Planning a trip

[simonsayz]

Hi everyone!

Me and my gf went to Disney back in December 2011 and we want to go again!

However, I might have made some mistakes on the planning and I would like some guidance this time since last time I made the reservations a little bit of a rush.

We are thinking in November or December 2012, We missed the Osbourne lights so we want to definitely catch that this time.

We want the dining planning, i keep hearing people talking about getting free dining plan? is this only for the quickservice?
And it's my understanding in order to get the dining plan you have to book it through disney, correct?

Should I book the flight at the same time or should i wait for the flight tickets when it's close to the vacation?

I might have some other questions along the way, but I can't think of any more for the time being

Thank you in advance. I appreciate it when you do take your time and effort to responding

 

[Brian McGee]

Hi everyone!

Me and my gf went to Disney back in December 2011 and we want to go again!

However, I might have made some mistakes on the planning and I would like some guidance this time since last time I made the reservations a little bit of a rush.

We are thinking in November or December 2012, We missed the Osbourne lights so we want to definitely catch that this time.

We want the dining planning, i keep hearing people talking about getting free dining plan? is this only for the quickservice?
And it's my understanding in order to get the dining plan you have to book it through disney, correct?

Should I book the flight at the same time or should i wait for the flight tickets when it's close to the vacation?

I might have some other questions along the way, but I can't think of any more for the time being

Thank you in advance. I appreciate it when you do take your time and effort to responding

You are going at a great time of year, there's nothing like seeing DW all lit up for Christmas.

Here are my 2 cents: If your dates are fixed, book the flights as soon as you can. I haven't seen air fares do anything but rise with the trips I've booked. If you can mix them around, then waiting for last minute deals might be a good option. Then again, I've never booked flights during that specific time of year so I could be wrong.

I always recommend renting a car just for the flexibility. If you aren't there during the holidays themselves, you can get them pretty cheap. I've gotten full sized vehicles for as little as $18/day in the past.

If you are going to eat all of your meals on property, then the dining plan might be OK. I'm a contrarian on the dining plan. You get tons of food, and it locks you into only Disney meals. There are some great restauarants that run specials just outside the parks. I've just enjoyed the variety of food by mixing it up with Disney parks and outside places. I know I'm in the minority here, but that's what works for me. Even when I factor in the cost of the rental car, I have always finished ahead without the DP (family of 5, kids are 13, 11, and 8).

You almost always get better prices by buying each element separately (you might get "free" dining but you're paying full price for park tickets, hotel, etc). The time period between Thanksgiving and Christmas is the least popular time for travel to Disney, meaning there are deals to be had left and right.

The last recommendation I'd make related to planning (also easier if you have a car) is to grab some breakfast items to eat in your room such as bagels, pop tarts, etc. It will save you some money over the big breakfasts and also a lot of time, allowing you to get some extra rest and still be at the park early enough for opening.

Hope that helps. We leave in 88 days and I've found that planning the trip is almost as much fun as the trip itself.

 

[chris31997]

As for the dining plan, my 2 cents

we did the quick service plan. It worked great for us. 2 meals and 2 snacks. It gave us flexibility and we did not leave the parks with tons of leftover food. It was nice with the kids to have the snacks in the park.

As it is just the 2 of you, you might find it cheaper to skip the dining plan, of course it all depends on how you eat and the restraunts you want to eat at. If you want to eat of site like the PP said there are great restraunts in the area.

 

[Angie789]

As for the dining plan, my 2 cents

we did the quick service plan. It worked great for us. 2 meals and 2 snacks.

Just an FYI - the dining plan only has one snack per day now. And it costs more than it used to. Not the value it used to be...

 

[Marionnette]

Hi everyone!

Me and my gf went to Disney back in December 2011 and we want to go again!

However, I might have made some mistakes on the planning and I would like some guidance this time since last time I made the reservations a little bit of a rush.

We are thinking in November or December 2012, We missed the Osbourne lights so we want to definitely catch that this time.

We want the dining planning, i keep hearing people talking about getting free dining plan? is this only for the quickservice?
And it's my understanding in order to get the dining plan you have to book it through disney, correct?

Should I book the flight at the same time or should i wait for the flight tickets when it's close to the vacation?

I might have some other questions along the way, but I can't think of any more for the time being

Thank you in advance. I appreciate it when you do take your time and effort to responding

Free dining usually includes the QSDP at the value resorts and the DDP at moderates and deluxes. You can pay the difference between the two plans if you wish to stay at a value resort and want the DDP.

Booking your flight can be a crap shoot. The fare could go down between now and Nov/Dec or it could go up. There's no way of predicting but some websites do a pretty good job. Kayak and Bing have predictors that will tell you whether they feel fares for your flight will go up or down. You might want to check them. If you fly with Southwest, you can book as soon as Nov/Dec fares become available and then get a credit for the difference if the price goes down.

The Christmas decorations start going up as soon as the Halloween decorations come down. So early November can be a good time to go. The first couple of weeks after Thanksgiving can be pretty good as well. If you want to see the Christmas parade in the MK being taped, try to be there for the first weekend in December and watch the boards for notices that tickets are available for the taping. People who participate are given free admission to the MK for the day.

 

[simonsayz]

Thank you all for the detailed responds. Sorry it took so long for me to reply as I am quite a busy person

I definitely want to stick with the dining plan, I will have to check the price difference with the moderate resort vs valued. I love the restaurants themselves so no need to be outside of the "World"

i'll definitely check on the price for the airfare

thanks all!

 

[LSchrow]

just a few more comments/suggestions:
i see you are in NYC, so check all area airports: LGA, JFK, and newark (islip tends to be a bit higher - SWA is currently the only direct connection to MCO. btw, we personally love ISP for its relaxed atmosphere and the nearness to our home). check the airlines websites, as well as kayak, etc.
if you are under 25yo, there is often an underage driver surcharge for rental cars.
with the "free" dining plans, you do pay rack on the room. research menus (allears.net) and add up what you would normally select to see whether the DDP will save you money.
register on disney.com, and look into pricing a stay. with a little (or a lot)luck, you may get a PIN for a room discount that is valid for the time you are going.
consider renting a studio at a DVC resort (use the drop down and select DVC rental -read the stickies, or you can try a board advertiser for - most likely - a bit more money, but perhaps a bit more peace of mind). you won't get free dining, but you can stay in a resort with more amenities, for less (even with paying for dining out of pocket). DVC rsorts do tend to be booked early for that time of year, so that is something you would need to look into, and decide upon, soon - your options will only be more limited the longer you wait (BWV, VWL, etc might be booked, but larger resorts such as OKW and SSR
may have more availability).
if you don't buy a package, sign up for the mousesavers newsletters - there is a link in them for a slight discount on park passes (in addition, go to mousesavers.com for other great money saving ideas).
hth

 

[danceintherain]

November may allow you to catch the end of Food & Wine. Personally, I'm not a fan, but I don't drink.
All the Christmas decorations will be up by Thanksgiving. The Magic Kingdom is decked out for Christmas immediately after Halloween.
The Osbourne Lights usually go up around the second week of November.

As of now, there aren't any discounts available for that time frame, except maybe AAA. The discounts will likely be released around August. Free Dining may or may not be available to you. Depending on where you stay and what other discounts are offered during that time frame, it may or may not be a good deal for you, even if you can apply it to your trip.

I usually book airfare as soon as I know I'm going for sure and I find a decent deal. This has happened anywhere from 6 months to 1 month in advance.
The only issue with booking airfare in advance is that you pretty much end up being locked into those dates. This can work against you if you're really banking on a good hotel discount in order to make the trip affordable.

The best rule of thumb for planning a trip before the discounts are released is to book what you can afford without a discount. In general, as long as you plan on avoiding any holiday periods there will likely be some discount offered, but nobody will know what that will be until the discounts are released. As long as you make any changes before the 45 day mark for your trip, you can rebook into a room with a discount.

Without Free Dining, the Dining Plan probably won't be a good deal for you. It's very difficult to get a good value on it nowadays, especially in an adult only party. An alternative is to put money on Disney gift cards and use those for food as you go. You can then order and pay for whatever you want, instead of being locked into the options on the dining plan. It depends on your eating habits though. If you normally order a soda and a dessert with every meal, then you'll likely find it easier to do so on vacation.

 

[simonsayz]

great advices
im just playing around with the dates right now, can't seem to put my finger on a date i really want to go in and it's seem so far away

 

[simonsayz]

i BOOKED it for Nov 25 - Dec 1 and then I tried for a reservation for Coral Reef and GOT IT!!! everything is going great except that I had to pay $200 extra since I waited too long

but time for more planning

thank you all for helping out