Started planning for next summer! Need some advice.

[YYC-Rob]

Hello Disboards!

My name is Rob. My family and I live in Calgary and I am planning our first trip to WDW for the end of next summer. Five of us will be travelling; My wife and I, our two children (7 and 9 at time of travel), and grandma! Ill lay out the potential plans I have so far and then I have a few questions I hope someone will be able to help with.

We intend to fly out the last Saturday, August 25th, stay over labour day weekend, and return on Saturday Sept 8th. We will be flying those days for the following reasons:
-Westjet flies direct on Saturdays
-We have 2 Westjet rewards mastercards and therefor 2 pools of points to draw from as well as two of the 99 dollar companion flights
-All signs point towards those dates being low crowd days
-My kids will only miss the first week of school as opposed to missing 2 weeks later in the year (mid summer crowds are not a thing for us)

With these dates in mind we will have 13 days outside of travel days. We will be buying 10 day park hopper + passes which leaves us with 3 days to fill (or relax).

We intend to stay at the Art of Animation but are more than open to suggestion to other suggestions. The most important features of the hotel for us are sleeping comfort, a decent place to buy breakfast/lunch foods, a decent pool for those off days.

Unless something drastic happens we dont plan to use a travel agent. I will take care of booking our dining reservations and fast pass + as well as the usual travel bookings.

So my questions are (some might seem obvious but I'm asking to reassure)

1. If we book our room and buy our passes as early as possible and a deal comes up (like the 25% off ticket prices deal for Canadians that I just missed) am I able to contact Disney and get the deal? Or would I have to cancel my current reservations or get the tickets refunded and then rebook/repurchase in order to get the discount?

2. I noticed a transportation option in the Disney website menus when making a reservation. Is this simply transportation from hotel to park or is this transportation from the Orlando airport to WDW? What is the best way to get from the airport to the hotel reliably?

3. When I purchase the tickets are the directly entered into the mydisney experience? Perhaps a better way to ask is... is the disney website login and mydisney experience the same thing?

4. I took a look at the chart under the ticket faq but was still confused. How easy is it to add a couple days to the 10 day pass, how expensive (ballpark), and how do I go about doing it?

5. Who makes the best itinerary spreadsheets?

6. Whats everyone's favorite dining experiences? I will be booking asap so I should be able to reserve anywhere. Are the meal and fireworks combos worth while?

Thank you for your time and advice! It probably seems silly to be obsessing 14 months in advance but it keeps me motivated. We traveled to Disneyland last year and made the mistake of telling our kids 8 months before hand. This time we are going to keep it a surprise but I want to make sure I have done everything that I can do to make the trip the best possible experience for everyone!

 

[Donald - my hero]

WOW! first things first here to the DISboards, you've picked the best place to ask your questions -- we love to help each other out! I'll quickly answer the questions that are easy and then come back later for more detailed answers when i have a chance.
1) if discounts come out you can easily modify your reservation to add that in -- you should be able to do that without calling, some of us see a "modify" button on our reservations. Tickets can't be refunded though but if you have a package booked and a new discount pops up you can ask how to handle THAT adjustment (been there done that!)

2) Disney offers a service called Magical Express which is a free bus from the airport with the added bonus of free baggage delivery. You will receive tags for your bags that you can attach and once you check in at the Calgary airport you won't see your bags until they appear "magically" in your room. They will pick you up at your resort and take you back to the airport (4 hours before your flight). Service is free and we love it!

3) You cna take a look around at your Disney website and see where things need to get added it is your same log-in information and is pretty straight forward.

4) Yes you can add days to your pass and it isn't that expensive once you get over a certain # of days it is very reasonable HOWEVER ... don't so it!! You'll find that 10 days is plenty of time in the parks and your entire family will appreciate a few down days. It will still be blistering hot so you could hit up a water park. Go mini-golfing, spend a day resort hopping, some time time in Disney Springs -- or just hanging out around your own resort. You'll be able to do plenty in 10 park days and you can always add more days right up till the end of the last day you're in a park.

5) Depends on what you mean for spreadsheet -- i have an excellent one that helped us stay on track but don't think i can share it here.

6) you'll hear every and any restaurant on both sides -- give us a few details about what type of food, sit down, counter service, resorts, parks ...

Happy planning, you'll have a blast! I would recommend giving your kids at least a couple of weeks before the trip to let them join in the excitement but you know your kids best!

 

[krauh]

Just wanted to poke my head in and say happy planning from a fellow Albertan!

 

[Sue M]

Hello Disboards!

My name is Rob. My family and I live in Calgary and I am planning our first trip to WDW for the end of next summer. Five of us will be travelling; My wife and I, our two children (7 and 9 at time of travel), and grandma! Ill lay out the potential plans I have so far and then I have a few questions I hope someone will be able to help with.

We intend to fly out the last Saturday, August 25th, stay over labour day weekend, and return on Saturday Sept 8th. We will be flying those days for the following reasons:
-Westjet flies direct on Saturdays
-We have 2 Westjet rewards mastercards and therefor 2 pools of points to draw from as well as two of the 99 dollar companion flights
-All signs point towards those dates being low crowd days
-My kids will only miss the first week of school as opposed to missing 2 weeks later in the year (mid summer crowds are not a thing for us)

With these dates in mind we will have 13 days outside of travel days. We will be buying 10 day park hopper + passes which leaves us with 3 days to fill (or relax).

We intend to stay at the Art of Animation but are more than open to suggestion to other suggestions. The most important features of the hotel for us are sleeping comfort, a decent place to buy breakfast/lunch foods, a decent pool for those off days.

Unless something drastic happens we dont plan to use a travel agent. I will take care of booking our dining reservations and fast pass + as well as the usual travel bookings.

So my questions are (some might seem obvious but I'm asking to reassure)

1. If we book our room and buy our passes as early as possible and a deal comes up (like the 25% off ticket prices deal for Canadians that I just missed) am I able to contact Disney and get the deal? Or would I have to cancel my current reservations or get the tickets refunded and then rebook/repurchase in order to get the discount?

2. I noticed a transportation option in the Disney website menus when making a reservation. Is this simply transportation from hotel to park or is this transportation from the Orlando airport to WDW? What is the best way to get from the airport to the hotel reliably?

3. When I purchase the tickets are the directly entered into the mydisney experience? Perhaps a better way to ask is... is the disney website login and mydisney experience the same thing?

4. I took a look at the chart under the ticket faq but was still confused. How easy is it to add a couple days to the 10 day pass, how expensive (ballpark), and how do I go about doing it?

5. Who makes the best itinerary spreadsheets?

6. Whats everyone's favorite dining experiences? I will be booking asap so I should be able to reserve anywhere. Are the meal and fireworks combos worth while?

Thank you for your time and advice! It probably seems silly to be obsessing 14 months in advance but it keeps me motivated. We traveled to Disneyland last year and made the mistake of telling our kids 8 months before hand. This time we are going to keep it a surprise but I want to make sure I have done everything that I can do to make the trip the best possible experience for everyone!

Hi Rob! You picked great dates for lower crowds. We always go around Labour Day. I can try and help. One thing I would recommend for your first time is buying WDW The Unofficial Guide. Lots of great info. And good touring plans too. Buying book gives you free access for a year to their web site as well. I always use their park crowd calendar.

I would suggest you buy a 10 day park hopper plus water park ticket, the 2 water parks are really fun. Since you'll have lots of time.

1. Canadian tickets- I think that ship sailed. But if you buy a package, room + tickets, and a lower price comes out, you can phone and have new discount applied to your booking. You have to keep actively watching. Mousesavers.com is a useful site to watch for discounts. If you're changing package discount you don't have to rebook. Only if you go from package to room only or room only to package would you have to rebook then cancel prior res.

2. Transportation is Magical Express and it's airport transportation. When you get your flight info you can just phone disney reservations to add flight info. Or may be a link on Disney web site for Disney Magical Express. Great transportation to and from your hotel.

3. The tickets shoukd automatically be in your MDE account. Be sure you've registered and opened a MDE acct before you book.

4. You can't add days to a 10 day ticket. 10 days is the max # of days you can get unless you buy an annual pass. Which was another reason I suggested adding water park. You can go to parks 10 days and do 3 more days of water parks, breaking up park days. Or do a water park in the morning and a theme park. in the afternoon or evening. I think you get 10 waterpark days on a 10 day park ticket. Not sure if that changed. But it will say on ticket web site.

5. Touring plans in Unofficial Guide, and a web site, Easy Disney ( look at cheat sheets too).

6. Some of our fav meals are at Poly- Kong Cafe and Ohana, at Grand Floridian 1900 Park Fare dinner is fun. The step sisters are hilarious. Trails End at Ft Wilderness, Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge, in Hollywood Studios, 50's Prime Time and SciFi, in the Epcot area there's so many restaurants along the Boardwalk and in the Yacht and Beach Club resorts, we used to like LeCellier in Canada Pavillion but haven't been since menu change. The Cheese soup and pretzel bread is to die for. Italy has 2 good restaurants and we enjoyed Biergarten in Germany. Also The Coral Seas.
Animal kingdom park we enjoy Yak & Yeti or go to Animal Kingdome Lodge to Boma or Sana.
At MK we usually do counter service and go to the nearby resorts for dinner.
Allears.net has good menus of all the restaurants.

Happy planning

 

[dis_guy]

My name is Rob. My family and I live in Calgary and I am planning our first trip to WDW for the end of next summer.

Hi Rob, another Albertan here, welcome to the Dis and the addiction!

Westjet flies direct on Saturdays

We fly out of YEG and have used the WJ nonstop a few times. I highly recommend it! Nowadays it is often the best deal on airfare that we can get for the times we typically travel. It used to be that United would have the best prices but then there was always a connection somewhere, usually DEN or IAH.

We intend to stay at the Art of Animation but are more than open to suggestion to other suggestions.

My suggestion is to really look at all the resorts that you think you might be interested in. There's a lot of video walk throughs of rooms and resorts, etc on Youtube. I would caution you to be sure to check if the resorts you might book have any construction going on. I know Coronado Springs and Caribbean Beach have very major construction projects right now.

The previous posters have given you some excellent information and you still have some time to do more research on your own. It's going to be "melt your face off hot", as one Canadian Diser once said, but with 2 weeks and a good strategy (park mornings, back to resort mid day, park evenings, etc) for dealing with the heat, you will be fine. Hydrate! Any counter serve will give you a cup of ice water for free.

Have a wonder filled trip! Nothing will ever quite equal that first time being there in person.

 

[YYC-Rob]

Hello again!

Wow i'm astonished by the quick responses! Your help is very much appreciated.

1. This was the section I was most currently worried about and it seems like its the one ill need to worry the least about. I think I read somewhere that you can book your rooms for next year starting June 20th. I was worried that booking at the start would be the most expensive time but if I am able to scoop up any savings later offered than this is a non issue. I have no problem keeping an eye out for Disney deals.

2. OMG this sounds amazing. Especially with the amount of luggage my wife packs!

3. Got this figured out. Thank you. Looks like the app can do all the reservations too.

4. A little confused here. 10 days is the maximum but I can add water park days? Or are the park hopper entrances and the water park entrances counted separately? I took a better look at the variety of things to do at Disney springs and even around the resorts. I think we will be OK with the 10 days passes as we can easily fill the "off" days. Maybe we will be forced to go to Mickeys Halloween party, which I believe starts in early September, on one of those off days. Such a shame.

5. Ill check out the easy Disney site. I can also make my own if need be. This might be a little overkill though.

6. I should have mentioned here that my wife and daughter have Celiac Disease (not gluten intolerant but the actual auto-immune disease). This is one of the reasons we initially leaned towards the AoA resort as they had a very nice looking gluten free menu options. That being said, it seems that almost all the resorts will offer similar things.

@Donald - my hero - I think you are spot on with your last suggestion. Giving the kids a couple weeks to build excitement is a good idea. The issue we had before is that we told them SO far ahead, and at an age that they dont really understand large time lengths. Maybe when the magic bands arrive i'll do a little set up in the house like Mickey had specially delivered them and have them wake up to a surprise and a count down calendar

@krauh - Hello and thank you for the warm welcome

@Sue M - Ill take a look for that guide. Which one do you recommend. Amazon has a couple different versions. How early would the 2018 version be realease? I've been poking around on various blogs that frequent WDW and have found a lot of info there as well. Also, I am insanely jealous of your "past trips" signature

@dis_guy - With the deals and the service we have received in the past we always fly Westjet, no questions asked. Ive started broadening my look at resorts. If we can indeed get prices and reservations starting June 20th for next year than I will be able to see exactly whats in my budget range. I think with 3 days off the pool situation is going to be critical. I like the looks of the Caribbean beach pool and the construction work at that resort is suppose to wrap up June 2018 (cant say I've seen a construction completion date that has ever actually been met though). In regards to the heat... we intend to do the parks at opening, then head back to the hotel around noon for the hottest and busiest part of the day, eat and do a waterpark for a few hours, then head back to the park for dinner and evening rides. I don't know how feasible that will be given how large WDW is but its a plan to start.

Thanks again everyone for your help. I broke my own "spoiler" rule and watch a video of the new fireworks show at MK. Still dragging my jaw around on the floor!

 

[fan1080]

4. Water park entries are not counted the same as a theme park entry.

The "major parks", Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Animal Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios, will each count for a park day. Park hopper will allow you to go to more than one park per day.

The plus option on the ticket gives entrance for the water parks. I believe you get one plus entry for each day of your ticket.

Happy travels.

 

[hdrolfe]

My son and I are going the last week for August and are very excited. We have stayed at AoA and POP Century for brief stays but got a very good deal at Yacht Club so will be there this summer. We expect it to be hot. I didn't get the waterparks option on our tickets because we are only there for a week, and the YC has an awesome pool area I think will suffice for us. If we were there for two weeks though I would have gotten it for sure.

The transportation at Disney is great, bus from the Airport right to the hotel and buses from resort to parks, then back again. I love that I don't have to drive or worry about how to get around. My son loves being able to take the bus (not something we do here so that's an experience too).

We have a few character meals planned, but mostly plan to get a quick service as it fits in with our day. Because we have a week I am trying not to over plan things, also given we don't know how hot it will be or what time a storm might roll through. We liked Tusker House at Animal Kingdom for breakfast, and we've been to Garden Grill at Epcot and my son really liked that one. Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom was nice, at least the characters were great, the food wasn't the best.

I use touring plans for a rough idea of things, and their calendar that shows how busy the parks are expected to be. For meals I used the touring plans site as well to look at the menus and see where we might like to eat and how much meals are. I did not get the dining plan so it gives me an idea for budget, I also intend to order some groceries for breakfasts, and a case of water.

Direct flights are awesome, we booked ours almost as soon as they were released for our dates. They have since doubled in price, and now come down a little but are still well over what we paid. I find it harder to find direct flights for summer dates. I guess they fill up faster too.

Enjoy your planning, and the trip!

 

[Donald - my hero]

Just a couple of comments for you now that you've provided some more information.

Dietary issues -- OMG Disney is seriously the BEST place to go to eat out. There are people who have children with life-threatening allergies who will only allow them to eat in a restaurant there. I have numerous foods i need to avoid and absolutely LOVE eating there, you can ask for a chef at any location, ask to read ingredient binders anywhere food is sold (including the popcorn stands!), you can ask for your food to be prepared in the kitchen from scratch instead of taking food off a buffet line. Gluten is without a doubt the easiest food to avoid while dining on-site and ANY of the resorts that have quick service locations will go above & beyond to insure your food is safe. You can get gluten free Beignets at PO French Quarter that are to-die-for. You won't have a problem with your meals anywhere so don't let that be the sole reason you choose AofA. ***side note i really get annoyed when people ask for stuff gluten free and don't actually need to -- those of us who have actual health reasons to avoid products can get a bum rap!

Magic bands aren't delivered outside of the States but there are several other options for trip reveals that you can take advantage of to make it fun. There is an amazing Canadian DIS-er who does great work creating coupons you can then print. @bababear_50 , care to weigh in here?

 

[bababear_50]

Hi Rob
Can you post your kids first names?
I have a few coupons you might like to use for the reveal but I just don't post blanks due to theft of my designs.

Hugs Mel

 

[Sue M]

Hello again!

Wow i'm astonished by the quick responses! Your help is very much appreciated.

1. This was the section I was most currently worried about and it seems like its the one ill need to worry the least about. I think I read somewhere that you can book your rooms for next year starting June 20th. I was worried that booking at the start would be the most expensive time but if I am able to scoop up any savings later offered than this is a non issue. I have no problem keeping an eye out for Disney deals.

2. OMG this sounds amazing. Especially with the amount of luggage my wife packs!

3. Got this figured out. Thank you. Looks like the app can do all the reservations too.

4. A little confused here. 10 days is the maximum but I can add water park days? Or are the park hopper entrances and the water park entrances counted separately? I took a better look at the variety of things to do at Disney springs and even around the resorts. I think we will be OK with the 10 days passes as we can easily fill the "off" days. Maybe we will be forced to go to Mickeys Halloween party, which I believe starts in early September, on one of those off days. Such a shame.

5. Ill check out the easy Disney site. I can also make my own if need be. This might be a little overkill though.

6. I should have mentioned here that my wife and daughter have Celiac Disease (not gluten intolerant but the actual auto-immune disease). This is one of the reasons we initially leaned towards the AoA resort as they had a very nice looking gluten free menu options. That being said, it seems that almost all the resorts will offer similar things.

@Donald - my hero - I think you are spot on with your last suggestion. Giving the kids a couple weeks to build excitement is a good idea. The issue we had before is that we told them SO far ahead, and at an age that they dont really understand large time lengths. Maybe when the magic bands arrive i'll do a little set up in the house like Mickey had specially delivered them and have them wake up to a surprise and a count down calendar

@krauh - Hello and thank you for the warm welcome

@Sue M - Ill take a look for that guide. Which one do you recommend. Amazon has a couple different versions. How early would the 2018 version be realease? I've been poking around on various blogs that frequent WDW and have found a lot of info there as well. Also, I am insanely jealous of your "past trips" signature

@dis_guy - With the deals and the service we have received in the past we always fly Westjet, no questions asked. Ive started broadening my look at resorts. If we can indeed get prices and reservations starting June 20th for next year than I will be able to see exactly whats in my budget range. I think with 3 days off the pool situation is going to be critical. I like the looks of the Caribbean beach pool and the construction work at that resort is suppose to wrap up June 2018 (cant say I've seen a construction completion date that has ever actually been met though). In regards to the heat... we intend to do the parks at opening, then head back to the hotel around noon for the hottest and busiest part of the day, eat and do a waterpark for a few hours, then head back to the park for dinner and evening rides. I don't know how feasible that will be given how large WDW is but its a plan to start.

Thanks again everyone for your help. I broke my own "spoiler" rule and watch a video of the new fireworks show at MK. Still dragging my jaw around on the floor!

It's the park hopper plus ticket. Water park entry is counted separately from theme parks. Thank you, we've had a lot of great trips, and I loved each resort we've stayed at. Each offers something special.
I can't answer when the new WDW The Unofficial Guide will be out, the new component would be Pandora at AK. And info about new paid park to park service. Regular park busses remain free, don't worry. However their web site, touringplans.com will have updated info. You could email the authors and ask. Contact info may be on web site.

 

[bababear_50]

So here is an idea we did for my grand daughter last year.
We filled a box with Helium balloons and then wrapped the box in colorful paper.
Attached to the balloons inside the box was a giant Air Canada ticket I made and printed off at Fed Ex .
I have have taken the same idea and made a Look Who's Going To Disney World Westjet Ticket.

Example here
Let me know if you are interested and I will personalize the ticket for you .

Hugs Mel

 

[mshanson3121]

I don't have much to add to your questions other than to ask if you're set on staying on site. If you want comfort and a nice pool for such a long stay, you can rent a condo or private home for much cheaper. We rented a 4 bedroom 2 bath home with our own private 24' pool, that was owned by a fellow Canadian for only $100 CDN per night.

 

[kerreyn]

Welcome @YYC-Rob ! I'm in YYC as well. We're planning a 50th birthday celebration for my hubby at WDW in February, followed by a cruise (unfortunately, not Disney). I'm patiently (HA!) waiting for June 20th so we can book a resort as well.

Just to add my $0.02, Westjet flies direct from YYC to MCO on Tuesdays and Saturdays (odd, I know). We're planning a Tuesday arrival and Saturday departure, roughly 11 days total on the trip.

Also, are you and your wife airmiles collectors? You can purchase WDW passes on the airmiles site, which helps a bit on the budget. I believe they still have passes available at the Canadian discounted rate. There's an awesome thread here regarding the airmiles deals, and how to get a good bang for your buck.

Last, I would suggest taking a look into a Disney travel agent. They get paid by Disney at no cost to you. My daughter and son-in-law went to WDW for their honeymoon last summer and used a Disney TA. Their flight ended up being cancelled in Miami due to storms. My daughter contacted her Disney TA, and the TA got a hold of the resort (Animal Kingdom Lodge), and had the cost of their first night credited back to them, as well as made the (new) arrangements for Disney Express, etc. She really went above and beyond for them. We'll be using the same person for our trip in Feb. 18.

Good luck in the planning - it's half the fun!

 

[YYC-Rob]

Wow you all are pretty amazing. Nice to find an internet board free from the general hostility you see elsewhere. This is why I love Disney and the other people who love Disney.

Thank you for the feedback regarding the park hopper/waterpark tickets as well as the dietary feedback. Both of these have put my mind to great ease.

@bababear_50 Holy smokes! That is amazing. My kids names are Ella and Noah. Do you charge for your designs? Maybe we can chat over PM if I figure that out. I want to hid those tickets in a box and create a giant scavenger hunt for them.

@mshanson2131 I hadnt given much thought to staying offsite. I really don't want to drive, as I do a lot of that during my daily work. It is something I will consider though if we find the prices of the wdw resorts to be too high.

Ive started watching youtube videos on the resorts and I think we will be happy anywhere. The extra room and second bathroom at AoA are pretty alluring. The pool at the Caribbean beach resort seems like a blast. I think, come the end of august (a year before we leave) I will subscribe to that touring plans website. I like a lot of what they seem to offer.

Im holding my breath now until the 20th when the hotel bookings open up for next year on June 20th. Is it mad rush to book every year? We picked a down time so I am not that concerned but I am also more than willing to stay up till midnight to book.

I noticed while browsing the possibilities last night that the poly resort has a 1700 usd a night room. That seems insane to me! Have any of you stayed in a room like that? (possible rude question incoming) - What kind of budgets do you all usually have for WDW? I'm ball parking $10k CAD plus food/souvenirs for our stay. I'd also like to ask what the draw is to stay at the more expensive deluxe hotels? Is it the better appointments in the rooms or is the service vastly greater? The monorail is the thing that stands out to me for a few of them.

Thanks again everyone. Feel free to share a favorite disney hotel/food/park memory here! I love reading them

 

[SG131]

I noticed while browsing the possibilities last night that the poly resort has a 1700 usd a night room. That seems insane to me! Have any of you stayed in a room like that? (possible rude question incoming) - What kind of budgets do you all usually have for WDW? I'm ball parking $10k CAD plus food/souvenirs for our stay. I'd also like to ask what the draw is to stay at the more expensive deluxe hotels? Is it the better appointments in the rooms or is the service vastly greater?

I have never stayed in a room that expensive but I have stayed at a deluxe multiple times when there are sales. Personally I would probably be at a moderate this time, but grandma is coming along and hates the buses so we are staying in a monorail resort to add other transportation options. The resorts along the boardwalk have a boat and walking trails to Epcot and Hollywood studios. The rooms are a bit bigger but the transportation is really what we are paying for.

As far as restaurants for your first trip, what does your family like? If your daughter loves princesses I'd suggest cinderellas royal table (food not great but a neat one time experience) or Akershus or Trattoria al Forna (breakfast only).

I'm not very adventurous of an eater so my favorite in Epcot is Biergarten. If you time your meal with the show times of the band it's great entertainment. Depending on what type of food you like each of the countries has good restaurants.

In Hollywood studios, I love the theming of 50s Prime Time and Sci Fi. Be our guest at Magic Kingdom and Ohana are both very popular for the atmosphere. Crystal Palace is a classic for our family.

The Rainforest Cafe in Animal Kindgom is fun to try if you've never been. Many of the other restaurants there get good reviews but are a bit too adventurous for my group.

 

[bababear_50]

Hi Rob
My name is Mel
I make coupons for people going to Disney. Have a look at the second to last Forum on these boards
"Creative DISign forum"
https://www.disboards.com/forums/creative-disigns.105/
People make all kinds of stuff,letters,stroller license plates,dinning invites, welcome letters etc.

Have a look in my Photobucket--link in my signature.
If there are any coupons you'd like made for your kids just post a request on my thread which is listed in my signature.
I do not charge for my coupons.

I do have an Etsy store where I sell stuff but we don't talk about that on the DIS,,lol.

Here are your plane tickets for Noah and Ella
Have a great time planning and a wonderful Holiday.
Hugs Mel

 

[mort1331]

Welcome Rob,
So lots of questions answered , many more to come.
The time that you are going has historically been a time for what is "free dining". It has changed over the years, but has always been resort stay with a full price park ticket, gets you free dining. Now they have added in that you need the park hopper, or min 2 nights stay or 4 nights or little things like that. But that being said, you can book your reg way, and when the deals come out you can change no issues. They usually come out may time. This past year for this fall changed that value and moderate hotels got the quick service plans, and deluxe got the regular. The past Mods had received the reg.
With 5 going, you do have some limitations on room choices, although they are getting better.
For the resorts as you move from value and up the differences are themeing, amenities, and food choices. Values have big themes basic rooms and food courts.
Mods have more detailing, rooms with 2 sinks, trundle beds, or murphy beds, and food courts that have more variety, as well as sit down restaurants. Deluxe usually are walking distance or monorail to resorts. Bigger rooms with queen size beds, some of the restaurants have character meals onsite.

But we have been to all 3 levels, and are DVC members. I can say my girls 10,6 have been multiple times and one cant stop talking about the piano pool at Allstars Music. The other loves the big wheel and dining at Port Orleans. I have to say I have a soft spot for POR. Just love how quiet it is with great food choices.

10 days out of 13 is plenty of time. Spending couple of days at downtown and or the boardwalk. Plus just relaxing pool side at whatever resort you choose.
I know mshanson mentioned staying offsite. If you can budget it, I would stay onsite. Fully immerse yourselves in Disney. My wife would never let us stay offsite, we can do that anywhere else.

FYI that 1700per night room is for the bungalow over the water. There are only 20 of them, so not too many people do. But not too many have a Rolls Royce either so....

You dont need that to have a holiday filled with memories that will last you a long time

 

[Sue M]

Wow you all are pretty amazing. Nice to find an internet board free from the general hostility you see elsewhere. This is why I love Disney and the other people who love Disney.

Thank you for the feedback regarding the park hopper/waterpark tickets as well as the dietary feedback. Both of these have put my mind to great ease.

@bababear_50 Holy smokes! That is amazing. My kids names are Ella and Noah. Do you charge for your designs? Maybe we can chat over PM if I figure that out. I want to hid those tickets in a box and create a giant scavenger hunt for them.

@mshanson2131 I hadnt given much thought to staying offsite. I really don't want to drive, as I do a lot of that during my daily work. It is something I will consider though if we find the prices of the wdw resorts to be too high.

Ive started watching youtube videos on the resorts and I think we will be happy anywhere. The extra room and second bathroom at AoA are pretty alluring. The pool at the Caribbean beach resort seems like a blast. I think, come the end of august (a year before we leave) I will subscribe to that touring plans website. I like a lot of what they seem to offer.

Im holding my breath now until the 20th when the hotel bookings open up for next year on June 20th. Is it mad rush to book every year? We picked a down time so I am not that concerned but I am also more than willing to stay up till midnight to book.

I noticed while browsing the possibilities last night that the poly resort has a 1700 usd a night room. That seems insane to me! Have any of you stayed in a room like that? (possible rude question incoming) - What kind of budgets do you all usually have for WDW? I'm ball parking $10k CAD plus food/souvenirs for our stay. I'd also like to ask what the draw is to stay at the more expensive deluxe hotels? Is it the better appointments in the rooms or is the service vastly greater? The monorail is the thing that stands out to me for a few of them.

Thanks again everyone. Feel free to share a favorite disney hotel/food/park memory here! I love reading them

Ummm, $1700? Not unless I win the 6/49!!! Lol. We love GF and Poly. The draw to me is larger rooms, beautiful grounds, nice pools, dining options, bus, boat or monorail transportation, and I love being able to watch MK fireworks and Electric Water Parade from resort. Nothing like seeing the Castle from your resort.

 

[kerreyn]

@bababear_50

Mel, I was just looking through your designs on the coupon thread. They're beautiful!!