Hello everyone! I'm 24 years old, I live on the west coast of Canada, and you can call me Mel if you like 
How did I end up on this wonderful forum? Here's my story:
My best friend Bry and I are planning a Disney World trip for sometime during Fall 2018 most likely. She's never been before, and I've been twice but never stayed on site. What makes this even more interesting and special is that this will be the first time that ether of us has ever traveled without a parent/guardian of some kind, or planned/booked a trip completely by ourselves. I know it might seem lame that we're already in our twenties and still haven't traveled sans parents, but hey, there's a first time for everything right?
Basically, whatever first time Disney trip planning advice and tips you can give us would be greatly helpful
The proposed trip date is still a long ways off so we don't have anything set in stone yet, but our current plans/ideas are as follows:
-We are planning for 10 days ish, which from my past experience should be about the perfect trip length to do everything but still be relaxing.
-5 or 6 of the days would be park days, one day would be spent at Universal because we are both big Harry Potter fans (she's a Ravenclaw and I'm a Hufflepuff and proud of it just by the way XD), and the rest of the days would be off/rest days spent in the pool, wandering the resort, shopping at Disney Springs, spa day/treatments (something we'd really love to do) at the GF or what not.
-Still Unsure on parkhoppers, but my family had them on one of the two trips I've been on, and as I recall I enjoyed the flexibility, so we'll see.
-We like the idea of using a dining plan. We don't necessarily care if it does or doesn't save money (will crunch the numbers anyway), we just like the all-inclusiveness and having everything pre-paid. As somebody who has done the whole paying out of pocket thing, I like the idea of not having to worry about budgeting for that at all- It just seems easier.
-We haven't decided upon resort, but we know its more likely that we'll stay in a budget resort. I've been doing a lot of research and from what I've found Art Of Animation (woohoo little Mermaid themed standard rooms XD) and the Pop Century are the best of the budgets. My dream stay however, If I had it my way, would be the Polynesian Not sure if that will happen, but a girl can dream right? Yes I've heard of people doing split stays to get the best of both worlds, but personally I would rather just call one room home for the whole trip instead of having to move around.
At the moment we are intending to save up about $5000 each to cover everything. Does this seem realistic to you guys with experience? What do you think is a reasonable budget for two adults coming from Canada, for a ten day stay? Tips, tricks, things to be aware of for first time trip planning and first time travelling alone? Anything we should consider adding, changing, or removing from our current plans?
Thank you all in advance for any help or advice you can give us!
How did I end up on this wonderful forum? Here's my story:My best friend Bry and I are planning a Disney World trip for sometime during Fall 2018 most likely. She's never been before, and I've been twice but never stayed on site. What makes this even more interesting and special is that this will be the first time that ether of us has ever traveled without a parent/guardian of some kind, or planned/booked a trip completely by ourselves. I know it might seem lame that we're already in our twenties and still haven't traveled sans parents, but hey, there's a first time for everything right?
Basically, whatever first time Disney trip planning advice and tips you can give us would be greatly helpful
The proposed trip date is still a long ways off so we don't have anything set in stone yet, but our current plans/ideas are as follows:
-We are planning for 10 days ish, which from my past experience should be about the perfect trip length to do everything but still be relaxing.
-5 or 6 of the days would be park days, one day would be spent at Universal because we are both big Harry Potter fans (she's a Ravenclaw and I'm a Hufflepuff and proud of it just by the way XD), and the rest of the days would be off/rest days spent in the pool, wandering the resort, shopping at Disney Springs, spa day/treatments (something we'd really love to do) at the GF or what not.
-Still Unsure on parkhoppers, but my family had them on one of the two trips I've been on, and as I recall I enjoyed the flexibility, so we'll see.
-We like the idea of using a dining plan. We don't necessarily care if it does or doesn't save money (will crunch the numbers anyway), we just like the all-inclusiveness and having everything pre-paid. As somebody who has done the whole paying out of pocket thing, I like the idea of not having to worry about budgeting for that at all- It just seems easier.
-We haven't decided upon resort, but we know its more likely that we'll stay in a budget resort. I've been doing a lot of research and from what I've found Art Of Animation (woohoo little Mermaid themed standard rooms XD) and the Pop Century are the best of the budgets. My dream stay however, If I had it my way, would be the Polynesian
Not sure if that will happen, but a girl can dream right? Yes I've heard of people doing split stays to get the best of both worlds, but personally I would rather just call one room home for the whole trip instead of having to move around.At the moment we are intending to save up about $5000 each to cover everything. Does this seem realistic to you guys with experience? What do you think is a reasonable budget for two adults coming from Canada, for a ten day stay? Tips, tricks, things to be aware of for first time trip planning and first time travelling alone? Anything we should consider adding, changing, or removing from our current plans?
Thank you all in advance for any help or advice you can give us!
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