How is everyone booking?

[Macduffy]

I'm just wondering how everyone is booking their trips lately? With the dollar being so bad and the transaction fees on credit cards (I know some don't have any but most do) I'm trying to deal in Canadian dollars. Are most people still booking directly with Disney? Working with an agent?

 

[Ryan2016]

We booked directly with Disney just so we can control the process a little more.

We are from Canada too and I think Disney is just one of those places where you know it will be expensive and you just need to manage your budget.

There will always be an exchange rate and there will always be added costs so when we plan a budget we try your best to get to all the free events well being in the parks. Then we just research the reviews on the restaurants and pick two or three must dines.

I think the exchange is around $1.30 so our budget is little light this year but we will make it work

The other thing I would say is keep checking the discounts on the Disney website and get the most of your tickets and hotel

 

[Yarbogash]

I usually use the Marriott Visa for no foreign transaction fees and either book via a site like cheaptickets or orbitz, then stack their promo code discount with a Disney discount or I rent from a dvc owner. We use airmiles to buy our park tickets.

But next trip we are tryng something different; 3 nights renting DVC points at OKW and then 7 nights renting a site at Fort Wilderness and renting a nice trailer to camp there. All of those can be canceled pretty much last minute so if we find in the month or so before departure that we are tight for money I will scrap all that and get a condo at a place like Silver Lake for $600 or 700 total for the 10 days.

 

[jcourtney]

We booked our flights in CAD (Westjet) and we plan to buy the SOCAL City Pass though costco.ca. This only leaves us hotels and meals paid in USD.

 

[Pkltm]

We are truing something different too, we are renting points for the first time, we paid it all up front and has been a nice change, we bbouight our passes direct through disney on the canadian deal, and we will book our flights in cdn dollar on expedia or travelocity. For our cruise we are making bi-weekly payments, of $100 (have 2 left!) will be paid much before the due date! The payments we are making I put through on my RBC Visa debit, it is getting a better exchange than my capital one or PC card.

 

[vincent00]

Lots of intensive price-watching during the weeks before booking our upcoming May trip.

• Signed up for an Amazon.ca Rewards Visa--no currency exchange fee!
• Accommodations, meals and park tickets booked through Disney; paid off in $500 chunks so as not to have the full expense hit the credit card on just one monthly statement.
• Flight to Orlando (direct!) booked on WestJet with RBC Rewards points.
• Flight home (direct too!) booked on Sunwing; got lucky and caught a sale.

 

[bankr63]

We just stopped flying. With gas at C$0.60/l equivalent in the Southern states, it is dirt cheap to drive. With transportation for the family under $600 return (including hotels), I'm back in a comfort zone for affordability of the rest of the vacation costs.

 

[starvenger]

Use points or Westjet m/c to fly. Since we stick mostly to our mbna card the points do add up and it's a matter of looking for good deals.

Booking places to stay I generally stick to airbnb, booking.com and Expedia to find places since I prefer to stay offsite and have a kitchen available. We also have friends who have timeshares, so we've also explored those options as well.

And of course I check in on the DIS forums for tips.

 

[morrik5]

We could have booked directly through Disney but chose our Disney Specialist at CAA. We also took advantage of the 25% off Canadian Resident Park Tickets and saved over $700. We now have a whole year to save the rest of the money for the resort (Fort Wilderness cabin and full hook-up sites). We usually book airfare for our daughter and her family via Expedia for TD and use our points from the TD Travel Visa.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

I'm trying to do our first family trip to WDW and Universal as cheap as I can. We have a feeling that our daughter is going to be engaged and they want a destination wedding. So this momma is using airmiles to get one more WDW ticket and universal tickets. I'm using my pc points but getting 100 gift cards to use and purchase more tickets into either WDW and Universal. I'm thinking we might stay in the Disney springs area for hotel which I can use AM for again. I did it for my mother/daughter trip in Dec and it worked great for us. So hopefully we will only have to pay our of pocket for meals and extras. Hoping to use our RBC points for airfare, but I'm keeping my eyes open for great airfare deals. It's taking lots of planning on my part, so that our family can still do many of the everyday activities ( very outdoorsy family ). But you can never underestimate the power of a determined momma

 

[disneybree]

We booked our flights on WestJet (for a relatively cheap price for a family of 4) and directly on Disney for more control on what we are paying (and no hassle chasing down the TA for the reservation code)

 

[rxbeth]

I'm trying to do our first family trip to WDW and Universal as cheap as I can. We have a feeling that our daughter is going to be engaged and they want a destination wedding. So this momma is using airmiles to get one more WDW ticket and universal tickets. I'm using my pc points but getting 100 gift cards to use and purchase more tickets into either WDW and Universal. I'm thinking we might stay in the Disney springs area for hotel which I can use AM for again. I did it for my mother/daughter trip in Dec and it worked great for us. So hopefully we will only have to pay our of pocket for meals and extras. Hoping to use our RBC points for airfare, but I'm keeping my eyes open for great airfare deals. It's taking lots of planning on my part, so that our family can still do many of the everyday activities ( very outdoorsy family ). But you can never underestimate the power of a determined momma

What gift cards are you getting with PC points? I'm always trying to find a way to decrease the cost of the next Disney trip.

 

[dancin Disney style]

What gift cards are you getting with PC points? I'm always trying to find a way to decrease the cost of the next Disney trip.

You can no longer purchase gift cards with PC points. What you can do though, and it's basically the same thing, is redeem PC points for your groceries and then bank the cash that you would have spent. $100 worth of groceries(paid for with PC points) and then $100 cash goes in the vacay fund.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

We booked directly with Disney just so we can control the process a little more.

We are from Canada too and I think Disney is just one of those places where you know it will be expensive and you just need to manage your budget.

There will always be an exchange rate and there will always be addded costs so when we plan a budget we try your best to get to all the free events well being in the parks. Then we just research the reviews on the restaurants and pick two or three most dines.

I think the exchange is around $1.30 so our budget is little light this year but we will make it work

The other thing I would so is keep checking the discounts on the Disney website and get the most of your tickets and hotel

exactly all of this.

booked at the start of the year, arriving December 3oth. Diligently, I have a list that I do every two weeks before pay. I lay out what I get, what goes to where (bills house etc) and then if there is anything extra I put it in my "extras" account.
Also every Monday I have an automatic transfer of $10 to my savings and $10 to my 'extras'. it's not much, but it does add up and I don't notice it.

I just bought some US today with what I had in the extras, and made a payment for the trip. Still quite a way to go, but it is nice to see it go down a bit. I am treating it like a monthly bill moving from now to November.

Airfare was with travel vouchers, I was lucky that the airline messed up, or this trip would not be happening for me lol the difference has now officially been paid for.

We priced out where we want to eat and the cost vs dining plan. Out of pocket will be slightly cheaper, but more restrictive, and we would have a bill when we are done the trip. Dining plan means I am prepaying, and I will only have to deal with minimal out of pocket plus tips.

We have cut back HUGE on extras. Everyone including the kids agree, it is worth it to put to the trip, so we have cut back on movies out and dinners out. NOT cut out, but drastically cut back. It helps in the long run.

ALSO my family are all staying at the Contemporary. We are staying at POFQ. We will be comfy with our queen beds, small resort, and yet way less than what everyone else is paying. We are ok with that.

Little things here and there add up. Save that Starbucks, go get a Timmys instead. put the $4 in a trip jar. after 2 weeks, check out the souvenir money you have already started. Little things do make a difference.

 

[a*lil*bit*goofy]

You can no longer purchase gift cards with PC points. What you can do though, and it's basically the same thing, is redeem PC points for your groceries and then bank the cash that you would have spent. $100 worth of groceries(paid for with PC points) and then $100 cash goes in the vacay fund.

One of our peeps travelling is doing this with Esso gas. He is a driver so he gets to use his points card when fuelling for work. He has just over $300 worth of gas. He figures that is 1/2 his dining plan cost. He will start soon to use the points for gas cards, and will instead put that gas money on his Disney bill.

I also use ebates, I have about $20. LOL but still, that goes towards a checked bag for example. I also use checkout 51 app, and every week I scan my grocery receipt. If I happen to have coupons, bonus. I am building that up now. would be nice to cash out at $100 before the trip that pays for airport parking. Little things!

 

[rxbeth]

You can no longer purchase gift cards with PC points. What you can do though, and it's basically the same thing, is redeem PC points for your groceries and then bank the cash that you would have spent. $100 worth of groceries(paid for with PC points) and then $100 cash goes in the vacay fund.

Good call! I was trying to figure out what to do with those points and now I know!

I also use my cashback rewards from my VISA to bank for Disney.

Also every time I sell or consign baby things, I put it away.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

What gift cards are you getting with PC points? I'm always trying to find a way to decrease the cost of the next Disney trip.

I am getting Visa gift cards. I will purchase my groceries ( knowing that it is worth more than 100.00 ) and toss in the visa gift card. Yes it does cost me the 5.95 to activate it. Then I plan on going to our local AMA ( I'm in Alberta ) to purchase tickets with my visa cards. And yes, I called ahead to make sure I could use them before I started my plan. I'm keeping them stored in my hiding place in the house...my growing mountain of material and scraps from quilting lol. Even the hubby doesn't know I have them. And if someone did break into the house, I'm pretty sure they would stear clear of my project/quilting room lol

 

[cdnusagurl]

We're doing a split stay between Disney and Universal, so thing are looking to be extra expensive for our trip. So far though, I've booked our Disney World tickets directly through Disney and our Universal hotel through Booking.com, since it told me the price upfront in CAD. I'll probably book our hotel directly through Disney if we get a discount (fingers crossed) or through Booking's website again if we don't get one. I got the Westjet Mastercard for our flights, so that is saving us money on flights and the free checked luggage is basically going to cover the annual fee for us with one round trip. Now I'm just waiting to see whether or not to buy the Universal annual pass so I can get a room discount or some discounted tickets off UT.

 

[1926Moon]

We try to book and prepay as much as we can in CDN dollars, which is basically flights, sometimes tickets, and most recently prepaying for cars via budget through the airmiles site. I also like being able to prepay as much as we can.

In fact, we are flying into MCO on Thanksgiving this coming November, and I just booked a full-size car through the airmiles link to the Budget site and it ended up being $155 CDN for 8 days if we prepaid - so I jumped on that I was expecting it to be way higher given that holiday weekend, and I loved that I could prepay in CDN.

 

[Sue M]

I have a CIBC USD savings acct and USD Visa. When ever CAD hits $0.75 I transfer cash to USD acct. while I'm away, I use my USD Visa.

I got the Canadian deal for WDW tickets and DL tickets.

Got my August/Sept flights with Alaska using companion fare ( I have Alaska Airlines MC). From west coast Alaska has some of the best flight options flying to Florida.
Still watching for Nov WDW flight deal.

I booked my WDW resort for Nov trip with my TA, and almost PIF. When CAD isn't too bad I just send her a text or email asking her to pay $xxx amount. Easy. Because of our low CAD and lack of good discounts, and crazy WDW resort rate increases, we are staying at Pop. We usually stay at a deluxe or moderate. First trip staying at a value (for other than just arrival night). Disney will be getting less of my $
Sorry Disney, but as much as we love POR, they are not $200/night rooms.

Our Sept DL trip we are staying in one of the offsite hotels that is walking distance to the parks.