Planning a Disney vacation, need a starting point

[aggie778]

Hi everyone, I'm normally a lurker around here having only posted a couple of times, but I'm in need of some Disney advice!

We're planning on going in January of 2011 and I'm not sure where to even begin. Do you guys get travel agents, start at the Disney website, what? We live in Texas and plan on driving to Florida all on a budget, of course

I really only have an idea of what resort we'll be staying at, what parks we'll be going to, and restaurants we'd like to eat at, but I'm not sure where to start ACTUALLY booking the trip.

Any advice anyone can give me would be much appreciated!

TIA!

edited to add: This is hubby and my first official vacation as a family (with the small exception of our honeymoon cruise). We're vacation newbies...

Nicole

 

[Perditamarie]

Welcome to the Dis! You will get great info here! Here are some steps to get you started:

* figure out how many days to drive and gas/food/hotel expense for back and forth

* figure out how many days you will stay in Orlando

* decide which resort..onsite (value, mod or delux) or off site

* decide what park tix you need...how many days, hoppers, if you will visit other Orlando attractions, etc

* decide what your dining needs are..quick service, table service, offsite, dining plan

I have read on these boards if you plan a trip on line (at wdw site) and save your trip, you may get a PIN code for discounts. Also, check mousesavers.com for discounts and great info. If this is your first Disney trip, consider reading a guide book, like the Unofficial Guide.

I am sure you will get great advice here!

 

[MagiKitty]

First off, congrats on planning a trip! Its easy to get overwhelmed, but don't be! The best thing you can do is research and have fun!

First you need to know your specific dates...and how many days you want to spend there. From there, are you staying onsite? Do you want to do EMH? From there, you can look at the different park hours and which would be best for you. For example, as much as I'd like to, we never make it to morning EMH...but we like evening EMH.

Will you get hoppers? We usually don't...so the park hours really dictate which park we want to go to. Check out the various calendar of events. Make sure they have the fireworks and parades the day you want to go.

Based on those factors, you can pretty much plan where you go and where to eat or making reservations.

I've used a TA in the past, but feel confident enough to do my own booking for everything now...

You're going to get some great advice here...I'd also suggest looking into some travel books. Most libraries have them, or you can pick one up at the bookstore. Good luck and have fun!

 

[MagiKitty]

hee hee, Perditamarie, looks like we posted at the same time!

 

[pauly's girl]

I always use Disney Travel at 407-W-DISNEY. If you will be staying in disney world some of the perks are extra magic hours, avaliablity of the disney dining plan and the convience of booking everything in one shot. Depending on your plans you may make out better booking room and tickets seperately. If you book now with disney travel, any discounts that become avaliable can be applied free of charge up until 45 days before departure for your trip. I love this feature...I always book a year in advance so when discounts become avaliable and they refund the difference I have our spending money!! Good luck planning..any specific questions I will be happy to help you!!

 

[buzz2400]

go to mousesavers.com and sign up for the newsletter. Also check out the website for a bunch of good info. Another good website is allearsnet.com. Basically in deciding on where to stay is based on how much money you have to spend. Once you have decided on what price range you are spending you can narrow down where you are going to stay. There are about 4 hotels in each price range. If this is your first time, I would highly recommend staying onsite and just going with one of disney's packages. It is much easier to just book the trip online at disney.com. If you have AAA, then I would book with AAA directly and then you will get a few more little perks. Also since it is your first time, I would not get the park hopper tickets. You would be better off just visiting one park per day. And don't get the expiration on the tickets. I would be happy to help you if you need it. I remember my first trip, how scary it was planning it. Just pm me if you have any questions and I would be happy to help you out.

 

[*Seanaci*]

Honestly, pick up Birnbaums Guide to WDW. (I'd suggest the Unofficial guide, but I just bought it and as a second time WDW trip planner, it's quite intimidating to me with all the info in it. Where as Birnbaums covers the basics in a very easy to understand format...which is the guide I picked up when planning our first trip back in 2008.)

Anywho! As far as booking goes, I'd go through the website...unless you're an AAA memeber...then I would call Disney, and ask for the AAA discount (probably won't be a lot, but every little bit helps in my opinion). Whether you stay on property or off is probably the biggest decision you'll make. We stayed off property back in 2003 and hated it. The shuttle from the hotel was awful because we were the last picked up and often had to stand the entire ride to the park (not that you wouldn't have to stand on Disney buses if you stayed on property, but the ride to an on property hotel is much shorter than one off property).

I see someone else mentioned not getting park hopper. I say get the park hopper option on your tix. We went in 2008 when my son was 14 months old and Park Hopper was a life saver for us. We'd often visit one park in the morning, head to the hotel around lunch to relax and let the kiddo nap, and then visit another park in the evening. Or, we'd start at one park, ride a few rides, grab a bite to eat and hop to another park for the afternoon It gave us a change of pace and atmosphere/scenery.

Anywho!