Booking 14 or 21 days in villa, and advantage to booking a couple of nights in a Disney Property first?

OldComber

Earning My Ears
Joined
Apr 11, 2018
Hi
I’m thinking of booking a 2 or 3 week trip to WDW in late July/Early Aug 2023.
Ive a few questions, and would appreciate any and all advice from the collective wisdom here.

1. Although we (there’s two families going), would like to stay off site and share a villa, is there any advantage in booking a night(s) at the start of our holiday in a Disney property - eg, will it unlock earlier booking of rides, restaurants or permit longer park hours? And are these benefits available for the duration of our stay, or only whilst in the Disney property?

2. We’re from Northern Ireland, so any Florida’s trip normally requires a connection to MAN, GTW or LHR etc. Is there cost savings in airport tax/duty, if we were to fly from DUB in Southern Ireland?

3. When would you recommend we book the components of this trip? Eg, are there any flight sales we should hold out for, or do Disney dump any discounts or incentives at any point in the year?

Thanks
 
Reply to No 2

You are only an Hour + from Dublin Airport

Look into taking The Aircoach bus from Belfast ( stops at Terminal 2 which is your stop & goes every Hour ) This saves you Time AND Stress

AND you will do Immigration & customs in Dublin This allows you to arrive in USA as A Domestic Passenger so No Immigration Queue in Orlando

Also You will have Duty Free available to buy on outward journey

After Securit area )y along with Duty Free Shops there are Eating Places

OR Stop at the Apple Green Service Station on the way before the airport ( Rt Hand side from Belfast )

If staying at a Villa you will need a car as transport bus service is Not There

Rentalcars .com , Cartrawler.com Or Sixt car hire ALWAYS PRE PAY for Car Hire & Have your VOUCHER

Hope this Helps

From a Cork person ( A former Villa Owner on Hwy 27 /192 area )
 
2. We’re from Northern Ireland, so any Florida’s trip normally requires a connection to MAN, GTW or LHR etc. Is there cost savings in airport tax/duty, if we were to fly from DUB in Southern Ireland?
I live in Hampshire and I'm going via Dublin this year.
As Woodview says it's hard to see why you'd want to go via LHR, etc unless it was a lot cheaper or you are obsessively unionist :) .

Savings-wise you just need to run the numbers on your options. There are so many variables like exact dates, number of travellers, service preferences, etc, that it's hard for anyone else to say for sure what will be cheapest - if that is really important.
Expedia, opodo or the like can give you fairly quick and dirty answers, though probably not this far out as flights aren't usually opened till 11 months or so ahead.
 
Thanks Both - Yes, I think. I'll most likely be travelling from DUB then. although a negative of DUB rather than GB is the smaller quantity of suitable flights and finding something that works best for us.
I'd seen some sites like TUI are offering holidays now for Jul/Aug 23. But I think better to wait until within 11 months and try and book components separately.
 


is there any advantage in booking a night(s) at the start of our holiday in a Disney property
Absent any other advice I'd think probably not. Currently I think you get early booking of ADRs and 30 mins early park entry, but I'd expect the latter at least to be linked to your stay on property. As such I don't think the cost-benefit would really make sense given the price of Disney resorts.
Of course in 15 months time things could be different ... again :confused3

I'd seen some sites like TUI are offering holidays now for Jul/Aug 23.
Disney UK are offering packages now too. Since flights only aren't normally available until 11 months out I assume TAs have block booking arrangements with the airline and use estimated flight times (since they often move them around a bit anyway).

If Expedia, etc, can do the same then one way to get an idea of likely flight costs would be to look for a particular resort package but try different departure locations and airlines. Then any difference in cost should be in the flights, though you'll need to add your travel to-from that start point in as well.
 
Then any difference in cost should be in the flights
Bearing in mind that flights can cost quite different from day to day when self-booking.
I actually extended my 2022 trip by a day as the return cost on my chosen return date was literally double the day each side - made more sense to me to spend that on more holiday (others might save big by having a shorter one).
 
The one benefit from staying on-site that might be of some use for a day or two is taking advantage of the ability to purchase ILL at 7am before off-site guests. ROTR availability for that is usually gone by the time off-site guests get access. So getting a room on-site for a day or two might just be able to tick off a park or two with shorter lines by taking advantage of early park entry and earlier access to ILL.

But as others have said, there isn't any benefit for the whole stay. So not sure I think it is worth it.
 



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