I applaud all holiday DIYers!

[MystikPiglit]

This is my show of respect to anyone who does DIY holiday booking…:clap: :noworthy: :noworthy: :five: :wow:

I have spent hours (without Broadband it really is hours) trying to gather info on flight prices etc in order to make comparisons.It’s about as easy as counting ants….

It sounded simple enough to start with…..we have enough Virgin airmiles to upgrade on next trip…simple? ?

NO…in order to do this we would have to book the flight directly with Virgin Atlantic to get the upgrade....and then book the rest with Virgin Holidays. :(

So DH said: if need to book separately we may as well look at booking the hotel direct with WDW . Oh, and while I’m doing that have a look at BA too….
Maybe it’s because I’m hopeless with technology but I found myself going round in circles….am I missing some easypeasy way of finding out stuff??? Heeeellllllpppppppppp….:confused: :confused:

[Whitequeen]

No, no easy peasy tips I can give you I'm afraid. :(

I go round in circles too, but get there in the end.

The only tip I can give you is, when you've booked an element of the trip, don't goback and see if you could have done better!!! That can make you really mad. :lol:

Some people enjoy 'the chase', some don't. I DO!!! :D

[OKWTink]

I hate, loathe and despise it. :D I absolutely hate looking up holiday accomodations, airfares, all of that stuff, on the internet. :hissy: Excellent way to ruin a perfectly good day.

:hug: to you Mystikpiglit.

[MystikPiglit]

The only tip I can give you is, when you've booked an element of the trip, don't goback and see if you could have done better!!! That can make you really mad.

Good tip! Thanks.

Some people enjoy 'the chase', some don't. I DO!!! :D
I only love 'the chase' if it involves buying the perfect bag :lol:


(Perhaps I should persuade DH to get Broadband installed before I try again...:rolleyes: )

[MystikPiglit]

Thank you, 'Tink :)

[Josette]

Without broadband eveything takes hours, like loading your homepage.

:leaves back and waits for mine to load:

[Whitequeen]

Yep, Broadband would help in your quest.

Tell DH it'll pay for itself when you've saved loads of money on your trip. :wink:

[MystikPiglit]

Yep, Broadband would help in your quest.

Tell DH it'll pay for itself when you've saved loads of money on your trip. :wink:

:lol: Good one!

[JuniorMickey]

As far as booking a room, I'd use a TA here in the states so that way if you qualify for a discount code they'll apply it for you, thus saving you from having to call (and wait) to do this yourself.

[Morgan8]

I have no tips :( but the satisfaction you have after you have found and booked it all yourself is great :)

[MystikPiglit]

As far as booking a room, I'd use a TA here in the states so that way if you qualify for a discount code they'll apply it for you, thus saving you from having to call (and wait) to do this yourself.

Good point. :)
The only thing that concerns me about booking direct with WDW (rather than a package with a UK travel company) is if the exchange rate alters dramatically before we pay for the room it could end up costing a lot more, couldn't it?

[happymealUK]

*Passes some chocolate to MystikPiglit*
There thats the first thing that will help :D :wink:

Secondly, dont stress!! That will ruin the whole 'planning' process and spoil it for you :( (Speaking from experience here :lol: )

I booked our holiday myself, but didnt go all over 'everywhere' shopping for it - that would have drove me even more round the bend!! And like Whitequeen said, once you've booked something - dont try and find it cheaper elsewhere. Be happy with the fact that you are doing it and its in your budget :D :D

In terms of what I did, we got brochures from travel agents and had a look through to get a better idea of hotels, places to visit etc... and decided on our hotels.

I then phoned virgin and asked for a price for the whole thing ... price was in budget :thumbs: so we wanted to book, but they had to try and get our room preference as they had ran out. Anyway, this whole process put me personally, off booking over the phone - with that daft bat anyway!! She'd got everything wrong, even our names that I spelt 5 times, the wrong hotel etc... and this went on for 2 weeks. I must have spoke to 20 different people at the call centre, everyone promising emails, calls etc... and not one responded!! Therefore, I went mad :tantrum: :wall: I cancelled the whole thing, the holiday was worth £6,000 - you think they'd be interested in that!!

Anyway, after lots of chocolate, vodka and hugs - I calmed down & decided that I should do it myself - that way I knew everything would be what we wanted and it wasnt like chinese whispers, where you book the animal lodge and end up staying at chester zoo :wacko:

So I booked our flights, car hire, insurance, orlando tickets, disney tickets through virgin online.
Booked our stay at hard rock universal with british air ways online.
Booked 2 disney hotels, through disney online.
Booked another disney hotel over the phone direct with them.

I'm now one very happy person :tigbounce :tigbounce
Everything is booked, correct and 100% what we wanted and it ended up being cheaper too!! I didnt search for cheaper prices, just searched for who had the rooms that we wanted :thumbs: :thumbs:

Therefore, after my looooong babble :yawn: :yawn: ........
Do it yourself and you know its correct and what you want :thumbs:
Dont stress, that spoils your excitement :hug:
Dont neccessarily hunt down the cheapest price, booking online is normally cheaper automatically and as long as its within your budget - who cares, your going disney!!! :D :D

[JuniorMickey]

You can prepay the room. I always try to have my room paid off before I go

[MystikPiglit]

*Passes some chocolate to MystikPiglit*
There thats the first thing that will help :D :wink:

and it wasnt like chinese whispers, where you book the animal lodge and end up staying at chester zoo :wacko:
Yep, that sounds like Virgin :lol: ...........thanks for the chocklit :) and the advice.

JM - thanks. If it can be paid for at the current exchange rate that would be good. Perhaps I should get in touch with MM.

[Vikki]

I'm in the same situationas you MP. We don't have broadband either, and it does seem to take forever.

I am loving the planning, it keeps the trip in my mind, and we will hopfully get such a sense of satisfaction when it's all done.

.................and anyway, if it all gets too much, there's always Virgin holidays :D

[Johnie]

I hate, loathe and despise it. :D I absolutely hate looking up holiday accomodations, airfares, all of that stuff, on the internet. :hissy: Excellent way to ruin a perfectly good day.



Now I am the polar opposite. I LOVE it!!! It's the thrill of the chase. And nothing feels better than getting an awesome deal :D

[PaulaK]

I love doing it all separately to 'beat the brochure.' :D I do drive poor Cinderella nuts with my room requests/swaps/indecisions though :blush: She has the patience of a saint though luckily :lol:

First thing I do is book seats with the flying club, that way, you know you're going! :micbounce I then go to the WDW site and get room only quotes. We have AP's, so we don't bother with their packages. Once we have a good idea where we want to stay, I PM or email Cinderella and ask her to check for AAA discount rates (these can be used if you are in the AA in the UK). If there are no special rates, we decide if we are happy to pay full rate at our chosen resort. Usually by then we've already set our hearts on staying there, so we book at full rate and hope for an AP rate when the codes come out. If you ask one of our resident TA's to help you, they will apply any discount codes you qualify for on your behalf.

It really is simple I promise. It doesn't cost you anything to get a TA to act on your behalf and it's much easier and cheaper than having to call from the UK all the time yourself and they can also help with tons of other things like booking your PS's which again, can save you ages on the phone :D

If you need any help, just shout, we'll all be here to help! :thumbs:

[Wendy]

LISTS! I like lists.... I like to list each item of the trip I need to plan/ book, then do one thing at a time. If you try to check everything at once, it does seem overwhelming :afraid: so try to break things down into bite-size portions ( so to speak :blush: ) and tick off each item as you've booked it. It makes the process more enjoyable, more managable and makes me feel as though I'm still in control........ :thumbs:
Depending how much "research" you do, you may like to print off copies of - for instance - quotes you find for flights so you can compare them physically, so to speak. I find that works for me easier than keeping everything in files on the PC ( although I do that as well :whistle: )

As I say.........bite -size chunks! :hehe:

[Melfuzz]

Pre paying is recommended because you never know whats gonna happen with the exchange rate and its very good at the moment.

[ukwdwnut]

Perhaps I should persuade DH to get Broadband installed before I try again...:rolleyes:

there are some real good deals out there at the moment MP for broadband, get your surfin clobber on again and get it ordered 2mora :D

[pmac]

I did my first DIY holiday for our forthcoming 1st trip to WDW. We have only even been on your typical package holiday to Cyprus/Greece etc.

I started off looking at a package holiday, but as we wanted to go from Glasgow and for more than 14 days, this ended up not being an option.

I did spend ages on each bit, even when I had narrowed down the exact flights we wanted/needed it still took me ages to take the plunge and book the blooming thing.

Then I did car hire, accomodation and then park tickets. Car hire was probably the easiest bit as I knew exactly what we wanted and how long for.

I won't go into the accomodation decision process, just trust me when I said it took a while.

Yes I did go round in circles for a while at each bit, but bit by bit I narrowed down what WE wanted, with a lot of help from the lovely people on here.

So now we have everything booked and I can get back to planning what we are going to do when we are there... :hehe:

I do like planning and searching for holidays - I read tonnes of reports on hotels (before going for a villa, but I said we wouldnt go over the long process of accomodation choosing, so I will leave it there).

Good luck with your planning and booking.
Trish

[MystikPiglit]

:thanks: A great big thanks to everyone who replied with support, help and advice. I appreciate it so much :) .

I really am going to try and get all the info together this week...so if you hear screaming :yell: :ohdear: it will be me.

DH is not convinced that DIY hols are a good plan so I will need to come up with the proof :rolleyes: .

It's my wedding anniversary next week and I thought booking the holiday that day would be a fun way to celebrate. :wiggle:

[triciacarole]

If it can be paid for at the current exchange rate that would be good.
Why not buy $ travellers cheques now for the amount needed then you know exactly what you are paying, thats how I've done it. I booked direct with the hotel but Virgin Holidays also sell accommodation only which is available at their website.

[triciacarole]

:thanks:
It's my wedding anniversary next week and I thought booking the holiday that day would be a fun way to celebrate. :wiggle:
!!!!!

[mumof2]

I've spent months and months and months (really) booking our trip. I've looked at what feels like thousands of villas and nearly as many fly drive prices. We don't have broadband either so it's taken ages!! Got there in the end though! Booked a private villa at Westridge in Davenport, Fly drive with TCD and found our own insurance. All I need now is attraction tickets.

Actually, has anyone ever heard of /dealt with "Best4attractions" - they seem to be the best price I've found.

I'll post a separate plea for help on that as well!

** i think i need practise - i keep getting my posts on the middle of others!

[Mermaid]

I paid for our WDW last nite....as I was told full payment was needed 45 days prior to arrival.....