WDW Newbie with a few Questions

[mystic_path]

I love Disney but I've only been do DL before and well the family is deciding on going to WDW sometime next year for an Adult trip, im the youngest at 24, but being a WDW newbie I have a few questions

1) When is a great time to go? I know in DL there are offseasons when most rides are still open such as september when schools are in or the first week of Oct. I reall dont wanna go during the summer, during peak season.

2)Are there cheap onsite or off site hotels that are walking distance to the park? Which ones would you recommend?

3) How many days does it take to see all of WDW at a leasurly pace? I wanna be able to run around and see it all, but then take a day or 2 to just relax and go back to see my favorite things.

 

[SnowWhite12]

Hands down, best time to go is mid-November! Weather is awesome, no crowds. We just walked onto every ride (maybe a 15 minute wait, longest). The parks close earlier, but without the crowds, we got done with all 4 parks in 5 days. And we got to rest, swim, or do Downtown Disney at night. The 5th day was just a repeat of our favorites at every MK and MGM. The value resorts are very reasonable at that time of year (all-stars and pop-century). The moderates are reasonable, too. But for us, the only difference is rooms are a wee bit smaller at Values. And the Moderates have a sit-down restaurants, which we don't care anything about at the hotel. Values have great food courts for burgers, pizzas, even some steaks and chicken.
Oh, I forgot, all on-site hotels have free transportation all around Disney.

 

[Donald is #1]

2)Are there cheap onsite or off site hotels that are walking distance to the park? Which ones would you recommend?

As SnowWhite12 mentioned, for on-site resorts, the value resorts have the cheapest rates. As for walking distance, WDW is so large that you can not walk to all of the parks.

None of the off-site hotels are within walking distance of any park. Now for the on-site hotels, let's see if I can summarize:

Poly, GF, Contemporary: Monorail to MK & EPCOT, bus to all others. Plus you can walk from the Contemporary to the MK.

WL & FW : Boat or bus to MK and buses to all other parks

YC, BC, BW, Swan, Dolphin: Walk or boat to EPCOT & MGM, bus to all others.

All other resorts: Buses to the parks.

 

[mystic_path]

Great these are wonderful tips, thank you!

 

[mfenstermaker]

Is anyone in your party in the military or retired from the military? Or work for the department of defense? If so, you can stay at the Shades of Green which is across the street from the Polynesian. Your rate is according to your rank and way cheaper than the other Deluxe hotels - think it is anywhere from $89-121 - can't beat that!! We love it there - the biggest rooms on Disney property!

Good luck!