1st Time Planner. Need Help!!!

[xoprincessmomxo]

Hey everyone! I am planning a trip for my family for August '08. I need to know how soon in advance I should book. Still trying to sort out all the details, but don't want to wait too long and miss out. I will probably book online. I haven't been to WDW since I was in high school and am now taking my DH (1st timer) and out 3 girls ages 10, 5, and 6months at present. Any feedback or suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[Robo]

Hey everyone! I am planning a trip for my family for August '08. I need to know how soon in advance I should book. Still trying to sort out all the details, but don't want to wait too long and miss out. I will probably book online. I haven't been to WDW since I was in high school and am now taking my DH (1st timer) and out 3 girls ages 10, 5, and 6months at present. Any feedback or suggestions appreciated. Thanks in advance!

You can certainly start now, if you'd like.

You can even make SOME ressies now.

For instance, if you plan on going to the Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue Dinner show (highly recommended) you can book that up to 2 years in advance (very popular!)

You can book your rooms, and if any discounts come along in the interim, you can call and change the ressies to the lower rates.

Booking early carries no penalty because you can cancel up until very near your dates without losing your deposits.

I'm not saying you MUST do these now... but you CAN start putting it together. It will give you time to ask questions about specifics as time goes by.

The ADR's for meals can be made starting 6 months out.
That's how early Disney publishes the hours for the parks.

It does not need to be a "chore", nor do you need to PLAN EVERY LITTLE THING in advance, but you can start "pre-enjoying" your trip as you start make a few preliminary decisions.
I consider my trip to actually "begin" (feels like it, anyway) when I start my list of things I want to do.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Thanks for the tips! Mt DH thinks I am crazy for planning so early. I guess you just don't understand the magnitude of the world untill you've been there!

 

[Robo]

Thanks for the tips! Mt DH thinks I am crazy for planning so early. I guess you just don't understand the magnitude of the world untill you've been there!

Oh, and to the DISboards!!

We love to help with WDW trip info!

 

[larklynn]

What type of things do your dd's enjoy

 

[Heluvsme]

I don't know if this will give you an idea of how fast things get booked, but yesterday morning I checked on line for Caribbean Beach Resort, I had a price quoted of $877 for the week we're going in June. By 2:00 at my local AAA office the price had already gone up to $974 because they were receiving an "inordinate amount of calls from New Jersey, schools get out the same week you're looking at." I wasn't so sure that it was completely accurate so I had my dh check on line and sure enough, that price had already gone up! In just a matter of hours! Needless to say we booked and we're set, but sheesh, things do get snatched up fast!!

Have fun planning!!

 

[hopey1kenobi]

My sugggestion it to read the boards and maybe get a guidebook. Even though I am a disney veteren and know what I like and dislike I still find a guidebook very helpful. I personally like The Unofficial Guide.

By starting to plan now you can have a rough idea what it will at most cost for you and your family. As they are all first timers, I suggest staying on-site so you can immerse yourself in the magic.

Have a wonderful Trip!!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

What type of things do your dd's enjoy

The oldest will be able to go on everything. The middle one is a little more timid, but she enjoys rides without too much scare (and as long as she sees Voyage of the Little Mermaid, her vacation will be complete!) and the little one? WHO KNOWS? I am just happy that they have child swap now! I was really hoping to be able to just take them out of school, but our oldest DD (my DH's from a previous marriage) lives with her real mom who won't let it happen. Would you guys recommend booking through travel agent or online? My brother and his wife booked online for MNSSHP 2006 and it all went smoothly. But August is a lot more crowded....

 

[krista3030]

Hi princess mom...welcome

I have two daughters 8 and 6 and the younger one is timid too...I booked the character dinner 6 months in advance at the Liberty tree Tavern...great food and not as expensive as some other dinners. However we have always stayed off site...we book a vacation home which is very reasonable...cheaper than a hotel by far. For just under 2 weeks stay we paid under $1000US and it has its own pool etc. Hope you have a fab time

 

[loafskier]

I like to book a little less than a year ahead. I have found that the airfare can be a great deal about 330 days out. I like to book the airfare and room/package at the same time. If I have flight times (which sometimes change a little when you book that far in advance, but never a crazy amount in my experience) I can figure out any half days I will be able to spend in the parks. Then I can get the correct # of ticket days when I book the room as a package (room and tickets). Once I have the room, flights and tickets it REALLY gets fun!

I do some research figuring out a few things we would like to do (HDDR, Fantasmic Dinner Package, Character Meals, etc) 11 to 6 months before trip. When the park hours come out 6 months ahead of time I figure out which park on which day (avoiding EMH parks which tend to be busier) and integrate that with any special ADRs I want to make. I make the ADRS 5-6 months ahead and the basic outline of the trip is set.

Then I get to spend the next few months dreaming of all of the fun...and discussing with the family any rides or shows they really do not want to miss. I love dragging out the planning for a whole year...the planning and anticipation is part of the fun.

Just my way of doing things...I'm sure everyone does it a little different.

Happy Planning!

 

[larklynn]

It sounds similar to my kids except my youngest loves the thrills! I would go with a travel agent from what my friends have said about it. We are dvc members so we just book our own things. Do your daugters like princess? There are alot of cool things to book at 180 days but you do need to plan for them. If you can get free dining it will make it a little easier I would ask your travel agent about that if it is still ava. next year. My dd is the middle child and is the most timid of the 3 but space mountain and expidition everest are some of her favorites she doesn't like scare either so she avoids tower of terror.

 

[3princesses+aprince]

Hi, we are going in May of 2008! Do you know if you are doing the dining plan? We will be , and i've already gone through all of the menus on this site and chose which character meals we will be doing and even looked at the counter service menus for lunches. That was alot of fun We're going to book all of our dining reservations 6 months out, which will be november for us! And we are going to book the room in a couple of weeks and add the package as soon as it's available.
Have fun planning

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

Loafskier, I like your style! I've been talking nonstop Disney, surfing Disney net, and watching and rewatching the Vacation videos. I do believe my DH is getting sick of me all ready!

Now, I've got a silly question. I've been reading about Fantasmic dinner packages and I'm not exactly sure what those are. Does it cost to get into Fantasmic? And if so, how much?

 

[larklynn]

No it doesn't cost but you sometimes need to sit for an hour and a half to have decent seating with the dinner package you can go in a half hour early and have good seating. We did Brown Derby last time and it was pretty reasonable without the dining package considering what you get. If you are on the dining package the other two rest. are only 1ts, brown derby is 2. It was worth it for us as long as you don't mind eating a little early.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

It sounds similar to my kids except my youngest loves the thrills! I would go with a travel agent from what my friends have said about it. We are dvc members so we just book our own things. Do your daugters like princess? There are alot of cool things to book at 180 days but you do need to plan for them. If you can get free dining it will make it a little easier I would ask your travel agent about that if it is still ava. next year. My dd is the middle child and is the most timid of the 3 but space mountain and expidition everest are some of her favorites she doesn't like scare either so she avoids tower of terror.

My DD's love the princesses! We are going to try to get into the Cinderella Castle CB, but I know it's hard to get into. If not, we'll probably go to Princess Storybook in Epcot (but from what I've read on the net, is not as good). I don't have a clue! It's been awhile since my last CB! My Mom used to remind me of when I was a baby, I spilled my milk all over the entire table and her at the Crystal Palace CB when Goofy came up behind me!

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

No it doesn't cost but you sometimes need to sit for an hour and a half to have decent seating with the dinner package you can go in a half hour early and have good seating. We did Brown Derby last time and it was pretty reasonable without the dining package considering what you get. If you are on the dining package the other two rest. are only 1ts, brown derby is 2. It was worth it for us as long as you don't mind eating a little early.

We will be doing the dining package and that counts towards the fantasmic package? That's great! We will definitely do that. Which other two restaraunts feature the Fantasmic package?

 

[larklynn]

We have done cr and enjoyed it
cp
garden grill
The grand floridean's perfectly princess tea party is awsome!!!! They make the girls feel so special. My dd's friend is going for her 10th birthday but it depends on the girl.
Alice's tea was loved but not as much as above
I Can't wait for dd to do bbb.
They also enjoy rc after a day at ak.
We had reservations for liberty tree tavern but it was simlar to garden grill and ended up at the big river grill befor pirates and princess party

 

[loafskier]

I am on the fence about doing the Fantasmic Dinner Package for our next trip. We have not done it before or seen Fantasmic. Basically, you get to eat at one of three restaurants for a fixed price and they give you a voucher to get into Fantasmic through a special entrance and do not have to wait in line. There is a special reserved section in the amphitheater for you.

The reason I am on the fence is because I have read that you still need to get there 45 minutes before the show...which is a long wait for my two young children, especially since they would have just sat through a dinner. We would go to the first show and I have also read that you can bring food into the theater for the first show...so we could get there 1 hour ahead and have something to do (eat dinner) as opposed to getting there 45 minutes ahead with nothing to do.

No worries...I still have 7 months to figure it out

 

[larklynn]

They have pretty early seating for fantasmic it starts seating at 2 or 3 they may be hungry again by the time you go for the show.

 

[GusT]

I am trying to plan our disneymoon in May of this year (6 weeks away!). I've made all of our reservations, and now I'm trying to plan what to do on what days. I was wanting to catch the 11:00 Spectromagic parade on May 30th, but another page says that the MK closes at 10 that night so how would that work?? Just wondering......

Also.... Are there any first timers out there getting worried about how the heck I'm supposed to know what bus to get on at what time to get where I need to go??