December 2017, what to pay?

[davidmolliesmum]

hi
For those who have been over Christmas, do you mind sharing what you paid for flights & accommodation and who you booked with?

Trying to decide if it's do-able while I wait for flights being released ...

Thanks

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

I looked for a while and finally went with indirect flights, booked through Expedia. For 3 adults and including a SUV (we got a Dodge Journey through Dollar) it was £2054. So I reckon around £500 each for flights, 15th December to 3rd January and £500 for the car, including insurance. I couldn't get nowhere near that price with anyone else and the car prices with Alamo and other companies were coming out at around £700 or more for the same class of car. So I was really pleased with that price.

We stayed 1 night at WDW on arrival and then drove to the gulf coast for a week where we stayed in a villa with a pool. I then booked a 3br townhome in Kissimmee for 11 nights. All accommodation was booked direct with WDW and the owners of the villas. The villas worked out around £100 per night.

I hope this helps you. I booked the flights at the beginning of April 2016.

What are you looking for and how many are going?

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

We're booked for this year 11th December 2017 to 1st January 2018 ....... yep 3 weeks over Xmas and New Year

We are 4 adults (as the kids will be 21 and 19) and we are staying at The Yacht Club with a lagoon view room. So with accommodation, 21 day Disney Ultimate tickets, the dining plan for the 3 weeks it comes to a little under £13,000.

On top of this of course are the flights but I'm hoping to get reward flights on Virgin Atlantic ...... fingers crossed.

I know this is expensive but it's a big trip for us as we'll be celebration our eldest sons 21st birthday and DH and I are having a vow renewal.

Hope this helps and doesn't put you off as Xmas is a really pretty, magical time to visit Disney

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

That's a hefty price tag Isabel, but sounds like a fantastic holiday in the making. Have you booked 1 or 2 rooms?

Good luck on the Virgin flights, I couldn't really find anything last year, but was lucky enough to get summer holiday flights for 2 of us the year before so fingers crossed

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Thanks Sam ......Unfortunately it's only for 1 room....... lucky we all get on very well

I've been keeping a very close on VS reward flights, I know we're not going to get LHR - MCO direct so we're going via JFK on the way out. TBH it's not the outbound I'm concerned about as that will be on 9th Dec rather the return on Jan 1st !!!! I think I'll just get up at 2am on the required day (coming up soon) and keep fingers, toes and everything else crossed.

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Oh yes, post how you get on. The full price summer flight was just over £1200 with economy/PE return, so I was glad to get 2 with miles.

 

[davidmolliesmum]

Wow £13000 sounds way out of our price range,
It will be for 2 adults & 2 children 14 & 12, flying from Glasgow or Manchester, will go to Orlando or Miami and staying in a villa for 14 nights, only flight and villa costs as will use usual car and ticket place I use.

Hoping flights will be released over the coming weeks so we can make the decision and hopefully the booking!!

 

[saintrob]

We've just returned after our Christmas trip. We like to fly out of Manchester but struggled to get reward seats or decent prices so opted for Atlanta. We were able to book UC seats for miles with Virgin but there was plenty of availability for cash and much cheaper than direct to Orlando. We got flights with Delta down to Orlando for around £600 for three of us.

 

[davidmolliesmum]

Wow! That's great!
Thank you

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

I've been looking for LHR to Atlanta but there are no reward flights available after October 2018 it's as though Virgin just haven't loaded them. The cynic in me says that they're holding them back till after the miles/reward changes happen January 13th but there are reward seats available on other routes so I don't know whats going on

 

[Jon84]

Not much point me sharing my last 2 December trips in 2014 and 2016 as the prices have rocketed since, I'd take note of people who have already booked for 2017, 2018 free Dining might happen in April if like previous years

 

[saintrob]

I've been looking for LHR to Atlanta but there are no reward flights available after October 2018 it's as though Virgin just haven't loaded them. The cynic in me says that they're holding them back till after the miles/reward changes happen January 13th but there are reward seats available on other routes so I don't know whats going on

They've got reward seats so far for Nov '17 from LHR to ATL so fingers crossed that this will extend into Dec. It's so easy to get the connection to MCO. Delta fly every hour and the airport is a doddle to navigate via the plane train. On the return journey you are able to use the Delta lounge which is great.

 

[davidmolliesmum]

We've booked, flights with Icelandair and villa, under £4,000, with a couple days stopover in Iceland on the way home, very happy with that.

 

[tinkerpea]

We're going over Xmas ( hopefully if all plans out) for the first time this year,. We just got a 3 bed town house/villa but no private pool,on emerald Island for £1140 for 21 nights
We also want a few days onsite so we may change it to 2wks in the town house and 7 days onsite if I can a get a free dining deal through the US site for our first wk which should be starting 13th December, us free dining normally ends on 20th December so here's crossing my fingers.
I'm excited and dreading it!
I have to say with the exchange rate being so so bad, I'm not sure a off site stay with no ddp would be good this trip.
I wanted this to be as cheap as possible but if it's going to coat me ££££ in food it might be better to pay more upfront and know it's all covered!!
Especially as a family of 5 with kids aged 12,12,15 next trip and my mum too.