Disney Vacation Help

I have a great travel agent - Angela Santoro - her email is ____@____.com or call her at ###-###-####. She knows how to book the best Disney vacation - and you don't pay her anything.

I'm am the master of information for Disney lol Stay in Disney. Ok moderate priced is the Carribean Beach Resort. Has a coffee maker and a fridge in the room. If you'd like to go a bit cheaper go either Disney Music or Disney Pop Century. No coffee maker or fridge, but an ice machine down the hall. If you are flying and not driving the dinning plan can really help. If you are driving stop at the local grocer and get sandwhich meats milk drinks and cereal. Have cooler. Age of children will help with which park they;d like the best and what to see. You can send a mail to me if need be. . More expensive From Thanksgiving through Christmas. Cheapest end Jan/Feb. July and August really really hot there. Young kids will love you to splurge and do the character breakfast at 1100 park faire. Cheap but decent places in dinner is Trails End in at the campgrounds. Take the boat accross from Magic Kingdom. I never liked the commesary food at disney. I can tell you the best places to eat at each park etc also if you need.

Are you planning on going to Disney World or Disneyland? It makes a difference : )

My advice to anyone going to Disney is get the dining plan if it is in your budget. You will be sooo glad you did. It made everything super easy and the kids loved being able to get snacks and try out different restaraunts. Definitely worth it in my opinion!!!

I used Tour Guide Mike, too, and got so much useful information. The best part about using it was that our wait times in line were very short. That alone was well worth the money I paid.

Check out disboards.com. I used that board before we took our first family Disneyland & it was SO helpful. If you know anyone that is a die hard Disney freak, ask them for secrets & tips, also.

Hi there. We just took our 4 year old in May (3 at the time). She had a blast. We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter. I am not sure how old your children are but for our young one, this hotel was perfect. It was small so you can get to everything very quickly. The buses to the parks came very frequently. We never waited more than 10 minutes.
I used the travel agency Kingdom Magic. My agent, Melissa, helped me plan everything. She was great.
I also bought a few books. One was Disney with kids an I am not sure of the other. These books teach you all of the little tricks and secrets. Just go to the library or bookstore and you will find a bunch.
Good luck and have fun!!

When are you planning on going? Disney offering get a FREE dining plan when you purchase a non-discounted 4-night/5-day Magic Your Way room and ticket package at select Walt Disney World Resort hotels, valid for select arrival dates from October 2011 through March 2012! Which is a great deal if you can take advantage of it! Our favorite moderate resort is Port Orleans Riverside, they have boat you can take to Downtown Disney and it is nice relaxing ride.

Here are some other tips, to save some money you can bring your own food into the parks (such as lunch or snacks) and it would be good to bring water, fruit snacks, nuts anything the kids would like to nibble on and would save you money.

Also Disney restaurants provide a lot of food when you do eat at one, so if the kids are smaller you could more than likely share a meal between two kids and/or some of yours with one smaller child. Also if you can use the buffet places as you get a lot to eat and they are kid friendly and have a lot of children foods, like mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, etc. You can also book a dinner at one, like Hollywood and Vine and then get preferred seating for Fantasmic later that night and not have to wait in line.

The idea of “pre-purchasing” some Disney items is also a great idea. There is a Disney Outlet not far from WDW and they sell items from the parks much cheaper, it might be last season’s things, but who cares. We went there last year before we checked into our hotel and bought the kids each something so that we would not have to spend more at the parks to get them something. A few years ago when we went I made them each a lanyard before we left and give to them when we got there (and we put the pouches on the end to hold the tickets and Fast Passes). I figured out each of their favorite characters, got them that person on the lanyard and then purchased a mess of pins to put on them, all from e-Bay. Then we limited them to getting one or two at each park. We also gave them each their own Disney Gift Card with I think $25.00 or so on it so they could only spend what they had an no more.

Something else we do is every payday I go to the Disney Store and add 25.00 or 50.00 to our gift cards, we have one for food and one for extras (we do a bit of Disney collecting) this way we are not reaching for a credit card and we have it already account for. (We are leaving on the 28th and are taking my sister and 3 of her children. We have booked the 2 little girls at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique so I already have what is going to cost to pay for this on a Disney Gift Card.

If the kids are small, take advantage of the park that opens early and then take a break during the day and go back to the park that stays open late, that is the advantage of the Hopper Passes. Also use the Fast Pass system, pick an attraction you would like to really do, get a Fast Pass, you have an hour window to use that Fast Pass, before going on that attraction, get another Fast Pass for the next one you want this way you are a step ahead. Only one person has to go to the Fast Passes they just need all the tickets when they go.

When you go to the first park, get your photo taken by the Disney Photo people, they will give you a Disney Photo Pass card (kind of like a credit card) and you use it whenever you see a Disney Photo person and have them take your photo. They even use them around the characters. When you get home you can log on and check out the photos and only purchase the ones you what and you can also add borders and dates. Disney has made it official! The ability to pre-purchase Disney's PhotoPass CD for $99.95 has returned and is available to everyone; this will allow you to get every photo that is taken at the park and including the ones that you can “add” by adding borders, dates, and etc. http://www.disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx

Don’t forget about Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, Mickeys Very Merry Christmas party and the Candlelight Processional, depending on what time of the year you might be going.

I also have a spreadsheet that I made for my boss when she took her daughter a year ago, I have updated some of it recently for someone and would be happy to send it to you, if you would like it just let me know. Also let me know if you have any other questions as we have driven down many a year.

I am sure you will have a wonderful time!

With the wide variety of resorts, plans, parks, etc that go along with planning a Disney vacation, I recommend either consulting a disney travel expert or purchase a recent disney planning book (there are many! I used Ultimate Guide to DisneyWorld and it was my "bible" during planning and enjoying our vacation!) Best wishes for a wonderful vacation experience, I LOVE WDW...I'm currently turning shades of green :)

Go to Allears.net and it will give you everything you ever wanted to knw
about Disney World or Disneyland. No matter how you do it, it is expensive. Need some more info to give you an idea of cost. What kind
of hotel Deluxe, Moderate, Value.

We have found that it best to stay on property and book through the main Disney booking. Go to their website to price vacations and see what special offers they have . Sometimes you get free dining.If not the dining plan is worth it because the character meals are so fun and save time waiting to see characters. I could go on for hours and have on this site . You may want to look at other Disney postings. if you have any specific questions or know what you want to spend let me know . Also, when do you want to go and your kids ages etc is helpful:) have a magical day!

My sister-in-law planned our vacation using the following link:
TourGuideMiKE
http://www.tourguidemike.com
Good luck!
D.

The Intercot website is a really good resource with information from Disney enthusiasts (a friend of mine is one of the moderators for the site and she has gone to Disney World every year for the last 12+ years!). They have all sorts of helpful information on hotels/resorts, activities and even where to park a stroller. We went for the first time last year and this site was quite useful!

Have fun!

you have to get the Unofficial guide to Disney. My Bible. And really do your research. We had a great trip, but we knew how to work the lines and resorts to get what we wanted (eg. boys wanted roller coasters girls not so much, so had to research what the girls could do nearby while the boys waited in those awful lines. etc.)