Help finding cheap Hotel rates and airfare

[harasttam]

Hi! This is the first time I've started a thread, so yay!, but I was wondering how everyone finds good deals on hotels and airfare. I was thinking of going next March for my husband's and my birthdays (we're only a day apart) but the airfare I've been looking at is ridiculous! We fly out of Salt Lake and the cheapest I can find is 202 per person round trip, which is about about seventy dollars more a person than I paid for our trip coming up in November. Does anybody have a site they go to for airfare? Am I looking too early? Will the prices get cheaper? Another question I have is has anyone booked a room through Priceline's name your own price? Can you get good, close hotels by bidding low? Or has anyone tried hotwire.com? I looked there and it had a room for $39, but it doesn't tell you where or anything until you book it. Argh. I've never had this much bad luck planning a trip to DL. I want to make it happen, so if anyone can offer any help, I'd really appreciate it! Thanks!

[#1DisneyFreak]

the longer you wait to book a flight, the more expensive it usually gets. If I were you, I'd fly jetBlue out of SL to Long Beach (that's what we do). For a car, bid on priceline. You can usually get somthing really good. My best one so far was $18 a day for an economy car :)
As for hotel, check everywhere. Priceline, orbitz, hotelkingdom, etc. You can usually compare there and sometimes you can even call the hotel and book direct through them by saying "oh, but it was listed for $50 on priceline...". HOwever, I don't recommend bidding on the hotel. You don't get to see which hotel it is first... you just choose what area and how many stars. You could end up in a 3 star rat motel 10 miles away.
So where in ID are you from? We're out here in Orem :)

[tropicskenzie]

Like #1DisneyFreak said..... JetBlue is awesome!!

[harasttam]

Thanks for the help! Jet Blue is awesome! Its spoiled me, I hate flying on other airlines! We're from Rigby, which is in Southeastern Idaho. Its a 3 1/5 hour drive to SLC, so a trip to the airport is a quite the trip too with a toddler. :)

[#1DisneyFreak]

Wow! You're a trooper!! We're 45 minutes from the airport and THAT's hard with our toddler haha.

[Mickey_Mojo]

I'm surprising my 8 year old daughter with a trip in February and we're flying JetBlue, it was the cheapest I found at the time. Although I did see yesterday that Delta for two people flying from SLC to LGB was $278 total.

Also, we're staying at the HOJO and I got the Entertainment rate for $59/night. Good luck!

[#1DisneyFreak]

I guess I just have that soft spot for JetBlue and their TVs..... I don't know what we would have done without those and Sponge Bob when we flew my then 2 year old to CA. Oh my..... the best distraction EVER!
I don't like Delta. I swear all their piolets are trying to kill me by bouncing off the runway on landing...

[harasttam]

How do you get the Entertainment rate? I don't think I've heard of that. HOJO is great. At least I liked it when I stayed there four years ago. TV's are wonderful to distract toddlers with. I had to endure a five hour flight with my 18 month old running up and down the aisle and rolling around between seats.The dolls and books didn't work very long. It was a form of hell. And to paraphase Michael Scott: "Delta is the worst" :)

[Mickey_Mojo]

You need to have the Entertainment card that comes with the Entertainment book and then see if they offer the entertainment rate for the dates you want. Hojo doesn't have the March entertainment rates out yet, but they should by the end of October, beginning of November. If they have the dates you want, call Hojo directly and ask for their in house reservations and then tell them you want the entertainment rate. If the entertainment rates aren't available for the dates you need you can still get 15% off.

[scottam109]

A couple times we used hotwire. It turned out good for us, but the problem with them is you cant cancel your reservations since you buy it at the time of your reservation and you dont know what hotel you get. But so far using them a 3 star is a 3 star and a 4 star is a 4 star. Have you tried southwest vacations or southwest airlines? They sometimes have good deals...

[baldbandit]

Try Delta to long beach. When we've flow from SLC the cheapest fares I've found are often directly from delta's website.

I don't know what your dates are, but I just checked march 4th to the 11 (wed to wed, don't fly on weekends, it's way more) and it was 158 (plus taxes and stuff so really 179 total)

We don't fly anymore. If you think 3 1/2 hours is bad with a toddler, try 11!

[TimmyII]

for great hotel/ticket packages to Disneyland try:

www.getawaytoday.com

I use it all the time!

[LCDLBA]

I am with TimmyII, we always use getawaytoday.com We have always had great luck with them and they are great about throwing in little extras like coupon books, lanyards, trading pins, this year a really nice 8X8 embossed Mickey photo album. We always get good prices and this is the only online travel agency that you can book vacations on and actually make payments on them without using a credit card. :) Good Luck.

PS We have stayed at HOJO (Howard Johnson), Castle Inn and Suites and Travelodge. All were decent, but HOJO was the best (of those hotels anyway) I personally love Paradise Pier. You can search hotels.com too, if you want to piece together your vacation. Sometime I can save $200-$400 on my trip by getting my airline/car/ hotel etc. on separate websites.

[tomserwin]

"Ding" fares are amazing. I've got some rediculously cheap airfare using that. Plus, I have got free nights at hotels across the street from Disneyland. HOJO has some cheap rates if you can get the Entertainment rates.

[crystaltink]

I book all of my own since I work in the travel industry. :)