Lets play....Help the newbie!!

[Tsi2quick]

Sorry no prizes will be awarded for helping me except my sincere appreciation! (which currently has no monetary value!)

As the thread title states, I am a newbie to all things Disney. I've been reading over this board and also at mousesavers.com (both great resources) and think I have pretty much gotten a foundation for my first trip to WDW.

Here is a little background info...

We are planning for Oct. 18-21 to stay at a WDW resort and then the rest of her family comes down and we are moving over to Universal for the remainder of the week to be with them. The original plan was that her uncle was paying for the whole family to go to Universal for 3 nights including tickets which of course was great! But I decided since I had never been to WDW it would be a crime for me not to visit it while down there so we are planning a few days leading up to Univ. for us to visit WDW. I had planned on staying off-site for $$$ reasons but after reading up on it I have decided to stay on-site to get the full affect of Mickey! It seems that would be the true way to experience Disney for the first time.

I think we are going with the Pop Century resort. We will probably get the php as well separately as that seems to be the preferred (cheaper) way of doing things! So that covers the two big parts.

I have just recently read about these wonderful "codes"! Apparently you get much better deals on the same room or you could "upgrade" your vacation to something better (value to moderate) for the same end price basically. So here is my conundrum. Do I go ahead and book my Pop Century room for late October now and hope for a code during my stay or hold off and wait for the code so I can get a moderate for basically the same price?

I know this post has been a novel but I am pretty excited about our trip! If anyone has advice on my question or just advice in general I am all ears! I'm sure I will be full of other questions as the time nears but just remember back to your first visit and learn to tolerate me!

Thanks in advance!

 

[TLinden16]

I would suggest going ahead and booking a room at the Pop Century now, and looking for a code if and when they come out for that time of year (my guess is codes will come out mid-summer). Your better off securing your room at a resort now so that if the codes don't come out, you'll have something reserved.

Karen

 

[sherry8253]

Hi Tsi2quick - Welcome to the boards!!!! If you have your heart set on Pop Century, I would go ahead and book and then when the codes come out, you can always call and see if Pop Century has any openings for discounted rooms & if so Disney will apply the discount to your reservations. Or... if you are willing to stay at any resort that has discounts available when the codes come out, you can wait until closer to your vacation, see what is available at a discount, and pick from one of the available resports which is what I do. I like to save money and am always willing to select a resort that has discounted rates available. But... since it is your first time .... and just in case there are no codes available for when you want to go... you may want to go ahead & book Pop Century just in case it sells out for the time you are going. Also, if you are a member of AAA, check to see if there are any AAA discounts available when you call. Although the AAA discounts are not as great as the discounts codes offer, at least it saves you some $$$. And... may your first trip be filled with Disney Magic!

 

[IloveDMB]

WELCOME to the DIS!

I don't know of how much help I can be, but I'll try.

You can go ahead and book Pop. Then if codes come out, you can apply them to your reservation or see if it you can upgrade to a moderate.

Or you can wait it out and see what codes come out. Some believe that the execs at Disney wait to see what the occupancy is before releasing codes.

It's really a choice about what you want to do. If you don't mind paying rack rate at Pop, I would go ahead and book it. And then if a code comes out, go ahead and apply it. But I wouldn't want you to be disappointed if no code came out. You can check mousesavers.com for historical trends.

Hope this helps. Ask away if you have more questions!

 

[phyllis1966]

I agree with all the above replies, and would like to add that you might consider buying tickets for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party - it was lots of fun, especially for our DD! We got to see lots of costumes (we were too hot to dress up!), go trick-or-treating, enjoy dancing and DJ'd music, have not-so-scary stories read to us, and the special Halloween parade and fireworks were awesome!

It ain't cheap, but it sure is fun (I think in 2002 we paid about $29 for adult tickets, and a little less for a child's ticket).

 

[Tsi2quick]

Thanks for the quick replies! By popular vote I think I will go ahead and book the Pop for the days we will be there and if there are codes released I can get a better rate for sure or possibly upgrade to a moderate for the same end-price. Sounds like a plan to me!

Oh, I'm not set on the Pop but since its the newest and same price as the other All-Stars I figured we might as well give it a try. Not to mention on the FAQ thread on it I believe Tyler mentioned they were not setup to accept large groups like cheerleaders, AAU teams or Little League teams. Nothing against those guys but while I like some company I dont necessarily need an ENTIRE team next door!