According to my research, in order to plan a successful Disney excursion, you need to nail down the basics:
1. Who's going?
2. When are we going?
3. Where are we going to stay when we get there?
This happened a little bit backwards in our case. My parents have a timeshare so we already know the
Where. We'll be staying at the lovely Sheraton Vistana Villages. On one hand - yay! free rooms!!! On the other hand - now that I'm doing all this Disney research I've realized we'll be missing out on a lot of the Magic you get by staying on property. Not to mention all the lovely perks.
By staying in one of the Disney resorts, or "on property" as it's known, you get access to the following:
There's probably even more great perks that I, as a Disney novice am unaware. I haven't attempted to price it out because I think there's too much of a chance it will seriously depress me, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it might even be cheaper to do Disney if you stay on property. ::sigh:: I can't wait to explore the different resorts one day. Each one is unique and has something special to offer - not to mention a place for every budget and style. Everything you could want to know about the parks from the source can be found HERE.
Next comes the Who. For us this means:
My parents, myself, 3 brothers and 1 "other" brother *, 3 significant others, 6 toddlers for a total of 16 people. Yowza. Going with such an enormous group would be insane if we were trying to stay on property. We would probably end up in 5 rooms in one of the value resorts (as I think the most Disney rooms can accommodate is 5 or 6 people in the family suites) instead of two side by side, two-bedroom villas with living rooms and kitchen. But being a huge group, on a small budget, with a gaggle of toddlers is not something with which most people have to contend.
However, the Who could affect where you stay more than just in determining how many beds you'll need. Will it be important to have more than one sink or shower? Will you definitely need a kitchen? Will some of these people be able to share a bed? Will you need a babysitter? Parties with very old, very young or handicapped members might want to be as close as possible to the theme park you'll be spending the most time in. It's certainly something to put thought into but again, this decision has been removed from my personal planning.
(* my "other" brother is my 19 year old 'baby' brother's oldest and best friend who he is bringing along in order to escape being the baby sitter. :-) smart boy.)
The When, was actually carefully selected. Typically, my parents would use their timeshare in February. Since we needed to book an extra room and therefore be charged a fee, we had a little more flexibility for dates. We settled on the end of April for the following reasons:
Where. We'll be staying at the lovely Sheraton Vistana Villages. On one hand - yay! free rooms!!! On the other hand - now that I'm doing all this Disney research I've realized we'll be missing out on a lot of the Magic you get by staying on property. Not to mention all the lovely perks.
By staying in one of the Disney resorts, or "on property" as it's known, you get access to the following:
- Extra Magic Hours. This is extra time in the morning or evening that allows your family to go around the park before the regular opening. Magic Express. This is the Disney shuttle. If the only places you're planning on going are on-property, this is huge. It means no rental car. They'll pick you up from the airport and even make sure all your bags come with you - no standing at the carousel while you're littles wail.
- Free Parking. If you do decide to rent a car you'll be saving yourself about $15 a day.
- Free transportation to and from all the parks and resorts. There are buses, trams, monorail - they'll definitely be able to get you from Point A to Point B as long as you're not trying to adventure off-property.
- Guaranteed park admission even if they've reached max capacity. I can't even imagine what a Disney Park at max capacity must look like or imagine wanting to go there when it is - but if you're travelling at peak time, you're good.
- Disney Dining Plan (DDP). This is another HUGE perk and one of my biggest grievances with staying off-property this year. The dining plan can cut your total cost by a lot. Once a year they also offer a free dining plan. If you're flexible about the time of year you can go and/or on a small budget - look into it!
- Charging to your room. If you're one of those budget-less travellers, or maybe forgot your cash in the room (it happens!!), you can charge expenses in the park to your room using your room key.
- Free delivery. If you just have to have that larger-than-life-size Mickey, you can have it delivered directly to your room instead of lugging it around the park and dragging it all the way back to your room. Getting it home on the other hand...
There's probably even more great perks that I, as a Disney novice am unaware. I haven't attempted to price it out because I think there's too much of a chance it will seriously depress me, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say it might even be cheaper to do Disney if you stay on property. ::sigh:: I can't wait to explore the different resorts one day. Each one is unique and has something special to offer - not to mention a place for every budget and style. Everything you could want to know about the parks from the source can be found HERE.
Next comes the Who. For us this means:
My parents, myself, 3 brothers and 1 "other" brother *, 3 significant others, 6 toddlers for a total of 16 people. Yowza. Going with such an enormous group would be insane if we were trying to stay on property. We would probably end up in 5 rooms in one of the value resorts (as I think the most Disney rooms can accommodate is 5 or 6 people in the family suites) instead of two side by side, two-bedroom villas with living rooms and kitchen. But being a huge group, on a small budget, with a gaggle of toddlers is not something with which most people have to contend.
However, the Who could affect where you stay more than just in determining how many beds you'll need. Will it be important to have more than one sink or shower? Will you definitely need a kitchen? Will some of these people be able to share a bed? Will you need a babysitter? Parties with very old, very young or handicapped members might want to be as close as possible to the theme park you'll be spending the most time in. It's certainly something to put thought into but again, this decision has been removed from my personal planning.
(* my "other" brother is my 19 year old 'baby' brother's oldest and best friend who he is bringing along in order to escape being the baby sitter. :-) smart boy.)
The When, was actually carefully selected. Typically, my parents would use their timeshare in February. Since we needed to book an extra room and therefore be charged a fee, we had a little more flexibility for dates. We settled on the end of April for the following reasons:
- The temperature should be great. 70s/80s.
- The end of April is off-peak. Spring/Easter break is a very busy time in Disney but spring break bounces around a bit (just as Easter does). Since Easter will be a little on the early side in 2013 (March 30), the end of April is in an in-between time that will hopefully let us enjoy Disney without losing our minds in the throes of peak attendance.
- The youngest two members of our army will be celebrating first birthdays on April 25 and May 4, so they will be big enough to marvel at the Magic and maybe even toddle around.
The busiest & slowest months, in general, and busy days of the week can be found HERE.
Looking at this post - it seems small. In reality, this post required hours of research. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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