Where to begin with booking?

[lasmickey]

Ok, I'm ready to start "officially" planning our trip for September 2004. (I've been "unofficially" planning for 6 months already! ) My question is ~ where do I start? We know what dates we want to go, and we know we want to stay at CBR, but where do we book? And should we book a package?

Should we book through CRO, a travel agent, etc.? We will be there for 9 nights, what ticket option should we buy? (We want at least one day off to go to SeaWorld, as our DDs are really into dolphins!) Any suggestions regarding our reservations would be greatly appreciated! I want this trip to be "magical" as it is our DDs (7 & 3) first trip! TIA!!

 

[soccer mom]

I prefer booking everything myself through CRO. That way I have control if changes become necessary or codes become available. I don't like having a middle man. (Had a lazy one years ago that ended up costing me extra money).

It is usually cheaper not to book a package. The Ultimate Park Hopper, which is what is included with packages, might only be of value if you go to Disney parks every day, and visit Disney Quest and Pleasure Island (PI is not really for kids). I would figure out how many days you will be in the four main parks and buy the appropriate Park Hopper Plus - the plusses get you into the water parks.

I would suggest booking a room only right now (with AAA discount if you belong) and just watch for codes or packages (like the FTP they had this year) and see what happens. Probably an AP rate will give to the best price for rooms for nine nights if one is available then. Only one person would have to buy one for the room discount (don't need it to make the reservation, just need it for check in) and then you can buy Park Hopper Pluses for the rest of your party.

If a package becomes available you will have to sit down and do the math. Something like the FTP may not help when you are staying nine nights and have to pay rack for the extra nights.

For our last trip I booked our room early, then added AAA discount when it became available, then changed to a code available for everyone, then changed to the AP discount when that came out.

Good luck and have fun planning!

 

[disneyatl]

A package or not. In my experience, our past visits we booked a package. But the packages have changed since our last visit and I personally feel like it's a better deal to purchase tickets and room separately. There are too many things you get with the package that we aren't interested in. For us, it's a savings of $200.

My suggestion would be to go ahead and reserve your room - especially if you definitely want to stay at tha CBR. In my opinion, it's never too early to book. That way, once the discount codes come out you can apply them to your ressie. We booked our room reservation through CRO.

Tickets........If you are only wanting to visit the parks, get a hopper but if you want to go to water parks, I'd recommend the hopper plus. Since you are wanting to go to Sea World you may only need a 6 or 7 day hopper plus ticket. Remember, they never expire so if you don't use a day you can keep it for the next trip.

Good Luck!