We're going to Disney World!

[Hugh 0ne]

Anywho, we're bringing the kids to Disney for 4 days. Anyone got any ins down there on Hotels or ticket prices? Also, suggestions of places to stay. We want to stay on/near the resort so we don't have to drive every morning. I haven't researched this at all, I figured I'd get much better information here. Thanks in advance.

[Big John]

 

From last year

 

[rajncajn]

We stayed in the Wilderness Lodge a couple of years back & had a blast. There are a lot of cheap option packages available that include stays at the various Disney resorts. A couple of suggestions:

 

1. Stay at a Disney Resort. You will save a lot of time, hassle & money. What you save by staying outside the park you will make up by not having to spend on parking, rental car, gas etc. You also will be able to get to the park earlier & leave later freeing up a lot more time.

 

2. Create a fairly loose schedule to go by factoring in the events you want to see/ride & do. On the Resort web site they have a calender of events, parade times, fireworks, etc. In just 4 days I wouldn't expect to see everything in every park. And if you spend a lot of time while there trying to figure that out then you will end up missing out on a lot.

 

3. Make sure your package includes the meal plan. You'll save a ton of money by sticking to it & be able to stay on a schedule easier.

 

4. For the more frequented rides use the quick passes rather than standing in line. Most of the bigger rides have a machine that gives you a ticket saying when specifically to come back & get on the ride. You take the ticket, go do something else, come back at that time & get right on with little or no wait.

 

5. Here's one I just read & didn't know about: If you join AAA: "This one’s a no-brainer. A standard AAA membership costs $64 per year. During value season at Disney World, an AAA member can chop 20% off her lodging bill at any of Disney’s moderate and “value” (read: budget) properties or 15% off at a deluxe or DVC property. Now, let’s translate those percentages into dollar signs. Stay five nights at the moderately-priced Caribbean Beach Resort during value season, and you’d save about $149. Spend five nights at the deluxe Animal Kingdom Lodge and you’d save about $240. Outside of value season, the AAA discount ranges from 10% to 15%."

 

6. If you stay at a Disney resort make sure you get a refillable souvenir mug. Free refills during your stay of anything non-alcoholic & one less knick-knack you have to buy to bring home. By the time you've left it's well paid for itself.

 

7. If you really want to save some money on lodging & your family is up to it try the Fort Wilderness camgrounds at the park. We have a camper & plan on staying there on our next trip, but I believe they also have campers and cabins you can rent.

 

Here's a couple of money saver sites that were recommended:

 

http://allears.net/index.html

http://www.mousesavers.com/

Edited May 18, 2009 by rajncajn

[Bier Meister]

no advice as i haven't been to orlando. have a great time

[Big Country]

If you come to Disneyland instead, I can get discounted tckets.

[REZ]

Went to Disneyworld with my son's baseball team over spring break:

 

1- We stayed at the All Star sports resort as that's where my son's team stayed. Not a bad place but it is no frills. We went to the Wilderness lodge for a dinner and that place looked very cool. Lots closer to Disneyworld too.

Definitely stay at a Disney Resort. They have buses every 20 minutes that'll take you to wherever you want to go. It's insane how many buses are roaming around there.

 

2- Do the dining plan. I thinki it's in August or so, but Disney is actually giving the dining away if you stay with them later in the summer. And if you do the dining plan, make reservations at the restaurants that you want to try. We did walk in at a couple and got in but it's much better to have the reservation and not have to wait. I paid $795 for 4 of us for the dining plan (1 child) and I know we were at around $1100 when we were done.

 

3- Go to mousesavers and get the codes they have there for discounts. When you call Disneyworld, you give them the code and they will give you discounted pricing.

 

4- Get to the parks early. They have days where the park is only open for people staying at the resorts (which is still a bunch of people). So Disneyworld may open at 8am but if you are at one of the resorts, it opens at 7. Get there then and you can jump on the most popular rides with minimal wait.

Edited May 18, 2009 by REZ

[ts]

Stay on property if at ALL possible.

 

Also - H1 - I tried to send you a PM on this topic, but your inbox is full.

[Hugh 0ne]

Stay on property if at ALL possible.

 

Also - H1 - I tried to send you a PM on this topic, but your inbox is full.

 

Whoops, sorry about that, I cleared it out. Thanks, and thanks to everyone for the information so far, much appreciated.

[Hugh 0ne]

Stay on property if at ALL possible.

 

Also - H1 - I tried to send you a PM on this topic, but your inbox is full.

 

Wow, thanks for the PM, that was awesome. You're wife is awesome, but the PM is useless without pics.

[Perchoutofwater]

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge last November. It was fun. The meal plans are great if all your interested in is burgers and fries. If you want a nice dinner or two, your probably better off doing a scaled down meal plan that takes care of breakfast and lunch, but going to Downtown Disney and paying to eat at Fulton's or Portobello. I will say Jiko, the nicer of the two restaurants in the Animal Kingdom Lodge was surprisingly good. They also offered what I believe they called their concierge level, where you pay a little extra, and get the use of a concierge and get very nice continental breakfast, appetizers and deserts, as well as "free" beer and soft drinks between certain times. I do remember it being a good deal.

[REZ]

We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge last November. It was fun. The meal plans are great if all your interested in is burgers and fries. If you want a nice dinner or two, your probably better off doing a scaled down meal plan that takes care of breakfast and lunch, but going to Downtown Disney and paying to eat at Fulton's or Portobello. I will say Jiko, the nicer of the two restaurants in the Animal Kingdom Lodge was surprisingly good. They also offered what I believe they called their concierge level, where you pay a little extra, and get the use of a concierge and get very nice continental breakfast, appetizers and deserts, as well as "free" beer and soft drinks between certain times. I do remember it being a good deal.

 

There are a few different meal plans. I went with the one that had a quick service meal and 1 table service meal.

For the table service, you can eat at a wide variety of restaurants and have a wide variety of food, especially if you're eating at Epcot. Lots of variety there.

If you get the one with just the two quick service meals, then yeah, it's probably a lot of burgers, ribs and salads.

I know I had sushi a couple times, ribs a couple, filet mignon and a couple nice pasta dishes.

[rajncajn]

There are a few different meal plans. I went with the one that had a quick service meal and 1 table service meal.

For the table service, you can eat at a wide variety of restaurants and have a wide variety of food, especially if you're eating at Epcot. Lots of variety there.

If you get the one with just the two quick service meals, then yeah, it's probably a lot of burgers, ribs and salads.

I know I had sushi a couple times, ribs a couple, filet mignon and a couple nice pasta dishes.

Yeah we did the one with the full service meal, there are very few if any places you can't eat with the table service meal. I know we ate well & even had dinner with the characters for lunch one day.

[Swampnuts]

We just went to DW for a week and had a great time.

 

Negatives to consider IMO.

 

1. Don't venture outside DW unless you're going to SeaWorld or Universal. Orlando is a tourist trap garbage can.

2. The Magic Kingdom needs some serious overhaul in Tomorrowland. If you have to miss a portion of the park, let that be the one.

3. Some here will disagree, but I think the food absolutely sucks. Everything is overpriced and poor quality. But you didn't go to eat.

4. Don't let your kids wear sandals. They will biaatch all day from the walking. Insist on comfortable tennis shoes and socks.

5. Don't overpack into the park.

 

Positives

 

1. Everyplace in Disney takes plastic, including the ice cream carts. Get a small wallet to carry just your tickets, debit, and ID.

2. Get some cargo shorts with button down side pockets. You can keep your sunscreen, wallet, sunglasses @ ease.

3. Epcot and Hollywood Studios had the best food IMO.

4. Best rides are RocknRoller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Soarin', and Expedition Everest. If anyone in your party gets motion sickness

stay off of the extreme version of Mission Space. Everyone in our family got green, and my wife wasn't right the rest of the day.

5. Best closing show was the light show @ Epcot. Make sure you stay till closing to see it.

6. You can easily do Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios in half days if you're prepared. There are portions of both that can be easily skipped.

 

I don't know if this would help anyone else, but I tried something totally different with $$ this time. I opened a new account at a seperate bank for vacations only. I put $$ into the fund leading up to the trip and used it exclusively on the trip. I was able to track my spending online a few times throughout the trip, but had no worries because nothing was coming out of my regular accounts. It was nice to come home and have my banking be in order, and it was alot less stress during the trip. Kind of like a vaca slush fund.

[rajncajn]

I don't know if this would help anyone else, but I tried something totally different with $$ this time. I opened a new account at a seperate bank for vacations only. I put $$ into the fund leading up to the trip and used it exclusively on the trip. I was able to track my spending online a few times throughout the trip, but had no worries because nothing was coming out of my regular accounts. It was nice to come home and have my banking be in order, and it was alot less stress during the trip. Kind of like a vaca slush fund.

A lot of banks/credit unions actually have vacation accounts already set up for this. I've never looked into one, but it's probably not a bad idea.

[Perchoutofwater]

There are a few different meal plans. I went with the one that had a quick service meal and 1 table service meal.

For the table service, you can eat at a wide variety of restaurants and have a wide variety of food, especially if you're eating at Epcot. Lots of variety there.

If you get the one with just the two quick service meals, then yeah, it's probably a lot of burgers, ribs and salads.

I know I had sushi a couple times, ribs a couple, filet mignon and a couple nice pasta dishes.

 

We went with the one that had the one quick service meal and one table service meal per day. Problem is the nicer restaurants counted as two table services, and with the exception of Jiko the nicer places food wasn't all that good. You can eat much better for about the same price if you just go to Downtown Disney.

 

We just went to DW for a week and had a great time.

 

Negatives to consider IMO.

3. Some here will disagree, but I think the food absolutely sucks. Everything is overpriced and poor quality. But you didn't go to eat.

 

Pretty much.

[Ziachild007]

We just got back in March and had a great time. If you are not staying on property let me know and I think I sitll have the AAA Diamond parking pass at the house I can send you. It gives you closer "preferred" parking. One of the biggest things I can recommend if you are not doing a dining plan is to take your own meals. You can take back packs/soft coolers in now and can pretty much just take your own picnic in with you. You are a little limited on what you can take in, just bacause you don't want anything that will spoil. But the good thing is you can save a lot of $$ by not paying $25-30 per meal. I saw a lot of people eating their meals while waiting in line, so it actually can save you some time as well.

[Hat Trick]

PM your email and I'll send you the "book" on Disney...goes over everything and will save you a lot of time on research. I got a lot of my info from here and from this book. My family is going in 4 weeks

[Buffalo Wings]

I'm going to Disney on my honeymoon in 2 months

[REZ]

We went with the one that had the one quick service meal and one table service meal per day. Problem is the nicer restaurants counted as two table services, and with the exception of Jiko the nicer places food wasn't all that good. You can eat much better for about the same price if you just go to Downtown Disney.

 

Last thing about this as it's sounding like I'm pimping the dining plan and that's not my intent.

The very pricey restaurants do count as 2 table service meals.

I ate at Wolfgang puck in Downtown Disney and it was 1 table service.

Most of the restaurants with the entrees running 30-35 were on the dining plan. I thought I ate some pretty good food but maybe you guys are a little more ummmmm......particular.

I looked at the restaurants I wanted to eat at and made reservations and enjoyed my meal.

One nice feature to me was that much like the vacation fund, I didn't have to worry about saving money for the meals. I had already paid for them.

And when it came to the kids, I didn't worry if they were ordering the $15 entree or the $30 entree.

I'd recommend looking into it and if it doesn't look good, don't buy it. I liked it and will definitely do it again.

[Beaumont]

My 7 year old son and I will be doing the land of big mouse from 6/8-11.

[Czarina]

You cannot see it all in 4 days. Plan carefully. What they don't see, they won't know they missed.

 

Stay on site if you can. Yes, it's more expensive, but the hassle you save will be SO worth it, especially with little kids. You get extra park hours, free tram service from park to park. You get free transport from the hotel to WDW, so you don't need a vehicle at all. If you have the cajones to go in August, you can get the meal plan FREE because it's the least crowded time of year. Friends of ours did this last year and were very happy with it. They were just careful to mix lots of water park time into their days.

 

Your kids are little. Strollers are beyond a must. This place is frakking HUGE. Plan to hit the park early, back to the hotel for lunch and a break/swim, back to the parks later. I've never been to Downtown Disney. Can't tell you a thing about it.

 

With regards to the meal plan, we had the very first version of it when we went in 06. You get one quick service meal, a snack and a sit down meal per day. We had great luck with it. Plan now and book reservations ASAP if there are places you absolutely must go to. There are some very 'hot' restaurants to go to, and one or two we couldn't get reservations for, booking months in advance. Our favorite might have been the one at the Living Seas in Epcot Center. We couldn't get in to the steak house in the Canada pavilion there.

 

*The Wilderness Lodge has a really fun place to go for either a sit down lunch or dinner, very kid friendly.

*MGM had a great deal for dinner where you got tix to get into the evening show with preferred seating. The show might be a little intense for your young critters, but it was spectacular. The Sci-Fi Drive in Theater was awesome too.

 

We stayed at the Wilderness Lodge when we went last. Awesome. We asked for 5th floor Magic Kingdom side. If you're in your room at the right time, you can see the MK fireworks from your balcony. You can take a small boat direct to the MK from the dock. You can also take the boat to the Contemporary and catch the monorail but I found it a huge hassle. The bus system was much better. If you're inclined to spend a few (hundred) extra bucks, there are cabins to rent at the Lodge that give you a bit more space and family feel.

 

This is all a jumble. I'll try to be more coherent tomorrow if I can. What time of year are you going?

[Czarina]

We went with the one that had the one quick service meal and one table service meal per day. Problem is the nicer restaurants counted as two table services, and with the exception of Jiko the nicer places food wasn't all that good. You can eat much better for about the same price if you just go to Downtown Disney.

 

As I said, I haven't been to Downtown Disney, but when we went, the sit down restaurants in the parks counted as a single meal unless it was the princess breakfast type deal. Sci Fi Drive In, the Epcot Pavilion restaurants were all 1 table service meals. Surprisingly good. Included appetizer, entree and dessert for free.

 

What I liked about that is that we would never have gone into any of those places at all without the meal plan. We'd have fast fooded our way through the whole time. This switched up the experience completely and helped us slow the pace down a bit at times.

 

Another thought: If you stay on site, buy the souvenir drink cups on your first day. You can use it for refills at the hotel the whole time thereafter. Very convenient. And years later we still use our Wilderness Lodge travel mugs all the time.

[Clubfoothead]

Sounds fun.

 

I've never been but after reading all of the posts, I'd advise taking a day off before going back to work. Sounds like you'll need some rest after that vacation.

 

Enjoy.

Edited May 20, 2009 by Clubfoothead

[Czarina]

Sounds fun.

 

I've never been but after reading all of the posts, I'd advise taking a day off before going back to work. Sounds like you'll need some rest after that vacation.

 

Enjoy.

This is excellent advice.