New Trip - Advance Planning - Dec 2015

[LeanneDownUnder]

Hi There,

I'm doing some long term Disney planing and it been sometime since I have been to Disneyworld (2000).
This trip is going to be in place of a "schoolies" getaway for my daughter .. it's what she has asked for and of course she had to twist my arm !! My eldest who lives in Canada will fly down meet us like she did last year for Disneyland so it will be somewhat of a sister reunion as well!
Anyway my question is as I'm a Disneyworld novice pretty much and when I did all my research for the last trip I pretty much ignored the WDW stuff. Is it worth doing the Annual membership for the trip if we are going in December (early december) is there likely to be deals at that time of the year on Dinning?
and where is the best place for me to start learning about WDW .. the DIS is so big and can be scary!!
Anyway, thanks in advance, it's nice to be back .. although I'm very envious of all the people here with the tickers who are heading off so soon!!

 

[miss.potatohead]

I think it's lovely that your daughter doesn't want to do the 'traditional' schoolies (been there, done that and complete waste of money and not worth the stress!). I'm possibly doing the same with my sister who is year 12 this year but probably in the new year when it's cheaper to fly!

The WDW side of Disney is definitely daunting compared to the 'smaller' Disneyland. There are so many factors to consider, will you be staying on site/off site, how many days at the parks do you want to do, park hop or not, will you have the dining plan or pay out of pocket for meals, do you want to go to Sea World/Universal too etc. I'd look at buying 'The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World' from Amazon or Fishpond or where ever. The 2015 edition isn't out until August but the 2014 edition is still relevant. I had my first WDW visit this year and the book, whilst very thick and informative, was helpful in getting my head around how huge WDW is!

I find I get most of my information from reading other people's trip reports. Nothing better than some first hand knowledge! Hope others can be a bit more help than I was!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Congrats on having a trip planned. Now we can all be envious of you having a brand spanking new ticker for your trip in 2015.

The good news is that you have a bit of time to do some research on WDW. And you get to take a look at when/what specials might come along for December 2014!

Do you know how long you'll be at WDW? Whether an AP is worth it or not is usually a combination of what you want to do, how long you'll be there and what sort of general public specials Disney put out.

Welcome to the world of Disney Fuzzy Maths! Most of us would have spreadsheets to run the numbers. Where dining is concerned, I would take a look a the menus and prices of the places to eat on Allears. You could almost work out what you might like to eat and how much it would cost and then work out if a dining plan is worth it for you or not.


If you haven't already done so, most of us would have signed up to the Disney website and gotten the WDW CD at some point in time. It might give you a taste of the parks from the CD.


Have fun!

 

[LivingforDisney]

Planning the same, Dec 2015/Jan 2016.
From what I have picked up, flights increase from around 10th Dec.
I booked our whole trip my self on the internet last year, and that included stops in LA, NY and then Orlando.
First thing I do , is make a plan , what we want to see, always add some free days in and just go from there.
The dining bit did my head in, so we just booked 3 adr's last year and were fine with that.
We stayed onsite at POP for 14 nights and we managed to do MK 3 times, AK,HS and Epcot once.
One day at IOA and one at US.
We had a day for shopping at the outlets.
KSC and airboat.
High school football game at Celebration.
Our next trip is going to be longer as we are doing a 7 night cruise .
Good luck with the planning, is fun.furious:
:

 

[Tashinwdw]

Its also really important to know your budget. If you know that it will help you decide how long, where you can stay etc. I did a lot of google search on advice for wdw holiday planning etc. There are alot of sites out there that really simplify it. Once you get used to the Dis it will be one of the best resources you can find. Youtube is great if you want to look at different accommodations and restaurants. Get your DD involved in the research, I did that with my kids and they love it, they researched all different accommodations in WDW and helped decide where they wanted to stay.

Best advice I can give is how ever long you think you might need, add more as it will not be enough

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Hi,

WOOHOO, thanks for the advice so far, so glad you don't think I'm doing this to early!

So when we went in 2000 we did 5 days BAD MOVE .. we didn't even see Epcot! Last year we did 4 days in Disneyland with a Halloween party and we didn't see or do everything . At this stage I'm still open to suggestions about how long we stay ...suggestions please .. how long do we need (and I know we "could" stay like FOREVER!!) but is 7 days to short 9 days?? we are all adults and don't need afternoon naps LOL. Plus we plan to do NYC and a couple of other stops

We also want to see "Harry Potter" - Is that far away and can we do it from Disney or do we need to stay elsewhere?

miss.potatohead - good tip about The Unofficial Guide will get the new one in August, I did the one for Disneyland last year and it was very helpful

Tashinwdw = Thanks for the Accommodation and google tips, will get DD on to that, Yes we plan on staying in Disney accommodation. We didn't in California but it's so close and easy there to stay across the road as well our money last year was spend on 2 week in NYC! Disney was at the end of our Holiday.

LivingforDisney - Thanks for the info on the prices in December thats good to know, sounds like we could be travelling around the same time! The Dinning is the bit that seems the most confusing to me also? I'm thats this time It might make more sense because I will take more notice, last time I know I was not staying in a disney resort and I just book a few places for meals.

PrincessInOz - Disney Fuzz Math! Oh dear ... never was good at Maths .. adding the word Fuzz scares me LOL .. I'm off to order the CD.

Thank you all for your very helpful advice!

 

[mindy32]

Like you said, you could stay for a long time you just need to decide what works best for your family. We were there for 5 nights. We did a full day at each of the 4 main parks and a day half at a water park, half at Downtown Disney. DH and I could have spent more time there (me forever, DH a few more days lol) but our friend was over it so I suppose everyone is different. I think to can see a lot in a week but not everything, especially if you want to do Universal etc too. But then when it comes to holidays I always have to prioritize because I just can't do everything and be away indefinitely!

We actually only made one ADR because we didn't want to make too many plans since it was our first time at Disney. That actually worked we'll for us and I wasn't dissapointed at all. Next time I would make more ADR's but still probably not for everyday, I like the freedom.

And how lovely that your DD wants a Disney trip instead of schoolies!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hi,

WOOHOO, thanks for the advice so far, so glad you don't think I'm doing this to early!

So when we went in 2000 we did 5 days BAD MOVE .. we didn't even see Epcot! Last year we did 4 days in Disneyland with a Halloween party and we didn't see or do everything . At this stage I'm still open to suggestions about how long we stay ...suggestions please .. how long do we need (and I know we "could" stay like FOREVER!!) but is 7 days to short 9 days?? we are all adults and don't need afternoon naps LOL. Plus we plan to do NYC and a couple of other stops

We also want to see "Harry Potter" - Is that far away and can we do it from Disney or do we need to stay elsewhere?

miss.potatohead - good tip about The Unofficial Guide will get the new one in August, I did the one for Disneyland last year and it was very helpful

Tashinwdw = Thanks for the Accommodation and google tips, will get DD on to that, Yes we plan on staying in Disney accommodation. We didn't in California but it's so close and easy there to stay across the road as well our money last year was spend on 2 week in NYC! Disney was at the end of our Holiday.

LivingforDisney - Thanks for the info on the prices in December thats good to know, sounds like we could be travelling around the same time! The Dinning is the bit that seems the most confusing to me also? I'm thats this time It might make more sense because I will take more notice, last time I know I was not staying in a disney resort and I just book a few places for meals.

PrincessInOz - Disney Fuzz Math! Oh dear ... never was good at Maths .. adding the word Fuzz scares me LOL .. I'm off to order the CD.

Thank you all for your very helpful advice!

How long is a piece of string? You could stay for an entire month in Orlando and not do everything!


Having said that, I tend to think that you need about 2 weeks in Orlando if you want to see WDW and UO. That's allowing for 8/9 days in the Disney area and 4 - 5 days at Universal. It's not far between Disney and Universal; but there are benefits to staying on site at UO and I would highly recommend you do so. The 10 days means that I can enjoy all the dining options and also the resort without feeling rushed.

This would also allow you the extra days to hit the shops/outlets and also to consider a day trip down to Kennedy Space Centre; and possibly another outing for the airboats. You can build these days in by staying at either WDW or UO.
There are also a heap of other theme parks in Orlando; so you might want to check them out to see if you want to head to any of them.

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Hi,


We also want to see "Harry Potter" - Is that far away and can we do it from Disney or do we need to stay elsewhere?


Thank you all for your very helpful advice!

HP is at Universal. Castle etc is at Islands of Adventure (IOA) and they are about to open Diagon Alley Section at Universal Florida (and Hogwarts Express will also run between the two) this summer - tipping July - so it will be open by the time you are there. This means you need a park to park pass (to go to both parks on one day) if you want to ride the train between the two. Go to the Universal Studios site + disboards US pages + *************** for lots and lots of info. Also because of the new opening Universal is likely to remain crazy crowded for the next 6 months or so. You might want to factor in at least 2 days there. We are going for the first time to Universal in late Oct (2nd trip to WDW-our 1st was a Senior graduation surprise pressie for our daughter who also wasn't interested in schoolies) and staying at a Universal Hotel to get their express front of line pass and early entry to HP at IOA (if they don't change things around once Diagon Alley opens). You can do it as a day trip from WDW though-either tickets and transport pass eg through Dreams Unlimited or taxi-I forget how long it takes - maybe 40 mins with traffic? Happy planning.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Sorry if I missed it, but what part of December are you planning on going to WDW?

If it was me, I'd make my very first decision my dates for WDW and Universal. Like PIO said, I think about 2 weeks total is ideal.

The Saturday before Xmas day through to the Sunday after New Years Day I would avoid like the plague. But then, I hate crowds, and queuing for hours for each ride is not my idea of Xmas magic. The first few weeks of December, or the middle of January (except for Marathon weekend and MLK weekend) should be lovely and quiet by comparison.

If you are going to be there for Xmas, that might be a good time to head up to NY, or perhaps even consider a Caribbean cruise. Cost-wise, the Christmas/New Year cruises are always pretty inflated, but you have the benefit of time on your hand and could get in while the prices are lower. I can't imagine a more relaxing, family friendly way of spending Xmas day than on a cruise.

Either way, I don't think you're starting your planning too early at all. A WDW trip can be pretty daunting at first, but with the time you have up your sleeve, you'll be an expert before you leave. I agree that getting a guidebook is a good place to start. It won't tell you everything you need to know, but by the time you've read through it you'll have a good basic knowledge. Happy planning.

 

[Tashinwdw]

we have 2 weeks at WDW and 1 week universal which at first I thought would be enough as we also wanted lots of down time for DH - not me I want to go, go go. But have since discovered discovery cove which means we will add on sea world and aquatica (which was not originally on the list) and now I feel I should have added another week. If you have an idea on the main things you want to do that will help work out your time frame. We were at WDW for 8 days last time and didnt feel like we skimmed the surface of what to see and do there (we didnt go outside WDW that trip)

I would really recommend staying onside if you can afford it, it really adds to the magic.

 

[mindy32]

I also meant to add that we were at WDW early December, from the 30th Nov-6th December (I think I said 5 nights before but it was 6 oops!) and crowds were pretty good. The water park was ridiculously empty, we never waited for a slide, nothing. The lifeguards were bored and very chatty it was that empty. And we had decent enough weather, not hot (I hate the heat) So I would definitely go at that time again!

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Aussie Wendy - Sounds like you know your Harry Potter! Thanks for the advice, DD has now invested some time looking at the site and I think your right, defiantly going to need more than 1 day here!

WanderlustNZ - We plan to go very early December, DS has a birthday on the 1st and we will probably leave right after that.

Someone mentioned spreadsheets for working out costings, is there a template anywhere or is it just something you all do yourselves from scratch?

Thanks everyone for taking the time

 

[WanderlustNZ]

WanderlustNZ - We plan to go very early December, DS has a birthday on the 1st and we will probably leave right after that.

How wonderful! You will be there for Mickey's Xmas party and the Osbourne Festival of Lights. One day I would love to see WDW all decked up for the festive season.

You definitely will want more than one day for Universal. I wrote a few blog entries about my time at the Universal Parks if you're interested. (See signature).

 

[LeanneDownUnder]

Thanks WanderlustNZ I just visited your blog it's great! Your right we are going to need more than 1 day! especially if as Aussie Wendy say's the new Diagon Alley is opening this year!

We are very keen to do a Mickey Christmas Party, we loved Halloween last year! I don't know what the Osbourne Festival of Lights is so Im going to have to look that one up!

 

[LivingforDisney]

Leanne,
Let me know if & when you come across good prices for flights, as I said I am planning a Dec 2015/Jan 2016 trip.
I am thinking I will have to book the flights next Jan?? and am hoping to leave around Dec 10th as my son will have just gone into year 12 and think... hope it will be ok for him to miss the last week of school in Dec that year ( I have already checked the school calender to find out when the hols start.
I have had to put the planning aside as it was doing my head in a bit
At this stage I am looking at being away 5 weeks.
Stay at Disney for approx. 18 days, and do all the parks before the craziness hopefully, then stay at IDrive for a week, will have to do US & IOA from here,around 4th Jan , hopefully go back to Disney and stay at Boardwalk Inn for 4-5 days, probably do another day or 2 at a park, and then do a 7 night Western Caribbean on Disney and fly back to L.A straight from cruise and stay there the night and then home.
We are going to go to MK Xmas Day, for as long as we can handle it lol.
Also my daughters birthday is 27th Dec, but wont do a park that day, I think the xmas day one might be the end of us lol.
If my sister decides to come as well, her birthday is Dec 23rd. I miss out as mine is Dec 3rd.
I think this is going to be more relaxing than our last trip, we had 14 days and boy , we never stopped.
Anyhow good luck with the planning, its a bit hard when its so far off.