Need all the info I can get

[brown eyed girl]

We have never been to Disney but are planning a trip this summer. Tell me all I need to know about hotels, dining, etc. We want to stay in a moderate priced hotel. Are they all comprable? Do they all have buses to the park...how long is the ride to the park? Does it pay to stay in an expensive hotel to be near the monorail...do any of the moderate hotels hve the monorail near by? Is the fast past cost and where do you get it? Do you hve to book NOW for reservations for dinner or is it true that there will be a two hour wait for most decent restaurants? What are the best places to eat? Sorry I have so many questions, and some don't even belong on this board. Should I bring in my own water bottle...do they have clean water fountains with cold water? Any help will be much appreciated.

 

[DisneyBill]

Brown Eyed Girl,
Welcome to the DIS! And wow, you do have a lot of questions. I might suggest you lurk thru other forums on these boards like resorts, transportation, budget. You also need to hit www.disneyworld.com and order their vacation planning kit. It will have answers and provide groundwork for other questions about your trip. Order it today, you'll have it in about 10 days. You will want to book your resort stay as soon as possible, look for money saving codes at www.mousesavers.com Disney doesn't have reservations for dinner, rather they use a system that works well called priority seating. Most of these can be made at the 90 window if you're staying onsite. No moderates have monorail access, but all resorts have bus access to theme parks, water parks, and Downtown Disney. This may touch on some of your questions, hope you have a great trip! - Enjoy!

 

[Pacha]

I would also suggest checking out Deb Wills sight at http://allearsnet.com/. What you can't find here or there, just ask someone here on the boards and I'm sure you'll get your answere. Mousesavers is a great sight that has helped us save especially on rental cars.

Pacha

 

[hydster]

I'm definitely not an expert YET but I can give you some opinions from our last trip to WDW and the one coming up. You didnt say how many people were going if it is just you and say hubby or if kids are involved. When we went to WDW last we did a land/sea vacation with DCL and so we stayed at the Polynesian. It was nice but the monorail only gives you an advantage really if you only want to go to Epcot or Magic Kingdom. For MGM and Animal Kingdom you still have to board busses at the TTC center where the monorails stop. For the cost of the Deluxe hotels we didnt see enough benefits to paying out the extra money to stay there. We then stayed at Port Orleans Riverside after the cruise and we loved it so much we are going back there in 8 weeks. Some people will tell you to stay only at Grand Floridian or one of the expensive ones and others will tell you only do the concierge there are well...for us it was a room to sleep in and that was it. Port Orleans has rooms with 2 double beds and a trundle so the 5 of us could stay in one room. The Priority Seating thing is the one thing I did NOT like about WDW. You pretty much are stuck either getting Priority Seating ahead of time, hoping you luck out and can get one the day you decide to try out a restaurant or you are stuck to food court type food. We did manage to get PS for Le Cellier in the Canada pavillion at Epcot and we did manage to get into O'hana's once but we felt that the Priority Seating thing was a pain in the butt. That is the one really nice thing about Disneyland as compared to Disneyworld in our opinion. The fast past doesnt cost extra it comes with your ticket and the popular rides have a little fast pass kiosk out front where you slide your ticket in and it prints out a time to come back to ride in the fast pass line.

I would check out the forums others have told you about and ask around there as well.

Heidi

 

[brown eyed girl]

Thank you all but one more question please. Yes, I will be going with hubby and my 10 year old and staying on grounds at a moderate hotel. But what is this priority seating and when do you call up for that...is that "ps". I will also read the other sites. Thanks and enjoy your trips. I am very exicted, more than my daughter to be going. Oh and for the character breakfast, that I can book with my hotel reservations?

 

[Pacha]

I could try to explain about PS's or priority seatings, but here is a link to a page on Deb Wills sight that talks all about it http://allearsnet.com/din/reserv.htm. Here is a link to Intercot Disney which talks a little about PS's, but has a really neat interactive calander that you input the day you want to eat at a restaurant and it tells you what day to call http://intercot.com/infocentral/dining/pss.asp.

Pacha