october vacation

[momof2cuties]

Hi - I'm hoping for some advice about an October trip to Disney. It will be our first trip, we have a 3 yr old and 6 yr old - don't know anything about hotels, etc. We are thinking of the last week in October to spend Halloween there. I've gone through the website to put a package together - airfare (from CT), value resort, park passes - came up with a price of around $3,000. Does that sound right, should I book everything separate, any suggestions on where to stay?

Thanks for any help.

 

[4greatboys]

Welcome to the Dis momof 2 cuties! Lots of people on the boards plan their own trip. You can get some good resort discount info on the resorts board, on the budget board everyone tells about the good prices they find on park hoppers and such. And if anyone sees a great airfare they post that too. Oct is regular season there, not value, so your trip with airfare may run about the price of that package but I would read a couple of those boards first just to see if you can find a better deal here.
Good luck!

 

[LoriZH]

Oh dear Lord Momoft2cuties, do you want to give the people here on the budget board a heart attack?! lol

DEFINITELY plan it yourself! Some good tips are in the budget board, the resort board and the tips board. Also, keep an eye on the transportation board for airfare help!

Also, you may want to try www.mousesavers.com for codes that may be valid when booking your resort. Or better yet, you could contact Dreams Unlimited and they can help you with all your needs and they even find the best deals for you that are available. Some of us vetrans hate to hand over the reigns and prefer to do the research ourselves, it much more challenging and fun!

Any questions, just post them and we'll do our best to help you out!

Oh and Welcome!

 

[cheeringmom]

Dreams Unlimited helped me greatly on finding good deals on our first trip out. Now I like to THINK of myself as a semi pro in putting our own package together. The first time we stayed at DD and got a room at the Best Western for $39 a night. Couldn't beat it. But I wasn't too happy with the bus service. A little slow. Then we moved on site to the All STars and got a good deal. keep checking around. You will find a good deal out there. But don't wait too long. Even Oct seems to fill up fast. I had a hard time adding the 31st to our trip!! Good luck. and if you have any other ? there is a wealth of info from the posters here. Pam

 

[disneyvoice]

That seems a bit high to me. We will be there from October 25- November 2. We have already paid off our room - $754 at the ASMo. We also bought PAPs this year which was right around $1000 for my husband and myself (our son will be 2 so he's still free). I have found that it's cheaper to buy everything separately. Call Central Reservations instead of WDW Travel Co. CRO still existed the last time I called. Check out Mousesavers.com for any special codes you might qualify for. If you don't meet any of the requirements, don't forget about AAA. If you are going for a week you will probably save money by getting a AAA membership and using the discount on the hotel.

Really look into the different pass options as well. Don't just assume that you want the UPH passes. You might save a lot of money getting one of the other passes. If you aren't going to the water parks, Wide World of Sports, or Pleasure Island the UPH pass probably isn't your best option. If you buy your passes in advance you will also get a small discount.

Do you have to fly? We drive from Indiana every year and save a fortune. We stop half way in TN. and spend the night at a hotel, and even with the cost of gas we still end up saving a bunch of money.

We have found that our biggest expense is typically food!! We allocate $100 a day for food, even for the travel days which then allows us to have extra money left over for snacks when the munchies hit.

Oh!! And don't forget about MNSSHP!!

 

[Miscrapper]

I don't think her travel package seems like a horribly high price for what it is - I have Fairy Tale package for beginning of October at All Stars booked and with airfare and 2 adults, a child and a junior our package is about $2500. So hers is $500 more with FTP savings. Yes that $500 is a lot but obviously the FTP comes out as a great deal.

I will agree with other posters that you probably don't need UPH's. Unless you get babysitting I doubt you'll be going to PI with 3 and 6 yo! Also they will be happy at hotel pools without going to waterparks. Someone posted great deals at All Stars through wdwmagic. com Their rate for October is $79.00. I didn't think Disney had posted any room only codes yet though. Another option of course is the Downtown Disney hotels or Holiday Inn Family Suites. They're not Disney but you get more amenities for a lower price.

Good luck planning but don't wait long - you're all read in your 90 day window for PS for restaurants!

 

[momof2cuties]

Thank you all for the welcome and ALL the information. WOW! I have been busy all night checking out all of the websites you guys have mentioned along with just reading through all of the boards here - so much information. We are also considering a land and sea cruise so I have requested some prices on that. We are flexible as to the date/month, we were told October was the best time to go because it was cheaper and less crowds, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I think we have to fly, I would rather not fly, but if we drove straight through it would be over 24 hours each way. Would cut into our week too much.

Thanks again! Appreciate all the help.

 

[4greatboys]

Actually Sept--especially the end is more of a value. The cruise aspect of it is cheaper and you also can get a better deal on the resorts.
The first 2 weeks of Dec are also a good time as well as January.
Oct is considered refugualr season, not value.

 

[momof2cuties]

The end of Sept is considerably cheaper and I'm thinking if we go into beginning of October we can still do the Halloween party, that might be a good option. The flights are very reasonable then too.

So I've been searching hotels all night. The rates at the All Star Movies and Music are great, but my husband isn't thrilled with staying in the cheapest hotel. He likes the looks of the Coronado Springs or maybe the Caribbean Beach. The All Star Movies looks like it would be great fun for the kids. Then we started looking at the distance from the hotels to the parks and are now wondering if we should stay at the Marriott or something closer. The rate at the Marriott is about $87 I think and it looks like it is right there at the park. Are the Disney hotels worth the extra money and distance? Are any of the resorts closer (without spending a fortune)?

Sorry for all the questions, I never thought it could be so overwhelming trying to plan a trip!

 

[4greatboys]

There are tons of nice hotels in and around Disney. We like staying on site--we are now DVC members so we do stay on stie but even before that we liked staying there. If you need tickets also you might check prices on Expedia. We bought a package from them last year, room and UPH and our room was about 40 to 45% off rack rates. Of course it was the fall fantasy package and they didnt have that this year since they had the Fairytale package--which I think was better deal.
I dont know your dates so I put in Sept 28-Oct 4 (there is a mnsshp on Oct 3) and it showed $1706.28 for the All Star resorts room and UPH or $$2082.00 Moderate resorts.
If you watch the resort boards everyone is waiting for AP rates to come out. It may be worth it for atleast 1 of you to get an AP to book with the discounted rate and you would have park admission too.
Several of the DTD hotels offer great rates for that time and you still get the benefits of being on site.

Please pm me if you have any questions. I enjoy finding a good deal and dont mind helping you find one

 

[Miscrapper]

momof2cuties - about the All Stars. My DH is opposite - he hates to spend more for a hotel than he needs to! But friends of ours have stayed at All Stars twice and stayed a week at Carribbean Beach this summer and they didn't think it was worth extra to go to CB. The rooms are slightly bigger but they said resort is really spread out and they were in parks so much they rarely used resort amenities! One thing you could consider is spending a few days at All STars and 2 nights at CB or CSR to relax and swim, maybe rent boats at end of trip. Your kids at 3 and 6 will love All Stars - the theme esp at movies is sooooo kid friendly.

I think they are closer to actual theme parks than the Downtown Disney hotels, but Downtown is definitely closer than off site. Transportation from All Stars is all bus but it is usuallly quite good. If you rent a car you might want to consider using it at night and using buses during day. That's what we did on our last trip when our kids were 6 and 9. Our 6 yo fell asleep on bus first night after parade and fireworks! It was much easier to have her fall asleep in car and park close to room than to carry from bus stop! Another option is to supplement Disney transportation with taxis - there is a transportation thread here that talks about cost and where/how to get a taxi. They also have car seats!
Parking is included for DW resort guests at other resorts and the parks.

Our friends thought bus service from CBR was slow - they felt really removed. All Stars are very close to Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach and pretty close to MGM. The only resorts close to Magic Kingdom are delux so they are expensive (unless you camp at Fort Wilderness).
Good luck!