Trip Planning--Where do I begin????????

[Micelf33]

We are planning on going to Disney sometime this coming January.
I have checked out the resorts on the Disney site and i find the prices to be reasonable for this time of year.
We are looking at the Caribbean resort.
What i would like to know is, where do i book and where can i get the best deal.
Should i just call disney and book or should i hunt for a better deal.
Also, the park passes seem to be cheaper through CAA than through Disney.
Is this true?
Any help would be appreciated

Thanks alot

Debbie

 

[tone.def]

What i would like to know is, where do i book and where can i get the best deal.
Should i just call disney and book or should i hunt for a better deal.
Also, the park passes seem to be cheaper through CAA than through Disney.
Is this true?

Hey Debbie Welcome to the DIS - you're already in the right place to start planning!

The best deals can be found if you're looking, sometimes expedia.com can help you if you want to just buy a big package deal with flight and park tickets and resort. Often, booking through a TA can be beneficial because they search for the deals for you and help with trip planning, from making dining ressies to recommending tours and some not-to-be misses attractions. there are a lot of good ones out there such as Small World, Kingdom travel, Dream Come True Vacations (the one I use - they have a Canadian agent with a 1-800 number) and the board sponsor - DU.

Personally, I do not book with Disney directly because if I did, I'd have to do all the work myself, because they're not going to help much and by that I mean they won't automatically apply discount codes to your ressies for you or offer you anything less than rack rate.

I'm not sure if park passes are cheaper through CAA, I know room rates are. I was sent this link by my TA when it comes to purchasing discounted tickets that TA's don't have access to:
http://www.officialticketcenter.com/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?product=tickets&refer=TC87DTV
I know they are other ones such as Maple Leaf or something like that - other people on the DIS have used them.

good luck and happy planning!

 

[hockey mom]

Hi Debbie- welcome to our world.

Phone Disney (1-800-828-0228) toll free and ask for a AAA(same thing) rate at your resort of choice. If you check wdwig.com or mousesavers you can see what the regular rate would be to know if they are giving you the discount or not.

I found that CAA's price for tickets was more expensive than ticketmania which has free delivery to Canada.

 

[PhotobearSam]

I can't help on the rooms but I can recommend that you buy the Unofficial Guide to WDW and read it cover to cover with a highlighter...It was the best thing I did for us on our first trip...

Have a good time and spend every extra minute you have here on the DIS!!!


WELCOME TO THE DIS

 

[Pokemom]

Rumor has it that a new deal is going to be announced very shortly, so I would wait for a few days and see what comes up. Keep an eye on mousesavers.com for announcements.

 

[Reese]

If your booking a package with room, tickets and dining the CAA has a good rate. They however will not give you the discounted rate directly through Disney for the package. We went through our local CAA office. If your just interested in the room than Disney will give you a discount on your room with CAA.

 

[Manon]

We are planning on going to Disney sometime this coming January.
I have checked out the resorts on the Disney site and i find the prices to be reasonable for this time of year.
We are looking at the Caribbean resort.
What i would like to know is, where do i book and where can i get the best deal.
Should i just call disney and book or should i hunt for a better deal.
Also, the park passes seem to be cheaper through CAA than through Disney.
Is this true?
Any help would be appreciated

Thanks alot

Debbie

For our june trip I booked with disney, but for our upcoming trip in January I booked with CAA and saved almost 350$ US. Maybe you should call your CAA TA and see what they have to offer you!!!!

 

[DIS~n~JAN]

We are planning on going to Disney sometime this coming January.
I have checked out the resorts on the Disney site and i find the prices to be reasonable for this time of year.
We are looking at the Caribbean resort.
What i would like to know is, where do i book and where can i get the best deal.
Should i just call disney and book or should i hunt for a better deal.
Also, the park passes seem to be cheaper through CAA than through Disney.
Is this true?
Any help would be appreciated

Thanks alot

Debbie

hi,
We've booked at CBR too, there is a great map of how big the resort is; on www.wdwinfo.com, under resorts. We booked a preferred location to be closer to the main building. I first went to a TA here in Alberta, they new nothing about WDW and lots about Disneyland, we wanted WDW. I then started phoning Disney, I don't like that you always get someone different, I then started corrisponding with Kathryn @ Dreams Come True. The price is the same as Disney's site, just she does the phoning to Disney. Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[Micelf33]

I checked into flights this morning and if i fly with West Jet out of Winnipeg, my flight will cost just over 3000.00 for 4 adult fares. My kids are 9 and 14 and they pay adult fares i guess.

I then went on the NWA site and if we drive to Minneapolis which is only 5 hours from where we live it is alot cheaper.
The price is 1260.00 Canadian funds to fly from Minneapolis to Orlando roundtrip.
I guess we will book through Northwest and now i have to work on my hotel reservations.
How do i get in touch with the Dreammaker agent. Sounds like a great place to start.

Thanks for all your help

Debbie

 

[DIS~n~JAN]

I checked into flights this morning and if i fly with West Jet out of Winnipeg, my flight will cost just over 3000.00 for 4 adult fares. My kids are 9 and 14 and they pay adult fares i guess.

I then went on the NWA site and if we drive to Minneapolis which is only 5 hours from where we live it is alot cheaper.
The price is 1260.00 Canadian funds to fly from Minneapolis to Orlando roundtrip.
I guess we will book through Northwest and now i have to work on my hotel reservations.
How do i get in touch with the Dreammaker agent. Sounds like a great place to start.

Thanks for all your help

Debbie

Hi Debbie,
What a good deal you got on your flights! We are to far from driving to an American Airport. (darn) so we had to take Westjet from Calgary $2838 for the 4 of us.( ) The agent I dealt with is Kathryn @ Dreams Come True Vacations.com. Hopefully that'll help.

 

[Micelf33]

i e-mailed them and i am just waiting on a quote for the price of a room.
I am wondering now if January is a bad time to go because of the not so warm weather. Thinking of bumping it up to Feb.

 

[cabmom]

In January you will find you have less crowds and lines to deal with. The weather isn't that bad. They also have Christmas displays up until the end of the first week I believe.
I'm not sure about this, but didn't NWA just have financial problems?

Marilynn

 

[tone.def]

The agent I dealt with is Kathryn @ Dreams Come True Vacations.com. Hopefully that'll help.

OH! I have her too! I got an email from her today about the rumoured discount coming for this fall.... I'm going in December, so I'm pretty sure it will apply to me. She has no specifics, but she wanted me to know that she'll convert my ressie if it applies to me.

Micelf33 - Try googling "Dream Come True Vacations" or type that in as one word, no spaces with .com at the end, same for the email address, kathryn@ "Dream Come True Vacations" dot com... There's a 1-800 number too, it's not on their website and I think it's only for clients who are booking, so I probably shouldn't post it here...

 

[tone.def]

I'm not sure about this, but didn't NWA just have financial problems?

Marilynn

I read that too and I think all their technicans are on strike and the flight attendants are facing massive lay-offs. I'd look at another airline if I were you...

 

[Micelf33]

What other airlines would there be.
I knew this was too good to be true/

 

[Micelf33]

Yes, your right. Northwest was one of them and i think so was Delta.
I am not gonna take a chance on losing my money.
I looked into United and the fare was about the same.

 

[MECH8T7]

Yes, your right. Northwest was one of them and i think so was Delta.
I am not gonna take a chance on losing my money.
I looked into United and the fare was about the same.

Hate to tell you, but United is under bankruptcy protection too...as is US Air. This article in the link below will give you some sense what it really means for travellers. Also, you may recall that Air Canada was under creditor protection from most of the past couple of years. Jetgso? That's a different story.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9343327/

The prevailing view appears to be that you should not let it influence the carrier you decide to use but make sure you use a credit card to purchase your tickets.

 

[Micelf33]

i guess i will head off to American Airlines. Hopefully, their prices will be comparible.
Has anyone stayed at the Caribbean resort and how did you like it?
I dont want to stay at the value resorts. I fgure if i go in between i should be safe.
Also, what are the extended hours for people staying on the resort?

Thanks

Debbie

 

[jeannief]

Debbie, we stayed at CBR last year. It was nice but for my money next year we will try a value resort. We used NONE of the facilities at CBR and didn't even realize there was a park steps from our room. Something to keep in mind if you don't plan on spending a lot of time in your room.

 

[Micelf33]

I read from some reviews that the value resorts are quite noisy and you can hear everything in neighboring rooms. I am quite fussy with noise levels.
Do you think this is true about the value resorts?

Also, is anyone else going in January and would you mind sharing what type of room rate you received.

Thanks

Debbie