full of questions

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
full of questions
11
Thu, 11-29-2007 - 3:58pm

Here it goes, I live in Upper SC about 10-12 hours from Disney I guess. We are middle income 2 daughters ages 12 and 7 we figure we need to save for one year and we could take a trip to Disney for a week. So I would like to start figuring this all out. We can fly from our small local airport fairly cheap to a small airport in Orlando called Orlando/Sanford. I am hoping we can rent a car from an on site place at the airport. Is it better to have a rental car or to just stay onsite at Disney and never leave during the week?


Did you book your trip as a whole through a local travel agent or did you piece it together yourself?


Are there any online agents or sites you recommend?


We need to save money as best we can so we can have more spending money, lol!


I have heard you can make payments on your Disney trip, is this true? How?


Thanks for all the info.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-11-2003
Thu, 11-29-2007 - 8:34pm

I'll answer a few for you.

 

Avatar for cl_ktbugsmom
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 11-29-2007 - 10:54pm

Hi and welcome!


Have you thought about what time of year you want to go? That will cause a big difference in your hotel costs. Value season is typically while the girls would be in school, but if you're not opposed to taking them out, you can save a lot of money going at that time.


Sanford is about 30-45 min from Disney, but then with traffic so is MCO -the orlando airport. Magical Express can pick you up at MCO, but not Sanford and is a free transfer shuttle to your Disney resort.


If you plan on only doing DIsney and staying onsite there is no reason you would need a rental car once you got there.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Fri, 11-30-2007 - 11:15am

my kids and hubby really want to fly - i think he does want to be in the car that long he stress, lol!


hubby says he's only going once so we better enjoy it.


if we go in Feb we can fly $78 round trip per person - i might can find better i need to look more.


if we rent a car that's $250 for the week unless someone knows some tricks and can help me with that, but we can by a few snacks and maybe go out to eat off site one night.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Fri, 11-30-2007 - 11:32am

i meant to say he does not want to be in the car that long with the kids, lol!


Taking the kids out of school should not be a problem, they are good students and I make sure there work gets caught up, they rarely miss days.


What is the best - least crowded time to go?


We can get go flight prices in Feb.


Even with using a Meal Plan with 4 people what do you normal average spending on food in one week in Disney out side of the Meal Plan.

Avatar for shelb31
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-12-2006
Fri, 11-30-2007 - 2:09pm

I live near Charlotte, and it takes us 9 hours to drive.

Disney 2010
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Fri, 11-30-2007 - 3:14pm

we may very well drive and save the flying for another trip.


is it still warm enough to swim in Sept.

Avatar for dklauduc
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 11-30-2007 - 6:17pm

Oh yes, September is still quite hot in Orlando, maybe even a little too hot for my tastes. I was just there the first week of November and it was high around 80 every day. We swam just about every afternoon and it was delightful.


 Dana, mom to Kevin (10/24/01) and Jason (10/15/04)

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Mon, 12-03-2007 - 10:21am
last year we were in the Bahamas in mid-october and teh ocean and pools were a bit cold so i wasn't sure about the temps in fla during that time. do they heat the pools any? sounds like Oct. would be a great time to go?
Avatar for dklauduc
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 12-03-2007 - 2:06pm

I can't vouch for all the Disney resorts but we stayed at Shades of Green and the pool there was definitely heated. I would think October would be perfect.


 Dana, mom to Kevin (10/24/01) and Jason (10/15/04)

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-30-2007
Mon, 12-03-2007 - 4:01pm
it's me again - i think we have made up our minds to drive from upstate sc to disney - we have family we'd like to see on the way down. i think i have pick out dates sept 27-oct 4 of 2008 if i can figure out the money end of it. if you go in sept isn't dinning free? should i call disney direct to book our vacation or go through a travel agent, i think i prefer to do it myself, what do you think? what do you charge for planning?

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