Planning our second trip! With questions!

[sandra9968]

Because once you go you cannot stop and.....It will be one year in April since our first family trip to Disney. We are now planning a TEN DAY trip in November/December this year. We will arrive on Thanksgiving Day and Stay until the following Sunday. We plan to stay at a resort, with the meal plan again, can't go wrong with that again, but do activities outside of Disney the first weekend to miss the crowds. We are super excited and will try to stay at Pop this time as we stayed at Music last time and were happy as could be with it.

I would like to hear the differences in the Budget and the Moderate though, other than them being closer to the parks. The rooms in Music were plenty big for our small family of just 3 (myself DH and DD who will be 5 then). The beds were oversized and super comfy. I loved how you could shower then get ready privately outside of the bathroom. I just wonder, besides being close what the other differences are?

Also, we thought of, just for kicks, planning the last weekend (Friday, Sat night) at a Moderate or Deluxe to see how the other half lives LOL. Which would anyone recommend the best for us with a 5 year old girl. She loves everything and adjusts easily to anything so think of what the adults paying would like best LOL!

Also, since it is the first week in December...what is the weather like? Shorts in the daytime or pants and sweaters or does it vary?

Oh, and being off season, do the prices go down, or are Disney prices always the same?

I am going to get over to AAA in the next few weeks, but I figure I have plenty of time seeing the time frame we are going in.

Thanks fellow Disney addicts!!

 

[DonnaBoo]

Hi
I'm interested in the answers to some of your questions

 

[Enchanted]

Let's see how many of your questions I can try to answer for you. I've stayed at both CBR and CSR twice, and we love them!

First, the moderate rooms are just slightly bigger than the rooms at the value resorts. The Caribbean Beach rooms are the largest of the mod resorts', and I'll say that you DEFINITELY can feel a difference between those rooms and the other mod/value resort rooms. Other differences between mods and values include:

* Moderate resorts have privacy curtains between the vanity area and the sleeping/living area while value resorts don't.

* Mods have more "adult" theming that still feels "Disney" to both the young and old.

* Mods feature table service restaurants as well as food court areas like the values.

* The moderate resorts feature recreational things that you can rent by the hour like surrey bikes and boats.

* All of the main pools at the moderate resorts have water slides. Also mods generally have a quiet pool for each "section" of the resort.

* Mods have refrigerators in all the rooms. (Values might all have them now as well, but I can't remember. Back when we stayed there they didn't. )

Okay, on to some of the other questions!

For your dates, a standard view room at rack rate at the moderates would be $175 a night for Thanksgiving weekend. That price would drop to $149 a night starting Nov. 30th and would stay that way for the rest of your stay for both the weekdays and the weekend. The first three days you are there are considered "regular" season while the rest of your stay is considered "value" season. A really great place to check for a breakdown of accurate rates is allearsnet.com. Click on the accomodations section at the top of the page, and then scroll down the accomodations page. The left side of the page will show you the names of all of the Disney resorts. Click on "Fact Sheet" for the resort you want to look into. Not only will it show you a table for the rates and seasons and room types, but it will give you a FAQ of sorts about what the resort's features.

As for a recommendation for your family, I would suggest CBR for a moderate. It's really bright and colorful, and your DD will love the palm trees everywhere. It's got a really cool tropical, lush vibe to it. I think you and your husband would love it too. There's areas of beach with hammocks where you can lay out and just read or tan. It's so pretty there! Plus, if you're going to pay for the moderate, you might as well get as much space for your buck as possible! Oh! Another thing! The beds at CBR are higher off the ground so you can put some of your luggage under there. Then it seems like you've got even MORE room! I'm loading some pictures from that trip so I'll try to post some of them for you later on when I get the chance.

If you want to splurge and go for a deluxe, I would suggest AKL or WL. You get a bit more of a deluxe "feel" without making such a huge jump in price just yet. Both of them are absolutely beautiful resorts that your daughter will like and you will LOVE. But if you REALLY feel like splurging I'd suggest the Poly for an MK area deluxe (MONORAIL! ) or the BC for an Epcot area resort (We haven't gotten to stay there yet, but it's on our to-do list for our next trip. ).

As for the weather, I can't really comment because I've never been there during December. But from what I hear, the weather can be unpredictable during that time of year. One day you may be wearing shorts and a tank top and the next day you're wearing a coat and gloves! I suggest packing items that you can layer so that you can take things off if it gets too hot out.

Hehe, I hope my novel up there was somewhat educational to you. Once I start you can't get me to shut up, I guess.

Let me know if you have any more questions!

 

[Perditamarie]

We have gone at the beginning of Dec the last 2 years and the weather has been great!!! Warm during the day..70-80s and nice for swimming! We wore shorts most times, w/the occasional lite sweatshirt - I agree w/bringing a bit of everything and layering. The crowds were light and everything was very Christmasy and festive.

To pick a deluxe resort, you could really make yourself crazy!!! We love the Boardwalk area -- choose YC/BC for the super pool--it can double as a day at the water park!! Boardwalk is also very nice and both have excellent locations to Epcot and DHS. However, I believe The Wilderness Lodge is considered the ultimate in Christmas glory --- we haven't visited as we can't fall in love w/yet another Disney resort!! Also, SSR is a very relaxing resort and is located in walking or boating distance from DTD, which is great for dining, shopping and entertainment!!


Regarding prices, restaurants have imposed "holiday" prices, where meal prices increase during certain holiday periods --- not sure how this impacts ddp besides what you pay oop for tax and tip, but thought it was yet another clever, diabolical way to raise prices !!!

 

[wilde_oscar]

Don't worry about the whole "closer to the parks" thing. When you add everything up and take avg travel time, there is no statistical difference between the resort with the shortest bus time and the longest bus time. the exception is traveling to MK from a monorail resort, but that is not a bus now is it?

I don't think the size difference is that noticeable. And since disney when to the per night room rate system... you won't have to book back to back to get the rate to go down once thanksgiving is over.

 

[lmillercrew]

I think that Port Orleans French Quarter would be fantastic for your family. We've stayed there twice and love the smaller aspect of this mod resort. I've heard that CBR and CSR are HUGE. You don't get that with POFQ. A previous post mentioned refrigerators in the mods. You do get a fridge as a benefit in each room, with the value resorts you have to rent one for $10/day if you want one. My dh and I stayed at All Star Sports in Oct and thought it was great. But, for the price that you will pay for a mod when you go, splurge and stay at one of those.
Hope this helped some. Definately check out allearsnet.com. I don't know how I would have done so many Disney trips without them.

 

[magicaldisney]

I like your idea of a split stay. We have done that and love it. It's kind of a hassle, but you will be there for a good number of days to make it worth it. The differences between value and moderate have been stated above. The value seemed much noisier to me. I too would suggest POFQ because of it's size. I would not go to CBR because of it's huge size. If you keep watching, you might be able to get a deal on the mods for your traveling time that will get you in one for about $119 per night.

Now if you really want to see how the other half live...and don't want to pay the big price of the deluxe resort...you just might want to think of renting points from a DVC member. The first year we did it, we got into a studio at a deluxe resort for the same price as the moderate would have cost us. This is something you would need to educate yourself on and is not something you do through a travel agent, but is a very cool option.