Help. Overwhelmed. 1st Disney Trip June 2020

[ryman471]

Hi, we plan on making our first trip to Orlando for Disney World in June. I know it is not this simple, but there is SOOOO much info here i don't know where to start. I am not poor, but I am far from rich so i need to find some bargains but am willing to pay a few extra bucks if makes sense, will never pay top price though. 2 adults, 1 child that is 10. Thinking about booking at resort hotels since they are closer and dont have to pay for parking and maybe easier to go back and forth to room without getting in own vehicle? Is it better (cheaper) to book far in advance or wait until closer to next summer for deals to pop up? Don't see no specials going on right now for next summer. Cheaper to buy park tickets separate than resort or packages? Not too picky about which resort. something that is decent but not too expensive. If a link to help, thanks in advance!

 

[sunshinemelody]

Well, first thing's first - yay, congrats on your first trip! I hope your child has the time of their lives (and you and your partner as well!).

I wouldn't drive if you can help it. There's enough transportation on property; however, if you feel like you want to drive, then do it. It just can be a waste of gas if you have the monorail, buses, ferries, etc for your convenience.

Specials pop up closer to the summer. Book now. Summer is hard to book for the closer you get to the date. Once the specials come out you can call Disney and have them change it for you on their end, depending on the special.

Unless you're off property, buy tickets alongside your resort - get the package in essence. If you're doing a Dining Plan, you can't get it without the ticket anyway.

Are you wanting to do something more along the lines of Value or Moderate? Or, since you stated that you're not pressed for money, Deluxe? What are you looking for in a hotel? Somewhere to just sleep or a place where the experience will really be worth you paying for when you're away from the parks?

 

[Jonfw2]

It wouldn't hurt to go through one of the many travel agents who work just with Disney. They might be able to find things for you that would be too overwhelming to look for online.

 

[sunshinemelody]

It wouldn't hurt to go through one of the many travel agents who work just with Disney. They might be able to find things for you that would be too overwhelming to look for online.

Absolutely a great idea. Travel agents for Disney, you can find a host of them here on Disboards, are free. Take advantage of them if you can or just don't want the hassle of doing it alone. However, if you like getting your hands dirty, you can do this on your own. Many of us have done it. It just takes time and ... a notebook.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

Thinking about booking at resort hotels since they are closer and dont have to pay for parking and maybe easier to go back and forth to room without getting in own vehicle?

If you drive, you will pay for parking at your resort, although not at a theme park.

 

[Unlimited N2O]

Keep a look out for hotel offers coming up. depending on the hotel, you can save 15-25%. If you are considering deluxe accommodations, look into renting DVC points in the Disney Vacation Club section of the forums immediately. Your trip is in 8 months, so a lot of availability is open for a majority of the DVC resorts.

 

[NH-to-FL]

Hi, we plan on making our first trip to Orlando for Disney World in June. I know it is not this simple, but there is SOOOO much info here i don't know where to start.

First, to DISboards! And congratulations on your upcoming trip!

A first visit to Disney can be quite overwhelming. You have come to a great place to get questions answered and opinions rendered.

While the DISboards is a wonderful font of information I will also recommend getting a copy of the book: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. At times I find that having a good reference book to look up information very helpful. The Unofficial Guide has good information on the various on site hotels. From your comments you might be interested in one of the value or moderate resorts.

Other online resources I have found helpful are Your First Visit and easyWDW.

If you are financially able I would definitely recommend staying onsite. My experience is that the immersion and convenience is worth the extra dollars. One warning though, it can be additive. I splurged on the Boardwalk for our first visit and we kept going back for many visits over many years. The convenience of the Boardwalk location, being able to walk to two parks, was hard to beat. We payed dearly for that convenience though. I would suggest making your reservations as soon as you can as the Disney resorts fill up quickly.

For our first few visits we purchased a room/ticket package. At first with the help of travel agent and then I took over making the reservations myself over the phone. After our visits became more frequent we got annual passes and then I would just book rooms with either an AP discount or a special deal, whichever was cheaper.

Well, that's probably enough information for this post.
Wishing you success in your planning and a visit!

 

[Babsy]

Hi, we plan on making our first trip to Orlando for Disney World in June. I know it is not this simple, but there is SOOOO much info here i don't know where to start. I am not poor, but I am far from rich so i need to find some bargains but am willing to pay a few extra bucks if makes sense, will never pay top price though. 2 adults, 1 child that is 10. Thinking about booking at resort hotels since they are closer and dont have to pay for parking and maybe easier to go back and forth to room without getting in own vehicle? Is it better (cheaper) to book far in advance or wait until closer to next summer for deals to pop up? Don't see no specials going on right now for next summer. Cheaper to buy park tickets separate than resort or packages? Not too picky about which resort. something that is decent but not too expensive. If a link to help, thanks in advance!

I agree with NH-to-FL recommendations. There IS a lot to do to plan a trip to WDW. However, you do have enough time. The best thing to do is to book your resort ASAP and modify to take advantage of any deals that become available. If you choose to stay on Disney property, then you want to book a resort that you like and that is priced at a rate that works with your budget. You can always upgrade later, if discounts become available, but you DO have an affordable placer to stay. ALL the Disney resorts are fun to stay in. We have stayed in all but the very newest ones (Riviera, Gran Destino Tower at CSR), but plan to stay at these soon! LOL!

You could start pricing some of the following:
Value resorts like POP Century are a nice place to start to get a feel for prices. POP is next door to Art of Animation (more expensive, but very well themed resort) and has access to the new Skyliner for transportation. All Star Music has the lowest priced suites for a family and All Star resorts in general usually have the lowest priced rooms. All Star Movies has just finished renovations and has a nice layout.
Of course, if your budget will allow more expensive accommodations, then you can look at other resorts, but these are a good place to start.

We have always found booking room only (with a discount) separately from tickets and paying for our dining as we go to be the best deal for us, but if you get a good free dining offer it may be that a package might work out better for you. Unfortunately, which is going to save you the most money varies between groups depending upon lots of factors such as where you eat, how much you eat, where you stay, etc. There is no easy answer to buying packages or not for saving money.

A sort of general timeline:
(1) First get and read The Unofficial Guide to WDW. (2) set a budget (3) set up a My Disney Experience account (4) decide if staying onsite or off site works best for you (5) decide if you want to try and rent points before 7 months prior to your arrival date so that you have time to book at that 7 month booking window (6) choose a resort and book (7) link tickets to MDE (8) book restaurant reservations 180 days before arrival, especially some of the more difficult to get reservations such as many character meals, Be Our Guest or Hoop Dee Doo Revue (9) book FP+ at either 60 days before arrival if staying onsite or 30 days before arrival if staying offsite.

It feels like a lot to take in, but you will quickly get it under control. The Unofficial Guide really does help. So can a good travel agent like one from Dreams Unlimited Travel. Actually, though, sometimes the planning is addictive. I don't know what I would do with my time if I weren't busy planning a trip to WDW. LOL!!

Have fun planning! Hope your trip is magical!

 

[Sargeant Tibbs]

I think the value resorts are what you are looking for. They have everything you'll need for a magical vacation; they keep you in the Disney bubble, with all the perks of staying onsite, but are reasonably priced. I recommend All Star Movies since it has the most "Disney" feel, and the rooms were very recently renovated. But All Star Sports and All Star Music have nice theming as well.

Whatever you decide, you should book something soon.

Planning a wdw vacation is addicting, btw.

 

[VandVsmama]

I think that you should use a Dreams Unlimited Travel agent to help you sort it out. I listened to one of their podcasts on the DIS Unplugged recently, in which they talked about everything that they do for their clients. So for example, if you book a WDW package with them now (room + tickets) and then between now and your trip, WDW comes out with a deal that will save you money, the agent will contact you to notify you and will end up saving you money. Not all travel agencies will necessarily do that.

Often, WDW **will** come out with room discounts or room+tickets package deals. When one of those deals gets announced the Dreams Unlimited Travel agents FIRST go to their current clients list and will check those clients who have travel dates during the dates that the packages are available...and if you qualify for one of those discounts, they rebook the package with Disney in order to save you money.

 

[VandVsmama]

Not knowing what your budget is for the room, if you'd like to keep costs lower, then just stick with 1 of the value resorts. Any of the 3 All Stars resorts will be cheapest. On our next trip, we're going to give POP Century a try. It has its own buses. Sometimes, at the All Stars resorts, the 3 can occasionally end up sharing buses.

POP Century also shares a skyliner stop with Art of Animation, in case you're interested in using that as a form of transportation.

 

[VandVsmama]

When you book a package (so room+ tickets or room+tickets+dining plan), you just have to pay a $200 deposit at initial time of booking and then you pay the remaining off it's either 60 or 30 days before your trip starts (I can't remember which).

High level steps of planning a WDW trip:

1. Decide what your travel dates are.
2. Decide where you're going to stay (off site or on site, then if on site, which resort).
3. Between now and 180 days before your arrival date, think about any ADRs (advance dining reservations) you want...TS restaurants (table service).
4. Decide if you want to do any character meals. Those will require ADRs.
5. Decide if you want to do an EMM day at MK if it's available (EMM = Early Morning Magic). There's helpful info about this on these boards as well as on WDW Prep School's website...they have a tutorial that explains it).
6. Go read one of the super threads that explains all about FP+ and Magic Bands.
7. Go read one of the super threads that explains all about Magical Express (free bus service to/from Orlando airport for WDW on site hotel guests).
8. Decide at some point if you want 1-park/day tickets or park hopper tickets. If you can't decide yet, just get the 1-park/day tickets added to your hotel+tickets WDW package.
9. If staying on site, 60 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE - go online early in the a.m. (there's a super thread that explains it all) to book your FP+ for each of your park days. If staying off site, you do this 30 DAYS BEFORE your arrival date.

If you are not used to June weather in Florida, I would highly recommend that you consider doing no more than 2 park days in a row and then plan on 1 day of down time with nothing scheduled other than maybe an ADR. Because you'll be tired.

We stayed at All Star Music for a week in June 2018 and had a nice time there. Sometimes, the buses were frustrating. But we saw Donald Duck and Goofy at ASM. And the pool was a lot of fun. I was even able to do laundry halfway through our trip. My kids made Mickey tie-dye t-shirts for ~$15-$20 each at the pool (way cheaper than $30 for a t-shirt in the parks).

 

[ryman471]

wow, so many great responses! As soon as i get time i am going to start my list from this. Some great questions and now i know what questions to start with. One thing i do see that is consistent that i can tell already is that since i know i am going in june, to book sooner rather than later and can maybe get special later, and i definitely want to stay at one of the Disney resorts and to get the package. Once more time will read through more detail. Thanks again, you guys are awesome!!!

 

[sponica]

@ryman471 Also remember there's no "wrong" way to do Disney, we all have our preferences. I book packages because I can't stomach the prices separately. I have my summer dates booked already, but we were sort of stuck with some dates we NEEDED. If I can apply a discount next summer, awesome.

I like Pop as a value resort (AKA I'm just showering/sleeping).
For a moderate resort, we have enjoyed both Port Orleans resorts (DH likes French Quarter better, I like Alligator Bayou in Riverside better). My sister LOVED Coronado springs when she stayed there.

We haven't graduated to deluxe accommodations yet...

Keep in mind WDW is MASSIVE. Accept you won't/can't see do all the things. Make a list of what you need to accomplish for the trip to be a success. Are there rides that are must dos, are there characters you need to meet, pictures that must be taken?

Have fun planning!

 

[Lynne M]

I think the first thing to do is to figure out your budget. Transportation, tickets, food, hotel, souvenirs. That will help you narrow down your resort choices. There are over 30 different Disney resorts at WDW, with a very wide range of rates, amenities, recreation, and room types. Once you've got a rough idea of what you'd like to spend per night, just start reading resort descriptions and looking at photos and figure out what looks right for your family.

 

[SG131]

wow, so many great responses! As soon as i get time i am going to start my list from this. Some great questions and now i know what questions to start with. One thing i do see that is consistent that i can tell already is that since i know i am going in june, to book sooner rather than later and can maybe get special later, and i definitely want to stay at one of the Disney resorts and to get the package. Once more time will read through more detail. Thanks again, you guys are awesome!!!

My cousin is going in June as well and has been booked for months. Sometimes with ticket increases and room rate increases you end up better off with the rate you get initially verses a discount anyway. Plus you want to be booked in time so that you can make your dining reservations at 180 days from the start of your trip if you plan on doing sit down meals. I'm also going to vote for using a travel agent. My first time going back to WDW after about 9 years off I made sure to use an agent because it can all be a bit overwhelming. Some will also help you out by making your dining reservations and fastpasses. Now I know enough about Disney and change my reservations frequently enough I'd rather not use a travel agent, but I still used my agent for Disneyland and DCL since I had never done either before.

 

[VandVsmama]

We are Disneyland veterans, so I initially found the WDW trip planning to be rather overwhelming by comparison. Just bit off a little bit of the elephant at a time and you will figure it out because you have plenty of time. For now, the major decisions you need to make would be your travel dates & what resort you'll be staying at.

When you get closer to the 180 day ADR date and you're trying to decide between which restaurants to make TS reservations at, there's info about menus and prices on www.wdwinfo.com or on www.allears.net. If anyone in your family is a pickier eater, that can be really helpful when trying to decide.

If it's in your budget at all, I highly recommend spending one evening going to the Hoop Dee Doo Revue at Fort Wilderness. I'm so glad that we listened to the advice on these boards & on the DIS Unplugged podcasts to try it. It was expensive but SO MUCH FUN! Quality, wholesome, family entertainment that everyone can really enjoy. And Fort Wilderness is pretty cool.

WDW park hours for June will probably be posted soon if they aren't already. The Touring Plans website has historical park hours & crowd levels posted at https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/historical-crowds. When we went in June 2018, we got advice here & on other sites to try to avoid the park that had EMH (extra magic hour) that day. I found that tip to be pretty helpful.

When we go to Disneyland, we don't use a subscription service like Touring Plans, but we used it when we went to WDW and it was VERY helpful in helping our family minimize wait times. Just a general rule of thumb: the early bird catches the worm. On your park days if you feel up to it, get up early and be at the park entrance ~ 45 min to an hour before it opens.

I also listen to the WDW Prep School podcasts, in addition to the Disney World edition of the DIS Unplugged podcasts. Both of those have a lot of helpful WDW-related travel and touring information that is so useful if this is your first time.

Just the fact that you are here and doing some homework ahead of time puts you ahead of the game in comparison to a lot of WDW visitors. DIS Boards is awesome because there is so much info here that can be hard to find out about otherwise. For example, did you know that Magic Kingdom has a couple of go-at-your-own-pace scavenger hunts? Neither of them cost a thing.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/magic-kingdom/pirates-adventures/https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/magic-kingdom/sorcerers/

 

[maryj11]

I was told there is no advantage in booking before the discounts come out by an experienced disboard member. I know last year the summer discounts came out in January.

 

[VandVsmama]

Also, you can look up info on the Disney dining plan. There's a whole sub-forum here about it under the Dining forum. Sometimes by paying out of pocket as you go, that can be a little less expensive than the dining plan. We haven't used a dining plan yet, but I plan to on our next trip...mostly because like 90% of our food expenses will be paid for ahead of time so it will eliminate the usual disagreements & gripes from my DH on how much the food costs.

One thing that I did not know until I started hunting for the info was that even if you stay at a Value resort, you are not limited to the QS (quick service) dining plan. You can get the regular Disney Dining plan instead, which gets you 1 QS and 1 TS meal per day per person instead of 2 QS meals per day with the QS plan. If you're thinking of doing some TS meals but the cost is a little overwhelming, you could consider the Disney Dining plan as a way to pay for all of that before your arrival. Then if you want to do a character meal or a dinner or lunch at a nice restaurant, you won't really have to sweat it (you'll have to pay for the tax out of pocket though, for example). Some ADRs require 2 TS credits (like Hoop Dee Doo or California Grill). The dining plans include drinks, 2 snack credits/day, and a refillable drink mug that only works at your home resort.

You don't have to add a dining plan when you first book your room+tickets package...you can add it later, so you don't have to make a decision now.

 

[SG131]

I was told there is no advantage in booking before the discounts come out by an experienced disboard member. I know last year the summer discounts came out in January.

The problem is they to go in June, so their 180 days for dining reservations will need to be made in December. If they doesn't book a reservation prior to that they can only book dining 180 one at a time instead of 180 days plus the length of trip. So if they wants any hard to get dining reservations they may be out of luck without an onsite stay already booked. There is no advantage as far as making it easier to get a discount by booking prior to discounts being released. However, if you know you want to go with or without the discount you should book right away. It also depends on the deal, this past deal actually ended up being more expensive than the original package booked for some people because of an increase in rack rates since they booked.