Questions from a board newbie!

[sammie1884]

Hi Everyone!

I normally post on the DLP board. But we are now planning a trip to WDW for next October and I just wondered if I could grab some advice from you all?

This is the plan: Me, my hubbie, our ds (who will be 5) and our dd (who will be 21months) are looking to go to wdw with my parents and my sister and her boyfriend.

Apart from the kiddies we have all been before, we have stayed on site and off site and although we love the perks of staying on site this time costs are more important so we are looking at booking for the best price possible.

We have only every flown/booked with virgin but am finding them coming up quite expensive (IMO). So can anyone give us suggestions on who to book with and how to make it cheaper? We have only ever stayed in hotels but are open to other suggestions. If staying off site we liked Lake Buena Vista the best but again open to offers.

The plan would be to spend 80% time in disney, and 20% at universal and shopping. Although i would like to try Bush gardens (not sure if others are that fussed)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Sammie
x

 

[torsie24]

Hi!

Booking hotel direct with WDW and then flights direct with the carrier is the best thing.

When ate you thinking of going? For the last few years there have been great 40% off + free DDP deals at OKW and SSR. These could suit you, especially as you could maybe get bigger units and all stay together?

Renting points (either through a member or a site like dvcrequest.com) is also a great way to stay on site but save lots of money.

 

[darthtatty]

yeah like you we found Virgin holidays so much more expensive this time.
We're going to hopefully try DIY next time.
We will probably book flights with Virgin Atlantic.
Then book direct with WDW, their prices & VA's flights are beating VH by nearly £2,000 (well for us)

You could always books a night at a Universal hotel
you get front of line passes for 2 days and wont have to bother paying for transport-unless youre driving.

good luck.xx

 

[joolz1910]

A 2 bed villa at SSR or OKW might be an option, with over 40% off plus free dining; it's worth pricing up. We booked with Val (Cinder's Mum on The Dibb) who is a Travel Counsellor. You could book direct with WDW and flights with BA / VA, or have you tried Complete Orlando?

Good luck!

 

[Julia Ann]

I agree that Virgin are so expensive now. We have never done DIY but on our next trip (not till 2015) I will be most likely doing DIY as we will be on a tight budget. I asked the same question on here before and was told Complete Orlando for hotel (off site) and car and then THompson for flight, all this cut virgins price more than a half. Good luck and happy planning

 

[dixonsontour]

welcome

Scheduled flights are released 11 months out. So for october 2013 you can book from Nov 2012.

If you fly indirect october flights are approx £500 a person.

Have you thought about a villa - you could get a beautiful 4 or 5 bed villa and shared between you would work out reasonably. The dibb has a section where villa owners advertise.

Car hire I usually book with usrentacar although last time went with netflights. Think about whether you would be best with one big car or two.

 

[Tinks73]

Shop around, we priced with both Disney and Virgin, and the same hol at Disney worked out cheaper than Virgin and it included same flights as priced with Virgin, so as we wanted to book with Vigin to get FF discount we challenged them to price match Disney which they did, all I had to do was screen dump Disney's quote so they could check it, so that could be a peace of mind if you find it cheaper and then get Virgin to price match °0°

 

[sammie1884]

Thanks so much everyone, you have all given me lots of ideas to go away and think about!! Exciting stuff!!

 

[Vixster]

We booked with travel city direct. Virgin flights and disney hotel found them cheapest at the time but like some have said Disney you can get good deals try getting free dining included as that may save a lot when out there