booking a package or not

[nee]

I usually book a regular package to a disney hotel, but when I just want to take my 9 yr old she ends up as an adult, making the trip expensive
Any advice appreciated on booking seperate accomadation etc in a disney hotel as I won't drive there
We would go for two weeks over any school holiday and our nearest airport is Birmingham

 

[#1MMFan]

nee,

We took the plunge after doing package holidays for years. Yes, you just need to have confidence and a little knowledge about the place helps.

We book a flight - usually through British Airways who obviously do connecting flights. It goes via Gatwick which is nice and flies into MCO (orlando's main airport - in case you've been using Sanford, MCO is much nicer and bigger).

We book accommodation on a room only basis through Dreams Unlimited who are very helpful and check on discounts etc. You can pay them online and you don't pay any commission to them.

We tend to use Mears to get between the airport and the hotel. We take a number of pieces of luggage, and having had a dodgy experience with a large taxi not coping well in Toronto, we feel it is a small price to pay for no problems with the luggage! You can pay for them on arrival on the lower floor of MCO. Very easy.

As for park passes... you could buy them there; alternatively we purchase annual passes over the phone and this potentially saves us money on accommodation, merchandise and other things while there.

It really isn't as difficult as it sounds!

John

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

Another vote for doing DIY holidays rather than package. We've always arranged our own flights/accommodation/tickets/etc, and with helpful boards like this one there is no shortage of independent advice and wisdom. Although we spend about the same amount of money on DIY as we would on a package, we do feel that we get tbetter value for money (better quality hotels, upgraded tickets, etc).

Regards

Rob

 

[Hilary]

Have to agree with Rob that DIY doesn't always save you money, but I feel I have more 'control' over the end product. With packages you usually end up compromising something or other.

Dreams Unlimited and Tiffany Town Cars have worked very well for us in the past for accommodations and airport transfers respectively.

 

[Martin S]

We have found that the Package deals work out OK value if you are two adults travelling and sharing a room. As soon as you have something different, ie 2 adults and a child or one adult and a child it works out cheaper to do it yourself.

Also as others have said you can get exactly what you want rather than compromising.

The one major advantage for Holiday firms is that they have reps to help out if things go wrong. But if you buy a fly drive with someone like Virgin as part of you DIY package you get this service anyway.

Have fun whatever you decide.

 

[pauldents]

We usually go for a package rather than a DIY for the following reasons :-

1. Loyalty club (frequent Virgin) - 10 % off price straight away and other benefits.
2. Another 10% discount when booking on line through Virgin.
3. Special offers on packages on Virgin website.
4. There is always someone (ie rep) to help you out with whatever you may need and to fall back on . For instance when I DIYed it to Orlando in 2001 from Barbados. We got stuck in Miami (due to Sept 11th) and had to foot the bill for hotels for several days, not knowing what was happening etc. Whereas if i was on a package, Virgin would have taken care of this and kept me upto date.
5. All your eggs are in one basket.
6. We are on holiday and don't really wan't to be worrying about whether or not the hotel has our confirmation of our reservation !
Paul

 

[Muppet]

Paul

We are FVC members so how do you get the 10% for that when you book online? In effect you get 20% off, is that right.

 

[pauldents]

Yes Muppet that is correct. You can combine the discounts, even though it says on the Virgin website that discounts cannot be used together. Infact on our last trip we combined three discounts to get a 40% discount in total. At the time Virgin had a special offer on Universal hotels. By clicking a link on the Universal website we managed to get a 20% discount. When we booked it they applied the 10% online booking discount, then amended the invoice for the FVC 10% discount later. In total 40%.

Paul

 

[Muppet]

So you book online and then do you call up to get the FVC discount added?

Very worthwhile to know as we are going to Jamaica and Vegas next year.