who do i book with?

[taramasalata]

hey.

im going to WDW for the very first time and I was wondering what UK travel agent provides brilliant customer service aswell as low prices.


i heard virgin are quite good. i've seen a planning dvd with ben shephard and i think that was for virgin (it was my friends). but that was a couple of years ago. has the dvd changed at all?

so would everyone recommend virgin?

 

[emily1982]

We'd recommend virgin definately their service is really good. But then again if i saw a company i knew were good and their prices could beat virgins i would probably go through them. For us virgin have always been cheaper. This year we have flights with virgin but we have booked all the accomadation direct with disney which has been just as easy.

 

[Alibaba]

Hiya
I have booked with both Virgin and Travel City Direct, and would recommend both but for the last couple of times we have gone with Travel City as they have far and away been alot cheaper than Virgin, and they have never given me cause for complaint. So i would find out what type of accomodation and what dates you are after and browse around for example this year there are 6 adults 2 children 1 infant staying in an executive Villa with pool heating with a 12 seater van thing with platinum insurance going on the 3rd October and this cost us £4600, but with Virgin they wanted to charge just over £6000. So shop around because another date virgin could come up cheaper.
Happy Shopping
Ali

 

[Jakey Rowling]

hey.

im going to WDW for the very first time and I was wondering what UK travel agent provides brilliant customer service aswell as low prices.


i heard virgin are quite good. i've seen a planning dvd with ben shephard and i think that was for virgin (it was my friends). but that was a couple of years ago. has the dvd changed at all?

so would everyone recommend virgin?

I've nothing against virgin, used them in the past and would use them again but only if the deal was right for us.

Broaden your horizons and judge them against every other decent operator in terms of price, airports, direct/indirect, in-flight entertainment etc, whatever is important to you.
Virgin is no better or worse than a host of other providers in my opinion, and should be judged as such.

I'd try and DIY the flights and accomodation, TA need to make a profit from somewhere.

If nothing else, look into the prices and deals available so at least you can try and get a TA to match them or know if you're getting a good price if that's the way you want to go.

 

[wayneg]

We do use Virgin Holidays if the price is right but they do nothing for us, makes no difference who we book with.
All depends on time of year and what offers are on but 9 times out of 10 booking everything yourself is the best option.
Last August I compared Virgin package to booking myself. Exactly same flights and same hotel for 25 nights £2,200, Virgin wanted £4,500
Look at all options but independant travel to Florida is the easiest thing in the world.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

We've used Virgin Holidays for at least 15 years and until this time I would have highly recommended them. This is our first major holiday for five years and we have had nothing but problems with Virgin, (hint - don't ring them more than once for a quote - you'll never get the same price twice!!! & NEVER try and alter your holiday once its booked as they will find it almost impossible to resolve without alot of fuss!! )to the extent that I will not be booking a holiday with them again - Although I will continue to use Virgin flights.

Independant travel arrangements will be the way for us from now on - and this normally works out alot cheaper if you take the time and effort to shop around.

happy planning!!

 

[crabbie1]

Tara
I know this is your first trip BUT I would seriously consider booking everything seperate.If you put what you want on here and the dates you are looking to go I know there are several people who will only be too happy to help you get the best price.I had always used virgin till I became a member on here and with theie knowledge I have saved a lot of money by booking seperate.For instance I book flights with VA direct,disney hotels through Dreams unlimited or direct with disney and tickets through attraction tickets direct.Also booked our cruise through DU.Pacakge with virgin was £4858 booking seperate is £2960.I know booking through a travel agaent gives reassurance but why give them your money when you can spend that on yourselves.You can PM me if you want me to have alook for you.Good luck

For your DVD I would go on the disney uk site and order yourself one from there and also order the brochure.

 

[disneydopey]

We usually go with Virgin but we price up our holiday doing all seperately, with other companies and Virgin to see what is the cheapest. We always end up with Virgin though. One thing I wouldn't do with them is the hire car, especially if you want to upgrade to a bigger one than the one they allocate, they are really expensive. Better to book direct with Dollar or Alamo.

One thing with Virgin is the prices vary alot depending on the day you are going. If you go on a weds you can save loads of money! It would have cost us an extra £300 if we'd booked the day later for this years holiday!

 

[Jakey Rowling]

Better to book direct with Dollar or Alamo.

Can't agree with this, much better with a broker like http://www.usrentacar.com/ for overall cost saving.

 

[venny]

I booked with VH last year, for a combination of peace of mind (it was my first trip) and also they were far and away the cheapest. This year though I've found it much cheaper to book virgin flights direct through VA and disney hotel and tickets direct through Disney. Most of Virgin's deals seem to be for 7 night stays this year, which seems a waste of a flight.

I'd say the only thing different between separate and package bookings with VH (unless you have a problem) is the contact with the rep trying to sell you excursions. If you are stuck on booking a package though, Travel City Direct were the cheapest I saw, even park tickets were really cheap.

 

[nilrs]

hi

i agree virgin are very good but also imho expensive, first choice are very good, we have now been on 2 hols with them (not to florida) and they were brill, especially when my little lad had to go into hospital for 2 days - they were excellent kept ringing to make sure everything was ok, and if there was anything they could do, plus they made a real fuss of my other 2 children as they missed 2 days of there hol in a hospital in spain (they did have the disney channel though) firstchoice also have the premium seats for a really reasonable price, they do fly to sandford and not mco. check there deals they sometimes have some really good offers.

i have been to florida with virgin, ba and this year for the first time booked direct with disney and got our flights separately - this was definately the cheapest option.

nilrs

 

[Rodents R Us]

My trip in a few weeks was booked with VH after i'd checked the DIY price and found it to be higher. I accept what's been said above BUT each holiday is dependant on travel dates, party size, accomodation etc. In our case, i'm reasonably sure that the hyatt regency grand cypress, VA premium flights and car were best with VH. I don't really rate VH for customer care post booking but they did give me the best price on this occasion. I hear TCD are good but don't they use their own planes etc?

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I cannot recommend Virgin anymore, and after a fiasco with car hire, once this trip is over, I will never fly with them again.

Its back to BA for me, for flights and I will continue to book it all independently.

Virgin are okay, but once they have your cash, don't ever try to even contemplate trying to change anything because you will get no where, because its a total farce, customer service for people who have booked is a shambles.

Customer service for people who have not booked is great, once booked its a disaster.

I had a problem, email customer service, they emailed back saying this is not the correct channel for complaints, and you look at this web page!.

I emailed back saying they should change their email address from customer.service@virginholidays.com to uselessaddress@virginholidays.com.

They make me so mad !

 

[Jakey Rowling]

I cannot recommend Virgin anymore, and after a fiasco with car hire, once this trip is over, I will never fly with them again.

Its back to BA for me, for flights and I will continue to book it all independently.

Virgin are okay, but once they have your cash, don't ever try to even contemplate trying to change anything because you will get no where, because its a total farce, customer service for people who have booked is a shambles.

Customer service for people who have not booked is great, once booked its a disaster.

I had a problem, email customer service, they emailed back saying this is not the correct channel for complaints, and you look at this web page!.

I emailed back saying they should change their email address from customer.service@virginholidays.com to uselessaddress@virginholidays.com.

They make me so mad !

I can understand your frustration, however I wouldn't let the Virgin Holidays experience put you off booking a flight direct with Virgin Atlantic who are a different company, if you are going to DIY it and the price is good.
Unless the flights were poor as well of course, then that's a different story.

 

[Lisash]

If you don't feel confident enough booking things separately I'd recommend Virgin Holidays. We tend to book everything ourselves these days but we still fly Virgin and the hotels we use are generally available in their brochures anyway it's just cheaper to book them ourselves now

 

[wideeyes]

I have booked with VH for our last trip and our next two trips up coming. I prefer to book a package, just pay a deposit and spread the cost. I book PE flights and I have VH do the best price of PE and also we can get 10% with the flying club discount.

 

[disneyger]

We book everything separately, flight, car , house , much cheaper this way, but we always use Virgin for our flights. Had bad experience a few years ago with flydrive with Air 2000 from Tee side, would never use again even though it was Cheap. Using virgin flydrive this year. Quite cheap really.

Geraldine

 

[scotlass]

OK.....im gonnae try this DIY shannanigans !!!

Oct 09.can you tell me when and who to look at.....please.

We will be going Disney hotel so who do i call ????

I have done Florida loads of times but i have never been brave enough but with your DIS help bring it on !!!!

Vicks.

 

[meryll83]

OK.....im gonnae try this DIY shannanigans !!!

Oct 09.can you tell me when and who to look at.....please.

We will be going Disney hotel so who do i call ????

I have done Florida loads of times but i have never been brave enough but with your DIS help bring it on !!!!

Vicks.

I'm an October 09'er as well.

The problem is, only Vigin Holidays and Travel City have their packages/ flydrives out at the moment.

Flight only with Virgin will not come out til 11 months before your travel date, and I'm not sure how far in advance you can book hotels with Disney.

I was hoping to price separately to save, but we're going over to get married and I'm too scared to leave it that long, we want to make sure we all get booked in, so I think we're gonna have to go with a package!

 

[EPCOTFANROD]

Virgin prices always seem like phone numbers to me. Never had a competitive quote from them in 15 years