Need major help with the planning process!

[Starlilly]

Ok folks, a little background on the situation. Ive been married for 2 years now, and known my hubby for over three and since day 1 Ive been pulling my best moves to get him to agree to a trip to Disney World...

Well, it FINALLY HAPPENED! WERE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!

Im so excited, I think about it non-stop with a dazed sense of extreem euphoria and total excitment! Theres just one problem, though....

I have NO CLUE where to begin. I need to start planning, booking hotel, saving money, creating itinerary, doing research...everything

I need serious help! and who better to ask then the experts of the DisBoards? Grace me with your genius!


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Heres the details:

• 
  *Planning for a February trip* 2009 if i can get everything in order in time
  *A week long, more if I can afford it
  Value resort, probably POP.
  Need tips on how to start saving money
  Tips on what to pack
  How to start booking and planning!
  
  and here is something very important. This is going to be DH's first trip EVER. I need to know some special things to do to give him the most magical trip ever! Especially, when he visits each park for the first time, what should we do first to show the best disney magic?
  
  the list goes on and on....
  

I really appreciate the help!

 

[PrincessTigerLily]

Congratulations! You definitely want to start reading some websites, allearsnet is a great wealth of info and menus for restaurants, and wdwinfo is all encompassing as well. At the bottom of my signature is a link to a thread for tips for first-timers, lots of Dissers put their best suggestions in there. I always like The Unofficial Guide as a guide book, and I am cosidering Tour Guide Mike for our next trip. First thing you want to do is plan your week, which parks, what hours they are open, which restaurants you may want to eat at, and then make your ADRs as soon as possible.

 

[kcork1026]

Go to your local bookstore and look for the Passporter Book, it's a guide book, but also a great organizationl tool...I bought one for my first trip, this will be our 4th year in a row and I wouldn't go without one.

 

[Tinker*Shell*Bell]

Think about enlisting the help of a travel agent. Mine has saved me $ and a lt of time planning. There should be no charge for a travel agent, if one adds on fees for their service please keep looking. Make sure they are Disney Authorized and really know what they are doing. Confused travel agents can cause a lot of undue stress.

I have one that I love! If you want her name and number please just PM me. I know right now she is giving out disney dollars with any booked trip. I don't know how many $ she is giving, but every little bit helps. I am so glad to have found her. Last trip I did all the work myself and this time I have someone to bounce ideas off of if I am not sure about something. That and I think she has stayed at EVERY hotel at Disney...I'm a little jealous of that

 

[imthatgirl]

yes a good book is essential. i love birnbaums, its easy to read. but i also get unofficial guides as well.
but the next thing you need is a budget. how much can you realistically save between now and 45 days before you leave(thats when you have to pay it off). my husband has a second job that he works only 1 day a week, so thats how we save. we use a seperate savings account just for disney.
go on the disney website and price a vacation. price it a couple ways, value hotel, no dining plan and no hoppers. then after you see the base price if you want to spend a little more(i know who does right?) you can add things like a hopper or the dining plan and see where that gets you. then figure out how many pay days till your payoff date and devide the cost by that and thats what you need to save a week. if you plan to use credit cards decide how much cash you want to pay.

i agree with using a travel agent, we always do. but go in there knowing exactly what you want. price it out and print it up and give it to them, then see if they know of any ways to save you money from what you have printed out.
for what to pack, dont worry about that yet. sometime around november start asking those questions
and then once youve decided when and what to book, then come back and ask questions about planning your days, thats too much info to get into now, lol.

and remember, the planning is the best part, so enjoy it!!

 

[kcork1026]

I have to agree with the poster before, planning has to be one of the best parts of the whole trip...I love to plan Disney trips for my family, and I love helping others plan their trip.....relax and enjoy

 

[DiznEeyore]

Planning your first trip -- how fun!!

When we took our first family trip 10 years ago, it was my 2nd time going (went once 20 years earlier) and the first time for my dh and 5yo ds. We also took dh's mom and aunt, and my best friend and her mom.

We stayed at the ASMu for 7 nights, did every park (except AK) and had a great time! There is magic everywhere, especially on your first visit! I am also a firm believer in being prepared for a trip, especially one that can be as "big & expensive" as a WDW trip, and I know that played a big part in how much we enjoyed our trip. (My brother, on the other hand, is not a planner -- when he took his kids to WDW a few years ago, they didn't have a real great time. I'd ask him, "Did you ride such-and-such?" and he'd say, "Nah, we couldn't find it." )

When I started planning our trip, I got a binder and started printing off info from the various web sites and filing it. I had info on our hotel, menus from restaurants we wanted to try (get those on AllEarsNet.com), touring plans for each day, etc. There's so much info out there; by doing a binder, I was able to narrow it down to what was really useful for us.

Don't get me wrong -- I also had every WDW book on the market and read them all cover to cover. In fact, I'd been buying the Birnbaum's book for years, hoping that each year we'd be able to save enough money to make the trip. Finally, 1998 was our year!

We had a BBQ before the trip to sort of let everyone know what I was planning for us (they left everything to me) and they all totally made fun of me and my binder! But guess what happened when we got to WDW? By the second day, they were all thanking me and apologizing for mocking my planning, LOL!!

So, my tip is: information is your friend! Learn all you can before you go!

 

[srwarden1928]

Subscribe to touringplans.com

Choose which park to go to which day. Then choose a plan for touring each park (or maybe more than one if youre staying long enough). I would NOT bother with hoppers--you save $45 + tax per person. IMO they waste alot of time in addition to the money. Once you have decided which park youre going to be in on which day, make any ADRs you want for TS dining.

From a male perspective, I want to see EVERYTHING. Using the touring plans helps this to happen. Some will recommend mid day breaks. Especially for two adults, this is IMO a waste of time. If you get tired, stop for a snack or drink.

Have a magical trip.

 

[lovndisney]

Planning is one of my favorite things. It gets you in the mood. Well for me it does. I haven't been in 8 years, well by the time we go it will be 9. So there are so many new things to look forward to. Have fun planning and I hope that you can get your DH to love this vacation and want to return time and time again.

 

[ToddyLu]

I also recommend the passporter. I read it cover to cover before our first trip. DH and I wanted to do everything it was his second trip in about 20 years and my first. Once you have highlighted the things you want to see and do, plot the park hours and EMH. Try to stay on property, we really like Pop as opposed to ASMo, the busing is a bit easier especially late at night. We try as adults (with no children) to stay away from the pool areas, but that might not be good for you--less noise. Make your ADRs and write them down in the back of the Passporter with your ressie #--yes, it has planning pages in the back. Make notes of park times and all other info back there, especailly if you are going to a ticketed event. MIL left Christmas Party tickets at home last yeat, but easy to replace since I had the numbers in the back of the book.

Park hours and meals are a must in planning for first timers. If you have those you will be fine. Weather should be great in Feb, still cool. Mardi Gras week is popular and so is Presidents day so you may want to plan around those?

If you want to do someting cool, we did the Keys to the Kingdom tour our first trip, early in the morning, they provide a nice lunch. You get to see lots of areas behind the scenes and I think it would be a good choice if he is interested. We did not know that this would become our home away from home as a couple. We both are completely devoted to going yearly now. If you don't do everything this trip (and you won't), at least you will have an understanding of what you need to do for your second.

DH just came in and he is telling me to tell you to do MK first and take him on Pirates first--male point of view.

Warning!!! If this is your first trip. When you see the castle for the first time, your idea of vacation will change forever.

 

[Starlilly]

Thanks so mcuh for the replys so far! Lots of great info I can use!


Im very excited several posters mentioned the Passporter. Ive been looking for several guidebooks and that one looks by far the best. Today is my day off, maybe i'll swing by the bookstore and pick it up!

 

[Aliceacc]

Here's some of what I've learned since joining here:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1715551

 

[Starlilly]

dang I had a really long post and it got redirected and deleted. . oh well, maybe i'll write it up again tonight! LOL it was good too, I promise.

 

[dansyr2514]

Honestly, I learned the most from the dis forums..allearsnet and mousesavers.com.
I would first pick the dates I want to go
Then check wdw.com and check rates for different hotels. I don't know what your budget is but if hubby is not quite the disney enthusiast, I would check out some of the moderates instead. I think Coronado springs feels a bit more adult and not quite so "in your face" disney.
Decide on tickets, what kind? and dining plan or no? If it's just adults going I highly recommend the dining plan.
Once you have all that...start checking flights. If you see something reasonable...book it!!!! Believe me...I was going to wait and dbd talked me into getting flights now. Good thing..because flights prices have skyrocketed.

Once you have all that...book your trip.
From there I start researching restaurants and making adr's and spending a whole lot of time on the sites mentioned above.

Have fun planning....I think that is one of the best parts of a disney vacation.

 

[PinkandPink]

I agree with the passporter suggestion. I journaled what we did each day in the sections that they have for you in the passporter (with pockets!!) and it was so wonderful to look back with my DH and laugh at some of the things that we had forgotten happened on the trip! It was a lifesaver when I started scrapbooking the trip too.

 

[Mickey'n'Me]

I used Tour Guide Mike last year when we went and it was GREAT!!! It will tell you when the least crowded days are for each park which helped out a bunch since we have a 3 year old. Just FYI if your dates are flexible and your looking for ways to save money, Disney has been offering free dining plan when you book for a September trip. Good luck with your planning!