How Do You Book Your Disney Vacation?

[kray]

We usually drive to WDW - which gives us more flexiblity since we don't have to worry about coordinating flights. I also use allearsnet.com, but find that mousesavers.com has the best info on room rate discounts.

[WDWFan]

Well... I sort of follow the GrumpyDaddy method. With one short cuts.

I call a relative who works at WDW and ask what the best way to plan it is... Plan that portion based on the advise, and then after that, I let my wife handle it. (Got to wonder why she puts up with me...)

Best site I've seen for pre-planning the trips (Not tickets, but actual events) is ALLEARSNET. A lot of good ideas I never would have thought about.

The Hard ticket packages such as the "not so scary" and the "verry merry" are a LOT of fun and well worth the additional price. I've heard the "Pirate & Princess" is going to be wonderful too.

I'd argue that staying on site is well worth it if you plan on taking advantage of late hours. If not, then I'd say it up to you. I've stayed on and off site and never had a bad time.

The transportation is suppose to be good, but I usually travel with a senior that requires handicap assistance, and it is easier to just drive myself.

[aprildecember]

I realize this is way late in the discussion, but I somehow missed this the first time around, heh! So, chiming in in support of most of the views already expressed, for the benefit of anybody who is still interested in the topic/tuning in late like me.

I too like to book my trip components separately, and on my own. i avoid packages in general, though i'd totally grab one if the right price came along at the right time. i know that you can get some great deals with WDW package specials, but the really good package rates seem kinda last minute, and aren't always available when you need 'em. booking everything incrementally gives you flexibility - a room-only with just the AAA rate may not be the bestest deal ever, but at least it guarantees you the room type of your choice well in advance of most good package deals. if the right package or AP price comes up for your vacation dates, you can ditch the room-onlies if you want to, and normally without penalty. More, this year's AAA rate appears to be on the high end...not as good as the best AP discounts, but for someone like me, the cost of the AP outweighs the discount benefits it could normally provide me.

Anywho, as some have mentioned there are a lot of good online resources that track rate and package offerings, so it's not hard to keep track of your options these days.

i can also totally see how a travel agent could really end up being an impediment - i have trouble committing, particularly when money is involved, and like to keep options open as long as i can. i usually end up changing my mind at least once. then i always forget something, like a room request or whatever, which means i'm calling CRO a lot. in most cases, travel agents seem to expect you to have done most of your decisionmaking before getting in touch with them, so they can do everything at once. and once they make your reservations for you, you have to rely on them to make any and all additional account changes for you. and i don't really like that. plus, i'm pretty sure that with the information available to the public nowadays, an involved sort of person can be just as well informed as a travel agent, and can work on their own behalf in a speedier manner.

I also agree that the hardticket special events can be cool. We did MNSSHP in 2002, and really enjoyed it. I'm not sure it was worth the hefty ticket price to warrant going again, though. But what do I know? Case in point: I tend to think that those big merch-centered "special" events are kind of useless, but everybody else flocks to those things like flies on a port-0-let. So, grain of salt. Plus, trying something once is never really a waste.

And I totally agree that staying offsite pretty much means you have to rent a car if you didn't bring your own. i know you can find crazy-low hotel rates off property (my ex husband and i got a hotel for like $40/nite once, and it was ok), but the places aren't usually that good, and they don't have reliable transportation, if they provide any transportation at all (two trips per day from the place we were staying - one to the ttc in the am, and one from the ttc at night...having the car saved us, seriously). When you add the price of the rental car to your cheapo offsite nightly lodging costs, you're basically looking at all star/pop century price territory anyway. Disneyland, however, is kind of a different story - if your hotel is in the heart of the anaheim resort area, a healthy person will have no trouble hoofing it to the parks, or hitching a ride on a hotel or anaheim resort shuttle. in that case, a cheap hotel is a great option as well as a grand disneyland tradition.

[daveypoo]

I book everything myself. I've found that I can find discounts faster than the travel agents. Plus I check Mouse Savers and All Ears Net for the latest.

We always rent a car since we like to control how and when we're going places.

For hotels, we either budget for a hotel stay (any hotel, depending on the budget) or we use our DVC points.

I also have a spreadsheet that I use for tracking costs and schedules and stuff. I've been using it and perfecting it for about 5 years.
_________________
When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.
--Walt Disney

[me27821]

In 2002 we booked a 16 day trip to WDW through AAA. Airfare, 2 rooms at the Polynesian, and length of stay passes, for a september trip. It cost about $8,000. Food and monorail toys are another story though. AAA might be the best way to go, if you're a member. They seem to give huge discounts. I could be wrong though.

[cmwade77]

We just did everything through our travel agent, who specializes in Disney vacations, she is great and always gives us a lot of little extra things.