Disney World - The Online Guide

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003
(UK customers)

Do It Yourself Booking - UK

You may be able to save money by booking your vacation yourself rather than using a travel agent. You will be able to take advantage of any discounts and special offers available on resorts and flights, and enjoy more flexibility when choosing where to stay and when to fly.
Booking Resorts
You can either choose to use an travel agent, or book the resort yourself through Disney Central Reservations (CRO). If you use expedia.co.uk, you will often find the same discounts on Disney resorts, that you can get by using codes with CRO.
Use Our Laughing Place Travel, who will book the best deal for you at any Disney Resort Hotel. They check for any new discounts, and apply them automatically to your reservation, ensuring you always get the best deal. For no extra cost they will also make your priority seating dining arrangements, saving on expensive phone calls to the USA, and also help plan itineraries.
To book with Disney CRO - work out the dates you want to stay, and at which resort(s), also have alternative resorts and dates ready just in case. Ring CRO on 001-407-934-7639. Tell them the resort you want, the dates & the number of people in your party. If the room is available, you can ask them to reserve it for you. You then have a certain amount of time in which to pay the deposit (one night's room rate). You'll receive a reservation letter in the mail, you must send the tear-off back with a check (CRO only accept payment by phone with credit cards drawn on a US bank). If you don't pay the deposit in the required time, the room will just go back into the system & you will have lost the reservation. You won't need to pay the balance until you check in to the resort (unless you book with the Walt Disney Travel Company, or book a package). Always check the details and dates on the resort reservation letter that you receive in the mail, mistakes have been known to be made.
There may be discounts available for during your stay. Check out the resort discounts page for current information. If there are annual passholder discounts available, it may be worth buying an annual pass just to get these discounts, as they can save you hundreds of dollars, plus you wouldn't then have to purchase an additional park pass. If you want to use one of these discounts, just ring CRO and ask if they have any rooms available at X resort using code XXX or the annual passholder rate, for XXX dates. Then go ahead and reserve as above. Don't panic if you have already made a reservatin at the rack rate, it's easily changed! Ring CRO & ask if they have any rooms available using the code or AP rate, for the dates you want. If it is available, say you'd like to transfer your existing reservation to the new rate. Simple as that! You may need to be flexible if your preferred resort isn't available using the discount rate, be prepared to change to an alternative resort.
I recently booked a stay at the Wilderness Lodge for 7 nights. Initially I booked at the rack rate, which was $234 a night. I then called back when the Annual Passholder rates came out & got quoted $1119 for 7 nights. Then, a new discount code came out & I got a standard room for $129 a night! It certainly pays to keep an eye out for new discounts that may become available. This is where it pays to book everything yourself, rather than going through a travel agent.
You have the option of booking a package, which will often consist of the resort room, park passes, and extras such as meals or special souvenirs. Most often, these packages work out more expensive than if you were to buy all the components yourself. So I would advise against buying a package unless they are on special offer, or you work out that you could use every single part of the package & get your money's worth.
Buying Park Passes
You can purchase passes through Disney CRO, at the Disney Store, or through our online ticket store in association with The Flight Shop.co.uk. See the save money section for tips on how to get discounts. If you are trying to buy regular park passes, or special tickets for events such as MVMCP, through CRO, and the CM tells you they can't accept UK credit cards over the phone, hang up and try again. I have been told this, then rung back & got a different CM who accepted the credit card no problem.
Flights
There are various ways of booking your flights. You could go direct to the airline, although this may be the dearest option unless they have any special offers available. There are many, many companies selling flights, and it pays to shop around. Check out the travel sections of newspapers, search online & ask friends for recommendations. Don't just concentrate on one airline, get quotes for different airlines with different companies. See the Discount flights section for a list of companies. Check out expedia for discounted flights.
Insurance
I'd always strongly advise against travelling without adequate insurance. Again, shop around for the best deal, with local companies, national insurance brokers, or online. It may be worth taking out an annual trip policy if you travel a lot. See the Holiday Insurance section.
Car Hire
You need to decide whether you'll be hiring a car or using Disney transport. It's easy to get around the WDW Resort using Disney buses, boats & monorails, but if you plan on spending a lot of time outside the Resort, or want to hop from Disney Resort to Resort, you may need to hire a car. Again, there are many different companies to choose from. You can book your hire car from the UK before you leave, or wait until you arrive at the airport. See the Car hire companies page for details. If you're not going to be hiring a car, you will need to get from the airport to your Resort, see the airport transportation page for options.
Saving money on phone calls to the US
It costs around 23p a minute to phone the US with BT. If you're going to be calling WDW on a regular basis, I recommend people sign up with one.tel (they advertise in national press regularly). There is no charge to sign up, no special equipment needed, and you keep your BT phone line. All you do is dial a 4 digit number before the number you're phoning. It costs around 3p a minute to call the US, a huge saving on the standard BT rate.

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