travel
Forget strategy-buy your tickets yesterday! Don't worry about fares going down because they probably won't.(although the economic crisis is a wild card now). The closer you get to Christmas the higher the fares will be. Buy your tickets now and go on Yapta.com and if the price goes down ask for a refare. Last year I got ff tickets to Orlando and at the time they were going for $250 in March, but by December they were over $600. You are traveling to one of the most popular spots at one of the most popular times and the airlines know it. The truth is you may not even get tickets if you wait too long. I have seen this happen and I live in the Chicago area too. Last year my daughter wanted to travel from Washington, D.C. to Orlando at Christmas and there were NO SEATS AVAILABLE at any price. To complicate things UA even canceled flights-at one point she was going to have to wait 4 days to get on a flight. As it turned out, she had to leave a day early so she could get back and teach her classes otherwise it meant missing the first 3 days of classes. Fortunately, I was able to get her tickets subsequent to a cancelation- but that is because I am an elite with UA. It won't be much fun to have your Disney vacation if you can't get there or have to leave early. Trying to save money now will mean you may regret it later.