Calling all Brits!!

stitchtastic

stitchtastic

New Member
Hi, we have a vacation booked for 14 nights in August with a tour company but are considering cancelling and doing it ourselves. What I'd like to know is if anyone regularly does it this way and do you save big money? We are a family of four with 2 teen girls. We reckon on a 10 day pass with parkhopping and water park. We want to stay onsite and will want to rent a car as we do venture off site for universal etc. Looking at booking direct with Disney and booking our own flights will save a bit but then have to add on car rental, also our package gives us 14 days park access but there are no longer any extras like a character breakfast. Has any Brit used a US agent rather than book direct with Disney and was it worth it?
Sorry for being so long winded
Thanks for any help
 
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minnie2000

minnie2000

Well-Known Member
Tigerdaly said:
You are right to cancel the package trip but only from a financial point of view. Your package trip will still give you ABTA cover were as doing it yourself wont. You will only have Atol cover for flights.
I have visited Florida over 12 times and each time I have booked my accomodation, flights and car seperately. The info about the Virgin club is a bit miss leading because it doesnt save to much money and also you are doing the same as the rest.
I have found booking independant seats on the Virgin flight from any flight agent to be much cheaper (£350 as per £550) also it means you can book you car hire company seperately. This means when you arrive at Orlando MCO you will walk over to an empty check-in desk and be driving away from the airport in 25mins rather than join a Jumbo jet amount of "wait in line".
The Virgin flights arrive within 1.5 hrs of each other and quit often the line has not gone from the first plane arrival. Virgin always process there fly drives and car hire through the one agent. PICK A DIFFERENT ONE.
Last year booking seperate Virgin flights, seperate car hire and the accomodation of MY choice saved my family £1600 :lol: this makes the tickets and attractions for free.:ROFLOL:
By the way concider the UK only Ultimate pass for either 14 or 21 days it make life so much easier without much extra cost. you can comea nd go as many times as you like for your whole holiday rather than planning you already stressful days.
Happy holidays.......................:wave:
Click to expand...

When you say, book with a flight agent, can you give an example? Do you mean a travel agent? We have always booked independantly, but never got flights for this price! (except for the Daily mail offer)
 
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JennyTablina

JennyTablina

Member
My family does it all themselves, we learned back in 98 when we booked the first trip to Disney that Tour Operators tend to REALLY jack up the price.

If you keep a good eye out, specially online, you can find a fairly good deal for a flight sooner or later. Per example; we got our £300 flight for April this year thanks to a sale Virgin Atlantic decided to have to celebrate the launch of their upgraded website.

A villa price-wise can depend on the person renting it out and what time your going. August is in summer and summers always a busy time so you might find it harder to locate a cheap place to stay.

If you poke about, you can find the 14 day Ultimate Pass a tad cheaper than Disney's current cost for it
 
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Kandi

Kandi

Active Member
We always fly with virgin atlantic. They have always been really good with us and sorted out any questions or problems we had. The rep phoned for a doctor when my brother had chicken pox and a ear infection when we were there 2 years ago. If you book with Virgin you can use their luggage service at DTD on your last day so you can check your luggage in there and it goes straight to the plane. You also get your boarding card there so you don't have to wait at the airport and can spend longer in the parks on your last day. Last year we went to disneyquest on our last day instead of waiting in line at the airport!
 
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T

Tigerdaly

New Member
minnie2000 said:
When you say, book with a flight agent, can you give an example? Do you mean a travel agent? We have always booked independantly, but never got flights for this price! (except for the Daily mail offer)
Click to expand...
Hi Minnie,
The agent who I always use is called Charter Travel, I sometimes use Flight Bargains.
They always come in alot cheaper than most and i know they are one of the biggest sellers of Virgin seats outside of the Virgin web site.
Of course the time of the year will greatly dictate how much you will pay, dont go expecting miracles on high days and holidays.
It is worth trawling for days to get the right price bouncing one deal off against another. The trick is to play hard to get they will always come back with a good deal.
To get the best deals around the summer holidays it makes it much cheaper if your kids can miss the last couple of days of the summer term that way the prices are lower and the return flights are less packed. However this means compromising your kids education........................:fork:

I hope this all makes sense, if not leave a note.

tatty Bye
 
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BLY

BLY

Member
We have travelled from UK ten times and would highly recommend Virgin Atlantic. On the subject of passes, consider buying ONE annual pass and then the ultimate ticket in the UK for the other three in your party (they are good value.) This way you will get the benefits of the the annual pass - mainly the free parking (upto $140 saving if you go every day) also 10% discount in some shops and half price at the miniture golf. You only need one annual pass to get the savings for the whole party.
 
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minnie2000

minnie2000

Well-Known Member
Tigerdaly said:
Hi Minnie,
The agent who I always use is called Charter Travel, I sometimes use Flight Bargains.
They always come in alot cheaper than most and i know they are one of the biggest sellers of Virgin seats outside of the Virgin web site.
Of course the time of the year will greatly dictate how much you will pay, dont go expecting miracles on high days and holidays.
It is worth trawling for days to get the right price bouncing one deal off against another. The trick is to play hard to get they will always come back with a good deal.
To get the best deals around the summer holidays it makes it much cheaper if your kids can miss the last couple of days of the summer term that way the prices are lower and the return flights are less packed. However this means compromising your kids education........................:fork:

I hope this all makes sense, if not leave a note.

tatty Bye
Click to expand...

thanks Tigerdaly - I'll give them a try!
 
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Pumbas Nakasak

Pumbas Nakasak

Heading for the great escape.
Im another DIY fanatic.

Flight with Virgin Atlantic, its cheaper than the same flight with Virgin Holidays. This year I have shopped around and gone with a car from one of the "partners" mentioned on the flying club website. I got a car on a managers special rate. OK no free upgrade but its worth it to cut the cost.Tickets Ive bought on line for years, though if theres a dinning package deal it may be worth going down that route.
I have arranged our accomodation for the since 2000 when I discovered discount rates on line. We stay at the Hard Rock for a few days, got to love those Express privilages, initialy we paid for the Discount book mentioned on Mousesavers.com butsadly they stoped doing the discount. However I took out a Lowes hotel Loyalty card and now qualify for reduced rates and free room upgrades. This year we have a Deluxe room for the same reduced price as a basic non pool view room.
The way I figure it, if you book with Virgin and you get there, anything else can be overcome with use of a credit card. :)
 
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meryll83

meryll83

Member
BLY said:
We have travelled from UK ten times and would highly recommend Virgin Atlantic. On the subject of passes, consider buying ONE annual pass and then the ultimate ticket in the UK for the other three in your party (they are good value.) This way you will get the benefits of the the annual pass - mainly the free parking (upto $140 saving if you go every day) also 10% discount in some shops and half price at the miniture golf. You only need one annual pass to get the savings for the whole party.
Click to expand...
Good idea!
 
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J

jody31

Member
I'd say flying from the U.K. , the cheapest tour operator is Virgin . However , if you want to find a cheaper way , search the internet - a lot of companies are so desperate to increase internet sales they offer big discounts
 
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meryll83

meryll83

Member
I'd say if you wanted a fully packaged holiday, Travel City Direct seem to come up with the best prices in general.

Of course, each operator will have it's day and come up a better price than the others, and often it's cheaper to book everything separately.

I really think it depends on the time of year you're going, and the time of year you are booking - I always check everyone I can think of, just to be sure I'm getting the best deal!
 
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louise900star

louise900star

Member
Up until about five years ago my mum and dad always used to book our trips to Florida through the travel agents and get everything included, always staying off-site. But, for the past five years we've been booking the trips with Travel City Direct.

Not only have we found Travel City Direct to be quite a bit cheaper compared to booking with Travel Agents, but the service they provide has been exceptional too (especially when we were there during a hurricane).

Everything was great with Travel City, the flights are also considerably better than normal. I've never been a good flyer, and have been ill for the majority of my 18 years on planes. Since we've been going with Travel City it has gotten a lot better and now i'm actually slightly better flying on long haul flights.

We're using Travel City Direct for our trip to Florida in August for my parents, younger sister, myself and my boyfriend.

Hope this might have helped you slightly :)
 
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P

Phox

New Member
Been to Orlando twice with Virgin and going again this Summer with them. Have to agree with the comments above about them. You can get good deals and you know you'll get great service. The twilight check-in at Gatwick is a great timesaver and the one at Downtown Disney just helps to save the stress on travel day. There were Virgin people all over the airport in Orlando ready to help and point you in the right direction and the car rentals through them are all on-site and couldn't be easier.

A must-buy for any Brit travelling to Orlando is the Brit's Guide to Orlando book (you can pick it up in the travel section of any good bookstore, WHSmith usually stock it). It's full of handy tips.

If you're not set on staying onsite, there are some great places to stay offsite also, which can be good where the kids are older as the places are less hectic and closer to some of the other parks, malls and restaurants. We've stayed twice at Sheraton Vistana Villages on I-Drive and thoroughly enjoyed it. It doesn't feel too much like a chain and is set in lovely grounds with lakes and a great pool complex. The rooms are more mini-apartment style and are in a number of smaller buildings which gives it a more relaxed feel. Plenty of activities and there are always plenty of teens by the pool in the evening.
 
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