Question: Best Way to book trip

[born2bird]

Hello Disney fans and experts,

I am planning a trip in November of 2008 and would like to stay at the Contemporary Resort with a dining plan. What would you recommend as the best way to book the trip, via the internet, by phone, through a travel agent...

Of course i would like to get the best deal I can. Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

Thank you!!!

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm a newbie here, but we're booking our 8/08 trip with the local AAA travel agent. That 15% off is what's making the Contemporary a possibility!!!

 

[JanB]

I'm a fan of using Dreams Unlimited -- whether your needs are many or few.

We've been to WDW many times (20+) and pretty well know our way around the reservation processes and other planning. What I like about DU:
(1) I do not have to sit at the phone on hold in order to get my room ressie made. Saves me time.
(2) Even after making a room ressie, DU will continue to monitor for additional discounts that become available. For example, I currently have a AAA-discount ressie. If a November code becomes available and is better than my AAA, they will do their best to snag it for me. I do not have to continue to look online for discount codes, nor would I need to make more calls to try to secure one.
(3) DU will make all of your ADRs for you. Tell them what you want -- what time of day -- and THEY will do all of the research and legwork to get them for you. If your preferences are difficult to come by, then they will be doing all of the back-and-forth with Disney to try to make you happy. You don't have to spend any time on the phone. I've noticed on these boards that many people say that this is one reason why they like to stay in Club/Concierge Level rooms at Disney resorts. You can get this same service from DU without having to pay extra.

After making your reservation, your DU agent will ask you lots of questions and then will formulate a suggested touring plan. Because my family has sort of developed its own preferences, we do not always follow the plan -- but that's OK. If you find a plan to be helpful, then it's great. At the very least, they do document for you what are the park hours each day and when are the EMHs and special things such as parades. That, too, saves me time from having to get on the internet to find the information and then document it.

Your DU agent communicates with you totally by email. So if you are an email-oriented person like I am (I really don't care for a lot of phone calls), it works really well.

You begin by going online to request a quote.
http://www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com/

 

[born2bird]

Alice and Jan: Thank you for the info. It looks like I need to join AAA and then check out DU. I assume DU applies the 15% AAA discount..?

Thanks Again!

 

[bigmoonmullen]

Hi:

In the past we have booked via the phone and this time with DU... I guess it's also how much control you want to have or have to have... If you HAVE to be hands on then you are probably better off booking by phone or online.

For our trip with DU this December be chose DU, Tracy has been wonderful doing all the leg work(phone calls) for our group of 10 in 4 rooms... I also recommend DU. I've asked her lots of questions and she always gets back to me quickly.

Have a Great Trip,

Mark

 

[jcpuppy.com]

I vote yourself by phone. I use the website mainly to check availbility and pricing.

 

[JanB]

I assume DU applies the 15% AAA discount..?

Thanks Again!

Yes, you can book a AAA discounted room through DU. Keep in mind that it's not really a matter of "applying" the discount. As with other discounts (rooms, airfares, etc.), there will be a set number of rooms allocated for any given discount. So, it's possible that the AAA discount will be unavailable for a given resort on certain dates.

When you request a quote, you are asked to specify 1st, 2nd, and 3rd resort choices. Also, you tell them whether you are an AP holder and whether you have AAA membership (you must give your Membership number). My choices, in order, were POFQ, POR, and CSR. Even though there were rooms available for POFQ, the AAA discount was not available for POFQ, so the quote came back to me for POR. That was fine with me,

If you want a certain resort, even if the AAA discount is unavailable, just be sure to tell them. AND -- once the quote comes back to you, if it's not what you want, then you just let them know. It is perfectly fine for it to be a back-and-forth kind of thing.

 

[racinjunkie]

We used Mouse Fan Travel for the first time for this trip and I have no complaints. Services are much the same as DU services described above. They'll apply codes to your ressie, do your ADR's (which is a huge time saver,) and communicate by email. With the AKL construction fiasco it's been nice to have someone go to bat for us and fight the battle to get us a room and resort that meets our needs. I tried to accomplish that on my own and I didn't get anywhere but Keri did.