A Complete Rookie

[daddyactorboy]

Please be gentle...It's my first time

And forgive me if it's longBUT I NEED HELP

I've bounced around the site and I'm still not sure if this is the correct place to thread this...I'm sure someone will inform me where to go

I am planning a 1st time Orlando trip September 1-22, 2010. Yes! You are reading that right! 3 WEEKS! It will be myself, my wife, our 17 yr old daughter, and our 7 year old daughter. We have never taken a major family vacation and the opportunity has finally arrived.

I have been researching since April 09 and I have SOOOOOOOOOO many questions...my head is spinning.

This is what I know...we would like to dedicate 2 weeks for Disney...and the last week for other (Universal, sea world, blah, blah, blah)

What should we do? We are working on a budget...so I am trying to figure out how to get the BEST for the LEAST!!! After reading through these forums...I knew this was the place to ask?

For example...We fly into MCO. (Rent a car?) If we should happen to stay at a disney resort, we can take advantage of the magic express, and all of the positives of staying at a Disney resort. We would then probably have to purchase a dining plan but that's where things get tricky...Would we be better off staying on the Disney grounds the entire 3 weeks? If we get the 10 day magic your way park hopper with water fun and more...where do we eat the days we're not in a disney park...The dining plan only covers the 10 days on the ticket right? So we would have to figure out something the other 11 days. If we rent a car...we could stay off site..and build up fees in parking and lose the special benefits of the disney resort.

See where I am???? Has anyone out there spent more than 14 days in Orlando and visited Disney and surrounding attractions??? I am looking for ANY advice on what should be our best plan of attack. This may be the only time we travel to Orlando...and our timetable is perfect for 9-10...so what do you think?

Should I talk to a travel agent? Are there extra specials for extended stays?
I see on Disney sites...you can only get a package for up to 10 days.

I'm sure there is more...but I thought this info would get some thoughts from you...BECAUSE...I haven't even had the chance to start detailing visits to the parks...I'm stuck on logistics!!!

Thank You everyone!

A Newbie

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Hi and Welcome

As far as the dinning plan goes. You must pay for the dinning plan based on the number of days you are staying at a resort. Its not based on the number of days of your park ticket. For example if you are staying at a Disney resort for 14 days you must buy the dinning plan for all 14 days for everyone on your reservations.

As far as where you can eat. The dinning plan is good weather you are dinning inside a park or at any restaraunt outside of the parks that participates in the dinning plan. So you could eat at any of the resorts too.

If you are not staying on property you will have to pay to park at the parks which is $12 a day.

Since you can only get a price for a 10 day visit online I would call Disney to price a longer stay.

 

[lovetoscrap]

As far at the dining plans go I would keep an close eye on our Codes and Rates Board starting the beginning of next year, or make sure you have an excellent Disney Travel Agent (may I recommend Dreams Unlimited?!). September is usually when Disney offers the Dining Plan for FREE. You have to book well in advance, sometimes as soon as April or May. But that would be a huge help to your budget to get most of your Disney property meals included in your package.

As far as stratagies for staying that long you might want to take a look at our UK boards. Often our visitors from the UK stay for two to three weeks and they may be able to help with their planning ideas.

 

[dizzi]

We went for 2.5 weeks once when we did not live in Florida and Bot only did we do all the Disney parks and all the universal parks and the blah blah parks, we got a "go orlando" card.

Look it up on the internet.

We did SOOOOOO many things with that card, that we would have never done otherwise and some really great things....and if you do many of them in one day it really pays for itself above and beyond really!!!

GOOD LUCk

 

[Metro West]

 

[Jill in Chicago]

Hi! A long vacation sounds absolutely wonderful. Asking questions is exactly what this board is for. You will get better responses though if you break down your one large post into smaller posts. I'll try and help you out with that too.

Go get the Unofficial Guidebook to Disney. It is worth the money. It explains every single attraction at Disney, PLUS it talk about Universal.

Two weeks for Disney is fantastic. Tickets vs. annual pass. Go on the official Disney website and check out the cost. I believe if you are staying for 2 weeks, and would like to visit the parks throughout that time, an annual pass may be the way to go.

On site or off: This is an extremely debated topic. Some believe if you do not stay at a Disney resort it's not a Disney vacation. Our family loves to stay off site. Everyone has more room. You can rent an entire home vacationrentals.com and you won't believe the prices and you'll have your own house.

On site benefits. Yes if you stay on site you can go to early and evening magic hours. If you stay off site you should NOT go to a park with early or evening magic hours as these parks will be more crowded. So we just skip the magic hour parks.

Disney transportation. Anyone, no matter where they stay, can use Disney transportation to go around to the parks.

Dining Plan. Allears.net has lists of menus. I believe they also state which restaurants are on the plan. I believe this site may also. Ask on the restaurant portion of this board. You can ask there too about where to eat when you are not at the parks.

Rent a car. Also a debated topic. Do you like to drive at home?
Do you like to be in control? Rent a car. Do you hate driving at home? Hate trying to figure out where you are going? Use Disney transportation.

Orlando and especially Universal. Check out their web site to understand their move to the front of the line policy. I believe this can be purchased. I also believe you get this for free IF you stay at a Universal hotel. So it might be worth it to stay at a Universal hotel when you visit their parks.

Disney fast pass. These are free to everyone no matter where you stay.

Disney Tickets and Universal Tickets. Remember ticket prices are high if you buy 1-3 day tickets, but the price goes WAY down if you buy a 7 day pass or longer.

Disney ticket Deals. I went all over the internet and was only able to save a few bucks on different sites. I went through the official Disney site for the confidence and peace of mind that these were official tickets.

Which Disney resort. Allears.net has great photos. Again this is truly just a what works best and appeals the most to your family. I have walked through Stormalong Bay at the Beach club and WOW it looks like fun!

Suggestions. I would work it so that Disney would all be lumped together in 2 weeks, whether you stay on property or off. And then the rest of your time would be spent elsewhere. I would also, while at Disney, have entire days where you hang around the pool and just do fireworks in the evening.

Dinner reservations. Do not book these for every night. You will go nuts getting to them every single evening. Instead have a few nights where you eat at your resort or counter service.

Check out Windsor Hills Resort. Looks so cool for families.

Specific resort questions check out the resort board on this site.

Specific restaurant reviews they have here or also on allears.net.

Hope this is enough to get your started! Jill

 

[MickeyisBeast]

Welcome! Hope you have a fun trip!