Reservation Suggestions

[PoohBearFriends]

I am planning a trip to DL in the next few months. I was wondering if the Alaska fly free was the best package or if there is a better site to find packages.

The ones I have tried are:
Alaska Air
Disneyland
Costco

 

[TinkerbellTris]

Southwest has some great packages, and they are pretty cheap. You can pick each component. Not sure about Alaska, but they always seem to be a little higher priced than southwest. We're going March 7 - 12 and chose Southwest.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

I am planning a DL vacation in the next few months for our family of 4. With 2 kids I was wondering if the Alaska Fly free is the best deal.

I have looked at :
Alaska air
Disneyland
Costco

Any other suggestions?

 

[TinkerbellTris]

Try to look up Southwest Vacations they usually have better deals.

 

[honeymom]

Try expedia.com, travelocity.com, orbitz.com and take a look at mousesavers.com for tips (although mousesavers won't promote membership package discounts and is even a bit negative about them). Unfortunately, I find with all of these sites that you just have to run the numbers.

For staying on-site, I ran all of the numbers and got the best deal with a costco package (it included the tix at the kids price, the $150 resort card, plus they threw in another $20 resort card and a character breakfast worth $100 for our party of 4). However, I wasn't doing airfare and you can sometimes do better doing a package with airfare through an airline.

Mousesavers.com describes the costo packages as being booked by generalists. They are only generalists if you consider disneyland.com (wdwtravel company) generalists. The costco reservations for DL are actually handled by the wdwtravel co. I don't know if they give costco rates based on the phone number dialed in, or if they have a special desk but they are a bit more than generalists.

 

[Lives4Disney]

I am in the planning stages myself (for and end of March stay) and just wanted to ask if you have considered AAA?? Anybody use AAA??

I am fairly new to AAA and totally new to DL, so not sure if AAA is a good option or not. I know the real benefit for me would be those special AAA Fastpasses, but not sure about how their package pricing compares.

I also checked Costco last night & it seems pretty good. They saved me $200 on my rental car vs what AAA's quote was.

Happy planning,

Lives4Disney

 

[honeymom]

I am in the planning stages myself (for and end of March stay) and just wanted to ask if you have considered AAA?? Anybody use AAA??

I am fairly new to AAA and totally new to DL, so not sure if AAA is a good option or not. I know the real benefit for me would be those special AAA Fastpasses, but not sure about how their package pricing compares.

I also checked Costco last night & it seems pretty good. They saved me $200 on my rental car vs what AAA's quote was.

Happy planning,

Lives4Disney

AAA isn't doing enhanced fastpass after Jan. 2. When I had compared - their package price was lower than costco. However, they didn't include the resort dollars/character breakfast that I am getting with the Costco package. Once I factored those in, the Costco was lower.

That being said, my biggest piece of advice is still to price out all of the different options and do a comparison. I had even priced out doing all of the components separately, not as part of a package. Sometimes I wind up better off without the package. In this case, I was better off with the package.

 

[Lives4Disney]

AAA isn't doing enhanced fastpass after Jan. 2. When I had compared - their package price was lower than costco. However, they didn't include the resort dollars/character breakfast that I am getting with the Costco package. Once I factored those in, the Costco was lower.

That being said, my biggest piece of advice is still to price out all of the different options and do a comparison. I had even priced out doing all of the components separately, not as part of a package. Sometimes I wind up better off without the package. In this case, I was better off with the package.

WOW! Thanks for that Fast pass info because THAT is really the only reason I felt the need to book thru AAA. Are you positive about that info?? I am bummed and I know DH will be, too. We were thinking those were worth a lot to us.

I am not normally a package person at all.....NEVER booked any of our gazillion WDW stays with a package. We are AP holders and book room only - no dining plan or anything. I feel like that always gave us the best rates and other advantages. I agree that the Costco package seems to be the way to go. We have a family of 5 and the bfast and gift cards and extras do add up.

Thanks for the info. I feel bad because that AAA person KNEW I wanted those enhanced fastpasses and led me to believe they were still a part of their package. Maybe she didn't even know. I think some of the AAA agents are as clueless or more so than I am....I have the DIS.

Lives4Disney

 

[honeymom]

WOW! Thanks for that Fast pass info because THAT is really the only reason I felt the need to book thru AAA. Are you positive about that info?? I am bummed and I know DH will be, too. We were thinking those were worth a lot to us.

I am not normally a package person at all.....NEVER booked any of our gazillion WDW stays with a package. We are AP holders and book room only - no dining plan or anything. I feel like that always gave us the best rates and other advantages. I agree that the Costco package seems to be the way to go. We have a family of 5 and the bfast and gift cards and extras do add up.

Thanks for the info. I feel bad because that AAA person KNEW I wanted those enhanced fastpasses and led me to believe they were still a part of their package. Maybe she didn't even know. I think some of the AAA agents are as clueless or more so than I am....I have the DIS.

Lives4Disney

Everything I've read online has indicated that they aren't. Also, I just checked AAA online and they are not showing it as part of the package. To be on the safe side, you should probably talk with them again and insist that they check the details of the package. Mention that you were told that AAA can no longer offer it. If the csr still insists it is part of the package, insist on checking with a supervisor. I agree that their packages are a lot less attractive without that option. I would have also gone with the AAA package if they still offered it.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

I checked Costco but I usually find the morning time is a great time to get through some of those rides that get long during the later part of the day. I don't think the characters are our focus this time. My kids just grew tall enough that I have roller coaster fanatics.

I looked at Southwest and there price was about 700 dollars more. The airfare didn't match with Alaska's. Our relatives moved away so I have to have everything. I also blew out my knee this year and I am still recovering from surgery. Walking well but may need a scooter. Does the Disney Visa save money on rentals? How about stroller rental. 5 year old may still need a stroller.

Does anyone know what is down for rides in May? I am deciding between May and March. The girls birthday months for our trip. I also was wondering if the hours changed in May. The disney website wouldn't give me info that far out.

 

[TinkBellRellaMom]

You get free stroller rental with the Disney Visa card.

 

[spazzyjazzy]

www.getawaytoday.com

 

[honeymom]

I checked Costco but I usually find the morning time is a great time to get through some of those rides that get long during the later part of the day. I don't think the characters are our focus this time. My kids just grew tall enough that I have roller coaster fanatics.

I looked at Southwest and there price was about 700 dollars more. The airfare didn't match with Alaska's. Our relatives moved away so I have to have everything. I also blew out my knee this year and I am still recovering from surgery. Walking well but may need a scooter. Does the Disney Visa save money on rentals? How about stroller rental. 5 year old may still need a stroller.

Does anyone know what is down for rides in May? I am deciding between May and March. The girls birthday months for our trip. I also was wondering if the hours changed in May. The disney website wouldn't give me info that far out.

We save the character breakfast for the last day before we leave. That way we get into the parks early on the other days. I am already telling my kids that we will be on line at 6:30a early entry days.

 

[PoohBearFriends]

I was just reading another thread and I found out you could do the chip and
Dale at 7 am. That would work for the character breakfast.

Thanks for the getaway website. Prices were good but I still can't beat the kids fly free packages because of the airline cost with the other packages. I tried orbitz, swa, travelocity and alaska all were about $1200 for just air.

I think that my decision now will be to see if I want to wait till May when splash mt and the railroad are back up running.

Decisions Decisions. Thanks for your help.

 

[abby]

I price several sites, AAA, Disney, expedia and alaska air and always end up booking with alaskaair. I like flying non stop from portland to Orange County and they seem to have the best prices. I also always get the vacation protection for 36 per person, you can cancel up to 4 hours before you leave for any reason, and traveling with a child that is helpful.....good luck Also, on kids fly free from alaska I would suggest trying the web site, then calling the 800 number, you can't tell on the web site which flights are KFF. Also, if you book over the phone you can pay the deposit now then pay it off 30 days before you leave. Also, I would go in May better weather and less crowds then spring break in March....

 

[godalejunior]

The vacation protection is so worth it. We actually had to use it in November when we had to cancel our trip due my son being extremely ill (Going 1/30/07 and it is costing a lot more.......). What AA did not tell us when we bought the protection is that they give you a AA credit that you have to use ONLY for vacation packages. In other words in our case, we got a $300 credit (3 people in our party) and we can use it ONLY for vacation packages, not just flight. To me, it should not matter if you book a package or just flight, it is still spending money with AA. We did get all our money back besides the $300 and the cost of the vacation protection.

 

[hlbtimes2]

Here is what I did for the last two trips: go to travelocity and look for the lowest day and time of day to fly on Alaska air (use flex dates). Its a pretty easy site to use. Then once you know exactly what flights have the best price try AAA, Disney travel or Costco. They will all have just about the same price. Costco has the $20 gift card and free character breakfast. But, they are a bit limited on hotel choices. I can't use them because we like the candy cane inn and its not a booking option. If you have AAA try them, sometimes they are cheaper, but it seems like the WA offices never have that good of deals. You can check Alaska air too, but then you dont get a couple little things like the coupons, PS seating for DCA shows and Toon town madness.

My trip this past March and the next trip in May both were booked with Disney travel. Their price was pretty close to the others and I like that I can make payments on it.

 

[staley7580]

Im not sure if Im answering this properly, but WDTC, AAA, and costco are also offering kids fly free. If you request Alaska Air on the flight page they have it. Again, Im not sure if thats what you want.