Complete Newbie

[Belle's World]

As the title suggests we have never been to WDW before. It has always been a dream that we say we will definitely get there at some point. We have been to DLP 13 times and love it!
Basically looking at some advice so we can work out how much (roughly) we are looking at having to save in order to go.
We would want to be there for 14 days and will not be driving. Therefore we need somewhere with free and easy transport, we would definitely consider a split stay.
We would want to visit both WDW and Universal, plus possibly a couple of other day trips such as the Space Center.
Because we need transport provided I'm guessing a Disney Hotel would be easiest although I have heard some other hotels provide transport.
TIA

 

[Elise79]

Is there any reason you don't want to drive? Honestly, driving in Florida is easy and makes for a much nicer trip. It can be done without a car however if you have children a car makes life so much easier. WDW alone is 47 sq miles!! The whole scale of the resort is so different to DLRP!

If you decide not to drive you will be best off either doing a spilt stay and starting or ending at Universal and the bulk of the time at Disney.

You can price up the hotels online. Free dining is offer at the moment which means you get free breakfast at a value, free QSDP (Quick service dining plan) at a moderate and free DDP (Disney dining plan) at a deluxe.

Direct flights are around £500 off peak.

You can stay offsite too which will always be cheaper however you then have very limited transport options. There are some good neighbour hotels on Hotel Plaza Blvd that offer regular shuttles to Disney. Other hotels on I-Drive and Kissimmee offer shuttles but they are usually only a couple in the morning and a couple in the evening and go to one central place to drop off and you have to make your way from there. Sometimes the are free and sometimes they are chargeable. They usually offer the same for universal.

 

[Belle's World]

Thanks for your reply. We are two adults and 1 child. We won't be driving as I currently can't drive but will be starting to learn soon and my husband rarely drives but doesn't like it so in a different country this would be a no no.
I'm thinking a split stay is the way to go. How many days would you recommend for WDW and Universal? Also is there any coach trips from either place to go to SeaWorkd or the Space Centre?

 

[chocolateMinnie]

We don't drive either - been eight times and never been behind the wheel of a car - like a drink don't want the pressure of driving abroad. Just the way we are.

We have never been to Universal - every year we say we are going and every time we change our minds because we haven't had time to do everything we want to at Disney. On the occasions we've been off property we have taken cabs to SeaWorld (twice) and a shopping mall. The price is reasonable IMHO and we take the Disney's Magical Express transport to and from the airport. We did split our stay on trip two (a week at Disney's Coronado Springs, a week at St Pete's Beach and a week at the Grand Floridian) we booked through Virgin that trip and they sorted all our transfers for us. Personally we wouldn't do it again as we love Disney so much and much prefer to stay in one place for the entirety of our trip but I'm sure whatever you decide you will have fun. Enjoy!

 

[scoobydooby]

So long as you are happy to eat all your meals on Disney property you don't need a car there. For what you want to do I would do three nights at a Universal deluxe hotel (front of line passes free then and no transport issues), one night at a Sea World hotel (front of line passes and no transport issues) then transfer to WDW for ten nights. Taxi to Universal from the airport, (fly into MCO if you're not getting a car), taxi to Sea World hotel from Universal hotel, DME back to airport. The only pain will be the Space Centre but you can book a coach trip there. Look at Attraction Tickets Direct they do them. There is a shuttle from Universal to Sea World so you could just stay there longer. If you can travel anytime I would go early May or end of September early October for better flight prices and lovely weather. Good luck!

 

[maclondon]

WE are going for the first time too... let me think... oh yes ... TOMORRROW!!!!

WE are doing 5 nights in Contemporary with free dining plan
then 9 nights in a villa and one night in Hard rock hotel

i do have a car included - and is essential with a villa - which cuts costs alot and means we aren't all in one room for 2 weeks!!

it worked out at just under £2000 per person all in with disney tickets - flex tickets (universal/seaworld/aquatica/wet n wild)
you can probably get it lower by staying in a value hotel, then add on around £500 per person for spending.

theres only 3 of you so being in one room is less of an issue - we are 6 so that means only a few places do six in disney
we ended up with 2 rooms in contemporary and HRH and a 4 bed villa.

 

[~Piglet~]

If you are considering a split stay I would sway toward staying on site while doing the Disney parks. Time is precious and it is so much easier to use Disney transport to get around the Disney area. Other off site hotels may offer shuttles but they may not run as reliably as the Disney transport system. A relative stayed off site last year and had horror stories about shuttles not arriving until late morning, not running to time etc. They felt they wasted a lot of time, hadn't realised the scale of Disney property and wished they had stayed on site.

 

[micksn]

We have never driven and always stay onsite at Disney. Last time we did a daytrip to Universal with transfers and managed both Harry Potter's and other attractions at IOA. TBH there is so much at Disney unless you are staying for more than 2 weeks I wouldn't do a split stay for your first visit. I would consider a short stay at Universal before Disney next time, but only because we know Disney so well now. Once you start adding on lots of extras the cost can really escalate!

 

[LiquidSunshine]

As the title suggests we have never been to WDW before. It has always been a dream that we say we will definitely get there at some point. We have been to DLP 13 times and love it!
Basically looking at some advice so we can work out how much (roughly) we are looking at having to save in order to go.
We would want to be there for 14 days and will not be driving. Therefore we need somewhere with free and easy transport, we would definitely consider a split stay.
We would want to visit both WDW and Universal, plus possibly a couple of other day trips such as the Space Center.
Because we need transport provided I'm guessing a Disney Hotel would be easiest although I have heard some other hotels provide transport.
TIA

We did the day trip to Kennedy Space Center last year & would highly recommend it.

We stayed at POFQ last year with no car. Look at sites like Florida Tix and Attraction Tickets Direct. You can book your tickets for the Space Center with transportation. This is what we did.

The day trip itself is with Grayline Tours. I emailed them before leaving the UK about arranging the transportation. On the day, a 7 seater shuttle picked us up from the front doors of POFQ (You will more than likely share with parties from other resorts). The shuttle dropped us off at a shopping mall were the coach was then meeting us, along with all other parties heading to the Space Center. The driver of the shuttle waited with us until the coach had arrived.

The coach driver, Mike, was fantastic. Very entertaining and informative. He stayed around the Center for a while to help anyone out. Then you are left to explore the Center yourself - although Mike does give a good recommended itinerary.

Coming back, Mike told us he had a few parties to drop off at one of the All Star hotels and asked would it be ok for us to get off there. It was fine, because we were able to hop onto a bus for one of the parks and transfer onto a bus for POFQ.

Don't let not driving put you off going to the Center. Seeing the Space Shuttle Alantis face to face was worth it!

 

[DLPdaft]

As the title suggests we have never been to WDW before. It has always been a dream that we say we will definitely get there at some point. We have been to DLP 13 times and love it!
Basically looking at some advice so we can work out how much (roughly) we are looking at having to save in order to go.
We would want to be there for 14 days and will not be driving. Therefore we need somewhere with free and easy transport, we would definitely consider a split stay.
We would want to visit both WDW and Universal, plus possibly a couple of other day trips such as the Space Center.
Because we need transport provided I'm guessing a Disney Hotel would be easiest although I have heard some other hotels provide transport.
TIA

first time for us this year - 2 weeks in August. We are all classed as adults, doing Disney, Universal, airboat ride, shopping, no car. Including flights, hotels, all park tickets, food and spends, I'm working on £1500 each, and I'm well inside budget at that.