How to plan?

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Hardy0109's picture
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How to plan?

In what order should I plan my trip? I'm about 14 months out right now. Sad thing is, I know the likely dates, the resort, and a lot of what I'm doing already, since I'm going during Christmas time.

I'm wondering this..Can I get resort discounts AND free dining? Or just one or the other? Is the best way to get vacation packages through the the main Disney site? Or is a vacation planner the way to go? In which order do you plan and how do you find the best prices? When do you book to get the best prices? Speaking especially to you guys who are going/have been during D ecember!

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Kristen K.'s picture
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I plan Dates/Resort/ADRs/Parks

You will only be able to get one discount, they don't stack. So, in order to get the free dining, you'll have to pay rack rate for the room and standard ticket price.

When it comes to getting the best deal, the bonus of using a TA is that they will watch the discounts for you and if something better comes along than what you have booked can switch you into it. If you book your discount online, but would still like to hunt for a better one, that's all up to you. Also, some TAs are better than others, it's not one size fits all in finding a good planner.

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Well, a GOOD TA will watch the deals for you. I had to call and tell my TA that the 25% off the room discount had been posted on the Disney site and asked her to call and get the credit for us. As far as when to book, if you already know the dates you want I don't think that booking sooner or later will make any difference. If they post a new discount for the dates you are there you can call and ask them to credit your account with the new discount. The only disadvantage to booking farther out would be if you were flexible on your dates and wanted to see which dates specifically will be offered free dining or whichever discount you are hoping for. Then you could wait until the discount is posted and book your dates accordingly.

angels444's picture
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We do Dates,resort,ADR'S and Parks. Wow I should just go from thread to thread saying I do what Kristen does. As I seem to do it more times then not.

I prefer to do it online myself. You can always call Disney and ask questions. Guest Relations are so great about helping with questions and concerns, they helped me make my first trip great. I tried going through a TA until Disney said they couldn't help me , call your TA for that after the 3rd or 4th time I just cancelled my TA and booked through Disney. Once they have a sale Hardy you will know about it. They put it up on the site before the TA's even learn about it. All you have to do is check the site for specials. I usually see the specials come up on the ads in my email page or web browser. I have seen the special offer for the free dining for weeks, but planning is strictly to what makes you most comfortable.

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Kristen K.'s picture
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angels444 wrote:
We do Dates,resort,ADR'S and Parks. Wow I should just go from thread to thread saying I do what Kristen does. As I seem to do it more times then not.

laugh Great minds think alike! wink

Hardy0109's picture
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So I guess I'm on the part of ADRs. However, I'm not sure what dining plan I want to get yet. What should I do about that? Plan for both? I'm going November 30-December 9, so I would not have gotten free dining this year. I know the dates change, but it seems that the whole first week of December is always blacked out. So I'm starting to wonder how the other discount works? Is it better to just book and then wait for the discounts to come? I already can't book until our school schedule for next year comes out (we have no idea what date this is, but we assume 2nd second semester), so I've got time before I can book.

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Hardy0109's picture
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Couple other questions I just thought of: is fantasmic open during the Christmas season? Do I need to plan a night for that? What's transportation like from Disney resorts to Universal Studios (this is unlikely, but I really want to see Harry Potter)? How does the candlelight processional work with illuminations? Can I do both on the same night or use two of my nights for that?

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Kristen K.'s picture
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Hardy0109 wrote:
So I guess I'm on the part of ADRs. However, I'm not sure what dining plan I want to get yet. What should I do about that? Plan for both? I'm going November 30-December 9, so I would not have gotten free dining this year.

I personally don't book unless I have a deal that I'm happy with. If something comes out that's better then it's a bonus, but I'm always ok with the deal that I book to begin with. If you want to have free dining, then you need to keep your dates flexible. Other discounts frequently come on room only rates. At the deluxe resorts you can often get a 40% room discount at that time of year, I don't know what the discounts are like at the value or moderates. There may be other package discounts as well, but since I've become DVC I don't pay as close of attention to them. Other people will be able to help you more.

Fantasmic! is open during Christmas time and it's a great show. I think you should be able to see Illuminations and the Candlelight processional in the same night, but it's been about 6 years since I've been at Christmas time.

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You can't book your ADR's until you are 6 month out on your ressie. So you have another 8 month before you can make ADR's. If you really think you are going deluxe then make ressie's based on that because it is easier to cancel them then to make them, especially in certain restaurant.

Do keep a little flexible by a day or two if possible. Like you said the first week of December is blacked out this year but because I was able to move my arrival date to Nov 29th I was able to get free dining through the first week of December. It says your arrival must be between certain days not your stay.

I took the best offer I could at the time and watched for better ones to come along. They run specials every few months but your Nov Dec special probably will not be available for booking until next Aug. So you will be waiting a while until you get the dates.

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Hardy0109's picture
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I can't arrive on Novermber 29th because that is my sister's birthday. We're leaving the next day. At the same time, I donkt want to move the date any farther back because end of semester (finals) are coming, so I can't move forward at all and can only move back a feew days, not much at all.

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Hardy0109's picture
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angels444 wrote:

Do keep a little flexible by a day or two if possible. Like you said the first week of December is blacked out this year but because I was able to move my arrival date to Nov 29th I was able to get free dining through the first week of December. It says your arrival must be between certain days not your stay. .

And yeah I know that. Thing is I can't move the trip forward as mentioned above. I will watch the dates, but there's not much flexibility if I want to go during the Christmas season because of school and that birthday.

Kristen K. wrote:

I personally don't book unless I have a deal that I'm happy with. If something comes out that's better then it's a bonus, but I'm always ok with the deal that I book to begin with.

Fantasmic! is open during Christmas time and it's a great show. I think you should be able to see Illuminations and the Candlelight processional in the same night, but it's been about 6 years since I've been at Christmas time.

Yeah that's probably what I'll do. Book on the first deal I see then keep looking for an upgrade if possible. Thanks for the Fantasmic! advice.

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