First timer...some questions?

[Madhattermad]

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on WDW forum, I'm a regular in the Disneyland Paris forum as I live in London.

I am in very early stages of planning a dream trip to WDW and I plan to research ALOT but a few quick questions to get me started:

1) Hotels - how do you choose? I have already done a lot of reading on the hotels and still have no clue:

I am tore between Animal Kingdom, Art of Animation but am open to all. Sound I choose based on budget...I could manage a higher end hotel or do I go for fun theme...I love the idea of being in a little mermaid themed room!

Also I want a hotel that is good location wise so that I don't spend ages getting across the park...any recommendations?

2) Restaurants - what are my must try's?

3) Dining - are plans worth it? Does the plan limit your choice of food...i.e. only fixed menu's?


Thanks in advance - all hints and tips welcome!

 

[NjMamaMouse]

First YES plan ahead for Dining... it really is necessary for the "must do" places.
You mentioned the Little Mermaid Room.... so does that mean you have a little girl? Let us know about your children so we can recommend based off of that.

As far as hotels, AK and AofA are not close as far as location and convenience. AofA however has a bus that is NOT shared, meaning you will not have to make lots of stops at other resorts. AK is REALLY far from everything, but if the animals are what you are most into then it would be a good choice.
When I choose I don't look at the room as much as I do type of transportation.... ( bus or monorail), AND the pool area (because lets face it that is where we are with the kids if we are not at a park) My kids LOVE slides so I always make sure there is a water slide or a really cool pool feature.

 

[iheartglaciers]

I love AoA and find that it is centrally located unless you want to be at (and pay a premium for) a hotel on the monorail or within walking distance of Epcot. The buses are very efficient for AoA and it takes 15-25 mins to get to the parks (MK is further than Epcot and HS) and we never had to wait that long for a bus. And the theming is great! Although it's a value hotel, it's pretty much brand new. Some have complained that the Little Mermaid rooms are a long walk from the main building and buses.

The pool area is very basic, so if you want something better in that department (ie a water slide), AoA won't have what you're looking for.

The dining plan isn't restrictive (in that you have to pick off a certain menu), but it's not worth it for everyone. You might want to look at the menus that you think you may eat at and see the value of what you'd likely get.

 

[Madhattermad]

All,

Thanks for your responses so far.

More info on me. I have no kids, it will be myself and hubby travelling. I like the idea of the little mermaid rooms just because it's my fav Disney movie!

Thats making the hotel choice hard, cause I am a big kid and love Disney themes...and well all things Disney. Hubby on the other hand is not so Disney mad. That is what is making me wonder if one of the more 'mature' hotels may be better.

Any recommendations on 'mature' hotel, but with good Disney theme throughout that also has a fairly central location for easy access to all parks? Sorry, I know I want to have my cake and eat it too right?!

Thanks

 

[managerdreamer]

As far as hotel DH and I went twice with no kids. We really were in the parks late or eating at a restaurant so we didn't seem to notice the windy themed room while in the hotel. We stayed at Coronado springs it is more mature you can rent bikes and the restaurant on site was good too. Good luck!

 

[Madhattermad]

As far as hotel DH and I went twice with no kids. We really were in the parks late or eating at a restaurant so we didn't seem to notice the windy themed room while in the hotel. We stayed at Coronado springs it is more mature you can rent bikes and the restaurant on site was good too. Good luck!

Thanks for replying. I hadn't really been looking at Coronado Springs but I will have a look now, it's so hard cause there is so much choice!!! I'm torn on the point about how much time we would spend in our room, as we're travelling from London we'd probably aim to be there for 10-14 days. We'd maybe not spend all of our time in the Disney parks (most but not all ) but as it's an extended break we probably would like some down time just in and around the hotel.

Here's the main question I am trying to get to the bottom of...how much does it matter?! How much more are you getting in the deluxe hotels compared with the value or moderate?!

I know there is an old saying that 'you get what you pay for' but I love Disney and you can go between hotels...are there many perks you get within the rooms or can only get at the higher end hotels as a staying quest?

Thanks

 

[jon18uk]

Biggest perk of the deluxe hotels is location, all of them except Animal Kingdom Lodge are close to a park. Some deluxe are on the monorail and others are walking distance from Epcot.
If you compare moderates to values then there are several small things that make moderates nicer. moderates have pools with slides, bar lounges and table service restaurants. Moderates also have multiple bus stops so you don't need to go back to the lobby for a bus and they generally have nicer landscaping and planting. Also at moderates you have cycle rentals and horse carriage rides and at deluxes you can rent watercraft.

Personally I like Port Oreleans resorts but I would still take a stay at a value. I would love to be able to stay at one of the Epcot resorts (Boardwalk, Yacht Club, Beach Club) but they are too expensive.

 

[sbarisch]

We've now stayed at 3 Mods - Coronado Springs, Port Orleans French Quarter, and Caribbean Beach. We stay mod level because I need a bit more mature theming than the values but we spend so much time out-and-about that I don't spend the extra to stay deluxe. I really enjoyed Coronado and Caribbean Beach, personally. The theming is nice, both pools are well-themed and they are beautiful. Coronado has a bit more of a nightlife with a nightclub (Rix - I think). You can rent bikes at Caribbean Beach, but Coronado has a fitness center and spa. The Port Orleans reports have a boat to Downtown Disney that was very convenient, especially given the construction. Deluxes are mostly better due to location, as they are generally close enough to walk to a park (though not all).

 

[PrincessHi]

I've just booked my first trip (adult solo traveller) and I had to have the little mermaid room the second I saw them. Clam shell head boards!!!

 

[lizard1]

Another thing to consider is the size of the rooms. I know the All Stars are cramped, especially the bathrooms (like there isn't much room to turn around between the tub and the toilet)....I don't know if AOA is the same since I have never stayed there. Once again, some of those little things may not matter too much if you are planning to spend most of your time out of the room.

As for dining, there are many that are highly desirable. That doesn't mean that they have the best food, though. For example, CRT and Chef Mickey's have okay food (and many complain about it), but Chef Mickey's books up fast due to the fab five being there and CRT books fast because it is a princess meet and greet in the castle. On the other hand, there are some higher end restaurants that also book quickly. So dining may depend on what you are looking for, taste or experience. The main thing with the restaurants is to do all of your research well in advance so that you are ready to book at 180 days...after that you may not find anything you really want, unless you are willing to stalk the reservations until you do.

Dining Plans may or may not be worth it. You have up to 3 days (I think) before you check in that you can still add it on. It all depends on what you are planning to eat and where you are planning to eat. Some find it to be WAY too much food. If you are able to eat everything that is provided for and are choosing higher priced single credit meals for EVERY meal you eat, then it may be worth it. It may also be worth it (to you) if you are the type of person who will order cheaper things on the menu instead of what you really want in order to save money....the dining plan allows you to have it paid for in advance so you don't have to worry about the cost when you are there. This can also work as a disadvantage also because you might feel like you paid to eat it so you should order the most expensive thing.

 

[Anri]

For hotels it really depends on what you want out of your hotel and how much time you will be spending there. AoA is the newest hotel at Disney World and is very themed. It also has it's own bus line which is nice. Though it will take awhile for you to get to the parks (15-25 minutes depending on the park), you don't have to stop at other hotels along the way, which is the issue with every other hotel, accept for Pop Century. If you are looking for location, then you should choose a hotel that is along the monorail: these would be the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, and the Polynesian which are higher in price but may be well worth it if you see convenience being most important to you and you plan on going back to the hotel throughout the day. Personally, for me, my mother and I travel together and choose to stay at the Pop Century. It's not the nicest, but to us it is worth it because we are never in the room, we like having our own bus line, and it is a value resort so we save money to spend on other things like dining.

Dining. Ok. This involves planning because many of the more popular restaurants fill up quickly! People plan different ways, but I usually like to purchase a guidebook. My favorite is Birnbaum's Official Guide to Walt Disney World. It is updated every year and has a pretty decent rundown of the parks and their various restaurants. You can also look on the Disney website and sort your choices by experience or location. You can also look at the menus for each restaurant to see if it is something you would enjoy. Try to figure out what types of dining experiences you want to have! Do you want to do breakfast, lunch, and dinner? Do you want all sit down meals or do you not mind quick service? Do you want to do any character dining or splurge on a more expensive meal for you and your husband? Figuring out what restaurants you want to try and how much money you are willing to fork out for dining experiences will also help you determine if the Disney Dining Plan is right for you! It is definitely not for everyone! You are not limited to certain menus however, depending on the dining plan you purchase, you may be limited with the types of dining experiences you can partake in. I find that it is much cheaper for me to just pay for everything out of pocket. I don't do breakfast, we normally just eat something quick on our way to the parks. We grab an early lunch (usually quick service but one or two sit-downs), usually grab a snack in the parks, and then have a nice sit-down dinner. Everyone does Disney differently and you will certainly find a ton of information on this forum that can help you make the best decisions for your dream vacation! I hope you have a magical time!

 

[ZoZo]

Regarding the dining plan, most folks don't do it to save money - it's sort of a "wash" for most people (from the posts I've read). They mainly do the dining plan for the convenience of having everything paid for up-front, and the comfort of knowing they can order anything off the menu and not worry abot the price of the entrees.

For me, the dining plan wouldn't be worth it because of the way I eat at WDW. I'm a fairly light eater, having a breakfast of cereal and fruit in the room every day. (That's a money-saver as well as a time-saver.) I eat mainly counter-service meals, and only do three or four sit-down, table-service meals on a week-long vacation. So the dining plan would be a waste for me.

As far as which hotel to pick, that's a tough one. I've stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (POR), Port Orleans French Quarter, and Art of Animation. I enjoyed all of these hotels for different reasons.

I think POR is a great moderate hotel; it's the one I would recommend for someone wanting a middle-of-the-road resort. They have nice rooms, a great pool (and also some smaller "quiet" pools), a wonderful food court, but the resort is big and sprawling, and it can take several minutes to walk from your room to the bus stop or food court. That's kind of a pain at the end of a long day at the parks, or if you just want to pop by the food court for a soda or cup of coffee.

Port Orleans French Quarter is similarly themed to POR, but it's a much smaller resort. It's easy to get from your room to the busses and food court, but I thought the quality of the food court isn't nearly as good as the one at POR, plus the selection of foods is much smaller. I also didn't think the rooms at POFQ were as nice as the ones at POR. Of the two, I'd definitely pick POR.

AoA was nice (we stayed in a Lion King Suite), but it's a "value" or budget hotel. The rooms are decorated in very bright, loud colors - it's definitely geared toward little kids. They do have a food court but no sit-down restaurant. We liked the suite, but the Little Mermaid rooms are very small compared to moderate hotels.

Regarding the restaurants, my favorites are: Sunshine Seasons, Columbia Harbor House, Crystal Palace, Sci Fi Dine-in, California Grill, Kona Cafe, Yak and Yeti.

So that's my advice in a nutshell! If I were you, I'd get a good guidebook (The Unofficial Guide to WDW is my absolute favorite). It will give you lots of specific info about the hotels, restaurants, etc. - way more info than you can get on a chat board. I think that info will really help you to make decisions, especially about which hotel you pick.

Have fun!

 

[kwdw]

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post on WDW forum, I'm a regular in the Disneyland Paris forum as I live in London.

I am in very early stages of planning a dream trip to WDW and I plan to research ALOT but a few quick questions to get me started:

1) Hotels - how do you choose? I have already done a lot of reading on the hotels and still have no clue:

I am tore between Animal Kingdom, Art of Animation but am open to all. Sound I choose based on budget...I could manage a higher end hotel or do I go for fun theme...I love the idea of being in a little mermaid themed room!

Also I want a hotel that is good location wise so that I don't spend ages getting across the park...any recommendations?

2) Restaurants - what are my must try's?

3) Dining - are plans worth it? Does the plan limit your choice of food...i.e. only fixed menu's?

Thanks in advance - all hints and tips welcome!

So, Animal kingdom and AoA are my two favorite resorts, but they are VERY different. restaurants at AK are among my favorites, but AoA is only quick service. The cute character theming at AoA is, IMO, the best clearly Disney theming. But AK has real live animals. And with savannah view, you can spend the whole day watching animals from your balcony. I love the slide at the pool at Kidani (we book a villa), AoA does have three very nicely themed pools, but no slide.

I've done the couples vacation at both, and AK feels more romantic. We booked a Lion King Suite at AoA, and liked the second bathroom even though it was just the two of us. And while not a romantic resort, with a bottle of wine and a late night pizza delivery, for example, we still made it feel special to us.

Now, both require bus rides to the parke, but give that you are going to be there for a long trip, I'm not sure closeness to park it reason to pick a resort, unless you are ON the monorail line at one of those resorts. IMO

 

[PrincessHi]

I just wanted to comment on the dining plan - I've done it once at DLP and an doing it again for my first trip to Disney World because I loved it. I agree that it's not a great way to save money if you are good at watching what you spend when you are there however for me I found it incredibly liberating not having to think about my food budget when I was there and felt that it was extremely good value for money. I went with the mid range plan and am doing the same again this time too. I think it also saved *me* a lot of money because I know that I'm the kind of person who will forget to watch the pennies once I'm there and end up buying expensive snacks left right and center!

So really I think if you like the idea of paying upfront and having already budgeted I can't recommend it enough but on the other hand if you're the kind of person who finds it easy to save for and budget on holiday it's probably not necessary.

 

[HeidiGW]

You can always do a split stay. Like Akl your first night or two (BUT I wouldn't waste $ on a deluxe if you are getting in at 10 p.m.) and pay cash for your meals, and then go to AoA with a dining plan. (U can get your tickets three days early, or just rest and enjoy the resort.) Or visa versa.

It also depends when you are going, and what kind of deals you can get. In the UK, you can get special deals not offered here. If you can get free dining and want to stay at a value, it can be your best deal. Then get a room-only discount on the deluxe ....

 

[FairyGrandmother]

Hi Everyone, This is my first post on WDW forum, I'm a regular in the Disneyland Paris forum as I live in London. I am in very early stages of planning a dream trip to WDW and I plan to research ALOT but a few quick questions to get me started: 1) Hotels - how do you choose? I have already done a lot of reading on the hotels and still have no clue: I am tore between Animal Kingdom, Art of Animation but am open to all. Sound I choose based on budget...I could manage a higher end hotel or do I go for fun theme...I love the idea of being in a little mermaid themed room! Also I want a hotel that is good location wise so that I don't spend ages getting across the park...any recommendations? 2) Restaurants - what are my must try's? 3) Dining - are plans worth it? Does the plan limit your choice of food...i.e. only fixed menu's? Thanks in advance - all hints and tips welcome!

We have done the DDP several times over the past 8 years, the reasons very each time. The first time was when they first introduced the program and we were staying on property for the first time, we intended to go all out on this trip. At that time the standard plan was a 2 table service (apitiser main course desert and tip) 1 cs and I snack.

The plan has changed but can still be worth it. On our last trip (adults only) we had the DDDP this was 3 full service meals as we wanted to try some of the higher end restaurants, I ended uh paying about $250.00 in tips, so the plan was well worth the cost for us. We were very stuffed however and will not do that again. I do like having. The food all paid for in advance.

When it comes to hotel room all I need is a clean comfortable bed we like the POP. We never do more then dress and sleep there. Coming from London and planning on staying I would recommend at least a moderate resort, you will be spending more time there. As you can tell from this post food is more important to us then a room. Other sources of information would be passporter and pasporter.com. Planning can be half the fun.

 

[Auntrosie]

I prefer the deluxe resorts. At the value my morning coffee is too far away and the rooms are so small I feel like I'm sleeping in a closet (a musty closet at that)

A suggestion for you, arrange your trip in a spread sheet, meals, parks, dinner shows, tours, special experiences. That will let you estimate your costs and set a possible time table. You will find when you start looking at menus food and drinks will be expensive in the park. I love to eat in Disney's restrauants but with dessert and coffee a meal can take two hours. On the other hand the cafe's maybe just a half hour or so.

I just returned from a 10 day stay Sept 28th. If I were planning a trip today, I'd see if I could make the dinning plan work with my plans. We've used the deluxe dinning plan twice. It's expensive and it is a lot of food. I may have been able to save some money and had better use of my time on the regular dinning plan.

Paying out of pocket was not an option because the size of the check in the restrauants would have just spoiled my enjoyment of my vacation.

 

[gules]

Due to the spread of the parks, it's tough to get a single hotel that is close to ALL the parks. Which ones do you think you'll spend the most time at? Pick based on that.

My husband and I are bigger on Epcot and tend to choose resorts based on proximity to that when we're not choosing for theme. But we go every year. At any rate, Epcot has some of the best food IMO, and we're also big on getting to MK for the Sorcerer's card game (haha). So in terms of resorts we really love Boardwalk when we can afford it. For moderate resorts I'm stuck on Port Orleans Riverside. They have princess-themed rooms that I'm kind of a sucker for. AKL is far from just about everything, but the theming is amazing, unique, and I LOVE seeing animals out the window. Only go there if those are all things you're set on, and you don't mind a bit of a ride to the parks. Definitely visit at some point, even if you don't stay there.

Boardwalk definitely has the most adult nightlife, and you can watch the water pageant from there if you end up retiring early. You can take a boat access to Epcot easily for dinner if you want. The rooms are comfy and definitely more "mature," but with some adorable Disney touches if you know where to look (as with all Disney rooms!).

For dining, we used to get the Quick-Service before the price went up. It was just enough between the two of us, and we liked not having to track our money. It's too expensive to be worth it now, though. If I were you I'd pay out of pocket unless you plan to do a table service every day anyway. If there are some TS you have your heart set on, remember to get ressies as early as you can to avoid disappointment.

 

[bopper]

I would start with: How much money do I have to spend?

Then figure out if value, moderate or deluxe is the way to go.

I would definitely go with the most higher end hotel you can afford.

I am not sure about the dining plan...I find it is too much food.

 

[UKDisneyJoe]

First time post on here but, as I am also from the UK, I thought I would just put in my view. My wife and I are going in December and are not staying at Disney but have found somewhere nice about 10-15 minutes away. We did get a car and you have to be careful about parking costs at hotels as most, if not all, charge for parking. Having said that if you get that thrown in for free which we did it can be cheaper. The hotel and car are cheaper then a moderate disney hotel and you also have a bit more freedom to do other bits in Florida, such as Universal as my wife loves Harry Potter, and also eat outside of Disney (can be alot cheaper).
We are looking at going back and staying at Disney in a few years time but it is an option for you.
Agree with getting a guide book or two, maybe even if you get it from the library for now instead of buying one before the 2015 issues come out