Southwest Splendors - flights and pre-day

[glassslipper2004]

Anyone have any suggestions for whether a pre-day for Southwest Splendors is a good idea (or a necessity)? We are going in August and Disney does not arrange a pre-day, but it seems like it might be nice given the long flight from the East Coast.

And secondly... whew, my TA just checked prices for the flights and they are quite a bit more than I expected. Any tips? Has anyone else noticed that those flights have gone up lately? And I guess they will just go up more between now and then - or would we be better off waiting until the six-month mark I have heard some people mention as a possibly cheaper time to buy tickets?

Thanks.

 

[wdwsos]

Anyone have any suggestions for whether a pre-day for Southwest Splendors is a good idea (or a necessity)? We are going in August and Disney does not arrange a pre-day, but it seems like it might be nice given the long flight from the East Coast.

And secondly... whew, my TA just checked prices for the flights and they are quite a bit more than I expected. Any tips? Has anyone else noticed that those flights have gone up lately? And I guess they will just go up more between now and then - or would we be better off waiting until the six-month mark I have heard some people mention as a possibly cheaper time to buy tickets?

Thanks.

Sandy, it's that flight out of Grand Junction that kills you. The only fare I found out of Boston this year for under $500.00/pp was in the off-season -- actually, they're returning tomorrow. A family who traveled from here in August paid $631.00/pp and booked only a few months out from the travel date. I don't know if that was better or worse than booking it far in advance.

Roundtrip Boston/Pheonix is reasonable (under $400.00 usually) but I was told that the closest place to Moab to get a rental car was about an hour away -- plus it's a heck of a long drive back to Phoenix with kids in the car. When I looked at in on Mapquest, it was over 7 hours.

So... no tips. I tried everything this year and couldn't think of any way to get it down. I'd love to hear anyone else's strategy!

Dotti

 

[wii fit mama]

We are also from the east and we will be flying out the day before to get used to the heat a little and we don't want to have such a long first day that we're too tired and don't enjoy ourselves. We want to use Southwest so we'll have to book another flight with another airline to get out of Grand Junction but will be able to get Non stops for the other flights. We are hoping to keep our costs to under $600 per person but won't know for sure until the Southwest flights are released next year. The one hour flight out of GJT to denver will be $197/each.

 

[LocustPoint]

When my DH and did this trip last year I also looked at renting a car at Grand Junction and driving to Denver which is about 4 hours away, however the cost of the rental car and the flight out of Denver was about what I would pay out of Grand Junction so we ended up flying out of there. With layovers it probably ended up being a wash in the end. Good Luck with your decision.

 

[sayhello]

Yes, it was definitely the leg out of Grand Junction that killed the price. I bought mine pretty early because there's not a lot of options out of Grand Junction (small planes, few flights). I kept an eye on it, and the airfare *never* got any cheaper, it just kept going up & up, and the options got fewer & fewer.

I'm having the same issue with the airfare for my Rocky Trails trip this year. The leg out of Calgary is WAY more expensive than into Montana. But I imagine that's since it's Canada. (Round trip to Calgary is even *more* expensive than my open-jawed to Montana/from Calgary).

Sayhello

 

[kristilew]

Don't wait too long to book those flights. We were shocked by how few seats were available when we booked our June 09 flights last month. Of course, it was due to the Grand Junction leg. They must be mighty small planes flying out of there, and not many of them!

 

[sayhello]

Oh, heh, glassslipper2004! I forgot to reply to your first question! I would ABSOLUTELY recommend that you book a pre-day in Phoenix. I really needed the extra day to acclimate to the temperature & dryness and to get the jet lag out of the way. I actually went 2 days early, and found that I zoned out part way through the second day. I was really glad I didn't have anything planned except for acclimating. A lot of the folks who arrived & went straight into the tour were really, really tired by the time we got to the welcome dinner, and barely made it through.

Plus, with the way things are with the airlines these days, it gives you a buffer if you have to re-arrange your travel due to canceled flights, delays, etc. Lessen the stress on yourself! You should be able to find some great deals on hotels in Phoenix or Scottsdale, as it's their off-season.

Sayhello

 

[cindy18]

I completely agree with SayHello, as usual. Definitely fly in the day before, if you can. The hotels are really reasonably priced in the summer, and it takes away all the stress of flight delays. We stayed in Scottsdale, so we rented a car, but you can find terrific hotels not far from the airport, meaning you can just take a taxi each way. It's hot, so mostly you'll want to be at the pool for the afternoon, but it makes for a much better start to your vacation.

On the way home, the only way out of Grand Junction to the east coast is by taking a short hopper to some place else (usually Phoenix or Denver). We rented a car at the Grand Junction Airport and drove across Colorado to Denver, which was a really nice drive, frankly, much nicer than we had expected. We stayed overnight in Denver and caught a Jet Blue flight home the next morning, but there may be a flight back to the east coast late enough in the day that you can catch it if you drive straight from Grand Junction. That made the airfare (NY-Phoenix and Denver-NY) not too bad, a little more than $300 per person.

 

[jenbadeaux]

Glass Slipper,
I have to say that all who have done a pre-day have nothing but positive comments about it. No one ever seems to regret that decision.

However, we flew in the morning of the first day of the trip, leaving home at 6am central time and arriving at 12:30 phoenix time. We found it to be fine. We were not exhausted at the end of the day. Just a lovely first day of vacation. So I would not say it is necessary to do a pre-night. Now, that being said, both of our flights to get to phoenix went smoothly without delay. As Cindy18 stated, it would have been very stressful if we had delays in our flights. For us it worked out.

We are booked for Quest for the West for next year and are not doing a pre-night stay there either. We own our own business, so every day we are closed we lose revenue. Just not worth it to us to close down a day early when the trips are already more than a week long.

Just a different point of view!