2018 Planning

[mickey_mouse_10]

Hi all,

long time reader, first time poster.

I know it's super early (can you guess that im excited?), but I'm starting to plan for my family's first WDW trip. We're looking ahead towards April 2018 with a family of 4 (2 adults, and 7/5 year old kids).

From what I've sorted out so far, here is my current thinking/plan of attack:

Tickets - I'm going to take advantage of the Cdn resident discount and purchase 7 day passes through Air Miles before 2/28. From my understanding, once I receive the tickets I can then connect to MDE and fast pass+.

Flights - not sorted out yet, but probably will be doing through rewards points that we have. Because of this we are aiming to book flights early to make sure of availability.

Resort - we're looking at Mod level, haven't quite decided for sure yet which one. Once we book this, we will start the countdown towards our 180 day for reservations and 60 days for fass pass+.

Specific Timing - this is where it starts to get tough. My understanding is that 2018 resort fees won't be available until July of this year, so we either need to wait until then or pick dates and hope for the best. Because Easter is April 1, i've read that around April 9 - 18 is a pretty good bet to have lower prices and crowds. I'm thinking of just picking those dates and hoping for the best.

I think I've also understood that we can book resorts and add on discounts at a later date when they become available.

Not sure exactly what my question is, but wondering if you experts would have some thoughts/advice on my situation to make it the best trip possible. Very much appreciated

 

[bankr63]

to posting then!

Yes, take advantage of the ticket prices now; are you sure that the discount is available through AM though? I thought the discount was from Disney directly. It is a pretty significant savings, and since Disney raises the price of tickets every year, they will be even more expensive by the time you travel. Just remember that some of the other discounts that will be offered have conditions that your ticket purchase may preclude your participation in. For example, Free Dining requires you to reserve a room and book tickets at full rack rates. IMO the discount on the tickets is a much better deal than FD though.

If you haven't already, order your Disney planning kit now. That is the only direct contact I've had with Disney, so I am certain that was the trigger for my getting PIN codes. It was probably a year before I got my first PIN code offer from Disney, so you might get one just in time. That is one that can be applied if you already have a reservation, so book early and apply if you get one. Other discounts may come up as well of course.

Yes, crowds will start to drop mid April and after Easter (Easter itself is one of the busiest weeks though). Your timing looks fine, good luck keeping the excitement under control for the next 15 months...

 

[ottjdub]

This being your Families first trip to WDW then take my\our advice.
1. DO NOT expect to get everything done in 1 day. hahaha. Every time we go, we visit MK at least 2-3 times and the other parks at least once. Pick and choose what ever suits your family.
2. Have flexibility in your scheduling cause it will change as soon as you enter the parks. LOL
3. Leave the rest of the world behind and just enjoy the time with your family and the Disney magic.
4. Don't be disappointment if you do not get the ADR that you are looking for. Keep trying over and over. Example. We tried last year to get an ADR for BOG for several months before our Jan 2016 trip. NOTHING. During our day at MK my daughter logs into the WDW App and was able to get a Dinner ADR for BOG that day. Very Rare but it does happen.

April is great time to go. Lower crowds and the Florida weather is perfect.

 

[Ted in Halifax]

Tickets - Great idea ... no suggestions there

Flights - This would be the next step ... availability of points flights are a pain. Pick your dates 330 days out and then look for the resort

Resort - Have you thought about renting DVC. That is what works for us ...

Specific Timing - Book Flights, the rent DVC 11 months out .... that is our recipe

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Flights...I used points for our recent trip. We have an RBC card. I had booked our flights with points and had the perfect connections there and back. I had booked o flights 6 months out. They made slight tweaks here and there. Then about 6 weeks out. our flight back from Orlando/Toronto/ Calgary was cancelled. We ended up having to come back Orlando/ LA / Calgary. I was very frustrated that we had to be up and at the airport at 4:30 for our 6:30 6 hr flight to LA. Then up to Calgary then home to Grande Prairie. We didn't get home until 11:00 p, Very long day. I'm just glad we didn't have small children. It was just myself and our daughter. But they are always tweeking the flights. Hopefully you don't get too much tweeking done on your flights.

 

[cdnusagurl]

Flights...I used points for our recent trip. We have an RBC card. I had booked our flights with points and had the perfect connections there and back. I had booked o flights 6 months out. They made slight tweaks here and there. Then about 6 weeks out. our flight back from Orlando/Toronto/ Calgary was cancelled. We ended up having to come back Orlando/ LA / Calgary. I was very frustrated that we had to be up and at the airport at 4:30 for our 6:30 6 hr flight to LA. Then up to Calgary then home to Grande Prairie. We didn't get home until 11:00 p, Very long day. I'm just glad we didn't have small children. It was just myself and our daughter. But they are always tweeking the flights. Hopefully you don't get too much tweeking done on your flights.

Off topic, but I just wanted to say 'hi neighbor' since it seems we live in the same city.

 

[grantclaire]

You are doing great with your planning, never too early! We bought the Canadian resident tickets directly from the WDW website. The flights may be your biggest concern. Booking as soon as flights are released will usually be the cheapest. The airlines all have different release dates just to make things more difficult to plan.

 

[Sailormoon2]

Just chiming in to add my two cents on the resort. If Moderate is the way you are leaning, Port Orleans-French Quarter is my absolute favourite Moderate, however you may get more bed room at Riverside.

 

[Pumpkin1172]

Off topic, but I just wanted to say 'hi neighbor' since it seems we live in the same city.

hahahaha...that's awesome. It's nice to know that I'm not the only northern Alberta Girl on here

 

[fattymatty]

are Canadian resident tickets good for 2018?

 

[fattymatty]

nevermind saw they are, just dunno if cant book a package until like july for 2018 is there a point to buying tickets as would endup paying for tickets outright vs deposit

 

[fattymatty]

see now the tickets for 2018 are at a great price but cant book packages yet for 2018, which would mean forking out the money for tickets for 2018 now which I don't have money for at this moment Deal runs out in May and earliest the packages have been released for following year is like towards end of June

 

[cdnusagurl]

are Canadian resident tickets good for 2018?

Mine say they are good until 2030 in MDE.

 

[dis_guy]

Mine say they are good until 2030 in MDE.

Hmmm, where do you see that? Mine don't have any kind of date anywhere I can see on my MDE account.

 

[cdnusagurl]

Hmmm, where do you see that? Mine don't have any kind of date anywhere I can see on my MDE account.

When I click on My Park Tickets it says Valid Through 12/31/2030 in the bottom right corner.

 

[morrik5]

From Oshawa, Ontario here and wondering when flights usually go available for sale for mid-late April - daughter and her family are flying to meet us on April 21st, 2018?

 

[starvenger]

You probably won't see sales for a few months yet. But definitely keep looking. Use google flights or kayak to track prices on return flights you'd like to take.

 

[daver]

Just chiming in to add my two cents on the resort. If Moderate is the way you are leaning, Port Orleans-French Quarter is my absolute favourite Moderate, however you may get more bed room at Riverside.

I can tell you that POR is a great resort for moderate, try to get close to the main building. Either French Quarter of Riversdie give you riverboat access to Disney Springs... the kids loved the riverboats when we took them!