WDW rookie needs some planning guidance

[__Cujo__]

Hi all

This dad is new to DISboards (Great site) and could REALLY use some planning guidance. Desired timeline is mid-Sep 2007 (value season), and it will be the first time our children (DS4 & DD2), as well as our first time as parents.

We want the Contemporary, with its proximity to the MK and the monorail, and my wife and I would like the MK view, since the little ones may not have enough stamina to attend the fireworks in person. We plan to get MYW w/dining.

From a cost perspective, the best deal I've found thus far is from AAA, which is a cut off (appx 15%) the room rate. Although I've heard of (and hope for) a deal including a dining plan discount, I've not seen one yet, unless you're from the UK. For a 7 night stay, I'm staring at a $4K bill BEFORE the flight.

I've tried two other "authorized WDW planners" and the inital e-mails I received back told be my best price would be through AAA. I completely understand that I am not making the most budget conscience decisions (e.g. Deluxe resort vs Value) or even the room type within the resort, and we are comfortable with those choices, but we'd like to at least know we are getting the best deal possible.

So, absent any e-mail codes or postcards from mother Disney, how's a dad to shave a few bucks off the cost of the trip? After all, two Pal Mickeys will set me back a few bucks on site.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[mcco5543]

Well, you've made it clear that changing resorts or prefered rooms is not an option ...so lets see..

You are doing well with starting with the AAA discount.

How about getting all your toiletries and packing needs from the dollar/discount store.

start saving ALL your coins for disney (If you don't already).

Is any of your birthday's/anniversary coming up? Someone could get you something you need for the trip as a gift. (like the Pal Mickey's for the kids).

you MUST sign up for the exclusive online discounts of all the airlines you are willing to fly ... including travelocity and expedia. You can get amazing details from your airport to Orlando. You have some time to be picky about your airfare price so shop around.

DO NOT however book from travelocity or any of those wesbsites that hunt airefares from multiple airelines. Once you find the ticketprice and airline you want to book go directly to that aireline's website...you'll shave 10-20 bucks off the ticket price (becuase you aren't paying a fee to travelocity or whomever for their convienient services).

That's all I can think of right now. Except to encourage you to consider a Moderate resort. They are equally as amazing and a little more wallet friendly.

Good luck!

 

[of the seas]

What kind of park passes are you going to get?

 

[lisabarr]

I truly believe in your timeframe, that free dining will be offered. That will save a substantial amount.
If you take free dining however, you will be paying rack rate for your room.

 

[__Cujo__]

*****
As for park passes, our plan is to get the 7 day w/PH w/o water, as neither Typhoon or Blizzard are planned.
*****
I've wrestled with the moderate resorts, but my DD2 is prone to meltdown, so even though we will try to manage our pace, I need the proximity to MK that the Contemporary provides. Especially since even a brief monorail ride in this situation can seem like an eternity. I'm sure next trip, we'll stay elsewhere onsite.
*****
I truly hope that dining is offered. Although I am saving about $450 with AAA thus far, paying the full rack rate and getting free dining is a potential $600+ savings in my situation. That's a $150 turn in my favor. So fingers crossed....

 

[ccigliano]

It may be worth it for one of you to get an Annual Pass as the AP room rates are sometimes less then AAA and I've heard that at certain time AP rates can be used in conjunction with free dining. I just read on this site where someone booked 40% off in September with free dining. So good luck and check out the Disney Resort forum here - I think that was where I saw the discounts that were currently in effect. Good Luck. By the way - would you consider a boat ride from the MK. If so the WL while still a deluxe would be cheaper then the Contemporary while still being close to MK. Good Luck.

 

[vhoffman]

We've been to WDW 5 times, the best trip by far was when we stayed at the Polynesian, which is on the monorail. Don't let anyone talk you into the Wilderness Lodge--yes, its somewhat cheaper, but a very inconvenient location. Yes, there's a boat ride to MK, but we just found the whole set up to be a major hassle. We've stayed both on site and off site, on the monorail and off the monorail, and please, believe me, you can't go wrong with staying on the monorail.

WDW is huge. You can't really appreciate how big until you've been there. All the hassles and disappointments we've had with trips were related to just getting around. Renting a car, driving from park to park, taking the boat/bus, none of that compares to the sheer convenience of just jumping on the monorail. Of course, you do realize the monorail only goes to MK and Epcot, AK and MGM you need a bus. But you're getting the best two parks on the monorail. Don't waste your money going to WL.

Insofar as getting costs down a little, have you tried Dreams Unlimited? They're a travel agency, advertises here on this board, and usually I find I can do better on my own rather than a TA, but this one does seem to have some good rates. Give them a try.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

I understand why you want Contemporary - the monorail convenience can't be beat but I don't necessarily think you need to splurge for the MK view. There is an outdoor viewing area on top of the Contemporary that is used for the fireworks display. You could consider getting a cheaper room at the Contemporary and then one night if your little ones are still up - take the whole family up to the viewing area to see the fireworks. You wouldn't have to go very far to get back to the room and your kids might enjoy it. I think (not sure) that they also pipe in the music to the viewing area. I know they do for the restaurant which is right next door (and also has a view of MK for the fireworks).

I would respectfully disagree that the WL is not worth staying at. We've been to WL, the contemporary, and the poly and I would also say our best trip has been at the poly but between the cont and WL we would pick the WL and are doing that this fall. Our son will also be 2 by then and we know he'll love the boat to MK. It is a pretty secluded resort though so everywhere else will be by bus which we don't mind but it is something to consider.

Another thing you could do to save some money is to plan a "day off" from the parks so you can get shorter park hoppers. We always take the middle day of our week long trips to relax and head on over to Downtown Disney which is also pretty big and can take several hours to get through. Or you could hang out by the pool, visit some of the other resorts, play miniature golf, etc. Believe me there is plenty to do outside the parks on Disney property to keep your family entertained.

Also with the dining plan you may still have some out of pocket food expenses but I have heard of people splitting meals on the plan to help make their food credits go farther.

 

[Cinderella's slipper]

I just read about some construction going on at the Contemporary Resort. Not sure about the location of the construction and how close it is to the room of your choice. Also wondering about whether those sounds and noices would be a problem with litte ones. Will any of the amenities offered at this resort would be disrupted by the construction? Good questions to ask. I do understand the idea about proximity to the parks -- and being able to view the Magic Kingdom from your room only adds to the magic. Check out the annual pass rates. I did that one year and I ended up saving quite a bit of money on our room.

Good luck

 

[__Cujo__]

I've been for the better part of these past two days, and all I have to account for it is a throbbing .

1.) Is it possible to get the AAA discount on the room AND the free dining, if offered?

2.) Could an authorized planner, such as DU, get me both discounts or even just the AAA if no dining option is offered?

Aside from the AAA storytime and some discounts at DDM that we may use, I do not see a reason to go through them, if someone else can get me the same room discount.

Also, I've been told by AAA that they charge me a $10/tx fee ($30 max) for airline tix. Further, unless I get the whole package (air incl.) through AAA, their trip insurance will only cover Disney portion. And naturally, they are pushing their trip insurance over Disneys.

I've no real experience with travel agencies, AAA or otherwise, as I usually make these plans for myself. Giving this task away to someone else, and relying on their experience and the validity of there reservation # will be a stretch for me, but one that I am willing to take if it make sense financially.

What to do ???

 

[Perditamarie]

If you really want to trim the budget, re-visit the dining plan. Are you really going to have a TS meal every day? I find with small children, mom and dad rarely get to eat while the food is warm and the kids are done and ready to go just as you get started. If you are big eaters, or want a lot of TS, it is a great deal, but often time and practicality are huge factors as well. If free dining is offered, you can add it.

By the way, I think the Contemporary is a great choice ... the walking path to the MK is quick and convenient.

 

[Schachteles]

I've been for the better part of these past two days, and all I have to account for it is a throbbing .

1.) Is it possible to get the AAA discount on the room AND the free dining, if offered?

2.) Could an authorized planner, such as DU, get me both discounts or even just the AAA if no dining option is offered?

Aside from the AAA storytime and some discounts at DDM that we may use, I do not see a reason to go through them, if someone else can get me the same room discount.

Also, I've been told by AAA that they charge me a $10/tx fee ($30 max) for airline tix. Further, unless I get the whole package (air incl.) through AAA, their trip insurance will only cover Disney portion. And naturally, they are pushing their trip insurance over Disneys.

I've no real experience with travel agencies, AAA or otherwise, as I usually make these plans for myself. Giving this task away to someone else, and relying on their experience and the validity of there reservation # will be a stretch for me, but one that I am willing to take if it make sense financially.

What to do ???

1.) You can't get the FREE dining plan and any discount. In order to be able to get the free dining you have to pay rack rate.

2.) DU will not be able to do any better for you (from what I found). When I contacted them about our next trip they were the exact same price as DisneyWorld.com was charging.

Really your best bet is book the package with AAA to get the room discount...then should free dining come out "rebook" your reservations with AAA to get the free dining where you will be about $150 ahead because of having to pay rack rate.

We booked with AAA for our October trip. We booked our airline tickets on our own, guess I didn't even think of asking them to do that for us, not sure if there is a cost savings on that or not. Personally I like doing all of the reservations myself, but we were able to save $170 off of our 6 night trip it was worth it to us.

I know you seem to be stuck being on the monorail system...it might not be bad to check out a moderate. You could easily save yourself MANY hundreds of dollars (probably well over a grand). We have daughters who have been there several times (this upcoming trip they will be 2 and 5) and we have never had a problem, obviously I know that each persons situation is different, but usually they are so tired by the end of the night they have no energy to fight us. To me I just don't want to shell out that kind of cash on a hotel that means nothing to the kids, you know? We either stay at moderates or our Hilton Timeshare (also stayed at Swan/Dolphin), we know that when the girls are old enough to enjoy the deluxe hotels THEN we will start to stay there...until then we just can't justify it...but that is just my opinion.

 

[Schachteles]

If you really want to trim the budget, re-visit the dining plan. Are you really going to have a TS meal every day? I find with small children, mom and dad rarely get to eat while the food is warm and the kids are done and ready to go just as you get started. If you are big eaters, or want a lot of TS, it is a great deal, but often time and practicality are huge factors as well. If free dining is offered, you can add it.

By the way, I think the Contemporary is a great choice ... the walking path to the MK is quick and convenient.

I second walking it...we did that once to go to Chef Mickeys and it is very easy.

I think that the dining plan for them would be a GREAT deal. It will be like $90 a day. With young ones it is a GREAT deal...then you can take them to character meals which will more then cover that price. Personally I think the main reason to stay on property is to take advantage of that plan. Especially when you have KIDS on the plan, once you have to pay the adult prices it becomes questionable.

 

[__Cujo__]

It's done! September, 7 nights at CR, and all my ADRs, including an AM seating at CRT and lunch at Norway. My DD will love that --- think I'll wait to tell her.

Now we wait to see if the dining code comes to pass AND if I'm fast enough to take advantage.