Planning for Oct 2020

Dogmad · 15 Nov 19, 03:07 PM

Hi,

We are hoping to visit Orlando in October next year. Staying for two weeks from the 16th and then going on a Disney cruise on the 30th October for 3 nights.

There will be 3 of us (myself, husband and 9yr old son).

So the questions are...

Are we best doing this as a DIY?
Hotel or Villa?
We have lots of IHG points which we could use but by the time you have added resort tax and parking I’m not sure it’s worth using them.
Best place to book a villa through(most DIBB ones appear to be booked now)
When would you book the flights? We live closer to Manchester but could travel down to London. Would like to travel PE as a minimum but price may restrict that.

I think that’s about it for now but I’m sure I will think of more.

Thanks

Deb.

Katnic1 · 15 Nov 19, 10:28 PM

We are looking for similar dates. (17-31) Only BA out at moment and prices seem high as is half term. I will be trying Black Friday and then Boxing Day. We are nearer to Manchester but as there is not a lot of choice from there will also look at London. We have always found that DIY normally works out better than a package. How many IHG points do you have? We used ours in Miami last year but your looking at around 40000 per night.(plus any resort fees and car parking fees) Orlando prices may be cheaper though. It helps if you can be flexible on airport too. We are willing to fly into Orlando, Tampa and Miami.

Mickie · 16 Nov 19, 09:54 AM

I’d always price up DIY and packages. It’s not always the case DIY is cheaper plus obviously packages give you protection. However I probably wouldn’t book a villa as a package as I’d prefer to choose the villa. Whether you go for a hotel or villa accommodation is entirely up to you. I would start making a list of what you want from your accommodation and see what fits best

GBScott · 16 Nov 19, 10:12 AM

I have heard to avoid Black Friday as it’s a set up and does not save any money but I don’t know.

Warkman58 · 16 Nov 19, 11:48 AM

We are going in November, DIY as we find it cheaper and better personally.
I have already booked the villa (we used it before, wonderful) via HomeAway

flighrs not yet booked, virgin holidays only one showing, as when we go, no charters fly is a ridiculous price.

We are happy to go indirect, so will use ITA Matrix

matrix.itasoftware/#search:

And will look at various departure airports, including outside the UK

U2fan · 16 Nov 19, 12:32 PM

Originally Posted by Dogmad

Hi,

We are hoping to visit Orlando in October next year. Staying for two weeks from the 16th and then going on a Disney cruise on the 30th October for 3 nights.

There will be 3 of us (myself, husband and 9yr old son).

So the questions are...

Are we best doing this as a DIY?
Hotel or Villa?
We have lots of IHG points which we could use but by the time you have added resort tax and parking I’m not sure it’s worth using them.
Best place to book a villa through(most DIBB ones appear to be booked now)
When would you book the flights? We live closer to Manchester but could travel down to London. Would like to travel PE as a minimum but price may restrict that.

I think that’s about it for now but I’m sure I will think of more.

Thanks

Deb.

We go over October half term, and do DIY every trip now. As well as often being cheaper, it’s so much more flexible than booking a package.

We prefer flights from Manchester but direct flights were really expensive this year so we ended up booking a BA fly drive from Gatwick to Tampa. It was a lot cheaper than flying to Orlando, and an easy drive of around 90 minutes. We like to stay onsite at Disney, so this year we booked our accommodation with Attraction Tickets Direct. (If you want to stay in a Disney hotel, you’re best to wait for April when the Disney Dining will be announced... though it was only on until early October this year.) We got a really good price for the Polynesian. We also used our Avios points for a two night stay at a hotel on Anna Maria Island as flights were a lot cheaper if we flew out a few earlier than we’d planned.

We did a Disney cruise last year, and booked that ourselves via the DCL website. They are amazing!

Dogmad · 20 Nov 19, 02:58 PM

Thanks for all your comments. There just seems so much to plan and not sure in which order to do it!

15 Nov 19, 03:07 PM	#1
	15 Nov 19, 03:07 PM Dogmad Earning More Ears
Dogmad Earning More Ears Join Date: Nov 19	Planning for Oct 2020 Hi, We are hoping to visit Orlando in October next year. Staying for two weeks from the 16th and then going on a Disney cruise on the 30th October for 3 nights. There will be 3 of us (myself, husband and 9yr old son). So the questions are... Are we best doing this as a DIY? Hotel or Villa? We have lots of IHG points which we could use but by the time you have added resort tax and parking I’m not sure it’s worth using them. Best place to book a villa through(most DIBB ones appear to be booked now) When would you book the flights? We live closer to Manchester but could travel down to London. Would like to travel PE as a minimum but price may restrict that. I think that’s about it for now but I’m sure I will think of more. Thanks Deb.

20 Nov 19, 02:58 PM	#7
	20 Nov 19, 02:58 PM Dogmad Earning More Ears Thread Starter
Dogmad Thread Starter Earning More Ears Join Date: Nov 19	Thanks for all your comments. There just seems so much to plan and not sure in which order to do it!