March 2010 - Advice for a novice please?

[abbey_price]

Hello Everyone!!!!!

Myself and my boyfriend want to come in Disney in March, we have found something Flights, 2 Weeks at POR and a car with full insurace plus the $550 "free" gift card for £1038 each on the 4th March. Firstly whats everyones thoughts on this? From your experience does this seem about right?

Also from research i can now see that mid march is when spring break starts - how busy will the parks get, will ques be longer than 20-30 mins?

We do have another option - £450 for return flights and my mother in law has RCI which means that we can get a self catering unit for £165 a week so £1500 for 2 weeks with a car.

My boyfriend has stayed at POR and loved tghe fact you can get on disney transport so easy - is it worth it? He doesnt mind driving but i have read its $14 a day to park at a disney resort - that will add up over 2 weeks.

I have never been before and am so excited - if you can throw as much advice and suggestions at me all the better!!!

I look forward to hearing from you all.

 

[wayneg]

Welcome to DISboards.

£1,038pp for hotel, flights and car seems cheap. Does this incl tix? Who is it with?

Just looked on Disney.co.uk for cost of POR for 2 weeks, that would be £777pp before adding tickets(you have to buy tix at £235pp to get the $550 gift card) So hotel, tickets & gift card is going to cost £1,012pp
Cheapest direct flights I saw were £431pp + car.

Personally I hate Disney transport but others love it. Stayed at OKW in August, we only did one journey buy bus and that was 1 too many for us. So even if onsite we use a car(free parking though)

 

[abbey_price]

Hello,

Thank you for your Reply. That price was with Virgin but excluded tickets.

Have been searching all evening and have found it is so much cheaper not to stay in a Disney Hotel. $14 to park in a theme park per day just seems so much when you have paid so much for tickets.

I think its going to be a case of more searching until we decide on what is financially the best option.

 

[wayneg]

If its Virgin then your car is not included (well it is and it isn't)
Car is included but when you go thru the booking process you have to add insurance, cheapest option there is Economy 4 Door @ £16/day(£224) or platinum @£22/day (£308) I just went thru booking process to check, you don't need to put genuine names it to get a costing.

Cheaper to book your own car thru a company like USrenatcar.co.uk (lots of others) but only slightly.

Personally I don't find £8.50 for a days parking excessive but I know many do. I get more annoyed with internet fee within Disney at $10/day when its free in a $20/night room offsite but that just my pet hate.

You need to fully cost all options, take into account parking, internet if you want it, transport, free gift card but you have to buy 14 day tix, etc
Shout if you need more help with anything.

 

[fleurbie]

Hi , Congrats on your up and coming trip, we stayed at POR for our wedding it,s a beautiful Hotel, and you can get a boat to DTD
Your Question about car, we always use transport provided and never had a problem, we use mears to go off disney to IOA etc.
As for prices we have booked through Virgin, as we perfer them but you can do it cheaper through first choice, and thompson,
Have fun Planning and look round the boards for idea's etc

 

[abbey_price]

Thanks for the replies.

I think there is only one sensible option, a DIY will save hundreds.

From your experience, can you recommend a good off site hotel, clean, tidy and a good location?

 

[wayneg]

You said in your 1st post you can get timeshare for £165/week, I would look at that option if possible, usually higher quality for the money.

To pay for a room you can get anything from £15/night/room, places we like are usually around £30/night. Upto £400+/night

A good value Motel is Best Western Lakeside, nothing fancy but about £25/night its good value.

For a hotel we like Fairfield Inn by Marriot LBV, never paid more than £30/night but your dates are showing about £40/night, includes breakfast wireless internet & fridge.

They are 2 good value places but everyone likes different things.

 

[penlanspice]

What resorts can you get into with the RCI for your dates? i've stayed at quite a few places and in honesty we prefer these places to hotels.