Orlando/Disneyworld Thread (Part 3)

giovanni

Is there a cheaper alternative to bookng via Virgin as a package to Disney? I cant seem to get a better price elsewhere.

disney_cjd

atro1 wrote: »

Can always have a great meal and drink at Narcoossee's [sp] Grand Floridean and watch Wishes from there. Now even better because they now have the sounds over the speakers in the restaurant.Novel way to see the fireworks, gives an idea how far away from the castle they really are!!

oh yes, we watched Wishes from our room at the Poly in the summer. It was spectacular!

vivatifosi

disney_cjd wrote: »

There are some DVC memebers on here who I ams ure can offer help. You do not also need to buy a new DVC memebership, you cna buy a resale one as well which are cheapers. You cna also use your DVC points to pay for Adventures by Disney holidays and Cruises as well

We bought into DVC in 1995. Here are some questions to ponder if someone is looking to do the same..

1. Are you a regular visitor to Disney? Its hard to get value for money from the DVC proposition if you're not. For that reason I personally feel that DVC is for someone who has been 5+ times to WDW on a regular basis rather than once or twice and is still in the honeymoon period.

2. How long do you want to be a member for? If it isn't essential to have a membership deal lasting 50 years, a resale could be a much better value proposition.

3. If you enjoy staying at a particular resort, try and buy into it as your home resort. Your booking window will be 11 months out rather than 7. As a visitor from the UK you are likely to stay for longer than Americans and sometimes you can find that there's a pesky day in the middle of your stay with no availability if you leave it. If you want to arrange lengthy vacations last minute at a Disney resort, DVC may not be the right option.

4. Think long and hard about the number of points you need. If you are buying into a resort that is already sold, it is much harder to add on points than for one of the currently selling ones. For that reason, get out the point charts, work out the best scenarios for you and don't agree to buy until you know what works best. This may also affect your choice of use year (we choose ours to fall at a time that we can best know how many points we need to bank to carry forward).

5. Ensure that you know what the annual dues are for the resort you are buying into. Dues are cheaper for some resorts (eg BLT where it's a tower) than for big sprawling resorts with high maintenance costs. For that reason, there can be a trade off between points needed (high at BLT/lower at AKL) and the cost of annual dues (essentially the reverse).

Can't think of any other points for now, hope these ones are useful.

vivatifosi

disney_cjd wrote: »

yes you can and at the moment you get 15 months for the price of 12

Thanks so much for this tip Craig. Have just got off the phone to Disney re this. Because of the way we take our Disney hols (we go in Nov and Jan) that means I get 4 holidays out of my pass instead of two. You've just saved my DH and me $360 each. :T:T:T:T:T

disney_cjd

vivatifosi wrote: »

Thanks so much for this tip Craig. Have just got off the phone to Disney re this. Because of the way we take our Disney hols (we go in Nov and Jan) that means I get 4 holidays out of my pass instead of two. You've just saved my DH and me $360 each. :T:T:T:T:T

If only I was on 10 percent

But I am really pleased and well done

I have just booked a DLP trip for the kids for Christmas (dont tell them!!)

C

KarenG

vivatifosi wrote: »

That sounds like my dream come true too Karen, though I think I'm more likely to be watching the fireworks from a studio!

Oh me too!! Though the 1 bedrooms are jolly nice and proportionally better value as they are more then twice the size of a studio. I am tempted for next time

KarenG

giovanni wrote: »

Is there a cheaper alternative to bookng via Virgin as a package to Disney? I cant seem to get a better price elsewhere.

It depends...where and when do you want to go and what price have you got from VH?

I can usually beat the price if I book DIY and take advantage of the codes that Disney release to make the rooms cheaper. If you're after free dining though the VH deal is pretty good.

disney_cjd

KarenG wrote: »

It depends...where and when do you want to go and what price have you got from VH?

I can usually beat the price if I book DIY and take advantage of the codes that Disney release to make the rooms cheaper. If you're after free dining though the VH deal is pretty good.

If you do want to book with VH you cold always apply for a Virgin credit card as I think that gives you 10% off and you can book with VH but using the quidco link and get another few percent off as well if that helps

C

serenaly

Thanks for the advice atro 1 , i enquired at Attraction tickets and Orlando attractions are not part of thier company however you were right about Attraction goodies as they offered me the same deal but with Disney fast passes,autograph book for the littleone and four free Planet Hollywood meals and even better they do a service where they take 10% deposit and fix the price and you can pay up until 6 weeks before travel so im a happy bunny thanks once again.:T

louiser123

well everyone we are back from our florida holiday and a super time was had by all!!!
i have to say though it was really very quiet in the parks compared to the other times we have been and it was labor day weekend when we were there so i think the recession has hit quite bad really, however it was good for us as we didnt que more than 10 mins to get on any ride and the couple that were a 30 - 40 min wait we just fast passed and were on in mins.
we also found it much cheaper to eat too than past visits i was really worried about if we would have enough money and i really didnt need to!! i had budgeted 100 dollars a day for food and it ran much cheaper than that! we bought ceriel and milk bread and jams for the room as we dont do breakfast but little one had his and it cost approx 25 -30 dollars max a day forlunch in disney/universal parks and the most we paid on eves was 45 dollars at tgi fridays but wow what a huge meal and steaks!!
we ended up taking 2800 pounds and we spent some in manchester airport on ciggys and duty free so ended up with about 2500 in florida but had 400 dollars left and we bought loads of bargain clothes and stuff in the malls! didnt need to worry at all

hope this helps anyone in the same situation as i was worried sick !! lol

also forgot to mention our park passess for all parks came out of the 2800 pounds as well as extra tickets for mickeys not so scary halloween party which i would highly recommend!!