Planning my first trip (December 2011) - questions! :)

[DirtyDiana]

Hey everyone! This is my first post here, I'm loving the site!

I've been to Disney World once in 2000 and Disneyland once in 2009, but this time I'm planning a trip all on my own so I have a few questions.

1. I want to go Disney World around December 18-23 approximately . I've heard that crowds are huge in December, but the week I plan to go is the week before kids get out of school, so I'm assuming (hoping) crowds won't be TOO bad... right?

2. Since I don't know about crowds, would Park Hopper be a good idea? If crowds are huge, and you leave one park, I heard you can get refused entry to another park if it's full. So is it worth it to get hopper around that time or not and just save the money?

3. How do you guys like dining plans? Is it a good money and time saver, or is it easier just to get whatever whenever? I'm still a little confused about how it works. Can you go to any restaurant in the park when you have it?

4. When booking a hotel, are there any good discounts I could find? They may not even give discounts around the holidays. But if they do, when do those coupons start appearing and where?

5. When you purchase tickets, either Magic Your Way or regular, do you have to buy them when you book your hotel, or whenever you want, or...?

6. This one is a little off topic.. I'm probably also going to visit Disneyland Paris this summer for a day or two, so if anyone has any "Must Do's" there, please tell me!

Sorry I wrote a novel, I'm just exciting planning

 

[MNTwinsMom]

First of all,

We've been to WDW for the past 2 years in December. You'll find December crowds to be a hot topic among Disney fans. Generally the weekend before Christmas is when the crowds pick-up. The week between Christmas and New Years is always the busiest, but since some schools do get a full 2 weeks for Christmas break, I expect you'll see significantly higher crowds from the 18-23 then earlier in December.

My first suggestion would be to pick-up a guidebook like "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" or if you prefer to read online try a subscription to touringplans.com (website for the Unofficial Guide). These sources will give you an overview of the entire WDW property and explain touring plans. You'll also have a great resource for researching the dining plan to determine if it would work for you.

Also check mousesavers.com for your questions about tickets and discounts.

Discounts have not been released for December. The current discounts for WDW resorts go through Early October. It's anyone's guess when or if those discounts would be released since the past couple announcements have not followed Disney's past formula for releasing discounts. However, the time around Christmas is not usually included in the disocunts. I beleive this year the discounts ended on Dec. 19.

Park Hoppers are another hot topic on here . . .

The "pros" of park-hoppers:
Time Saver = Many people go to the park with morning extra-magic-hours to take advantage of them, then "hop" to a less busy park when the 1st park gets busy. You can also "hop" to the park with Evening EMH to extend your touring day.

Dining - Another benefit of the park hopper is if you have dinner reservations in one of the parks but don't plan to spend the whole day in that park.

Weather - They also come in handy if the weather ruins your plans for one day and you have to rearrange other touring plans to compensate.

Flexibility - If you get to a park that is supposed to be lower crowds and it's busy, you can just go to a different park. If your favorite attraction is down you can get back to it another day. We like to leave the last day of our vacation open and go back to do whatever the kids want to do again. In '09 that meant we went to the Studios, MK and Epcot on that day!

Cons - pretty obvious - $50 + per ticket extra

We've had the dining plan on our past 2 trips but it was "free" both times. We had the regular DDP in '09 and Quick Service DP in '10. For us, the QSDP worked better. We don't like to take the time for table-service restaurants and didn't enjoy being tied to the reservations. However, for some people this is a HUGE part of vacationing. You can check allears.net for menus and get a feel for how much you would spend out-of-pocket and compare that to the price of the dining plan. They give a good explanation of the dining plan and how it works on that site. Keep in mind you still need to pay the tip on all table-service meals, so make sure to budget that in as well.

Good luck with your planning!

 

[niclodn]

Hi! I was at WDW almost those exact same dates last month (Dec. 18-26) and am planning to return again this year (Dec. 17-22). I'm sure you'll get various opinions, but here's what I think!

1. I want to go Disney World around December 18-23 approximately . I've heard that crowds are huge in December, but the week I plan to go is the week before kids get out of school, so I'm assuming (hoping) crowds won't be TOO bad... right? Crowds are much better the week leading up to Christmas than the week betweeen Christmas and New Years! I did not think the crowds this year were any worse than when I was there over Labor Day weekend. We tried to make it to the parks earlier in the morning -- usually right after rope drop -- and were able to ride most of the rides before it started to get busy. We would grab fastpasses to use later in the day when the crowds got heavier. The only time we really noticed the crowds were for parades/fireworks. I would definately recommend finding a spot about 2 hours prior to parade time if you want a good spot!

2. Since I don't know about crowds, would Park Hopper be a good idea? If crowds are huge, and you leave one park, I heard you can get refused entry to another park if it's full. So is it worth it to get hopper around that time or not and just save the money? We had park hoppers, but I think you could plan your days to work well without them if you want to save some $$. I think we used them on 3 days -- mainly to accomodate dining ressies and to see repeats of the MK parade/fireworks.

3. How do you guys like dining plans? Is it a good money and time saver, or is it easier just to get whatever whenever? I'm still a little confused about how it works. Can you go to any restaurant in the park when you have it? If you think you'll want to do some table service meals, the dining plan is a great value. As the previous poster mentioned, your best bet is to check out the menus on allears and see how the cost compares.

4. When booking a hotel, are there any good discounts I could find? They may not even give discounts around the holidays. But if they do, when do those coupons start appearing and where? We had free dining for our last trip, so they do offer discounts on occassion. I did receive a PIN for a room discount for our dates for this year. Time will tell if they offer that one to the public eventually or not. I would recommend making your ressies as soon as you've decided to go for sure -- you can always change them if a deal comes out!

5. When you purchase tickets, either Magic Your Way or regular, do you have to buy them when you book your hotel, or whenever you want, or...? If you want the dining plan, you have to purchase a package -- room, tickets, dining. If not, then you can purchase your tickets whenever. I personally find it much easier to purchase it all together -- that way I only need to keep track of one card during my trip

6. This one is a little off topic.. I'm probably also going to visit Disneyland Paris this summer for a day or two, so if anyone has any "Must Do's" there, please tell me! I've never been to DLP so I'm not help here. But hopefully someday!

Whatever you decide, I'm sure you'll have a fantastic trip! I've been to WDW many times at many different times of the year and Christmas is my favorite

 

[lovesmurfs]

Hey everyone! This is my first post here, I'm loving the site!

I've been to Disney World once in 2000 and Disneyland once in 2009, but this time I'm planning a trip all on my own so I have a few questions.

1. I want to go Disney World around December 18-23 approximately . I've heard that crowds are huge in December, but the week I plan to go is the week before kids get out of school, so I'm assuming (hoping) crowds won't be TOO bad... right?

2. Since I don't know about crowds, would Park Hopper be a good idea? If crowds are huge, and you leave one park, I heard you can get refused entry to another park if it's full. So is it worth it to get hopper around that time or not and just save the money?

3. How do you guys like dining plans? Is it a good money and time saver, or is it easier just to get whatever whenever? I'm still a little confused about how it works. Can you go to any restaurant in the park when you have it?

4. When booking a hotel, are there any good discounts I could find? They may not even give discounts around the holidays. But if they do, when do those coupons start appearing and where?

5. When you purchase tickets, either Magic Your Way or regular, do you have to buy them when you book your hotel, or whenever you want, or...?

6. This one is a little off topic.. I'm probably also going to visit Disneyland Paris this summer for a day or two, so if anyone has any "Must Do's" there, please tell me!

Sorry I wrote a novel, I'm just exciting planning

December's a GREAT time to go -- there are so many special events! You'll find the crowds gathering closer to Christmas, but you'll be fine.

Get a guide book. When we plan a trip, we get the most updated Unofficial Guide. Also, we get a Passporter for our trip -- it's a great planner, too.

I'm sure others will answer your specific questions better than I can. My tip is that you spend LOTS of time on these boards -- just read. Disney World Tips is a good forum, as well as the Restaurants and Transportation boards.

Our greatest memories of our Christmas trips were the Candlelight Processional (Epcot), the Osborne Lights (Hollywood Studios), Mickey's Very Magic Christmas Party (Magic Kingdom). Also be sure to plan time to visit the hotels to see the decorations -- Grand Floridian has an AMAZING gingerbread display.

A side note --- Over a year later, my kids are still talking about our wonderful time at the Rose and Crown at Epcot. We made a reservation for 8:45 p.m. and when we arrived, we requested outdoor seating (willing to wait extra). We sat outside (there's heaters), ate our meal, and had the most wonderful front seat view of the evening light show and fireworks.

 

[mousiemom]

you will get out of disney before the crowds roll in after the 23rd. most schools let out around the 18th for break. if you do a package, you have to get a 2 day base ticket and when you arrive you can easily upgrade your ticket right at your resort. we always do base. we've done all the dining plans and we also did the quick service this past dec. and loved it but there are so many great restaurants in disney. unlike, disneyland, when we were there in june 08 there were only like 5 sit down restaurants to choose from. dec. is our favorite month to go, we've been every month and it is so pretty with all the decorations. we did the christmas party but we won't do it again, we love the osborne lights and it's free!! stay on the disboard for everything you need to know about everything. we also got the free dining on our dec. trip. we are hoping for it again for oct.
have fun planning!