Is there really any good reason to plan far in advance?

[mariezp]

Boy, I'll say there is! I just have to share what I saved today by booking early. My trip will be in November. I originally booked my room in January. The rate was not on their website at the time but they did go ahead and book our room for $129 a night. I have called back once since to add 3 days to our ressies. At that time the rate for the extra days were $179, $179 and $219. I was just happy to have saved what I did earlier so I went ahead and booked. I called today to adjust the dates FOR THE LAST TIME. I dropped the last 3 days and added one day to the beginning of our dates. The price currently showing online for the day I added was $219 but the man gave it to me for the $129! So I dropped all the higher rate days and ended up with $129 all the way for 14 nights! According to the current rates on their website I saved $90 on one day, $30 on 4 days, and $50 on 9 days! For a grand total of $660 for making a phone call 10 months in advance! I'm feeling pretty good about my obsessive planning right now!

Also, I had gotten a quote for limo pickup at the airport. For booking early they upgraded me from a 8 passenger to a 10 passenger! Now I don't have to worry if they can get all our luggage in the car!

Oh, yeah I probably saved another $100 in room taxes!

 

[SmoothDisneyH2O]

Boy, I'll say there is! I just have to share what I saved today by booking early. My trip will be in November. I originally booked my room in January. The rate was not on their website at the time but they did go ahead and book our room for $129 a night. I have called back once since to add 3 days to our ressies. At that time the rate for the extra days were $179, $179 and $219. I was just happy to have saved what I did earlier so I went ahead and booked. I called today to adjust the dates FOR THE LAST TIME. I dropped the last 3 days and added one day to the beginning of our dates. The price currently showing online for the day I added was $219 but the man gave it to me for the $129! So I dropped all the higher rate days and ended up with $129 all the way for 14 nights! According to the current rates on their website I saved $90 on one day, $30 on 4 days, and $50 on 9 days! For a grand total of $660 for making a phone call 10 months in advance! I'm feeling pretty good about my obsessive planning right now!

Also, I had gotten a quote for limo pickup at the airport. For booking early they upgraded me from a 8 passenger to a 10 passenger! Now I don't have to worry if they can get all our luggage in the car!

Which limo service did you book? I was looking into Harolds limo service but am still unsure.

 

[imjen]

Wow, that's a huge savings already. Where are you staying? I definitely agree in booking early if you can. We booked our hotel in February for our October trip and I just purchased the airline tickets on sale. It pays to plan ahead where possible!

 

[disneychrista]

I always book my room as soon as possible (never a disney hotel though) and then check every so often and rebook / cancel if the rate drops. Since hotel rates are based on occupancy / expected occupancy the earlier you book the better.

 

[mariezp]

Which limo service did you book? I was looking into Harolds limo service but am still unsure.

I am trying U-R-There Limousine Service based on a recommendation off of someone on the board, I forget who. When I called today I was really impressed with the guy on the phone. I am not sure they were the cheapest but I figured a recommendation was worth quite a bit. Plus they meet you in the terminal holding a sign with your name on it. How cool is that? Our teenagers are going to get a real kick out of that as well as riding in the limo. It was $127 from John Wayne airport to our hotel. We paid $50 last year just for a crummy old cab. There will be more of us than can fit in one cab so I just figured we would travel in style.

Wow, that's a huge savings already. Where are you staying? I definitely agree in booking early if you can. We booked our hotel in February for our October trip and I just purchased the airline tickets on sale. It pays to plan ahead where possible!

We will be staying at the Anaheim Desert Inn. We always stay in their largest room so I am very pleased about the savings.

Do tell about how to save on airline tickets! Which carrier did you go with? My DH insists on going American. I have been watching for months now and it has been up and down by about $50. I am about to crack though and go ahead and make my purchase and just take my chances that they won't go down any lower. We will be traveling with another family who just confirmed the dates so now I can get serious!

 

[jemilah]

I locked in my Ent. rate at the HOJO for Nov 30 - Dec 3, can't take a chance on the rate going up!

 

[avalon451]

I locked in my Ent. rate at the HOJO for Nov 30 - Dec 3, can't take a chance on the rate going up!

Me too, for Oct. 12-16th. We got the HoJo Ent. rate for a deluxe 2 queen room, balcony, Disney facing: $74 + tax. That's $46 off the rack rate nightly. They're getting a brand new pool area.

Hooray for us obsessive pre-planners!

 

[mariezp]

Well, I couldn't take it anymore! I booked our airline tickets! Put them on my Disney Visa which will rack me us some extra reward dollars to spend. We overpaid our taxes so should be able to get it paid off with that! So that's the room, airfare, and limo! It is so great getting that part done. Now just the waiting.......