should i book for florida july 2011 now, if so where?

rockrat

saving for a family trip to florida (disneyland etc etc) has been ongoing for a few years, and we think we will possibly have enough now for next year.
but...should i pre-book now to get the best price, and if so then where is best to do it.
looking at all the wealth of info on here regards florida, most of them dont seem to answer this question about booking so far in advance.

we are a family of 4, (kids 11,9)
we would ideally like a villa with pool and a small car, flights from manchester.

thanks in advance

amberviolet

We have just booked to go june 2011 and the travel agent told us we had left it late. To get the best prices you should book as soon as the flights come out. The flights did increase in the two weeks we were looking at prices but im happy with our final cost.

sammilou1968

Part of it depends on how rigid you are to dates. If these are flexible it is not so crucial as when they are set in stone. Also when I was in a quandarry about booking I was advised that if I saw a price that I was happy with then go for it. I was always concerned that if I left it with 5 of us (and you are in a similar position with 4) that I wouldn't get flights. We were looking at flights for next August and saw them rise by £10 per flight overnight Can't help with who to book with as we book flights direct and private rent villa. Have a great time, half the fun of Florida is in the planning!

KarenG

The prices for next summer (school holidays) are extremely expensive.

If it's not a rude question, what is your budget?

There is a very good and comprehensive thread at the top of this page on Florida, Orlando and Walt Disney World.

Winter_Jasmine

Personally, I'd book as soon as you can. There's a chance that prices might come down for a sale but they're more likely to go up. We booked a package on Thursday afternoon, going next Summer (3rd visit :j) - it's already gone up £5 per person.

I agree that, if you see a price you're happy with - book it!

We were thinking of booking villa/flights/car separately this time but found a better deal booking a package. We're staying at the Hawthorn Suites at Lake Buena Vista - one bedroom apartment (sleeps up to 6) with a full kitchen, free buffet breakfast every day, 2 hours of free drinks and hors d'ouerves Mon- Thurs and free shuttle to Disney and Universal (hire car included too). With the platinum insurance upgrade (so any of us can drive) it came to £982.75 each for 4 adults for 14 nights - booked with Virgin through a Co-Op travel agent.

I'm sure people on here will be able to come up with far better deals than the one we got but it suits us and we can afford it and now I have months to get excited and annoy DH!:rotfl:

kelloggs36

If you want a villa go to https://www.orlandovillas.com we booked ours via there and they were great! There is a link so you can book car hire too - the cheapest I have seen and having done it 2 years ago, I know it is all fine. We booked flights via Virgin Atlantic - mind out as taxes increase tomorrow! Prices have started to increase already - flights to Miami are much cheaper than to Orlando so you could drive from Miami if you are confident enough; it is about 5 hours away but extremely easy to do and on one motorway all the way and it saved us about £600 for a family of 5!

moggitymog

have a look on the dibb website, there is so much information on there for florida

johnnyroper

i booked for next sept in june this year the price has increased a lot since then and there are not many seats left on my flight.
as for the tax increase that does not make any difference to prices airlines have known about the increase for a year so have been charging the extra anyway for flights booked for 1st nov onwards.
for orlando you are best to book early as poss as it is so popular prices only seem to go up as availability decreases.

i know you say flying from manchester but flying with BA from gatwick to tampa and driving the 70ish miles will work out cheaper in my opinion.

i have booked a condo for 2 weeks here works out about £600.
http://www.bahamabay.com/

as said have a look on the dibb loads of info there.

sammilou1968

kelloggs36 wrote: »

If you want a villa go to www . orlando villas . com we booked ours via there and they were great! There is a link so you can book car hire too - the cheapest I have seen and having done it 2 years ago, I know it is all fine. We booked flights via Virgin Atlantic - mind out as taxes increase tomorrow! Prices have started to increase already - flights to Miami are much cheaper than to Orlando so you could drive from Miami if you are confident enough; it is about 5 hours away but extremely easy to do and on one motorway all the way and it saved us about £600 for a family of 5!

I use this website a lot. We always book our car through them as their customer service is fantastic. I would get a quote from their flight link as that was also very good. The only reason we haven't booked with them this time is that we have a miles and money flight which they obviously couldn't match. We also get our park tix from the link on the webiste. Good prices and excellent service, either to uk or to your villa when you get there. The forums are a great place to gather info and ask anything about Florida that you're not sure about.
We are also flying into Miami as that saved about £250 per flight (5 of us) and going home the flight back isn't until 7.30pm so we can have our last day in Miami. It does depend on when you are flying as to how beneficial it is.

eslick

scheduled flight prices go up and down all of the time, try looking at Kayak.co.uk and you will get the best prices for the flights. book now or later is a matter of choice but dont complain if the price then goes down. we booked once 12 months in advance for flights and they stayed the same right up until the week before we were due to go then went up. other times they have been slightly cheaper.

Depending where you are flying from you can also fly to tampa or atlanta can save you money but its a long drive from atlanta. dont book the car as part of the package its cheaper to go to one of the brokers. try carhire3000 or fifteeno2.com used both and had great service especially from fifteen when something went wrong. go for the biggest car you can, makes things so much easier.

dont worry about the tax increase tomorrow, this has been factored in for months.

try websites such as vrbo.com for villas and make sure you haggle, you will always get a better price. supply of villas are really high and every owner is struggling to get their full. this one is really good https://www.mickeysdreamvillas.com

One other thing, dont waste the whole holiday in orlando, its only good for the parks, do them and get out of there