Flights from Uk

[grahamsgirl]

Hi Everyone
I posted this on UK DVC board, but was advised to try here.
Am thinking of investing in DVC Animal kingdom Lodge Villas, but wondered if there were any specific sites that you use for cheaper flights.
Just wonder if DVC will be cost effective or we are just better sticking to package deals.We are thinking of last 2 weeks in Aug from Manchester.
When do Virgin and BA have flight sales? What price would I expect to pay? Is it cheaper to book on an American site for example. Any info would be greatly received.
Sorry for all the questions just trying to weigh things up.
TIA

 

[princess jackson]

Hi,

We have DVC home resort of SSR, we generally use a flydrive using either Virgin/Thomson/First Choice etc.

Must admit we found buying into DVC the best thing we have done, we used our points last year and had a 4night DCL cruise, and next year we are using 08/09 UY and doing a 7 night DCL cruise and staying hopefully fingers crossed AKV for the other week.

We have also used points and stayed at DLP for 5 nights.

 

[Goofyish]

August is traditionally an expensive time for flights due to the school holidays, so even the 'cheaper' flights will be expensive compared to term time flights.
The high demand also means that last minute deals and discounts are rare.

You could try TCD, they are usually a little cheaper than BA & Virgin, or look at indirect flights with US operators.
Also check teletext for last minute deals and special offers.

If you have flown with VA before recently then it may be worth joinign the Virgin Flying Club to earn flying points (you can add retrospective points if within a certain time). You can then try for 'miles + money' flights which are a little cheaper than the standard fare - although for August they can be hard to get.

We looked into investing in DVC and for us it was not a good deal as we would not be able to afford the flights, park tickets, food and spending etc. to go often enough to make use of our DVC points.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

We tend to book fly drive with Virgin, never tried other carriers.
Summer holiday's traditionally can be expensive, travel companies are not daft and they know many are restricted to school holidays.

Late bargains, may be your best bet but these are not always available.

DVC is a personal choice, for us we did consider it but for many reasons it wouldn't be practical as we prefer the facilities a villa gives us and having been many times if we were going to go for it we should have done a few years ago.
It doesn't necessarily save you money, not in the short term anyway.

Personally I would rather pay more for flights and not do DVC, booking well in advance.

 

[wayneg]

As others have said you need to look at the costs for you and what you want to do. Personally we love staying offsite, LBV area as we spend more time away from Disney. Places like Courtyard by Marriott at £25/nights is more than adequate for us but we spend no time there its only to sleep.
Also go for over 50 days a year so DVC costs would be ridiculous.
We do very well with Virgin, use their Miles for discounts or free flights, go Easter using miles and Money then August free flight. Xmas going with VH package, cheaper than flight only.

 

[dstiles]

We bought into DVC a couple of years back and own SSR and haven't regretted it for a minute. I think it helps though if you can be flexible about the times of year that you can go. We tend to go at times when we can maximise the use of our points, although now we've got a 9 month old baby it will only be a few years before we are restricted to the school holidays.

We normally fly Virgin and are members of the flying club. We normally book using miles plus money, but we are starting to get close to having enough points for a couple of free flights largely due to the points that we have accrued from our Virgin Atlantic Amex Credit card.

We've also had some pretty good deal using Airmiles.

 

[mikki.young]

I spend 6-8 weeks a year in WDW. I joined DVC way back in 92 and have been more than happy with it. I think it depends on what accommodation you normally go for - if deluxe then DVC is probably for you. If value then probably not. Flight prices are a factor and I have varied how I have dealt with these over the years. Fly drive has sometimes been cheaper and sometimes not. Disney's magical express gives more options with a disney car care pickup option part way through the trip. Recently we have been using discounts with Virgin flying Club.

In summary flights are an issue, but not an insurmountable one.

 

[rosiejo]

Hi - I use kayak.co.uk it's great to check out all the flight options.

Also you can use VA and see the prices in surrounding dates so you can be sure to travel at the cheapest times.

It's sometimes cheaper if you don't fly non-stop so consider that as an option.

 

[grahamsgirl]

Thanks for all your input guys, you have been a great help !