New Years Eve/Day at WDW - newbie here

[mumof3girls]

Hi everyone

I am new here, and have never been to WDW before but my husband and i are going on a cruise in the carribean from the 4th - 12th Jan 08 (thru his work not a disney one) and so we are wanting to do a few days at WDW either before or after the cruise. We were going to do after until i read here about the marathon on the weekend we were looking at. I dont really know what that is so can someone please explain how that might affect us if we decide to go to disney after the cruise (i.e. the marathon weekend) will that mean really busy times? hard to get accom? is the marathon actually in WDW? excuse my ignorance as i said i have never been before and i am from Melbourne Australia

Also if we decided not to do the weekend after the cruise we were thinking early jan maybe from new years eve (31st December) and onwards for a few days. Is new years at WDW good? Can you actually be in the park for it? Is it really really busy? Which option would you do if you had the chance or is there really no difference in them ( as in both will be busy or both wont be busy)

Also any suggestions on where to stay at WDW - i know nothing so sorry for long post! Are all the hotels at WDW just as close as each other? Are there any to avoid?

Thanks in advance for all your insightful replies!!

Louise

 

[mumof3girls]

anyone pls??

 

[jmkrat]

Hi, I don't know how helpful I can be, this is going to be my first New Year's trip. It is crowded at New Year's, but from what I really well worth it. New Year's has always been a time we wanted to try. You didn't say how if you wanted a value, moderate, or a deluxe room. What you have to be careful of is if you book before January you will get the Holiday rate. I probably am not explaining myself to well, but if you book say on Dec 31 and want to stay to Jan. 2, you will get charged a Holiday rate for the whole time. What I did, is make 2 reservations. Some people stay at the same resort and make the two ressies, I am changing. I will be at the Contemporary from Dec 29 until Jan 1 ( 3 days at Holiday rate). I then will move over to the Boardwalk from Jan.1 through the 7, ( 6 days at value). I hope this isn't confusing, I would just hate for you not to know and get stuck with a higher rate your whole trip. The Marathon weekend is busy, but I heard not so much at the parks. You need to decide soon, the rooms are filling. The marathon weekend is a value season (much cheaper rates). As far as resorts go, it depends on what you are looking for and what you can afford. On the resorts board there are threads with each of the resorts listed. They also have some pictures posted. You can look on the allears site too, Deb has alot of info about the resorts too. I would post this question on the Disney resorts board, you will get a lot of helpful advice about the different resorts there. Welcome to Dis!