when do you book and how?

[married2mm]

do you use a ta or diy?

which sites do you find are the best?

how far in advance do you book?



we generally book over a year in advance, time to save up, plan etc.
however i'm wondering if better deals exist if booking later?

btw-we will only fly direct, either manchester or glasgow.

thanks for any input. any future savings would be great.

(saying that, we are already booked for next august, however friends mentioned they would quite like to go to wdw and so it would be good to cross paths-not be together all the time!-if it could be arranged.
but, i've looked at virgin and the flights we have with thomas cook and they are ridiculously expensive. only want direct flights. somewhere probably around 12/8/13.)

 

[davedmaine]

I would never use a travel agent. I think anyone who knows their way around the Internet and the basics on how to search for deals/promotions, will save themselves more money

 

[dmdelight]

I would never use a travel agent. I think anyone who knows their way around the Internet and the basics on how to search for deals/promotions, will save themselves more money

what about online so called 'disney experts' such as complete orlando?

 

[pascalstongue]

I booked mine separately. Disney package direct through WDTC and flights/car hire with British Airways.
This was almost £3k cheaper than Virgin holidays!!
However they were the most expensive package holiday I found.

I have checked the package prices since then and the prices have come down a bit but still not as cheap as booking direct.

I don't know whether it would be much cheaper to wait until the last minute but I guess thats quite a gamble unless you're not too fussed about exactly when you travel or where you stay. I've not booked last minute to Florida before but have booked package holidays elsewhere and I don't think I saved much money if any at all.

 

[LeaversOnTour]

I always think in some cases its more expensive - they can smell the deseration

We have never booked a package WAY too expensive. We saved about £3.5K by booking seperately.

We did save 6% on our va booking because of a deal we get with the cssc. Cost £40/50 a year and saves loads like this.

 

[Littlenemo]

Weirdly enough the first time I booked in 2011 it was cheaper to book it separately, but for this year it came up cheaper as a package with Virgin.

Booked again for October 2013 and again it's with Virgin. I only really like flying with Virgin though. We are spending a lot more this holiday though as staying on Disney property but got the free dining plan

 

[married2mm]

Weirdly enough the first time I booked in 2011 it was cheaper to book it separately, but for this year it came up cheaper as a package with Virgin.

Booked again for October 2013 and again it's with Virgin. I only really like flying with Virgin though. We are spending a lot more this holiday though as staying on Disney property but got the free dining plan

we have booked flydrive with vh previously,flights with va and a package with vh. however for next year-our package with vh-just priced again earlier-was just under£11,500-thats for 3 adults and 1child-needless to say-we did diy.
sadly,had to say goodbye to virgin flights, but i would rather fly with tc,than not fly at all.

 

[Kath2003]

We book it ourselves - Virgin wanted 3x what we paid for same dates, same hotel and flights (admittedly the Virgin flights were direct, but that's not worth over £900 per person to me...)

 

[daipp]

I would never use a travel agent. I think anyone who knows their way around the Internet and the basics on how to search for deals/promotions, will save themselves more money

I agree 100%, We haven't set foot in a travel agents since 2002!

David

 

[wilma-bride]

We don't use a travel agent for many reasons - the main ones being they often know less than we do about Florida/Orlando (our local well known high street TA had a sign in the window recently advertising a 14-night holiday in Disneyland, Florida ), they are usually far more expensive than booking separately and also because we own timeshare at Disney so only need flights/tickets. Usually, with the packages with dining, you are tied in to buying 14-day tickets which don't suit us as we would never use them enough to make them worth the cost.

As previous posters have stated, anyone who can use the internet is perfectly able to price up the various options and can save a small fortune. More money for souvenirs and ice-cream

As far as timing, we nearly always book at elast a year in advance but that is generally because we have fixed dates in mind and I am also incredibly impatient and like to have at least my flights booked well in advance.

 

[daipp]

We don't use a travel agent for many reasons - the main ones being they often know less than we do about Florida/Orlando (our local well known high street TA had a sign in the window recently advertising a 14-night holiday in Disneyland, Florida ),

I've seen the same and actually told them about it but they disagreed and said they've never heard of Disney World. At that point I gave up............

David

 

[joolz1910]

I booked with cinder's mum on the DIbb. She is e travel counsellor and is absolutely brilliant. I did my research and honestly believe that I could not have done it DIY more cheaply. She booked va flights, okw and tickets/ddp for us. She also did ADR's, bbb and both parties. All to perfection! I booked my car rental (thanks to Wayne) and my insurance.

I would not hesitate to recommend her and would book with her again. For a first timer, like me, it was great to have my hand held and not pay the crazy prices that virgin wanted!

 

[married2mm]

I booked with cinder's mum on the DIbb. She is e travel counsellor and is absolutely brilliant. I did my research and honestly believe that I could not have done it DIY more cheaply. She booked va flights, okw and tickets/ddp for us. She also did ADR's, bbb and both parties. All to perfection! I booked my car rental (thanks to Wayne) and my insurance.

I would not hesitate to recommend her and would book with her again. For a first timer, like me, it was great to have my hand held and not pay the crazy prices that virgin wanted!

that sounds great- i shall have to tell my friends- va and vh are both asking astronomical prices-just ridiculous

 

[diddldonna]

Thanks to Wayne's advice I booked hotel, tickets and dining direct with Disney and virgin flights separate, with Quidco it saved me over £1200 as originally we have always done Virgin packages.

Plus booking direct you get some extras including a $100 gift card.

 

[queendisney]

last time, due to total impatience on my part, I suddenly just booked a VH package swayed by the $300 gift card But even taken that into account we still paid more then doing it DIY but not an awful lot more. We were just lucky that time because it really can be a small fortune of your hard earned money that pay over the top by not doing it DIY. The year before we did DIY and saved a lot and next time it will also be DIY. We do have set things in mind ie must stay on resort, must fly direct but dates within reason are flexible, then we work from there.