too many questions! Plz help me plan 1st ever trip!

[mudnuri]

oh where to begin!

First I'm so glad I found this board! I was originally planning a trip using only disney.com for pricing ---oh boy was I missing a LOT!

Here's my questions/idea's. Please tell me what I'm either missing or doing wrong...

1st- I plan to stay at HIFS....I've read nothing but good things about this hotel, and believe it will allow my dd's (6 &7) more of a home like feel. They are not eager to go to bed in a one room hotel, and it's quite hard for DH and I to sit in the dark while they fall asleep! Having the extra space is WONDERFUL!....I have found that rates can be had for as low as 76.00 per night depending on what season etc.. I'm trying to push for a January trip...if I can keep the budget down....DOWN!! I've checked, and this time is 76.00 with the entertainment card.... My question is where is this hotel located? We will be flying....no car.....good move??

2nd--without having a car...how do I find a towncar etc.. from the airport? or does HIFS offer shuttle?

3rd- this hotel offers free bkfst buffet-

how is it, and how about the other food options in the hotel-??

4th- I'm still not sold on the food vouchers...though with some more research maybe...I'm looking over the menu's available at the parks etc... and reading the pros cons regarding connectionsetc... do you use vouchers- or eat "off site" ?? which is a better deal$$

5th- disney dollars.....what exactly are these? I know what they do, but are they paper- or are they a gift card type?? can I purchase disney dollars at the disney store, as well as online?

I'm sure I'm going to have MANY more questions, however these are the biggies now....please give me any and all opinions etc... I know I could save more by staying at a cheaper hotel, however this is a vacation I would like to remember, and not because of shaddy accomodations!

I forgot...where is a grocery store in comparison to HIFS?

okay- thats it for now

thanks in advance!

Brandy

 

[EthansMom]

Welcome Brandy,

I've also heard HIFS is nice, never stayed there, but plan to on my next WDW trip. My advice -- get a car! We managed to get a rental for 1 week for $85 including taxes -- that's less than a shuttle or towncar! Check out www.mousesavers.com for savings information (sign up for the newsletter for some good deals on ticket prices and such). Also, I used www.sidestep.com to compare prices on car rentals and airline tix.

We never used the vouchers -- too much of a hassle in my opinion, though I know many people here swear by them. We ate both on and offsite and I generally prefer to eat fast food in the park over a sit-down meal out of the park -- saves a lot of time.

Especially with the kids, I recommend driving to the parks (a $7 per day cost, good all day). You save a lot of time and hassle. We stayed at Downtown Disney with a decent bus system and found we could save ourselves about 2 hours a day by driving. In my opinion, an extra 2 hours in the parks is worth $7.

My basic advice, don't forget to think "time savings" in addition to monetary savings. My specific advice, get a cheap rental car, drive to the parks, and sign up for the Mousesavers newsletter (had best ticket prices I could find).

Best of Luck,

EthansMom

 

[Tank]

Stayed there back in 98 when it was fairly new. My niece still says the hotel was her favorite part of the trip. We had a car so I don't know how good their shuttles were. Breakfast was the usual fair, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal. Nothing special but hot and filling. Back then they also offered a character breakfast for a fee, we didn't do so no help there. It is located fairly close to the WDW entrance by DTD, we had no problems getting to the parks quickly, some traffic leaving the world if you stayed till the parks closed. There are plenty of restaurants around the hotel, the only place we ate in the hotel was the breakfast buffet. We didn't use a grocery store so I can't help you there.
If you have more questions just ask.

 

[tink2dw]

http://www.hifamilysuites.com/art/himapa.jpg

1st- I plan to stay at HIFS.... We will be flying....no car.....good move?
Very Good chose of hotel. They have many kid activities!! And between Nov.- early Feb HIFS has Buy One Get One Night Free!!


2nd--without having a car...? or does HIFS offer shuttle?
You will need a car!! The shuttle system is very strange you have to get ressies the day before?? Here is a link to the schedule look at the bottom of the page!!!!http://www.hifamilysuites.com/shuttle.html

 

[rdrjj5]

hi Brandy

I can't say enough about getting a car. The time you save can be invaluable. If you intend to park hop, you only pay the parking fee once and can go to any park that day. Keep you receipt. The car can allow you to go back to your hotel somewhat quickly to take a break if needed. Check out the coupons for car rentals in your entertainment book that can save you more money.

 

[mom1in99]

Renting a car is probably your best bet. See, round-trip transportation to/from airport will run you in the neighborhood of $80 +tip.(tip both ways). We used Orlando Ride (I think). I just did a search on "Orlando transportation" and a bunch of companies popped up. They stand at the airport with your name on a sign. I didn't pay til we arrived. Be sure to use a company that won't charge you (or leave you) should your flight be delayed. We stayed on site the time we flew. Otherwise, we always have a car (if off-site). Although the hotels all advertise "free round-trip shuttle to Disney", It leaves something to be desired. We just stayed off site in July and drove each day. The shuttles only take you over til noon. Then it's all bringing back. So that goes against the "take an afternoon nap" advise. Consider renting a car! Plus if you want to eat off-site, this will save you valuable time.
As for eating, we ate both there and away. We ordered pizzas at our hotel one time. We took Red Lobster gift cards from our Discover cashback bonus another day (ate late lunch to still get lunch prices, before 4pm). At the park, we shared meals and had snacks. We also ate some kids meals ($3.50 for decent size meal with small drink). We did the voucher at the Animal Kingdom and I must say, it was worth it. However, we shared.

 

[pjlla]

I know I've said this elsewhere, but SHOP AROUND!! Don't ever take the first price a company gives you for anything! I booked our "suite" hotel room for January 2004 about 30+ days ago.... they originally quoted $129/night... hotels.com or expedia (can't remember) listed them for $99/night... when I said that we were returning guests and had paid $59/night in Jan 2002 they brought it down to $69/night... I booked it at that, but called about 3 weeks later and told them that we had found another "suite" hotel for $59/night and were thinking of changing to them.... they immediately matched the price of $59/night. All this for the price of a few short phone calls! Also, booked rental car after much searching on-line through different travel sites and directly through the car agencies sites.... got a cheaper price by calling the 800 # directly (Alamo)..... then found a cheaper car company on line somewhere else. Called Alamo back and they dropped their rate to almost match the other price I had found! Plus I will be using a coupon from my BJ's Wholesale Club store that will give me one free day (must bring coupon along when I pick up car). Shopped around for my WDW Park Hoppers also, although most people will tell you that there are no bargains out there for these.... found the local Disney store to be the cheapest (same price as on WDW.com, but without the shipping/handling). THis was cheaper than the AAA price and the Ticketmania.com price. For SeaWorld I checked their website and found they had a promotion going on in connection with Pepsi.... got the "code" from pepsi product and was by far the cheapest price I have seen ANYWHERE for one day SW tix. But they also have 10% off their normal tix prices if you buy e-tix on-line and print them yourself... good savings for not much work. I know it sounds like I spent a lot of time looking for all this stuff, but considering how much $$$ I've saved, I would say it was well worth the time!!! Have a great time and remember, planning is have the fun!!