Disney World Vacation Planning?

[Ashley Hancock]

Rob,

 

My wife and I want to take a family vacation to Disney World, however the web site for Disney will not allow reservations for the dates we want to travel. We want to stay in a Disney Resort and get the package deals with hopper packages for February of next year, but the web site only goes as far as December of this year.

 

Any advice on how to make this process any easier, We are on a fixed budget and thought about a travel agency or something similar. What do you recommend?

 

Thanks for the assistance in advance!

[K_riderz]

Im all about disney planning. Looking to go in june. From what i have heard they are going to broaden the selection of dates by mid-july. A few things i recommend: 1) disney dining plan, any form of dining plan is good. 2) you might want a value resort if you dont have alot of money but one step up is what i prefer 3) parkhopper. That is by far one of the most useful things they have at disney. It allows you to go from one park to another in one day, instead of being stuck in the same one all day. Also good for when you want to go to magic kingdom for the day, and your reservations are at epcot. You can just go to magic kingdom.......

 

I hope this helped some

 

-kj

[SharkTums]

I would wait until they put the dates on the Disney site. During that time of year they may even offer specials.

[Coasterguy123]

To my understanding you can call Disney ahead of time and get a price and make a resort reservation now. If possible stay at a value resort (i.e All Star Music, Sports and Movies). Take advantage of the Disney Magical Express service from the airport to your resort hotel of choice. Make a reservation for the Magical Express on your arrival date ahead of time to the resort hotel of your choice when making room reservations. The service is complimentary and they will even drop your bags off at your room for you so you may enjoy the resort or parks upon your arrival. If you decide to rent a car then please be advised of the Orlando rental prices.

If possible, head off property your first day and shop at a local Publix supermarket or Walmart for snack items to place in your backpacks or strollers to munch on through the day. Also you can cut breakfast costs by purchasing cereal and milk from a local supermarket and keeping the milk in the complimentary refrigerator in your room. Simply head down to the food court at your hotel and pick up silverware and bowls when needed. However going to a character breakfast is always up to you. Cut costs by only splurging on dinner items only at quick service restaurants during the evening hours of your trip. I personally never buy water at Disney. You may go to any quick service snack shop with fountain drinks and ask for a cup of ice water and they will give you a medium to large cup of water with ice free of charge anytime. Water bottles are pretty expensive there...

Once your resort reservation is made be sure to purchase your tickets online ahead of time. I say this because with the new Fastpass+ system you may make three fastpass reservations up to 60 days in advance of your vacation for however many days you are staying. Take advantage of the MyDisneyExperience App on either apple or android devises. I strongly advise downloading this app whenever you can before your trip. With the app you may register your resort reservation, confirm your ticket purchase, make fastpass and dining reservations and even view wait times for the park you are visiting. Avoid lines at the park for Fastpass+ kiosks and make the reservations at home. Once the reservations are made you may also change your reservation times if possible to your liking. However if you are not purchasing a park hopper pass I recommend spreading out the reservations evenly through the day. I do recommend purchasing a park hopper pass though. Something i forgot to mention about the MyDisneyExperience App is the ability to order your Magic Bands free of charge with your hotel reservation. Choose from an assortment of colors and Disney avatars available on the app. When checking in at the hotel you will have the option to place a credit/debit card on all the magic bands in the family to use for purchasing items in the parks. I strongly recommend only placing the purchasing ability on only the adult magic bands as I have seen families loose a lot of money when their little ones figured out they can buy souvenirs without their parents being around....not a fun way to end a vacation with a surprise bill.

When at the resort take advantage of the complimentary bus system available at all hotels on site. These buses will take you just about anywhere on property. The only disadvantage is at the end of the night in the parks the lines can be lengthy to get on a bus back to the hotel. I recommend leaving the park early if possible following the nightime fireworks/shows. Parks like Magic Kingdom sometimes dont close until midnight-1am. Their fireworks are at around ten-ish. During the parade and fireworks at Magic Kingdom I recommend viewing from the Main Street Train Station. You may view from the top of the station by the entrance to the loading platform. There are also some chairs up there too so you may be pretty comfortable during the parade and fireworks viewing. I recommend getting there early as space and chairs are limited. I say this is my personal favorite viewing area because 1) excellent unobstructed view of parade and fireworks and 2) right next to the park exit so you may have an early advantage with the buses. This was just MK for an example but the same can apply for EPCOT and MGM (Hollywood Studios)

As a hotel guest be sure to look out for Extra Magic Hours in the parks. Select parks either open early or close late for hotel guests everyday so be on the look out for those as it could mean getting on major attractions early before the regular daytime guests arrive. Purchase .99 ponchos at home before arriving in Orlando because there is a 70% chance it will rain at some point during your stay.

I certainly hope this information was helpful and if I left anything out that I remember I will be sure to post some more! Enjoy your trip!