Questions about our itinerary:

[Yarbogash]

Hi,

This is a bit complicated so ty to those who follow along and can answer q's. Our entire travel party will be DH (me), DW, DS 8, DD 3, Grandma and Grandpa. I will be arriving with the kids on Sunday March 24. DW, Grandma and Grandpa arriving on Wednesday March 27 (I have more vacation days available then DW and Grandparents wanted to pass on the camping).

March 24: DH, DD, DS arrive MCO and do 1 night at airport hotel or Disney hotel.
March 25-27: 2 nights camping at Fort DeSoto on the coast by St Pete.
March 27-31: DW and Grandparents arrive at MCO. We meet up for 4 nights in 2 rooms at Rosen Shingle Creek.
March 31-April 7: We all do 7 nights at Sheraton Vistana in 2 2-bedroom condos.
April 7-9: We all do 2 nights in 2 rooms at Courtyard by Cocoa Beach. We all fly home together from MCO noon on April 9.

We all have 5 day Disney passes. Likely also doing Gator Land, Space Center.

Questions:
Would it be worth it to do our first night, me and the two kids, in a room at an All Star to get the 60 day fp?

We are renting a van. If we did stay on property that first night should I get the van from MCO car rental or the Walt Disney World rental car center? Am guessing to go from All Star to Disney car center we'd have to take a Minnie Van.

Monday driving from Disney area to Fort DeSoto. If we are at an All Star I'd want to make the most out of that morning by using the resort pool, etc. How long is that drive likely to be if we left at 11 am'ish?

Can anyone recommend a good, reasonably priced restaurant around Rosen Shingle Creek that serves good Florida or southern style food?

In case we split up, what are good transportation options from Sheraton Vistana to Disney parks?

Vistana looks huge. Any buildings at Sheraton Vistana Resort (not the villas one on I Drive) better than others? Best way to make room requests just to phone?

Any other general comments or thoughts are welcome. Ty for any replies!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Would it be worth it to do our first night, me and the two kids, in a room at an All Star to get the 60 day fp?

The All Star Stay will give you the 60 day window for your check-in and checkout days and then will roll giving you 60 day out FP booking for your other 3 FP days.

*What type of tickets do you have? Old Magic Your Way tickets will cover all your park dates but new date-based tickets may not. 5-day tickets are only valid for an 8-day timeframe.

We are renting a van. If we did stay on property that first night should I get the van from MCO car rental or the Walt Disney World rental car center? Am guessing to go from All Star to Disney car center we'd have to take a Minnie Van.

You can use Disney bus transport from All Stars to DHS and walk to Dolphin to pick up an Enterprise/Alamo/National car. It’s quite easy - we’ve used Magical Express from MCO to our onsite resort then off to the Dolphin later in our trip for the car.

 

[Upatnoon]

With 11 nights in Orlando, I would want a lot more than 5 park days.

Instead of staying at Rosen Shingle Creek, you could try to stay at a Disney Springs area hotel and get 60 days for FP+.

Instead of buying a throwaway room, I would invest that money in extra park days.

 

[Yarbogash]

The All Star Stay will give you the 60 day window for your check-in and checkout days and then will roll giving you 60 day out FP booking for your other 3 FP days.

*What type of tickets do you have? Old Magic Your Way tickets will cover all your park dates but new date-based tickets may not. 5-day tickets are only valid for an 8-day timeframe.


You can use Disney bus transport from All Stars to DHS and walk to Dolphin to pick up an Enterprise/Alamo/National car. It’s quite easy - we’ve used Magical Express from MCO to our onsite resort then off to the Dolphin later in our trip for the car.

Good point about the tickets. I checked, these are the Canadian resident tickets, good for 14 days from first use.

Ty for tip about Dolphin. Will check out their prices.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Ty for tip about Dolphin. Will check out their prices.

Also check the Transportation Board for discount codes.

 

[Yarbogash]

With 11 nights in Orlando, I would want a lot more than 5 park days.

Instead of staying at Rosen Shingle Creek, you could try to stay at a Disney Springs area hotel and get 60 days for FP+.

Instead of buying a throwaway room, I would invest that money in extra park days.

Re the number of days for the tickets, that's been a big debate. Grandparents could probably do less than that. We do have other activities we wanna do outside of Disney plus I'm debating whether or not to get water park annual passes. Might wait till we get down there, see what the weather forecast is and decide if we do the water parks or not.

Risky part of this plan is with the Canadian resident tickets we have if we go to add days when we are there we will pay the full price to upgrade from the Canadian resident ticket to the regular ticket.

Rosen Shingle Creek was kind of a surprise choice for us. I had an offer from them that got us the two rooms plus breakfast for pretty much nothing. If we didn't have that deal, yes, I'd be all over your suggestion about staying at Disney Springs hotel or on site.

And yeah, not gonna do a throwaway room. I thought about it but I think doing that first night on site instead of say by the airport could work. I'd probably register myself, DW and the kids even tho DW doesn't show up until Wednesday. Grandparents aren't concerned about Fastpasses as they will do mainly shows.