Disney Holiday 2014

[shepley26]

Me and the family are going to Orlando next November, staying at Disney's Old Key West. Me and the wife have been to Orlando 4 times before but have always stayed in a Villa away from Disney plus it will be my daughter's first time (5 years old), can anyone give me there thoughts on staying at a Disney Resort and also any tips you might have. Any comments will be appreciated...

 

[flortlebap]

Hi and welcome

First of all, you will love being on site it's a totally different experience. I don't think I could go back to off site. And OKW gets some great reviews.

Did you manage to get free dining? Biggest tip I can give is make sure you book your table service restaurants 180+10 days out to make sure you get what you want.

And have fun planning

 

[shepley26]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, can't wait. Yes, we got free dining included (so many restaurants it makes me hungry just looking at the menu's lol). The 180 days plus 10 confuses me a bit, ive heard it means that you can book upto 10 days worth 180 days before you go, a shame you can't book all 14 days. Will I have to ring up again to book my last 4 days? We've not been since 2008 so its going to be unrecognisable...

 

[wayneg]

Welcome to DISboards.
We have been to OKW 4 times in recent years with free DDP, you have chosen a great resort. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as we have, although after 4 visits I am glad the prices have risen beyond my budget, we can now go back offsite cheaper, we missed eating offsite while at OKW.
DDP is a lot of food and expensive on the tips but some really good restaurants.
There are lots of for and against onsite but you need to try for yourself to see if you enjoy it.

 

[flortlebap]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply, can't wait. Yes, we got free dining included (so many restaurants it makes me hungry just looking at the menu's lol). The 180 days plus 10 confuses me a bit, ive heard it means that you can book upto 10 days worth 180 days before you go, a shame you can't book all 14 days. Will I have to ring up again to book my last 4 days? We've not been since 2008 so its going to be unrecognisable...

You can ring or book online personally I would book the must dos in the first ten days then leave anything else after that so you don't have to log in every day.

Yes it's changed a lot since 2008, but that's probably a good thing. And you get to experience it all with your daughter this time round

 

[shepley26]

Hi there
Cheers for the reply. Been offsite 4 times and loved it but this time we just thought "why not" its our daughter's first time to Orlando so looking forward to the disney experience, the character meals and little extras. Do you know what the percentage of tipping is? And can you order anything from the menu or do you have set meals to choose from?

 

[wayneg]

If you are a party of 6 or more then 18% is added. less than 6 people you add what you feel the service is worth but 18% is the norm, if service is not top notch leave less, if its great you can add more.
Last couple of trips we have been a party of 6 and didn't have a problem leaving 18% at just about every restaurant.
You can choose anything of the menus. Your server will tell you if there are any restrictions but there are not many.

 

[disney2014plan]

I haven't stayed on site, but I thought that 180+10 meant that normally you can book 180 days out, but if you are on site you can book 10 days prior to the normal 180 days (i.e 190 days).

Could a more experienced person please clarify this?

Thanks

 

[2Tiggies]

I thought that 180+10 meant that normally you can book 180 days out, but if you are on site you can book 10 days prior to the normal 180 days (i.e 190 days).

Nobody gets a 190 day window, but onsite guests can book the first 10 days of their ADR's on the 180th day. After that they have to book each of the following days one day at a time, but each of those subsequent days is 10 days earlier than it would have been so yes, once you get to that stage if you are staying more than 10 days, you are essentially booking each day 190 days out. But it's 180 days to kick off the process. Hope that makes sense

 

[happyj]

Welcome to the Dis .
you will love being on site .my recommendations are down load the " My Disney Experience " put you reservations in so when your 180 day comes up you can book online .also keep with the dis the information on here is huge .

 

[shepley26]

Thanks for all the replies, ive already downloaded the Disney experience app and also wrote down my dining reservations with dates and favoured times, just hope we can get the places we want. I think the Christmas parades will be on in November so thats something else to look forward too. Im loving the DIS, getting some useful info from people. Thanks...

 

[flortlebap]

Thanks for all the replies, ive already downloaded the Disney experience app and also wrote down my dining reservations with dates and favoured times, just hope we can get the places we want. I think the Christmas parades will be on in November so thats something else to look forward too. Im loving the DIS, getting some useful info from people. Thanks...

It's a great board, people have helped me a lot in the past. It's amazing what you learn from here that you won't find in any brochure

 

[disney2014plan]

Nobody gets a 190 day window, but onsite guests can book the first 10 days of their ADR's on the 180th day. After that they have to book each of the following days one day at a time, but each of those subsequent days is 10 days earlier than it would have been so yes, once you get to that stage if you are staying more than 10 days, you are essentially booking each day 190 days out. But it's 180 days to kick off the process. Hope that makes sense

That makes perfect sense, thanks!
*slinks off to the stupid corner

 

[Elise79]

We love OKW - its one of our favourites

Its a nice resort for children too they have plenty of playgrounds and pool games by the main pool every afternoon. My DD who is 5 loves it!

Nobody gets a 190 day window, but onsite guests can book the first 10 days of their ADR's on the 180th day. After that they have to book each of the following days one day at a time, but each of those subsequent days is 10 days earlier than it would have been so yes, once you get to that stage if you are staying more than 10 days, you are essentially booking each day 190 days out. But it's 180 days to kick off the process. Hope that makes sense

Just to add for onsite guests it 180 days from Check in for the booking window for ADRs to open

 

[shepley26]

Lol. Don't worry you wasn't the only one who didn't really understand it, but makes sense now. I can't understand why its the first 10 days though, bit of an odd number. They should do a special UK deal where you can book all 14 days, I mean, who travels to Orlando from the UK for 10 days? Come on Disney, sort it out...

 

[wayneg]

They should do a special UK deal where you can book all 14 days, I mean, who travels to Orlando from the UK for 10 days? Come on Disney, sort it out...

Many people like ourselves do the maximum 21 days when doing free DDP so they have to draw the line somewhere. I guess 10 days will cover over 99% of US visitors, I know our American friends can only dream of 10 straight days vacation, they can only take a few days together.
We once did a cruise, our American table mates were doing 1 week cruise, 1 week in the parks. He was told by his employers it was a one off, he wouldn't be allowed 2 consecutive weeks again.

 

[shepley26]

Fair point made, I just can't imagine going to Orlando for less than 2 weeks, there's so much to do and see, I guess were the lucky ones...

 

[wayneg]

Fair point made, I just can't imagine going to Orlando for less than 2 weeks, there's so much to do and see, I guess were the lucky ones. Were thinking of doing a Disney cruise soon, are they good? We've been cruising with P&O before and loved it but not with disney...

Disney cruises are amazing, we have our 6th booked for our 25th Anniversary next Sept. Doing the 14 night Transatlantic from Barcelona to Puerto Rico.

 

[wayneg]

You edited before I posted.

 

[Elise79]

Lol. Don't worry you wasn't the only one who didn't really understand it, but makes sense now. I can't understand why its the first 10 days though, bit of an odd number. They should do a special UK deal where you can book all 14 days, I mean, who travels to Orlando from the UK for 10 days? Come on Disney, sort it out...

Like Wayne said we are only a minority in the WDW visitor count - the 10 days covers most US visitors. Another example is the you can only hold bookings for 14 days of FP+ at one time regardless of ticket type. They cater to the home market that makes up the majority of their revenue and I don't blame them its just good business sense

And on your point about who travels to Orlando for less than 10 days - well we do. We can't take more than 2 weeks leave at one time so we travel multiple times a year. We have done everything from 5 nights to 16 nights in Orlando and each trip as been great. The length of flight doesn't bother us and any time in FL is better than none as far as we are concerned