Jan/Feb 2011

[CdnCarrie]

Any guesses as to when to expect offers or discounts for this time of year?

 

[BELLEDOZER]

From Jan to April DL offers a deal on Hopper Passes ex 5 days for the price of 3 or adults pay kids price. They may offer deals on the DL hotels, but IMHO they are for the DL hotels, which are alot more expensive than the hotels offsite. You can get a 15% discount with Howard Johnsons as you are a member of the DIS board, and if you are interested in booking with them the code is R2. You are also able to get an AP discount of 20% if you have an Annual Pass. Alaska may offer kids fly for free, but once again it's usually tied to the DL hotels, and when you factor in the cost for staying at the DL hotels, the savings of staying offsite outweigh the deal the Alaska. Should be seeing some the discounts announced around Sept/Oct this year. We are planning on visiting DL the first week of Feb, and may see you there. Hope that this helps you out. Have a great day

 

[CdnCarrie]

We're planning on staying at Paradise Pier not offsite. And we would be flying Air Canada or Northwest I think (haven't bought tickets yet).

Our passes come from Airmiles unless a package is the best way to go. Just getting anxious to see what kind of deals will be offered.

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I would advise you to check out Westjet as well for fares. Westjet and Air Canada tend to get into price wars, and it drives their prices down as a result of this. I found this out at the beginning of the month, when I snagged airfare to LAX for $79CDN each way for my trip to DL in Oct. So there are deals out there, and if you check their websites often, you might snag a seat sale as I did and save some money. My instincts are thinking to watch their websites around the last week of August, first couple of weeks of Sept for potiental seat sales for both airlines.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I LOVE Westjet! Always use them if possible. However I really want to fly into Orange County rather then LAX to avoid the long drive after an already long day with young kids. We did this in 2005 and were impressed with John Wayne Airport.

Still unsure how we will use our airmiles. We will have either enough for 4 plane tickets plus all the passes (and Legoland tickets!) or I can pay OOP for a seat sale, book with Marlin Travel and pay off a package of room and passes with our Airmiles.

Won't really know which will be the best way of using the Airmiles until Disney releases it's offers for the winter. I'm just so impatient!

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I've got 2 trips planned 4 months apart, first a solo trip to DL in Oct, then a surprise family trip in Feb/11. We are undecided if we want to fly or drive (a 3 day drive from where we live). Kids haven't flown before, and don't know which will be a better fit for us. Drove down to the mouse last year in Feb, and while the days were long, the kids were good with it. Any decision that you make will be a good one, as it will be a good fit with your family. Am a severe overplanner myself, and am impatiently waiting for the info on the TOTP ticket and events, so that I can finish planning that part of my trip in OCt. Have a great day, and hopefully the winter promotions with come out early Sept, so I can start planning my Feb/11 trip.