I'm not even sure if this is where I should post this.
We are going to Disney June 2- June 11th 2012 and think about staying at Pop Century. It will be 2 adults and 2 Children (6yrs & 4yrs boys)
Here are some of my ????'s
Should we book online, phone or with a
travel agent?
Should we book now or wait?
What about Reservations for Food can we book that if we haven't book our room yet?
Meal Plan or Not?
Are there any Police Discounts I should know about?
Thank you in advance for all of your help and sorry if these questions have already been asked
1. On-line is the easiest.
2. Book now. You only have to put down $200.00, the balance is not due until 45 days before you arrive, so you can be paying on it for the next year. When a discount comes out for that time frame next year, you will just need to call Disney reservations and have them apply the discount to your current reservation.
3. You can make your Advance Dining Reservations 180 days before your arrival date, so sometime in December. But you don't have to have reservations or even be staying on Disney property to make dining reservations.
4. The Basic/Plus dining plan is the best of the plans. We have used it about 7 times and won't go back to Disney without it. It's totally worth it and saves us about $250.00 vs. paying out-of-pocket for meals and snacks.
5. I have never head of any police discounts.
6. Also wanted to add that I usually recommend 6 or 5 days for a first trip - 2 days Magic Kingdom, 2 days Epcot, 1 day Animal Kingdom and 1 day Disney Hollywood Studios is great. Also, don't usually recommend park hoppers to people who are new to touring the parks - base ticket is usually good enough.
Another piece of advice, pick up a copy of The Unoffical Guide to Walt Disney World and check out their companion website,
www.touringplans.com. I use their crowd/best days calendar to plan all our park days and then once I know which park we will be in on which days I can make my Advance Dining Reservations around those parks or in resorts close to those parks.
There are tips I give to anyone new to touring WDW:
1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations as you will be going during the busy summer season and a lot of the popular restaurants may not be taking walk-ups.
2. Get to the parks at opening. You really can get a lot done in the morning because so many other people sleep in.
3. Eat lunch around 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. before the fast food places get busy. Then when while everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds.
4. I buy a ton of the two for a dollar ponchos at the dollar store and keep them in the backpack. That way you can throw them a way after use and not worry about keeping up with a wet bulky poncho the rest of the day. Bring throw away ponchos to wear on Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, if not you WILL get soaked.
5. Other things I put in the backpack each morning are Tylenol/Motrin, small first aid kit, camera with extra batteries, small hand towel, hand sanitizer, wipes and a bottle of water.
6. Most single service items under $4.00 are considered a snack credit on the dining plan.
7. At Magic Kingdom always head to Fantasyland first, if you are not doing Fantasyland on a particular day then head to Splash Mountain first, then Big Thunder Mountain; at Epcot always ride Soarin' first and get a Fastpass for later after you get off of the ride; at Disney Hollywood Studios always ride Toy Story Mania first, then head over to Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror; and at Animal Kingdom ride Expedition Everest First then head to the Safari.
8. Favorite fast food restaurants at MK are Pecos Bills and Cosmic Rays; favorite fast food at Animal Kingdom is Flame Tree Grill and Pizzafari. If you are there while it very hot, go to Pizzafari.
9. If there are two lines going into an attraction, always take the line that goes to the left.
10. My best tip would have to be USE THE FASTPASS SYSTEM. Our rule of thumb is if the wait is 25 minutes or less, we wait in line. If the wait is 30 minutes or more, use a Fastpass.
It is not highly publicized, but your Fastpass does not expire until the end of the day. You can never use it before the return time stamp on the pass, but you can always use it after. We try to collect Fastpasses during the early part of the day and then use them later in the afternoon when the parks become more crowded.
Click on this link and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass. It is from Doconeil here on the Disboards and super helpful:
http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php
If you still don't understand, just let me know your specific questions.
11. I like the Photopass. You can pre-buy it before your trip for $99.00. When you enter the parks you will see the staff photographers, they will take your pictures and give you a Photopass and you can use that for the rest of your trip. Each time you see a photographer have them take your picture and they will scan your picture. Then when you get home you can pull up the pictures, with the code they email you after purchase, and pick the photos you want on a CD. They will then mail you the CD and the copyrights to the CD and you can take them to
Walmart or Walgreens or wherever and get them developed. They also have a lot of cool software that you can use to edit your photos before you have them put on the CD.
My favorite Disney planning sites are:
www.disboards.com
www.allearsnet.com
www.wdwinfo.com
www.intercot.com
