DDP and when to book flights

Spanish Buzz

Earning My Ears
Joined
Aug 20, 2019
We are hoping to return to WDW August 2020 (last trip was May 2012 to POFQ) Prices seem to have rocketed since our last visit but we are desperate to return. We have found POFQ with QSDP for end of July start of August through Disney's website. Flights are on the cusp of being released. Does anyone know if the dining plan offer will disappear once the flights are released? We are a little concerned about booking hotel without flights. Also looking at Norwegien airlines. Does anyone have experience? We have previously flown Virgin but their prices are sooooo high!
Looking forward to any help and advice you can give. I am an avid reader of this site but have only just registered in the hope that you can help our dream return trip come true!
 
Where are you flying from? Thomas Cook have flights available to book now from Manchester or Glasgow. If you wait to book there may be less availability on room categories, some have already sold out. No direct experience of Norwegian but I've heard they are good and they use Dreamliners which are nice. I also understand that Disney will move dates if they can if you find a better fight option.
 
Thank you so much for responding. We will be flying from Gatwick or Manchester but would not choose Thomas Cook as have heard too many negatives. I think we are going to bite the bullet and book the room and tickets and pray that we can get a good deal on flights!
The dream is within touching distance!
 
The problem with the flight increase is the poor pound to dollar rate that is affecting all prices.

As for the dinning plan it is starting to have more and more dates removed and you normally have to book around the end of the year to get the following year, it is not always guaranteed and best to keep an eye on the Walt Disney Website.

I found some August Virgin flights return for 365.00 pounds a couple of weeks ago for beginning of July at the 11 month window which i did not think was that bad for a USA and UK summer date.

Keep an eye on them at the 11 month window as they do move around on prices.
 


It is the exchange rate which has made us consider the dining plan. We have never really been bothered before. I also don't think it had been available for August.
Think we had found the same virgin flights as you mentioned but we're anticipating an increase for the start of School holidays.
Norwegian air is looking promising having just watched a few YouTube videos.
 
The dining plan offer has always been available in August under the UK deal. Actually this year the availability is far lower than previous years. If you want to go take the booking while it is available, the gamble is just the £200 deposit.

You are right about prices going up, they’ve really rocketed. However flight prices is a little different. Prices for before school holidays next year on release have been amazing. However the BA prices for early August from Gatwick are really high, like £6k for family of 4. I’m hoping for indirect from Heathrow to come up trumps between £3k and £3.5k, as they have been for same period this year.

Good luck
 
Thank you for the info, alanandline. Previously we have visited Disney during Easter and the DP wasn't available. We have spent a lot of today looking at different options. Disney have told us that the DP is fixed till October so that is good. We have looked at a package with Virgin with the 10% discount but kept going round in circles. Each time we did it the price seemed to increase!😩
We are leaning towards booking hotel and tickets through Disney then booking our own direct flights. It is this part which is making the holiday so expensive. All flights are around the £3k+being a teacher makes Disney so expensive for us.
 


The dining plan offer has always been available in August under the UK deal. Actually this year the availability is far lower than previous years. If you want to go take the booking while it is available, the gamble is just the £200 deposit.

You are right about prices going up, they’ve really rocketed. However flight prices is a little different. Prices for before school holidays next year on release have been amazing. However the BA prices for early August from Gatwick are really high, like £6k for family of 4. I’m hoping for indirect from Heathrow to come up trumps between £3k and £3.5k, as they have been for same period this year.

Good luck
Thank you for the info, alanandline. Previously we have visited Disney during Easter and the DP wasn't available. We have spent a lot of today looking at different options. Disney have told us that the DP is fixed till October so that is good. We have looked at a package with Virgin with the 10% discount but kept going round in circles. Each time we did it the price seemed to increase!😩
We are leaning towards booking hotel and tickets through Disney then booking our own direct flights. It is this part which is making the holiday so expensive. All flights are around the £3k+being a teacher makes Disney so expensive for us.
 
Thank you for the info, alanandline. Previously we have visited Disney during Easter and the DP wasn't available. We have spent a lot of today looking at different options. Disney have told us that the DP is fixed till October so that is good. We have looked at a package with Virgin with the 10% discount but kept going round in circles. Each time we did it the price seemed to increase!😩
We are leaning towards booking hotel and tickets through Disney then booking our own direct flights. It is this part which is making the holiday so expensive. All flights are around the £3k+being a teacher makes Disney so expensive for us.
While the offer might be on till October dates of availability to sell out or true price may go up. For a while pOFQ for our dates lost the offer, it then came back but slightly higher priced
 
While the offer might be on till October dates of availability to sell out or true price may go up. For a while pOFQ for our dates lost the offer, it then came back but slightly higher priced
You are absolutely right. For that reason we have just booked through Disney for the tickets and POFQ. Now need to hope that we can get the flights at a reasonable price though it is looking around the £3k - £3.5k mark for 3 adults.
Beyond excited right now. 🎉
 
You are absolutely right. For that reason we have just booked through Disney for the tickets and POFQ. Now need to hope that we can get the flights at a reasonable price though it is looking around the £3k - £3.5k mark for 3 adults.
Beyond excited right now. 🎉
I booked my hotel back in April and I’m still just as excited. I’m holding off full planning until the flights are booked, but tempted to buy the 2020 Unofficial Guide which is out in the UK next week on Amazon.
 
I booked my hotel back in April and I’m still just as excited. I’m holding off full planning until the flights are booked, but tempted to buy the 2020 Unofficial Guide which is out in the UK next week on Amazon.
Currently deciding on which magic band we would like!!! While also watching all the Disney blogs! This is almost too much! It's 8 years since our last visit So I think we are allowed to be this giddy. Will look into the book- thanks for the heads up.
 
The flights are booked! What a roller coaster! Return flight came live yesterday at a cost of £5800 economy classic for 3 adults. The next day it was £3700 return premium economy but it was cheaper to book economy classic for the outbound journey and pay for exit row seats (£59 each) rather than book economy delight and still have to pay extra for bulkhead seats.
Flying in the bubble from Glasgow exit row economy outbound and Premium economy inbound £3270 3 adults. Shorter flight and earlier arrival time means we will hopefully visit Magic Kingdom on arrival day.
We have followed advice from others on here who have advised booking as close to flight drop date as possible. Hope this helps anyone who reads the forums as avidly as me. Hope we've done the right thing but we are now officially counting down. Let the magic begin!
 
The flights are booked! What a roller coaster! Return flight came live yesterday at a cost of £5800 economy classic for 3 adults. The next day it was £3700 return premium economy but it was cheaper to book economy classic for the outbound journey and pay for exit row seats (£59 each) rather than book economy delight and still have to pay extra for bulkhead seats.
Flying in the bubble from Glasgow exit row economy outbound and Premium economy inbound £3270 3 adults. Shorter flight and earlier arrival time means we will hopefully visit Magic Kingdom on arrival day.
We have followed advice from others on here who have advised booking as close to flight drop date as possible. Hope this helps anyone who reads the forums as avidly as me. Hope we've done the right thing but we are now officially counting down. Let the magic begin!
That’s great knowing all done hey. Your price sounds good for the extra space seats you’ve got I think going direct.

I ended up booking 4 tickets with Lufthansa from Heathrow via Frankfurt for £3k. I’ve booked seats for the transatlantic portion at the rear of the plane. They are standard seats but have some extra space on one side and I think will give me being 6Ft 1 a tiny bit extra legroom.

Aw and I’ve got my unofficial guide book, so just the 800 pages to read! Actually I won’t need to read it all this time as don’t have any need to read the hotel reviews as that bits already decided.

Happy planning
 
That’s great knowing all done hey. Your price sounds good for the extra space seats you’ve got I think going direct.

I ended up booking 4 tickets with Lufthansa from Heathrow via Frankfurt for £3k. I’ve booked seats for the transatlantic portion at the rear of the plane. They are standard seats but have some extra space on one side and I think will give me being 6Ft 1 a tiny bit extra legroom.

Aw and I’ve got my unofficial guide book, so just the 800 pages to read! Actually I won’t need to read it all this time as don’t have any need to read the hotel reviews as that bits already decided.

Happy planning
Yay! You got your flights on budget as well! That’s brilliant news. I’m just relieved it’s all done. DH can relax a little now as it has been relentless the last few days going over different airports and seat combinations.
Now for the planning. Enjoy your unofficial guide reading. Thanks for all your advice. Enjoy your holiday when it arrives.
 
The flights are booked! What a roller coaster! Return flight came live yesterday at a cost of £5800 economy classic for 3 adults. The next day it was £3700 return premium economy but it was cheaper to book economy classic for the outbound journey and pay for exit row seats (£59 each) rather than book economy delight and still have to pay extra for bulkhead seats.
Flying in the bubble from Glasgow exit row economy outbound and Premium economy inbound £3270 3 adults. Shorter flight and earlier arrival time means we will hopefully visit Magic Kingdom on arrival day.
We have followed advice from others on here who have advised booking as close to flight drop date as possible. Hope this helps anyone who reads the forums as avidly as me. Hope we've done the right thing but we are now officially counting down. Let the magic begin!
just reading this and gives me some hope that prices may drop! We want to book direct from Manchester, and our return date was released with virgin today, almost £2K pp return!! hoping to see a drop in that!
 
just reading this and gives me some hope that prices may drop! We want to book direct from Manchester, and our return date was released with virgin today, almost £2K pp return!! hoping to see a drop in that!
Keep checking every day. We definitely booked at the right time as since booking, the prices have significantly increased. Good luck and fingers crossed 🤞
 

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