need help planning a disney trip

im trying to get info on planning a trip to disney in October
my dad has a time share so thank god we can stay in his villa and dont have to worry about paying for a place to stay but i need info on airfare and how much it is to get into disney and all the other parks, i have heard of the hopper pass not too sure what that includes and how much it costs. My DD will be 5 and DS willl be 2 1/2...does anyone know if there are discounts because my son would be under 3? i have never taken the kids on vacation before and im a bit freaked out about being on a plane with 2 kids alone, (my dad and sister drive down to FL)
im sure there are many of you who regularly take trips to disney and any info would be helpful! im trying to figure out if financially we would be able to do it! this is a much needed vacation we had a rough year, id really love to make this happen but affordable. TIA!!!

Re: need help planning a disney trip

We go down every year. Airfare is usually between $200-$300 roundtrip per person.

We buy our park tickets on www.ticketmania.com usually and for 5 days for an adult (we do park hopper) it's about $300 per ticket.

Kids under 3 are free.

ETA: We always hit up Walmart for groceries...we generally eat breakfast in the hotel to save money. We've also started eating off Disney property more because it's generally less expensive and there's more variety.

Message edited 1/20/2010 9:17:49 PM.

Re: need help planning a disney trip

we are are thinking of doing disney too in oct!
would love to hear what people suggest to you too! Never been with kids!

Re: need help planning a disney trip

We are going down in March. Kids under 3 are free. The park hopper ticket lets you go to more then one park in one day. We always get them. It is good because you can do one park during the day and then another one at night for just fireworks. October is a great time to go. Especially with Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween going on. Kids can dress up. There is trick or treating in the park. We also stay off property. We eat breakfast at our house and then grab lunch in the park. We usually take a break and leave the park in the afternoon. This will be our first time going down with our DS, but we have done many trips with our friends and their 2 kids.

Re: need help planning a disney trip

Airfaire well we are going in may and paying $850 total for 4 tickets w/ jet blue (which was the cheapest option - cheaper than southwest and delta they all were going to be 1k plus for 4 tickets). I would say to price shop around. Check out the airlines actual websites as well as kyack and the others to see what they show. Keep in mind Delta was at one point $250 but then you get no bags so make sure before purchasing you add in additional baggage charges to determine the cheapest option (southwest -2 bags free, Jet blue 1 bag free, delta, united, US air etc No bags free).

Also check I believe it is tuesday night/wednesday morning rather than weekends - that is when the companies reset their systems or something to that effect -basically that is when rates are often at their lowest.

Tickets-

Your 2.5 year old is FREE!!! You don't need a ticket and you don't have to pay for food if he eats off your plate or you eat at a buffet or family style meal - if you eat counter service OR sit down and order him a meal you will need to pay however.

Tickets - there is a general magic your way ticket - which you can buy from 1 to 10 days. You can buy just the individual ticket which is good for ONE park per day. Then you can add from there. The more days you buy the cheaper it gets per day (when you get up to 7 days it can be as little as an addition $6 to add days on).

Your options are:
Park hoppers (which I always do but some people don't care about) Park hoppers allow you to hop to as many parks in ONE day as you like - so you can go to AK in the morning, MK for lunch and EPCOT for dinner. I like the park hoppers b.c we will do one park in the morning, go back to our resort, nap and swim then go to EPCOT or some place else for dinner. Without the hopper option you can ONLY go to the park you first entered that day - so if you go to AK and it is packed of you aren't having fun you are limited to only that park for the day. You don't need the park hopper but if you can afford it - to me it is worth having the flexibility. You must buy it for the whole length of the ticket and not for just a few days.

No expire option. I have never done this but some people do - if you buy your ticket it is good I believe for 14 days after 1st day of use. If you want to buy say a 10 day ticket and use 5 days now and 5 days down the road you will need this. Otherwise I would forget it.

Water parks and more option..
You need this if you plans to go to one of the 2 water parks or disney quest.

You can check on disboards but I believe you can add options to your tickets while at your resort.

For discounts check out mousesavers.com and join their mailing list which gives emails about ticket specials.


etd to add
I took DD #1 at 15 months to wdw oct 2008. I would be happy to share info...btw get tickets to Mickey's not so scary halloween party at the MK it is definitely worth it!!!

Message edited 1/21/2010 10:40:44 AM.

Re: need help planning a disney trip

Last time we went we also stayed off property in the time share. THe time share has a full kitchen so we cook breakfast at home, packed fruit, nuts, granola bars and water for the day and then ate in the park for dinner.

Make reservations for dinner if you plan to eat in the park. It is really easy, there are info booths all over the parks where you can do it.

I would recommend this book the passporter It is an awesome resource, it goes into detail about every attraction, ride dining location - it was a HUGE help for planning our trip!

Have fun!

Re: need help planning a disney trip

Check out mousesavers.com. Its a great resources for deals and how to do the parks afforably.

We are going in April for two nights. My mom lives in SW Florida so we do one or two parks a year when we visit Florida. We are staying at the Marriot Courtyard right off site. we got a deal through mousesavers.com that got all of us free breakfast every morning...which is huge savings!

Also, since we are only go for two days, we just earned one free day for me, DH and DS by participating in one of the Disney volunteer opportunities. Its on their website. Pretty much, give a day of volunteer work, earn a day at the park.

Message edited 1/21/2010 11:29:43 AM.

Re: need help planning a disney trip

all of this info is G R E AT !!!!!!!!!! thank you SOOO much! it was sooo helpful!