Better not to go Virgin?

[alan]

I'm planning to go (back) to WDW in July 2009. I know that it's a long time away, but I am aware that direct flights from Glasgow sell out really quickly - I was told that it takes around six weeks from the release of the Virgin brochure until all its flights from Glasgow for the summer holidays sell out.

So, I'm getting my planning in early.

Given that I wish to stay in a Disney hotel this time, is there any reason not to go with a package tour (probably Virgin)? Would I save money by trying to organise all the bits and pieces (flights, accommodation, DDP, tickets) separately, or am I as well to let Mr Branson do all the work for me?

regards,
/alan

 

[merlin307]

I'm planning to go (back) to WDW in July 2009. I know that it's a long time away, but I am aware that direct flights from Glasgow sell out really quickly - I was told that it takes around six weeks from the release of the Virgin brochure until all its flights from Glasgow for the summer holidays sell out.

So, I'm getting my planning in early.

Given that I wish to stay in a Disney hotel this time, is there any reason not to go with a package tour (probably Virgin)? Would I save money by trying to organise all the bits and pieces (flights, accommodation, DDP, tickets) separately, or am I as well to let Mr Branson do all the work for me?

regards,
/alan

Hi Alan

We are flying this year for the first time with Virgin from Glasgow and the prices cannot be beaten. We always book everything seperately and normally save up to £500 for the two of us - which just about covers the park tickets.
If you want some useful web sites to check for hotels etc then pm me

 

[Claire L]

I would now say seperately is the way to go unless at a peak time ie Christmas. I found our October trip to be alot cheaper than a VH flydrive, so I am guessing flight and All Star family suite to be alot cheaper if DIY!

Claire

 

[alan]

Okay...so where do you book the accommodation (we're hoping to go to a Disney property)?

Is it directly with Disney, or do you go to some kind of bucket shop or consolidator?

regards,
/alan

 

[Claire L]

Okay...so where do you book the accommodation (we're hoping to go to a Disney property)?

Is it directly with Disney, or do you go to some kind of bucket shop or consolidator?

regards,
/alan

I have always been wary of Disney.co.uk due to their cancellation policy etc, so would book through someone else or direct with disney.

Claire

 

[Jets fan]

Have a look at Dreams Unlimited at the top if this page as I got a quote from them once and it was very good and they were very efficient. I always book seperate flights and accomodation and tickets as it does work out cheaper and gives you more flexibility.

I have also booked with Disney in the US directly on a few occasions as the dollar always works out better this way - have no idea why.

 

[juliebrooks35]

Alan, I've booked with Virgin Holidays before for July and then found out I could have done it far cheaper myself when the scheduled airline seats were released (£1000 cheaper, which is a significant amount) Virgin certainly are not worth the extra money. We are also going back in July 2009 but will be taking the gamble and waiting this time.

I guess it depends on what VH prices are like when the 2009 brochure is released and whether you like the security of a package holiday compared to DIY. Don't get me wrong, I'll be checking out the VH prices myself but unless they have reduced their prices significantly, it's very unlikely I'll book with them.

Whatever you decide, it's certainly great fun planning holidays.

 

[Jakey Rowling]

I'm planning to go (back) to WDW in July 2009. I know that it's a long time away, but I am aware that direct flights from Glasgow sell out really quickly - I was told that it takes around six weeks from the release of the Virgin brochure until all its flights from Glasgow for the summer holidays sell out.

So, I'm getting my planning in early.

Given that I wish to stay in a Disney hotel this time, is there any reason not to go with a package tour (probably Virgin)? Would I save money by trying to organise all the bits and pieces (flights, accommodation, DDP, tickets) separately, or am I as well to let Mr Branson do all the work for me?

regards,
/alan

Alan,
As others have said you will do it cheaper DIYing it and save a decent amount of money.
However as you realise you have to very quick off the mark to get the best prices for the flight only option from Glasgow as the prices ramp up very quickly and can then be an expensive option. (£800 pounds quickly, currently at ~£1K for the limited economy )

One option which can work out OK is booking the flydrive with Virgin Holidays.
This can work out OK depending on the deal, just make your own arrangements for the car.
It gives you the benefit of booking the flights early with just a deposit.
Just depends on what deal is going at the time but keep it in mind.

Even if you decide against the advice to book a package, compare the Virgin car add ons to the "free car" and compare against other sites.

Plenty sites for booking accommodation, it just takes a good few hours searching for the deals.

Whatever you do, don't book tickets with virgin.
Attraction tickets direct, florida tix or many others will win price wise hands down.

 

[pixiepower04]

I'm looking to go out on 22nd September this year and am holding off on booking flights to see if they have a sale in April as last year the prices were £1500 for 2 adults and 2 children, at the moment they are £1800.

However, we need to travel from Scotland and because of the rather stupid dates that Virgin are only flying direct from Glasgow we will need to detour to London, this adds on roughly £300 for whatever codeshare they have, making it £2100.

BUT the flydrive which I also looked at for the same dates is £2300 so that's already £200 more expensive and that's without the car!!!

It is almost cheaper to hire a car from Dundee and drive it to London on a one way hire and fly direct from London than it does to add on the Glasgow bit!

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Hi Alan

I have also used Dreams Unlimited - with the added bonus of them booking your ADR's.

 

[Jakey Rowling]

I'm looking to go out on 22nd September this year and am holding off on booking flights to see if they have a sale in April as last year the prices were £1500 for 2 adults and 2 children, at the moment they are £1800.

However, we need to travel from Scotland and because of the rather stupid dates that Virgin are only flying direct from Glasgow we will need to detour to London, this adds on roughly £300 for whatever codeshare they have, making it £2100.

BUT the flydrive which I also looked at for the same dates is £2300 so that's already £200 more expensive and that's without the car!!!

It is almost cheaper to hire a car from Dundee and drive it to London on a one way hire and fly direct from London than it does to add on the Glasgow bit!

Consider going indirect from GLA or EDI, it's better coming back than going via LGW.
It might not save you money but at least you don't have the gatwick layover.

 

[pixiepower04]

Consider going indirect from GLA or EDI, it's better coming back than going via LGW.
It might not save you money but at least you don't have the gatwick layover.

United Airlines are £2063 but they also go via Heathrow and Dulles. We did this last time with a 4 & 6 year old and 18 hours of travelling was not good!!

American Airlines are £2071 but they go via Gatwick and Dallas. Another massively long journey.

Continental seem to be the best at £1928 and go via New York. However, if we wanted to stop over in New York and then travel to Orlando the next morning and stop in New York overnight on the way back it goes up to £2116!

 

[wayneg]

For Disney hotel. I prefer offsite but we are going to give Port Orleans a try for 3 nights in August, cheapest I could find was Hotelopia, used a 15% discount code that was around and got 10% cashback thru rpoints.com. If I see a cheaper rate or an Annual pass rate is released I can cancel for £15.

 

[gordonandjackie]

Does anyone know what dates Virgin are flying from Glasgow this year? The only dates I can find on web are for 07.

Jackie

 

[alan]

I tried phoning the Virgin "help" line but the lady there didn't seem all that clued up. She said I could book up to eleven months in advance, but that the schedules were only published six months in advance.

When I asked her how I could book a flight without there being a schedule published, she just said that she didn't know!

regards,
/alan

 

[merlin307]

Hi

From the Virgin website I have found the following

4th - 18th April
11th - 25th April
12th - 26th April
27th June - 11th July
4th/5th - 18th/19th July
12th - 26th July
3rd/4th - 17th/18th October
11th - 25th October

All from Glasgow but they all look a little expensive at the moment ........
hope this helps

 

[Jakey Rowling]

United Airlines are £2063 but they also go via Heathrow and Dulles. We did this last time with a 4 & 6 year old and 18 hours of travelling was not good!!

American Airlines are £2071 but they go via Gatwick and Dallas. Another massively long journey.

Continental seem to be the best at £1928 and go via New York. However, if we wanted to stop over in New York and then travel to Orlando the next morning and stop in New York overnight on the way back it goes up to £2116!

Not sure why you would want to stop in new york overnight at all.

Granted it is a long day going there ( not much worse than via LGW in terms of hours though) but on the way back it's far better, though you have to leave orlando earlier in the afternoon but you land in GLA first thing in the morning with no connecting flight.

 

[pixiepower04]

Not sure why you would want to stop in new york overnight at all.

Granted it is a long day going there ( not much worse than via LGW in terms of hours though) but on the way back it's far better, though you have to leave orlando earlier in the afternoon but you land in GLA first thing in the morning with no connecting flight.

Hiya,

We actually had planned to fly into Miami via Heathrow and stay for 3 nights before our scheduled check in day at WDw 3 days later so if we skipped the Miami part we have 3 days to kill so I thought we would stop off in New York for 3 nights and then fly down to Orlando early on our check in day.

On the way back last time we went from Orlando - Dulles - Heathrow - Glasgow and by the time we got home (we live 1.5 hours away) we were so so knackered, all we wanted to do was go to bed but the lounge was filled with Christmas Presents for the kids so we had to stay awake. I think it's because we couldn't sleep on the plane and the kids didn't go to sleep at 'bedtime' so we'd been awake for the whole 18 hours back!

 

[Jakey Rowling]

Hiya,

We actually had planned to fly into Miami via Heathrow and stay for 3 nights before our scheduled check in day at WDw 3 days later so if we skipped the Miami part we have 3 days to kill so I thought we would stop off in New York for 3 nights and then fly down to Orlando early on our check in day.

On the way back last time we went from Orlando - Dulles - Heathrow - Glasgow and by the time we got home (we live 1.5 hours away) we were so so knackered, all we wanted to do was go to bed but the lounge was filled with Christmas Presents for the kids so we had to stay awake. I think it's because we couldn't sleep on the plane and the kids didn't go to sleep at 'bedtime' so we'd been awake for the whole 18 hours back!

New York thing for three days sounds a good idea, just be wary of hotel room prices

Your trip Orlando - Dulles - Heathrow - Glasgow sounds as bad as it was.

If you could do Orlando - New York( or any US city) - Glasgow then this is a good way back.
I've done it with continental to EDI, much better than via London.

One other option might be Flybe to Manchester then Virgin.
The Virgin price is the same just now as LGW, but might change.
No real benefits over Gatwick but just another option.
2A + 2C GLA to MAN with flybe is £176 just now for your dates, not sure if the flight times work.
There is options for EDI as well.

http://www.flybe.com/

 

[wayneg]

New York thing for three days sounds a good idea, just be wary of hotel room prices

We did 4 nights in New York once, then 18 nights in Orlando. Hotel cost us more for the 4 nights than the 18 nights.
Stayed at Crowne Paza Times Sq. Room overlooked times Sq and a view of Empire state building, it was perfect. £600 for 4 nights but what an amazing city.