Disney Advice Needed

Hi everyone,

DH and I want to head to Disney World for our 1 year anniversary. I have only been there once and it was like 13 years ago. DH has never been there. Needless to say, we have no idea where to start or what to do. It all seems so overwhelming.

I know there are Disney regulars on here. Any advice? Where do we start? What do we need to get as far as passes? What are the better, less expensive hotels? Thanks so much!

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Ordering a vaction planning kit is a good start. It gives a nice summary of all the places and things to do in Disney. Just go to the website and fill out the form. It's free! Here's the website:

Disney website

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Ok thanks. I ordered it. Looks great!

Any other advice you can provide as someone who has been there that the video won't tell me?

Re: Disney Advice Needed

We're going in July. I haven't been there since I was 14 though. We're staying at the Pop Century Resort, which is one of the value hotels, but it's supposed to be very nice and clean. We did the magic your way plus dining option, and added the parkhopper onto our pass.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Re: Disney Advice Needed

It doesn't really matter where it is, Disney has free transportation when you stay in one of there resorts. Their buses can take you anywhere in Disney in just a short time. No worries about driving and parking when you stay there, it's great!

Re: Disney Advice Needed

We went to Disney on our honeymoon and stayed at The wilderness Lodge and it was wonderful!! This is one of the "high-end: resorts but it was so close to alot of the parks.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

You might also want to check out some of the moderates - they are not too expensive.

I favor Port Orleans Riverside -- mostly because they have a great pool area/bar and I like the sing a long piano bar singer. :)

If you call early enough, you can get AAA rates.

I am not sure how long you are going for, but if it's longer then a week, price out annual passes. They are sometimes more cost effective and can get you discounted room rates as well as discounts at a lot of the restaurants.

Another option to consider is to book the whole package with Disney (Disney Resort, park tickets with a meal plan). When we priced out park tickets with meals, it seemed to be an economical way to go. It worked out to be $70 per day for two meals for each of us. We have an annual pass so we can't get the meal plan right now, but we easily spend more then that on food.


ETA...the disadvantage to booking the whole vacation with disney is that you have to pay for everything in advance. If you just reserve the room and order the park passes seperately I think you are just paying for the passes and one night deposit on the hotel.

Sorry, this ended up being longer then I thought...FM me if I can help you further

Message edited 5/11/2005 9:19:59 AM.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

We went a few years ago. We stayed at All start Music. Hotel was great no complaints. We drove to Florida so we had a car but didn't use it. We hoped on the bus that droped us off right in front of the gates. One night we went to Pleasure Island and we drank to much so thank god we didn't have a car LOL. The only time we used the car was one night we went to Universals city walk.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Posted by Lisa

We went to Disney on our honeymoon and stayed at The wilderness Lodge and it was wonderful!! This is one of the "high-end: resorts but it was so close to alot of the parks.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Posted by LisaLisa

Posted by Lisa

We went to Disney on our honeymoon and stayed at The wilderness Lodge and it was wonderful!! This is one of the "high-end: resorts but it was so close to alot of the parks.

I loved the wilderness lodge - it's a beautiful hotel!

Re: Disney Advice Needed

Posted by Lisa

Posted by LisaLisa

Posted by Lisa

We went to Disney on our honeymoon and stayed at The wilderness Lodge and it was wonderful!! This is one of the "high-end: resorts but it was so close to alot of the parks.

I loved the wilderness lodge - it's a beautiful hotel!

If I could live there....I would!! I loved it that much?!!!

Re: Disney Advice Needed

i just got back from a week in disney. i went with my whole family so we rented a house off property. it was actually really nice to stay off the property b/c it was only about a two-mile drive to all the parks and our transportation was there when we needed it. much more convenient than the buses, imo. as for hotels on the property i'd recommend one of the mid-priced resorts like port orleans. also a good travel planning book is the unofficial guide to walt disney world. as for websites check out allears.net. lots of good info there.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

My DH and I went to Disney in February and stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarters. No complaints at all - Ive stayed there in the past and it was his first time in Disney and liked it. Im not sure when you are planning on going but, make sure you check Disney online because it says the days that even during the peak season when each park is less crowded. We went while it was still the off season and used that as a guide - we didnt wait longer then 10 minutes for a ride. HTH!

Re: Disney Advice Needed

We have been to disney too many times to count and our all time favorite resort is the Polynesian but it can get very expensive. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge in January and like the other girls have said it was wonderful. You get the amenities of a Deluxe right near the castle and you are paying a very reasonable price.

My favorite of the moderates is the Port Orleans Riverside. I enjoyed the themeing and the pool area was great.

For the value resorts we liked Pop Century. It was pretty cool because they have all these icons from different decades throughout the resort....like a HUGE rubix cube, foozeball tables, mickey mouse phones.

Where ever you stay you'll have an awesome time.

Re: Disney Advice Needed

I have a whole disney guide on NWR on LIW, I'm going to modify it and post it here when I get a chance.

Ticketing depends on how long you want to stay, but right now I think the ONLY advantage to AP's is that you get great hotel rated (up to 50% off)...

Since they added the "Magic Your Way" passes, it's cheaper the longer you stay and the "8 day rule" no longer applies. (itused to be that if you were going to stay for more than 8 days in a given year, the AP would pay for itself).

As far as hotels go, the values are all about the same, basically only the theming is different. I think I've heard the pop century rooms are SLIGHTLY larger, but I don't know if that's true. Value resorts start at $79 a night in the value season and go up to I think $120. We've seen AP rates as low as $49/night. If you stay at a value I reccomend paying the extra $10/night for "preferred view" it has nothing to do with the view, but you'll be in the first building, closest to the bus stops, the lobby and the main pool. If not, you don't know where you'll end up and you could be a 15 minute walk from the bus. It may not matter to most people, but it is the difference between getting on the 6:45 bus and being there AT rope drop and getting on the 7:00 bus and letting every1 get a head start...or, it means 15 minutes less sleep!



The moderates have slightly larger rooms, better products, nicer themiing and gift areas and they now have refrigerators and coffeemakers in every room. The pols are cool. I LOVE PO French Quarter. It's gorgeous and SO romantic. It starts at something like $133 aqand goes up frome there. We got an AP rate there for $74/night.

I've never stayed at a deluxe hotel, so I can't help you on that one. Let me know if you have any specific questions. I have posted a LOT of info on NWR

Re: Disney Advice Needed

I wanted to add, yes, when you buy ust the room (what we usually do, since we are AP holders) you only put down a one night's stay deposit and apy the balance at check in.

And if you buy AP's at home, you only get a voucher which then has to be validated at the parks, and once it's validated, THAT becoems the anniversary date, not the day you bought it.

Also, the new magic your way tickets ahe to be used within 14 days uncless you pay I think $45 for unused days to never expire.