DIY holidays August

[pigby]

Decided from other comments on this board - especially RobRar that last two weeks in August is the way to go. Always booked a package before but seen some good deals on hotels for August this year - so here's hoping - can sort that out nearer the time.

But when should we start shopping around for flights - done one or two searches - including Virgin's flydrive (basic car no insurance - in other words just the flight - £1903 - WOW is it really this expensive?) We prefer to go from Manchester but not essential. Anyone any thoughts - or anyone had a really good deal this August and when did you book?

 

[rob@rar.org.uk]

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[rob@rar.org.uk]

Flight-only prices get released 330 days in advance. Flydrives are released earlier than that becuase they get treated the same way as package holidays by the airlines/travel agents. I always book my flights before my accommodation as it can sometimes be difficult to get the seats on the dates you want to travel even if you book very early. Accommodation, on the other hand, is always possible to book.

Whenever we've done the comparisions for August holidays, we've found it cheaper to get a flydrive and to take out our own insurance for the car hire than it is to make seperate flight and car hire bookings. YMMV.

Regards

Rob

 

[Disney owl]

We wnt this August with Travel City Direct We had to pay for 6 adult tickets (2 adults & 4 kids) , so we went for the cheapest option.

They were definately the cheapest we could find for direct flights.

We flew from Manchester with Air Atlanta, they were older planes, no seatback TVs but good staff. had no problems at all.

We booked our car & villa separately , though TCD did us a price for them all too.

Booking our villa ourselves meant that we knew exactly which estate it was on .

 

[suei]

We got a great deal this August (8th-28th) with Delta flying from Gatwick to Orlando International via Atlanta for £1700-3 adults and 1 child. We booked them in September 2002 on the day they were released for sale. Don't know where our travel agent found the deal, as I couldn't find it on Delta's website! Although the flight was not direct, we didn't wait more than 2 hours either way for the connecting flights, and the great advantage was that we cleared customs in Atlanta and so walked straight out at Orlando.
We booked all our accomodation and our park tickets on the web (without problems), and used a car hire company (Skycars) that we've used many times in various countries including the US. We like the flexibility organising the trip ourselves gives us, and also the fact that the money we save by not booking a package means we have more to spend when we get there! And you can save a lot too!
Parks were fairly quiet the last week of August, as most US kids were back in school, so it's definitely a good time to go. Wish I could go again next year!