How do you go about booking your trip?

[wannagoback]

Do you use a travel agent, book it yourself, or go through the Disney company?

It sounds like a lot of you arrange things on your own (hotel, transportation, etc). Do you purchase travel insurance? And if so, from where?

Thanks!

 

[Jenn1116]

For Feb my friends and I book through disney by phone and spent $1500 for 3 adults and 3 kids for 5 days. The trip I'm taking in dec I booked myself directly with the hotel (Hojos) at the entertainment rate which is fab! and got tickets online from disneyland.com at a discount for getting e-tickets. hotel and tickets will be about $990 together (3 adults, 1 kid for 5 days) and I plan to upgrade to APs for me and DD so any trips the yr we have aps I will be booking myself 'cause there's no need for a package.

And we always drive down so need for airfare, which might be a benefit of going the package route.

I've always declined insurance (usually offered with packages).

 

[JadeDarkstar]

ok check hojos out. see if you think the ent rate would work for you. when are you going.
If not you could call disney and they give you a package 3 ppl 5day meal plan 5day ticket 6night at camolot inn last year was 1600

this year im doing tickets and meal plan 1060 (2 adults one child) and booked hojos seprate haveing ent rate avalibule i got premium room with firework view for 75night.

also could check with getawaytoday.com.

I wouldnt hire a travle agent eathier get a package from disney or getaway or unlimited *points up* dissboards travle agent*
Or make it your self.
I alway do transpertation on my own much cheaper

 

[jasy]

For our trip in January I booked everything myself. And I am glad I've already booked since our flights have gone up over $250 already (United). I also purchase my park tickets from the Disney website. I booked directly with the hotel (CCI)

As for travel insurance, my health insurance through my employer covers health (incase I get sick or need to go to the hospital) and then I purchase trip cancellation etc. from my financial institution.

 

[avalon451]

Many people here have found it cheaper to book separately. You can check out packages and see what they will cost, and then try airfare, hotel and tickets separately and see if you come out ahead.

Many hotels will cost less if you call them directly (in house reservations, not a national reservation line). Airfare is often much cheaper when you can check out the difference in cost for different days of the week, or changing the airport you are flying into near DL (there are 4; LAX, SNA, LGB or ONT; LAX and LGB are usually cheapest, but SNA is closest).

Sometimes you can get discounted tickets from companies like Ares, GetAwayToday, or AAA.

You can buy trip insurance through InsureMyTrip.com. That site compares many different plans and coverages and shows them to you in an easy way to understand. It worked well for us.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Well we just book a hotel since we drive ourselves and have APs.. But before our APs we used Walt Disney Travel Co. I liked it since we got the extras and everything came in a neat little package. It was a little more expensive than booking separately though..

 

[wannagoback]

Thanks for your info. I took DD3 in march and my mom and sister joined us. I booked with my mom's travel agent for that trip. I would like to go with DH and my other DD2 in October 2009 so for now I'm just playing around with my options.

I've read all the praise on here about HOJO and I would like to stay there. We stayed at Castle Inn for our March trip and it was okay, but for the entertainment price at HOJO, I would much rather go there. DH says he will only go if we can stay at GCH, but I would rather spend the money on a longer trip.

I guess that I'm afraid that if I book by myself, something will go wrong and I won't have anyone to turn to. I'm afraid I'll get stranded at the airport or something because I messed up my shuttle.

For those that fly in, how do you get from airport to hotel? I would fly into SNA or LGB from Seattle. We had a shuttle van that took us right to our hotel. There was another family in the van, but it was a quick easy trip. I don't know what company it was.

Thanks for the info!

 

[avalon451]

WannaGo, we're in Seattle, too, and LGB is usually much cheaper to fly into from SeaTac. We saved about 100 bucks apiece on our airfare by going there. LGB is only a couple miles farther away than SNA, but for some reason it's more expensive for ground transportation. You can take a taxi for a flat rate of $40 TO your hotel (on the way back they run the meter and it will cost more, depending on the traffic can be $45-60). Since there's 4 of you, that's probably your best option. You could also take Super Shuttle; it's $35 for the first person and $9 each additional person. (here's a coupon for $2 off per person, each way; it's way down the list http://www.anaheimoc.org/Articles/Archive/Webpage10153.asp

You can go ahead and book HoJo for your dates, trying to get in on weekdays and avoid holidays, that way you're more likely to end up getting the Ent rate. If the Ent rate shows up for your dates sometime before your trip, you can call them up and switch your booking to the discounted rate. There were lots of October dates available earlier this summer, so I'm betting you'll be able to get the days you want if you avoid weekends, Halloween itself and Columbus Day.

Hope that helps!

 

[mvaneps]

I have done it several different ways. For the tickets to the park I usually buy them directly from the Disneyland website. I think they have internet pricing which is just a tad cheaper.

For airfare and hotel I have booked both through Alaska Air one time and got a pretty good deal. Most of the time I will just book the airfare online and then go directly to the hotel to book my reservations there. I have looked around at travelocity and hotels.com but usually if I call the hotel they will give me a similar price and I feel a little more comfortable with that.

We usually rent a car and have had some success booking throught the costco website if you are a member there. We have also just searched around at travelocity or directly with the rental car places to find the best price. It is almost always cheaper if you can book the rental as far in advance as possible. The nice thing about the car rental is that you can keep checking and if you find a better deal you can cancel your original reservation pretty close to the arrival date.


On one of our longer trips we booked a good neighbor hotel and the park tickets right through the disneyland website. One of the nice things about doing it this way is you pay like a third up front and you can just add money as you go along. So if you book several months in advance you can chip away at the cost buy paying a little bit each time you have some extra cash and it doesn't seem like such a big expense at one time.

I haven't ever gone through a travel agent.

 

[mvaneps]

Oh yeah, one other thing that was already mentioned is always compare the price to SNA (John Wayne Airport) against flying to LGB (Long Beach Airport). They are really pretty close to the same distance away. We favor flying Jetblue which goes to LGB so I always check there first but I always check the price of Southwest which goes to SNA. Alaska Airlines seems to be a little bit higher from my location but they do have specials sometimes.

If it were me and I had until sometime in 2009 I would book through the Disneyland website my tickets and hotel just because I find it easier to pay as I go but I am not the best at saving up for a trip. I would then book airfare on the internet on my own.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

also if ent rate isnt avalibule you might be able to get the dis rate (i think its 15% off i always get confused )

 

[mt mommy]

I have always had GREAT luck with Getaway today and better pricing than Disney website.

 

[azdisneylover]

One other place to book a vacation deal is with Costco.

 

[Queenbillabong]

And if you're flying out of Seattle, check out Virgin America to LAX. We got FAB prices ($79 each way/person). The planes look a lot nicer than Alaska and have more amenities as well.....

You can use the Disneyland Express to get from the airport to your hotel or a shuttle service - Prime Time Shuttle, Super Shuttle (yikes - scary for us ) or a taxi (which I think is way TOO expensive - but direct).

Have a great trip!!