First Disney World Trip

[NorCalVince]

My Fiancé and I are planning on going to Disney World for a week in March for our honeymoon. This will be our very first trip out there. We are both Disneyland regulars/passholders who go multiple times a year since we were kids. Trying to plan a Disney World trip is a completely different animal than we are used to. The dilemma I’m having is since vacation packages for 2020 aren’t available for another few months we aren’t exactly sure what pricing will be or what kind of savings we get when bundling tickets and resort stay. I’ve been trying to estimate resort costs and as of now it’s between Coronado Springs or Port Orleans French Quarter. This is all entirely based on overall esthetic and price. While going through this I was also looking at renting DVC points and staying at a resort that’s nicer. Now if I go that direction I would obviously need to look at doing it very soon. Estimating cost of stay at those two moderates compared to renting DVC isn’t that much of a difference. I’m just not sure if I should wait for the vacation packages to be released for 2020 and see if the savings would be significant or if I should jump on the DVC rental.

 

[Haley R]

Hi! We also had our honeymoon at wdw in March. Dh and I got married in Florida 3 years ago and went to universal/wdw after. We stayed at French Quarter and it’s still our favorite resort. It’s a perfect size, especially for your first trip. Everything is very compact and you have the boat to Disney springs. The pool is geared more towards kids but you can walk over to Riverside and use any of their pools. The food court is pretty good and like the pools, you can go to the food court and restaurant at Riverside.

We’ve stayed at Coronado but it was too big for us. We also liked the theming a lot more at French quarter. It has a quaint and quiet feel to it.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[Nancyg56]

THis is just a personal opinion so take it for the grain of salt it is worth. I would not rent DVC points for a first trip. THere are a lot of benefits to a DVC stay, but for a first time trip and for a honeymoon, I would suggest that you book a conventional room and forgo any of the pitfalls that renting DVC may include.

I think that you can plan the approximate cost of your stay by pricing out a similar stay and adding 15%. It gives you a target amount to budget and will keep you close to the cost.

I also think using a good Disney TA may be beneficial because those folks can navigate some of the planning for you, and can find discounts when and if they come available.

You will get a lot of opinions of resorts becuase we all have our favorites. I think for a honeymoon POFQ and Coronado Springs would be my two choices, and from there I would look at amenities we use. POFQ is compact and very quaint. This lovely resort only has 7 buildings, with beautiful lush grounds to relax and enjoy. The music is soft and jazzy. The water taxi toDS is a bonus, and my family takes it every time we stay there. This is a family resort though, so be prepared for a lot of kids and a pool that is small but really cute. I prefer it over any other moderate.

CSR is very different than POFQ and is the one I think many honeymooners would prefer. It has an awesome pool, and incudes a table service restaurant. It has been some years since I visited. I found it to be a large resort but it was manageable. I like the walk to and from our room, and enjoyed the impecably manicured grounds, and the understated beauty of the holiday decorations. I do think this resort calls more adults then families with young kids, but it is personal opinion.

 

[tzeitel]

I would call and book POFQ as soon as you know your dates and then when the packages come out you can modify that res. If there are discounts you can do the same - just call and see if it can be applied to your res (POFQ is pretty small and very popular so some discounts might not be available). Coronado does not sell out as fast as POFQ so if you change your mind it would be an easier change as oppose to trying to find POFQ later.

 

[Shellyred8]

Be careful with the package pricing. You can frequently get better pricing by getting a room-only sale and then buying your tickets from a Disney Authorized ticket broker. If you are looking for the convenience of booking everything through one place, I get that. But if pricing is a bigger factor, you are usually better off buying each piece separately.

I haven't stayed at POFQ, but we have visited it a couple of times when we were at Disney Springs. I would say the proximity to DS would be something to consider. We have stayed at CSR and I liked that resort. It is big and spread out, but that wasn't a big issue for us. One of the nice things that I noticed about CSR is that there didn't seem to be as many kids there. I think since it's a convention hotel they get more adults. There were kids, so don't expect a total absence of them, but it just seemed like there were fewer of them.

Happy planning!

 

[kniquy]

Trying to plan a Disney World trip is a completely different animal than we are used to. The dilemma I’m having is since vacation packages for 2020 aren’t available for another few months we aren’t exactly sure what pricing will be or what kind of savings we get when bundling tickets and resort stay. I’ve been trying to estimate resort costs and as of now it’s between Coronado Springs or Port Orleans French Quarter.

While going through this I was also looking at renting DVC points and staying at a resort that’s nicer.

I would definitely go the route of renting DVC points, not only will you get a deluxe resort it will likely be close in price for a moderate room. For a honeymoon i would pick the Polynesian -- you will have firework views every night and the resort definitely transports you to a different place, but you are correct book now before it is too late. You really can't go wrong renting points. The only downside is that it might spoil you for future visits if you choose a different resort category.

If you still choose to go moderate I would PORF - very nice resort and you would have boat access to disney springs which can be a fun area to explore.

Dining you will want to book 6 months out. For hard to get reservations like California grill, Ohana, CRT you need to be on the computer at 6am EST to get them.

WDW is a very different animal compared to DL. FP you need to be on to book 7am at your 60day window. You may want to look into a touring plans subscription. It is a website which can help with your park touring plans. Even being an experienced WDW traveler I find it helpful to create a good flow of our touring plans so that we move strategically throughout the parks to fit in FP and ADR without running from one side of the park to the other essentially wasting time.

Park tickets you can purchase separately from undercover tourist, typically less expensive than buying directly from Disney. Then you simply link them to your my Disney experience account.

 

[KayaWildfire]

You aren't going to be saving any money by booking a package at rack rate, they don't build any savings in, it's just a room plus tickets with the cost added together. PP was correct, you can save quite a bit by buying tickets elsewhere and getting a discount on the room. That said, if you want to stay at French Quarter, I would book now or rent DVC. French Quarter is often excluded from any discounts so it may well be a better financial decision to rent DVC points.

 

[NorCalVince]

Thanks for the responses so far. My main concern about renting the DVC points now was missing out on package pricing as I get closer to the date. As of now it seems that the renting DVC points route at Animal Kingdom or Copper Creek/Boulder Ridge studio for the week is very close in price to CSR and POFQ. I just don’t want to regret not waiting and finding out that there are better deals to be had as I get closer to next year.

Also as we have never been before we don’t have magic bands. I’m assuming renting DVC points they’re not included so for convenience that would be an extra expense?

 

[sponica]

Honestly I would just wait until the 2020 rates are released. There are pros and cons to both, but the number one reason I book packages is because my brain can swallow the price of everything bundled together and gasps at ticket prices when sold unbundled (yes i know it's irrational, but that's my brain), and the 0% financing using the Disney Visa.

Mousesavers has a list of historical discounts, it can generally give you a good idea of what was released and when it was released. https://www.mousesavers.com/historical-information-on-walt-disney-world-resort-discounts/.

 

[rg35]

For a Honeymoon I would choose POFQ over Coronado Springs. Coronado Springs is a "convention" resort and I would not choose to stay there on a honeymoon. I wouldn't want to potentially spend my honeymoon with a bunch of people getting wasted on their company's dime.

If you rent DVC points, there are some downsides that come with that. When you rent points, a DVC owner makes the reservation for you. If the DVC is not in good standing, you could potentially lose your reservation with no recourse. While the rental companies will do their best to "make it right," if there are no DVC rooms available when something goes wrong, there's nothing they can do about that kind of issue. I have been a DVC member since 2013 and the deluxe resorts are very nice, but you might not want to worry about the stress of renting not only for what is your first trip to WDW but also your honeymoon. If you want to add a dining plan, the DVC member will need to add it for you, you would not be able to do that yourself.

If you do rent DVC points you would get magic bands as part of your reservation - you would link your reservation to your My Disney Experience account to customize your Magic Bands order.

 

[rwdavis2]

Thanks for the responses so far. My main concern about renting the DVC points now was missing out on package pricing as I get closer to the date. As of now it seems that the renting DVC points route at Animal Kingdom or Copper Creek/Boulder Ridge studio for the week is very close in price to CSR and POFQ. I just don’t want to regret not waiting and finding out that there are better deals to be had as I get closer to next year.

Also as we have never been before we don’t have magic bands. I’m assuming renting DVC points they’re not included so for convenience that would be an extra expense?

You DO get free magic bands when renting points. Just in case, the only downside of renting points is that the fee is usually paid up front and non-refundable. But we buy trip insurance which would cover almost any reason we might cancel the vacation and lose the pre-paid DVC fee. Once we got the DC reservation number the trip worked just like any other.

 

[raddisneyfan]

Stayed at both resorts a couple of times each and love both.

POFQ pros--compact size, quiet, nice grounds and pleasant walking around POFQ and POR, boat to Disney Springs, single-stop bus is convenient, horse-carriage rides available. My personal recommendation--building 6, river view.

CSR pros--lovely theming, pleasant walk around resort, fitness center, table service restaurant, more adult feel, good multi-stop bus service. My personal recommendation--Casitas Building 5, water view.

Whichever u choose will be great because it's your honeymoon--and, of course it's WDW! Have the best no matter what u decide!

 

[SwanVT2]

Before we had DD our favorite place to stay was the swan. We found AAA discounts or rewards points as starwood members would be comparable to a moderate. You don't get Disney bands or magic express but you can walk to 2 parks and the boardwalk is super fun at night. Lots of dining options at swan dolphin and boardwalk. Swan has westin heavenly beds. The pool and pool bar are awesome. Very romantic setting!

 

[NorCalVince]

Thank you everyone for their input. Like I said the planning or this trip compared to our normal Disneyland vacations is quite different. Still not sure which route to go. Our two top DVC rental spots are either Copper Creek or either of the Animal Kingdom Lodge studios. Checked with the most used DVC rental services and it looks like there isn’t any availability left of studios at CCV for our dates so my decision might already be made for me as of now.

 

[Disneypro1]

POFQ all the way.
We goto Dl every other year. I actually like it more than the World. It is no question Disney’s best park. And CA has came along way. It’s also a great park. Have fun at WDW. For me Epcot Center is what keeps me coming back to WDW. If not for that. We would always goto DLR

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Just jumping in to say that we too are DL regulars who honeymooned at WDW and fell in love with it. We'd highly recommend either of the Port Orleans resorts. POR is more spread out, and does have multiple bus stops but if you pay the extra for a preferred room then you know you'll be close to the lobby and might have a better chance at getting a package discount if POFQ is excluded from them. You can walk between the two resorts and use the pools at both whichever of the two you stay at. For a honeymoon they have a nice quiet rural feel that we enjoy. For our honeymoon we stayed at WL, which has become our favorite resort on property. As discounts come out, or you look more into DVC rental, you might be able to find a way to stay here for little or no more cost than Port Orleans. The biggest advantage here is proximity to MK, which is a short boat ride (or super quick bus ride) away. Bay Lake is beautiful, and the entire resort is under one roof which is nice in inclement weather. Keep in mind that there are two DVC resorts at WL, so while Copper Creek (which is in the main building) may not have studios available, Boulder Ridge is next door under a covered walkway, and might have more availability.
For us, coming from DL, exploring the resorts is a big part of the fun at WDW. It is amazing how big and spread out everything is, and you can travel for quite some time at freeway speeds on Disney buses and never leave Disney property. It really does feel more immersive than DL, because you don't have to leave the Disney bubble for anything, and it is a BIG bubble. Another thing that surprised us on our honeymoon was that MK was not our favorite park. Because of its similarity to DL yet with its distinct differences it often felt odd to us. It takes some time to adjust to the rides that just aren't in the right place. It is a big and beautiful park, but be prepared for things seeming a little off at first. Epcot is amazing, and great for a honeymoon destination. AK is very unique too, and could be a big hit depending on how into the animals you are. Now HS is getting pretty exciting too, although you will probably feel some similarity to DCA there as well.
Overall, congratulations on your upcoming honeymoon and make sure you enjoy the planning process together. Realize that you won't be able to do everything, but that's ok because it likely won't be your last WDW trip. There's so much that you can do to customize the trip into your ideal honeymoon by choosing the things that interest you most, and since you are familiar with Disney magic from DL, you have a good feel for what to expect, but you will likely still be amazed by how much is there. Happy planning!

 

[makthompson]

I would see what it would cost you now and at a percent to it until you get the final numbers and you can adjust from there. We are DVC owners and I have had a lot of people tell me that it's a lot cheaper through the rent trade board on here. It all depends on what area you would like to stay in. If you want to Stay by Epcot for example I would find out from a DVC member what it would cost at The Boardwalk for example and then check out the other resorts right around there for a cost comparison. When we use to go there years ago it was always cheaper for us if we would buy the tickets separately online ahead of time. Then check online prices from packages through Disney and see what the cost difference is for all your options.

 

[Mome Rath]

With the options you presented, I'd do PO:FQ, and then learn about PO:R, as they are actually "one" resort kind of split in two. You can use POR pool if you prefer it, or just want to switch it up, both food courts are well within walking range, and Boatwright's is their shared TS restaurant. Of course there's also the boats to DS. During certain times of year it can be hard to snag a complete stay at FQ, so I'd go ahead and book and then try for the discounts as they come out. We never book a package as there are several downsides to the way we do things, and you don't really save any money. We book a room separate, and get tickets separate, mostly using Undercover Tourist if we know what we want.

 

[NorCalVince]

Just jumping in to say that we too are DL regulars who honeymooned at WDW and fell in love with it. We'd highly recommend either of the Port Orleans resorts. POR is more spread out, and does have multiple bus stops but if you pay the extra for a preferred room then you know you'll be close to the lobby and might have a better chance at getting a package discount if POFQ is excluded from them. You can walk between the two resorts and use the pools at both whichever of the two you stay at. For a honeymoon they have a nice quiet rural feel that we enjoy. For our honeymoon we stayed at WL, which has become our favorite resort on property. As discounts come out, or you look more into DVC rental, you might be able to find a way to stay here for little or no more cost than Port Orleans. The biggest advantage here is proximity to MK, which is a short boat ride (or super quick bus ride) away. Bay Lake is beautiful, and the entire resort is under one roof which is nice in inclement weather. Keep in mind that there are two DVC resorts at WL, so while Copper Creek (which is in the main building) may not have studios available, Boulder Ridge is next door under a covered walkway, and might have more availability.
For us, coming from DL, exploring the resorts is a big part of the fun at WDW. It is amazing how big and spread out everything is, and you can travel for quite some time at freeway speeds on Disney buses and never leave Disney property. It really does feel more immersive than DL, because you don't have to leave the Disney bubble for anything, and it is a BIG bubble. Another thing that surprised us on our honeymoon was that MK was not our favorite park. Because of its similarity to DL yet with its distinct differences it often felt odd to us. It takes some time to adjust to the rides that just aren't in the right place. It is a big and beautiful park, but be prepared for things seeming a little off at first. Epcot is amazing, and great for a honeymoon destination. AK is very unique too, and could be a big hit depending on how into the animals you are. Now HS is getting pretty exciting too, although you will probably feel some similarity to DCA there as well.
Overall, congratulations on your upcoming honeymoon and make sure you enjoy the planning process together. Realize that you won't be able to do everything, but that's ok because it likely won't be your last WDW trip. There's so much that you can do to customize the trip into your ideal honeymoon by choosing the things that interest you most, and since you are familiar with Disney magic from DL, you have a good feel for what to expect, but you will likely still be amazed by how much is there. Happy planning!

That’s awesome. We love Disneyland so much and we are expecting to love Disney World just as much. We aren’t going to be comparing them in any way and Disneyland Park will always be our top although we are a bit biased. We got engaged in Disneyland in October. I was able to pull of surprising her with dinner at Club 33 and proposed to her on the balcony above New Orleans square.
But I think the parks we are most interested in are Animal Kingdom and Epcot because how different they are from everything out here. I have been looking at renting DVC at either Kidani Villge or Boulder Ridge, because there’s no more availability at Copper Creek. Just looking at videos Wilderness Lodge seems the most appealing to us from amenities to the themeing. And it’s not too much more for a studio than booking regular rooms at POFQ. We need to make up our mind soon before all the studios are booked.

 

[NorCalVince]

I would see what it would cost you now and at a percent to it until you get the final numbers and you can adjust from there. We are DVC owners and I have had a lot of people tell me that it's a lot cheaper through the rent trade board on here. It all depends on what area you would like to stay in. If you want to Stay by Epcot for example I would find out from a DVC member what it would cost at The Boardwalk for example and then check out the other resorts right around there for a cost comparison. When we use to go there years ago it was always cheaper for us if we would buy the tickets separately online ahead of time. Then check online prices from packages through Disney and see what the cost difference is for all your options.

Good ideas. I’ve been comparing the DVC rental cost to what the prices were at the same dates last year through Mouse Savers. And it seems like going the DVC route would be within a few dollars of just booking French Quarter or Coronado Springs.