Help!..How the heck do you do it??

[BrittnTylersMom]

I'm so excited! I just recently got the 'go ahead' to plan and book a Disney World vacation for DF, myself and our two children, daughter aged 5 and son aged 2.

I have been to Orlando and all it has to offer (Disney!!! and sooo much more..), just about every year from the age of 11 until I was 23 years old. I've been there lots of times and I Looooove it there!!! My Dad always took care of all the planning and expenses for our family trips to WDW..it was his favorite yearly gift to us (mine too!!)..until he got to sick to go.

Unfortunately, Dad passed away in 2001.. so now at the age of 31, it will be a bittersweet memory for me to be able to take MY children back to the place where I have sooo many speacial memories with him.

I've been researching online for the past 2 weeks (that's how I found this site) but I just don't know how to weed through all the different sites and offers to find the best ones! I'd like to just be able to go to the nearest travel agency..but we are on a limited budget...this trip being made possible only by DF's tax return in early 2004...which doesn't help much for future bookings now, given our limited budget!

I've been overwhelmed by the searches, sites, prices, deals, packages etc..I know close to Nothing about planning this all myself..

Can you PLEASE help me find what may be the best sites/prices to go with?...any information on great deals if I can't start booking until after Feb. 2004...I'm hoping we'll be able to go in April!


anyone??

 

[safetymom]

I would start with www.mousesavers.com She has a great website full of information.

When you post more information about whether you want to stay onsite or off, type of resort you want I am sure others will jump in to help.

 

[Perlla55]

one thing for sure if you are on a budget don't go with a travel agency. it is much cheaper and better if you make your own res and buy things as you need them.
to start, if you can afford to stay on one of disney resorts then go for it this is a big difference, if not try to stay at lake buena vista where you are close to down town disney, second you can buy tickets at the gates it is only $5 more than the cheapest discounts - for the days you will be going, as for meals you can eat the three meals for 5-10-15 dollars a day minimum plus another 10 for other needs totalling $ 50 or less pp/day minimum
if you stay onsite you will not need a car except to the airport where you can take the hotel shuttle or taxi not more than $50 one way.
If you want to rent a car then choose one of the rental co. that is located in the airport terminal it is much faster and easier.
have a happy holiday.

 

[mudnuri]

I started planning about a month ago for our trip in april- it will be me, dh, dd6 and dd7...our first trip to disney..

1st- get the unofficial guide to disney world......this has a lot of ins and outs...a lot of people like the planner- which I've seen in a book store, and looked at quite a bit, but I dont think that will help you (or me) until you already have stuff planned....its more of a journal type..

Your DD is old enough for the book Walt Disney For Kids By Kids...you can read it to her- it's in kid friendly format- and she can help plan which rides she may like to do etc... I also bought this one for my DD's last night.

I also picked up Disney for Dummies....only because I like the format of all the Dummy books.

Mousesavers is great... also...read back some posts here, change the default from 30 days to 6 months or so, and start reading...thats what I did.

I also agree- you need to decide where you want to stay, on site or off site- will you have a car, whats the budget look like...(no, I'm not asking how much $$ your spending) but more how many Character Meals can you do...can you afford to be stuck on-site and pay those prices for meals??

Sit back, relax, and take it all in, in about 2 weeks you'll feel much better!

Brandy

 

[safetymom]

I would suggest since it is your first time that you consider using a travel agency. You don't know where things are and sometimes agents can be very helpful. Dreams Unlimited or AAA are a good place to start.

I disagree about only using onsite car rental agencies. We use Hertz which is only a quick bus ride away. The longest we have ever waited on the bus was 2 minutes. Believe me I time it every time because people on these boards think it takes a long time. I get a great deal also so you are free to travel around instead of just be stuck on property.

 

[PhotobearSam]

On our first trip we were on a very tight budget...Just how tight you ask???We drove from Canada, stayed at a motel for $33 a night that had a free breakfast and made at least one meal a day in the rooms microwave....


We pulled it off with 2 things...This site and The Unofficial Guide to WDW!!!


A lot of people just show up to WDW with the intent to spend 4 days there and see EVERYTHING and are disappointed when they don't get to do the things they wanted due to poor planning.


The unofficial guide helped us decide on how many days to plan for,how long and when our vacation should be, what things would cost, what was worth the money and what was not. It helped us find a decent hotel, and the touring polans for each park helped us see all we wanted to see without standing in line forever and it was great.

Get it....Read it....COVER TO COVER (with a highlighter)....then come here and the nice people here on the DIS will help fill in the blanks...

Welcome to our DIS family

 

[Berkshires96]

If you can use Southwest Airlines from where you live, they have great vacation packages. We used them in February and were able to get plane tickets and stay at the All Star Music at a great combo discount. Our 2 year old (at the time) loved the All Star. It was a great place for kids and the Disney shuttle service to the parks saved lots.

Also, I'd consider joining one of the clubs for the meal vouchers. We did Connections on the $1 trial basis and then canceled. If you plan right, by using the menu's for the restaurants you could easily use 2 $11.25 vouchers to feed your family of four. We also bought our 4 day hopper plus tickets from them (your son will be free) at a great discount.

Good luck and happy planning.

 

[mad4themouse]

Planning a WDW vacation is a daunting task. There is so much to do and so much information about it out there!

As others have suggested, get a good guidebook. Use your library or purchase one off of Half.com. I happen to like The Unofficial Guide to WDW by Bob Sehlinger. It is a very complete book with lots of insight to the resorts (both on and offsite) and touring plans for all ages and interests. I don't care for Birnbaum's Official Guide to WDW because it is a little sugar-coated and doesn't give you any info. about Orlando outside of the Disney gates.

Your immediate concerns should be booking airfare and the room. They will be among your most expensive costs and will determine when and how long you will be able to go. My strategy is to book the airfare first (I use frequent flier points and have to work around when flights are available) and then I book the room based on my flights.

If you feel uncomfortable doing it all yourself, consider using a TA that specializes in Disney. DreamsUnlimited will book a package or just a room for you. They continually check for lower prices on your room and re-book at the lower rates automatically for you. It can save you from having to keep checking back for discount codes yourself.

Once you have your room and flights booked, you can begin to plan the remainder of the trip. Planning can actually be fun if you break it down into little chunks. Keep checking back here and let us know how your vacation is coming together!