We're going and I need help!

[donkeyandshrek]

Originally Posted by pocomom

Personally I would fly since it is the three of you, you save more by driving when there is a big group. Asssuming you'll need a hotel (or be exhausted when you get there) on the way I doubt driving is going to save you too much- plus it costs you in time!

NO WAY would I waste 4 days driving! FLY! Check Southwest - they have a $59 promo starting today. I am flying 3 people for $293!

[MistressMerryweather]

Kids love values the best! Movies was just recently refurbed and POP is great because you can walk across the bridge now and check out AOA.

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by donkeyandshrek

I always snag airline tix first - getting the best possible deal for dates that work ($97 roundtrip from Birmingham to Orlando just last week - $97 that's NOT a typo! CCheapest EVER!)

THEN - I work on room reservations - which is where I am now. I have a ressie at Pop right now on "hold". That gives you a week to look and be sure of exactly what options you have and what you want to do.

Next I will decide what tickets we need and search for the best prices.

Once that's done - the "work" part - the rest is fun....where are we going and what are we eating?????

One thing I have learned - once you decide and book it -STOP lurking around to see if you COULD have gotten something better. You will drive yourself nuts doing that. Do it for a week or so - decide on something and go with it - don't look back

Above all else - HAVE A BLAST!

Getting a lot of great advice. We're watching Airfare at both our local airport and two major airports with in two hours of us. I don't fly often so I don't know when the prices tend to be the lowest.

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by donkeyandshrek

NO WAY would I waste 4 days driving! FLY! Check Southwest - they have a $59 promo starting today. I am flying 3 people for $293!

Holy cow! That's an amazing deal! How do I tap into that? Is it automatically applied? We'd have to drive the two hours to get to StL instead of flying otu here but it would be SO worth it!

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by dzneelvr

My tried and true planning order: 1)get the resort 2) all ADRs at 180 days coordinated with the park we will be in for the day. Park is based on evening or morning EMH (available to disney resort guests only) 3) get the flight 4) reserve the vehicle to/from Sanford (we use only disney transportation) 5) put park tickets on the resort room card at check in --much handier than having a separate paper ticket to keep track of. I also coordinate buying an AP and a TIW dining discount card that will cover two trips in 12 months.Your week covers Memorial Day so it will be busy. A laid-back trip may contain a the resort for you instead of hitting the parks every day. And don't forget to dine at resorts for a chance to explore them--maybe you'll find your next trip's resortGet started soon! I'm just about to begin the process for a December trip

Sorry for the serial posting but I want to make sure I address everything that pops out at me.

If I get tickets from Undercover Tourist, can they still be added to my room key? That would be amazing.

[sarahk0204]

Originally Posted by Mama Mouse

Sorry for the serial posting but I want to make sure I address everything that pops out at me.

If I get tickets from Undercover Tourist, can they still be added to my room key? That would be amazing.

Yes, as long as you are staying onsite. We're DVC, and we save money buying tickets through UT. When we get there, it's just a short wait at the concierge desk to add the tickets to the room key. Easy peasy!

[Marionnette]

Originally Posted by Mama Mouse

Sorry for the serial posting but I want to make sure I address everything that pops out at me.

If I get tickets from Undercover Tourist, can they still be added to my room key? That would be amazing.

This is true for now. When they roll out the Magic+ wristbands later this year, it may no longer be possible. There are so many changes coming down the pike with Magic+ and FP+ that you really cannot say with certainty that guests will be able to put older passes on their "room key" once this happens.

But older tickets will always be honored by Disney. So if you purchase your passes from UT, there will be no problem using them.

[nhmommy]

I found If you are flexible what time you want ADR's and you have a smart phone you can find hard to get ADR's at odd times we were able to eat everywhere we wanted to eat with only one day notice we were just sometimes eating lunch at 2:30 or dinner at 4:00 or 8:00.

[photos_101]

Hi! We are in Kansas (southeast on MO border) and we went to Disney twice last year and drove both times. We LOVE to drive. Or I should say my hubby loves to drive. Have been 6 times now, started going when the kids were 3 & 6 years old. Have drove everytime. We have never had any problems with the drive and our kids are now 16 & 20yrs old and still love going. It takes us about 19hrs or so and depending on what time we leave we can make it pretty far. We Like to leave early morning, like around 5am (hubby gets up at 3am for normal work day) and then drive till about 10 or 11pm. Get up the next morning refreshed and ready to roll into disney early afternoon!!

I just priced out flights on the southwest deal and it would be $1483 for 4 of flying out of KC. That is taking the cheapest non-stop flights on both days. We can drive MUCH cheaper than that, even with gas prices as they are. But it is all relative to how you like to travel and how much time you have is another factor.

When we were budgeting we figured $250 for hotel down/back. We spent right at that amount staying at Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn. And we budgeted $400 for gas. We didn't spend quite all of it. BUT that was in Dec when gas was a little cheaper. Food is easy for us as we aren't big eaters. We mostly ate Subway and such and DH and I always split a foot long. lol

We just like having our car to get around to the parks. We had a little fun on our last trip because our DD decided to test out the buses to see if she could beat us back to the resort (Pop century). Now mind you, it was the week leading up to Christmas and each day it got more crowded. But one time she beat us and the second time we were to our room before the bus even got to the resort.

Soo.. I always vote for driving. But I have never flown, DH loves to drive and it is cheaper! And oh those memories we make while couped up in a car for that long are priceless!! Quality discussion time with teenagers, you can't beat that!

As far as resorts, we are on site people! Love POP for a value. Have also stayed in Caribbean which was our all time favorite (was able to stay 2 weeks there last may).
I will stop now. LOL Just thought I would give you my thoughts since we are somewhat close to you and have driven it many times.
Good Luck and Have a wonderful time!

[arihillfarm]

Originally Posted by Mama Mouse

From Missouri. So we're looking at four travel days (Two there and two back) if we drive.

It's three of us going-my husband, son and I. Budget is Flexible but I'd like to keep lodging and tickets at around or under $2000. After that we have transportation, food, souveniers and incidentals.
And I'm looking at budgeting about $2000 for that as well.

So I guess $4000 total but spending less would be lovely. Yeah, wishful thinking but a girl can dream!

With your budget, this is totally do-able, even staying on-property. I'm getting $2,808 for 8 nights at Pop, 7 day base tickets and RT airfare from St. Louis to MCO. Other airports may be cheaper. That leaves $1200 (if you fly from STL) for dining and incidentals and with two adults, one child and not wanting many table service meals, I think it's definitely possible.

-Astrid

[donkeyandshrek]

Originally Posted by Mama Mouse

Holy cow! That's an amazing deal! How do I tap into that? Is it automatically applied? We'd have to drive the two hours to get to StL instead of flying otu here but it would be SO worth it!

I scored a special with Southwest last week. I drive 2.5 hours to fly out of Birmingham. Much cheaper than flying out of Memphis.

I don't know where you are in Missouri, but if you fly out of Kansas City, you can get flights with AirTran (owned by Southwest) for $219.80 round trip per person for your dates.

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by photos_101

Hi! We are in Kansas (southeast on MO border) and we went to Disney twice last year and drove both times. We LOVE to drive. Or I should say my hubby loves to drive. Have been 6 times now, started going when the kids were 3 & 6 years old. Have drove everytime. We have never had any problems with the drive and our kids are now 16 & 20yrs old and still love going. It takes us about 19hrs or so and depending on what time we leave we can make it pretty far. We Like to leave early morning, like around 5am (hubby gets up at 3am for normal work day) and then drive till about 10 or 11pm. Get up the next morning refreshed and ready to roll into disney early afternoon!!

I just priced out flights on the southwest deal and it would be $1483 for 4 of flying out of KC. That is taking the cheapest non-stop flights on both days. We can drive MUCH cheaper than that, even with gas prices as they are. But it is all relative to how you like to travel and how much time you have is another factor.

When we were budgeting we figured $250 for hotel down/back. We spent right at that amount staying at Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton Inn. And we budgeted $400 for gas. We didn't spend quite all of it. BUT that was in Dec when gas was a little cheaper. Food is easy for us as we aren't big eaters. We mostly ate Subway and such and DH and I always split a foot long. lol

We just like having our car to get around to the parks. We had a little fun on our last trip because our DD decided to test out the buses to see if she could beat us back to the resort (Pop century). Now mind you, it was the week leading up to Christmas and each day it got more crowded. But one time she beat us and the second time we were to our room before the bus even got to the resort.

Soo.. I always vote for driving. But I have never flown, DH loves to drive and it is cheaper! And oh those memories we make while couped up in a car for that long are priceless!! Quality discussion time with teenagers, you can't beat that!

As far as resorts, we are on site people! Love POP for a value. Have also stayed in Caribbean which was our all time favorite (was able to stay 2 weeks there last may).
I will stop now. LOL Just thought I would give you my thoughts since we are somewhat close to you and have driven it many times.
Good Luck and Have a wonderful time!

This is really good information! What city do you stop in during the drive there/back?

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by donkeyandshrek

I scored a special with Southwest last week. I drive 2.5 hours to fly out of Birmingham. Much cheaper than flying out of Memphis.

I don't know where you are in Missouri, but if you fly out of Kansas City, you can get flights with AirTran (owned by Southwest) for $219.80 round trip per person for your dates.

I'm only 2 hours from KC, actually. We're smack dab in the middle of KC and StL on I70. I'll look into this too. I'd been pricing flights from here and out of StL but never even thought about KC yet.

[Mama Mouse]

Originally Posted by arihillfarm

With your budget, this is totally do-able, even staying on-property. I'm getting $2,808 for 8 nights at Pop, 7 day base tickets and RT airfare from St. Louis to MCO. Other airports may be cheaper. That leaves $1200 (if you fly from STL) for dining and incidentals and with two adults, one child and not wanting many table service meals, I think it's definitely possible.

-Astrid

Just curious, how are you finding these numbers? Is this based on everything pieced out separately?

[bigmochick]

Originally Posted by Mama Mouse

I'm only 2 hours from KC, actually. We're smack dab in the middle of KC and StL on I70. I'll look into this too. I'd been pricing flights from here and out of StL but never even thought about KC yet.

If you are smack dab in the middle you ought to check out the deals Frontier has from Columbia to Orlando. The only fly a couple days a week but it *might* work for ya!