Aloha everyone! I am planning a 10-12 night trip for the last week of September and first week of October 2016 for myself, DH, DS 7, DD 5 and mom. We are traveling from Maui so I want an extended stay to see and do WDW with 1 day at a water park and 1 day to see WWHP (for DH and me) at universal. Where can I see some examples of this kind of itinerary? Also, I was thinking of doing a split stay between a boardwalk resort and. magic Kingdom resort, any suggestions?
Hi, we are also doing a long trip
We're doing 11 nights/10 days in Florida in just a couple weeks. We also have a long trip to get there (driving 27 hours). We've taken advantage of our extended days to plan shorter days in parks, allowing for afternoons or mornings off to rest. This is what our itinerary is going to look like:
Day 1: Rest day (from our drive!). Go into Epcot around 4:00 for the evening to tour the World Showcase, do a couple rides (definitely Test Track!)
Day 2: Magic Kingdom. We're going in a bit later, probably around 10 or so, staying till 2:00, then taking the boat over to Fort Wilderness where we will watch the 4:00 show of Hoop Dee Doo Revue (dinner theatre).
Day 3: Animal Kingdom. Going for Rope Drop, probably stay till 1.
Day 4: Hollywood Studios. Going for Rope Drop, staying till 1. Going back to our house for an afternoon break. Then back for 6:00, and we'll stay for Fantasmic.
Day 5: Rest day. No parks planned. Now, who knows, we might go back into Epcot for a few more hours this evening to explore Future World more, but we'll see.
Day 6: Blizzard Beach. We plan on going in for 9 or 10 and staying till we get tired. I imagine we'll spend 3-4 hours there.
Day 7: Magic Kingdom. Going for rope drop, staying till noon. Going back to the house for a rest. Then back for our 5:00 booking for Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, with a 6:50 reservation for Cinderella's Royal Table. We'll stay for the night parade and fireworks.
Day 8: Rest day. We plan on going into Magic Kingdom around 5:00 for a few more hours just to ride favorites again, do things we may have missed etc... Alternately, this could be another evening for Epcot.
Day 9: Animal Kingdom. Going for rope drop, staying till whenever, probably 12 or 1. We plan on doing Conservation Station this day, which will take a good chunk of our morning, doing the Safari again, and from there we'll see. If the kids want to explore DinoLand we will.
Day 10 (4th of July!!!): Rest day. No parks planned. We'll likely drive into Clermont to watch the fireworks there at the waterfront park.
So... with the exception of the two days that we're doing afternoon breaks, we are not going to be in a park more than 4 hours a day. The reason for this is because it's going to be so hot when we go, and our daughter does not handle the heat well. She also has ASD, so it's important we have lots of rest time. The nice thing is, it gives us lots of time to enjoy the pool, AND it gives us flexibility. Maybe we'll stay longer in a park! Maybe we'll head to a water park or go do some sight seeing on one of those afternoons/days off. Maybe we'll do another night at Epcot, maybe we won't feel the need for the 3rd day at MK. I think by really spreading it out, you give yourself more options.
So for you, you could easily drop the 3rd MK day and the 2nd AK day for two days at Universal. Or one day at Universal and an extra day at Epcot or a second water park. With time you have many more options.
As for lodging, for starters, you can only get free dining through October 2nd (there's more dates in the fall, but I'm talking about the dates that are the time frame you're looking at), so you need to factor that in. If you plan on staying on site and have to pay for a dining plan, you'll be adding on
at least $2000 on top of your lodging. Also, free dining is only available at select resorts, it's not available at all value resorts. I would suggest looking at staying off-site. For starters, 10-12 nights is a long time to have 5 people crammed into a hotel room, especially with in-laws and children. Windsor Hills is a really nice resort that is very close to Disney (in fact if you have your own car, you'll be just as close time-wise as some as the resorts), that offers everything from condos and townhouses to independent houses. They have 3-5 bedrooms, 2-3 bathrooms, living room, kitchen and dining room and if you share the cost with your mother, you'll find it's (MUCH) cheaper than staying on site, even factoring in the free dining (you can buy groceries and have breakfast a your condo, pack snacks for the park and make quick, easy suppers at the condo).
This condo is 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, ground floor, close to the resort pool (very nice), and is only $90 a night when you go ($45 each, split in half):
http://www.vrbo.com/69038
Here's a townhome there that has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and a private splash pool (roughly 12x12) and is only $120 a night:
http://www.vrbo.com/439847
You can also get a 4 or 5 bedroom HOUSE, which has a large swimming pool, with either a spa or games room etc for roughly $130-195 a night:
http://www.vrbo.com/421014
http://www.vrbo.com/472885
Now by staying off-site you obviously have to rent a car (which you may have been going to have to do anyways since you planned on traveling to Universal), which will cost you roughly $350, maybe $75 for gas. You'll have to pay for parking at the Disney parks which is $17 a day, so let's assume 8 days at Disney, so $140. You'll need probably $300 in groceries for 12 days. Plan on $500 for in park dining (be it a couple character meals or some CS/QS etc...). And let's assume a townhouse at $120 a night for 12 nights: $1440 (some of which will be shared by your mother). So a total of: $2800 for 12 nights for all food, lodging and transportation costs - with much more spacious and relaxing accomodations. And remembering that your cost will be lowered significantly depending on what you decide to share with your mother for costs, I would assume easily under $2000 for your portions.
Compare that to say 5 nights at the Poly ($490 a night) and another 7 nights at a value family suite room at All-Star Music ($235 a night), and you're spending $4095. So... a good $1400 more by the time you pay to get yourself to Universal Studios or two days.
Anyways, on one hand since you're even considering a Deluxe resort, I'm assuming money may be no object here, but you did mention cost being a factor for your mother, so that is why I recommended looking off-site. Also, just because of the convenience factor, you will have much more comfortable lodgings. Now, the other place I would suggest if you REALLY want to stay on site is the Fort Wilderness Cabins. They offer a separate bedroom that accommodates 4 (there's a bed for you guys and double bunks for the kids), plus a Murphy bed in the living room. It gives you a living room and full kitchen and dining area. It's not cheaper, in fact would cost you a bit more overall (it's $363 a night, so $4356 total - and these Disney resort prices are before the 13% tax of course) but at least it'd give you a bit more space (though still much less space than the condos or townhouses)
Getting so excited for our trip.
Only 15 or 16 months left to plan, lol!
