Planning A Disney Vacation

[Mr Light]

The missus and I are planning a week long vacation to Disney World! It will be our first actual vacation together and my first actual vacation since I was in middle school. Yikes.

Anyway I was wondering what your opinion was on the best cost efficient and pleasurable way of doing it.

Do you go with the Disney on-site hotel? The All Star Movie hotel was the one I was looking at. I was looking forward to staying on-site, but...

There's a Days Inn with free transportation to all the parks and it's across the street from Universal apparently. It's also light years cheaper than the All Star Movie.

But how fast and efficient and comfortable is the free transportation to the parks?

I read in a book the best time to go is Early Feb or late April. Here's a price example:

Sat Feb 5th to Sat Feb 12
Disney All Star Hotel: $790
Days Inn: $246

Sat Apr 23rd to Sat Apr 30th
Disney All Star Hotel: $1337 (?!)
Days Inn: $372

 

[Nowhere Man]

My wife and I went last year after thanksgiving. We stayed in Kissimmee. The place we were at had a free shuttle and it took about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic. It took just as long by car, so you might as well save your gas. We didn't even go to Disney, it was too exspensive. We spent I think two days at sea world and two days at Universal. We did some other things, but I cant remember. We spent one day at Kenedy space center. All of it is exspensive, but it's cheaper to buy a two day pass for sea world and universal than Disney. Also, if you go to Universal, you can buy a meal pass for one week, so any time you are there you can eat all day for $30.00. What we did was my wife bought the pass and would go get food for me, then wait like 5-10 minutes and get food for her. A lot of other people were doing it and they don't check. It's easier than tring to pack food or pay for each individual meal. If you don't have kids and want a more adult adventure, skip disney and go to epcot. That's what I heard at least. The weather should be fine, but you might want a light jacket or long sleeved shirt because there's a lot of water rides and it gets cold at night. The Mummy ride is really fun if you are a pussy like me and don't like huge rollercoasters, but like the smaller ones. That's about all. I will go back and look at my pictures now, it was a lot of fun. Now is a good time too, theres hardly any lines. Some rides, there were absolutley no lines at all. That was late in the aftenoon.

 

[Misfit Toy]

My son was six the last time we went. We stayed in All Star movies and really enjoyed it - but I think we would stay off-park if we went again. Just because of the cost. It was nice, however, to be able to have any in-park purchases delivered to the room instead of us lugging them around all day. Also nice were the "Magic Moments" that were part of the package, but they don't call it Di$ney for nothing...

 

[sojourner]

^or Wallet Dizzy World!

 

[Spot's Meow]

We stayed at a hotel right across from Universal (can't remember if it was the Days Inn) when I went a few years ago with my family. It didn't take long at all to get to Disney and we had a great time. The price of the on-site hotel isn't really going to be worth it since you will be spending so little time at your hotel anyway.

And we did go in February. It was very nice weather, not too hot or cold, just perfect. It did rain a little but it didn't ruin the trip at all, Florida rain is so very nice and refreshing compared to California rain! And the nice thing about rain in Disney or Universal parks is that it keeps the locals at home and means shorter lines. But really for the most part the weather was really perfect.

I hope you have fun! I was expecting to be bored by Epcot and most interested in the Magic Kingdom, but the opposite was true. I didn't care for the Magic Kingdom much since I've been to Disneyland so many times and I preferred it over the Magic Kingdom. I was sad to leave Epcot after only a day though because it was a very fascinating place that I could have spent quite a while at. I also loved Animal Kingdom very much.

 

[Mr Light]

I pretty much haven't been to the parks since around 1994. I've been to Islands of Adventure and Universal in 2003 but that's it. So they're going to be completely different parks for me with tons of new rides!

 

[GeorgeKirk]

On one hand, staying at an offsite hotel will generally get you a nicer room and more amenities for less money. The biggest advantage to staying on-property is that you can park your car and take Disney transportation everywhere. For most of the resorts, that means buses. Sometimes you can end up waiting awhile for a bus to the specific park you're trying to get to. The offsite hotels that offer free transportation generally just have a shuttle that runs twice a day, once to deposit you at the parks at the beginning of the day and once at the end of the day to retrieve you, and if you miss the shuttle at the end of the day you're stranded.

Honestly, if you're staying offsite you might as well drive to the parks every day. You can park at the Magic Kingdom parking lot and take a bus or Monorail from the Transportation and Ticket Center to whatever park you want to visit that day. There's also boat transportation between EPCOT and the Studios.

 

[Mr Light]

^ I'm flying in, so I'm trying to avoid renting a car. I'm in Pennsylvania.

 

[T'Bonz]

Timing: February is nicer than April. By the end of April, it can get hot. February is low-season and less crowded (and the hotel price reflects this.) In April, you'll see a lot of Spring Break kids.

Hotels. We stayed in Kissimmee for years until Disney finally offered hotels that were reasonable. Now that they're comparable to outside hotels, I'd never not stay in one. The transportation is quick and efficient and lovely at the end of the day when one is tired. Plus - there are perks, like being able to make reservations for meals (say at EPCOT) right at the hotel. The All-Star hotels are the inexpensive ones. I've been at Sports, and will be staying at the music one next month.

I wouldn't stay in a Days Inn unless I was desperate. Your seven-day stay for Disney is $112 a night vs. Days Inn's $35 a night. To me, if a hotel is under $75 a night, I'm wondering if it's in a bad area, or is a hooker hotel or if something else is wrong. $35 a night is very, very underpriced for the Orlando/Kissimmee area. Had I heard that price without a hotel name, I'd have assumed it was a Super 8 motel.

Go to TripAdvisor to read reviews on hotels. It's an essential travel tool for me.

I've been here 30 years and gone to Disney and the other parks many times. If you have questions, just ask.

 

[sojourner]

Orlando is not a place to vacation without a car unless you ONLY plan on seeing the parks. If you want to see anything else, or just poke around, get a car.

^And I've been here 41 years, so neener!

 

[Mr Light]

Nah, just going to the parks.

Well the website says the Days Inn is "walking distance" from the entrance to Universal...

 

[Kail]

I've gone to Disney several times and would not stay anywhere but a Disney hotel. No one does service better than Disney. I have never been disappointed. The busses run every 15 minutes, having packages sent to your room, but BY FAR the best part is if you are staying in a Disney hotel you get into the park early, and can stay a few hours after they close. We did more in the 2 after hours than we did all day. You can walk right up to just about any attraction. My son rode his favorite roller coaster over and over, which normaly would have taken all day. We LOVE staying at Disney hotels.

 

[JAG]

I have stayed on and off site. I would definitely stay on. The buses work very well, the early/late park entrance is a great perk as well. They have all sorts of food options. he All-Star hotels are the inexpensive ones. I've been at all of them and the themes are a lot of fun.

 

[Pavonis]

The missus and I are planning a week long vacation to Disney World! It will be our first actual vacation together and my first actual vacation since I was in middle school. Yikes.

Anyway I was wondering what your opinion was on the best cost efficient and pleasurable way of doing it.

My wife and I just vacationed at DW a couple months ago. We stayed on-site, and I'd recommend it. Sure, it's more expensive, but once we were there we didn't regret the extra cost. In fact we were glad for the extra conveniences and perks of the on-site resort.

It's a vacation, after all, and if you're spending most of it on a shuttle or a car driving to the park, are you really on vacation?

 

[Mr Light]

So, anyone staying in a Disney hotel gets to go in two hours early?

As for leaving later... how do they know I'm a Disney hotel person or not if I decide to stay later? It's not like they can inspect every person in the park at closing time!

 

[Lookingglassman]

I went almost a year and a half ago and I had a blast. I went to Epcot, Universal, Disney, Disney animal kingdom, etc all in one week. I was worn out at the end of the week but I must truly say it is a magical kingdom because for that one week I forgot all about my problems. I plan on going back in 2012

 

[T'Bonz]

^And I've been here 41 years, so neener!

My sympathies.

 

[Pavonis]

So, anyone staying in a Disney hotel gets to go in two hours early?

As for leaving later... how do they know I'm a Disney hotel person or not if I decide to stay later? It's not like they can inspect every person in the park at closing time!

If you stay on-site, your room key acts as your park pass (and meal plan, etc). After normal hours, only guests with the proper park pass can go on the rides - that's where they check. So if you don't stay on site, you can wander around the park after hours if you wish, but you wouldn't be able to do much.

Oh, and when I was there in October, the "Magic Hours" were either one hour ahead of normal park opening, or three hours after normal park closing. The different parks rotated their "Magic Hours", so they're not all open late or early every day.

 

[B.J.]

I took my family to Disney World back in October (and the previous year as well), and we stayed on-site both times. One of the biggest advantages IMO is access to the Dining Plan, which saved us a lot of headache by paying for most of our meals ahead of time. It doesn't include tips for the sit-down meals, though. You can also get reservations for many of the sit-down restaurants through the plan.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

So, anyone staying in a Disney hotel gets to go in two hours early?

As for leaving later... how do they know I'm a Disney hotel person or not if I decide to stay later? It's not like they can inspect every person in the park at closing time!

If you stay on-site, your room key acts as your park pass (and meal plan, etc). After normal hours, only guests with the proper park pass can go on the rides - that's where they check. So if you don't stay on site, you can wander around the park after hours if you wish, but you wouldn't be able to do much.

Oh, and when I was there in October, the "Magic Hours" were either one hour ahead of normal park opening, or three hours after normal park closing. The different parks rotated their "Magic Hours", so they're not all open late or early every day.

Yeah just make sure you have your room key and you'll be able to get in the parks and on the rides for Extra Magic Hours. I can't remember what the schedule for EMH is in February. But that month is a LOT quieter than April (all the spring break kids are annoying ).

I'd definitely recommend staying in a Disney hotel because it's so much more convenient and really allows you to immerse yourself in the Disney world.