Thinking about doing DIY for the first time got ????

[tracipierce]

Hi everyone,

well as the title says, I'm thinking about doing a DIY trip possibly next year. Now I always read any threads that relate to diy to give me some idea of what to do, but still have some questions, me being complete novice and all

I've booked through disney uk before and our upcoming trip is with Virgin, but unless I can get a trip for MUCH cheaper than the package holidays on those sites, I'm afraid we won't be returning for quite a while

I gather that I can't book until about 10/11 months out for the flights and I'll have to have the money to pay upfront for these, but I really have no idea of what a good price for a flight is. I read the thread about the different airlines so that has given me some idea of where to look. We can only really go in August as I'm a teacher and of course would like to take advantage of free dining if its offered but of course its too soon to price flights up for next year yet.

I've priced up with complete orlando and for me DD18 and DD8 (will be 9 next year) I know I could stay at OKW for 14 days including free dining and park tix for around £1600 which is great, but has anyone any idea of what the total cost including flights might be? I know I'm asking a how long is a piece of string question, but even a ball park figure would be good.

I don't mind doing an indirect flight either, anything that might allow me to afford a trip next year.

Any advice that anyone can give me would be GRATEFULLY received

 

[Eliza32]

Hi Traci

I always used to do DIY. Mostly travellled with BMI into Washington then onto Orlando, but they don't do that route any more. Via Chicago is much more expensive.
In 2007 (last time we went) I priced up everything on 'tinternet, but it came to over £3k for the 2 of us (flights, car, hotel, park tickets etc). I then checked out TravelCityDirect and they were sooooo cheap, over £800 less. The service was fantastic!
Sadly, they went bust as they were owned by Excel. (After we'd been away!)
This year, I was trying to price up seperately again as all of the holiday companies were really expensive, when through my door comes a flyer for Travelcity Direct. Seems Virgin took over the name but still operate seperately. Again, the holiday we wanted came in at over £800 less than I could do it for seperately. Needless to say, we're going on 9th September!!!!
In the future I will keep looking at DIY prices, but I find TCD hard to beat (cheaper than Virgin for exactly the same holiday, go figure!) Also, bear in mind the insurance implications of doing DIY. If it all goes a bit Pete Tong, you'll be hard pushed to get all of your money back from a DIY holiday. check out www.travelcitydirect.com

 

[tracipierce]

thanks for the reply!
I have been with TCD in 2008, got an unbelievable bargain - 3 of us staying at pop for 14 nights with free full dining plan flights, car tix etc for £2k

We booked with them for the year after but lost our holiday when it went bust and re-booked with Disney UK.

I have checked out TCD a couple of times, but it didn't seem to work out very cheap? I'll go check them out again and see whats what

 

[tracipierce]

Wow, just checked out TCD and its over £5k for 3 of us to stay at POFQ, too much for me I'm afraid

 

[2Tiggies]

That quote for OKW is incredible. Do you mind if I ask when you are going? I did a quote for me and DD who will be 9 next year and POFQ came up with QSDP (free) as 2100 odd.

 

[tracipierce]

That quote for OKW is incredible. Do you mind if I ask when you are going? I did a quote for me and DD who will be 9 next year and POFQ came up with QSDP (free) as 2100 odd.

Of course! It was with complete orlando and it was for 1st aug 2011 for 14 nights, with the 42% off offer and free full dining plan.. i'm pretty sure it was for around 1600, but I'll go and check now, I got the quote saved somewhere

 

[tracipierce]

£ 1,512 Disney’s Old Key West Resort & Spa in Walt Disney World Resort
The flavour of the Florida Keys comes alive in a friendly setting filled with lazy palms and a kaleidoscope of colour, welcome to Disney’s Old Key West Resort. Retreat to you own pastel-coloured villa featuring convenient home amenities.

Check in: 01 August 2011 Check out: 15 August 2011
(14 nights)
2 Adults , 1 Children (child ages: )
Studio

Disney Dining Plan
The more popular Dining Plan add-on, the Disney Dining Plan includes 1 Table Service meal, 1 Quick (Counter) Service meal and 1 Snack per day.

Now this is what I got.... sounds fab doesn't it.... yep if your not a total dope like me and didn't scroll all the way down to see the park tickets price separate underneath
Now I've added the park tix on it comes to £2200, sorry if I got your hopes up as much as I did!

 

[Pegasus928]

One thing worth bearing in mind when booking direct with Virgin is that if you book your flights with Virgin Atlantic you have to pay it all up front, but if you book with Virgin Holidays you pay a deposit with the balance payable about 8 weeks before you travel.

 

[2Tiggies]

One thing worth bearing in mind when booking direct with Virgin is that if you book your flights with Virgin Atlantic you have to pay it all up front, but if you book with Virgin Holidays you pay a deposit with the balance payable about 8 weeks before you travel.

That is a very important point you just highlighted. If you plan putting flights onto a credit card, you need to take into account how long it is likely to pay off and what the predicted interest will be up until that point. It may end up not being as grea a deal as it looks. Unless of course, you are able to take out a new card with no interest on x number of months (preferably at least as many months as you need to pay it off).

 

[cjc]

Hi
Next August we are off to Florida for 3 weeks and booking it DIY for the first time - and really enjoyed the experience so far hunting around for prices and getting exactly what we want.
We've booked SSR via Complete Orlando - their customer service is excellent. Plus 7 nights at Universal RPR.
We've booked our charter flights via First choice, and premium seats worked out at £2500 (this was 8 weeks ago and already gone up £600!!).
So far only had to pay deposits - as the flights were booked via the FC travel agent so didnt have to pay upfront - something to consider.
Now all I need to do is the car hire, but not many prices around yet.
Good Luck
CJ

 

[wideeyes]

That quote for OKW is incredible. Do you mind if I ask when you are going? I did a quote for me and DD who will be 9 next year and POFQ came up with QSDP (free) as 2100 odd.

Is that without flights?

 

[2Tiggies]

Is that without flights?

Yes, it is without flights, but with tickets. If I do flights as a package, DD goes as an adult (had this since she was no longer classed as an infant) so this is the last time I am doing a flight inclusive package. Also, although I had to pay her full package as an adult, she still gets the child's dining plan. If I do room and ticket only I can put her down as 10 and she gets the adult plan, which I cant do with flight inclusive because the date of birth is passed on to the flight provider.

 

[wideeyes]

I got a quote for about £1700 for POFQ, I am 1 adult and 1 9 year old too so have the same problem however my daughter will not want an adults DDP even at 10. I think I will get an AP and drop the DDP all together from our trips. I hate spending on ultimate tickets twice within a year and room discounts are usually good for September.

 

[2Tiggies]

I got a quote for about £1700 for POFQ, I am 1 adult and 1 9 year old too so have the same problem however my daughter will not want an adults DDP even at 10. I think I will get an AP and drop the DDP all together from our trips. I hate spending on ultimate tickets twice within a year and room discounts are usually good for September.

I dont go more than once a year. I just did a quote now on Disney UK. I have been wanting to try POP for some time now just because I think DD will enjoy it while she is still at this stage. 14 nights at a moderate with free QSDP (which being free will 'save' me £670 ish) is £50 more than POP, paying for the QSDP. So put quite simply, since we can comfortably eat for much less than the full cost of the plan, it is way cheaper to go to POP. Now I know it is a value, but just saying, if I really wanted to go there we would save even more. This year for the same dates it works out cheaper to go to a moderate with free dining than a value with QSDP.

 

[tracipierce]

thanks for the replies everyone!

I hadn't really thought of the interest rates on a credit card, so I suppose that's another cost to think of

2tiggies - this is exactly what we did last year, we were going to return to POP *** the girls loved it so much, but it worked out much better for us to go the POFQ with the free dining plan (oh how i wish the values still had free dining like the 2nd time we went) I did actually love POFQ and would go back there in a heartbeat! This year we are going to POP again (got my trip with clubcard vouchers) I didn't plan on getting the dining plan as we are going to universal as well and only staying for 7 days, but my girls really want to do it (DD18 loves eating TS at WDW - so much so she said she would pay for all the tips if I got the dining plan )and because we're eating at the castle and doing the candlelight processional I will use up my TS credits anyway, so I ended up adding it onto my booking.

I'm saving my clubcard vouchers up like mad but I doubt it will make much of a dent in a 14 night trip for next year which is why I was looking into a diy for next year, hoping to have saved a decent amount of vouchers for the year after

 

[dixonsontour]

We've mainly done DIY - 12 plus trips to USA.

At the moment if you are wanting to stay on disney the wdw uk/complete orlando deals are very good value (you only have to see how many on this board have opted for it!)

We've paid £2200 (less quidco cashback) for 2 adults, 1 child OKW with DDP and tickets 14 nights in October. I know its a couple of hundred pounds cheaper in August as that is disney value season.

If you don't fancy onsite there are some great villa or hotel deals. We paid $29 a night last year for 4 nights at QIP I Drive with travelzoo.com.

Flights are the real problem with DIY.

It took me a few weeks of intensive searching to find flights at a price I was willing to pay - £500 per person is about my limit. We've ended up booking via jetsave as they were doing virgin from Manchester at a much better price than the Virgin website.

 

[tracipierce]

We've mainly done DIY - 12 plus trips to USA.

At the moment if you are wanting to stay on disney the wdw uk/complete orlando deals are very good value (you only have to see how many on this board have opted for it!)

We've paid £2200 (less quidco cashback) for 2 adults, 1 child OKW with DDP and tickets 14 nights in October. I know its a couple of hundred pounds cheaper in August as that is disney value season.

If you don't fancy onsite there are some great villa or hotel deals. We paid $29 a night last year for 4 nights at QIP I Drive with travelzoo.com.

Flights are the real problem with DIY.

It took me a few weeks of intensive searching to find flights at a price I was willing to pay - £500 per person is about my limit. We've ended up booking via jetsave as they were doing virgin from Manchester at a much better price than the Virgin website.

Yeah I figured the flights would cause me a problem, it drives me crazy that you have to wait to price them up, wish they were available a year out! Thanks for letting me know what price limit you have, I did have around £500 each in mind, but wondered if I was being unreasonable I will check out Jetsave when the flights come out :

We do like to stay onsite as we love the dining plan, but wouldn't rule out staying off site if the price was right - wow $29 a night is insanely cheap!

 

[zippy99]

We booked OKW & Tickets with Complete Orlando - and then added flights on as soon as the became available. They also let up pay a deposit for the flights.

Worked out as £2100 for the flights for four of us with BA - so £525 each these are direct LGW - MCO and we get the Magical Express on arrival.

 

[dixonsontour]

Jetsave didn't have just fly drive advetised online but were willing to do it when we rang and DH also got another couple of hundred off haggling.

 

[2Tiggies]

Jetsave didn't have just fly drive advetised online but were willing to do it when we rang and DH also got another couple of hundred off haggling.

Don't you haggle?