Need some preliminary info./opinions about visiting WDW (married couple w/no kids)...

This is officially my first foray onto this side of the forums! How exciting! Anyway, I am looking to start planning a trip to WDW in 2017 and was hoping for some general(ish) advice to get me started. Any help from you lovely WDW vets would be GREATLY appreciated. We live in the Las Vegas, NV area, so DLR is very convenient for us and we love it, but I want to take a big trip to WDW and experience that resort as well. I am very aware of the major differences between the resorts, so no worries there. Some of the topics I was hoping to get a helping “push” with are:

Days in the parks: I was thinking of one day in each of the following parks (we don’t do water parks, so I’m not really interesting in those, even though I’m sure they are awesome)- Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios. I know that there are many that will find my itinerary not long enough, and I understand, but of the four, do one or two maybe beg for another day? In your opinion, which one(s) would that be and why?

Where to stay: If I’m doing this, I’m staying on property. This isn’t DLR, where the rooms at all three hotels are outrageous, so please tell me where you would stay if you wanted a magical time, but to not totally break the bank. I don’t mind to splurge, but I don’t want to spend an obscene amount of money, either. I saw some info. about the Port Orleans French Quarter and it looked interesting. Also, proximity to the parks is important to me. I’d rather be closer than farther away, tbh. I still realize that transportation will be necessary as WDW is so large. I also understand that there are different tiers of resorts at WDW for different price points. Let’s stay out of the top tier, lol.

Car Rental: Yes or no?: If we fly into Orlando does it make more sense to take a shuttle to WDW than rent a car? If we do take a shuttle, are there car rental places near WDW that we can get to in order to rent a car later in our trip (which will probably be a week long absence from work, leaving on a Saturday and returning the 2nd Sunday after)? I haven’t been to Florida in forever and I want to spend a couple of days at the beach also if I’m flying across the country. My thought is to start out at WDW and then end up at the beach before flying back home. Are the shuttles from the airport run efficiently or is there some wait time involved?

Time of year to go: I always prefer to go in “off season” when I go to DLR, so when is that at WDW, really? Our anniversary is at the end of February, so I’d lean towards that time before others and am not keen on going in the summer. I know I need to plan this trip 9-12 months in advance to make reservations for dining, fastpass+, etc., so this is why I’m trying to get all of my ducks in a row early and start learning about WDW.

I am a little intimidated by WDW, tbh. It is so BIG! I’m used to tiny DLR and love it, but I am getting more and more excited by the prospect of visiting WDW, too. I technically have been before, but I was only a toddler and don’t remember a thing. Any information or opinions regarding any of these questions would be SO greatly appreciated.

We are an adults party of 2 and have been to WDW and DLR many times. We had never stayed on-site and we finally did two 8 night stays last year.

As far as days in the parks, I wouldn't do any less than 6 park days and you may want to consider park-hoppers tickets. I would plan for 2 Magic Kingdom Days, 2 Epcot Days, 1 DHS day and 1 Animal Kingdom day. DHS and AK are 1/2 day parks for us, that's why we like park hoppers. There are a few favorite rides at DHS though and it's always nice to go back for a few hours and then hop to another park. We love late Extra Magic Hours, especially at Magic Kingdom, but we will usually go to another park earlier in the day.

Port Orleans FQ is a really great resort for a first-timer. That is where we stayed our first time. It is nice and compact and not too much walking. Depending on the deals though, you might save a little bit of money staying at Caribbean Beach Resort, it's usually a little bit cheaper. I loved the decor at POFQ, but the staff at CBR were much friendlier and I liked having the quiet pool instead of the feature pool only at POFQ. CBR is really nice now that they have updated all the rooms.

There are plenty of places to rent cars on-site. Look at the transportation board. We rented a car from hotel across from the bus stop at Downtown Disney. Just put in "Lake Buena Vista" in instead of Orlando when you are searching. We found that we prefer to exclusively rent a car for the whole trip and drive ourselves to the parks. We rented at the airport for our second trip last year for our entire trip and got a really nice rate. Disney transport will get you where you want to go, it's just a matter of preference for us.

February is a good time. Just avoid the presidents day holiday weekend and you're good!

I second pretty much everything smokeyblue said (except for car rental, which I've never done and thus can't chime in on). 6 days is perfect for a WDW stay, and with just adults, that will allow for some nice downtime either at your hotel or at one of the nicer restaurants. I've stayed at Caribbean Beach and really liked it - the "beach" area is lovely and relaxing. The end of February might be a little cool weather wise, but I've been there then and it's a decently uncrowded time of year.

Epcot and Magic Kingdom are absolutely worth two days each - Epcot because you'll want to spend lots of time in the World Showcase and Magic Kingdom because you'll probably want to do many rides multiple times . Magic Kingdom will be most familiar to you as a DL veteran, but there are enough differences that it will still feel new and exciting. Make sure to stay for the fireworks. Have a great time planning your trip!

My trips as an adult have been adult only. Our one on property trip we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside and we loved it. I loved the theming, the rooms were great, we were right next to a smaller pool that stayed pretty quiet, we were close to the parking lot and not far from the main building, main bus stops. Definitely consider it.

I think January or February would be a great time to go. Just avoid MLK, President's day (as the previous post suggests) and you may want to also avoid the runDisney event weekends. In January there is a Marathon race weekend and in February they have the Princess Half Marathon race weekend. Some of the resorts can get really crowded during those times. I've been in April, September, October and December. I loved all of those times. The fall was great because of the Halloween decor and festivities. October was great because of the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot (and amazing weather). April was great because of Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. And it's hard to beat the Christmas weather, decor and all the fun stuff that goes along with that.

My next planned trip is for Feb 2016 for the race weekend. I can let you know how it goes as far as crowds and such!

I think 4 would be the absolute minimum for park days. But I would lean towards at least 5, and maybe 6 if you can. I feel like MK and Epcot both warrant more than one day. I don't feel like AK and DHS do. But that's just my preferences. I could spend weeks at Epcot at never be bored with it and some don't care for it at all. And I could just sit and stare at the castle at MK for hours. Ha.

Do you watch any of the DIS podcasts? That may be a silly question on the disboards, but I have come across many on here who have never watched any of the podcasts, so don't want to assume. I started watching them before my first trip back to WDW as an adult and they helped me so much. By the time we went I felt like I had a really good understanding of the parks. I highly recommend them!! They have resort overviews, restaurant reviews, event reviews....all kinds of stuff.

I prefer having a car there. The bus system is fine but it can at times create a lot of waiting. I liked knowing I could always get back to my car whenever I needed to.

Best of luck with your planning! Would be happy to answer any questions that I can along the way!

Thanks everyone for all of your great replies thus far! I would probably do 5 or 6 days in the parks, but I also wanted to probably take a non-park day in the middle of that stretch to relax at the resort/DTD/etc., so that we don't keel over, lol. I actually have not watched any of the podcasts before! I will definitely start watching them if they are that helpful.

The car rental thing I will probably be torn on for a while, I imagine.

I'm glad to hear that POFQ is a good candidate for first timers! To be honest, I think I saw it on a WDW special that was on the Travel Channel a while back and it looked so charming!

Oh, if you rent a car, is parking ever a problem anywhere?

LizzyS said:

Oh, if you rent a car, is parking ever a problem anywhere?

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We drove down on most of our trips and never had any issues with parking anywhere. Parking at the parks is free for resort guests. You can take the boat from Port Orleans (Riverside or FQ) to Downtown Disney. Parking is bad there at times and especially lately with construction. But hopefully by 2017 that wouldn't be an issue. Ha.

One other thing I was wondering about is whether or not it's a good idea to use a vacation planning service (or travel agent) for WDW? If so, who is good to use? If not, I feel for sure I can do enough research to cover all my bases and get it done, but if that makes it easier or comes with any perks, I would definitely consider it.

The best advice I can give for coming to WDW is do two days of parks, take one day off, do two days of parks, take one day off, etc. This schedule if you plan for it allows time to relax within your vacation.
After you get the prices of POFQ, checkout the rental board over on the DVC boards. You can possibly get a larger room (1-BDRM) that has a king size bedroom, full jetted tub, separate living room area, and full size kitchen for the cost of a hotel room. What you are doing is renting a reservation from a DVC owner. Be sure to read the stickies included in that thread, as there are some risksto understand.
I agree with the PP who stated that MK & EPCOT are two day parks and AK & DHS are 1/2 day parks.

The way every group travels is different. I travel with a group of friends - me and two others as the "regulars" with a rotating fourth. We tend to do APs every second year, and get a couple of weekend (3-4 day) trips out of them and a couple of long (6-9 day trips out of them.)

"Day off" is not something we do. For me personally, if I'm there the parks are calling to me. Our trips end up having the following -

MK: 1 morning, 4-5 evening
EP: 1 morning, 1 evening
DHS: 2-3 rope drop mornings
AK: 1 late afternoon (usually 4-close, followed by MK.) Some trips also include a morning.

Obviously, hoppers are a must for us. We are morning/leave when it gets hot and busy/different park evening type people. We also know that MK evenings are my favorite thing ever, one friend has a low EPCOT tolerance, we love Studios in the evening in theory but they tend to be overrun by teens so we avoid - etc.

We also never rent a car. This last trip, a local friend came and met me at DHS. When it closed, we considered going to EPCOT for evening EMH. If I could have hopped the boat, walked WS, bussed back to resort (Pop,) I would have done it. But because we had to go to the lot and find her car, would have had to drive to EP, park, go to the back of the park, finish and find the car AGAIN before driving back to Pop we said "forget it." I enjoy the flexibility that Disney transport affords me. Everyone is different!!

Thanks for the new info, guys! I'm sort of torn on whether or not I'll want hoppers, tbh. I don't even get them at DLR sometimes as easy as it is to hop there!

I definitely understand that everyone is different when it comes to vacationing.

Also look at the Dolphin and Swan (walking distance to Epcot and the Boardwalk, a short boat ride to DHS) and at AKL (gorgeous and relaxing) for deluxe accommodations at somewhat cheaper rates. I would choose the week after Thanksgiving for Xmas decorations. Second choice would be late October for Food & Wine and MNSSHP. Third choice would be a slowish week in November. (Check easywdw.com for crowd calendars.) Rent a car (maybe) if you stay at AKL or POFQ, but not if you stay at an Epcot resort. Reserve restaurants and special tickets early.

Car rental is great if you plan to dine at other resorts. We drive to all the parks (even MK which many will take the buses to). We also find it convenient for park hopping. Since you've never been, without hoppers I would echo 6 park days recommendation. DHS and AK are only half days parks for us since we've been many times. With that schedule your touring will not be rushed and you may not need rest days.

I was thinking of staying at a "moderate" resort, but if it's not astronomically more, I might want to stay at a "deluxe" resort if it's nice and the proximity to one of the parks is close.

I'm guessing the buses and boats don't cost anything extra to use, right? I hope so, anyway, lol.

No extra cost for buses, boats. Cheapest deluxes are AKL, WL, non-Disney-owned Swan and Dolphin. Check Mousesavers for discounts. Act fast when a discount comes out. You can apply it to an existing reservation if available.

LizzyS said:

I was thinking of staying at a "moderate" resort, but if it's not astronomically more, I might want to stay at a "deluxe" resort if it's nice and the proximity to one of the parks is close.

I'm guessing the buses and boats don't cost anything extra to use, right? I hope so, anyway, lol.

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If you can book during a time when WDW is offering a discount on hotels, you actually might be able to book a deluxe resort for a reasonable rate. For my last trip, my friends and I were planning on staying at a moderate, but when I did the math, I found we could stay at a deluxe and still stay within our budget. Of course, everyone's definition of "too much money" is different, but we decided it was worth it and we stayed at the Beach Club. Location wise it was fantastic because we could walk to Epcot, take the boat to DHS, and take the bus everywhere else.

Cannot use Magical Express if stay at Swan or Dolphin, but parking is also expensive there, so I would arrange for an airport limo if you stay there. The Beach Club is an incredible resort with all the Disney perks and best location for Epcot. It's almost done with room renovations (end of August).

My adult son and myself have been doing DW for years, actually since he was 3, as adults we have found at least 4 park days are a must. Unlike everyone else, we don't feel MK is a 2 day park or even a full day park. For us, Epcot is a multi-day park, we love WS. I always drive down, park my car at the resort and never see it again until I check out. I find the Disney transportation is easy and much more relaxed than dealing with parking and traffic. We always get park hoppers, if the park we are at is getting crowded or we are getting tired, we can go back to our resort and hop to a different park later. I've only stayed at one moderate - Port Orleans Riverside but I loved it and would stay there again. Check on the rental boards, David's DVC rentals has great deals and if you check early enough you can get a deluxe for cheaper than a moderate. We've been in April, May, August, Sept and Oct. May and late Sept. are our go to months. It tends to rain less in May and early May F&G is still going on at Epcot. Sept. can have a lot of rain and so can Oct. but late Sept/early Oct. F&W is still going on in Epcot and worth the bother of the rain. We try to go for at least 5 days, with one day set aside for pool side and resort hopping. We love to visit the other resorts and check them out to see if we might want to stay there.

As of right now, my thoughts are to spend 2 days at Epcot and 1 day at the other three parks, tbh.

Is the Swan & Dolphin a Disney property or no?

Swan & Dolphin is kind of a weird hybrid. You get Disney transport and EMH, but no Magical Express. It's not Disney owned but has many Disney "privleges."

You also might want to look at renting DVC points, to stay deluxe and pay a little less.