I'm so overwhelmed! Where to start?!

[floridamomma]

Hi!
I'm planning a trip to WDW over Halloween, as it'll be my son's 5th birthday.
I'm sure of only two things: October 31 is a day we will be there. And: We (me, dh, ds) will stay offsite. (Contemplated flying to make it that much more fun, but it seems like such a headache when we can be there in a couple hours...)

I've been reading here for a year and want to make reservations in another month or two... anybody have a good link to help me figure where to stay? I'm looking at WBC but want nothing to do with time share vultures! (Made THAT mistake only once, ha!)

I have a general outline of our trip, but omg there's SO MUCH ONLINE. When my older kids were little we just WENT. Now I feel like I need to read everything online.

Any quick advice or links is much appreciated! Tia!

Allison

 

[CoP I Love You]

bonnet creek is not offsite.

personally I'd recommend staying in a Disney world owned and operated hotel if you will just be doing Disney world and no other central florida area attractions.

its hard to give advice when you are unsure of so much and not giving us much info to work off of.

also wondering if you can drive and have it only take a few hours why would you even contemplate flying to begin with?

when you have a car you have freedom in case you really need to go to say a pharmacy.

you are only going to MK and only going for one overnight stay?
seems quite short to me considering that you could spend 7-10 days and still not do everything Disney world has to offer.

 

[floridamomma]

I'm sorry, definitely thought that was offsite, but very close. I want a roomy hotel room, kitchenette would be nice, but don't need a kitchen or laundry. Definitely want a pool at least, the whole pool/slide/lazy river is what attracted me to wbc.

I thought about flying just bc it'd be fun for the kid. (We can fly cheap!) But I'd rather have the freedom our own vehicle will allow us.

I am thinking 4/5 days total, mk, ak for certain, one day just to do whatever we feel like, prob the last day.

Hoping I got a bit more info included this time!

 

[CoP I Love You]

I'm sorry, definitely thought that was offsite, but very close. I want a roomy hotel room, kitchenette would be nice, but don't need a kitchen or laundry. Definitely want a pool at least, the whole pool/slide/lazy river is what attracted me to wbc.

I thought about flying just bc it'd be fun for the kid. (We can fly cheap!) But I'd rather have the freedom our own vehicle will allow us.

I am thinking 4/5 days total, mk, ak for certain, one day just to do whatever we feel like, prob the last day.

Hoping I got a bit more info included this time!

I would suggest staying at maybe AOA in a family suite.
there's a kitchenette there PLUS its all out Disney themed.
and in the main pool you can hear finding nemo characters talk under the water.

I'd do 5 days.
go to the parks for 2 days then have a relax day and then go to the parks for 2 days again.

I suggest going to each park for one full day although if you look at what each park has to offer and you find that you're not interested in going to say epcot or HS then I'd go to MK for a second day.

 

[sympatico]

I'm sorry, definitely thought that was offsite, but very close. I want a roomy hotel room, kitchenette would be nice, but don't need a kitchen or laundry. Definitely want a pool at least, the whole pool/slide/lazy river is what attracted me to wbc.

I thought about flying just bc it'd be fun for the kid. (We can fly cheap!) But I'd rather have the freedom our own vehicle will allow us.

I am thinking 4/5 days total, mk, ak for certain, one day just to do whatever we feel like, prob the last day.

Hoping I got a bit more info included this time!

Wyndham Bonnet Creek is offsite. It is not a Disney hotel although it's next to Caribbean Beach Resort. I would drive so that you have your car, much easier to get around. Magic Kingdom on Halloween will be only be open until 7 pm because there's a Halloween party that night: Mickey's No So Scarey Halloween Party. It's a separate ticket costing around $65. each. You don't need a regular ticket for that day but you can't get in until 4pm and you can stay until 12 midnight. There's a special parade with lots Disney villains and special fireworks. Most kids dress up (a lot of adults too) and there's trick or treating for everyone. We went with grandkids this year and 6 of us had about 30 lbs of candy when we were finished. It's fun.

 

[BigredNole]

Here are some tips. Take them for what they are worth. I will give pros and cons of each.

1. Know your budget!!! This is the absolute most critical part. You can have one vacation if your budget is $10,000 and a completely different one if it is $2,000.

2. Know how long you are going to stay and whether you will park hop. I do not recommend park hopping unless you have annual passes. Waste of time an money.

3a. Offsite vs Onsite. This goes back you #1 and #2: budget and length of stay. If it is only 2-3 nights, you are not going to save a drastic amount over a Value resort. If you are staying a week, you can save a ton.

3b. If choosing offsite, you need to factor in transportation cost, parking cost. Parking at Disney is ~$17 per day. Using a bus at WBC is $6 per day per person. Using a bus at a Disney resort is free. Also, if you fly in, Disney has free transportation to your resort. It will be another ~$100 round trip somewhere else.

4. Tickets. The price is not drastic if you are looking. Some people think it is worth going through places with "discount" tickets is worth it. It is not for me for the $30-$50 savings. My only recommendation is to seriously consider if you want to pay the $60+ per ticket for Park Hoppers. To me, it is not worth it. There is far more than enough to do at a single park to not need to go to another where lines are already long.

5. Meals. We usually share a counter service meal. They are huge portions and about 2,000 calories anyway. We also bring our own snacks into the park like gummy snacks, crackers, trail mix, etc. This saves a ton since popcorn is about $5. You can get free ice water at any counter service place which eliminates the sulfur taste from the fountains. If you are offsite and there is a kitchen, you can save tons by having breakfast there and cooking your dinners. This does not take away from the trip. For dinners, learn some crockpot meals. Set the timer, come back to a hot meal that is ready to eat. For me, grilling at WBC would have been an excellent choice. Nice grills, convenient, and a nice way to relax with a drink before going back to the parks.

It really comes down to what you are looking to do and how much you want to spend. As I said, if your budget is $10k, just go Concierge level at The Contemporary or Grand Floridian and forget about it. If it is much less, there are a lot of things to consider. Each of those have pros and cons and requirements.

 

[ken2]

The Marriot across from downtown disney is great.We always stay there our first day in Orlando before checking into our disney resort.Its not too expensive.We are Marriot platinum members and love this hotel.They have a couple of pools and a hot tub with a waterfall in it.Disney gift shop in it and I belive they are a Disney recommended hotel