Disneyworld Newbie

[chttyangel]

So after countless trips to Disneyland, we are finally venturing out. I asked my kids this weekend; Hawaii or Florida....they picked Florida. So let the planning begin.

So many question!!! Disneyland is so simple to me. Parks are together, small, easy to manage. Hotels are all within walking distance (well a ton are). I know where to eat, what shows to see, how to get around. Disneyworld is so foreign to me thou and almost overwhelming. So here are a few questions if they pros don’t mind;

1) On the DIS Disneyland board there is a thread for Disneyworld pros to talk about differences/tips. Anything like that here?

2) Is staying on site a must? There is something magically about the DL hotels but there is no big advantage and they are a TON of extra money. So I am usually just fine staying offsite. From what I read DW seems different thou.

3) So many dinner shows, character dining opportunities, shows. If this was your first time and you may never go back; what would be your must do?

4) 6 days is the plan (counting the day of arrival, not counting departure day). We want to hit everything Disney, a day at Universal and possible a couple hours at the beach or some other attraction. No way or totally doable?

5) Can you make do without a rental car or is it a must have? (if I stayed onsite and wanted to go to Universal)

6) We usually order pizza to be delivered or some sort of take-out 1 meal a day. Gives us a chance to have a break and saves big time on costs. I am assuming if you stay on site; everything would be Disney and this not possible. Is that correct? Just wondering how much extra to budget.

7) LAST....we have to do summer. BUT we can do any part of summer. Early June right when school gets out, mid-summer or late August days before school goes back. Any time better than the other for weather/crowds? I usually go during Easter week so crowds won’t bother us. Just curious.

THANKS! SUPER EXCITED!!!

 

[CynBeth]

Congrats on your trip! I am not an expert and do not gave any kids but I will try to answer your questions.


I would definitely recommend staying on site. It feels so much more magical and each resort has a certain theme. There are 3 levels to fit everyone's budget. I believe the value resorts have just a food court while moderate resorts have a food court and some have a restaurant as well. The deluxe have a nice selection of restaurants. There is free transportation to the parks either by bus, boat, or monorail. You also have magical express. There are also early entry or extended hours for resort guests. And, if a park reaches capacity resort guests are assured entry. They also have packages which include tickets and hotel and dining or other options if you choose. If you only have 6 days I would recommend you stick to Disney and not do Universal. Being your first time you would most likely want 2 days for MK and EPCOT and a half or whole day at DHS and AK. Plus time for your character meals and if you wanted to play mini golf or resort hop to see other resorts. People who stay at a Universal hotel get early entry and at times when schools are out by the time most people are allowed in you can barely get on any rides. Save your money for other things. If you still want to go you do not need a car. The public bus takes people from Downtown Disney or a company called Mears which is less expensive than a taxi. I believe certain hotels allow pizza delivery. I do not know much about character meals and shows but 3 adults we went to Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary and liked it. I do not know when it would be best to go. With not having kids we have gone early June before schools let out and our last trip was Thanksgiving Week 2011. Good luck! I would also recommend besides DIS Boards to get one of the travel books about WDW. That will really help. Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[aaarcher86]

So after countless trips to Disneyland, we are finally venturing out. I asked my kids this weekend; Hawaii or Florida....they picked Florida. So let the planning begin.

So many question!!! Disneyland is so simple to me. Parks are together, small, easy to manage. Hotels are all within walking distance (well a ton are). I know where to eat, what shows to see, how to get around. Disneyworld is so foreign to me thou and almost overwhelming. So here are a few questions if they pros don’t mind;

1) On the DIS Disneyland board there is a thread for Disneyworld pros to talk about differences/tips. Anything like that here?

2) Is staying on site a must? There is something magically about the DL hotels but there is no big advantage and they are a TON of extra money. So I am usually just fine staying offsite. From what I read DW seems different thou.

3) So many dinner shows, character dining opportunities, shows. If this was your first time and you may never go back; what would be your must do?

4) 6 days is the plan (counting the day of arrival, not counting departure day). We want to hit everything Disney, a day at Universal and possible a couple hours at the beach or some other attraction. No way or totally doable?

5) Can you make do without a rental car or is it a must have? (if I stayed onsite and wanted to go to Universal)

6) We usually order pizza to be delivered or some sort of take-out 1 meal a day. Gives us a chance to have a break and saves big time on costs. I am assuming if you stay on site; everything would be Disney and this not possible. Is that correct? Just wondering how much extra to budget.

7) LAST....we have to do summer. BUT we can do any part of summer. Early June right when school gets out, mid-summer or late August days before school goes back. Any time better than the other for weather/crowds? I usually go during Easter week so crowds won’t bother us. Just curious.

THANKS! SUPER EXCITED!!!

1) Lots of info on every aspect of WDW on these boards. There is a sub forum in the trip planning section for tips and families. The theme park strategies board is great also.

2) Staying on site is not a must but there are benefits. The Disney Magical Express, extra magic hlurs and the ability to add the Disney Dining Plan are all things that guests staying on property can take advantage of. Off site guests will also have to pay for parking.

3) I have young girls making character meals a must for us. We like meeting characters while we eat and saving on waiting in line in the parks. Everyone is different though. You may be more of an on thr go vacationer. Fantasmic and Cinderellas Royal Table meal if you have girls are two 'do at least once' things in my opinion.

4) There would be no way to do everything Disney in 10 days
... Let alone all the things you mentioned. You could definitely work them all in but I would figure out what is most important and go from there.

5) You dont need a rental car. You can hire a Mears shuttle to take you to Universal but a rental car would probably save you time and make life easier.

6) You can have pizza delivered if you are on site. There will also be a food court and possibly restaurants depending on where you stay. There are lots of options for a quick to go type meal. The website www.allears.net has menus from all resorts and parks for price estimates.

7) Im not familiar with those times but Id guess late August would be better crowd wise with lots of kids being in school earlier than that.

Have fun planning!

 

[CynBeth]

Hope we did not scare you with all of the info. I always have a lot of fun with the planning.

 

[AuroraRora]

Having stayed both on-site and off-site, I would never go back to staying off-site. There's just something so magical about never leaving the Disney atmosphere that makes it absolutely worth the extra money to me. Plus, you save on the rental car and parking which takes away some of the cost, the Magical Express will transport you to/from the airport and drop your luggage at your room, and you can use Extra Magic Hours which gives you more time in the parks and make your tickets arguably better value than if you'd stayed off-site.

Depending on what level of resort you stay at, some of the pools on Disney property are incredible and I'd happily visit them instead of going to the beach (you can only use your own resort's pool though). You can also add the "water parks and more" option to your park tickets and go to Blizzard Beach or Typhoon Lagoon. TL in particular is like Disney's version of a tropical island and it's gorgeous - white sand everywhere, lazy rivers and various wave pools for the kids (and a little cocktail bar for mom!). I'd honestly choose TL over any beach. If you do try to go to the beach, you'll need a rental car. Disney buses will take you to the water parks though. If you stay off-site and don't have a rental car, getting to the parks can be a nightmare - cabs add-up and while many Orlando hotels have shuttles to the parks, they tend to stop at all the nearby hotels too and don't run early/late enough for you to see everything you'd like. When we stay on-site the only other park we go to is Seaworld. The first time, we took a cab from our hotel and it was $25, the second time onwards we got the Lynx citybus from Downtown Disney - extremely easy to do and if I remember rightly it was something like $2 per adult. I'm not sure if there's an option like that for Universal though. One thing that stood out for us at Universal was that while Disney has the free fastpass system, you have to pay to use Universal's version. We were used to going there before that, and when we went again after they implemented it, we were forced to either pay for the front-of-line passes, or have wait times so long we couldn't go on anything.

I've seen people have off-site pizza delivered to the disney resorts. I'd say a character meal is definitely a must-do. Look into the dining plans - if you're planning to get one anyway, consider upgrading to the next level where you get one Table Service meal a day - you can use those credits for character meals and I've seen some people say it worked out cheaper than paying out of pocket for various character meals.

In terms of when to go, if it were me I'd either try as early as possible or as late as possible. The middle of summer is the hottest and the busiest, and if you're there around 4th of July you might find issues with the parks being at capacity (we were at MK once on 4th of July when it was full, never again!). I would shoot for as early in June as I could, but that's just me. I believe some promos extend into early June (such as the current Spring promo, but I could be wrong). If you can incorporate a promo into your dates, those savings could cover the cost of "upgrading" to staying on-site Vs off-site, or pay for your character meals etc.

Good luck with all your planning!!

 

[chttyangel]

Thanks everyone for all the info!! I have just been reading for days and soaking it all in. Have learned so much from all the trip reports and threads.

So I have decided to stay on site. I think I am going to stay at AoA. There were others I like better but the cost was just right. I am waiting til after the first week of Jan to book; hopping for specials (fingers crossed). It is funny, at Disneyland I would have never paid the extra to stay on the property but WDW seems so worth it!

We are planning on doing May 31st and staying 9 or 10 days. The bulk with be WDW; but I just can't pass up Harry Potter so have to do 2 days there. We don't have anything like it on the West coast and may never get a chance again!

We are also planning on doing the dining plan and are really excited! So thanks for all the recommendations!

 

[CynBeth]

That sounds great! I am a huge HP fan. I have read the books and seen the movies many times.