College kids going to Disney

[carolcoral]

Hi everyone! I already posted this on another thread but got the advice to post it here too!

I'm fairly new here and had a couple questions. I'm currently in college and myself and three of my friends are hoping to take a trip to Disney January 5th through the 11th or 12th. Here are the details of what we are thinking...

-One of my friends has never been so we feel like we should stay at least five or six days.
-We are planning on just splitting the cost (hotel, tickets, dining plan) four ways if that is possible.
-Flights are reasonable so that's not a problem.
-We are looking to stay at a moderate resort (best one for college age kids?)
-We will eat a lot so we feel the dining plan is a must.

I know that rates for 2011 aren't out yet and that its probably best to book now before prices go up which is probably what we'll do but are there any other little ways to save money? Like when booking a package? Is booking a package the easiest way to do things? We are trying to keep things as simple as possible but also save money.

Any info on any of this would be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[marinahendrix]

Hi everyone! I already posted this on another thread but got the advice to post it here too!

I'm fairly new here and had a couple questions. I'm currently in college and myself and three of my friends are hoping to take a trip to Disney January 5th through the 11th or 12th. Here are the details of what we are thinking...

-One of my friends has never been so we feel like we should stay at least five or six days.
-We are planning on just splitting the cost (hotel, tickets, dining plan) four ways if that is possible.
-Flights are reasonable so that's not a problem.
-We are looking to stay at a moderate resort (best one for college age kids?)
-We will eat a lot so we feel the dining plan is a must.

I know that rates for 2011 aren't out yet and that its probably best to book now before prices go up which is probably what we'll do but are there any other little ways to save money? Like when booking a package? Is booking a package the easiest way to do things? We are trying to keep things as simple as possible but also save money.

Any info on any of this would be greatly appreciated!!!

Definitely book a Magic Your Way package plus dining. There are a couple of different dining plans so pick the one that best suits how you think you'll be eating. I would probably do the regular dining plan that is one quick service + one table service + one snack per day per person. Just remember that you'll need to reserve your table service meals ahead of time (months if possible) so you'll need a game plan of what park to be in on what day. You can certainly split the cost of everything four ways, privately, but you'll need one credit card to put everything on and just have the other three people pay that person back directly. As far as little things to save money, since youre getting a package, you cant really use any discounts that would come with booking room only packages or tickets from a place like undercovertourist.com. You have to book a package in order to get the dining plan.

The good thing about going in January is it'll be slow. But at the same time, the parks have shorter hours so you'll still need an itinerary to make sure you get through everything you want to get through.

My favorite moderate resort is Caribbean Beach but theyre all pretty nice. Any more specific questions?