Help Planning a Surprise Disneymoon

[CoachT]

Hi my honeymoon is a little ways away but, I figure its never too late to get started planning. I have a couple of Q's First, Do you plan it yourself, with a travelagent near by you or with one that specializes in Disney. Second if you plan it yourself do you start with where to eat, how many days you want to be in the park, what you want to do, any advice in planning. Third would you advice a DDp or DXDDP or paying out of pocket. Anyother advice for the trip would be great. We want it to be relaxed but not at the pool everyday type of trip. Ive had thoughts about CL at the AKL the view looks awesome but have also had ideas about staying at two diff resorts. Im nervouse about it being a surprise and really want it to be perfect. PS...She really likes Belle...Thanks guys

 

[herb102211]

Congrats on your wedding! DH and I honeymooned in Disney in 2011 and had a great time. We're Disney vets so we where we were staying, what we wanted to do, etc. I really don't think you need a TA to plan a Disney trip, but some people do go that route. What month are you going in, as that would help us be able to tell you how to plan when going to the parks etc (any holiday or during the summer is going to be far busier than the fall or winter)
Our favorite resort to stay in is the Beach Club (the Boardwalk is great, too!) We love it because its so convenient to Epcot and Hollywood Studios (you can either walk to take the boat). If you have park hopper passes (which I recommend!) you can cut through Epcot and take the monorail over to MK. While the AKL is a beautiful resort, it is the further resort to 3 out of the 4 parks and you would have to take the bus everywhere. You might also want to look at renting points from a DVC owner and staying in one of the villas. The cost per night would be significantly less than if you booked directly through Disney. Generally, members will sell their points for $10-12 each. Just to give you an idea- a standard studio at the Boardwalk Villas for a week in October is 78 points, so it would cost you anywhere from $780-$936. If you were paying rack rate from Disney, that would only be the price for 1-2 nights.
Just something to consider

We usually base our park schedule around 2 things- dining reservations or special events going on (MNSSHP, Food & Wine Festival, etc). I don’t know how many times you’ve been to WDW before, but if you don’t come that often I would recommend 2 days in Epcot, 2 in MK, 1 in AK, and 1 in Hollywood Studios. I would also check out either Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach one day too. We usually go to Downtown Disney at night on the day we go to AK because AK closes early. We like to go to the parks in the morning, head back to the hotel and sit by the pool and have a drink and then go back to the parks later that evening.

We always used to get either the DxDP or DP, but didn’t really see a value in them this year since the price per person, per night is $100 for the deluxe and $55pp for the regular dining plan. I guess it would depend on where you are eating, but if you are going to eat at quick service restaurants or the character meals, you wouldn’t really be saving anything by getting either plan. You can also book all of your dining reservations online. I would recommend checking out all of the menus on the WDW website to see which restaurants you want to eat at.

I hope you have an awesome honeymoon

Ps- You can find Belle in Epcot near France

Hi my honeymoon is a little ways away but, I figure its never too late to get started planning. I have a couple of Q's First, Do you plan it yourself, with a travelagent near by you or with one that specializes in Disney. Second if you plan it yourself do you start with where to eat, how many days you want to be in the park, what you want to do, any advice in planning. Third would you advice a DDp or DXDDP or paying out of pocket. Anyother advice for the trip would be great. We want it to be relaxed but not at the pool everyday type of trip. Ive had thoughts about CL at the AKL the view looks awesome but have also had ideas about staying at two diff resorts. Im nervouse about it being a surprise and really want it to be perfect. PS...She really likes Belle...Thanks guys

 

[CoachT]

Thanks for the reply. I think the stay will be 7 nights I calculated last night that the hm would be around $5500 dollars for that everything including meals and flight. I had thought about MK once and HS once and go to Harry potter at universal once and just be chill about it if we get it done we get it done. Is Epcot the only place where Belle is? I thought I read that she is at the Cinderlas meal at MK. How early can you book your rooms? Our hm is in June of 14 or 15.

 

[katrina1122]

You can book over a year out.

It seems to me you've never been to wdw before? 7 days and only hitting MK and HS? There's also epcot and AK and you can easily hit each park more than once.

You need to decide what level hotel you want etc. ADR's can be made at 180 days out.

I am a disney ta, many don't need them, but many do. I tend to cater to first timers and those who simply just don't want to make an effort planning. It can be very overwhelming.

I'd suggest doing a google search for disney authorized vacation travel specialists. You won't pay for their help/expertiese and they may get you a much better price than what you are thinking.

 

[CoachT]

You're right I have never been before and she hasn't been since she was 8, that's why I picked WDW bc it would be awhile before we spent this kind of money again. We would love to stay longer but thought it would be around 8 grand for 10 nights we want to spend $6,000 or less. I am planning on booking club level at AKL the animals would be great for her. Would it be possible to stay here longer than 7 nights and still eat at signature resteraunts and be less than $6,000? Also going to MK more than once and hitting the other parks would be awesome, but I am just worried if we try to fit all of them in it would be too jam packed and not as relaxing. I know WDW isn't exactly a place where you lay around all day and which we are not looking for but we also don't want to be rushed and on our feet all day everyday. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[CoachT]

Man I'm feeling overwhelmed by prices and reservations. I have a lot of respect for those who got this down. How can you keep CL under 5Gs wow

 

[marshmeloh]

Man I'm feeling overwhelmed by prices and reservations. I have a lot of respect for those who got this down. How can you keep CL under 5Gs wow

Have you looked into renting vacation club points?

 

[Lorelei528]

You might want to look into renting DVC points if you want to do CL level...just to see how much it would be, though at this point the DVC CL rooms might all be booked....
but it would save you a load of dough to rent rather than just go through Disney reservations directly.

You can also meet Belle and get your pic taken with her at the Akershus princess breakfast in EPCOT. DH and I much perfer eating there than at Cinderella's Castle. Though she does not come over to the table for interaction, you can usually talk to her for a few mins when you get your pic taken if they line is not too long....
If you plan to eat at signature restaurants, I would definitely look into the Deluxe Dining Plan. Though it is going up to $100 pp per day this year....DH and I usually have a big breakfast, skip lunch on some days and then eat at quite a number of signature restaurants. If we did the regular dining plan, we wouldn't be able to do that. Though it takes a bit of math to figure out if it's cheaper for you to get the plan or not....there are loads of threads on that here on the DIS as well as other boards....
I would skip Harry Potter. I would do MK 2 days, EPCOT 2 days, HS one day and AK one day. But not open to close if you know what I mean....especially since it's your honeymoon and you're staying at AKL.

It is overwhelming to plan....you might want to look into booking through a TA who specializes in WDW travel, especially as a first timer, or if you have enough time etc...just read, read, read these boards!

Hope this helped if even a little bit.