first time disney world trip

[Shana84]

I am new to this forum and thought I would introduce myself, as well as ask a few questions I have about Disney world (flordia)

My name is Shana and I will be taking my first trip to WDW, in Flordia this summer. I will be going with my boyfriend (Chris, age 27), my 2 brothers (Michael 16 and Jonathan 15), as well as my cousin (Becky, 15). We are looking to go around July 7th, or Some time in August and staying approx. 3-4 days and 4-5 nights. We would def. like to stay on site, but would like to keep cost under or right at $2,000 for the entire trip. Not sure if that is a reasonable or not. We would also, like to stay in one room. Can anyone tell me if this is possible, if so where and how much it would cost. This is a first time trip for everyone, but my boyfriend who went when he was 2 and again when he was 14. We would, def like to get the full experience.

Please e-mail me/pm if you can help me out...Thanks again


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Shana
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[tink2dw]

You still have time to do some research!!

To start reading all the Walt Disney World guide books your library carries new or old. Ask which are the favorite ones that other DIS members like.

Then you can start deciding what are the things that are "must do's" and "must see's." and decide the length of your trip.

Then decide on the tickets you will need here.
http://www.mousesavers.com/tickets.html

To keep an EYE on All the discounts for on-site and off-site resorts check here often and sign up for the MouseSavers.com newsletter to get all the best news.
http://www.mousesavers.com/wdw.html

For Air fares sign up at all the Airline Web sites that fly out of your airport, that fly to Orlando or MCO in airline speak. Then Check Expedia,Travelocity for airline deals. Also check out the Transporation Board air,car deals.
http://www.disboards.com/

Start a WDW change jar to save for your trip.[there are many tips here on this board!!]

Also you can decide where you will want to eat and start making plans to make your food budget and check the Priority Seatings Calculator to know when you can make PS's some are as far out as 730 Days.
http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining.htm

Also to help decide where to eat you can find menu's at Deb's wdw site,this works 2 ways to see where to eat what,and how much it costs, to finalize the food budget.
http://www.wdwig.com/menu/menus.htm

To keep all this info in one place,here is a computer Disney Vacation Planner. It will print each day on a seperate sheet. Also check the pull down menu'sat the top for loads of info!!
http://www.intercot.com/planner/default.asp

Water Plan
The water in Florida smells and tastes like sulfer!! WDW sells bottled water for $2.50 each for a small bottle!!That can be a real budget buster!! SO a Water Plan in necessary. Here are some of the solutions That have been posted

1. Buy water filtering Britta Sports bottles.

2. If you Drive bring cases of your Favorite bottled water from home

3. Flying, Buy bottled water at Walmart near All Stars.

4. Send cases of your Favorite bottled water to your WDW Resort

Well,this should get you start on a thousand more Questions!! So,don't be shy! Ask away!! The kind members here will share what they know! So,check back often!!

tink2dw

 

[mad4themouse]

For 5 people to stay onsite in one room, you would need to stay in a deluxe resort. Not only would it be expensive, it would be crowded with 5 adults sharing one bathroom!

An alternative would be to get 2 connecting rooms at an All-Star resort or Pop-Century. With discount codes, you could still be paying over $150 per night for 2 rooms. Multiply by 5 nights and you're at $750.

4-day park hoppers would run about $200 apiece, if purchased in advance from Disney. That's $1,000 right there. The total so far is $1750.

You have $250 left and you still need to consider transportation, food and extras. In my opinion, $2000 is cutting it way too close for staying onsite for 5 adults for 4 days/5 nights. You may want to consider staying off-site, shortening your stay or waiting until you have more $$$.

 

[crusoe2]

Welcome to the DIS, Shana.

I highly recommend getting a copy of the latest Birnbaum guidebook and becoming familiar with it. It will give you a good overview of all the parks and resorts. Once you have read it you will probably have more questions which is where these discussion boards really come in handy - you can get much more specific info from all the great people here.

As for your budget, I would recommend making a list of the expenses you will encounter staying onsite and another list for offsite. This way you get a better idea what it will really cost each way. For example, staying offsite may require that you get a rental car since most offsite hotel shuttles do not run as frequently as Disney buses. (This of course will depend on whether you are driving or flying down.)

Keep reading these boards and asking questions - there are lots of great tips here on how to do Disney for less. Good luck.

 

[Shana84]

I believe we got it down to us really wanting to stay onsite and will save more to do this. We really want to get the full feel of wdw. Since 4 of us will be going for the first time (Chris, my bf's last trip was almost 14 yrs ago) Anyways, we are still talking about dates and so on. Since Bf's mom suggested we should go in August, since it may be cheaper. Any ways, we will be talking more about the trip this weekend...Just wanted to ask everyone, what they recommend we take...We know for sure we will be taking the following items...If you can think of anything else, please let me know

*Bathroom supplies
*water bottle with fan
*panchos
*snacks for the hotel room and trip down
*bottled water
*games for the hotel room when park is closed or we take a break
*autograph books and pens
*Clothes including bathing suits
*id for everyone
*insurance cards in case of accident.
*music for car ride down and back
*camera for pictures with extra film and/or digital camera with laptop computer to upload pics to.

That is all i can think of at this time. If you can help me with any other ideas of stuff we should take, let me know so I can print up a list for everyone. when we get ready to go...So we will be sure to have everything

 

[Taja]

Things to be sure to take:

Sunglasses
Extra pair of prescription eyeglasses and/or contact lenses
Sunscreen (gallons!)
Prescription and OTC medications
Batteries (lots of them--your fans will eat them and they are $3.25 plus tax for 2 AA batteries at WDW!)
Insect repellent with DEET (unless you're outside at dusk or dawn or off WDW property a lot, one small bottle for everyone should be fine)
Comfortable walking shoes/sandals (2 pairs per person so you can rotate them. If they get wet, they take forever to dry). Start breaking them in now!

I'm not sure what is included in bathroom supplies. Personal care products?

Since you'll have a vehicle, you'll have access to shopping off WDW property if you forget or run out of something, which will save you a lot of money!

You might want to consider a light breakfast in your room(s), purchasing items at local grocery stores (Publix, Winn Dixie, Albertson's or Super WalMart) to save some money. Goodings (closest to WDW) has higher prices, as most independent stores do. Some of their prices are in line with our independent grocery stores, others were ridiculously high--primarily items used by tourists (foam ice chests, etc.).

I agree that two rooms at a Value Resort would be better than one room at a Deluxe Resort for five people, primarily for the two bathrooms!

Also, after you make your room reservations, keep an eye out for Annual Pass discount codes. The passes are $400 each (actually $392.xx with tax), but only one person in the booking party has to have one to qualify for the discount rate. After the rates are announced, you can do the math (difference between park hopper and annual pass for one person compared to the total amount saved using the discount code) to see if it makes sense, then call and have the discount applied to your reservation (if you're booking two rooms, do it under one name so the AP discount would apply to both rooms).

If you decide to go the AP discount route, you don't need to have the AP at the time you make the reservation, but it may be requested at check-in. Also, you need to jump on the rate and call WDW as soon as they are announced, as a limited number of rooms are available (and not always at all resorts). This is one of the ways the Mousesavers newsletter can be extremely helpful!

Enjoy the planning process and ask as many questions as you like! We all get to live vicariously through everyone elses plans and trip reports!


Taja

P.S. Bottled water in the parks: When I started researching for our trip in August 2003, everything indicated the water bottles were 16.9 oz. When we were at WDW in August, the water bottles were 20 oz. When I was there in December, they had increased the size to 24 oz.!

 

[Taja]

I was just reading my notes on planning my next WDW trip (hopefully this spring!).

WDW Value Season (least expensive room rates) for the summer is from 07/05/04 through 09/29/04. Double check that beginning date though--my writing is hard to read. I'm so accustomed to using computers that my handwriting has deteriorated from awful to illegible!

Typically, on the AP discount rate you can save about $20 per night on a standard room at a value resort (sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less). At $20 per room for 2 rooms for 5 nights, that's $200, which may or may not offset the price of an AP. Since you can call and check the discount rate and availability without having to purchase the AP until you arrive at WDW, you can determine if that makes sense financially.

If you're considering AP discount rates, you might also want to check into 2 rooms at a moderate resort when you are checking discount rates and availability for value resorts. Coronado Springs, which is a convention resort, may have a very good discount rate if it isn't full at that time (I had an incredible rate there in December). Port Orleans and Caribbean Beach tend to be more popular with vacationers and have fewer discount rooms available (and are snatched up quickly!). The rooms are a tad larger than the value resorts (not much, though!) and my discounted rate for a water view room was less than a preferred room at a value resort at rack (published) rate.

When you get together with everyone, you might want to do it where you have internet access, so you can explore some of the options together. It will make more sense when you do that!


Taja

 

[Taja]

One more thing you will need:

Written, signed documents authorizing you to obtain medical treatment for your brothers and cousin in case of an emergency. I don't know what is required by your state or Florida, but your physician should be able to help you.

Don't you love some of the less interesting aspects of planning a trip?


Taja

 

[tonysgal34]

We just took our first trip in November and I can tell you, I am a penny pincher big time!! We did the whole trip for a family of four for around $3K. You just can't do it for less. With everyone in your party being an adult with (probably)adult hunger, your biggest expense will be food there. We went to breakfast once and dinner once at the Ponderosa around the corner from Disney and that helped b/c it was MUCH cheaper. I would go during value season, get 2 rooms, and pack food for in the room for breakfast each day. Grab the refillable mugs at the resort and get your free coffee refilll each morning, go back to your room and have breakfast, and then refill it again for the car ride to the parks(if you want more coffee)or refill with soda or water and ice, etc. Plan on lunch at whichever park you will be at and expect to spend $10 to $15 per person. Then, dinner can be out somewhere or one thing we did twice in the week we were there was to get the pizza from the food court at AllStars. It was very tasty and if you go pick it up rather than have it delivered, it was very cheap. Please email me with other questions. It was our first time and I remember lots of stuff that might help, if you want.

tessnicksmom@yahoo.com

Good Luck!!

 

[littleolmee]

hi shana, i'm a first timer to but, here is another site that will help. www.disneydollarless.com . do you have AAA? you can get good discounts with AAA and its only about $50.00, for a year. we are planning to go in August and 1 value resort room for 5nights is $377 for room only with AAA discount. thats much cheaper then buying a AP if you have no plans on being back to disney in the next year. mousesavers has discount codes you can use but, not for July and August yet. you can save some money by buying tickets and room seperate. you can get discount tickets from just about any site others have listed. also check into the meal vouchers! also check out www.orlandoinfo.com, you can get vacation planners from them and an orlando magic card that can save you money. good luck!

 

[Minnie's Mate]

Welcome to the Dis Shana84 and littleolmee! Just keep scoping out the boards here and you will glean a lot of info that will save you tons. The other sites that have been listed are really helpful, too. I think Mousesavers saved us the most. We live in Atlanta and drive down 4-5 times a year and always stay at one of the deluxes (we're spoilt) but we couldn't without the tips I have found here. That's the danger of buying annual passes! LOL

The guide books are probably the best place to start. But make sure it is one of the unofficial ones, you will get the best money saving tips with one of them.

Have a great time planning. Just remember it takes a lot of work to plan a trip on a budget.

 

[EthansMom]

Welcome Shana,

It sounds like you'll be driving down, which will help with expenses, but I think that $2000 for 5 "adults" is going to be a tight squeeze.

I highly recommend checking out the offsite hotels to see if you can save a few dollars there. I've stayed onsite and offsite. Sure, the fancier onsite hotels have great ambience, but most of the less expensive onsite hotels take quite a bus ride, monorail trip or boat trip to get to/from the parks. If you'll have a car already, consider that you could drive from an offsite hotel to the parks in the time you'd take a bus from an onsite. It only costs $5/day for a parking pass for the parks which is then good all day at any park. You could get a pass at one park and then drive to another park later and use the same parking pass. Or you could leave the car at one park and use the WDW transportation system to park hop.

To save money, avoid the shops -- wait till the last day or two and buy yourself just one or two momentos. Also, if you drive, purchase your own snacks and bottled water for the entire vacation and take them with you or make a stop at a grocery store once you're in town. Definitely buy film or disposable cameras back home (way cheaper) and then wait till you get home to have the film developed. Keep fancier dining to a minimum and plan to eat mostly "fast food" or "counter service".

Start checking the prices on the ''big ticket" items for the trip -- tickets, hotel, gas, food, etc. It'll give you a good idea how much everyone needs to save.

For a young group like yours, I recommend "DisneyQuest" as a great place to go. Also, our family loved the Disney Water Parks. We got Park Hopper Plus tickets that allowed us to go to water park and spent one whole day of our vacation at the water park.

Best of Luck,

EthansMom

 

[Minnie's Mate]

Hate to break it to you, but parking is either $7 or 8$ now. If you opt for an annual pass for someone in the group, you would have free parking at the parks. It doesn't justify the expense, but you should take this into consideration. However, also remember you get free parking if you stay on-site. So it wouldn't be a factor if staying on-site.

 

[zakatak]

Five people fit in the Alligator Bayou section of POR, for $15 more a night than the rate for one room. In the summer, you might be able to get a code or AP rate of about $79 (+15) per night totalling about $105 a night. 4 nights for about $417.36.