Money Matters
blondie42107
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Vacation: Disney
H and I are starting to consider a family vacation to Disney World. We have friends that have gone only once and some that go annually or even more often that than. Not all of them are very MM. With the kids turning 6 and 4 we are now more interested in going. We've gone on the Disney website and built some vacations for estimates but I feel like we are missing a lot.
So for those that have gone (bonus if you've taken children), any suggestions on where to stay, thoughts on dining plans, extras and what to budget for the trip? We're undecided on traveling by car or plane yet so I'm not too worried about that right now. We're flexible on the length of the trip and would prefer not to go in the middle of summer but also would like to hit a school vacation if possible (Spring break is typically the week following Easter for our school) but that's can be flexible as well.
So for those that have gone (bonus if you've taken children), any suggestions on where to stay, thoughts on dining plans, extras and what to budget for the trip? We're undecided on traveling by car or plane yet so I'm not too worried about that right now. We're flexible on the length of the trip and would prefer not to go in the middle of summer but also would like to hit a school vacation if possible (Spring break is typically the week following Easter for our school) but that's can be flexible as well.
Re: Vacation: Disney
From a non-MM perspective, something I learned is that FastPass reservations for rides are included with your tickets. I kind of assumed it was a pricy upgrade and didn't look into it until way too late to book the most competitive rides. The Disney World app was a great way to keep all the reservations, including restaurants, organized and handy.
Unless your entire family are voracious eaters, I'd skip the meal plan. But do hit up at least one character breakfast. The last one we went to was at the Contemporary Resort, and it was pretty reasonably priced. Again, if you choose to stay on I-Drive, there will be a CVS/Walgreens where you can load up on drinks and snacks for your room and to take to the parks.
Ditto @Xstatic3333 on the FastPass option. If you pre-book, they'll send you "Magic Bands" but even if you don't book in advance and buy your tickets the day of, you can just load your rides on to your plastic admission ticket. And don't make the mistake of thinking that it's just the roller coasters that book-up quickly, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Peter Pan, etc. go fast.
Also, I'm not sure where you're located, but I live in KS, so we always have to hit the beach when we visit. Cape Canaveral is about an hour from Orlando, and offers the beach, plus manatee watching and the space center. Clearwater on the other side of the state is a little further of a drive, but is a much prettier beach.
As for shuttles, frankly, I'd skip them all together. You'll be doing too much waiting as it is! We usually just Uber. (Or there's a Trolly that travels down I-Drive if you're headed in that direction.) From the Hyatt to the Magic Kingdom last time we were there was less than $10.
Seasonally, I'd recommend going in the fall. While Hurricane Matthew hit this year, typically Orlando only experiences damaging storms about once every decade.
We went in February when it's frigid here (We have the week of President's day off. We're up in the western part of NY so we get slammed by Lake Erie). The girls loved it- they wanted to see all of the princesses and they went on the Ariel ride 7 times. We fast passed 3 rides/events per day and it worked out great. DH and I also went out 1 night to Disney Springs for dinner. We're planning on going back in February 2018- we might get a park hopper then because they'll be 2 years older and they want to go on the Frozen ride at Epcot. I think we'll end up staying at the Wilderness Lodge because it's relatively close to Magic Kingdom and hopefully we'll sneak in an extra day at the parks. We have to fly down there as well and did direct flights because it was the girls' first plane trip and I wasn't sure how they would do. It's a pricey trip (we spent $3,600 and DH's parents paid for our park passes, which I think we're almost $1,200.. they love Disney and go quite a bit with DH's brother and his family that live in FL), but the weather was wonderful and the girls had so much fun. For us, it was totally worth it.
If you fly, I recommend SWA for this reason if there's a flight from your home airport. If you have to cancel they will just give you SWA credit for re-booking.
There isn't a stellar way to travel hack Disney if you decide to stay on property. The best options I have seen involve buying Disney gift cards for 5% off at Target using the Target redcard (or through some other site if you can find them at a discount). Alternatively, you can rent DVC points for certain properties, and sometimes that will have you come out money ahead.
If I was looking to do an inexpensive but nice/convenient trip to Disney, I would use points to fly Southwest (to make luggage with kids easy and refunds easy if the weather sucks), and then I would probably stay at either the Dolphin or the Swan. The Swan is the cheaper option of the two. They are both starwood properties but are close enough to the parks that you can actually walk to Epcot. It feels like you are staying on property, but technically you aren't. Starwood hotels are fully travel hack-able, and it is even easier now that Starwood merged with Marriott a few weeks ago.
So then your real expenses would be cabs/uber/car rental, park tickets, and food. The park tickets are eye-wateringly expensive for what they are, so I would probably do the target trick to save a little money there. For food, I would not do a meal plan unless your family eats a huge amount of food. You can usually do just fine eating from the food stands through the parks. Occasionally the meal plans are free if you book hotels on property. In that case you would have to run the numbers.
Alternatively, you could blow it out of the water and just stay at the animal kingdom lodge with giraffes that come check you out on the balcony. It's expensive, but if this is the only time you guys go to Disney ever, I would consider it given the ages of your kids. If Disney becomes an annual or bi-annual thing - or if you want to save money to travel to other places too - then I wouldn't bother. If you do something like this, make sure to get the free meal plan!
I had a work event there in August (so of course I wasn't paying) but I made the thought that it would be worth the price of a meal to not stand in line to see all of the princesses.
When you come in you are greeted by Cinderella and can take your own pictures as well as the Disney photographer. During dinner Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White, Ariel and maybe another one came came to each table and interacted with the guests and took pictures. No Belle, Elsa or Ana, but still a lot of the princesses in one place and no standing in line!
Keep in mind, this seems to be an UO with the general population, but I thought Epcot Center was a waste of money. I felt like I'd paid $60 (over 10 years ago) to walk around an outdoor shopping mall. There were only a handful of actual attractions.
I mentioned this on another post but, since you are considering flying, I'd recommend downloading the Hopper app. Unfortunately you can only see flight prices via their app. But they have crazy good prices that I don't find anywhere online. They also advise you if the flight you are interested is going to be going up or down in the near future.
For example, right now I'm stalking a flight from NOLA to San Diego in January. It's currently at $269/person r/t, usually these flights start at $350, but the Hopper is advising me to "wait" because it will drop as low as $242 sometime before Dec. 25th.
I was pregnant so I couldn't even ride the few rides they had.
They do have a neat laser/fireworks show though. If you have a park hopper pass it might be worth it to do an afternoon/evening there for the Frozen ride and the fireworks.
We had no problems with our room. We liked staying on the disney property because one of us could go back to the room for a nap if we wanted to, etc (my husband had a bad cold so he tuckered out faster than the rest of us). We took the Disney buses to the parks and had no problems getting around.
If there was one park we would probably skip it was Disney Hollywood studios. The toy story ride and the frozen show were good but there weren't really anything else that my 4 year old was interested in or could ride. It is mostly shows and there was only so long she was going to sit. And she couldn't go on the thrill rides. We ended up just meeting characters there. In Epcot, my daughter loved seeing the different princesses in all the different lands (use their free disney experience app to see what characters are where in each park) as well as the aquarium ride, etc. Magic Kingdom was her favorite by far. We spent the most time in this park.
Once you decide when you are going and book your room or park tickets, then as soon as you can book meals. They fill up fast. Same with doing fast passes for things like meeting elsa and anna, the dwarf mine train, etc. As soon as you can, book the fast passes for them. You can always changed your fast passes later if you change your mind.
I was really pleased that we bought the memory photo pass. We have so many great pictures from that where ALL of us are in the photos. I was able to download all the photo files and just print them at CVS.
And use the free Disney bus from the airport to the hotel if you stay on property. They took care of the luggage for you..all you had to do was get on the bus and they take you to the hotel and deliver your luggage to you later.
Depending on what time of the year you go, look for deals...I know they usually run a dine and stay package a few times of the year, etc.
I second booking Cinderella's royal table if you kids are into the disney princesses. It isn't MM but it was worth using two of our meal credits on it just to see my daughter's face as the princesses came around, posed for photos with her, and hugged her. Bring your camera for this one...