Woohoo Booked and Cheaper than last year!!!!

[littlesos]

So excited I have just booked our second trip to WDW : 10 days at OKW with DDP for Oct 2014. I know it ages away and we aren't telling the girls this time, not sure I can keep it a secret for so long.

It's cost me less than it did in Feb last year .

I'm a bit worried now though about flights as we are now stuck with accommodation dates so will just have take what we can get, I am pinning my hopes on getting a reasonable deal in the new year sale.

Both my girls are Harry Potter mad, so we thought that instead of doing 14 days in WDW we'd move out after 10 and spend 4 days at Universal as we've never been. I know it's going to be hassle changing hotels etc, but I think it will be icing on a fabulous cake for 2 harry potter mad little girls. Sooooo, any advice on decent hotels or should we stay in a Universal Resort hotel???

Rach

 

[orangetiggs]

The new london part should be open by then too, its meant to be open by summer 2014 so lots of harry potter stuff to do

 

[tinksgilrs251520]

How did you book for Oct 2014????? Did you book a room only reservation or package because i am waiting to book at the fort for 2014....

 

[joolz1910]

So excited I have just booked our second trip to WDW : 10 days at OKW with DDP for Oct 2014. I know it ages away and we aren't telling the girls this time, not sure I can keep it a secret for so long.

It's cost me less than it did in Feb last year .

I'm a bit worried now though about flights as we are now stuck with accommodation dates so will just have take what we can get, I am pinning my hopes on getting a reasonable deal in the new year sale.

Both my girls are Harry Potter mad, so we thought that instead of doing 14 days in WDW we'd move out after 10 and spend 4 days at Universal as we've never been. I know it's going to be hassle changing hotels etc, but I think it will be icing on a fabulous cake for 2 harry potter mad little girls. Sooooo, any advice on decent hotels or should we stay in a Universal Resort hotel???

Rach

This is what we are planning to do in August 2015. Will the new Cabana Bay hotel be open in Oct 2014? We have priced it up for our holiday and it seems OK for an onsite hotel, plus there are suites, which suit us as a family of 5.

 

[wayneg]

How did you book for Oct 2014????? Did you book a room only reservation or package because i am waiting to book at the fort for 2014....

In the UK we can book next year with free dining. Doubt you can book in the US yet, many book a lot further in advance here.

 

[littlesos]

How did you book for Oct 2014????? Did you book a room only reservation or package because i am waiting to book at the fort for 2014....

It's room & park tickets so we can get the free dining plan.

I've never booked anything so far in advance before, so it's a bit daunting.

 

[duffdo]

I was in the same situation as you in May 2012 (I'm going October this year!) Seriously don't worry. I take it you booked direct with Walt Disney Travel Company?? Are you planning on adding flights on to make a package??

They were so helpful with me and explained that if there was a big disparity on flight prices, I could shift my resort reservation around a few days without charge and in terms of adding flights, I would be able to do so, 330 days from the return date. Anyway, this was actually over Christmas in my case, so I called them as soon as possible to add flights on. I wanted to fly direct with VA and the additional cost was £1200 for the two of us. I looked at booking direct with VA, this would have been £1000, but wouldn't then be a package holiday and I would have to pay up front!

Anyway, we booked so far ahead to take advantage of a free $200 gift card, free DDP and a massive room discount! We have had no problems at all!

 

[littlesos]

I was in the same situation as you in May 2012 (I'm going October this year!) Seriously don't worry. I take it you booked direct with Walt Disney Travel Company?? Are you planning on adding flights on to make a package??

They were so helpful with me and explained that if there was a big disparity on flight prices, I could shift my resort reservation around a few days without charge and in terms of adding flights, I would be able to do so, 330 days from the return date. Anyway, this was actually over Christmas in my case, so I called them as soon as possible to add flights on. I wanted to fly direct with VA and the additional cost was £1200 for the two of us. I looked at booking direct with VA, this would have been £1000, but wouldn't then be a package holiday and I would have to pay up front!

Anyway, we booked so far ahead to take advantage of a free $200 gift card, free DDP and a massive room discount! We have had no problems at all!

Thank you so much, that's exactly why we booked now with them. I am planning on making it a package, if poss, when the flights are released.

 

[DisneyBB]

When booking the universal hotel remember that the new hotel doesn't have express pass only early entry to HP.

 

[duffdo]

Thank you so much, that's exactly why we booked now with them. I am planning on making it a package, if poss, when the flights are released.

My only piece of further advice would be to go mid week. I found the flights cheaper. I fly out on a Wednesday!

 

[2005michelle83]

Hello everyone


Just seen this post and found it very useful.

We booked our WDW holiday in the week, for November 2014 direct through disney. We booked a fortnight at SPRS, upgraded the free dining to the DDP and got the tickets 14 days for the price of 7. For me, DH and DS ( who will be 4) it came to £3800.

We obviously have flights to book too, and was hoping to book them as soon as they're released, but now I am thinking about going back through disney when the dates are released?

 

[MrRomance]

I was in the same situation as you in May 2012 (I'm going October this year!) Seriously don't worry. I take it you booked direct with Walt Disney Travel Company?? Are you planning on adding flights on to make a package??

They were so helpful with me and explained that if there was a big disparity on flight prices, I could shift my resort reservation around a few days without charge and in terms of adding flights, I would be able to do so, 330 days from the return date. Anyway, this was actually over Christmas in my case, so I called them as soon as possible to add flights on. I wanted to fly direct with VA and the additional cost was £1200 for the two of us. I looked at booking direct with VA, this would have been £1000, but wouldn't then be a package holiday and I would have to pay up front!

Anyway, we booked so far ahead to take advantage of a free $200 gift card, free DDP and a massive room discount! We have had no problems at all!

My only piece of further advice would be to go mid week. I found the flights cheaper. I fly out on a Wednesday!

Ditto this

We booked last June for our trip in October/November this year. Originally, we booked 26th October departure date but found flights were SKY HIGH as it was a Saturday. When we called WDTC to add flights to our booking at the 11 month window, they told us that the flights they had available were really expensive and that we should shop around with the airlines to see if we could get a better deal. They told us we could change dates for the hotel booking if needed. We ended up getting a Fly Drive package with BA in the BA sale in December. Don't worry about finding flights, we didn't have a problem at all, we did change our reservation by 3 days so we now fly on a Tuesday, but it was no problem at all.

Hello everyone


Just seen this post and found it very useful.

We booked our WDW holiday in the week, for November 2014 direct through disney. We booked a fortnight at SPRS, upgraded the free dining to the DDP and got the tickets 14 days for the price of 7. For me, DH and DS ( who will be 4) it came to £3800.

We obviously have flights to book too, and was hoping to book them as soon as they're released, but now I am thinking about going back through disney when the dates are released?

The first thing we did was contact WDTC at the 11 month mark to see how much the flights could be added for. They were honest with us and said the flights showing on their system were ridiculous. It's worth checking with them, but if that isn't the price you like, look for the BA sales or the Virgin Sales to snag a good deal. We are a little restricted because we have to fly premium economy and we have to fly direct, due to disabilities in the family, but we managed to get P.E. flights and car rental for £840 each. Economy would have been significantly less.

 

[darthtatty]

woohoo well done on booking.
Bit strange when its so far in advance but you get used to it.
we first flew on a Thursday as it was convenient for us. Since Ive realised its a bit cheaper, so weve stuck to it.
We stayed at a Universal hotel last time and enjoyed the express pass use our room key gave us.
Although if youre planning a good few days there, you wont have to worry too much about that.

good luck on keeping it secret, not sure I could last that long.

 

[Tinkerpeas hubby]

Just wanted to say that we booked just over a year in advance for our last trip and decided at the time we was going to surprise our 3 boys!
Well we managed to keep that secrete for the whole time surprising them the morning of!

My wife can never keep a secrete so I really didn't think she would manage it, but she did and it was AMAZING!!! So worth the wait.

 

[joolz1910]

We booked everything in March 2011 for October 2012. We kept it a secret from the girls and told them the morning of the flight. My middle DD has asked that if we go again, she wants to be surprised again