We need some tips/ first timers

[Rippington'sFan]

Great tips! We are also planning to go to Disney World in March. I have a few questions myself since it will be our first time as a family.
1. How do you get the best package deal with Air, Hotel,rental
car,park hopper/fastpass tickets etc...? Do most of you use a
travel agent or would it be possible to book everything
myself. I'm just trying to figure out the BEST way to plan the
trip.
2. How many days would we need to see the Majority of
Attractions? If you had 3 or 4 days set aside for Disney
what should our priorities be as far as Attractions to see
1st,2nd,etc... I know the MK for sure. Our kids are 8 and 5.
3. Are the Park Hopper/Fast Pass tickets highly recommended?

4. What about staying inside the park vs. outside the park?
Is it really worth it and advantageous to stay inside the
park?

I may have more questions but that's all I can think of for now.
Thanks in advance for any information you can share.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

Here's a link to a GREAT packing list!
http://members.cox.net/krisborden/ultimate.html

I'd recommend staying onsite. Then take advantage of all the perks of being a resort guest (early entry, free parking and transportation, etc.,). We like to get to the parks early, then go back to our room in the afternoon for a quick nap. Then we stay at the parks until closing!

A guide book like "Birnbaum's Official Guide to Walt Disney World" is a good idea. ....and the DISboards are a great source of information!

 

[pjlla]

Originally posted by Rippington'sFan
Great tips! We are also planning to go to Disney World in March. I have a few questions myself since it will be our first time as a family.
1. How do you get the best package deal with Air, Hotel,rental
car,park hopper/fastpass tickets etc...? Do most of you use a
travel agent or would it be possible to book everything
myself. I'm just trying to figure out the BEST way to plan the
trip.
2. How many days would we need to see the Majority of
Attractions? If you had 3 or 4 days set aside for Disney
what should our priorities be as far as Attractions to see
1st,2nd,etc... I know the MK for sure. Our kids are 8 and 5.
3. Are the Park Hopper/Fast Pass tickets highly recommended?

4. What about staying inside the park vs. outside the park?
Is it really worth it and advantageous to stay inside the
park?

I may have more questions but that's all I can think of for now.
Thanks in advance for any information you can share.

First of all, I think you have some confusion about the Park Hoppers and Fast Pass.... one really has nothing to do with the other.... Park Hopper Tix (and Park Hopper Plus tix and Ultimate Park Hoppers) all are the type of ticket media that WDW uses for their theme park admission. There is plenty to find out about all those when making decisions about your trip.

HOWEVER, the Fast Pass is an in-park system that WDW uses to help alleviate some of the time you will spend waiting in line for various popular rides. Fast Pass is available to every guest in the parks, no matter what type of ticket you used to get into the park. Here is a GREAT website to go to to read all about what the Fast Pass is and how to use it.... it may sound confusing, but you will figure it out easily once you get there.... http://members.aol.com/ajaynejr/fastpass.htm

My first piece of advice though, is to GET A BOOK.... Start with the "official" Birnbaum WDW guide and then get at least one additional "unofficial" guide... there are many good ones out there! And get the 2004.... don't be cheap and buy an old one at a used book store. Things change too fast at Disney for that to be much good. Once you have these books, read them COVER TO COVER... you will be amazed at what you will learn, reading sections that you didn't think you needed or didn't apply to you. Have your highlighter and post-it notes ready for sections you may want to refer to again. I currently have 7 different 2003/2004 guide books on my shelf and I re-read at least part of one almost every day (but I love to read also).

I think that if you have the time, inclination, and knowledge of the web enough to book the trip yourself, you will probably save money over booking a package. You may want to elicit the help of a Travel Agent, however, if you don't have a lot of time to be on-line checking and rechecking prices, or if you are confused or afraid of booking stuff online yourself. DON'T automatically assume that packages are cheapest.... they usually will include a feature or two that you don't need/want. Anyhow... I will answer more of your questions later.... gotta go get a kid at school!!

 

[jann1033]

My thoughts on #4..if you can at all afford it, stay on site..

there are nice even luxurious hotels off site for the same price as on site but to me there is a big difference beyond cost. our first trip we stayed off site and not only was it cheaper, it was a big pain and not nearly as fun. it's a trek back to the car with tired kids, you have to deal with traffic and imo just not as much fun!. we like to putz around the resort after park closing and offsite just doesn't feel the same. some of the Orlando areas are very cheezy (imo)

you do not get the same total disney experience ( an intangible thing) off site imo. this sounds really sappy but you can kind of escape from the "real world" for a while at wdw and you can not do that ( again imo) off site since you have to keep dealing with the real world. basically your big decision onsite is what time does the bus come... not "are we lost?" , "look out for that crazy driver" , all the pressures of being in a new /unfamiliar place. even though some complain about disney trans. we never move our car once we are there and love that!

it just feels different..nothing like a totally emotional, unsubstantiated answer!

while disney may be taking your bucks fast and furiously , I have never felt the cms were since the service is 98% of the time impecible....i never feel ripped off( except a little if we get a stinko meal that we paid a ton for) even though you spend spend spend,

so from a *practical* stand point it probably is worth staying off site but to me it just can not compare to on site which is ,for lack of a better word,"magical"
( i really need to figure out their secret so I can use it for our own business at home lol!)

 

[pjlla]

Okay, I'm back from the school run.... hmmm, the on-site versus off-site debate... always a touchy one. While I would love to stay on-site every time I go to WDW, we have found for our preference and budget, off-site is the way to go, at least for now. For example, on our upcoming trip in January with an "almost" 6 yr old and 8 1/2 yr old, we wanted a suite in order to be able to put the kids to bed and not have to sit quietly in the dark waiting for them to go to sleep. We had a suite two years ago and it worked out great! Plus my husband is a bit of a night owl, so he wasn't forced to go to bed at 8:30 pm with the kids. In order to get a suite on-site at WDW it was going to exceed our budget... even two ajoining rooms at All-Stars was going to be a bit of a stretch for us ($130+ and up!). We will be using an "all-suite" hotel that we have stayed at previously and enjoyed (for $59/night with free american bkfst!!). While I thought we might stay onsite at a Value or Moderate WDW resort this time, the $$ was talking too loud! And we were renting a car anyhow to go to a few other non-WDW things, so the on-site shuttles weren't that appealing to us. My kids aren't old enough to stay awake for the E-ticket nights, and it is a stretch for us to get to the parks for regular opening every day, never mind making the Early Entry hour! We might get to one or two if we were lucky. So those two "benefits" of being on-site weren't enough to tip the scales for us. YES, I understand all the "magic" of staying on-site, having done it in the past. Love the Mickey soaps and things like that... but just not enough to pay so much extra for it. As for the traffic debate, we stayed in Kissimmee in Jan 2002 and had little/no traffic every single day ( we were at the parks by or before 9am every day). Made it from our hotel parking lot to the theme park parking lot or TTC within 15 minutes EVERY DAY. Of course, if we find the traffic to be much worse this time around, it will probably be our last time off site. In conclusion, if you want to be fully immersed in the WDW "magic" and you feel you will take full advantage of the major benefits of on-site visits (i.e. Early Entry, E-ticket nights, and resort transportation) then by all means STAY ON SITE... but if your wallet is doing the talking and you find a better deal off-site, then don't hesitate to do that. I have figured out that with what we saved on the hotel room, it more than paid for the rental car, which we wouldn't stay off-site without (I personally wouldn't relay on the off-site hotels WDW transportation.. spotty at best from what I have heard). Anyhow, those are just my opinions. But as you can see, there are a lot of factors to weigh in on when making your plans to visit the Mouse. Keep reading these boards and posting questions.... you will find the Disboard folks are VERY generous with their information and with sharing their knowledge. Have a great time.....

 

[funhouse8]

I have a good tip as a Mom of four kids pack one suitcase with food. Snacks, drinks, bread, breakfast cereal, etc. This will save you time and money then when it's empty you have a great place to bring home the souveniers. I also don't agree with the buying all of the souveniers on the last day. If they want a hat or something disney themed to wear buy it early on in the trip so they can wear it. Once it's home it will just collects dust. Did you know you can ask for ice water from and vendor at the park and they will give this to you for free. Eat your character meals at breakfast or lunch, they are cheaper. And they have an character ice cream social in Epcot for about $7.00.
Dress your kids in the same color or very bright colors so you have no trouble picking them out.
Last trip we had to stay off site, I was so upset and worried but we had a wonderful time. I avoided the Early entry parks for that day and never had a problem. I agree with renting a car. It was much easier!
This trip we will be camping in the campground in our pop-up. $34.00 a night after 1/1. $75.00 before. The campsites are very reasonable (For when your kids get older.) Don't think I would want to camp in Disney with babies.

 

[MELSMICE]

Originally posted by Rippington'sFan
Great tips! We are also planning to go to Disney World in March. I have a few questions myself since it will be our first time as a family.

Here are my answers to your questions:

1. How do you get the best package deal with Air, Hotel,rental
car,park hopper/fastpass tickets etc...? Do most of you use a
travel agent or would it be possible to book everything
myself. I'm just trying to figure out the BEST way to plan the
trip.

2. How many days would we need to see the Majority of
Attractions? If you had 3 or 4 days set aside for Disney
what should our priorities be as far as Attractions to see
1st,2nd,etc... I know the MK for sure. Our kids are 8 and 5.

3. Are the Park Hopper/Fast Pass tickets highly recommended?

4. What about staying inside the park vs. outside the park?
Is it really worth it and advantageous to stay inside the
park?

I may have more questions but that's all I can think of for now.
Thanks in advance for any information you can share.

1. If you have the time, book everything yourself. My sister is a travel agent & she said you really will save money if you do it yourself. Just watch for specials. Of course, if you don't have the time, or inclination, then a package may be the way to go, however, if your budget conscience, do it ala carte!

2. Honestly, you would need no less than a week, more like 10 days to see everything Disney has to offer. Then again, that probably wouldn't even be enough!! If you only have 3 or 4 days for Disney you just have to decide what is most important to you. Everyone has their favorite parks for different reasons. Obviously, you need to do MK, then you just need to make some decisions as to what you think your family would like.

3. As a previous poster stated, these are 2 totally different things. A fastpass is something you get for attractions inside the parks using your park ticket & yes, these are highly recommended, especially if the park is busy. A Park Hopper means you can hop from park to park on the same day. If you plan on doing this, then I would recommend a park hopper as opposed to day passes. There is a difference between a Park Hopper, Park Hopper w/ pluses & an Ultimate Park Hopper. I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong) you can get a 4-day hopper which would let you hop at just the 4 major theme parks. Park Hopper pluses let you hop to the 4 major parks and the pluses will get you into the water parks. The # of times you can go to a water park, depends on how many "pluses" are on your pass!! An Ultimate Park Hopper lets you hop to any theme park, water park, Disney Quest, Pleasure Island any time during the length of your stay. IMO you really have to use these a lot to get your money's worth. These will expire on the last day of your stay, however, if you bought a 5-day park hopper plus pass & only used 3 days the other 2 days are good forever. They NEVER expire!!

4. This topic is always debated, however, I feel that staying on property gives your vacation a totally different feel. There is nothing wrong with staying off-site, we have done it a few times, but there is absoultely nothing like staying on-site. You are immersed in the magic every minute. It is a true WDW vacation. You will pay extra, but IMO it is worth every penny.

Anyway, good luck with your planning. These boards are definitely the place to gather information & get tips. My family had been going to WDW for years before I found these boards. Since finding them I have saved money on my vacations which has allowed to take a few more. Have fun.