Disney World Florida

[VanillaPickle]

I've got it into my head that I want to take the children in 2015 even if that means eating beans for the next year.

So I'm doing some research..............

Any tips and advice on how and where to find the best deals?
Where to stay?
Are the dining plans a good idea?

I really have no idea about it nor if it is possible £ wise or what kind of deals are available.

Any help greatly appreciated

[PerpetualMadness]

Exciting. think we might be going too.

[mamapup]

Cool, we said we'd go in 2020 when Mr.C and I both hit big birthdays and our kids'll be old enough to go. Can't wait, wish it were next year for us too.

[felizefun]

Awww I love Disneyland. I haven't been to Disney World Florida but have been to Euro Disney and loved, loved, loved it. We might go next year hopefully.

[FestiveTidings]

DH and I went a few years ago before we had Roo and my main tip would be to stay at a Disney resort. Even though we were childless I can see it would be so much easier than being off resort and having to deal with cranky kids. By staying at resort you can nip back to play in the pool for a couple of hours while the sun is at it's highest and the parks are at it's busiest. You also get the benefit of early opening/late closing of parks so you can escape some of the crowds. We stayed at Port Orleans French Quarter which was nice enough. It was small compared to some of the other resorts and the pool was good. They also had a food court on site rather than a restaurant which was good for variation. You could also get a boat from there to downtown Disney which was lots of fun! Also if you are staying at a Disney resort you get picked up at the airport in an air conditioned coach and dropped off right at your resort. The staff can't be more helpful either. We split our holiday and did 2 weeks at Disney and 1 week on international drive. For those few extra dollars I would stay at Disney, definitely. It felt safer and the accommodation was nicer.

We didn't do the dining plan but they are good value for money. We saw many families use them and I think if you are there on a budget it is worth it. You will have to supplement with the odd ice cream or pretzel here or there but it does take the stress off a bit.

We are planning to go back in about 7/8 years and plan to hire a car too for a few days so we can do universal and sea world. There are buses that go from Disney to these places too so you don't have to hire a car really.

I love Disney and couldn't fault my experience (my BIL hated it but he's one of those people who hates everywhere).

I'll no doubt be back to add another few comments as I remember them!

[pirate_han]

DH and I have been a few times pre-children. I second FT that staying in a Disney resort would probably be easier with tired children. That said, we've stayed at the Sheraton and the Marriott on I-Drive and as much as I love Disney it was sometimes nice to have somewhere to go back to to have a brief rest from it! Plus the pools were amazing, and it was nice to have a bigger choice of restaurants. Both resorts offered buses to the Disney/Universal parks, and we used the I-Ride trolley to get to Sea World (which is awesome, don't miss it).

We've never used the dining plan in Orlando but we did use it when taking B to Disneyland Paris last year and I would definitely consider it when we go to Orlando, it was really useful from a budgeting point of view.

I'm very jealous! It's a brilliant holiday, I can't understand why some people pretend they don't like it (they are clearly pretending). We're off on a Disney cruise later this year though so I won't feel too sorry for myself

[Spanner]

No idea, but there are a lot of threads about this on mumsnet.

[eterna]

There's a really great book that I would highly recommend:

We used it on our trip to Disneyland pre-kids and I think it saved us a lot of time in line ups...Though if you are just 'go with the flow' type people then you might find it a bit hard-core. I think they do review hotels and that sort of thing too which could help you.

I admit that I prefer Disneyland over Disney World just because Disney World is so massive and all the best rides are spread out among the four different parks. We only had one day at each park and were exhausted from all the walking - and that was even before kids!

We won't go back until the kids are around 10 I think, but in the 9 years since our trip I have yet to see any parade or fireworks that beats Disney!

[FestiveTidings]

[Ali70]

Be warned it'll ruin you. You'll never see better fireworks or experience better customer service after Disney!

It really is a magical place. I much preferred Florida to Paris, I felt the atmosphere wasn't the same in Paris. I've never been with kids, buut we're planning on waiting until Sproglet is about 8 to take her. It is exhausting, but great fun. My top tip would be to get there as soon as the park opens. You can do so much in those first couple of hours and then retreat to the pool/nap during the busy, hot afternoon.

We ran away on a last minute bargain holiday to Disney after my second miscarriage. It was just the magic I needed. I remember standing on Main Street watching the fireworks with tears rolling down my face feeling sad, but somehow uplifted and hopeful.

[FestiveTidings]

There is a magic to it, isn't there? We went just after being punted to the back of the IVF waiting list AGAIN and were feeling particularly low. I did the same as you Ali and stood in the middle of main st, watching tink do her thing, watching the fireworks and listening to the commentary completely blubbing my eyes out.

I felt hopeful in a way I hadn't in a long time when it finished.

One thing I would say VP is pay as much as you can afford for your hotel if you don't want to stay at Disney. We stayed at a budget hotel on I-drive and it wasn't the best. It was a bit tired, there was no pool and it was full of noisy kids and paper thin walls

We flew with Virgin and couldn't fault the flight at all.

[Turtle'sMammy]

<whispers> I didn't like it.
I think I may have been ruined by Tokyo Disney. Now that was happy. And clean. And people were nice. Not determined to have the time of their lives and thereby turned into a$$holes.
Anyway. Um. I did like Animal kingdom. I'd go back there.
The food in the parks wasn't great. $12 for a baked potato, which was the only food stand open. And I remember being in the rainforest cafe and the people at the next table in a state of shock because a couple of house salads, a kids meal and drinks came to nearly $100. So order what you want to eat because you're not saving anything by ordering the house salad.
We lived about an hour away, so the hotels didn't make hat much difference to us. We did stay at an on site resort once. That was cool. But it's a military one, so not open to the public.
Try not to see everything. Or don't put pressure on yourselves to see everything. Have a plan for when lines are long. And whatever you do avoid american holiday weekends like the plague.
Also, almost all of the rides end in a shop, so have a strategy for that. My fella will stand "looking" at the crap int he shops for hours. And by the third or fourth one become determined to get something. Anything. It's frustrating. (And why I prefer Legoland).

[VanillaPickle]

Wow thank you everybody......lots to think about
I've been told they release deals for 2015 April/May time so I'll have a look then, armed with this info and see if it really is viable ££ wise, or we save for 2016 - children will be 9, 7 and 3 1/2 so still perfect ages.

[catie_lou]

Let us know how it goes as we are looking at the same timescales

[Turtle'sMammy]

Check the height rectrictions for the 3.5yo. From what I can remember there were very few rides for small people.