Ok I have a confession to make! I have only ever been to Disney twice! So I am by no means an expert on the subject. I have friends who have been more times than they can count. But I know I have had several friends ask me for some insight and I feel like I have more to say than just a few sentences but I don’t want to overwhelm these poor people either. Soo I decided what better way than to just do a blog post! Duh!
I am a Disney World freak! I love planning it! I love the trip! I love figuring out where we are going to eat! I love it! I get a rush of adrenalin anytime I hear the word Disney World!
So here is my two-sense worth that I have learned from
research or experience.
1.
First and foremost realize that this is a
vacation. This is something that you and
your family will remember for a lifetime.
Your kids are not going to know if you didn’t get to do something that
you “planned” on doing. They are going
to remember the first time they saw Cinderella’s Castle or first rode on Space
Mountain, or that they beat you on Toy Story Mania! So relax.
If you don’t (and you won’t) get to everything….its OK!
2.
Stay on property! I have read and seen blogs
that tell you its cheaper and better to stay off site and at a regular hotel or
condo. Here is my take on that. Does it first appear to be cheaper…yes. Do I feel that it is in the long run…no! I
have few reasons for that.
·
First off I love knowing that for a week or ever
how long we are there that I don’t have to worry about carseats and traffic and
driving. Also it is $17 a day just to
park!!!! Are you kidding me?! $17 to
park what feels like 100 miles away from the park entrance….no thank you. I
prefer being dropped off at the entrance.
·
Also Extra Magic Hours. Every day either before the park opens to
everyone or after it closes to everyone you get in! That’s right!
It’s a special time for just people who stay on property. Very cool!
·
It completes the experience. Even in the hotel rooms you see little touches
of Disney. In the pools (which are
amazing) you see Disney. You don’t have
to leave the experience.
3.
Go during free dining if at all possible! Food
inside Disney is expensive! Awfully
expensive! It is by no means guaranteed and isn’t done every year but…during
certain times of the year (normally Fall) they offer Free Dining! This is a HUGE deal! Free Dining is normally offered in April or May for the Fall so just keep checking! You can always buy a dining plan with Disney
no matter when you go and I would highly recommend it if you can’t go during
the free dining.
·
The Quick Service Plan is $41.99 per night per
person for adults and $16.03 per night per person ages 3-9. With this plan you get 1 Quick Service Meal
(think normal park food but just a little better quality…burgers, salads,
hotdogs, ect), and 1 snack (ice cream, fruit, cotton candy, popcorn, ect), and
a refillable resort mug per person (this means you get free refills at YOUR
resort for your entire stay…there is soda, lemonade, poweraid, coffee)
·
The Dining Plan (my recommendation) is $60.04
per night per person for adults and $19.23 per night per person ages 3-9. With
this plan you get 1 Table Service meal (nice sit down, buffet, or even Character
dining), 1 Quick Service meal, and 1 Snack, and refillable resort mug per
person.
·
The Deluxe Dining Plan is $109.53 per night per
person and $23.86 ages 3-9. With this plan all you do is eat! Lol You get 3
meals of your choice (any combo of quick service or table service) and 2
snacks, and a refillable resort mug per person.
BUT if you can hit it you can get it for
FREE!!!! Normally all you have to do is
stay at least 4 or 5 nights and get at least a 3 or 4 day park hopper and you
get to eat for FREE! I like free! Now you normally get the Quick Service Plan
with the Value Resorts and then you get the regular dining plan with the other
hotels. (I recommend the Moderate
hotels) The only thing not covered in this is gratuity for your table service
meals.
Last year’s vacation…. We would have spent
$793.05 on the Dining Plan for our family(got it for free) But our food would
have cost $960.70 without the dining plan! So we saved $167.65 if we had paid for it! BUT I saved almost $1000!!!!!
TIP! As SOON as you book your
vacation start booking your table service reservation!! Especially if it’s a character dining. If you
don’t you won’t get in! You can start
making reservation 180 days out. You can
also make table reservation even before you book your vacation. You just have to hold your tables with credit
cards (which you have to do anyway)
4.
If you are traveling with children under the age
of 7 take a stroller or be ready to rent one.
Our first trip we took a double stroller. Nate was 4 and Natalie was 2. Last year we took a single (because my double
was falling apart) Natalie road a lot but even Nate rode in it as well. By the 3rd and 4th day
he was tired of walking. Cyndi had a
step tracker and we pretty much went about 10 miles a day!!!! I’m
sorry….WHAT!!!! No wonder my feet feel
like they are falling off! So as you can
imagine that is a lot for a kid….even a 5, 6, 7 year old. They get tired! Disney does offer strollers
you can rent (they aren’t very nice they don’t have padding in them so I am
sure that they would not be comfortable for long periods of time) You can rent
strollers from outside companies and these are the crazy expensive, super nice
jogging strollers but they are kinda expensive.
I highly suggest to just bring your own!
I bought a nice big Graco Travel System type stroller at a consignment
sale for $15!!! WELL worth my money! If
we go again I will take it for Noah and a little umbrella stroller for Natalie
just in case.
Going to make a shameless
Thirty-One plug! I had my On the Stroll bag that I attached to my stroller
handles. It was SOOOO nice because I
didn’t have to take it off for security and I could quickly empty out my basket
underneath so I could hurry through security!
5.
Hotels! Where do you even start? Disney has so
many hotels it is kinda overwhelming when you first look at them. They are broken down by price. Value Resorts, Moderate Resorts, Deluxe
Resorts, ad Deluxe Villas.
·
Of course if you are like me you want to jump on
the cheapest one out there and go Value.
And while the Art of Animation Resort is AMAZING (go check it out at
some point) it is crowded!!! VERY! When we went and walked around the pools were
packed. The other hotels are just
older. That is all I know. I have never been to them so I am only going
off what I have read. I have had friends
stay there and they say its still fun to stay there.
·
We have only ever stayed in the moderate resorts. We choose there because its more spread out
so it doesn’t seem as crowded and because you got the nicer dining plan. We
have stayed in Coronado Spring and Caribbean Beach. I really liked them both and might have liked
the Caribbean just a little more because we were closer to the main building (where you get the refills for the mugs) but over all as a whole we like the Coronado
Springs the best. The big pool (with big
slide) is kinda off by itself and therefore was less crowded.
·
Ok so now comes confession time! I am dreaming about the day I can afford the Contemporary
Resort!!! You are right by Magic Kingdom
and the monorail comes INSIDE the hotel!
How cool is that!!! But I know that day is nowhere insight and I am ok
with that. Stephen dreams about the
Animal Kingdom lodge. This one is a little
closer in reach but still very doubtful! Lol How cool would it be to look out
window and see all the amazing aminals from Animal Kingdom?!?
·
At the end of the day I choose the Moderate
Resorts! It’s the best for your money!
No comments:
Post a Comment