Disney Anyone?

amyjoy18

Anyone recently been or planning a Disney trip soon? We went October of 2013 and are planning on going October/early November of 2016. Last time we stayed at Art of Animation in a suite and having all of the extra space was great--especially because Nolan was just shy of 2, so it was great to be able to put the kids in the bedroom to sleep at bedtime and not to have to worry about being super quiet.. They also had dedicated buses, so the ride to the parks was never very long. 

For next year I'm torn between doing Art of Animation again (Cars Suite this time since last trip was very princess focused) and trying Port Orleans Riverside.  Port Orleans is roughly $140 cheaper per night, and we'd also be likely to be eligible for free dining--or if there was a percent off promo, the discount would also likely be larger. 

For restaurants this time on my list are:

Garden Grill
Cinderrella's Happily Ever After Dinner at the Grand Floridian
Be Our Guest
Hollywood and Vine

Any other suggestions.  Last time We did Cinderella's Castle, Tusker House, Crystal Palace, and Akershaus.  We also ate a lot of quick service meals at AOA simply because of our schedule and with Nolan being so little.  I'd really like to try some more park quick service meals (athough I've heard the food court at Port Orleans Riverside is great) any suggestions?

Any thoughts on either? 

egpitt22

So funny that you are posting this, I was just pricing out a disney trip for January/february with the discounted prices that came out and sending it off to brian this morning....I dojn't know why I was torturing myself, as we are pretty set on doing a disney cruise next fall....but I digress.

As far as everyone being in the same room, I can tell you that for us, it was totally fine.  We were hardly ever in the room, other than getting ready in the morning and crashing at night.  If it were me, I'd probably try the other resort to save some money and get the discount!

For dining, we loved Be Our Guest, favorite meal of the week.  We also liked Chef Mickey's for the breakfast buffet, and if you're heading into downtown Disney, the kids thought T-Rex cafe was really cool  

Luckystar2

Have you looked at ft wilderness camoground cabins? When we went in 2012 we stayed there. It's a moderate resort. I think it was about same cost as port Orleans and we got free dining and it would be a bigger discount with promo like port Orleans. The cabins had a bedroom with door that had a bed and bunk beds. Then there was a kitchen and living room with a pull down bed. So you could have kids in the bedroom and have your own space.

I don't have any other recs since its been a while! Oh have you gone to O'Hana's? Everyone always recs that place.we really liked it

rona118

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside when we went in 2012. We really liked it. Stayed in a enchanted guest room which had just been redone. We did like the food court there. Even the table service restaurant was nice. We had dinner there with my dad and his wife one night who live nearby. 

We did Mama Melrose at Hollywood studios and really liked. No characters but food was great. And it was nice to have a meal and not worry about the autograph book. 

amyjoy18

rona118 said:

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside when we went in 2012. We really liked it. Stayed in a enchanted guest room which had just been redone. We did like the food court there. Even the table service restaurant was nice. We had dinner there with my dad and his wife one night who live nearby. 

We did Mama Melrose at Hollywood studios and really liked. No characters but food was great. And it was nice to have a meal and not worry about the autograph book. 

How was the walk from the Enchanted Guest Rooms to the shuttle stop and mainbuilding food court?

Great point on character meals.  We over-did character meals on our first trip.  By our last one at Crystal Palace, after we saw Piglet, the kids asked to leave instead of staying to meet the rest of the characters. Maybe I should stick to two Character meals.

amyjoy18

Luckystar2 said:

Have you looked at ft wilderness camoground cabins? When we went in 2012 we stayed there. It's a moderate resort. I think it was about same cost as port Orleans and we got free dining and it would be a bigger discount with promo like port Orleans. The cabins had a bedroom with door that had a bed and bunk beds. Then there was a kitchen and living room with a pull down bed. So you could have kids in the bedroom and have your own space. I don't have any other recs since its been a while! Oh have you gone to O'Hana's? Everyone always recs that place.we really liked it

That's a great rec!  I'll have to look into that one.  For some reason I thought it was more expensive.

rona118

Madi was 3 at the time and we didn't have any issues. Our room was in the Parterre section:

http://www.portorleans.org/floorplans.php so you can see that little green line was the bridge over water and there was the main lobby and a bus stop there. Also just a little further and the food court and main pool. We once thought to try getting off the East Depot bus stop and it looks onthe map closer but not nearly as direct as the South. Hope that helps. This website was a great resource:

http://www.portorleans.org/

Our friends that go just about every year and she is now a Disney agent love PO French Quarter. She is always suggesting there. 

Luckystar2

I went back to my old emails and ft. Wilderness was a little more expensive than port Orleans riverside (back in 2011!). Still worth checking out since my info is old. It's in the moderate resorts but my disney TA said it was on the high end.

lala5507

I are planning to go in May.  I have been to Disney but It will be my first time taking kids to Disney and I have major anxiety about it.  I don't even know how to get a one year old on a plane.  Will he need a car seat?  Does he need a ticket?  My head is spinning and I haven't really started planning anything yet. 

lala5507

rona118 said:

Madi was 3 at the time and we didn't have any issues. Our room was in the Parterre section:

http://www.portorleans.org/floorplans.php so you can see that little green line was the bridge over water and there was the main lobby and a bus stop there. Also just a little further and the food court and main pool. We once thought to try getting off the East Depot bus stop and it looks onthe map closer but not nearly as direct as the South. Hope that helps. This website was a great resource:

http://www.portorleans.org/

Our friends that go just about every year and she is now a Disney agent love PO French Quarter. She is always suggesting there. 

Dh and I stayed at the French Quarter and we really liked it.  We will most likely stay there when we bring the kids.

lala5507

Has anyone bought vacation club points and done a rental that way?  It seems like you can get a really nice place for cheap.  But, it makes me nervous because you are renting from a person not an agency.

amyjoy18

lala5507 said:

Has anyone bought vacation club points and done a rental that way?  It seems like you can get a really nice place for cheap.  But, it makes me nervous because you are renting from a person not an agency.

I looked into it briefly. but it made me nervous.  Although if you did it through something like "davids vacation rental" it seemed pretty safe.

It also seemed like a lot more work on my end to coordinate the tickets, etc.  

sarahandtim

I'm renting DVC points for next October and it seems (so far) like a pretty straightforward process (get back to me in November when I find out if they could get me the rooms I want!) We're using David's DVC rentals.

sarahandtim

lala5507 said:

I are planning to go in May.  I have been to Disney but It will be my first time taking kids to Disney and I have major anxiety about it.  I don't even know how to get a one year old on a plane.  Will he need a car seat?  Does he need a ticket?  My head is spinning and I haven't really started planning anything yet. 

No car seat or ticket needed unless he has turned 2. If you don't buy him a ticket he'll just sit in your lap. If it doesn't give you the option to check off a box about having a lap child, call the airline after you have a reservation and have them add him. Don't forget that you'll need a proof of age for him (birth certificate or passport is usually what people use) to prove he hasn't turned 2 yet.

We gate check the stroller, so you can bring it practically on to the plane with you. That's a huge help when you don't have to worry about someone wrangling the kids.

lala5507

sarahandtim said:

I are planning to go in May.  I have been to Disney but It will be my first time taking kids to Disney and I have major anxiety about it.  I don't even know how to get a one year old on a plane.  Will he need a car seat?  Does he need a ticket?  My head is spinning and I haven't really started planning anything yet. 

No car seat or ticket needed unless he has turned 2. If you don't buy him a ticket he'll just sit in your lap. If it doesn't give you the option to check off a box about having a lap child, call the airline after you have a reservation and have them add him. Don't forget that you'll need a proof of age for him (birth certificate or passport is usually what people use) to prove he hasn't turned 2 yet. We gate check the stroller, so you can bring it practically on to the plane with you. That's a huge help when you don't have to worry about someone wrangling the kids.

Thank you!  I am completely clueless about air travel with small children. 

lala5507

sarahandtim said:

I'm renting DVC points for next October and it seems (so far) like a pretty straightforward process (get back to me in November when I find out if they could get me the rooms I want!) We're using David's DVC rentals.

How are you paying?  Do you have to give your cc number to someone?

sarahandtim

It's through a company, so you're giving it to a middle man instead of directly to Joe Smith or whatever. They're verified by the BBB and such. I'm sending my request at the end of October, so I'll keep you updated.

lala5507 said:

sarahandtim said:

I'm renting DVC points for next October and it seems (so far) like a pretty straightforward process (get back to me in November when I find out if they could get me the rooms I want!) We're using David's DVC rentals.

How are you paying?  Do you have to give your cc number to someone?

smynings_bride

We booked way too many character meals when we went last year and I started canceling some toward the end of the trip--even paid the extra $10 to cancel one on short notice b/c we had already met some of the characters at least 2x.

For quick dining we liked cosmic rays b/w tomorrowland and fantasyland.  Loved the dinner at hollywood and vine.  (we did the disney jr character breakfast there too, which was great).  For H/V at dinner we did the Fantasmic package so we had priority seating for the show after dinner.

Another one of our favorite things was on a non-park day we had dinner at the contemporary hotel californina grill and then you can use your receipt to come back to see the fireworks from the observation deck on the roof and the pipe in the music so you can hear and see the firework show at the magic kingdom.

amyjoy18

sarahandtim said:

It's through a company, so you're giving it to a middle man instead of directly to Joe Smith or whatever. They're verified by the BBB and such. I'm sending my request at the end of October, so I'll keep you updated.

sarahandtim said:

I'm renting DVC points for next October and it seems (so far) like a pretty straightforward process (get back to me in November when I find out if they could get me the rooms I want!) We're using David's DVC rentals.

How are you paying?  Do you have to give your cc number to someone?

Now you both have in intrigued...and I started looking into it...having a Savanna view room at AKL would be pretty sweet.  

Sarah--do you still get magic bands advanced Fastpass+ and all of the goodies you get booking without a DVC room?

lala5507

amyjoy18 said:

sarahandtim said:

It's through a company, so you're giving it to a middle man instead of directly to Joe Smith or whatever. They're verified by the BBB and such. I'm sending my request at the end of October, so I'll keep you updated.

sarahandtim said:

I'm renting DVC points for next October and it seems (so far) like a pretty straightforward process (get back to me in November when I find out if they could get me the rooms I want!) We're using David's DVC rentals.

How are you paying?  Do you have to give your cc number to someone?

Now you both have in intrigued...and I started looking into it...having a Savanna view room at AKL would be pretty sweet.  

Sarah--do you still get magic bands advanced Fastpass+ and all of the goodies you get booking without a DVC room?

I know!  Seeing the awesome room you could have for such a good price is what has me keep coming back to this option.

sarahandtim

Yeah, you get all of tat, but you don't get the dvc member perks (pool hopping, top of the world lounge, discounts,etc). The studios are definitely the hardest to come by though.