Looking to book Summer 2011, any advice? :)

[US020]

Hey all

Wondering if you guys and girls can help me out.

Looking to book for summer 2011 for 2 or 3 weeks (depending on the price difference of the two).

I've had a look and would like to stay in either the Disney Dolphin or Disney Swan (appear to be the decent hotels which allow the disney extra hours and offer a good amount of facilities).

I've been orlando multiple times, but never stayed in a disney hotel which allows the magic hours, which is why this time round we really want to go via disney so we aren't as stressed out!

I've been through a lot of sites, and the pricing is going from one to the other. I've tried pricing from LHR to Miami, then book car and drive up etc. Then when I return it makes me think I am going mad and the prices goes up.


Could anyone possibly help me try to book something from the 3rd (ish) or august for 2-3 weeks from LGW/LHR staying in either Disney Dolphin/Swan? (excl. car).

I hope you can help me out here, it would be much appriciated.

I also don't mind booking with multiple companies if its cheaper.

Thank you

 

[wayneg]

My 1st thoughts are why Swan & Dolphin?
Yes they are on Disney property but not owned by Disney so not included in the free Dining being offered for next summer.
If you stayed in a Deluxe Disney resort you get the free regular dining plan(moderates free Quick service DP)
An extra offer they are doing is 42% off OKW or SSR, many of us are staying at these 2 resorts because of the offer. £117/night including DDP for upto 4 people. Only 3 of us and our free food equals what we pay for the room.
Many people enjoy Swan and Dolphin but check out other deals in Disney resort before choosing. Prices easy to obtain here. http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/

Will try get around to looking for flights soon

 

[wayneg]

I double checked but as I said the deals thats been around for indirect (Indirect to JAX) have ended, they were a great price for about £360pp but quite inconvenient.

Indirect all look about £650+ so best I can find just now is Gatwick into Tampa with BA 3rd~24th August at £717pp with Netflights.com Same dates into MCO are £911pp so well worth the extra 15-20 mins from Tampa(airport we are using again next month)

Don't know how long these will stay at this price, if you book 1 day earlier or 1 day later the price jumps to £785pp

Doubt you will do a lot better than £717pp for direct flights in August, probably a little cashback thru Quidco also.

How many of you?
A couple could fly with BA direct, OKW for £4429 incl 2 x 21 day tix and free DDP. (less Quidco for both Flights and hotel)
Exactly same dates on VH into MCO as a package £7005

Description Price (£) Qty Total (£)
Adult price 2921.00 2 5842.00
Atol protection charge 2.50 2 5.00
Fuel apd & Resort tax 239.00 2 478.00
Additional economy supplement 141.00 2 282.00
Additional economy supplement 96.00 2 192.00
Excursions 550.00 1 550.00
Online booking discount -343.55 1 -343.55
Total for your holiday £7005.45

 

[US020]

My 1st thoughts are why Swan & Dolphin?
Yes they are on Disney property but not owned by Disney so not included in the free Dining being offered for next summer.
If you stayed in a Deluxe Disney resort you get the free regular dining plan(moderates free Quick service DP)
An extra offer they are doing is 42% off OKW or SSR, many of us are staying at these 2 resorts because of the offer. £117/night including DDP for upto 4 people. Only 3 of us and our free food equals what we pay for the room.
Many people enjoy Swan and Dolphin but check out other deals in Disney resort before choosing. Prices easy to obtain here.

Will try get around to looking for flights soon

Hi thanks for your reply

Re: Swan & Dolphin - they looked good on inital impressions and thought it was a pretty decent hotel to stay at for being 'inside' Disney?.

Re free dining plan, whats the "quick service DP" you mention?

Also 42% off OKW/SSR (whats that?) sorry you also mention DDP? Not sure what that is either.

Sorry about that, not very good at this bargain hunting!

I double checked but as I said the deals thats been around for indirect (Indirect to JAX) have ended, they were a great price for about £360pp but quite inconvenient.

Indirect all look about £650+ so best I can find just now is Gatwick into Tampa with BA 3rd~24th August at £717pp with Netflights.com Same dates into MCO are £911pp so well worth the extra 15-20 mins from Tampa(airport we are using again next month)

Don't know how long these will stay at this price, if you book 1 day earlier or 1 day later the price jumps to £785pp

Doubt you will do a lot better than £717pp for direct flights in August, probably a little cashback thru Quidco also.

How many of you?
A couple could fly with BA direct, OKW for £4429 incl 2 x 21 day tix and free DDP. (less Quidco for both Flights and hotel)
Exactly same dates on VH into MCO as a package £7005

Description Price (£) Qty Total (£)
Adult price 2921.00 2 5842.00
Atol protection charge 2.50 2 5.00
Fuel apd & Resort tax 239.00 2 478.00
Additional economy supplement 141.00 2 282.00
Additional economy supplement 96.00 2 192.00
Excursions 550.00 1 550.00
Online booking discount -343.55 1 -343.55
Total for your holiday £7005.45

Thanks, just tried netflights.com and get £926 via BA (direct to Tampa).. not sure how you maange to get £717pp? Or is there some sort of code or some way of doing it that I don't know?

And yes, I agree VH have bumped up ridiculously, they used to be £800pp in xmas but now they want double.. and mention 'we've taken off what we can etc' they've doubled!

Its likely to be in total 6 of us, but initially just pricing it for 4 as 2 are undecided (3 adults, 1 child).

Thank you for your help

 

[wayneg]

Netflights site is playing up. Went thru Kayak.co.uk to search for cheapest now direct with BA is cheapest at £738pp Netflights lower price might be back tomorrow. No codes needed.

Quick service dining plan includes 2 counter service meals & 2 snacks per day plus a refillable resort mug.

Regular DDP(Disney Dining Plan) includes 1 counter service, 1 table service and 1 snack per day
http://wdtc.disneyinternational.com/Special-Offers.asp?ID=14

Sorry its 45% off not 42% link here http://wdtc.disneyinternational.com/Special-Offers.asp?ID=16
If you look on Disney.com at rack rate for Old Key West or Saratoga Springs it will show $295+tax per night(approx £215/night) with this deal you get a big discount bringing it down to £117/night plus you get free regular DDP for upto 4 people.
This will be the 3rd August in a row we have taken this offer, its a great deal.

Detailed brochures for both Dining plans
Quick Service
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...altDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011QuickService.pdf

Regular
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/me...alog/WaltDisneyWorld/en_us/PDF/2011Dining.pdf

These prices are for a studio which hold 4 people, if 6 of you then you would need a 2 bed villa which are massive but slightly cheaper than 2 studios. You can see what the 2 bed villa looks like in post #17 in this thread http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2607662&page=2

 

[Rohais]

Honestly, I (like Wayne) suggest staying at a Disney resort where you would qualify for free dining

We're staying at POFQ, where we qualify for the free quick service dining plan. DF and I have upgraded to the regular dining plan for a total of £325, for 18 nights. Its all paid for before we even step onto the plane. The only thing we have to worry about in WDW is tips and which lovely bakery goodies to enjoy first!

Thats gives us 18 table service credits each, 18 counter service credits each, 18 snack credits each, to use how we wish during the duration of our stay.

I've totted up that the equivalent, paid with cash, would put us waaay (very waaaaay) over the £1000 mark so a bargain in my eyes.

It would seem that Wayne's suggestion of a villa at OKW or SSR would be the best option for you. It really is a fantastic offer!

 

[US020]

Netflights site is playing up. Went thru Kayak.co.uk to search for cheapest now direct with BA is cheapest at £738pp Netflights lower price might be back tomorrow. No codes needed.

Quick service dining plan includes 2 counter service meals & 2 snacks per day plus a refillable resort mug.

Regular DDP(Disney Dining Plan) includes 1 counter service, 1 table service and 1 snack per day

Sorry its 45% off not 42% link here
If you look on Disney.com at rack rate for Old Key West or Saratoga Springs it will show $295+tax per night(approx £215/night) with this deal you get a big discount bringing it down to £117/night plus you get free regular DDP for upto 4 people.
This will be the 3rd August in a row we have taken this offer, its a great deal.

Detailed brochures for both Dining plans
Quick Service

Regular


These prices are for a studio which hold 4 people, if 6 of you then you would need a 2 bed villa which are massive but slightly cheaper than 2 studios. You can see what the 2 bed villa looks like in post #17 in this thread

Thanks for the reply.

Getting ~£750 through Kayak - thanks for that! .

First, after seeing the photos of the 2 bed villa are massive! I think I'll definatley be choosing that it looks amazing thanks very much for the reccomendation.


I'd like to ask a bit more about the dining plans if thats ok.

So by booking you get the Quick Service Dining Plan & Regular Dining Plan?

I'm not sure how the credits work - is it really that much food? Trying to gauge how 'good' it is and a bit confused on the amounts if you know what I mean?

Judging by what you guys are saying its quite decent, but looking to gauge how decent as I'm finding it hard to get a perspective on it!

Thank you for the replies

Edit:

Can you mention how the food works? Pricing it up makes it quite good value actually like you're saying.

So does that mean I will be able to obtain Breakfast & Lunch (Quick Service) and Dinner (Regular Service) - and that is included when staying at the SSR Villa?

So does it work such as 2 tokens for Quick Service and 1 Token for Regular Service - which can then be 'spent' in any of the listed restaurants?

So are all meals worth 1 token each (I mean, theres no adding x amount of $$ to upgrade for a 'steak' meal?)?

Hope you can help Thanks.

 

[Li-sa]

Edit:

Can you mention how the food works? Pricing it up makes it quite good value actually like you're saying.

So does that mean I will be able to obtain Breakfast & Lunch (Quick Service) and Dinner (Regular Service) - and that is included when staying at the SSR Villa?

So does it work such as 2 tokens for Quick Service and 1 Token for Regular Service - which can then be 'spent' in any of the listed restaurants?

So are all meals worth 1 token each (I mean, theres no adding x amount of $$ to upgrade for a 'steak' meal?)?

Hope you can help Thanks.

Hi,

I haven't been to DW yet (going this summer) but this is what I've picked up from the boards! I think it's right...

No, you don't get the quick service plan and the regular dining plan, you get one or the other! Which plan you get (during free dining) depends on where you stay. If you want the equilivant of both together, you need the deluxe dining plan.

QS=Quick service ie: fast food/cafe/take away, TS=Table Service ie: sit down meal in a proper restaurant.

The QS DDP gives you 2xQS meals per day plus 2xSnacks and 1 refillable mug.
The regular DDP gives you 1xQS, 1xTS plus 1 snack per day.
The Deluxe DDP gives you 3xMeals (QS or TS), 2x snacks plus 1 refillable mug

Most but not all Disney restaurants seem to be included in the plan, but signature restaurants 'cost' 2 TS credits each, compared to 1 credit for others.

This should explain exactly what you get with each plan: http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/benefits/disney-dining-plan/

Tips cost extra.

HTH

 

[wayneg]

I think Lisa has covered it
At OKW you get the regular DDP, if you want an idea of the kind of food you can get on the DDP have a look thru my thread from last August. DDP pics start from page 10(before that is the flight food, Universal dining and Cheesecake factory)
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2524489

Last year we paid £2,100 for 21 nights at OKW (studio) I kept all the reciepts and the 3 of us ate $3,430.69 of free food.