Newbie Planners!

[Coachjen]

Hi everyone
Its my first time taking the family to Florida. We had started getting quotes previously but then covid it

I have no idea where to start this time! Prices seem to have gone up drastically. Am I better going with a traditional virgin type company, or an independent company or just trying to go solo and booking everything separately myself? Are there benefits to a package holiday so to speak?

Does anyone have tips to cut down on cost? We're happy to fly via somewhere else (it will add to the adventure!) or fly to a different airport then drive to Disney

Any tips would be gratefully received!

My son starts his last year in primary school September so we wanted to get to Disney before he starts secondary school if we can hence next year being our target trip!

Thank you

[sha9]

I would price everything up with one of the reputable package companies then price it up separately and go from there. Sky scanner is a good site to get an idea of flight options but don’t book through them, go direct to the airline site and see what price they have. My advice if booking separately would be to always book with the supplier direct if you can.

[grant_w]

We used to book a package with Virgin, but the last 2 trips we've booked it separately. Flights + car hire via BA tend to be reasonable, and the last 2 trips we've hired a villa from someone on here, we find it much better than hotels, although there are plusses to staying in both.
If you are hiring a car anyway, it shouldn't be that much more time/effort to fly to Tampa instead, the downsides being you'll have a slightly longer drive from the airport and you can't use the Visitor Toll Pass (only available from MCO), the upside is you can sometimes get cheaper flights to Tampa.

[Unicorn13x]

We got quotes from 2 TAs one was a chain and the other apparently was independent and then one from Virgin holidays. All for same dates hotel etc. One came back with a price of over £6000 they other £5800. I came home spoke to hubby decided just to go on Virgin holidays on line to see what dates were showing and the ones we wanted were there and a lot cheaper than quotes. Even adding on 3 x 3 universal park tickets it came to £5123 with our 5% veterans discount. So shop around.

[jdouds]

I suppose it’s down to a bit of hard finger tapping on keyboard. We’ve done 15/16 trips and only the first with an agent . Have a look at flying through places like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto. These can work out £2/300 per head cheaper. Also look at flying from Dublin which you then clear US customs there and arrive without the dreaded arrival hall. As others have said look at arriving into Tampa , Miami etc
Accommodation it’s really down to your preference, some like a villa other can’t understand why you would even consider one. Lots of the hotel offer family room type acc that are good size . Staying onsite prices have rocketed up which puts certain places out of reach for many or simply not prepared to pay the ridiculous amount . We’re lucky to be fitting in a trip in February and our preferred acc would be OKW but have decided on port Orleans french quarter. Prices at OKW we just thought weren’t acceptable