Disney World Florida ????

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Disney World Florida ????
10
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 10:37pm

Anyone ever been on vacation to Disney World?? Dh and I have never been and neither have the kids. We are thinking of going on vacation and I wanted to know if anyone has any tips.


Is it better to stay at the nicer hotels...or will we be gone so much that the cheaper hotels inside the park are just as good? Is the monarail near the cheaper hotels?


We will probably go and stay a four or five days and want to get the most out of it.


Oh and we will probably go around the 1st of September...is it better to go on a weekday or a weekend?


Thanks!!

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2005
Tue, 05-10-2005 - 11:04pm

Hi Traci, We went in 2002. We absolutely loved it. We bought a book (guide) from the Disney Store in our area, that gave us alot of good tips. We also sent off for a video that you get for free from DisneyWorld, that also shows alot of great things. I definitely recommend staying at one of the Disney resorts if you can. We stayed at the Fort Wilderness Resort and the kids (and us) just LOVED it. It is a cabin and they kinda look like your own mobile home. It is so beautiful. They have a nightly camp fire for the kids, you roast marshmellows while watching a disney movie outdoors (very fun). There is sooooo much to do there at all the parks. I also recommend having breakfast with the characters at Chef Mickey's, you need to call like now to reserve your spot. For that, it is a buffet type (great food) and the characters go around to everyone signing autographs and dancing/singing along with the guests. My girls really had a good time doing that cause you don't have to wait in line or fight to try to get an autograph/picture with them. They come right up to you while you eat. It is reasonably priced as well. When you reserve your spot you do not have to pay anything, you pay after you eat. I can go on and on and on and on about the whole thing...lol. We just had a blast. I figured it would probably be awhile till we get to go again so that is why we did splurge a little. But honestly the whole package (from Dillard's travel) cost just a little over $3,000. There was 5 of us, at the time we did not have ds yet and we took my mother (needed someone to watch the kids while we went out one night..lol). We also did not fly, we drove from Texas to there (rented a car). I always recommend Fort Wilderness to everyone that is going. But becareful, there is a Fort Wilderness and then there is a lodge or something like that. They almost sound the same, but this one is the individual cabins. I took some good pictures of the cabin (hotel), if you would like I can always email them to you. Also, there are some things at the certain parks that you can not miss. I'll inform you later about those (shows, rides, 3D movies). I am so excited, I have a project now to get a list together for you...lol.

Olivia

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&nbs
iVillage Member
Registered: 01-23-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 8:27am

You said the Magic Words!!! I am a Disney World fanatic and I LOVE to help people plan their WDW vacations.

To get the full WDW experience you really should stay at one of the Disney resorts on Disney property. It's my own personal opinion that when you have kids it makes more sense to stay at one of the less expensive resorts. My son is 3 and he LOVES the All Start Movies resort. My DH and I love very nice hotels and we have never had a problem with staying at the All Star Movies resort. It's one of the cheapest resorts, the rooms are pretty small, and it's not at all what you would call luxurious - but it's clean and definately geared toward kids. We find that we are only in our room to sleep, get dressed, and nap so we don't want to spend a ton of money on the room.

If you want a slightly nicer hotel, the Caribbean Beach resort seems to be the most popular Moderate Resort with families. I have never stayed there but I have heard good things about it.

The Deluxe resorts that are on the monorail route are nice because you don't need to deal with the buses as much and you don't need to rent a car. DH and I stayed at the Polynesian and loved it, but it was a grown ups only trip - I don't think my son would have liked it as much as the All Star Movies. DH and I are going to WDW in December for our 1st anniversary and finally staying at the Grand Floridian.

You can take Disney transportation or a Mears shuttle to WDW from the airport so you really don't need to rent a car. Since you are going in September the crowds will be low so the WDW buses that take you from the resorts to the parks won't be very crowded. Just a warning that September is hurricane season in Florida. DH and I were there last September for one of the hurricanes when they shut down the parks for a day and half. It was kind of a bummer having to stay in the hotel room for an entire day but the parks were back to normal the next day.

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is a really good reference and has all kind of helpful tips. Plus two really good websites for information are disboards.com and wdwig.com. I learned soooo much on both of the sites. Let me know if you have any other specific information!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-06-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 9:30am
I went as a young child each year with my family. Had a blast and had great memories of going.
I also went a few times to sing there during Christmas time. I stayed in the Music resort on the property. I liked it a lot. Great for kids.
You can

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iVillage Member
Registered: 11-08-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 10:52am
Traci,
Mousesavers.com is a great website for finding deals and getting advice about Disney trips. Have fun planning!
Wendy
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 11:34am

Thanks Olivia..I know we talked a

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 11:40am

Thanks for the great info!! So to get to the parks from the less expensive hotels, you take a bus? And where do the buses drop you off in relation to the main parks?


It is my understanding that the less expensive hotels do not have restruants...is that a problem? Would you spend more money getting to the restruants or are the hotel restruants less expensive?


Is there a must place to eat that the kids simply can't miss?


Thanks so much for all your help!


Traci

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 11:43am
Thanks Mel! Did you stay at any of the resorts or hotels? If so which did you like more?

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-21-2004
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 11:45am
Thanks so much for the great tip...i saved it in my vacation folder. :)

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2005
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 2:49pm

Traci, From the Fort Wilderness we stayed at we were not too far from Magic Kingdom. To get to the Magic Kingdom you take a ferry ride which is so much fun for the kids. To the other parks you ride a disney bus. After the breakfast at Chef Mickey's you get to take the monorail. Chef Mickey's is at the hotel (cant remember the name) that has the monorail go right through it. Fort Wilderness does have several pools on the property as well as a waterpark, volleyball and beachlike area near the lake where you take the ferry. At night if you go near the lake you can see the fireworks from Magic Kingdom, so beautiful, oh yeah there is also a (I forget what you call it) lighted water parade that comes by the lake. Honestly the transporation does not take long at all. The buses are running constantly and so is the ferry (several buses, several ferry's). My dh said that he would love to go again and when we do he definitely wants to stay at Fort Wilderness. Every now and then we miss it so much that we look at our video tapes and re-live the moment.

Olivia

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&nbs
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2005
Wed, 05-11-2005 - 3:00pm

Traci, The buses take you right in front of the parks or very near by. To be honest we only took the bus a few times cause we had the hopper pass which allows you to go into all the parks as many times as you wish. So we always ended up at Magic Kingdom first, then from there would take the monorail to the other parks. That is one of the things I forgot to mention is purchase the hopper pass for your family. Believe me you can not just use a 1 or 2 day pass for any of the parks. There is so much to see and the kids always want to go back to another park for a show or ride to do again. Also it helps if you want to go the other parks while waiting for the nightly fireworks at a certain park. All the parks have some kind of night show. If you can not make them all, make sure you do not miss the one at the Disney MGM Studios, I think it is called Fantasia or Fantasium, something like that. Also, there at MGM Studios the kids loved the disney playhouse show (bear blue house, rolie polie olie, winnie the pooh, etc). Girl, I tell ya I can go on and on and on...lol. Definitely do NOT MISS the 3D movie at the Animal Kingdom (Bug's Life), it is underneath the tree of life (I think thats the name).

Olivia

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&nbs