New here and to Disneyworld, WOW!

[mrodgers]

Howdy folks! New here, new to Disney!

I am trying to plan a trip for my family, our first family trip, and the kid's first trip ever (2 girls, 6 and 9.)

We have been overwhelmed with bills for the last 9 years and finally we had thoughts of going on vacation. After doing some figuring, I had a plan made up to go just to the beach like Ocean City, but then looked at Disney. I had no idea what it would cost. I had always thought it would cost a fortune! Not at all from what I'm looking at with the value resorts (or even some of the moderate which was my initial plan make-up.)

So, here I am, trying to absorb it all. At first it was all confusing, but I sorted everything out with lodging, parks, and stuff. Only the dining looks overwhelming.

We would like to go in June as the kids get out of school what seems like a week or more earlier than any other schools that I know of at least around us. My concern is, is it too late to book a trip now for June? What time requirements are there for booking? Seems everyone books 3/4 to a year in advance.

My basic outline is 5 nights at Pop Century Resort, Magic 4-way with hopper, Deluxe Dining (I think, the 1 table service.) We plan to not use the hopper because to make it simple, we just plan to visit each park for a full day. The 3rd day we will use to refresh and regroup after having a bit of short experience under our belts and let the kids just relax at the resort pool. That night we will check out the Boardwalk and downtown.

Going to be a long drive for us coming from PA for a first family trip. We will split the drive in 2 days, so that gives us a total of 8 days hundreds then a thousand miles away from the work grind!!!!

Searched out this forum in Google and wow, there is a lot of information. So much information it is difficult to sort through to gather information you need, LOL. Big difficulty I will say is everyone abreviates everything on this forum so us new folks have no idea what the info is we are looking at.

Ok, there's my first post. My questions are so basic and "newbieish", I'm having trouble finding the answers, but I don't want to stick them here in a basically introduction post. So I'll just leave it to my most basic question that I put up there... when is it too late to book and am I fine for an early/mid June booking?

Thanks all. The 6 yr old's jaw dropped and stayed dropped when I showed her some promotion videos on the parks, so I'm pretty sure this is going to be a good trip

 

[DisGirl23]

Welcome! I am new to the boards but, not to Disney. Been there about 20 times in my 33 years.
We were just there last month and had the basic dining plan which is 1 quick service meal, 1 table service meal and 1 snack for each person, each night of your stay. You may use them in any order you like. The Advanced Dining Reservation window just opened up to 180 days before the start of your trip. If you want table service meals, especially in the summer, you definitely want to make reservations. Even though we did the free dining, I found that even if we had paid for the dining plan, we would have still saved so much $$$.
It is not too late to book for June however, i would do it soon so you can plan your dining. If you book through Disney, you make a down payment and can make payments whenever you like as long as it's paid off 45 days before you trip.
And I wouldn't pay for the hopper if you don't think you'll use it. That's about $200 more you'll have for fun stuff down there. Just plan to maybe head back to the hotel for down down time (or pool time) in the afternoon, when it's really hot out. You can re-enter the same park throughout the day without the hopper. So you can head back in the evening for more fun and the fireworks!
Hope I got you off to a good start!

 

[Millie12591]

mrodgers~

First things first!

Looks like your off to a great start! First, you should probably read the link to Abbreviations and print it out so you can navagaite the site better, before to long you'll have them all down. I've been on here a couple of years and still learning a few of them (to lazy to copy off the list).

Next, I think if your planning for the summer it's not to late to book, I'm going in May 18th I just booked the other day, my dining date to be able to start booking dining isn't until Nov.20th. So in other words you still have plenty of time, your 180 days out from your trip will be in Dec., when you book your trip on the phone ask the Cast Member-CM what date (your 180 days out)you'll be able to book your dining. But! I wouldn't waste any time booking your room if I were you, there may be free dining so a lot of people are booking thinking it will happen.
As for where to dine, I have the perfect place for you to look at Menu's and reviews, of course take them with a grain of salt, when it comes to what people like to eat it's all perspective. AllEars.Net is the site and you won't be disappointed about using them, they've been a life saver for me when planning in the past. If the rating is between a 7-8 it's a toss up, other wise it's accurate. By the way, this is a perfect age for your kids to be going, they are old enough to go most of the day and old enough to remember it.

You'll looooove the POP! For your first trip and with the girls being the ages they are you should do the POP first!! It's the least run down out of all the values and it's the newest (big thing for me) We did and looooved it, but this time around the kids are bigger so we need a bit more room, we're doing CSR-Coronado Springs Resort (the only moderate resort that has queen sized beds and recently refurbished), I admit I'm torn between doing POP and this place because the feel of the POP adds to the excitment of the trip, especially for the kids, but the needed room wins out. Values capture the Disney feel, Mods and Deluxes don't as much, but are really wonderful for many other reasons. Of course you'll get tons of other opinions on this, but go with your gut on this one.

Be sure that you have a real reason to do the hoppers, if your doing one park per day and your dining ressie's aren't taking you into a different park from the one your in that day then you won't need the hoppers, just your tickets for the park. The resorts have some wonderful dining, keep that in mind when making your ressie's for eating your Table Service-TS. I'm sure the girls will want to see some princesses, so keep in mind the TS that are with the characters, the Grand Floridian-GF has a great one for dinner, it's in their 1900 Park Fare restaurant, (Cindy, Prince Charming, Wicked Step Mother and Sisters are here, it's the only place you get to be around Prince Charming-PC besides the parades and CRT-Cindy's Royal Table which is almost impossible to get into and the food isn't as good as 1900 Park Fare) it's a buffet (don't turn your nose up yet) and it's probably one the biggest surprises of our visit when we went! We did breakfast there as well as dinner and I was not disappointed! I'm a pretty picky eater when it comes to buffet's, I generally don't like them.
So I wasn't expecting this to be so good, but it was and so was Crystal Palace- CP, this is in Magic Kingdom-MK, CP had a wonderful breakfast!!! And if you can get the first seating 8:05 a.m. (I think), then you'll get into the park before it opens and walk down Main St. without the mobs of people taking away from your seeing the castle for the first time, not to mention photo ops are pretty cool without all the people too.

This is a very busy time of the year, not to mention hot, so be sure to take your time, don't try and do it all, because you won't be able to, read the boards, ask lots of questions, and if you don't get an answer, then you can always send me off a private message (after you have 10 posts you'll be able to send me a private message) and I will do my best to answer your questions, and or direct you to someone who will know.

Be sure to hit up the Fairy Godmailer thread (should be on the welcome page) and have someone send the girls a post card from one of their favorite characters (if they have a post card of them) at WDW and see their faces light up! You'll have to do this for someone in turn while your there, it's totally a pay it forward sort of thing. I did it for three families and even sent a card for one of the mom's from Mickey! She loved it!
OK, I think I overwhelmed you enough now. Go to it! You'll do a great job, your so much more ahead of the game than you think.

Howdy folks! New here, new to Disney!

I am trying to plan a trip for my family, our first family trip, and the kid's first trip ever (2 girls, 6 and 9.)

We have been overwhelmed with bills for the last 9 years and finally we had thoughts of going on vacation. After doing some figuring, I had a plan made up to go just to the beach like Ocean City, but then looked at Disney. I had no idea what it would cost. I had always thought it would cost a fortune! Not at all from what I'm looking at with the value resorts (or even some of the moderate which was my initial plan make-up.)

So, here I am, trying to absorb it all. At first it was all confusing, but I sorted everything out with lodging, parks, and stuff. Only the dining looks overwhelming.

We would like to go in June as the kids get out of school what seems like a week or more earlier than any other schools that I know of at least around us. My concern is, is it too late to book a trip now for June? What time requirements are there for booking? Seems everyone books 3/4 to a year in advance.

My basic outline is 5 nights at Pop Century Resort, Magic 4-way with hopper, Deluxe Dining (I think, the 1 table service.) We plan to not use the hopper because to make it simple, we just plan to visit each park for a full day. The 3rd day we will use to refresh and regroup after having a bit of short experience under our belts and let the kids just relax at the resort pool. That night we will check out the Boardwalk and downtown.

Going to be a long drive for us coming from PA for a first family trip. We will split the drive in 2 days, so that gives us a total of 8 days hundreds then a thousand miles away from the work grind!!!!

Searched out this forum in Google and wow, there is a lot of information. So much information it is difficult to sort through to gather information you need, LOL. Big difficulty I will say is everyone abreviates everything on this forum so us new folks have no idea what the info is we are looking at.

Ok, there's my first post. My questions are so basic and "newbieish", I'm having trouble finding the answers, but I don't want to stick them here in a basically introduction post. So I'll just leave it to my most basic question that I put up there... when is it too late to book and am I fine for an early/mid June booking?

Thanks all. The 6 yr old's jaw dropped and stayed dropped when I showed her some promotion videos on the parks, so I'm pretty sure this is going to be a good trip

 

[Metro West]

 

[magicaldisney]

 

[pepe of ohio]

Second of all, don't be overwhelmed, it's a vacation like any other just more to see. We're sort of Disney veterans, 43 trips so far, and the secret to our success is long stays, makes the touring easier and the vacation more enjoyable. We're also not dining fans, we don't want a schedule and times to rule our stay. We've seen guests with ADR's, sitting and waiting to be seated, extending their dining slot to 2 hours for a meal, from the time of arrival, waiting to be seated, (an ADR is priority seating), ordering, waiting for food, dining and waiting for the check, very time consuming. We prefer to make lunches a pool picnic from groceries we picked up in route and always take the noonish break, eat and enjoy the resort and pool. Breakfasts are very easy from the food courts and big enough to share. dinners, as stated above, we're not TS people, Disney's prices are ridiculous and the food is mediocre so we prefer counter service for dinner or maybe a buffet, Disney to us is about the atmosphere, parks and relaxation, not the food. We really enjoy our stays, we eat what we like when we like and have been doing it this way for years, but to each their own.

We used to do June many many years ago, great month but we like the fall months better now. There's really no whens or when nots to go, you go when you can but we stick to value seasons, room rates are cheaper for the same room. We don't plan alot, we make park decisions when we're there and sometimes grab the first bus that pulls in, no tour guide subscription or tour plans for us, it's a vacation, we'll see most and are coming back.

My advice is to not over-plan, enjoy what's in front of you, not what's around the corner. Take time out to enjoy the resort and it's amenities, and relax, everything on property is magic and isn't going to run away. A basic knowledge of the parks layout is more important to us than a minute by minute tour plan, we start in one direction and continue around taking in each attraction as we come to it, not criss crossing and jumping around the park and the next time we visit the same park we start the opposite way and tour till we get to where we left off. We visit the parks more than once in a trip, we also hop, morning in one park, then break and a different park in the evening and if a park gets too congested we leave and go elsewhere, no big deal and doesn't take hours to do. We also never rented a car and have relied on Disney transportation for years and always will, it's efficient and free and part of the adventure.

Hope this helps, just relax and have a good time, Disney is a vacation, not a job or chore.

 

[chaoscent]

Ditto Pepe's advice, don't over plan and leave time for realaxing and fun. Read up on the different places to eat on the dining boards. I also don't do the dining plan unless it's free. I did it the last two times I went because I went with my niece and she did it. I realized I was waiting to eat food I didn't love. With that said, I love Crystal Palace, LeCellier and CA Grill. So we always try and eat at these places each time we go, and then do counter service wherever we happen to be. Or we go off grounds
Don't forget to bring comfortable shoes, you will be doing a lot of walking. Moleskin is a must and is always in my fanny pack.

Also, if you are driving, there is a Disney outlet store right inside the Florida state line (I am sure if you post a question on the budget board, they will know where). My niece's family are pin traders so they stopped there to pick up some pins. They were very impressed with the other bargains they found and now make it a regular stop when they drive in from VA. We fly from PA so we haven't been there.

Remember that you are asking people for their OPINION, and so you will get that. One person will say the dining plan is the best thing since sliced bread and for their family it is. Another will say they don't use, and for their family it's the best thing. That is why they make chocolate & vanillaWhatever decision you make for your family, that works for you, is fine.

I have an Annual Pass (AP) but always buy my husband a 10 day Park Hopper. After many trips to the World, I realize we rarely hop to other parks unless we start off in one and go back to another in the evening. So I am picking DH up a 10 non hopper (as I expect ticket prices to go up soon.) & we will keep the hopper ticket for when we do hop.

Lastly, Disney has been putting out lots of promotions lately due to the economy. I would book pop century now and then keep your eye out for discounts/promotions. Or I would use a Disney travel agent. The DisBoards have some. I would not use a home town travel agent unless you are sure they are Disney experts. A travel agent costs you nothing and can save you time (and money). I normally don't use them any more as I am a control freak and want to make too many changes. Also, I am a DVC owner now and rarely stay in the Resorts. I am spoiled having a washer/dryer/kitchen in my one bedroom.

Oh, I forgot, some people make their own autograph books, t-shirts, planning books, mousekeeping tip envelopes, etc., etc., etc. You can check them out in the Creative DISign forum near the bottom of the thread listing page.

One more thing, If you post a question and don't get an answer, bump it to the top again. sometimes posts get overlooked because they move down the page so quickly.

have fun planning, Penny

 

[dsaville]

We had our first trip to Disneyworld last June courtesy of their buy 4 nights get three free. We went from the 7-15th. It was hot and humid, but we made it through just fine. This board provided me with lots of great tips and ideas plus I asked friends and family who helped out.

I'd keep in mind you can always book now and you can always change later as long as you haven't hit that 45 day mark. Our trip was originally planned for Nov of 2008, but was moved as my wife became pregant so we moved it to Nov 2009. When disney came out w/the special, we switched to June of 09. So just because you book now doesn't mean you can't change it by a few days or months.

When you do book, figure out your 180 day mark you can make your table service reservations. It really is a lot of fun when you get there, you just have to put in a little work planning before

 

[macnodos]

Good ideas so far, the basic dining plan would probably accomodate you offering one table serve, snack, and quick serve. One change I would suggest is MYW base with hopper option (don't need non-expiring). Touring with younger ones from breakfast through evening makes for a very long and not necessarilly enjoyable day. Its nice to break around lunch and go back out late afternoon to a different park and possibly dinner. Grabbing a bite at your resort and maybe some swimming/nap during afternoon break. Park hopper gives you maximum flexibility.

As far as planning, try and come with a must do list and develop a general strategy. Over planning is probably not the best way. You will not see and do everything, therefore try and experience the featured attractions and what ever else you can squeeze in. We"ve been there seven times in the last ten years and there are still things we haven't done. One thing I would strongly suggest is make your ADR's ASAP if you are on the dining plan.

Good Luck and have fun!

 

[disney*mom*82]

First of all ....welcome! The Disboards is a great place and lots of friendly people. I dont think Ive ever seen a question posted on here that someone couldnt answer and point the person in the right direction. We go to Disney 1-2x per year and I LOOOOOOOOVE to do all of our planning. Ive helped walk many people through Disney planning over the net and am in the process of planning my next trip along with some friends of ours first WDW trip for March 2010. It is so much fun, but can be very confusing the first few times around.

First of all Ide narrow down your dates for sure that you would like to go to WDW and start looking at the resorts and pick where you rather stay. I reccomend Port Orleans Riverside, it is our fav resort and we only stay there. It is very beautiful, quiet, large and a better food court than most others. But, we havent been to every resort, if you ask, you will get reccomendations for all of them for one reason or another.

Start deciding where you want to eat. Do you want to eat in the parks when there? Do you want to leave the park and go to the resort or anther resort to eat? I always decide where we want to eat for each day according to park hours. There is a page or restraunts that will take the DDP. I would suggest the basic dining package, it is 1 table service, 1 quick service and 1 snack per person per night of trip. Plenty of food!

Watch for the park hours to be released. Staying on Disney property allows you to have Extra magic Hours. These are special days that the parks will open a few hours early or close a few hours later only for those staying on disney property. We always take advantage of the late hours, but our kids can handle the late nights. Once these are released you can plug in which park you want to go to which day, then you can see where you want to eat for that day and call and book reservations (180 days out)

Tickets, if you dont want to hop, just get the basic tickets. Look at the prices on these, going from a 4 day ticket to a 7 day is so cheap. Depending on how many days you want to be there, Ide get the 4, 5 6 etc whatever and even if you just go to the park for a few hours one day, it is only a few dollars, OR if you plan to come back to Disney in the future, you can add the no expiration on these tickets and use the remaining days next time. It is about $51 per ticket to add this, but this is what we do.

Ask all the questions you want, get some pen and paper and keep track of all the things that sound interesting to you. I dont want to completely over load you with too much info now, feel free to PM or just keep posting, ppl are glad to help! GL and happy planning!

 

[mrodgers]

Ha ha! You're a bit late to the party. After all, it's been a whole 3 days Seriously, I had to look above at my post to see what I originally said. It's all figured out now...

First of all ....welcome! The Disboards is a great place and lots of friendly people. I dont think Ive ever seen a question posted on here that someone couldnt answer and point the person in the right direction.

I'm on a lot of forums, from computer sim racing, to flight simming, to motorcycles, to both a Mazda and a Honda forum for my vehicles, to RC flying, to photography, to guitar and more. I asked a question, or more made a comment, and had 5 replies within like 15 minutes! That's fast

First of all Ide narrow down your dates for sure that you would like to go to WDW and start looking at the resorts and pick where you rather stay.

Yup, we've got the dates down but it all depends on Wifey getting the time off. I get paid vacation and can take it any time I want without needing approval, but she has to request and wait for approval. It's unpaid as well which hurts, but her pay is just supplemental anyways. Originally the 4-5 days I had mentioned in my first post was at a moderate. The 4 park tickets were to keep costs down. I am now set to book at the Pop Century for a definite 6 nights with 6 park tickets and the hopper. That equaled the price of the moderate with a mere 4 park tickets and no hopper. This was for the Deluxe Dining as well (1 TS, 1 CS, and snack.) I'm pretty happy with the cost.

Start deciding where you want to eat. Do you want to eat in the parks when there? Do you want to leave the park and go to the resort or anther resort to eat? I always decide where we want to eat for each day according to park hours. There is a page or restraunts that will take the DDP. I would suggest the basic dining package, it is 1 table service, 1 quick service and 1 snack per person per night of trip. Plenty of food!

This is what I'm in the middle of right now. We are not too thrilled over most of the choices for meals for the kids (that was the post I made that I mention above with getting such fast replies.) I guess it is just assumed that kids eat nothing but PBJ, hotdogs, chicken nuggets, and macncheese. My kids have eaten normal meals ever since they came off baby food. What we eat, they eat. I'm rather disappointed at what I'm seeing for children in WD. I'm printing off the menus where I see that the kids meals are normal food for Wifey to view over.

As for the Plenty of food.... I have a coworker friend giving me tips also and if he says they end up with a lot of extra food left over from meals, then there is PLENTY of food, LOL. I don't think there is anyone I know who can eat as much as this guy, LOL. He left on his 9th day which he still had park tickets for and ran to one of the parks to get 8 turkey legs for in the car ride home.

Yup, I did the hopper pass option figuring that we could then eat where we wanted and schedule our meals around the park hours and the special events. We'll narrow it all down to a selection of places, then plan the times/days when we finally see park and event hours. Sounds like things like park hours are pretty variable.

I'll have to keep your user name in mind. Just in 3 days I've learned quite a lot by reading this board. Much appreciate the replies from everyone here and in my other threads and threads I've been reading.

 

[macnodos]

You mentioned the deluxe dining plan, lots of food! Have you considered the basic dining plan.

 

[chaoscent]

Sometimes posts get answered mighty quickly and other times they just fade into obscurity. It's all according to what's going on that day. You can also private message people if you want an answer from a particular person. Also, if you have an IPod you can download the podcasts. Not just from this site, but from a few others also. I just got an Ipod for my 61st birthday (ok, I am just a little late coming to the party ) and have been listening to the different podcasts and I am learning things I didn't know. I go to WDW once or twice a year, & I am still learning. Anyway, welcome again and have fun. I did notice a welcome to newbie thread at the top of this forum that had some great advice also. Have fun. Penny

 

[mrodgers]

You mentioned the deluxe dining plan, lots of food! Have you considered the basic dining plan.

Nope, mistake on my part. I have the Plus dining plan which is the 1 TS, 1 QS, and 1 snack. Two or more table services that I now think is in the Deluxe!!! No way I could eat that much going by what the pictures from this site of the counter services are, LOL.

I just got an Ipod for my 61st birthday (ok, I am just a little late coming to the party )......I did notice a welcome to newbie thread at the top of this forum that had some great advice also. Have fun. Penny

Late to the party on an iPod? I don't even have a cell phone or an mp3 player, let alone an iPod! I'll check out and see if I can find that thread, thanks.

 

[dsaville]

Our kids (and us) really enjoyed the liberty tree tavern at the mk for a table service and also 50's primetime cafe in hs. We also liked the picnic in the park at AK. I think those were CS credits.

 

[Disneydonnam]

Welcome to the Disboards.