay here and travel within the province. On top of that, I am pretty confident in the weather in southern California, something that can not be said for in BC.

Isn't that the truth!

 

[MICKEYFIL]

Just adding to the flight part of this thread...We usually fly out if Seattle into LGB on Alaska (have flown out of YVR & into LAX as well). For this coming Oct I paid $182 pp return, taxes in. They have since gone up considerably (I always check to see if they go gown so I can get credits). It is a bit of a drive though. But we do prefer crossing the land border as opposed to customs at the airport so for us it has its ups & its downs.
I too am looking for good deals on park hoppers as I still need to buy 2 before our trip.

That is a great deal. They did just have a price increase, but nothing to dramatic. The best I saw was a few months back where they had a special on for $80 each way after tax between seattle and long beach.

I think this year I might wait till the black friday sale and see what I can get then for a trip in May.

 

[mystic_path]

Pitt Meadows here! Hello my Maple Ridge neighbor! I lived in MR years and went to HS there

I'm calling Westjet Vacations to see if they'll refund the cost for my daughters flight/taxes. Not sure if they will though since the overall package price has actually gone up.

Hello neighbor! I've lived here all my life. It is really nice to see lots of lower mainland folks here on Dis.

 

[TheZue]

We are heading down from Nanaimo

I looked at airfare and it doesn't come close to the cost of driving, especially once you add in a rental car, parking etc so we are driving again Nothing says family bonding like spending two days together in a minivan

Maybe I got a bizzare quote from Westjet, but they quoted me over 5k for flights for the four of us with hotel no tickets at pph for my dates...I'm only going to be paying $1800 for the hotel so I have a very hard time imagining how the airfare comes to over $3000 The closest we found to being cheaper than driving was Allegiant which would have come out at about $700 for the four of us to fly taxes in but before baggage...still not cheap enough though.

 

[dreamerliz]

You got a bizzare quote, HUH???

When are you going??? When the kids fly free (has to be vacation package), hotel and air and tax starting from approx $360 per person! (for 5 nights)

I would check again

 

[Sally_fan]

That is a great deal. They did just have a price increase, but nothing to dramatic. The best I saw was a few months back where they had a special on for $80 each way after tax between seattle and long beach.

I think this year I might wait till the black friday sale and see what I can get then for a trip in May.

Oh I didn't see that deal! Darn!

Black Friday sale??? Do tell! Please...

 

[Rubygoose]

We are heading down from Nanaimo

I looked at airfare and it doesn't come close to the cost of driving, especially once you add in a rental car, parking etc so we are driving again Nothing says family bonding like spending two days together in a minivan

Maybe I got a bizzare quote from Westjet, but they quoted me over 5k for flights for the four of us with hotel no tickets at pph for my dates...I'm only going to be paying $1800 for the hotel so I have a very hard time imagining how the airfare comes to over $3000 The closest we found to being cheaper than driving was Allegiant which would have come out at about $700 for the four of us to fly taxes in but before baggage...still not cheap enough though.

Not sure about Nanaimo, but I'm in Victoria and think it's strange that Westjet only flies Victoria to Calgary, then Calgary to LAX. It's silly that Westjet doesn't fly Victoria to Vancouver. We'll be flying out of Vancouver to get the Westjet deal because I don't want to spend the night in Calgary in order to get to Disneyland! So, we're taking the 7am ferry and flying out of YVR at 11:30am. The kids fly free promotion is for travel before Oct. 31 and you need to book hotel and flight. For us, for 4 people and 4 nights at Ramada Maingate in late Sept it will be around $1300 (plus ferry and bus to and from airport).

Last year we flew Alaska/Horizon Air from Victoria to Seattle to Orange county, and it was way more reasonable than getting to Vancouver and flying with Westjet. But it seems like whichever way you go, it's so costly to get off the island! You may want to look into driving down to Victoria taking the ferry to Vancouver to see if you can get the cost down by flying out of a larger airport.