No matter how you slice it......

[tigerbelly]

.....it all works out to be about the same! All the discounts I am figuring out lead me to the same price! It's going to be about $3k to do this week long vacation.

I have been trying to decide between October and MNSSHP and May and Star Wars Weekends. I just saw a Jet Blue offer for May where the flight and POR (5 nights) would cost us about $1400 with the kids flying free! I thought it was an awesome deal until I looked at how much it would cost to add park tickets and it brought me right up to that $3k mark. Same as the discounted spring rooms/tickets + our own flight booking.

Now with free dining in October on shaky ground I'm not sure if we should hold out for that and wait that long to book our trip next October! My husband is itching to go earlier.

How do you determine what the BEST discount is for your family?

 

[bigbabyblues]

We decide how much we are willing to spend and book accordingly. If a discount comes out that we can use, great. If not, we are still within our budget. The current spring discount worked out to save us almost $500 for our June trip, and I was thrilled with that. However, with our kids' schedules and my new job in a school, we can't go during school time at all. We go early summer (school ends Friday before Memorial Day) or Thanksgiving if our break is long enough.

 

[Palendat]

I don't even plan a trip until a great deal comes out. Then I book it, try to arrange time off, and go. If I can't get the time, I cancel. I realize this won't work for many people, but I just can't afford the crazy prices these days without a great deal. Don't get me wrong, I am not thinking Disney OWES me a great deal, but I won't go without one. I'm resigned to the fact that it will be at LEAST 2 years before we go, and we are a family that has gone almost every summer since free dining began.

 

[nyrebecca]

We usually book a room only with a AAA discount. If another,bigger, better discount comes along then we will switch to that.

 

[marmalade]

I don't even plan a trip until a great deal comes out. Then I book it, try to arrange time off, and go. If I can't get the time, I cancel. I realize this won't work for many people, but I just can't afford the crazy prices these days without a great deal. Don't get me wrong, I am not thinking Disney OWES me a great deal, but I won't go without one. I'm resigned to the fact that it will be at LEAST 2 years before we go, and we are a family that has gone almost every summer since free dining began.

I think we have joined this club. We have been yearly visitors and I am always planning our August trip right about now. This year though I have no trip in the works. With the price increases and the lack of discounts I don't see us planning a trip this year at all.

We will return, just not yearly like we have previously. While it still may be a great value for some families, this family has been priced out of yearly vacations.

 

[MMS1125]

for you since your kids are so young FD might not be as big of a discount as a room discount. For us with 5 people over 10yrs old FD is a bigger discount usually if we're staying moderate.

 

[tigerbelly]

Thank you for weighing in everyone! It's a hard decision for us because DH is self employed and we don't really have a budget in mind. He has a big job coming in which means we can put a chunk down now. I think we are leaning towards May. Also we can go whenever because he doesn't have a set vacation.

That said we are taking the spring offer, since flights are cheaper than I thought, and we are very light eaters so I think free dining might not suit us anyway.

 

[quietgirll]

If you've decided on may, check orbitz- using their spring20 offer with the Disney special saved us over 200 dollars, and got us an upgraded room!

 

[tigerbelly]

Ooh, good tip! So did you book a package through Disney and then use the spring offer for flights? Or did you book the whole thing through Orbitz? I didn't know you could combine offers.

 

[tigerbelly]

Ok, I just figured it out...... Thing is it ends today and we won't have the funds till next week. Bummer! Although it did work out to be about the same as the offer through Disney.

 

[quietgirll]

Oh that's a shame where are you staying? I suspect the 30%is only still available on some hotels on orbitz, and then adding the 20% to it....POR is where we're staying, and I was so excited about the deal I almost fell on the floor!

 

[keishashadow]

Oh that's a shame where are you staying? I suspect the 30%is only still available on some hotels on orbitz, and then adding the 20% to it....POR is where we're staying, and I was so excited about the deal I almost fell on the floor!

we jumped too

orbitz has deals often (although i've never noticed any that worked in conjunction with disney sale pricing). It's a cancellable rate jik something better pops up thru disney but you do have to pay it upfront.