Help - new to booking wdw

[wmoon]

Hi

We are thinking of a family trip to wdw next June/ July. Can anybody help with a few questions:

1. Virgin - good choice?.. We are in Edinburgh and they will do us connecting flights to gatwick to wdw for 18 nights ( would rather longer than 2 weeks but not as much as 3)

2. Hotel choice - me, hubby , mother in law and son age 5. Art of animation, family, Nemo suite or port Orleans French quarter, normal room but with free dining still works out at £1300 less than the suite at art of animation which has no free dining offer.

3. Transport - when we went for our honeymoon 11 years ago we used mears shuttles to get around, is that still best as we don't want to drive.

Thanks for any advice you may have

Wendy

 

[Samaya]

Hi

We are thinking of a family trip to wdw next June/ July. Can anybody help with a few questions:

3. Transport - when we went for our honeymoon 11 years ago we used mears shuttles to get around, is that still best as we don't want to drive.

Thanks for any advice you may have

Wendy

Hi and here's an answer to question 3.

When staying at a Walt Disney World resort, you are eligible for Disney's Magical Express service which provides FREE transportation from and to Orlando International Airport.

You will also get free transport from your Disney resort hotel to all the Disney Parks, Downtown Disney any of the other resorts hotels.

So there's no need to pay for transport from Orlando International and back again.

If you want to visit the Shopping Malls or other none Disney theme parks then the best option I think would be a taxi for the four of you.

 

[Samaya]

Hi

We are thinking of a family trip to wdw next June/ July. Can anybody help with a few questions:

1. Virgin - good choice?.. We are in Edinburgh and they will do us connecting flights to gatwick to wdw for 18 nights ( would rather longer than 2 weeks but not as much as 3)

Thanks for any advice you may have

Wendy

Depends how much you are paying for the connecting flights with Virgin and as you don't want to travel for either 14 or 21 days then could a direct flight from Glasgow to Orlando International and then a return from Orlando to Gatwick or Manchester with a connecting flight to Edinburgh be a cheaper option or vice-versa?

British Airways has Edinburgh to Gatwick to Orlando and return for £598 for next June.

And as you will be taking a connecting flight why not check out the option of flying with another airline out of Edinburgh direct to the States, say Newark with United and then with a connecting flight down to Orlando, current price for next June about £531.

Are you thinking of booking your holiday with one operator for hotel and flights, or are you doing it yourself and booking flights separate?

 

[wmoon]

Thanks samaya

We have just started looking at stuff so feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Normally we organise all our holidays on line booking flights and accommodation separately but for some reason I am a bit scared to do that for this

Just been looking on the actual wdw site and it's much cheaper than virgin, £1000 less for the port Orleans and would do us connecting BA flights, free dining etc. I take it they are fine to book with? How does their airport transfer work, is that the thing you need to book yourself on?

If we were booking it all separately is it still the magic express thing we would use as an airport transfer.

Sorry for all the questions but thanks for all your help.

Wendy X

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Hi Wendy

I've just booked our first trip to wdw so not really that clued up myself but I'd definitely consider booking direct with disney and find flights. When we looked virgin were ridiculously overpriced and play about with the free dining options that seems to be best when I booked I weighed everything up and researched the room types at each resort.

Hope you get sorted soon,

Sam x

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Meant to say have you priced with travel city direct? If your looking for a package I've seen a few people using them x

 

[wmoon]

Hi Sam

Nice to see a familiar dlp face on here.

Thanks for the advice, will look at travel city as well.

Where have you booked?

Wendy x

 

[LisaRobinsonUK]

Hi Wendy

I am new to this Website so hope this post works!

We have just booked Port Orleans French Quarter for next May using the WDW site with free dining. We wanted Port Orleans Riverside in the magnolia mansions but it wasn't showing availability so I figured FQ was a good alternative. We also found the Virgin site a lot more expensive. We are lucky that we got free flights with Virgin so didn't have to pay for those but booked them separately.

We are also using the Disney magical express, after booking the holiday I went straight on and logged our booking for the airport transfers and it was really easy. We just have to reconfirm nearer the time. It all seemed very easy so hopefully the holiday will go as well!

We upgraded our DP so we get 1 TS meal a day and we are planning on splitting our QS allocation for lunch and dinner. Can anyone let me know how easy it is to split meals and also what the breakfast options are on QS?

Thank you

 

[tinkertaylor05]

I booked on the first round of free ddp earlier in the year direct with Disney and plumped for the yacht club in the end which was more pricey but we're only doing 7 nights onsite before cruising so worth it for us.

Still have to sort the flights out which kind of stresses me out but I'm confident it'll all come together

 

[2Tiggies]

1. Virgin - good choice?.. We are in Edinburgh and they will do us connecting flights to gatwick to wdw for 18 nights ( would rather longer than 2 weeks but not as much as 3)

Hi Wendy

We are near to Edinburgh and it's our chosen airport to fly from.

Now hear me out on this as I know you may be told that indirect flights are 'difficult' with children but I have found the opposite to be the case and you can save a lot of money by doing this. If you think about it, going EDI-LGW-MCO is indirect - you just happen to change in London. (This is what we are doing this year, by the way)

However last year we went with Continental (now operating under the United brand). They beat all prices and the actual route time was shorter than our LGW change is this year. We cleared customs in EWR and came straight out the domestic arrivals at MCO, which is brilliant.

This year we found a great price on BA tickets which is why we are doing the route we are. We go from EDI to LGW and then on to MCO. The time of the year you travel and school holidays have an enormous impact on prices but good deals are there if you keep your eyes peeled and keep checking. Our flights this year, including the domestic segments were a little over £400 per person. Even indirect couldn't beat that.

 

[WiganTony]

We upgraded our DP so we get 1 TS meal a day and we are planning on splitting our QS allocation for lunch and dinner. Can anyone let me know how easy it is to split meals and also what the breakfast options are on QS?

You may find that using a snack credit some days would be enough for breakfast - the pastries are massive. Use your resort mug for tea/coffee etc.

We found the best breakfast using CS to be at Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney Marketplace, although the hotel food cours do offer QS breakfasts.

Also found that we could sometimes manage with a CS and snack credit between two adults at lunch e.g. AK, Andaphur local - honey chicken and a side of chicken fried rice.

 

[Samaya]

Thanks samaya

We have just started looking at stuff so feeling a bit overwhelmed.

Normally we organise all our holidays on line booking flights and accommodation separately but for some reason I am a bit scared to do that for this

Just been looking on the actual wdw site and it's much cheaper than virgin, £1000 less for the port Orleans and would do us connecting BA flights, free dining etc. I take it they are fine to book with? How does their airport transfer work, is that the thing you need to book yourself on?

If we were booking it all separately is it still the magic express thing we would use as an airport transfer.

Sorry for all the questions but thanks for all your help.

Wendy X

Hi Wendy,

Get as many quotes a possible from all the different operators and when you're on the Walt Disney site try the two different booking options, Flight Inclusive Holidays and then Hotel/Villa & Ticket.

You might find the price for Flight Inclusive Holidays can be beat by booking a flight direct from BA, Virgin, United or another airline and then just buying the Hotel and Tickets including the free dinning direct from either Disney or anther supplier like Complete Orlando or Florida Escapes.

And as long as you're booking a hotel at Disney then you will be given the option to use Disney's free Magical Express Service from Orlando International Airport to your Disney Hotel.

Also check out any extra savings like booking through Quidco which currently gives 3% cash-back for a booking made through Walt Disney Travel Company.

Enjoy the planning, Samaya

 

[LisaRobinsonUK]

You may find that using a snack credit some days would be enough for breakfast - the pastries are massive. Use your resort mug for tea/coffee etc.

We found the best breakfast using CS to be at Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney Marketplace, although the hotel food cours do offer QS breakfasts.

Also found that we could sometimes manage with a CS and snack credit between two adults at lunch e.g. AK, Andaphur local - honey chicken and a side of chicken fried rice.

Great thank you for that. It's sounds like we'll have plenty of food between us. Is splitting quite widely accepted then?

 

[wmoon]

Thank you so much for all your help.

2 tiggies, I get you. I would have no problem with one change of flight. Had a look on BA and it's no cheaper than booking the package with Disney. Probably left it too late, now we are confined to silly school holidays.

Samaya, hoping to use my teso credit card to pay for it as it will give me masses of clubcard vouchers!

Where is the best place to book additional park tickets for sea world, universal, trip to Kennedy with transport?

Had a look at all the magic express stuff, do you just collect your luggage and take it to the coach with you or do we get these yellow tag things as well.

Sorry for all the questions, just as I got myself familiar with all the Disneyland Paris stuff we decide on wdw....

Also, would love an opinion on hotel choice. The 2 we are looking at are art of animation a finding Nemo suite or a standard at port Orleans, French quarter with free dining plan. The AOA suite is £2000 more expensive, my mother in law is coming with us o thought the extra space and bathroom would be good. However, she normally shares a room with me, hubby and son in Disneyland Paris but then that is only a few days not 18!

Thanks again. Much appreciated..

 

[2Tiggies]

You don't get the yellow tags for international guests anymore for ME but you can still have your bags collected.

You just need to be sure to hand over your luggage claim tags when you check in at ME. We prefer to take our stuff with us as we head out to DTD (IF we are not subjected to ridiculous delays!) and want a quick shower and change before we go out. By the time we get back to the resort around midnight we are usually ready for bed and I like to have the park bags all ready and clothes packed away so we don't have to mess about the room in the morning.

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Wendy have you looked at the resorts sections of the boards? I found that really helpful to have a good look at pics of the rooms etc when making my decision. Space is important for 18 nights I agree but then £2000 is a lot of money!


I'm with you that it's really overwhelming, I know exactly where I'm at with DLP this is something totally different

 

[wmoon]

Thanks 2tiggies for the Disney express advice.

Sam, I have had a look. Started off being so sold on the finding Nemo suite at art of animation until I started looking at free dining.... About the feeling now I will feel a little frustrated at either choice, that port Orleans with dining is by far the better value, nearly £3000 difference if you take what they say as the dining plan value. Or the thought of the extra space at art of animation for 18days and the amazing theming that I am sure Joe would love..... Or are we better with the smaller room in the calmer resort with more spending money!,,!


My brain might explode

 

[tinkertaylor05]

Hmmmmm it's difficult to say, I just looked at okw and ssr, there's the 1 bed villas but it mean sleeper bed/chair and I don't know how comfortable they are

It's got to be what suits your family best, the only thing I keep coming back to is how much time are you likely to spend at the resort? I guess that's where the space comes into question if you think you'll be there a lot then maybe you need it and if not well I'd take the money

Xx

 

[Rachandgarry]

Hi,

I completely feel your pain, lol. It feels like it is the hardest decision in the world doesn't it - and when anyone says "you're at WDW, you'll have a blast no matter what" it doesn't help because I just want to get everything exactly, completely, 100% perfect (as much as I can anyway!).

My thoughts are that the theming is going to be amazing at the Finding Nemo suite but the theming is all over property - and you're not going to be short of it. The space would be nice, but to be honest even when we've hired villas - the space goes pretty quickly - it just gets filled with mess! Odd piles of keys, key cards, popcorn buckets, purchases etc - before you know it there's not much more room than a Motel-8! In one of the moderate rooms I am more likely to keep a tidyer ship so to speak.

For us (going in March over Easter, yikes!) we've decided on 18 nights at Caribbean Beach Resort, because it looks like it will suit us. I was really tempted by so many other resorts but the free dining plan is what really made the difference for us. I worked out every counter service meal, and table service meal we would likely have, and character meals, and it is an astonishing freeby for us.

Its your decision completely, but I personally would opt for a calmer resort where you can have the dining plan, and come back after a day of theming and colour and noise, and just relax.

Have a wonderful time though, whatever you decide!

 

[2Tiggies]

Can you not do POFQ for the first 2 weeks with tickets and dining, (do all your TS in those 2 weeks if you are upgrading to the regular DDP) and then add 4 nights at the end (you will already have your park tix activated - assuming you are doing 21 day tickets) and enjoy AoA for a few days?