Help with plans

[BuddyTheElf]

Hi,
In 2006 I sues a travel counsellor to organise a family holiday to Orlando for my family of 5. We are now a family of 3 and I would like to take my kids who are 21 and 19 again to make some new memories after a tough year
Does anyone have any recommendations as I am a little scared to try and organise myself?
Thank you
Tracey

[Disdaydream]

If your budget allows and you would feel safer any of the travel agents can help you book a package, but as you have been before and will know the things you want to do why not give it a shot yourself, there are some great savings to be made

If you are wanting a Disney owned hotel booking direct with Disney in April for the following year is a popular choice with dibbers as you can take advantage of the early booking deals which has been free dining for many years, although some think it may be scaled back next year. Remember that Disney will let you change dates as long as there is availability which is really useful when booking accommodation before flights are released.

Flights can be booked with any of the big airlines direct and if you look at some dates you will soon see when is the cheapest / most expensive time of year and tailor your plans around that. My advice would be to jump on a price you are happy with as they can fluctuate daily! If you want a car consider booking as a package with the airline as it sometimes means you can just put a deposit down rather than having to pay in full upfront.

If you want to visit universal consider a night or two in one of their hotels, the mid range upwards include express passes which are a great perk.

I'm sure others will have lots of other advice, but I hope this helps a bit

[Guest]

Either booking DIY (with lots of questions on here - we are generally helpful and between us know much more than any single travel agent) or booking through a TA is fine - just a personal choice

But don't fall for the TA "story" it isn't difficult - there is a lot of choice so it's confusing being able to make every choice to fit your needs or budget (but I prefer that to being told what or where I have to stay)

To reiterate it isn't difficult to DIY, any adult capable of earning the sums of money needed to pay for a Florida holiday has enough intelligence and common sense to DIY, whether they want to or can be bothered to is an entirely different matter and just a personal choice

[Vinniecat]

We booked with a travel agent in 2015 it was our second visit and only one using a travel agent. We have also had 2 visits since and are going again this year. We have found it much better booking independently as our travel agent was not very good. Advice on the DIBB however has always been really useful.

[Guest]

I agree with both previous posters, it is very easy to book it yourself and to be honest, I prefer to be in control and not have to run any changes or queries or anything through a third party.

My forthcoming trip was booked from my armchair in three easy steps. Booked flight directly from BA.com website, booked the Disney hotel from disneyholidays.co.uk and the Universal hotel directly with loews at loewshotels.

It couldn't have taken any more than thirty minutes in total.

[Robblps]

Are you planning on driving out there too ?

[Guest]

Originally Posted by BuddyTheElf

Hi,
In 2006 I sues a travel counsellor to organise a family holiday to Orlando for my family of 5. We are now a family of 3 and I would like to take my kids who are 21 and 19 again to make some new memories after a tough year
Does anyone have any recommendations as I am a little scared to try and organise myself?
Thank you
Tracey

See more...

I am sorry you have had a tough year. The idea of taking your kids to Disney to make some happy memories is a lovely one and I am sure you will all have a fabulous time.

I have had a couple of tough years in the past and have not wanted to do much holiday planning and have used Travel agents quite happily. Personally I have used both Thomson's and Independent. Both were lovely holidays and not having to faff over the larger holiday components meant I could focus on the small details to make it special for us.

There are also some benefits of package protection which are worth having too.

If you do have a bit more time and energy you can save money and make things more personalised by booking DIY and there are lots of people on here who can help with that too.

Your kids are of an age where you could draw them into the broader planning in either event.

Or if you were feeling very brave, give them the money and say over to you - treat me 😁

If you go that way send them here for some advice first !

Either way, we are a friendly knowledgeable bunch, and there is no such thing as a stupid question. Whichever you decide, it will be the right thing for you- and you will have a fab time.

[gismo1554]

Personally, I love planning and find that booking stuff myself is a lot more fun as I can tailor things to what I want rather than having to rely on someone else to do that. That said though, my holiday in September this year I have booked through a Travel Agent and I've had no problems (touch wood) so I think it really does depend on what you would rather do. Either way though I would suggest you get your kids together and talk about what you would want to do on the holiday before starting out on the booking route. This way you can have an idea about what you want before you look at offers etc.

First thing you should think about is where you want to go. Do you want to just do Disney? Do you want to do Universal? Is there anything else you want to do? From this it will give you an idea about how long you might need to spend in Florida which will help when looking at holidays.

Next think about the time of year you want to go. You may have things that restrict travel times so make sure you take those into account. There may also be special events on that you would like to see such as Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party or Halloween which would impact on when you want to travel.

Once you have this info then its probably time to decide if you need a TA or not. For me the decision to do a TA this time was based on the price not really on the ease of it as I've not gone down the TA route for an entire package before (used for a single aspect such as a cruise but not for a holiday). For you however it may be based more on whether you feel confident to book it or not and I think once you have an idea of what you want to do, how long for and when you will also know whether you feel this is something you could sort or not. In reality it is straightforward to sort but it is also just as easy to get someone else to sort it too. Yes it may cost you a bit more to book as a package through a TA but what you are actually getting is ease of booking and that might be something that is worth it for you.

However if you decide to go ahead and look yourself then the next step is research! This is where I have far too much fun Things you need to look at are:

- Flights > I tend to go to the big carriers and research prices etc as well as looking for any discounts or offers on the internet

- Tickets > Again I look around for good ticket sellers, both trying direct with the parks and through UK ticket merchants. I don't go with US ones as I find they are often overpriced ticket wise compared to the UK offers (we get good deals on 14 day tickets for Disney and Universal so these are often better value even if you aren't doing 14 days at the parks)

- Hotels > Depending on where you are going will depend on what hotel is going to work for you. If only doing Disney then a Disney hotel might be a great option. If doing lots of parks then somewhere central on I-drive might work better or even a house rental. This is probably the bit that involves the most research as there are so many different options. Even if going with a TA you need to think about the various options beforehand but they can advise you on which are good value etc. I use Trip Advisor to help narrow things down here as well as forums like this

- Car Hire > You may or may not want to hire a car but if you are then there are again options here to research. If you aren't hiring a car then you need to think about how you get to and from hotel to airport and parks. Mears is a great option but some hotels have free transport and Disney have Magical Express from the airport too. (watch out with a package holiday that they don't charge you for a transfer you don't need. Virgin Holidays had originally quoted with a charge for a transfer to Disney hotel when I could use Magical Express for free. When running through the costs they mentioned transfer and I said "is that Magical Express" and they said no but they could remove the charge so I saved around £50)

These are your main planning things you need sorted before booking really. After you book you then need to think about dining options, especially if you are planning on dining at sit down restaurants at Disney as these do book up in advance. Again research is key here and these forums are great for advise on that side. Also if you are doing Disney, you will need to think about Fastpasses. These are like a prebookable ride so you don't have to queue as much in the parks. These can be booked in advance based on whether you are staying onsite or not.

What ever you decide to do, people on this forum are always happy to help and, even if you are booking yourself, don't feel you are alone. I've had (and hopefully given) some great advise from this site and pointers. If you have a question anywhere along the way someone else has probably either had the question before or knows the answer! Having something to look forward to can really help move on from tough years and I think this will definitely be a good thing for you moving forward. Which ever way you go, TA or booking independently, you can make sure that you make it special by remembering that the holiday should be what you all want. I hope you have a great time what ever you decide to do.

[Eccle]

I agree with others that the first thing is to get a rough idea of what you want in terms of dates, on or offsite etc. I enjoy all the planning and researching so don't book it all as one package, but I have used agents to get better prices. So for our trip this year I have booked a flydrive direct with BA, Disney hotel plus Universal tickets through Orlando Attractions (who I can highly recommend, Tony there is really helpful and I think they can do complete packages), Universal hotel through Travelbag and villa direct with the owners.

Whatever you prefer there is lots of good advice here to help you too don't be afraid to ask

[BuddyTheElf]

Thank you for all of your advice, I need to get planning