??'s from a newbie!!

[Bunchkin]

Well, kinda a newbie to DL. We haven't been there in over 7 years!!! And we are finally planning a new trip to DL (and to Vegas-to see family)!!
And even though we visit WDW every year and consider myself an expert on the subject I feel totally lost when it comes to planning this DL trip!!
Totally lost!!! I need help!!

My question is:

If you have stayed at a Good Neighbor hotel, have you booked it through Disney with park hoppers, et al? Or have you found a better price booking seperatly?? As in booking the hotel stay directly with that hotel.
Does Disney offer these hotels most competitive prices??

We are going during the holidays, so it's going to cost us $$$$ anyway.
But I would like to make sure we are getting the best deal possible!!

Thanks for any advice you can offer!!

 

[JenDisneylandlver]

I looked in to booking a Good Neighbor hotel through the Disney site a few times. But I always found it cheaper to go through the hotel themselves or places like Hotels.com or Expedia.com. Then we would buy the tickets on the Disney site and they would mail them to us. Just seemed to always work out money wise better that way!

 

[PapaLR]

We used AAA for our upcoming trip in Sept. I checked the price through several sites including Disney travel, and AAA beat all their prices. AAA does book the trip through Disney travel though, just at a cheaper rate. Several individuals on the forum have used Costco and seemed to get a pretty good package with some extra items included.