New and overwhelmed...

[onceinalifetime]

Our family is going on our first Disney vacation. I am beyond thrilled as I have never been.

We are planning on going in October. I don't know where to begin? When do I book? How do I book? Do we pay when we book(reserve the room)?

We do know where we want to stay(at the POP) but I am reading about dining reservation, dining plans? Reservations for which resturants? What type of dinning plan?

How do we get from the airport to the resorts without renting a car? Taxi Cab?

My head is spinning. I want to make this the best experience possible for out family of 3.

Any insight or direction would be good. In the meantime, I will continue searching on the board.

 

[Metro West]

 

[Pig Pen]

Welcome to the Dis! You are going to have a great time with just a little planning. I have been dozens of times and will provide my insights. Here are some answers to your questions:

We are planning on going in October. October is a great time. The weather is less humid and WDW is decorated for Halloween and the Epcot Food and Wine Festival will be starting during Oct. Avoid Columbus Day weekend if possible.

I don't know where to begin? When do I book? How do I book? Do we pay when we book(reserve the room)? - Look for discount codes first of all. Try mousesavers.com to see what is out there. You can save up to 40 percent on a room only reservation by doing this. AAA offers small discounts as well.

If you are anxious to book, go ahead and reserve the room as soon as you know your dates as most times you can change the reservation when a discount code comes out. You can book online or by calling. If you book online at disneyworld.com, look for the "special offers" box to see if they are offering any deals for your travel dates.

Payment options usually depend on what type of package you buy. My last trip was a room only deal, booked with my annual passholder discount. I had to pay one night up front, I had a five day cancellation window, and the remainder was due upon arrival (or checkout...not sure when they actually process the credit card).

We do know where we want to stay(at the POP) but I am reading about dining reservation, dining plans? Reservations for which resturants? What type of dinning plan? Disney sometimes offers package deals with free dining. I am not sure if free dining is the best deal as you have to pay full price for the room, but you would have to work the numbers to see.

If free dining is not offered during your dates, you can get a Magic Your Way package that includes the dining plan (approx $50 per adult per night) for one snack, one counter service meal, one table service meal per night. IMO, it's a lot of food and a lot of time out of your day spent in food establishments. There is also a counter service only plan that is cheaper per day. Not sure of the details for that.

WDW has dozens and dozens of restaurants ranging from hot dog counters to full service five star gourmet. There are character meals, hoe-downs, BBQs, luaus, etc. Something for every age and every budget. W/O knowing your ages and expectations, it is hard to recommend something.

How do we get from the airport to the resorts without renting a car? Taxi Cab?WDW has free airport transportation to resort guests - Magical Express bus service. You can book this when you make your resort reservation, or add it later if you don't know your flights.

My head is spinning. I want to make this the best experience possible for out family of 3. I hope this helps get you started.

 

[onceinalifetime]

Thank you SO MUCH for your imput/advice! I now have somewhere to start!!!! I am beyond excited.

Welcome to the Dis! You are going to have a great time with just a little planning. I have been dozens of times and will provide my insights. Here are some answers to your questions:

We are planning on going in October. October is a great time. The weather is less humid and WDW is decorated for Halloween and the Epcot Food and Wine Festival will be starting during Oct. Avoid Columbus Day weekend if possible.

I don't know where to begin? When do I book? How do I book? Do we pay when we book(reserve the room)? - Look for discount codes first of all. Try mousesavers.com to see what is out there. You can save up to 40 percent on a room only reservation by doing this. AAA offers small discounts as well.

If you are anxious to book, go ahead and reserve the room as soon as you know your dates as most times you can change the reservation when a discount code comes out. You can book online or by calling. If you book online at disneyworld.com, look for the "special offers" box to see if they are offering any deals for your travel dates.

Payment options usually depend on what type of package you buy. My last trip was a room only deal, booked with my annual passholder discount. I had to pay one night up front, I had a five day cancellation window, and the remainder was due upon arrival (or checkout...not sure when they actually process the credit card).

We do know where we want to stay(at the POP) but I am reading about dining reservation, dining plans? Reservations for which resturants? What type of dinning plan? Disney sometimes offers package deals with free dining. I am not sure if free dining is the best deal as you have to pay full price for the room, but you would have to work the numbers to see.

If free dining is not offered during your dates, you can get a Magic Your Way package that includes the dining plan (approx $50 per adult per night) for one snack, one counter service meal, one table service meal per night. IMO, it's a lot of food and a lot of time out of your day spent in food establishments. There is also a counter service only plan that is cheaper per day. Not sure of the details for that.

WDW has dozens and dozens of restaurants ranging from hot dog counters to full service five star gourmet. There are character meals, hoe-downs, BBQs, luaus, etc. Something for every age and every budget. W/O knowing your ages and expectations, it is hard to recommend something.

How do we get from the airport to the resorts without renting a car? Taxi Cab?WDW has free airport transportation to resort guests - Magical Express bus service. You can book this when you make your resort reservation, or add it later if you don't know your flights.

My head is spinning. I want to make this the best experience possible for out family of 3. I hope this helps get you started.

 

[n220main]

another good thing to do is order a free vacation planning video. Also check out allears.net. click on dinning and it has all of the menus listed for the resort. the above post has all of the basics covered but this site has great people that can give you any other info you might need. have a great time planning your trip!

 

[pepe of ohio]

Don't get caught up in the hoopla and buy or book more than you can do. Longer stays can make getting introduced to Disney alot easier especially for first timers. I'm not in favor of hoppers and more tickets for first visits, too much to see and do and so little time. Plan a park a day....down day mid trip to explore and relax......we're not believers in the dining plan, eats up alot of time and you're always on a time schedule...counter service serves us well, but we're veterans....been there enough to know so choose wisely..

 

[pwdebbie]

For a first ever trip, it might be nice to use one of the Disney travel agencies mentioned here on the DIS. Let the travel agent handle the booking for you -- they will watch for discounts and quickly get them applied to your reservation. We did our first two trips that way, then our third trip I felt confident enough to handle it all on my own. I'm glad I used a travel agent the first two times until I was more familiar with all things Disney. (Personally, I don't recommend AAA because I've heard of too many people being given misinformation by them.)

Relax and have fun!

 

[onceinalifetime]

another good thing to do is order a free vacation planning video. Also check out allears.net. click on dinning and it has all of the menus listed for the resort. the above post has all of the basics covered but this site has great people that can give you any other info you might need. have a great time planning your trip!

Thanks. I did order a DVD. I'll check out allears for the menus! Thanks for the tips

 

[onceinalifetime]

Don't get caught up in the hoopla and buy or book more than you can do. Longer stays can make getting introduced to Disney alot easier especially for first timers. I'm not in favor of hoppers and more tickets for first visits, too much to see and do and so little time. Plan a park a day....down day mid trip to explore and relax......we're not believers in the dining plan, eats up alot of time and you're always on a time schedule...counter service serves us well, but we're veterans....been there enough to know so choose wisely..

Thanks. We did decided not to do the park hoppers. We can only handle one park a day. Our DS fatigues easily. We also aren't doing the park everyday, that again is way too much for us. We are planning 7 days and 6 nights.

If you don't do the dinning plan, do you allot yourself enough money for meals? We were thinking about getting grocceries delievered to our hotel and eating breakfast in our rooms and taking a snack for lunch with us and then doing a nice dinner.

 

[onceinalifetime]

For a first ever trip, it might be nice to use one of the Disney travel agencies mentioned here on the DIS. Let the travel agent handle the booking for you -- they will watch for discounts and quickly get them applied to your reservation. We did our first two trips that way, then our third trip I felt confident enough to handle it all on my own. I'm glad I used a travel agent the first two times until I was more familiar with all things Disney. (Personally, I don't recommend AAA because I've heard of too many people being given misinformation by them.)

Relax and have fun!

Thanks! We did inquire to a travel agency recommending from this board I am beyond excited and my DH just rolls his eyes

 

[homedad]

go buy th Unofficial Guide to WDW its a great source of info, still buy it every year we go to get updated info.....October is a great time too.

 

[coupon*clipper]

Congrats!!

We just got back a week ago, and although it was our second Disney visit, it was our first time staying and eating onsite - Port Orleans French Quarter. I hope I can offer a little bit of help. We were 2 adults, 1 older child who qualified as an adult in regards to ticket purchase and dining plan, and 1 child under 9.

We booked through 407-WDISNEY and I found that regardless of with whom I spoke on different occasions, they are definitely trained to sell, sell, sell. That said, be aware in advance what you want, need, and are willing to pay for, or else they could talk you into buying more than you wish to pay for.

We chose the "plus" dining plan which gave each person 1 snack, 1 quick service meal (cafeteria type), and 1 table service meal (sit down dinner).

The pros were that we had some very fun and very memorable dinners together as a family, and it was so nice to sit and relax in a nice restaurant at the end of a tiring day of walking. One night we enjoyed a dinner at Teppan Edo, in the Japan area of Epcot, the chef puts on a cute show for the guests, and it's lots of fun for the kids, but the food was just good, not great. We used 2 table service credits to book a show at the Hoop Dee Do Musical Revue, which was lots of fun, and tons of food. All sit down dinners include a drink and a dessert, no one ever left hungry, lol.

The cons were that we felt we should add the Park Hopper option because we may end up in one park during the day, yet have dinner reservations in a different park for the evening. You may consider opting out of the Park Hopper option if you are willing to visit the same park in which you have dinner reservations that night. Another possible con is always being aware of what time your dinner reservations are, making sure you build in adequate time to travel from where you currently are to get to your reservations on time, and possibly having dinner run long enough that you miss out on some 7 pm or 8 pm parades and/or fireworks. In hindsight, I would make reservations earlier, say 5 to 5:30, instead of later. Lastly, if you chose the option with 1 table service plan, absolutely, positively, make your reservations ASAP. We visited during the off-season (Feb 1-7), and attempted to change 2 reservations to earlier times, and could not, everything was booked solid.

If you choose the "plus quick service dining", you get 2 snacks and 2 quick service meals. The benefits to this are you can pop in and out of the restaurants at anytime, you're not tied down to a specific time. You could choose your 2 main meals to be breakfast and dinner, or choose lunch and dinner, or, choose breakfast and dinner, whichever works for your family. Then the 2 snacks could fill in the remaining meal. For example 1 coffee and 1 bagel would use your 2 snacks to make breakfast that day. Or if you had used the quick service credit for your breakfast, then your lunch could be 1 smoothie and 1 muffin. Also, most quick service restaurants offer lighter meals, like salads, and heartier meals, like burger and fries. So quick service won't mean you are going to eat the same thing every day. Both quick service also includes 1 drink and 1 dessert per person.

There are heartier choices for snacks too. For example, Anandupur Cafe in Animal Kingdom offers chicken fried rice, or a basket of french fries, yet each counts as a snack. Another is Pinocchio Village Haus in Magic Kingdom, where you can get a mixed greens salad and a side of fries to use 2 snack credits. Here's one site I found that might help: http://www.onlywdworld.com/2010/04/best-disney-dining-plan-snacks.html

As far as transportation, Disney's Magical Express takes you from the airport to the resort, and then back again. Very convenient. The only potential downside is this: our flight home was for 9:30 am, which meant we had to be on the bus leaving the resort at 6:30 am. Ouch, lol. The Magical Express makes several stops at other resorts to pick up more guests, so the trip to the airport took 50 minutes from the French Quarter. Take that into account when planning your time.

Lastly, if you book with Disney, ask them directly if they are offering any specials or promos, such as free dining plan, for the days you are there. I did, and the agent told me point blank that they are not allowed to volunteer that information, but once the guest asks, then they can look it up. She told me that yes, the week we were there qualified for the free dining plan, so that was great news! If there is no free dining during that time, then ask if there are room discounts available, I *think* there is a thread here that posts current room discount codes. Disney won't allow combining 2 discounts together, though, so if both promos are in effect, you will have to choose 1. For us 4, the free dining plan was a pricier freebie than a room discount.

I hope that helps out a little. Enjoy your trip!

ETA: I found the thread with the discount codes:

The DIS Discussion Forums -
DISboards.com >
Disney Trip Planning Forums >
Disney Resorts
Disney Discount Codes and Rates

 

[aprilntommy2005]

Thanks. We did decided not to do the park hoppers. We can only handle one park a day. Our DS fatigues easily. We also aren't doing the park everyday, that again is way too much for us. We are planning 7 days and 6 nights.

If you don't do the dinning plan, do you allot yourself enough money for meals? We were thinking about getting grocceries delievered to our hotel and eating breakfast in our rooms and taking a snack for lunch with us and then doing a nice dinner.

We too are going around the same time as you.. We are going the end of Sept/ Early part of Oct. 7 nights 8 days ( we are staying at 2 different resorts) I thought we were just going to stay at CBR but I might change it up some!! But as of now Im book for only CBR! Im thinking of adding CSR or even PoP!! I have been planning this for about 3 wks now. This to is our first time. We are a family of 4. My kids are 7 and 9 ( both boys) we also want to enjoy the resort as my son has ADD, OCD, and Muscel issue's and walking isnt his strong key ( we will have a wheelchair for him) So we plan on doing the parks a few hours then coming back to our room/resort for some down time then back to the park. We arent doing the Hopper pass but we are doing the "Water n More" you may want to check that out. We are getting a 3 day pass with water in more. Meaning we get 3 days at the parks and 3 days of the water parks( 2 of them) Disney Quest or ESPN Sport Center. Happy planning!!!

 

[Pig Pen]

Thanks. We did decided not to do the park hoppers. We can only handle one park a day. Our DS fatigues easily. We also aren't doing the park everyday, that again is way too much for us. We are planning 7 days and 6 nights.

If you don't do the dinning plan, do you allot yourself enough money for meals? We were thinking about getting grocceries delievered to our hotel and eating breakfast in our rooms and taking a snack for lunch with us and then doing a nice dinner.

FYI - Your plan will work, however there are no fridges, coffee makers or microwaves in value rooms. You can rent a fridge at the resort for a fee (maybe $10 or $15 a night?) and use the microwave at the food court. You can also purchase the refillable mugs for about $12 each and get free beverages at your resort for the duration of your stay (not valid for refills at the parks).

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

Good luck with your planning - that's almost half the fun!

May I suggest that you look into buying a subscription to "Tour Guide Mike" (TGM) - he's listed as a sponsor on these boards.

I used his suggestions the first time we went as a family and we had a great trip. WDW is a huge conglomerate of attractions, rides, restaurants, etc - and there is so much to do & see, that you couldn't even begin to know about half of it without an exhaustive resource at hand! TGM will give you an overall view, as well as a very do-able strategy for your family, and detailed accounts of most rides, attractions, dining establishments, shows, etc. He'll even give you recommendations as to what to do and see with respect to the age or activity level of the people in your party. He'll provide you with dates you'll need in order to reserve certain shows, restaurants, activities, etc. (You can't even begin to imagine all the things available at a single resort - much less in the parks - or throughout the grounds! And there's no way you can do it all. So read thru the guides, pick what's important for you the first time, and make notes for subsequent trips! Because there WILL be more trips. We planned the "Trip of a Lifetime" thinking it would be our one and only - and have been back 4 years in a row since!!!)

The way he broke things down and explained each and every thing enabled me to get at least a tiny grip on the picture. Even now, several years later, I'm no expert! In addition, the people on his boards are friendly and truly helpful. You can ask questions till the cows come home and never be made to feel foolish. I think his boards are awesome. Only second to the DisBoards!

He will explain the intracacies of FAST PASSES, the importance of getting to the parks at a certain time, advantages & disadvantages of the dining plan, which attractions (shows, restaurants, rides, etc) are Must See's vs Don't Do's, etc...

I will say tho that there are a few negatives involved with TGM too. When we first used his plans they were spot on. When we tried to do so in subsequent years, it seemed that he didin't update his info - and we were left with outdated or even no info on certain things. He became lax with ride, attraction, and show updates - as well as his crowd calendar. Things may have improved in the interim since we've used him, so I'll defer to any current TGM users who will chime in here.

You do have to pay for a subscription to his services (which heightens my dissatisfaction with the service lately. Again - I've not been a subscriber for over a year, so things may have improved.)

Other resources I'd like to suggest are:
touringplans.com
passporter.com
and of course, mousesavers.com

Happy planning and I know you'll have a magical trip!

Please continue to post if you have any questions. Sometimes it's even hard to know if you HAVE questions, because you don't know enough about what is available. But we're here for you!

 

[onceinalifetime]

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! Helpful tips. I just need to find a place to start and get work from there.

I like the idea of the dinning plan because I do NOT want to have to worry about meals, HOWEVER, it looks costly. BUT--we want to enjoy ourselves and not have to worry about food.

I scope out the dinning forum of this board and get some more tips

Congrats!!

We just got back a week ago, and although it was our second Disney visit, it was our first time staying and eating onsite - Port Orleans French Quarter. I hope I can offer a little bit of help. We were 2 adults, 1 older child who qualified as an adult in regards to ticket purchase and dining plan, and 1 child under 9.

We booked through 407-WDISNEY and I found that regardless of with whom I spoke on different occasions, they are definitely trained to sell, sell, sell. That said, be aware in advance what you want, need, and are willing to pay for, or else they could talk you into buying more than you wish to pay for.

We chose the "plus" dining plan which gave each person 1 snack, 1 quick service meal (cafeteria type), and 1 table service meal (sit down dinner).

The pros were that we had some very fun and very memorable dinners together as a family, and it was so nice to sit and relax in a nice restaurant at the end of a tiring day of walking. One night we enjoyed a dinner at Teppan Edo, in the Japan area of Epcot, the chef puts on a cute show for the guests, and it's lots of fun for the kids, but the food was just good, not great. We used 2 table service credits to book a show at the Hoop Dee Do Musical Revue, which was lots of fun, and tons of food. All sit down dinners include a drink and a dessert, no one ever left hungry, lol.

The cons were that we felt we should add the Park Hopper option because we may end up in one park during the day, yet have dinner reservations in a different park for the evening. You may consider opting out of the Park Hopper option if you are willing to visit the same park in which you have dinner reservations that night. Another possible con is always being aware of what time your dinner reservations are, making sure you build in adequate time to travel from where you currently are to get to your reservations on time, and possibly having dinner run long enough that you miss out on some 7 pm or 8 pm parades and/or fireworks. In hindsight, I would make reservations earlier, say 5 to 5:30, instead of later. Lastly, if you chose the option with 1 table service plan, absolutely, positively, make your reservations ASAP. We visited during the off-season (Feb 1-7), and attempted to change 2 reservations to earlier times, and could not, everything was booked solid.

If you choose the "plus quick service dining", you get 2 snacks and 2 quick service meals. The benefits to this are you can pop in and out of the restaurants at anytime, you're not tied down to a specific time. You could choose your 2 main meals to be breakfast and dinner, or choose lunch and dinner, or, choose breakfast and dinner, whichever works for your family. Then the 2 snacks could fill in the remaining meal. For example 1 coffee and 1 bagel would use your 2 snacks to make breakfast that day. Or if you had used the quick service credit for your breakfast, then your lunch could be 1 smoothie and 1 muffin. Also, most quick service restaurants offer lighter meals, like salads, and heartier meals, like burger and fries. So quick service won't mean you are going to eat the same thing every day. Both quick service also includes 1 drink and 1 dessert per person.

There are heartier choices for snacks too. For example, Anandupur Cafe in Animal Kingdom offers chicken fried rice, or a basket of french fries, yet each counts as a snack. Another is Pinocchio Village Haus in Magic Kingdom, where you can get a mixed greens salad and a side of fries to use 2 snack credits. Here's one site I found that might help:


As far as transportation, Disney's Magical Express takes you from the airport to the resort, and then back again. Very convenient. The only potential downside is this: our flight home was for 9:30 am, which meant we had to be on the bus leaving the resort at 6:30 am. Ouch, lol. The Magical Express makes several stops at other resorts to pick up more guests, so the trip to the airport took 50 minutes from the French Quarter. Take that into account when planning your time.

Lastly, if you book with Disney, ask them directly if they are offering any specials or promos, such as free dining plan, for the days you are there. I did, and the agent told me point blank that they are not allowed to volunteer that information, but once the guest asks, then they can look it up. She told me that yes, the week we were there qualified for the free dining plan, so that was great news! If there is no free dining during that time, then ask if there are room discounts available, I *think* there is a thread here that posts current room discount codes. Disney won't allow combining 2 discounts together, though, so if both promos are in effect, you will have to choose 1. For us 4, the free dining plan was a pricier freebie than a room discount.

I hope that helps out a little. Enjoy your trip!

ETA: I found the thread with the discount codes:

The DIS Discussion Forums -
DISboards.com >
Disney Trip Planning Forums >
Disney Resorts
Disney Discount Codes and Rates

 

[onceinalifetime]

go buy th Unofficial Guide to WDW its a great source of info, still buy it every year we go to get updated info.....October is a great time too.

Done! This was my first "disney" purchase. I've heard nothing but great things about the book.

 

[onceinalifetime]

We too are going around the same time as you.. We are going the end of Sept/ Early part of Oct. 7 nights 8 days ( we are staying at 2 different resorts) I thought we were just going to stay at CBR but I might change it up some!! But as of now Im book for only CBR! Im thinking of adding CSR or even PoP!! I have been planning this for about 3 wks now. This to is our first time. We are a family of 4. My kids are 7 and 9 ( both boys) we also want to enjoy the resort as my son has ADD, OCD, and Muscel issue's and walking isnt his strong key ( we will have a wheelchair for him) So we plan on doing the parks a few hours then coming back to our room/resort for some down time then back to the park. We arent doing the Hopper pass but we are doing the "Water n More" you may want to check that out. We are getting a 3 day pass with water in more. Meaning we get 3 days at the parks and 3 days of the water parks( 2 of them) Disney Quest or ESPN Sport Center. Happy planning!!!

Have a fun

 

[onceinalifetime]

FYI - Your plan will work, however there are no fridges, coffee makers or microwaves in value rooms. You can rent a fridge at the resort for a fee (maybe $10 or $15 a night?) and use the microwave at the food court. You can also purchase the refillable mugs for about $12 each and get free beverages at your resort for the duration of your stay (not valid for refills at the parks).

UGH, that stinks Thanks for that tip. Need another plan now

 

[Pig Pen]

We have done every kind of food combo imaginable...dining plans, cooking in a DVC villa, cooler in the room, you name it, we've done it (well, maybe not the George Foreman grill idea). Nothing is ever perfect, but this routine seems to work best for us:

Breakfast - grab something in the POP food court. They have fruit, cereal, muffins, yogurt, toast, etc. You can do a light breakfast for relatively cheap.

Lunch - you can save money sometimes by doing your table service meal at lunch instead of evening. For example, the Tusker House buffet is $8 cheaper at lunch and has practically the same offerings as dinner. Lots of times we will spend the morning at the parks, then do a nice meal mid-afternoon, then go back to the resort for a swim/rest/nap.

TIP: Serving sizes at WDW tend to be huge. DH and I often get a salad or soup each, then split an entree. This goes for counter service as well. Cosmic Ray's rib/chicken combo for $13.99 is more than enough for two people!

Dinner - we tend to eat light at night, so will just grab a sandwich or a snack in the evening.

You can get a cup of water for free at any counter service restaurant with a meal instead of a soft drink.