Disneyland Vets, I need WDW planning help! Don't know where to begin

[Disney Dreams]

We went to WDW in Oct. 2008 and everyone on the Disneyland board offered great ideas and pointed me in the direction I needed to plan a great trip for me and DH. I thought you might want to read over the threads and maybe some things will help you too.

Here you go....

Pre-planning thread (lots of great suggestions here)

One week until departure

Shortest TR ever LOL (I'm awful at reports / diaries / journals.)

Have fun planning,
Dreams

 

[ktlm]

I got a really good rate at WL and was seriously considering that, but with the airfare situation, I may be postponing our trip. As far as exterior corridors go, I don't think anywhere on site would be a problem whether they had exterior corridors or not. The resort seems pretty safe, right, not like the little motels on Harbor and surrounding areas?

The WL is great. It is similar to the Grand Californian- designed by the same people. It is all interior corridors. I always feel safe there. I have no problem running to and from the lobby, quick service, or gift shop by myself at night, and I have walked around on the grounds outside at night with just my 3 year old. It is pretty compact which means most of the main pathways are pretty well traveled. There is a boat from WL that goes to the Magic Kingdom. It is a nice ride. You can also catch a boat to Ft. Wilderness or the Contemporary resort if you have an ADR there or want to check them out.

On cancellation, as far as packages go, I was shocked at how strict DLs policies were as opposed to WDW. WDW with most packages you can cancel up to 46 days out with no fees whatsoever. Once you get to 45 days out, there is usually a $100 fee. 5 days or less out is a $200 dollar fee. Travel insurance is not refundable so if you book a package and aren't sure you will go, you need to be sure to decline the travel insurance- online the default usually puts it on there, so you have to be sure and uncheck the box, or whatever it requires to remove it before you complete your reservation.

 

[Judy from Boise]

And you can't use ME.

Forgot that ! We always use a towncar.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Forgot that ! We always use a towncar.

Which company do you use for the towncar? I'm deciding now if we want to do a town car since the rentals are quite a few $$$$'s for the size vehicle we need next month. I have one that I used several times in the past that I always liked but vehicles seemed to be in a decline that last couple of times so I've been questioning if I should risk them or try someone else.

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Ahhh! I know our airfare to HI jumped so much after the loss of Aloha. And that was also our least expensive flight to LA/DL! Still, I wouldn't count out it dropping. IMO the fuel scare of a couple years ago has increased the price of early bookings. And airlines are more willing to fill the planes and will drop prices to get people in the seats closer to travel dates whereas before they used to really zing you. At least this is what I see on the mainland. It may not apply to HI.

Yes, unfortunately with HI airfare, they know people that live here are a captive audience. If we want to get off the rock we have to fly, so even when they are offering crazy deals to get here from someplace else, it's often not discounted near as much to leave here to go somewhere else.

Room only reservations do not have any penalties and depending on how you book them (website or calling) you will have different cancellation dates. Still, I think it's 5 days prior to check in if you've booked over the web or 6 days if you've called. Packages change things but room only is very easy to work with and would give you time to see if airfare improves.

Regarding ADR's - it wasn't til I got on these boards that I even knew you HAD to book them at 180 days. Up until then silly me would call at 2-3 months and book. Usually without much trouble. It will all depend on where you want to eat.

Delay and get a new lens?! That really might be best though.

Thanks for the info Kat. I think we may have to delay going because I just can't bring myself to pay over $3000 for airfare alone. I'll probably book the rooms just in case and decide as we get closer whether or not to cancel...Maybe I can talk DH into getting me a new lens; we'll go to DL again and split the difference! LOL! Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 or Nikon 70-200VR F/2.8? Hmmmm.... Maybe I can win Megabucks on my next Vegas trip and then I'll be able to afford the Grand Floridian!

Another vote here for POR. I've also stayed at POP and that's been fine, too. I do love the peace and quiet and lushness of POR. I feel that all the hotels would qualify as "safe" in terms of physical harm. I wasn't bothered by the room doors opening to the outside though it gave me pause at first, too. You should always be careful no matter what but there isn't a "bad" hotel in the "bad" part of Disney World.

I'm sorry that the WDW boards have a reputation of being insulting to "visitors" from other boards. I mainly frequent the WDW boards and I'm here because I'm planning a mini trip to DLR in two weeks. I feel bad about our reputation. Most of us aren't like that at all!

I hope that you get to go sooner rather than later. The price of airfare fluctuates all over the place, it's always hard to know when to jump! Good luck. You'll have to let us all know if you decide for sure on a date. We can definitely offer lots of help!

Thanks DexLabDeeDee! I'm sure most of the WDW people are as nice as you.

We went to WDW in Oct. 2008 and everyone on the Disneyland board offered great ideas and pointed me in the direction I needed to plan a great trip for me and DH. I thought you might want to read over the threads and maybe some things will help you too.

Here you go....

Pre-planning thread (lots of great suggestions here)

One week until departure

Shortest TR ever LOL (I'm awful at reports / diaries / journals.)

Have fun planning,
Dreams

Thanks Dreams! I really appreciate you posting your planning links and TR.

The WL is great. It is similar to the Grand Californian- designed by the same people. It is all interior corridors. I always feel safe there. I have no problem running to and from the lobby, quick service, or gift shop by myself at night, and I have walked around on the grounds outside at night with just my 3 year old. It is pretty compact which means most of the main pathways are pretty well traveled. There is a boat from WL that goes to the Magic Kingdom. It is a nice ride. You can also catch a boat to Ft. Wilderness or the Contemporary resort if you have an ADR there or want to check them out.

On cancellation, as far as packages go, I was shocked at how strict DLs policies were as opposed to WDW. WDW with most packages you can cancel up to 46 days out with no fees whatsoever. Once you get to 45 days out, there is usually a $100 fee. 5 days or less out is a $200 dollar fee. Travel insurance is not refundable so if you book a package and aren't sure you will go, you need to be sure to decline the travel insurance- online the default usually puts it on there, so you have to be sure and uncheck the box, or whatever it requires to remove it before you complete your reservation.

Thanks for the info!

Which company do you use for the towncar? I'm deciding now if we want to do a town car since the rentals are quite a few $$$$'s for the size vehicle we need next month. I have one that I used several times in the past that I always liked but vehicles seemed to be in a decline that last couple of times so I've been questioning if I should risk them or try someone else.

Are you planning another WDW trip? Wow! You're so lucky! Do you have the Premium AP to both parks that just came out? I want to get one!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Tokina 11-16 f/2.8 or Nikon 70-200VR F/2.8? Hmmmm.... Maybe I can win Megabucks on my next Vegas trip and then I'll be able to afford the Grand Floridian!

Oooh - that's a tough choice!!!

Are you planning another WDW trip? Wow! You're so lucky! Do you have the Premium AP to both parks that just came out? I want to get one!

Yes on the trip! One month from now I'll be in Epcot (or somewhere there!). That's what happens with DVC. lol Actually, it's just a very good place for us to vacation currently and we always enjoy it so off we go again!

And No on the pass! I missed the qualification by one month!!!!!!! My DL pass expired in mid-Feb and since buying new is the same with a DVC discount as the renewal price (on the Deluxe) and I only had one trip planned to DL this year which included a blackout day I thought I'd wait rather than renew. If I had renewed I'd have had the Premium and no blackouts. I'll check to see how much it would cost me to upgrade to it but I think it may be more than just buying a DL Hopper.

 

[Judy from Boise]

Which company do you use for the towncar? I'm deciding now if we want to do a town car since the rentals are quite a few $$$$'s for the size vehicle we need next month. I have one that I used several times in the past that I always liked but vehicles seemed to be in a decline that last couple of times so I've been questioning if I should risk them or try someone else.

We have used both Tiffany and Florida tours. They both have always been fine.

 

[KCmike]

Mike when you say you book your stay to include off days to explore and do other recreational things, how many days do you book to go to the park? For instance with your upcoming trip which is 9 days IIRC, how many days did you get your tickets for? Did you get the park hopper option and water park option? What about the no expiration option?
I'm wondering if it's worth it to get like a 10 day ticket with no expiration and then use half of it and have 5 more days for a future trip? It's sooooo expensive to add that option now! Alternatively, it may be cheaper to to the Premium AP for both parks... Granted, only good for a year, but then I would be able to go to DL for a couple more trips before they expire.

We try to go the cheapest route possible. We have done it everyway possible. For our current trip it is nights. Our park tickets are onie day no hopping for 6 days. The cheapest way to get tickets is to get the no hopping option. My kids have water parks here so we're not concerned with that. They also are happy to have the slides at POR and POLY for our downtime. Once you start adding park hopping and water park stuff the prices really start to climb. They use to add the water park and hopping for free in the past and when we did that we found that park hopping takes too much time away from the day for us. Some days it was fun but for the most part it just wasn't worth it. Riverside is awesome. The grounds are amazingly lush and it feels like another world there. The resort is large though but the prices for the resort fall in our price range. We are splurging for the second half of our vacation this year though with Poly. I saw that they added the buy 3 and get two nights free at Disneyland again. I wish I was rich so I could see both. That has always been a dream of mine....seeing both resorts in the same year.

 

[KCmike]

Where do your plans stand now DSF?