Even though this family's trip is more than a year out, you can typically price it using dates for t

" Hi I live in Hawaii and am planning to take my family of 4 to Disneyland next year. Any tips on what time of year is best to visit? We were thinking of going next September. Also, when is best to buy airfare and what hotels off property do you recommend? I'm looking for one that offers a free shuttle as well as complimentary breakfast. Mahalo for any help you can give! " -Joanna
Since this vacation involves lots of details, we're going to break it up into several posts. We started this series with a recap on the Best Time to Visit Disneyland and today we'll be looking at flights and rental cars .
Even though this family's trip is more than a year out, you can typically price it using dates for this year (provided it's at least 3 months out-- lucky us!) and shouldn't see too much fluctuation when it's actually time to buy.
Airlines typically open their bookings 11 months in advance, so Joanna can be prepared to start shopping great rates as early as December 2014 and as late as June 2015. When you see a price that's too good to pass up, grab it!
My go-to website to search one way air ticket for flights is Hipmunk , which gives you a quick run down of your flight options and gives you a good idea for a base price on tickets. My experience is that a $500 round trip ticket is a screaming deal and a $600 ticket is a great deal. You could easily pay $600 for a so-so deal and upwards of $1200 or more during peak travel times. So let's use $600 as our base price and see what we can find.
I first pulled up flights (with test dates in September) from Honolulu to Orange County area airports because sometimes convenience of location outweighs the price. Let's take a look at what I found.
It looks like the lowest ticket is $788. However, this shows us that flying into Orange County from Hawaii isn't a great choice because there is a connection, almost doubling the travel time. With little kids, our goal is to get from point A to B in as little time and money as possible.
I was not expecting this one! With a savings of $89 per ticket, this family could save $356 by flying one way air ticket Alaska Airlines into San Diego! Now that you know what flight options are best, I always prefer to book directly with the airline. Head over to Alaska Air when it's time to book and see if this is still the best deal for your family.
Note: Allegiant Air and other low cost carriers like Southwest don't show up in Hipmunk's search. Allegiant's fares are SUPER low, but I haven't tried them myself and my friend recently flew Allegiant to Hawaii with his family and didn't recommend it.
Why? The base price is low, but you'll pay for everything one way air ticket including sitting by your kids, carry on luggage, food, snacks, one way air ticket but hopefully not the bathrooms :). Their customer service reputation is also less than stellar. While this "adventure" might work for a couple, I wouldn't recommend it with a family.
My absolute best rental car tip is to rent through Costco one way air ticket . Our family rents a car several times a year for vacations and I've never been able to get cheaper rates, even when using a car rental employees discount!
Enter your dates and location, then Costco shows you which rental car companies can give you the lowest rate. Your car rental is then booked through Costco, directly with that company. You don't even need a credit card number to reserve it! You do, however, need a Costco one way air ticket membership. But don't let that scare you off! A Costco membership is $55 for the year, and I'll bet your savings on one car rental alone will be over $55, making the cost totally worth it. Even if you only used it for one car rental!
Bonus tip: Check back as often as you'd like to see if the rate has gone down. You're free to rebook as many times as you'd like at no charge. Car rental prices fluctuate quite a bit. You may even be able to knock $100 or more off your rental price by consistently checking rates up to about a week before hand. Once we booked a car in Tampa, FL for $300 for a few days. I didn't like that rate and was thrilled to see it had gone down to $130 the week before our trip. And that's just one example, happens to me all the time. Set a reminder on your phone to check rates and you just might get lucky!