Very Important!!!!

[shannay236]

i just went to book my planned january vacation today due to much delay on expedia including flight and hotel at the grand floridian. the dates were from jan 9- to the 14 and i come to find out the winter dream maker package is over and the trip costs just about 6800!! WAYY to much i meani can pay it but really dont want to. what should i do? make it for less nights? wait for another deal? please suggestions would help!! thank you

 

[wdwforus]

I just saw on the news tonight where Delta was reducing their rates and that all the other major carriers were jumping on the band wagon. Of course there are some black out dates but check it out, might save some bucks on the flight.

 

[MJL]

Look into buying a Disney Annual Pass, this is basically a ticket that gets you into the theme parks for the entire year rather than xdays. However, the real reason to do this is that you can book rooms with heavy discounts, which are called "AP Rates". If I remember right, the AP ticket is in the neighborhood of $400, but would probably cut your hotel bill by 35% give or take. That savings would add up to alot more than the extra $200 for the AP ticket vs. Park Hopper tix.

There is plenty of discussion on here and other places about how to get an AP Pass and discounts, etc.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

[Glasgow]

Holy Cow .. that is $6000 more than my first car.

MJL has a great suggestion. AP rates are normally much better than standard ones. On mousesavers.com they give a really good explanation of how to get the best deal as well using your AP.

Don't forget that some more resort discounts may come out in the next month or two for Jan-Mar. I booked my Feb 03 trip in Nov 02, so you may benefit from waiting another month or so and just keep your eyes open for those room only discounts

 

[niteobsrvr]

Originally posted by shannay236
i just went to book my planned january vacation today due to much delay on expedia including flight and hotel at the grand floridian. the dates were from jan 9- to the 14 and i come to find out the winter dream maker package is over and the trip costs just about 6800!! WAYY to much i meani can pay it but really dont want to. what should i do? make it for less nights? wait for another deal? please suggestions would help!! thank you

Stay at a less expensive resort??? Or wait for a new discount? Or pay the price and have a good time if money really isnt the issue.

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by shannay236
i just went to book my planned january vacation today due to much delay on expedia including flight and hotel at the grand floridian. the dates were from jan 9- to the 14 and i come to find out the winter dream maker package is over and the trip costs just about 6800!! WAYY to much i meani can pay it but really dont want to. what should i do? make it for less nights? wait for another deal? please suggestions would help!! thank you

The Grand Floridian is big money. If you can stand it, maybe stay at one of the moderate resorts. We stay at Dixie Landings (now Port Orleans Riverside). I think it is a great resort. When I was a child we use to stay at the Polynesian, and my father who still can afford to stay at the Poly (I can not) still stays at Dixie because he likes it so much.

My only thing I wish was it was a monorail resort. Other than that, it is great. In January with no discount it is about $135.00 per night, not bad at all.

How many people are you having in the room?

 

[TravisMT81]

and another tip don't use Expedia. They always screw up!!

 

[Erika]

Stay at a cheaper hotel. There are enough of them!

 

[Marijil]

Originally posted by MJL
Look into buying a Disney Annual Pass, this is basically a ticket that gets you into the theme parks for the entire year rather than xdays. However, the real reason to do this is that you can book rooms with heavy discounts, which are called "AP Rates". If I remember right, the AP ticket is in the neighborhood of $400, but would probably cut your hotel bill by 35% give or take. That savings would add up to alot more than the extra $200 for the AP ticket vs. Park Hopper tix.

There is plenty of discussion on here and other places about how to get an AP Pass and discounts, etc.

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

I agree the APs really pay if you are into the deluxe resorts

 

[TIGGER-FAN]

Try booking your room and purchasing your tickets seperately. My wife and I do this every trip and end up saving several hundreds of dollars.

 

[AkiraRaptor]

Originally posted by shannay236
i just went to book my planned january vacation today due to much delay on expedia including flight and hotel at the grand floridian. the dates were from jan 9- to the 14 and i come to find out the winter dream maker package is over and the trip costs just about 6800!! WAYY to much i meani can pay it but really dont want to. what should i do? make it for less nights? wait for another deal? please suggestions would help!! thank you

Sounds like you should be doing your own booking and not using Expedia. I just went out to the Disney site and plugged in a 2 adult plan at GF (garden view) for your dates including airfare from Hartford (I guess) and the Dream Maker package. It only comes to $2934. So that $6800 is really hing unless you are staying in a higher level room.

Again, I guessed, so if you have kids, or a better room, etc, the number will be higher, but these are Disney rack rates, and you never want to pay that.

What I'd do is call Disney and book the rooms (you'll have to pay a small deposit). Then wait for the best discount, then rebook under it. That way you hold the resort for the dates you want, but are not commited in spending big bux yet.

Good luck.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Originally posted by shannay236
i just went to book my planned january vacation today due to much delay on expedia including flight and hotel at the grand floridian. the dates were from jan 9- to the 14 and i come to find out the winter dream maker package is over and the trip costs just about 6800!! WAYY to much i meani can pay it but really dont want to. what should i do? make it for less nights? wait for another deal? please suggestions would help!! thank you

Contact me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve and we may be able to save you a bit of money.

Pam

 

[DMC-12]

Originally posted by TravisM
and another tip don't use Expedia. They always screw up!!

Hmmm... I dont think thats true... I have used Expedia like for 20 different trips (work related & for my wdw trips) in the past 3 years.... and NEVER have I had any problem or screw up with Expedia :wave:

 

[shannay236]

WOW guys thank you for all the response!! Im booking it for all together 2 rooms i want and passes for 5 people thats proably because of the hefty price on expedia.... Ill also see how much the ap passes cost, they sound like a really good idea..wow is this hard to plan a trip when i finally have to plan my own!! i really dont wanna budge for the grand floridian because of the monorail and how nice it was when i stayed there before but im def gonna cross my finger for some more discounts and any other suggestions feel free they really help believe me!!

 

[couzen87]

DMC-12,

Thanks for the reassurace regarding Expedia. I booked our October trip exclusively through Expedia for the first time ever and have been nothing but nervous ever since. Will they notify the hotel? Will our flight arrangements go smoothly? Did they get the fairy tale package right? Etc. etc......This is a present to my wife for our tenth anniversary so I just want everything to go right.

As an aside, using Expedia I saved over $400.00 compared to arranging with Disney and Spirit Airlines directly.

 

[mrtoad]

Originally posted by couzen87
DMC-12,

Thanks for the reassurace regarding Expedia. I booked our October trip exclusively through Expedia for the first time ever and have been nothing but nervous ever since. Will they notify the hotel? Will our flight arrangements go smoothly? Did they get the fairy tale package right? Etc. etc......This is a present to my wife for our tenth anniversary so I just want everything to go right.

As an aside, using Expedia I saved over $400.00 compared to arranging with Disney and Spirit Airlines directly.

Just a suggestion. I have used both Expedia and Priceline before, though not to book Disney. I usually call the hotel afterwards to verify that everything is ok.

 

[DMC-12]

Originally posted by couzen87
DMC-12,

Thanks for the reassurace regarding Expedia. I booked our October trip exclusively through Expedia for the first time ever and have been nothing but nervous ever since. Will they notify the hotel? Will our flight arrangements go smoothly? Did they get the fairy tale package right? Etc. etc......This is a present to my wife for our tenth anniversary so I just want everything to go right.

As an aside, using Expedia I saved over $400.00 compared to arranging with Disney and Spirit Airlines directly.

couzen87,

Your Welcome. :wave:

Yeah... I'd say it takes about 24hrs to be in Disney’s system after booking with expedia... but, like mrtoad said... call just to make sure... I always do... just cause I am ...lol

I have not booked say a 'fairy tale package' or packages similar to that...so I am not certain about that.. but print out all your vouchers and itinerary and just show it to the folks upon check in... and you will be fine (it should be in there system anyway...but just in case).

Flight arrangements will be fine... just whip out your drivers license at the airline counter and its all in there computer... but again... just make sure you print everything out (just in case).

I know, I have saved a few hundred bucks to.. with going thru expedia, rather than using ATA and Disney directly.

 

[couzen87]

Thanks for the advice. Just to let you know I called the Disney people and they had a record of the reservation, and they said to call the hotel directly three days beforehand because they don't get it until then. I feel much better.

Thanks again.

 

[wdwforus]

I have a question about the online travle services that everyone here has mentioned? I can see saving money for your flight through a service but can you really save on your Disney hotel and tickets? I wouldnt think that you could. When we booked our trip 2 years ago the cheapest we found was through Disney themselves and Southwests website(we are pretty limited up here in the North Woods for cheap airlines). Has this changed?