Disneyworld???

[Bruin Steve]

I need help...I am totally out of my element...

 

Next summer, we are doing sort of back-to-back cruises out of Florida...

Beth tells me she'd like to tack on a short trip to Disneyworld...as long as we're all the way over in Florida...

I'm using AA frequent flier miles for the air, so there's no problem in getting the air IN to Miami and OUT of Orlando (I guess I ought to find out if AA will do in Florida what they do in Europe and give me a "triangle" for the same number of miles?)...

 

In any event, I figure we get off the Carnival Liberty on Sunday, July 15 so, we ought head right up to Orlando and stay there until about Friday, July 20...

 

That'll give us 4 full days in the Disney parks...plus whatever is left in the day we get there on Sunday and whatever we have before we have to depart on Friday (Looking at the Disney website, when purchasing their packages, adding those extra days to the cost of a 4 night pass is incrementally small...like another $2.50 per day to the price of the package, so I guess it's worth it, even for that last partial day in case I get a later flight out)

 

Now, the last and only time I've ever been to Disney in Florida was 17 years ago...It's changed...and it's confusing...

 

I guess I'd prefer to stay on the "property" to make things as simple as possible...I don't need "total luxury" (following up on two straight cruises, I've got to economize somewhere,, I guess)...but I also don't want to hang in the "low-rent district" either...

 

Of course, this is where the confusion starts...Hotels...

 

I notice what appears to be about three different ranges of hotels:

Some fairly cheap stuff that looks like a Disney version of Motel 6, some mid-grade looking stuff with some degree of style...and some more expensive stuff...

 

My assumption is that the mid-grade hotels should be nice enough...

 

**Caribbean Shores

**Coronado Springs

**Port Orleans Riverside

**Port Orleans French Quarter

 

It seems as if all of these go for the same price...

A five-night hotel stay with a 6-day park pass with the ability to switch parks within each day will run us, per the website, $1513...that does not include air...

 

So, here are my main questions:

Are these hotels decent?

Are there any that are better than the others? Why?

Does location within the property mean anything?

 

There are lots of other assorted options they provide...like meals, for example. Are any of these options advisable?

 

Is this price quoted online pretty much "it" or are there avenues for recieving discounts?

 

Is five nights enough? Too much? (Remember, I live in So Cal and have visited Disneyland here maybe 100+ times in my life--until I'm pretty much tired of it...I'd spend most of my time at Epcot and other attractions we don't have here).

 

What else should I know?

 

Thanks...

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

You ask a lot of questions so here's my answers to at least some of them:

 

1) In airline jargon the task of flying into one city and returning from another is called an "open jaw". Your AA frequent flyer program should allow you to do this however free seats into or out of Orlando can be quite difficult to come by, due to the popularity of families wanting to come here and leave here when they're done. So check now for free seats on the dates you need them. If you can't get out of Orlando then check Tampa as it's only 1.5 hours from Disney and free seat availability is far greater. I presume you'll have a rental car for your trip from Miami to Orlando and your stay in the Orlando area. The major rental car companies do not have drop charges within Florida so it's quite easy to rent in Miami and drop it in Orlando (or Tampa) at no extra charge.

 

2) 5-nights at Disney is plenty! The Magic Kingdom is quite similar to Disneyland but we've also got EPCOT for a day, Animal Kingdom and Disney/MGM Studios. As time allows you could also visit the many shops of Downtown Disney. You all have a Universal Studios in SoCal but if you're into roller coasters the Islands of Adventure at Universal has a bunch of them and is not far away.

 

3) The hotels you listed are all very nice and in the moderate (for Disney) price range. I've never heard of Caribbean Shores....unless you mean the Caribbean Beach Resort. All of them are not far from the different theme parks; Coranado Springs is pehaps the farthest out but at the same time the closest to Animal Kingdom. The Disney "low rent" hotels are more basic and often offer $69-79 rates during off-peak times. All 3 of these are out by Animal Kingdom.

 

4) All Disney hotels offer the possibility of keeping your car parked and traveling around via the free (for guests) Disney busses. That saves the $9/day parking charges at the parks.

 

5) You might check non-Disney hotels that have addresses for Lake Buena Vista, Florida to compare their rates. These are on-property meaning they also have the Disney bus service. These include Hilton, Grovesnor Resort, Doubletree Guest Suites, Wyndham, and a Holiday Inn that was under construction and I'm not sure if it's open yet. These are all near Downtown Disney.

 

6) Not familiar with the meal plans so can't advise about that. They do have an incredible array of restaurants in the parks and in the different hotels. Depends on what's included.

 

Disney's goal is to keep you on-site and spending. The whole Disney World complex is pretty incredible and most everything is connected by 4-lane divided Disney expressways.

 

Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

BobK/Orlando

[Writeratsea]

I need help...I am totally out of my element...

 

Next summer, we are doing sort of back-to-back cruises out of Florida...

Beth tells me she'd like to tack on a short trip to Disneyworld...as long as we're all the way over in Florida...

I'm using AA frequent flier miles for the air, so there's no problem in getting the air IN to Miami and OUT of Orlando (I guess I ought to find out if AA will do in Florida what they do in Europe and give me a "triangle" for the same number of miles?)...

 

In any event, I figure we get off the Carnival Liberty on Sunday, July 15 so, we ought head right up to Orlando and stay there until about Friday, July 20...

 

That'll give us 4 full days in the Disney parks...plus whatever is left in the day we get there on Sunday and whatever we have before we have to depart on Friday (Looking at the Disney website, when purchasing their packages, adding those extra days to the cost of a 4 night pass is incrementally small...like another $2.50 per day to the price of the package, so I guess it's worth it, even for that last partial day in case I get a later flight out)

 

Now, the last and only time I've ever been to Disney in Florida was 17 years ago...It's changed...and it's confusing...

 

I guess I'd prefer to stay on the "property" to make things as simple as possible...I don't need "total luxury" (following up on two straight cruises, I've got to economize somewhere,, I guess)...but I also don't want to hang in the "low-rent district" either...

 

Of course, this is where the confusion starts...Hotels...

 

I notice what appears to be about three different ranges of hotels:

Some fairly cheap stuff that looks like a Disney version of Motel 6, some mid-grade looking stuff with some degree of style...and some more expensive stuff...

 

My assumption is that the mid-grade hotels should be nice enough...

 

**Caribbean Shores

**Coronado Springs

**Port Orleans Riverside

**Port Orleans French Quarter

 

It seems as if all of these go for the same price...

A five-night hotel stay with a 6-day park pass with the ability to switch parks within each day will run us, per the website, $1513...that does not include air...

 

So, here are my main questions:

Are these hotels decent?

Are there any that are better than the others? Why?

Does location within the property mean anything?

 

There are lots of other assorted options they provide...like meals, for example. Are any of these options advisable?

 

Is this price quoted online pretty much "it" or are there avenues for recieving discounts?

 

Is five nights enough? Too much? (Remember, I live in So Cal and have visited Disneyland here maybe 100+ times in my life--until I'm pretty much tired of it...I'd spend most of my time at Epcot and other attractions we don't have here).

 

What else should I know?

 

Thanks...

When we went to Disney World a few years ago, we used a website called TourGuideMike. The address is www.tourguidemike.com and it was very useful. He has what he calls an automated family vacation planner, full of useful inside information. Mike Hewell used to be a VIP tour guide for Disney and in his job had to know all the ins and outs. With his planning help, we saw every attraction important to us in all 4 parks in 4 days. You can only do this is you are organized and planned before you leave. The site also has information about hotels, dining etc. A lot of the information is free but for $29.95 he tailors the attractions, hotels and dining to exactly your needs. We found it to be great value at about the cost of a travel guide. It might be worth your while to check out.

[jcanino]

My assumption is that the mid-grade hotels should be nice enough...

 

**Caribbean Shores

**Coronado Springs

**Port Orleans Riverside

**Port Orleans French Quarter

 

So, here are my main questions:

Are these hotels decent?

Are there any that are better than the others? Why?

Does location within the property mean anything?

 

There are lots of other assorted options they provide...like meals, for example. Are any of these options advisable?

 

Is this price quoted online pretty much "it" or are there avenues for recieving discounts?

 

Is five nights enough? Too much? (Remember, I live in So Cal and have visited Disneyland here maybe 100+ times in my life--until I'm pretty much tired of it...I'd spend most of my time at Epcot and other attractions we don't have here).

 

What else should I know?

 

Of the 4 moderate properties you mentioned (Caribbean Shores should be Caribbean Beach Resort), my personal favorite is Port Orleans French Quarter. Coronado Springs is the moderate price convention hotel. Port Orleans Riverside is two spread out and Caribbean Beach is the oldest of the moderate properties and very large and spread out.

 

From the moderate properties, you go to higher price resorts. With Disney, as you go from Value to Moderate to Deluxe, the rooms get larger with more amenities and the resorts offer more going from food courts only to multiple sit down restaurants.

 

I wouldn't be too concerned about location of your resort if you are planning on visiting all the different theme parks. Disney transportation can get you anywhere.

 

Every now and then Disney will run a special offer that have varied from free dining to stay for 7 pay for 3. You will find little or no wiggle room in their prices no matter who you talk to.

 

I am a Disney Specialist as well as an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. I had to take a course from their College of Disney Knowledge. I have attended on site training at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. No matter how much time you have spent at Disneyland, you really have to go to WDW's Magic Kingdom. The two cannot compare.

 

I always advise my clients to take the Disney Dining Plan. It is currently about $39 per night per person. It is an awesome deal. You get one table service meal, one counter service meal and one snack per night per person. It covers tax and gratuity. To give you an idea of how well it works, I took my son down there for just 2 nights about 18 months ago. At that time it was $35. It cost me $140 for the two of us. Our first night, we ate at Le Cellier at the Canada Pavillion. The special was Surf and Turf for $39.95 which my son ordered. Between our appetizers, entrees, dessert and soft drinks, our bill would have come to $125.

 

If you have any more WDW questions, just ask.

[Got2Cruise]

There are several boards on the web that give you infinite advice concerning WDW. WDW has changed since 17 years ago. The main benefit of staying on property is that you are able to enter the park an hour before people who are not staying there. Other invaluable hints these posters will tell you, (and some of them are WDW fanatics) is how to get the reservations at the character meal you wish. How to get a discount on certain properties. But even if you don't check out those boards, the greatest thing they have added to WDW is FAST PASS! Imagine getting a ticket with the time to show up to get onto your favorite ride with no waiting!!! It is free, and everyone should take advantage of it.

[Bruin Steve]

Thank you all for your help so far...

 

Yes, of course I meant Caribbean BEACH...sometimes I type faster than I think...

 

Joe, I really appreciate your opinions...

I was looking at that "meal plan" thing and thinking..."Well, I usually wouldn't spend $80 a day on one fast food lunch and one dinner...and I usually don't order dessert...BUT this is Disney...and those menus are probably pretty expensive...And we'll likely not leave the property"...I think you've cemented that one for me...Meal plan it is...I guess we're now looking at around $1900 for the 5 nights...

 

I was also bouncing back and forth in my mind between the French Quarter and the Coronado...So I think you've swayed me over to the French Quarter a little...

 

Bob, I think I've got the airline thing down...we've already made or reservation for the flight over...but the return flight is still over 11 months away, so we had them hold the reservation and we'll add the flight home as soon as it comes available...

 

If I read the Disney website correctly, it sounds like they offer free transportation to and from Orlando airport...so, perhaps we won't even keep a rental car--maybe we'll just drop it off at Orlando Airport and take Disney's ride in?

 

Also, anyone have an idea on timing? How early do these things fill up? Do the prices change over time? What is the deposit/cancellation/payment policy?

 

Thanks again...

[jcanino]

Joe, I really appreciate your opinions...

 

Thank you. People in my town have taken to calling me Mr. Disney or Doctor Disney because of various press releases.

 

If I read the Disney website correctly, it sounds like they offer free transportation to and from Orlando airport...so, perhaps we won't even keep a rental car--maybe we'll just drop it off at Orlando Airport and take Disney's ride in?

 

Also, anyone have an idea on timing? How early do these things fill up? Do the prices change over time? What is the deposit/cancellation/payment policy?

 

The Magical Express Transfers will work for you, partially. What you will have to do is find a flight that will arrive in Orlando around the time you plan on dropping off your car and give them that flight number. This is so they know approx. what time you are arriving. At the DME counter, tell them you already have your luggage. Normally, they retrieve it and bring it to the resort.

 

Disney prices can change. Just last week they raised their park prices by $4.00 on a single day pass. Package prices for 2007 were just released for 2007. If you are booking only a land package with them, you will need to put down a $200 deposit. From the time you make the reservation, you have 14 days to make that deposit. Final payment is due 45 days prior to your arrival and your documents are sent to you (or your TA) about 3 weeks prior. You can canel at any time up to final payment with no penalty. Up to six days prior, there is a $100 penalty.

 

If you book it now and they come out with a promotion at a later date for your travel dates, it can be repriced for the sale.

[DebbieCruiser]

$2000 package and no car............Bruin Steve, the Mouse is gonna' luv ya!!!

[JulieMcCoy]

My parents stay at Port Orleans Riverside a lot; I believe they like being able to take the Disney boat as transportation. You asked about location - your location within a particular hotel/resort can matter, depending on if the resort is compact or spread out. Think about how close you want to be to the hotel restaurant/food court, transportation and/or pool. Regardless of where we stay (and it's usually All-Star Movies, going for cheap), we like to stay on property so we can use the Disney transportation.

 

Check out the Disney message boards, www.disboards.com, if you haven't already. They are to Disney what cruise critic is to cruising!

 

Your vacation plan sounds absolutely awesome!

[pamkev]

Steve,

I just talked to someone last week who had the meal planned and said it was the way to go!

 

Pam

[cruisingmimi]

Hi Steve,

 

We just got back from DW with our daughter, son-in-law & 2 grandsons. My husband and I only stayed 4 days, the rest of the family stayed the 7 days.

 

We absolutely felt that we could see everything we wanted to within that 4 day time frame. We were sometimes hampered w/ time management because we had the 2 little guys with us (8 and 5). However, given the fact that we were there in July and it was crowded, we covered most all of what we wanted to see. My daughter (the teacher/planner) had everything pretty well planned. I bought the "Unofficial Guide to Disney World" through Amazon and it was extremely helpful.

 

My daughter booked our trip through AAA & we did get a decent price. I booked our air through SW and got decent prices also.

 

We stayed at the French Quarter and we were very happy there. It is a family oriented facility (but what Disney hotel isn't). We had an average size room w/ 2 double beds, typical bathroom w/ 2 double sinks, a coffeemaker (which we enjoyed using every morning) and a refrigerator. It was a typical hotel room. Our checkin was very prompt the concierge was very helpful when we needed information. You can book dinner reservations through them and they also printed out our boarding passes. The thing I really liked was that no cars are allowed to park in the hotel complex, there is a parking lot outside the hotel area. It was very quiet at night.

 

The only criticism we had was that there was no restaurant on the facility. They had a "food court" where you could order pizza, breakfast items, snacks, etc. There is a small lounge/bar where they had a jazz saxophonist there every evening. Bar drinks were expensive. There was a small souvenir type store that sold snacks, soda, wine, etc. Again, very expensive.

 

They have a boat landing and boats that will take you into downtown Disney and also over to Port Orleans Riverside. You can eat in the restaurant there. My family took the boys over there to eat after we went home and my daughter said the food was much better over there. The ride down the river to downtown Disney is about 15 min. They also offer horse and buggy rides around the hotel perimeter (1/2 hr. ride) that my grandsons enjoyed. My daughter said the driver gives a narrated tour and she found it very informative.

 

We did purchase the Dine Around Plan and thought that it was an excellent deal. You get one snack, one counter meal and one sit-down entree where you can order anything on the menu. We found using the meal plan a bit confusing when we first arrived, especially pertaining to what is classified as a snack. You can pretty much use the plan on any Disney facility. It is definitely an excellent value and you will spend more than $39.00 per day without it. We purchased the 5 day meal plan even though we were only there 4 days because it was only $2.50 more. You can still use the plan on the day of your checkout and it is valid up until midnight.

 

We also purchased the Park Hopper pass because you can visit any of the parks at any time without being limited to a certain park. Worked out very well.

 

You can get the fast passes which work out well for the rides that are the busiest. They usually give you a window of an hour from the time you get the pass. When you go back you just get into the fast pass line and the wait is pretty minimal for the ride.

 

Epcot: A must ride: "Soarin". Absolutely fantastic. Probably need to get the fast pass. The aquarium was pretty neat - our grandsons loved that. Lots of neat fish, saw a manatee for the first time.

 

Wild Kingdom: The safari ride was popular. We got in line to see "Lion King". I would highly recommend it. Fabulous costumes, set design, entertainers, all top shelf! You will enjoy it.

 

I can go on an on. I will be happy to give you any other info you would like.

 

We took the Disney Express from Orlando. Very efficient. About 1/2 hr. ride to Disney. We did not rent a car and did not find a need for one. The busses run frequently from the resorts into the various parks. About 15 min. ride from Port Orleans.

 

The Park was open til 2 am one evening for those staying on Disney resorts. Good opportunity to take advantage of less people there and shorter wait time.

 

Hope this helps. You will enjoy.

 

Mary