New & Clueless!

[madster76]

Hi! I'm Jenny and I live in the St Louis area with my husband and 3 kids. We've decided to plan our first trip to WDW for October of 09. The kids will be 6, 4, and 3 then. I have no idea where to start. I'm been browsing the board and still feel clueless and just overwhelmed. Whats' the best place to start??

 

[AJKMOM]

Better you feel this now than in a year when it would be too late.

You should go to the Resorts Board and figure out where you want to stay. If not onsite, then go to the Orlando Board that has reviews of off site hotels.

A good place to lurk also is www.allearsnet.com . it is a great web site with pictures of the onsite resorts, menus of the restaurants.

The boards here are full of stories of people who go to WDW totally clueless when they arrive in Orlando. This is one vacation where you must be prepared to survive.

You should figure out how many days you want to stay and what your budget is for the trip. Then you can pick a resort or hotel. Then you can start looking at restaurants you might want, character meals, sit down dinners, etc. A good place to familiarize yourself with is the forum here about abbreviations. TS, CS, DTD, MK, DHS, AK, all mean something and if you look and don't know, then you get even more lost.

The good news is that you have time, so even if you check 10 minutes a day to not overwhelm yourself, that is a good start.

 

[celerystalker]

Be sure to request the planning dvd from the disney website -
it's free and will help you figure out whats what.
It will also get the kids excited.

I also love the idea of getting a shoebox and decorating it for the kids (and you) to start saving money in. I think it helps teach the value of money and how to save to get what you want.

Have either a word document, excel document or plain old notebook and pen handy to keep notes as you surf. There's too much to read online and it helps to remember if a certain hotel, ride or restaurant appealed to you.
I prefer excel because I can put the prices down and add or subtract for dollar figures.

 

[stopher1]

Welcome!! Another good thing to do is to spend some time on the WDW website - just exploring and looking around at all of the different resorts, things to do, etc, etc.

 

[tinkbutt]

welcome I say go to resort and theme park boards to get a feel for what you want out of your vacation!

also just look at wdwinfo.com at all the resort info pages. then come to the boards to ask questions about what you like!

 

[Rylee]

Hi! I'm Jenny and I live in the St Louis area with my husband and 3 kids. We've decided to plan our first trip to WDW for October of 09. The kids will be 6, 4, and 3 then. I have no idea where to start. I'm been browsing the board and still feel clueless and just overwhelmed. Whats' the best place to start??

*A good place to start is to decide on a budget.

*Driving or flying?

*On-site or off?
I strongly recommend staying on-site at a Disney Resort. Lots of perks...

• Free transportation to and from the airport.
• Free transportation around WDW.
• No parking fees, if you'll have a car.
• Extra Magic Hours in the parks, only open to resort guest.
• Conveniently located, to return to resort for afternoon breaks, naps, swims.
• Escape the real world, and be surrounded in Disney Magic.

Resorts -
For a family of 5, your resort choices are slightly more limited. Accommodations for 5, lowest, going up in cost...

• Port Orleans Riverside - 1 room
• Value Resorts - 2 rooms
• All Star Music - Family Suite
• Fort Wilderness Cabin
• Deluxe Resorts - any room that will sleep 5.
• Villas and a few family suites at certain resorts.

*Tickets -
Magic Your Way base tickets allow entry to 1 park per day.
Park Hoppers allow for entry to more than 1 park per day. (Currently, a one time fee of about $45 per person.)
Water Parks and More Option buys admissions to the Water Parks, Disney Quest, Pleasure Island, etc. (Currently, a one time fee of about $50 per person.) **Planning on 1 visit to a Water Park, it's cheaper to buy admission at the gate, 2 or more visits, it's cheaper to add on this option.

*Dining -
Disney offers Dining Plans. The Basic DP is currently, about $38 for adults and $10 for children ages 3-9, X (times) the number of nights you stay. The basic plan includes 1 Tables Service meal (TS), 1 Counter Service meal (CS) and 1 snack.
My family loves the DP, but it may not be the best value for all families. Read menus and prices, here and at the allears site, to decide if it's right for your family.

*Advance Dining Reservations - Dining Plan or not... if you want to experience/dine at any on the TS restaurants, you'll need to schedule ADR's. You can book these 180 days in advance. (Your children would probably enjoy a character meal, or 2.)

*Order the planning DVD at the WDW site.
*Sign up at Mousesavers for the newsletter.
*Read info at the allears site.
*Check here for any discount codes to become available for your dates.

Enjoy the planning.

 

[Metro West]