2021 Booking Dilemma

Fairygothmum · 3 Mar 20, 12:36 PM

Hey All,

I just wanted a little bit of advice and maybe an idea of what others would do in this situation.

So I am looking at going to WDW again in November 2021 as my roster dates/annual leave meet up for a change! (I have a job that restricts me to 24days a year holiday and they are non-negotiable as they are pre-allocated so I can't even change them) And I've always wanted to visit during the 'festive' period so I am super excited.

but here's the issue; I have found 2 great prices, one with Disney Direct and one with Virgin Holidays. the one with VH includes flights which means that everything is booked all together and I can pay it off monthly as appose to the Disney one which is hotel and tickets only and then I'd have to wait till December 2020 to book flights separately and pay the full amount upfront.

But the VH price is obviously more expensive (they've calculated flights at �615. but I've known them be sold as little as �450 for November when checking flight prices for Nov 2020) plus they're selling the 14day park tickets for �20 more than Disney's price and it's a bigger deposit than the Disney booking.
I'm also now thinking do I book it now or do I wait and see come April if they're going to do the free Breakfast (I'm staying at an All Stars resort for 10days) and the $100 Disney gift card? and will it push the 'base price' up if they start doing these offers?!

I just don't know what to do for the best!

any thoughts on what you would personally do?

duchy · 3 Mar 20, 12:47 PM

You wouldn�t need to pay the flights in full up front.
You could book a BA fly drive (without a car , the package component can be your airport hotel the night before you go for example)
You could add flights with Disney when they are released , you could book with a different tour operator like My Magic or Kenwood.
You don�t just have two options (and Virgin holidays can often be very overpriced)

Jules32 · 3 Mar 20, 01:01 PM

I would wait if your wanting free dining , you can do a rough price now just add the savings if you were to book now back on at the end , if that makes sense

MonkeyNut · 3 Mar 20, 02:13 PM

I�m having this dilemma too.
We want nov 21, hotel is there to book now with VH and I presume there won�t be free dining for anything past Oct like last year but should I wait incase?

Donaldfan · 3 Mar 20, 02:25 PM

So many people are asking this question and it's really a decision only you can all make yourselves. I wouldn't want to be advising people how to spend their money!

Reddevil99 · 3 Mar 20, 03:25 PM

Originally Posted by Donaldfan

So many people are asking this question and it's really a decision only you can all make yourselves. I wouldn't want to be advising people how to spend their money!

You are correct in a sense but the idea of dibb is to ask for advice on such questions as on this thread as many people including myself want the best deal we can get, we are waiting until April for booking All Stars due to hopefully the free breakfast deal.

Fairygothmum · 3 Mar 20, 11:09 PM

Originally Posted by duchy

You wouldn�t need to pay the flights in full up front.
You could book a BA fly drive (without a car , the package component can be your airport hotel the night before you go for example)
You could add flights with Disney when they are released , you could book with a different tour operator like My Magic or Kenwood.
You don�t just have two options (and Virgin holidays can often be very overpriced)

Thank you, i'll look into fly-drives with a Hotel component as I didn't know you could do that! I know that I have more than 2 options but I honestly am such a creature of habit that I only ever tend to use VA/VH or Disney direct

but I'll get googling!

Fairygothmum · 3 Mar 20, 11:19 PM

Originally Posted by Jules32

I would wait if your wanting free dining , you can do a rough price now just add the savings if you were to book now back on at the end , if that makes sense

I'm not really wanting free dining if I am honest, as I only tend to eat one meal a day when I am in Florida! (ridiculous I know!) but I have a small appetite. I STRUGGLED with QSDP last time and ended up with so many spare credits it was embarrassing

I just worry that if I wait till the DDP is announced then they may be charging 'rack rate' for the rooms and I'd be with a dining plan I couldn't manage and a higher rate for the room

and that's even if they don't pull a stunt like they did last time where they say dining offers are only for stays up to the 3rd October!

Fairygothmum · 3 Mar 20, 11:24 PM

Originally Posted by Donaldfan

So many people are asking this question and it's really a decision only you can all make yourselves. I wouldn't want to be advising people how to spend their money!

I think you're missing the point of a forum... asking advice is essentially what they're for. I'm not saying 'make the decision for me' I'm asking people what they would do if they were in my position. trust me I would never let anyone 'advise me how to spend my money'

Originally Posted by Reddevil99

You are correct in a sense but the idea of dibb is to ask for advice on such questions as on this thread as many people including myself want the best deal we can get, we are waiting until April for booking All Stars due to hopefully the free breakfast deal.

Thank you!

duchy · 3 Mar 20, 11:36 PM

Last time we stayed on site we had a Disney booking with passes (free dining ) booked with My Magic (cheaper than direct with Disney and a godsend when Disney announced a pool closure and they had our free move to a better deluxe sorted the same day), 2 fly drive bookings with BA (we had slightly different return dates between us) one with the car on it and the other with an airport hotel for one night on it for three of us. We also had a dibb villa booked for part of the stay . (And a four night cruise) . DIY like that we got exactly what we wanted with no compromises and for much cheaper than a package.

3 Mar 20, 12:47 PM	#2
	3 Mar 20, 12:47 PM duchy Imagineer
duchy Imagineer Join Date: May 04 Location: Kent	You wouldn�t need to pay the flights in full up front. You could book a BA fly drive (without a car , the package component can be your airport hotel the night before you go for example) You could add flights with Disney when they are released , you could book with a different tour operator like My Magic or Kenwood. You don�t just have two options (and Virgin holidays can often be very overpriced)

3 Mar 20, 11:36 PM	#10
	3 Mar 20, 11:36 PM duchy Imagineer
duchy Imagineer Join Date: May 04 Location: Kent	Last time we stayed on site we had a Disney booking with passes (free dining ) booked with My Magic (cheaper than direct with Disney and a godsend when Disney announced a pool closure and they had our free move to a better deluxe sorted the same day), 2 fly drive bookings with BA (we had slightly different return dates between us) one with the car on it and the other with an airport hotel for one night on it for three of us. We also had a dibb villa booked for part of the stay . (And a four night cruise) . DIY like that we got exactly what we wanted with no compromises and for much cheaper than a package. Edited at 11:37 PM.