Starting to Plan for later this year...

[poohbearrocks]

Ive been a few times, never on site and frankly I want to stay on site! I want the magic sun up to sun down... Any recommendations?

I originally thought value, then I was thinking moderate...kids want Animal Kingdom whats good, bad?? car...my dh wants to drive... so does parking cost here?

any Deals? Ive been reading that some thing Free DDP mostly likely won't happen...plus we are wanting later in the year. We went to land last year and got adults play at kids cost... anything at world similar?

lastly when should we book? Im sooooo excited!! I wanna go NOW!

 

[poohbearrocks]

bumping up a little, to see if anyone has any recommendations

 

[MickeyHereWeCome!]

It's so much fun planning a trip to WDW, but it can be overwhelming, especially at first .

I would recommend looking at the various resort options at disneyworld.com and at allearsnet.com. You can see the basic rack rates (which hopefully you'll pay less than), but it would give you a good starting point when planning your budget. We always stay on Disney property, just to be totally surrounded in that Disney atmosphere. What are your priorities in a resort? We have always gone with the idea that we are going to spend most of our time out at the parks, and therefore, didn't need to pay extra for moderate/deluxe theming and activities. We enjoyed the All Stars very much. This time, however, the kids are a bit older, and the pool/slide issue is coming into play. I'd love for us to be able to enjoy a bit more time at the resort, so we're planning a moderate or deluxe. Decide what is important to your family, and go from there. We are really going to try to make AKL work for us this time. It looks awesome!

We drive. Parking is free to guests staying onsite. If you stay offsite, you'll have to pay to park at the parks.

You can check on Mousesavers.com to get any codes that happen to come out. We've never had luck getting one, though. We belong to AAA, so that really helps. If you are going during a peak time later this year, I would go ahead and book once you make your resort and dates decision. If you are going in a less popular time of year, you have a little more time. I'm one who always wants to book way far out, so I can start my planning. It's killing me to not be able to move forward for our January trip, because the '09 rates aren't out yet. The waiting will be pure torture. Once I have dates, I want to dive right in!

Good luck with your planning!

 

[poohbearrocks]

thanks!!

good point on the resort...we aren't planning on much time there...this is my dh's first trip - so I want it to be fun and exciting

thanks for the sites too!! I will be looking! we are thinking christmas (well like the first week or so) then we have thanksgiving Holidays to drive if we wanna! Halloween would be neat as well ...plus its my sons 4th bday then... and of course sooner then december! Ive never experianced Disney at christmas...so it will mostly likely be then!

 

[septbaby]

If you want a fancier pool(water slide, hot tubs) a moderate or Deluxe will suit you.

Do you have a family of 4 (parents plus the two angels with Cinderella)? If there are more than 4 your options are fewer; still excellent ones, but some places (like AKL) would be quite pricey to accomodate you.

We stayed at Carbbean Beach Resort(CBR) in Sept and enjoyed our stay. We plan to return to Disney to stay at AKL and are really looking forward to the stay. We chose AKL because it appealed to us and since its a short trip we can more easily afford to stay there.

You may want to order the planning DVD from Disney's web site. I will help energize the family for the trip and provide some useful information.

2007 was my first time staying on site. All I can say is WOW! Not sure I can do it any other way now. In 2008 I might be saying the same thing about staying Deluxe.

 

[poohbearrocks]

there are 4 of us...my dd will be 7 and my ds will be 4 (i guess i need a pic of him in my siggie) so we very well will be returning for rest some and Im sure dd will want to swim...

are the water parks open in dec, the park keep automaticlly adding water parks in, but Im not really planning on that this year!

 

[skipperkim]

Yes the water parks are open in Dec, but weather then is so unpredictable. It can be 80 one day, and 50 or less the next. It is beautiful around Christmas time. If I understand right you want to go the first week of Dec. I'm not sure when Pop Warner or Mousefest will be this year, so keep that in mind when choosing a resort. Pop is a great value for families. I'd also recommend POFQ because of it size. Mods have more amentities such as free fridge in room (great for breakfast in the morning), hot tubs and pool slides. POFQ also has a boat to DTD as well as to POR where you can use the pools there too since they are sister resorts. POR has a carriage ride as well.