Best Education for WDW

[TestingH2O]

Hello Family Board.

We are regular Disney cruisers but my daughter is starting to ask about a parks trip. Currently we are thinking about 2020 when DD will be 7/8. I know those packages won't come out until next year, but I feel like I should start educating myself now so I know what I want to purchase when the time comes.

Do you have a favorite resource to learn about the basics and help with deciding about dining plan, hotel, etc? I tried searching for first time trip reports but these forums are so much more active than the cruise boards, I'm having a hard time wading through all the posts.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Deb & Bill]

You might check the Resorts Board and the Dining Board. Both have sticky threads at the top of the page to help you. I also liked Birnbaum's book for Disney trips when we were first starting out. Lots of photos, simple information to get you started.

 

[shairpdrh]

Hello Family Board.

We are regular Disney cruisers but my daughter is starting to ask about a parks trip. Currently we are thinking about 2020 when DD will be 7/8. I know those packages won't come out until next year, but I feel like I should start educating myself now so I know what I want to purchase when the time comes.

Do you have a favorite resource to learn about the basics and help with deciding about dining plan, hotel, etc? I tried searching for first time trip reports but these forums are so much more active than the cruise boards, I'm having a hard time wading through all the posts.

Thanks in advance for your help.

I recently helped a coworker plan and she liked the planning process from https://wdwprepschool.com/ best. She also used info from https://www.easywdw.com/easy/. I think those are good places to start. Happy planning!

 

[Aliceacc]

I'm a big fan of The Unofficial Guide to WDW.

It's a bazillion pages, but it has what you need to know.

 

[YesterDark]

Hello Family Board.

We are regular Disney cruisers but my daughter is starting to ask about a parks trip. Currently we are thinking about 2020 when DD will be 7/8. I know those packages won't come out until next year, but I feel like I should start educating myself now so I know what I want to purchase when the time comes.

Do you have a favorite resource to learn about the basics and help with deciding about dining plan, hotel, etc? I tried searching for first time trip reports but these forums are so much more active than the cruise boards, I'm having a hard time wading through all the posts.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Big question. There are a lot of threads on this board, just recently, about planning trips. If you have time scroll through some of the threads in the Family forum for some advice. If you look at my post history I wrote a whole bunch of stuff recently that said the same thing. I even linked a spreadsheet I used for my last trip.

But since I love talking about this stuff, I'll give a quick TLDR post:

1) Dining plan: It's an interesting question. Typically you break even or get ahead if you plan on doing character meals most days. Otherwise, if you stick to a budget you will spend less. (This doesn't take in to account free dining promotions or room discounts). This site has links to all the menus with their prices so you can even do a "trial" run with meals and see how much you may spend. If it's not about the money, the Dining Plan gives you a sense of freedom of not having to worry about spending additional money when you're there. It's already paid for. Some people use giftcards in place of the dining plan to achieve the same thing.

2) Hotels is easy, just use the Disney Website for official pictures. Use this board for people's reviews. List to the Dis Unplugged podcast who do plenty of resort based podcasts. A better question is what is your budget of $$ per night.

3) Google is a big helper obviously! Google Disney Planning, Google Disney Blog etc. You'll find the same sites popping up and just find ones you really like and use them. There are 100s of blogs and websites out there that do a great job going over disney.

Once you get familiar with everything, come back and ask more questions here. People will be happy to help.

 

[Ben E N]

I found the DisneyTouristBlog's introduction to Disney World to be a pretty good starting place. It lays out the rules and expectations of Fastpass, ADRs, on-site benefits, and other unique features without reading like an instruction manual. After reading that post, you will get a better idea of what specific questions to ask.

 

[sponica]

Everyone has their favorites. I always liked using allears when I was a newbie...and I still go to them for menus and refurb info.

 

[Crystal824]

I love the Unofficial Guide to WDW. I also really like WDW prep school website.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Since you are already familiar with the Disney travel philosophy, just google the following WDW or Walt Disney World terms:

"forum" and "blog" plus peruse youtube and you'll have a good start.
I choose not to buy most books and such since I can find the info for free and am exceptionally cheap.
I have purchased a membership to touring plans since it's inexpensive and strikes me as a true value.

 

[yaya74]

I would recommend you using a Disney travel agent to help you plan your trip.

Hotel: set a budget, take your pick (value, moderate, deluxe or even luxury when SW hotels is done) and book.
Dining plan: Really like the WDWpreschool website. If you want to use dining plan to save you money, then you need to read this article: https://wdwprepschool.com/disney-dining-plan-credits/.

Enjoy planning for your trip!

 

[MomOTwins]

I found the DisneyTouristBlog's introduction to Disney World to be a pretty good starting place. It lays out the rules and expectations of Fastpass, ADRs, on-site benefits, and other unique features without reading like an instruction manual. After reading that post, you will get a better idea of what specific questions to ask.

This is my favorite too! Disney Tourist Blog also has great restaurant and hotel reviews with lots of photos, and I like their recommendations on which month to visit. They have a really cool creative packing list too.

Hotel: set a budget, take your pick (value, moderate, deluxe or even luxury when SW hotels is done) and book.
Dining plan: Really like the WDWpreschool website. If you want to use dining plan to save you money, then you need to read this article: https://wdwprepschool.com/disney-dining-plan-credits/.

Just a warning, I found this website extremely unhelpful for planning the best values on the dining plan for a family with children because they take the average of adult/child prices at buffets, but only the average of adult entrees for a la carte restaurant. For example, Boatwright's is listed with an average value of $44.29 (average of all adult entrees, plus dessert and drink), but if you a kids meal is only $10.14 on average including dessert and a drink, so the combined value of one adult plus one child is just $54.43. Ohana is listed much lower with an "average" value of $42, but combined the cost for an adult and child (Adult: $48.99, Child: $26.63) is $74.62 -- so it is a much better deal than Boatwrights. So I strongly recommend pricing out the actual meals you want to eat, with the actual adult/child ratio of your family, when deciding if you will save money on the dining plan. We always do save money, but that is because we have a character meal each day, and those are by far the best value on the plan.

 

[KMarston]

As far as hotels go, research renting DVC points. You can get nicer accommodations for much less and the process (which is what scared me and why I shied away for so long) was easy. I could literally kick myself for not doing it sooner!

 

[Eve & Wall-e]

I'm a big fan of The Unofficial Guide to WDW.

It's a bazillion pages, but it has what you need to know.

This book is what I used to start planning our first WDW trip. It explains everything you would ever need to know. Of course, the DIS boards have great advise, too! I also read a lot of blogs including the ones mentioned above. I'm a planner so the more information the better for me.

 

[YesterDark]

As far as hotels go, research renting DVC points. You can get nicer accommodations for much less and the process (which is what scared me and why I shied away for so long) was easy. I could literally kick myself for not doing it sooner!

If you're not aware, renting DVC points is typically a saver *IF* you are planning on staying at a Deluxe resort. Something to consider however, it's quite difficult to find the more affordable rooms at the resorts you want unless you can find a person with that resort as their home resort and you're willing to book 11 months in advance.

You can find DVC cost calculators all over the place, and I won't go into the math, however if you're looking for a more economical vacation, this isn't the way to go AND you don't have control of the reservation. You're relying on other people to book it for you but you can mitigate that with some of the brokers out there.

 

[TreeFalls]

I started reading these boards before it was time to plan. I did mock hotel searches on Disney's website way before my dates were available to get an idea of price ranges and budget, then also looked at Costco for offsite options. When I saw something interesting, I looked here for a thread about it to read others' experiences. When it was time to book, I knew pretty much what I wanted. It is really fun if you like planning!