1st timer needs help planning visit

[angc]

Actually, I've been to WDW once, when I was 5yo. DH has never been nor have our 2 DD (ages 5&6). I've been doing some research for months and are now to the point where it's time to make final decsions.
Here's some info-
1. We are buying all the tix w hhonors points 2. We are staying from sun-fri am either Thanx, or the week before or week after Xmas. 3. We want to spend about 1K for the room 4. We want the flexibilty of leaving and returning to the park several times during the day 5. We're driving down from MD
Considering that, can you make a recommendation for the best hotel on or off site? I'm not to familiar w/ the codes I see here so help me by spelling the name. We had planned on Animal Kingdom and splurging for the best room, but is it worth the extra money? Another option was a Holiday Inn hotel, but I worry about getting to and from the park. Since it's my vacation too, I will not cook a meal! So a hotel with resturants for 3 meals would be great.
I want to make this a memorable trip for the entire family. Can you pros help me make it happen? TIA

 

[webray]

AKL would be a great choice...we love it there. The entire place is beautiful, the rooms are great and the staff is wonderful. We like to do concierge...snacks/drinks all day long. All the restaurants are great and there is someplace to have breakfast/lunch/dinner.

The pool is wonderful, the childrens play area is great. The kids would love the animals, either from the balcony in your room if you get a savannah view, or from the lobby, or by just going down to the savannah watching area. At night they let you look through night vision goggles...very cool.

 

[disneyatl]

We've have only stayed on-site and wouldn't want it any other way. Transportation is so much easier and you don't have to worry about parking at the parks. We drive also from GA and also enjoy having our car to drive to Downtown Disney, putt putt and sometimes we've drove to the water parks. Also having your car you can drive off site to restaurants.

With a budget of $1,000 you could definitely stand in a standard room at either the Wilderness Lodge or Animal Kingdom (the cheapest of the deluxe resorts). We are planning our first deluxe resort stay in 2004. Our standard room at the Wilderness Lodge will cost us $995 (not including tax) - also this is before any discount codes have been applied (still keeping my fingers crossed that codes come out before our trip). Keep looking out for codes and you might even be able to upgrade to another deluxe for the same rate. Keep in mind, unless you are going to splurge or a suite at a Disney hotel, the rooms are your basic hotel room - they just get bigger from value to deluxe.

Our past trips, we booked a Disney package and really thought it was a good deal at the time. However, since our last visit, the package has changed and there is a lot of stuff you get with the package that doesn't interest us. We've booked a room only reservation and will buy 5-day park hopper plus tickets - which saves us approx. $200.

The Holiday Inn will definitely get you a larger room and possibly at a better price........but in my opinion, I'd rather stay on the Disney property.....especially for a 1st visit. You get the Disney experience 24/7.

Good luck with your planning.

 

[blanq]

How exciting for you and your family to be planning this great trip! Your children are at wonderful ages to really enjoy themselves for their first time to WDW! My DS was 6 when he went for the first time and IMHO he was at the perfect age!

Since this is a first trip, for all in your family except you, I would encourage an onsite stay, because it will allow you to more easily pop back and forth between your resort and the parks (and that is one of your criteria).

It sounds as though you really would like to try AKL, and I would encourage you to do it. We were there this past May, staying in a poolview room (upgraded at checkin from a standard view) and loved this resort. Now I know this whole code thing is new to you, but you have some time to get the hang of it before your trip. So, my advice is read read read on this Board and it will all click for you. AKL is a deluxe resort that is typically, all but holiday periods, discounted heavily with a code. Codes are not a given, but based on history, you have a good shot at one if you go the week before Xmas. You can locate historical information about codes at mousesavers.com. I would suggest you book it a rack rate (or with another discount, if you are eligible, such as AAA). When the codes are released (watch for them here on the resort Board, and mousesavers.com), you can call and have the code applied to your existing reservation. Codes for mid-Oct through right before Xmas probably will not be released until after mid-Aug (this is a guessing game really). There are usually not codes for the holiday weeks, but if you checkin during the time a code is available they will apply the code to your entire reservation, even if some of those dates are outside the scope of the code period. It is not unusual to get a AKL standard view room for $129/night (and sometimes less), with a code.

You talked about splurging for the best room at AKL, and wanted to know if this is worth it. I am assuming you are talking about booking a savannah room (?) and not the 2 bedroom suite! With a code, at only 5 nights, you might be able to get a savannah of these for your $1000 price limit. Perhaps someone else can give some insight into what they paid for a discounted savannah room. Is it worth it? That really is a personal choice. There are many DISer's who would not stay at AKL unless it was in a savannah room. I can honestly say we loved our stay and didn't have a savannah room! There are many public viewing areas to see the animals and we did not spend much time in our room anyway, so we preferred to spend our money other ways.

The AKL resort is gorgeous and has two sitdown restaurants (Boma, for breakfast and dinner only; and Jiko, for dinner only), and the Mara (for a quick meal, early in the a.m. until late evening). You can view menus for these at wdwig.com. You probably will not eat all your meals at your resort, however, and you most likely will be in the parks at some meal times. There are lots of great meal options in the parks, and again, all of the menus for the resorts and parks can be found at wdwig.com. The menus can also help you with planning on the cost to figure for food. Also, the restaurant Board here at the DIS is a great resource for getting feedback on the restaurants and for figuring out the everchanging WDW policies relating to priority seating.

Have a great vacation!