Need help for May 1-8!

[lorax123]

I know, seems totally like the wrong board for this... but I'm very Disney illiterate. We've stayed on-site at Universal for the past 6 years (about 33 days so far!) and have only visited Disney about 4x in that run.
But from May 1-8 we are taking a family vacation with the inlaws and they are huge Disney fans. So, guess where I have to stay? I know it's sad! But we will at least get to Universal and Seaworld for 3 days.

Now, what is the best way to find an onsite resort (at least a moderate, no All-Star please) for a resonable rate? What about tickets? Their method of trying to get tickets and a hotel is not very Universal like. I wish I could just buy and AP and know I'm going to get a good rate with that. But they have some kind of thing with codes? And only the privilaged few get them? How can I increase the odds of getting one?

There will be 5 adults and one child on this trip, are there any suites somebody would recomend? a 2 bed 2 bath on site? Right now we are thinking of just geting 2 rooms, since it equals out.

Well anyway, please help, and please don't send this over to the Disney board!

 

[macraven]

i see that this is your first post...........are you trying to hide from us and make an alias.........

if you have a child under 3, you could have 5 in the room at some of the hotels at disney on site. but, they will be costly. disney adds a surcharge for adding more than 2 adults in their rooms, if you all decide to stay together.

possbily you could buy points or buy time for dvc. check out the dis forum for that. if you go that way, avoid the weekends, too costly.

i would say you are looking at a deluxe or 2 rooms at the moderates. each family in their own room. not sure if that is value season when you are going. check out allearsnet.com for the resorts and their prices per season on that issue.

if you have AAA, book room only. i booked room only for sept for a value resort. instead of paying $79/night, i pay $60/night. only a limited number of rooms per resort are available for the AP rate. you can't count on getting it every time, when the rooms are filled for ap rate, you are out of luck. better chance in using the aaa rate.

for tickets, you would be coming out ahead by using ticketmania.
if you buy the tickets from disney (online, store, when making room ressies, add tickets) and it is in advance of your trip, you get a small discount.
if you buy your disney park tickets at the gate, no discount

tell us what you want in a room so i can direct you in the right way.
age of child, under 3?

 

[lorax123]

Hi Macraven. I had some S/N on here but I forgot what it was. So, I just ported my IOACentral name. Alot easier to remember one name!

The child is just under 2 (were crazy, aren't we? We just took her to IOA/US 2 weeks ago for 3 days and LOVED it).

The in-laws have AAA, so we have that to use. We do want to have tickets well before we go. I'll check out ticketmania. The prices I saw on the Disney site were very, very strange. Ordering the magic your way passes wound up being more than APs. But just ordering a Park Hopper with the same options (never expire, 8 days) was cheaper.

We are going from May 1-8th and from what I've seen, that is considered normal season. Too many options and the Disney site just makes it more confusing! We at least want a moderate, but i'd love to find one of the nicer resorts for not much more.

We definately need 2 rooms, but do any of the onsites have suites with 2 bedrooms and 2 baths? I don't mind sharing a room, but having to get 5 adults into one bathroom in the AM and out the door by 8? Not going to happen!

Do any fellow Universalites have advice? I really wish we were just staying at RPR or Portifino, it's so much easier!

 

[macraven]

you bought the non expiring tickets........oh uh.....

do you know that to make your hoppers non expiring it cost $100 ........

7 day hoppers to 10 day hoppers costs an additional charge of $100

when you said you made the hoppers non expiring, i hope you didn't mean you included that additional on your order....

that time of may should be good at disney. the flower show at epcot will bring out the locals. i went that time period once and even with mothers day, it was not a bad crowd except at epcot.

i have never rented a 2 bd suite at disney. do a search on themouseforless.com for past posts on the hotel arrangements for that.
i have only done upscale accomadations at the universal hotels. at disney i do the value resorts. why not do 2 rooms at all stars? you get two bathrooms 4 beds and request connecting rooms. disney grants those requests when there are children involved. the food court is convenient and ok.

with the AAA you can reserve 2 rooms for the discount. you will get a 15% discount, not much but better than nothing.

did you look at allearsnet.com for accomadations at disney. they have pics and dimensions listed for the resorts.

at one time, the prices on disney website did not include taxes when the ticket prices were shown. don't know if that is the same or not.
ticketmania (and one more good place, can't think right now) has tax included in their list prices.

i know, i 'm not much help with your question.
when i do disney, i do it on the cheap. do a room in value season at the value resort. use the place for sleep and shower. use the refillable mugs over and over. take the bus to the parks and try not to lose my temper over the long waits at times......

 

[lorax123]

Thanks MAcraven. No we haven't bought the tickets yet. The only thing we do have is airfare. There are just too many options! It would be nice to get an 8 day hopper and have no expiration, that way we could justify stopping off at a Disney park on one of our Universal trips. But I can live with out that option (I don't know about everybody else).

I would like to stay in a nicer resort, Universal has me spoiled. I like a nice hotel. Especially if it's going to be a week!

I did try to convince everybody to stay at Disney for 4 days and then jump hotels and stay at RPR or PB for the last 3, since we were going to go to US, IOA and seaworld. But everybody thinks it's going to be a hassle. I think it would be worth it, an hours inconvience, maybe 2 at most.

I know what you mean about trying to not lose your temper. Not because of waits, just because of the environment. By the end of a day at a Disney park I just feel frustrated by everything. Transportation, guests, rides, layout, even occasionally employees (but I always wear a Universal shirt, does that have anything to do with it? )

Thanks for the advice you had, I'm going to check out some of those sites and see what I can do. I'm sure I'll have a few good moments at the Disney parks, but I'm REALLY looking forward to being back at UO. That will be so awesome! How are the crowds at Uni in early May?

 

[macraven]

the parks at universal the first week of may are not bad. same for disney.

if you buy tickets for disney, just go with a 5 day pass if you are going to be there for five days. it is cheaper to add days on to the disney tickets as they cost less with each day added.
if you buy a 6 day hopper, i believe it is only $35/45 to add non expiration to the pass. disney tickets for one park is over $63 for a one day ticket.

if you buy the multi day pass for disney and want it to be a hopper, that is an additional $35 total for the entire pass. i add the hopper feature so i have flexibility to leave a park for another when it gets too crowded.

you can always spend a day at downtown disney instead of going to a park.
there is no charge for the marketplace. only charges are for the clubs such as adventure club and a few others. they have an entrance fee.

i can give you more sites on disney if you need them.