HELP! Planing a Trip to Disneyworld and I Am Lost.

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This will discuss every issue you have in a GREAT way, logically and from people who have done it.
I HIGHLY suggest ON property - you get in the parks earlier and get to stay later and that alone is worth every penny of extra money. Do the meal plan and you will be even happier.
When my kids were 2 1/2 and almost 6 we stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort and LOVED it there, last year we stayed at the Beach Club and we really liked it but felt we would have been happier at the Carribean Beach Resort again.

As a huge DisneyWorld fan, here is my vote. Stay on the property. Research the resorts on the disneyparks.com web site, and pick the one that most fits your family's needs. Pop Century is nice if you're going for the value price. If you stay off property, you'll likely need to rent a car and pay for parking each time you go to one of the theme parks, plus it's a little more stressful if you're unfamilar with the area. The Disney transportation works very well. Instead of booking on-line, call the 800 number and book by phone. We found a significant cost savings doing this. We book room only. We buy our tickets at the Disney Store in our hometown, just for our own convenience. No meal plan for us, but I know some do save a chunk of money. We just don't always eat that much or according to a set plan. We buy our own food to eat a quick breakfast in our room each day. We bring in some snacks and eat a quick fast-service lunch at the parks. Go to the the disneyparks.com web site to make some Advance Dining Reservations for a few dinner or other meals. You will NEED ADRs if you want to have any table service meals, but there is no penalty if you don't show if you get side tracked at some point. If your kids really want to meet the characters, consider a character breakfast vs. waiting in lines while you could be spending time visiting attractions at the parks. We're more into rides/attractions than meeting characters, but to some kids this is a huge highlight of the trip. I follow the Unofficial Guide's advice and skip the parks on the days they have extra magic hours. We don't do park hopper either. There is plenty to see if you stick with one park each day, plus you will need time for rest. Have fun, I'm jealous!

We rented a house though www.floridasunvacationhomes.com , the house was amazing and it had everything you could possibly need. Staying in a private rental works out cheaper for food as you can return for meals and have a rest/play in the on site pool or private pool if you choose a house with one. Park hopper tickets are good , this way you can leave and go back later , or go to a different park altogether. All the houses on this site are around 5 miles from the parks.

Another excellent resource is the site www.intercot.com. It's dedicated to Disney World and I found the posts very helpful when trying to make intelligent decisions. A friend of mine is a moderator on there (and she goes to WDW every year for the last 10-12 years) and she's the one who turned me on to it.

We went to WDW last year with a 1-yr old and a 7-yr old. We chose to stay off site at the Hyatt since I had points and was able to get a better deal than the equivalent on-site resorts. It was pretty close--only about 15 minute drive--and had a nice pool area with all sorts of activities on the lake and at the resort. Since this was our first trip and Rome wasn't built in a day, we only did the 2-day pass WITHOUT the Park Hopper option. We knew that with everything there is to see at each park (we chose Magic Kingdom and Holllywood Studios), it would keep us all occupied plenty for one whole day per park. Now that we've experienced what each park has to offer, we might opt for the Park Hopper next time to then pick and choose which rides/activities we go to, but we were very happy not investing in that this first time. We also chose to keep our trip pretty short both to save money and to save sanity! We did do the Kennedy Space Center the third day and that was an incredible experience for us grown-ups and the 7-yr old.

From what I was told by my Disney-expert friend, if you're a newbie to Disney, the Magic Hours can be a little crazy, since there will be more people in the parks either at the beginning of the day or the end (depending on when the magic hours are).

Also, if you see a person carrying a flag, GO THE OTHER WAY! That is a tour group (usually Brazilian) of about 20 people that will totally fill up a line and make your wait longer. There are lots of these groups.

We did not partake in the dining plan mostly because we felt that we'd be able to save money by sharing items (like fries and such). I'm glad we did it this way because if we'd gotten any plan that included table-service, we wouldn't have been able to use it since all the reservations were full at the restaurants we wanted and we would have ended waiting huge amounts of time with tired, cranky and hungry kids. But I would have LOVED to eat at the Crystal Palace! Next time. I also love investigating what a local area has to offer in terms of good food, so the dining plan wouldn't have allowed us to do that. Also, Downtown Disney has some pretty good eating options.

My husband and I have started talking about what we'd do differently, if anything, the next time we go in a few years. And we'll likely schedule a trip around when my sister goes so we can stay on-site at the military resort there with her. But beyond that, we prefer flexibility, so being tied into plans and packages is not typically something we'd lean towards.

Have a completely fantastic time! No matter what you choose, you'll still have fun and you'll learn a lot for next time!

The best way to save money is if you stay somewhere with a kitchen and buy your own groceries rather than buying your meals at the parks. However, that then means you must drive and that adds the added stress of getting around, getting parked, running back to where your are staying to fix food.

I suggest that you stay at a Disney resort (All Star Sports, All Star Movies, and All Star Music are the least expensive ones) and utilize their shuttles. I also strongly recommend the meal plan because the same meals you can get with the plan actually cost more without the plan. I also recommend you use a travel agent (they get paid through Disney). Definately think about what you and your kids would want to do/see (would they prefer breakfast with Cinderella or lunch with Winnie the Pooh....not sure what options they have during the time you'll be there but I recommend exploring those options).

Depends on how long you will be there. We took 6 kids and rented a house about 20 minutes from the magic kingdom (and i strongly recommend universal studios too - very cool and they have the harry potter thing which we didn't get to see). The house we rented (through VRBO.com - vacation rentals by owner) had a pool and 3 bedrooms and a kitchen, and it was about $640 for a week. (I think we got lucky with the house...) we didn't do any meal deal because it seemed too expensive; we brought snacks with us and once in a while got something like funnel cakes, or something small like that... we also drove down but it's a big undertaking - most of our kids were teens or almost, and they are all agreeable so they didn't fight with each other even though the van was pretty crowded! HOpe this helps!

Those sites and books are helpful but can be overwhelming. I suggest staying on grounds the convenience surpasses any savings which is typically not that much. The meal plans are worthwhile and I think they are included with a four or five night resort stay. One thing I would think about in advance is if you have little ones who want to go to cinderellas castle to eat book that now. Otherwise you can book most things closer to the date. Have fun!!

Your best way to save is to go off season. Try Oct/Nov/Dec (not holidays though) and Jan/Feb. I would stay on site. IMO that is a huge part of the experience. They are always running deals too. Last time we went in Feb we got 40% off of a deluxe resort. Maybe stop in a AAA to see if they know of anything upcoming. Their resorts are in all price ranges also.

We loved the dining plan.

I think the website I really liked was www.wdwinfo.com

Not sure about all the details of where to stay etc, as we live close enough that we just go for a single day visit, spend the night and drive home the next. It's just a long weekend trip for us. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised to find out a couple of things that are essential for families to know:
1) you can bring in food and drinks. (So grab a backpack and load it with snacks for the family, and a water bottle or 3). Yes, they will look through your pack for security reasons, but you can bring in your own food/water bottles.
2) The refreshment stands throughout the park will serve you ice water in cups for FREE. Nice, when it's really hot out and a Frozen lemonade (which are awesome!) costs $4.
3) There are a LOT of water fountains throughout the park as well. So you can get a drink, AND refill your own emptied water bottles throughout the day, as needed.

Check out tourguidemike.com It is about $20 to subscribe and it is totally worth it. We saved so much money and TIME with his tips. Also, we shipped a huge box of snacks to our hotel so we didn't end up spending tons on park food and got to enjoy some less processed things...canned fruit and applesauce are nice after a day of park fare! Good luck! It is totally overwhelming :-)

We've gone twice, 1st time stayed in rental house..2nd time stayed at one of the resort hotel. I definatly preferred the rental house. I don't think the dining plan saves that much money, unless you were planning on eating at sit-down restaurants for most of the meals. Also we found that the park with the "magic hour" is also the most crowded so you lose that hour waiting in extended lines. We also really enjoyed packing lunch in a cooler and eating in the picnic areas outside if the park-it's nice to have a break like that especially in the middle of the day with young children. The rental house was huge, very clean, and had a pool inside a screened in backyard Hope that helps...

i would stay on the ground-they have a bus service that takes you to each park. and depending on the ages of the kids.....dining package is great. we did it with three kids-ages 6,7,&8. we planned a character meal for each day.

It is very confusing which is why I only trusted DisneyWorld directly. No outside agents. Visit their website, look around and then call them with specific questions. I was so glad when I declined the meal plan the DW rep told me how beneficial it was. When we got there for our trip, I was totally grateful he shared those benefits with me. The food is sooooo costly and the only non meal plan we paid for was a character breakfast (which you must a reservation for). Your meal plan can be used at the theme parks too. It comes with 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. Try buying food w/o the plan...you will spend a lot of $$$$.

We also stayed onsite. That alone is great for the kids if you're trying to save money because it is sooooo beautiful. There are DW statues as high as the hotel. Hanging out at the pool and walking around the property to look at the statues and the way housekeeping decorates your room with towels will also entertain your kids at no additional cost.

We were just there last month, and what we did was rent a house 6 miles from the parks, so we were still close and driving and parking were not big issues for us. We had our own pool and a full kitchen, so we could grocery shop and cook our own meals. We were there 10 days and doing that saved us a bundle, so it was totally worth it for us (this was me, DH, 3 yo DD, 16 yo SS and 17 yo SS). Also, getting park passes for multiple days gets cheaper per day the more days you get - for example, there was only something like a $4.00 more to go from a 6 day pass to a 7 day. We got to the parks every day when they opened and were able to hit all the popular attractions with ease before it got way more crowded later in the morning. Getting Fast Passes whenever we could helped a lot too so we weren't spending all our time waiting in lines. Because of that, I'm not sure having Magic Hours because of staying on-site would have made that much of a difference.

we were planning it this summer too but have nixed it - in this economy we just can't afford it. BUT my mil found a really affordable hotel/resort - Oak Plantation Resort. they have great rates :) good luck and have fun!