Newbie here planing trip to Disney HELP

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2004
Newbie here planing trip to Disney HELP
8
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 6:57am

Hi my Name is Kelly, I am planning a trip to Disney with my husband and my son 12 years old. The trip is for Sept 26- Oct 2 my son and I went to Disney when he was 5 years old with my mom. We did Universal for a day and the rest Disney, at that time we went through Club ABC tours, I thought it was a great price. But my hair dresser was telling me about her trip last Oct and went through a travel agent, Liberty. She had the all inclusive with the meals and the tickets. I hope I was quoted the best price, cause she is coming up with $3300 including air fare. My question is does it really save money having the meal deal? Also is Sept a good time to go? Will it be hot like really hot? I am taking David (son) out of school for a week. So I am really hoping this will be a vacation he will remember. We are from NY so we are flying out of Stewart in Newburgh, this is something I am happy about. I am just so excited about all of this, can someone recommend things to keep a almost 13 year old happy? We are not sure if we are staying at the Sports theme hotel or the Pop Century. Any advice on that one ? TA says the Pop Century is nicer than the Sports one. I am going to surprise Bill (Hubby) and David ( Son) with trip to Universal. I want this vacation to be the best for David to always remember.

Thanks for the help

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2004
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 9:13am

Thank you for posting so quickly, I cant wait to hear what the others have to say also. I am just so excited can you tell? I found this board this am while I was posting on another board.

thanks,

Kelly

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 9:48am

Hi and Good morning!!

With any luck for you, they may offer the Disney Dining Plan for FREE during the time you are traveling. They have offered it the past two years now, in an attempt to get people to travel to WDW during hurricane season (as rumor has it!). I can't remember exactly when it was offered, but you had to book between two specific dates (like May and June, or something like that), and you had to travel between the end of August and the beginning of October. We benefited from this in September 2005, and it was our first experience with the meal plan. We thought it was FANTASTIC....so great that we purchased it for our May trip this year.

Even if you had to pay for it, you'd probably make out in the end. We enjoy doing one table service dinner every day, as a respite, and we get our monies worth just out of that ONE meal (entrees are expensive!!)

As I said, my family is going in May this year. We are taking my mom for her 60th birthday, so there will be 5 of us. We opted for two rooms at a value resort. I also have two boys, who will be 12 and turning 8 in May. We had a hard time deciding between All Star Sports and Pop Century. In the end, we decided on POP, because I think my mom would enjoy the theming the best. We'll do Sports next time for the boys (we usually do Disney every other year).

If you are OK with staying in a value resort, you probably aren't too far off the mark price wise from what you quoted. I'm wondering if this quote from your friend included the meal plan, or was the meal plan FREE when she went? This would make a big difference!! The meal plan is $38.99 per adult per day (I think I've got that correct) and your son is considered an adult at Disney. So needless to say, it does add up (but in most cases, you eat way more in food than what you've paid, so it works out!)

My suggetion to you is to get a quote on the room, tickets, and meal plan separately, and then search airfare on your own and see what you come up with. I always do better booking my own airfare (through Southwest or Air Tran, etc.)

Happy planning!!!! (and the allearsnet.com site is a great one, as is mousesavers . you know what!)

Marcy

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Registered: 04-15-2004
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 5:57pm

Thank you so much for your advice. I called the TA that was recommended and now since you said that about plannning this in May and maybe getting the meal plan for free will wait to book it til then. The TA is saying I think she said about $ 2600 for the 3 of us, and since it is too early for Jet Blue to annouce their fares in Sept, I will have to wait til then to figure out that part. I hope they do offer the free dining plan, it would really benefit us, but it makes me crazy I have to wait til then to book it. KWIM? I also think I may do 4 days of Disney,2 at universal and one off. I think my plan was to stay for 8 days instead of 7. I think we will need a day at the pool, but hubby has never been there so this should be interesting. My ta is really recommending the POP Century so I dont know what I am going to do. She said it is newer and nicer, my son is a big Baseball buff so this will be a hard call for us. I am going to check your site you mentioned thanks for you your help.

Kelly

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Registered: 04-15-2004
Sat, 02-10-2007 - 6:30pm
I was checking out the allearsnet.com and now I want to stay at the carribean place, like so badly. It looks so nice, I am going to try and figure out how to stay there and not pay afourtune!
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sun, 02-11-2007 - 9:02am

I actually think you could go ahead and book now for that time frame, and if the Free dining is offered, you're TA could apply that particular discount to your reservation. The only problem "could" be that you might have to change resorts if there are not enough rooms available with the free dining offer. (they only have so many rooms available with free dining, so they would need to change your ressie....you may or may not be able to stay right where you are. It all depends on availability)

But I do know that last year, people were able to apply the free dining to existing reservations. And even if they don't offer free dining this year, I do believe that you can add the dining plan on at a later date if you wish to pay for it.

As far as resort...I think I'd book Sports. I know what you mean about a baseball buff! My 11 year old is the same...he's actually a total sports nut (a little OCD about it, really!) We checked out the pictures on allearsnet and he was flipping out. But POP won out because the trip is for my Mom's 60th birthday. Next trip, we'll be staying in Sports for sure! Can't get out of that one now! LOL Luckily, my 7 year old is so flexible, he'd stay in a box if he had to! LOL

Good luck and have fun planning! (btw, where are you flying from?)

Marcy

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-15-2004
Sun, 02-11-2007 - 11:46am

Stewart International Airport in Newburgh NY. It is just past my office, ironically. I am in love with the Carribean hotel now after looking at allears.net Thanks for that link it is so interesting.

Kell