Newbie - October trip, ?'s and concerns, long post

[auntie]

Hi, and Welcome to the camping boards of the Dis! We live in NY(Long Island) and have driven to Disney many times. The time you are leaving home sounds good. We did find that leaving that early..we drove about 12 hours or so, getting us to South Carolina.(past the South of the Border..which is awful..don't stop there what ever you do!) We were still were able to find a hotel and enjoy a nice dinner, and the kids would use the hotel pool. If you stop later than that, you are going to find it more difficult, as everyone else who doesn't have a reservation is also stopping around dinner time off of I-95. If you have a reservation I suppose that's less of a concern. We would leave the hotel early in the am..around 6 and make it to Disney by dinner. We have yet to take our travel trailer to FW. I do have friends who have done so, and they stop at campground right off of I-95...that is close to the interstate. Might be around Florence...not sure. They do not unhook. They simply do as others here have suggested. They just plugged in for the electric had dinner and let the kids swim. It was an easy in and out pull through the next morning. If we were pulling the tt, I think that would be easier than unpacking it to go into the hotel...but that's me. I will try to find out which campground they stayed in and post it back here.
As far as the dining plan...we lOVED it! DO IT! We have visited Disney since the early 90's. We never added a dining plan. Last year was the first time. We found it to be very convenient and enjoyed eating in restaurants we might never have tried otherwise. Looking at the ages of your kids, I'm thinking that a character breakfast might be fun..but other than that, I'd really try some of the Epcot restaurants. My son was 15 for our last trip, and he tried foods he ordinarily wouldn't have because we had the plan and he didn't feel as though he was wasting money if he didn't like it. We ate in Mexico..which was fun, and outdoor night time market..only you are inside. There is also a boat ride in the exhibit that was cute. We also LOVED LeCellier in Cananda. We couldn't get dinner reservations, but ate there for lunch. Everyone loved it. Great steaks. I think even if we were to camp we would likely add the plan as it's a vacation for everyone. We usually eat at least one table service meal a day anyway, and the plan suited that very well. You can still eat your breakfast at the camper, and use your counter service meal for when you are at the parks, and make a reservation for a nice dinner for the evenings. ADR's are NOT that big of deal My advice to you is to make them. What are you talking about..making 4 reservations for dinner? Not exactly tough..you'd do that at home. Make the reservations whether you add the dining plan or not. This way you know you have a reservation somewhere. If for any reason you don't want to go or want to make other plans..just cancel it. Not a big deal, really. Good luck with your trip, and the planning.

 

[MadFF]

auntie,
It takes you 12 hours to go from South Carolina to DW? From looking at online directions, it is saying more like 6 hours. I am assuming the online directions are not taking into account such things as traffic.

Yes, about the "vacation for everyone", lol. That is what we are thinking about with cooking at the camper. It might be nicer not to worry about making dinner back at the camper when we've been running around all day.

About a campground during the drive, we are thinking it just would be nice to have a hotel to relax at, and get dinner either at the hotel or nearby. And let the kids work off steam in a pool. The Holiday Inn that was mentioned earlier states on its website that they have room for RVs.

Thanks again for all the great responses. We are going to make reservations at FW, we are just going back and forth about the dining plan. But we have time for that. Lots to think about, and thanks to you folks for calming me down a bit about the planning!

 

[auntie]

No we drive from NY...a good twelve hours and get most of the way through South Carolina. Then we get to Disney following day. Depending on what time we leave the in the am...we've gotten to WDW in the afternoon....to dinner time. We always say we're going to leave early, but frankly usually we're pretty tired from the first part of the trip and leaving at 4:00 in the morning. We usually have a nice breakfast and then hit the road. We're not as rushed. The trip usually takes us about 20 driving hours...however you want to break it up.
The trip home..is the longest 20 hours...always seems to be quicker going down, when you are looking forward to vacations. Seems to drag on forever on the way back! I'm thinking it might take more time towing.

 

[MadFF]

Well, we should have plenty of time for trip. Everyone I've talked to says about 20 hours, even pulling a TT. Of course, it is always easy to say: "We'll leave at 3:00AM"... it is another thing to actually be pulling out of the driveway at 3AM!

 

[MadFF]

Made reservations! Went through AAA and got a discount. Requested Loop 1500. We did go with the basic Dining Plan. If this all works out, in the future when (!) we return we might try it without the dining plan.

Looks like my sister and BIL will meet us down there. They are trying to figure out which resort hotel to stay in.

I will be making reservations for Cinderella's Table and Hoop-Dee-Do Review. Any opinions on which nights and/or times are better for those? We are thinking of Cinderella's Table on Monday for 7:30PM (if I have the times correct), and Hoop-Dee-Do for Tuesday at 7PM (ish). I am figuring on doing the event dinners early in the week, later on we might just want to get back to the camper and sleep! lol

Thanks for all the help and suggestions!

 

[auntie]

Sounds like a great trip! If I remember correctly if you see the Hoop Dee Doo for the 7:00 pm show, you should be able to stroll over to the beach/marina area and watch the Electric Water Pagent on Bay Lake. Nice way to end the eveing.