Washington & WDW July 2022

[Louiseanne]

Having thought we would not be going to Florida again for a while DD20 has announced she really really wants to go next year! So the only time we could go is in the first half of July. Thinking of having a few days in Washington first and then 2 weeks probably in All Star Music to try and manage costs. Thinking about booking ASM direct and then flights & Washington as a package. Or should I try and book it all as one? Which travel companies have been good to deal with during COVID? Not budgeted for this but hoping around £4.5k if possible as just two of us.

[loldis]

I would book the Disney portion directly with WDTC. They have always been excellent when it comes to amends/cancellations and no exception during Covid.

I haven't personally had to cancel a flight during Covid but from everything I've read on here, BA have been the best and most consistent airline with their refunds. So that is who I am planning to book with for next year. You can do custom trips with them so fly into Washington and out of Orlando, then you just need to arrange the domestic flight separately - would recommend JetBlue or Southwest for reasonable fares.

But 4.5k sounds tight to include Washington as well, I would be budgeting around 3k for two weeks at Disney (just hotel + tickets) so that leaves 1.5k for all flights plus the Washington hotel.

[Louiseanne]

Thanks loldis that’s helpful. I think I’ll book the WDW bit ASAP and keep saving for the rest.

[miss_bell]

I would recommend hotels.com for your stay in Washington, I was able to get three hotel bookings refunded with no issues, (we were doing a road trip last year). When we stayed in Washington we stayed at the Omni Shoreham, it's near the zoo, not far from a metro stop and the old trolley tours has a stop across the road.

[Claudette]

As far as I can tell, travel companies that were good during covid are few and far between. People that booked direct seemed to have fared better.

This looks like a trip that woudl be very easy to book separately yourself. I would definitely book ASM directly with Disney and then I normally book hotels directly with the hotel on a flexible rate. However another good idea would be to book the Washington hotel with BA flights, that way you have created a package and will only need to be pay a deposit until much closer to travel day.

I think your budget is a touch light but not too far off. The Disney bit would be £3k, so £1.5k for international flights, the internal flights and a Washington hotel would be a stretch but another £500 could be enough and another £1000 easily enough.

[2point]

I'd be looking at a BA booking from London to Washington, flying out of Orlando. Tag on a hotel in Washington to make it a package for the low deposit.

Nearer to the time you can book a one way from Washington to MCO.

We did LGW to MCO then out of JFK. Booked American Airlines from MCO to Washington (about £100 each) then booked a one way Avis from Washington to JFK.