welcome to the boards.
i also recommend what the others have said.
if you are staying onsite, all the hotels have free disney transport to all of the disney parks, water parks etc, and disney have the magical express (a free bus that picks you up from the airport and takes you to your hotel, and then from your hotel to the airport), so getting around is usually not an issue.
we have plans to stay at art of animation resort, as it will suit us. they also have a bus directly from the hotel to all of the theme parks, so staying 'close to' a particular park isn't really necessary, as it's roughly just as easy to get from the hotel to any one of the parks as another.
with travelling overseas, i would hope that you have arranged passports and ESTAs for your whole family, and are familiar with the whole TSA and DHS requirements for what you can/can't carry in your luggage, the fastest ways to get through security lines, paperwork required etc. in all of the reviews and research i did, it seems that if you can get this part of the trip planning organised, then you can ensure that you are prepared and you are more likely to have a happier experience getting through the airport than someone who might be less prepared.
i also second the recommendation for accomodation in/around times square. if it's your first time in nyc, one of the best options is to stay in times square and book the grayline loop tours. if you will be there for several days, you can book a 72 hour loop tour (relatively inexpensive, approx $50pp) as this gives you a guided tour in a double decker bus around the uptown loop, downtown loop, night lights loop and brooklyn loop. this is a great option to get a feel for the city, see all the highlights and get cheap transportation at your convenience from one place to another, without worrying about managing the subway. if you are a confident traveller, by all means, use the subway, but for our first trip, we wanted to do things the easiest way possible, and we learnt so much on the tours (the top of the bus is open air, so you get amazing views and fabulous pics that you won't get in the bottom enclosed part of the tour bus). the tour guides were crazy informative and gave us lots of trivia and historical information, celebrity sightings, pop culture references etc. it was a really great experience
re: wdw. i bought the passporters guide to wdw book. also the unofficial guide to wdw. these helped frame the decisions i was going to make.
my decision making went like this:
- what was my budget for the trip. was it a hard limit, or was it flexible?
- how long was i staying in which location, on what dates, and were there any deals etc
- what facilities were 'deal breakers' and what were 'nice to haves'
- what kind of accomodation did i want (suites, single rooms etc)
- what did i want to accomplish while i was there
for me, the budget helped knock out some accomodation options at wdw straight away.
there were some room only deals but the discount on those meant they were still more expensive than some of the other onsite hotels.
i needed rooms that had certain features, so that automatically locked out some more accomodation options, so then i was down to a much smaller list of about 6 places, out of a total of approx 40
the list of things i wanted to accomplish while i was there also helped to knock out some options. try and use a site like
www.touringplans.com to educate yourself about which days will be better in which parks. there is nothing worse than heading to a park and finding it hot and crowded and frustrating and later hearing that another crowd was practically dead. touring plans gives you pretty accurate predictions as to which parks will be best visited on which days. don't feel you have to do all of them if you don't want to.. just focus on the bits you want to accomplish
september/october is hurricane season, sure, but there is a very, very small chance that a hurricane will make landfall. i live in brisbane, so florida is very similar weather to our summers. the temp may be only mid 30's but the humidity is very, very high. just treat it like a brisbane summer (but with sudden afternoon showers that usually only last for a max of 30mins) and you'll be prepared.
i am also cruising the caribbean this hurricane season. it's truly unlikely to actually have a hurricane affect it
if i was planning a trip in sept/oct, i would be counting down the weeks and frantically planning. don't stress about the weather, it's the one thing you can't control
best of luck with the planning... everyone on the ANZAC disboards is amazingly helpful, so you are in great hands
. What are your thoughts on this? Is it really a huge thing? I am such a chicken. 
. Hearing it from you guys helped x
(Obviously no one on this board!!) You will need to work out how to get to WDW and this may include hiring a car and paying for parking. So make sure you price it out and compare it to staying on-site.
