October Half Term Flights - give it to me straight...

ButterbearUK

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 15, 2006
Ok UK disers I need your help. Next year, October 2020, we are hoping to go to WDW for 10-12 nights. This is the first time we will be limited to school holiday time and I have been charting the costs of flights for this half term for a while but cannot get over how eye-wateringly expensive they are!

So my question is this - those of you who are going this October half term - how much did your flights cost? How did you get the best deals? What is a “good deal” at this time of year? I’m used to paying about £1500 for all four of us in economy off season, but it looks like it’s going to be double that for the half term?!

We get 2 weeks for half term (I think 19th Oct to 3rd Nov, but if we are lucky it may be 12th-26th Oct) I do not want our son to miss any school, so can’t go any earlier than the Saturday that half term starts.

We have a 2 year old, so will only consider direct flights, but would happily go into Miami or Tampa if needs be. We will be hiring a car.

We have historically only flown BA and have a load of avois points which I could use to offset some of the cost.

So far I have the following:
Flights will become available in the first week of November (ish)
BA seems always to be cheaper than virgin (people always tell me that they got a good deal with virgin, or PE only cost £100 to upgrade to etc but I have never ever found them to be cheaper for any holidays we have been on)
Flying on the Monday or Tuesday will be cheaper than Saturday or sunday
My gut says book as soon as enough they become available as it is a supply and demand thing
There may be cheaper seats available in the December sale, but if I wait and there aren’t then I will be stuffed
 
Look at flights at 11 months out from your date, if you look at the beginning you always get the best deals, you can not book flights only further out then 11 months for some reason.

We have managed to see Virgin Atlantic return flights for 395.00 pounds per person return in Economy but you need to be at the 11 month window.

Dates you fly will make a difference in costs as everyone wants to fly at the weekends.

As for holidays its two different companies, Virgin Holidays and Virgin Atlantic are run as two different companies even though they are under the same Virgin brand and as such your pay extra with Virgin Holidays to use Virgin Atlantic then to book directly with Virgin Atlantic, we fly every time to the USA with Virgin Atlantic and get great deals at the 11 month window.
 
Look at flights at 11 months out from your date, if you look at the beginning you always get the best deals, you can not book flights only further out then 11 months for some reason.

We have managed to see Virgin Atlantic return flights for 395.00 pounds per person return in Economy but you need to be at the 11 month window.

Dates you fly will make a difference in costs as everyone wants to fly at the weekends.

As for holidays its two different companies, Virgin Holidays and Virgin Atlantic are run as two different companies even though they are under the same Virgin brand and as such your pay extra with Virgin Holidays to use Virgin Atlantic then to book directly with Virgin Atlantic, we fly every time to the USA with Virgin Atlantic and get great deals at the 11 month window.
Thanks for confirming that the 11 month our prices are best.
I’ve never succeeded with virgin Atlantic or holidays to find flights cheaper than BA. But I will be checking both for our date! :)
 
If you are worried about the cost now & the cost will get worse then re think your plans

Look at Europe & Paris for theme parks & there are many .
 


If you are worried about the cost now & the cost will get worse then re think your plans

Look at Europe & Paris for theme parks & there are many .

It’s not so much that we are worried about the cost. I just don’t wanting to get absolutely stuffed paying over the odds only to see the flights then appear cheaper in a sale a few weeks later... Or conversely I don’t want to hold out for a sale only to discover that the dates that we want have already booked up and are therefore not in the sale. That’s why I was asking those who have already been there and done it what they found best.

I have not yet found any European destination that offers the whole vacation package that WDW offers- weather, parks, resorts, outlet shopping, dining options, water parks.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to travel in Europe for culture, history, food. But I go to WDW to switch off my brain for 2 weeks and just enjoy myself in the bubble. The European parks just don’t give me that warm fuzzy feeling :)
 
But you are thinking about yourself what about the other 3 in your family .

Think Legoland ( The Original ) in Billund Denmark ,

The Efteling & Toverland in the Netherlands .... both have Hotels .

Parc Astrix & Disneyland in Paris , Phantasia & Kalkar in Germany have hotels
 
But you are thinking about yourself what about the other 3 in your family .

Think Legoland ( The Original ) in Billund Denmark ,

The Efteling & Toverland in the Netherlands .... both have Hotels .

Parc Astrix & Disneyland in Paris , Phantasia & Kalkar in Germany have hotels

I've been to Efteling (twice), Phantasialand (4 times) and obviously Disneyland Paris (lost count) and they're all excellent destinations for a short break. But if one wants to do a 2 weeks vacation and switch off from the outside world, no other place is comparable with WDW. Not even Disneyland in California, which is more of a 3-5 days destination even for a huge Disney fan. Last year I've spent 11 nights at WDW and 3 at Universal Orlando, and this year I'll be doing 12 and 2 because 11 nights in WDW felt a bit rushed. :D
 


I've been to Efteling (twice), Phantasialand (4 times) and obviously Disneyland Paris (lost count) and they're all excellent destinations for a short break. But if one wants to do a 2 weeks vacation and switch off from the outside world, no other place is comparable with WDW. Not even Disneyland in California, which is more of a 3-5 days destination even for a huge Disney fan. Last year I've spent 11 nights at WDW and 3 at Universal Orlando, and this year I'll be doing 12 and 2 because 11 nights in WDW felt a bit rushed. :D

My sentiments exactly! :)
 
I've been to Efteling (twice), Phantasialand (4 times) and obviously Disneyland Paris (lost count) and they're all excellent destinations for a short break. But if one wants to do a 2 weeks vacation and switch off from the outside world, no other place is comparable with WDW. Not even Disneyland in California, which is more of a 3-5 days destination even for a huge Disney fan. Last year I've spent 11 nights at WDW and 3 at Universal Orlando, and this year I'll be doing 12 and 2 because 11 nights in WDW felt a bit rushed. :D

I agree all the above mentioned resorts are only long weekends away, you really have to go to Walt Disney World in Orlando if you want 2 weeks.

We even found Disneyland in California is no more then 3-4 days tops.

Plus the ones in Europe, if you can not speak or understand the language can be a little bit of an issue following stories and shows.
 

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