first timer needs advice

[Deb & Bill]

Size of beds is important to me. Values and Moderates only have double sized beds in them. Deluxe resorts have queen sized beds and usually also have a day bed of sorts in the room. Some rooms at the Beach club only have two doubles, though, so be careful about that if bed size is important to you. Rooms are larger at deluxes, usually have both a counter service restaurant of some sort and a table service restaurant.

Moderates and values always have a food court and most of the moderates also have a table service restaurant at them.

Pools at values have lots of theming, but no slides. Moderates and deluxes have slides.

Deluxes are usually closer to the theme parks and usually have boat transportation, plus bus or monorail transportation to the parks. The Epcot resorts (Boardwalk, Yacht, Beach, Dolphin, Swan) are close enough to walk to two parks - Disney Hollywood Studios and Epcot.

The dining plan is nice, but you must purchase a package to get the dining plan. That is room at rack rate (or if you have AAA, you sometimes can get a AAA rate with the package) and tickets for all guests.

As you add more days to your tickets, the price is less per day. And you can pay extra to extend the length of those tickets (they will usually expire 14 days after first use). You can also pay extra to park hop (go to more than one park per day).

Go early in the morning (forget about sleeping in) and hit the park with Extra Magic Hours, especially MK. You can see lots of attractions before the park opens to non-resort guests. Plus lots of guest avoid the EMH morning park. We always go to that park and do our favorites so we can leave the park by noon or so, go back to the resort for a swim or nap, and then head back out to the park later in the afternoon. We have always found it very hard to stay all day in the park without taking a break. Evening EMH parks usually get pretty crowded so it's not as easy to do your favorites during evening EMH.

Any retired military, current military or Dept of Defense members in your group? They can get reservations at Shades of Green which is located near the MK and purchase discount tickets through the Dept of Defense.

If you decide to purchase a package from Disney and add the dining plan, don't forget to make your dining reservations as soon as possible at 180 days out. Mid to late Sept is probably a pretty good time to go, not quite as crowded, but parks close a bit earlier. If you go in late Sept, you might also hit the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (it requires an extra ticket to attend this, but it's lots of fun).

 

[Candikayne]

I have two children now ages 6 and 4, and we've stayed at All Star Movies twice. They LOVE the theming (no princesses, but my princess-obsessed DD still loved it). I plan on trying a moderate resort the next time we go, but we joke that our kids won't think it's Disney if we don't stay at "our hotel." I paid something like $15 per night extra for one of the closer rooms in the Fantasia building, and the walk was nothing at all. The first time we stayed, I actually got two sleeping kids in strollers back to the room without a problem while my husband ran an errand.

I've also always worked with my local AAA office (easy for me, since the office is about ten miles away). We've had wonderful service, even with the millions of changes we made between our original booking and our departure this past summer, and we've gotten good deals. Our agent was very patient, and was able to do things like add people to our party and add the DDP after our original reservation without blinking an eye. The only snag we ran into was, as a large group, we had to go through AAA to register for any of the Magical Gatherings activities. Since the one I wanted was pretty booked, and I'd been calling and calling to find out if there was a cancellation, having to wait until my AAA office opened the next moring to actually get the spots was frustrating (as I imagined other people taking them). But, especially since this is your first time, I'd advise you to go with an agent. Hope my rambling helped!!

I live less than five miles from my local AAA travel agency. I am a member, but I did not book my last trip with them. I am interested in a trip this May. Is it worth booking with them? I would like some of the perks (Diamond parking), but I am not sure. Do you save a substantial amount by booking with them? Please share a bit of your AAA experience.

Thanks a mil.

Candi

 

[joelp]

Depending on the time of year and resort you choose, you can save 10-20% on the room ... Stop by the AAA office and pick up their WDW brochure ...

You should do a little homework before you sit down with AAA (or any TA, for that matter) - know when you want to go and have an idea where you want to stay. They will call WDW and check on availability (at the AAA rate - which can be limited) and get prices for various options for you ... put a hold on a room/package (you can hold a room for 2 weeks without putting down a deposit ...), etc.

You can do a lot of "comparison shopping" on the WDW web site - but AAA (or another TA) will clue you into discounts, while the WDW web site doesn't (unless they're running a special ...)

Good luck!!