Disneyword Trip Booking Tips

[hammer2977]

Dear Robb or anyone else who can help,

First, Im a huge fan of the site and im looking to see if anyone can help. My wife has greenlit a trip to disneyworld this june. We are a family of 7 with 4 kids 7 and under. Was thinking of going to AAA and see what kind of discounts they can offer, but i though i would ask the great folks of TPR if they have any advice on the booking end of things. I have been to disneyword many time with my folks and this is my first time with my family and hope that it can be as spectacular as my first time. The dates we are looking at are June 4-7. Thanks again and looking forward to yall's advice (Yes i am from the south!)

 

Michael

hammer2977

[SharkTums]

With a family that large, you're looking at a big price tag most likely.

 

You say the kids are under 7, but how many are 3 or over?

 

Did you want to stay on property? A cheap nearby motel? A condo/house with a kitchen and pool?

 

Do you want to go to all four parks? Water parks?

 

AAA won't really help you much, there are much better offers online and through alternate booking sites. Not to mention just taking the advice of people here over anything AAA tells you!

 

Give us some more info about what you're thinking and we can go from there.

[hammer2977]

The kids are the following, 13, 7, 4, 2, and 1. All the kids are girls except for the 7yo. Want to stay on property and visit all the parks. Not sure about the water parks since only 2 possably 3 can swim. On another note, we will most likely be driving from Atl. Even though i work for one of the major airlines, ( take your guess) the prospect of being able to make a flight to MCO or any florida airport in june is a daunting task. My wife celing for price right now is set at $5,000, which a early pricing on disney's site has put us slightly under that. Thanks for your quick responce and I hope this answered all of your questions.

 

Michael

hammer2977

[SharkTums]

I just priced you out at Art of Animation (cool new resort with family suites) and came up with $2500 for checking in June 4, checking out June 7 and including tickets (non park hopping) for four days.

 

If you stayed in the Family Suite at Art of Animation you and the wife would be in the master with a portacrib for the 1 year old, you'd then have the two older kids share the sofa bed (comfy kind, not spring kind), and the two younger kids on the awesome table/bed.

 

I even just added you the second tier dining plan which is 1 Snack, 1 Table Service, 1 Quick Service a day for $3100.

 

Let me know if I'm way off base with what you're looking for or else we can look for deals on these prices.

[hammer2977]

Thank you very much, that is a good start. However, I was looking into the tickets with the park hopper option included. Coming from previous experence, the option to go to various parks on a single day provides the flexablity to do what the kids want and knowing what parks have certain events we would like to see, it would be great to not be stuck to that park for the whole day. Also, when i priced the dining plan through disney, i added the deluxe dining plan. With kids these ages, they get hungry for various things at various times. I know it a bit more expensive, but it just seemed like it fit my kids eating habits better. Another reason, and this might get a bit off topic, it is our 3rd wedding anniversary on the 6th and the deluxe dining option seemed like it could give us a nice option to do somthing that evening. Might need to work on babysitting but thats also somthing entirely different as well. Thanks for helping me out, hopefully we can find somthing that works out.

 

Michael

hammer2977

[SharkTums]

^Just an FYI, we (family of three with a then 3 year old) did the 1,1,1 Dining Plan a couple of years ago and it was a lot of food. You could buy extra food as you need in between your meals if you need to with the kids and probably still spend less than the Deluxe Plan. I have talked to people who had the Deluxe plan and not one said they needed anywhere near that much food and all ended up giving stuff away and wasting a ton.

 

The other thing to keep in mind is with your kids, park hopping is not as easy as you remember it being when you were young and probably running around the parks. We've had a lot of people visit lately and they've been more than content with the non-hopping ticket.

 

All this being said, I still went ahead and booked you for the same nights in the family suite with park hoppers and the deluxe plan and you're still under $4k.

 

Seriously though, please think about the food thing. It is WAY too much food to do the Deluxe!

[hammer2977]

I hear what you are saying about the deluxe dining plan and the park hopper pass. On the deluxe dining, i understand what you are saying and i agree with you on that. Just didnt know anyone who had done either of the dining options and i think the one below (not sure what its called) will be just fine. On the park hopper, i understand it is a lot of walking but im sure my wife would take the kids back to the hotel, while the two other kids and I or vice versa (cant have my wife miss out on the fun with the other two kids) then come back and meet up with us wherever we might be. Although this might change once i talk to my wife about the developments of today, as i have been doing all of this at work. Will have a discussion with her tonight as i have gotten a quote from Pixie and Pirate Destinations. Not sure if yall have dealt or heard anything about them, but they are pretty much saying the same price as you are although there will be some alterations now. Hope to give you an update on developments tomorrow. Thanks again for your assistance as it is greatly appreciated.

 

Michael

hammer2977

[jray21]

We did the dining plan and I think we had 1 Snack, 1 Table Service, 1 Quick Service a day a little bit ago, and even for me, it was too much food! Also, we wanted to get the most value out of it so we pre-planned every single meal and looked at the menus to see what we would need to order to stay above the cost of the plan. It was way too much work, and we really didn't save that much. On our last day we ended up with a few snacks and a quick service meal and ended up giving some away.