Just looking for opinions

[ella's_mommy]

Hello I would appriciate any input on the plan I have created for our trip in May, 2011. I have only been to Disney once about 8 years ago and loved it and am still a novice at this (although I do research this stuff so much that my family thinks I may be insane). Ok, here is the plan:

We are planning on arrivng around May 28th. We were planning for early in the month but are switching to take advantage of free dining.
We are planning on 10 days, the first 7 with my cousin and her family and the rest with just me, my mom, my sister and my daughter. Staying at POR because it can accomodate my cousins family of 5 and we stayed there last time and loved it!
The last 3 days I plan on moving to Pop on a room only reservation using extra theme park tickets purchased with 1st package and food oop. I know everyone one says don't do the lower value resort last but we are very much looking forward to staying there too that I don't think there will be a let down.
We are going to get basic park tickets because we aren't park hopping type of people and plan to visit 1 water park so will buy that ticket at the resort.

So, does this sound reasonable and well thought out? We are going for 10 days to be able to slow down (a little) and take it all in. Any comments or suggestion are appreciated. Thanks

 

[DisneyWisher]

I think it sounds great. We stayed at All Star Music after AKL. We loved AKL and going from there to Music was fine. Know why? Because we were still in Disney World. Rather be at Music than driving home.

 

[ella's_mommy]

I think it sounds great. We stayed at All Star Music after AKL. We loved AKL and going from there to Music was fine. Know why? Because we were still in Disney World. Rather be at Music than driving home.

so very true!

 

[bama belle]

We, too, will be arriving May 28 and staying at CSR for 6 nights! Your plan sounds good to me- I've always wanted to try POP too and I think your daughter will like it!

 

[nolanboys]

Just making sure that you know your DDP purchased at AKL will expire the first day you check into the value. Make sure you use up any credits that day!

 

[ella's_mommy]

Just making sure that you know your DDP purchased at AKL will expire the first day you check into the value. Make sure you use up any credits that day!

We are actually staying at POR . Thanks for bringing this up, do the credits expire at 11:59 or as soon as we check into Pop?

 

[gabrieltorres]

We have been to WDW about 25 times - i think your plan is great - we have found that staying at various hotels and resorts we have been able to experience different things, and have loved it every time. enjoy

 

[aubriee]

We are actually staying at POR . Thanks for bringing this up, do the credits expire at 11:59 or as soon as we check into Pop?

They expire at midnight on your check out day, so you have all day to use them. I've done split stays and had the DDP with both of them. In fact, I'll be doing a split stay at CSR and YC in Dec and have the DxDDP for both. Just make sure you use the right key on that last day after checking out of PORS. We always check into our second hotel early so have two room keys with dining credits on each to keep up with that day. Also make sure you don't forget to use all your snack credits before midnight on the day you are switching resorts.

 

[nurse.darcy]

Okay, I am the one that will tell you to GET PARK HOPPERS. Here is why. Okay, I am at AK but it closes at 5 p.m. and I want to do dinner in France. If my ticket is a park hopper, no problem. If not, I am in trouble. What do I do now? Okay, so lets say I go to Epcot and finish everything up there by 7 and MK has EMH. I can stay at MK till 1 a.m. because of EMH. . .I really want to go and not just collapse at the end of my Epcot day. . .with hoppers I can just GO. . .no need to worry, no issues. . .I just go.

Hoppers are only an additional 54 dollars per person - regardless of length of stay. So for 10 days its just a bit over 5 dollars a day to hop. . .I buy into that theory. . .

 

[ready123go]

We are actually staying at POR . Thanks for bringing this up, do the credits expire at 11:59 or as soon as we check into Pop?

Uhmm, this is Disney - they don't expire - they turn into pumpkins!
(Don't quote me on that)

 

[weswife]

I did a split stay for my trip this year! My DS always wanted to stay at the POP! My DH wanted to stay at the WL! So we had the best of both! We too went from a deluxe to a value! I wanted our b-days to be at the WL, so that was our reasoning! We had dining for our week at the WL then op for the POP! My family found this the only down fall. I enjoyed the POP! Its fun, kids seem to be really happy there! We had a pool side room and my family found it to be very noisy there! We were very close to the food court! I would stay there again but in a different location.

Enjoy your trip! I agree its a way to extend your holiday!

 

[rusty4]

Okay, I am the one that will tell you to GET PARK HOPPERS. Here is why. Okay, I am at AK but it closes at 5 p.m. and I want to do dinner in France. If my ticket is a park hopper, no problem. If not, I am in trouble. What do I do now? Okay, so lets say I go to Epcot and finish everything up there by 7 and MK has EMH. I can stay at MK till 1 a.m. because of EMH. . .I really want to go and not just collapse at the end of my Epcot day. . .with hoppers I can just GO. . .no need to worry, no issues. . .I just go.

Hoppers are only an additional 54 dollars per person - regardless of length of stay. So for 10 days its just a bit over 5 dollars a day to hop. . .I buy into that theory. . .

I never do Park Hoppers. We are going to only have 4 park days (1 park per day)on our upcoming trip and it makes no sense for us. We are not nappers so will not leave and go back. Now if I was going to have 6 days of parks or more I would go for it. I think that Darcy has a great point here. Spreading that $54 over 10days would totally be worth it. Plus, with the DDP I think it makes more sense. You would have great options for dining in other parks if you choose. We don't get DDP because we get convention rates and we are not eligible for the DDP. Therefore another reason not to have Park Hoppers for us. But, with your stay I would in a heartbeat.

 

[ready123go]

Your plan sounds good. The important thing is to pick a pace that works for you and your family (or group).

Our first trip back as adults was last February for a conference. I realized there was no way we were going to see everything in one trip.

We didn't do park hoppers, instead we opted to eat at or near the park we were in each day (we made ADR's). For instance, when we did Epcot, we ate at Teppan Edo. MK - Tony's. AK - we went to AKL and ate at Boma (I highly recommend), looked around AKL, and since AK was closed by then, took a bus to DTD and caught the bus back to CSR (our resort).

The last night of the conference we went to Spirit of Aloha dinner show. We took a bus from CSR to MK, then the monorail to Polynesian. After the show we looked around the Polynesian, rode the monorail, stopped at the Contemporary, looked around there and went back to MK. From there we took the bus back to CSR. There was plenty of sightseeing (enough for us anyway), without feeling like we were doing too much running around.

It worked for us. We're going to do a similar pace next Feb. with only a few tweaks.

Remember - if the pace you pick doesn't quite work for you, you will just have to go back and try, try again!!!