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Ok...so I got my Passporter and have read a good deal of it. I called Disney to get some rates and this is what they gave me. Can you guys take a look and tell me if this is overkill and where I could/should tweak?

My requirements are:

Dates: 5/9-5/13
5 nights stay (but only 4 in the park because we are arrive late on Wednesday)
Hotel should be on the monorail (my son has some mobility issues).
Would love a view of Cinderella's Castle
Park Hopper pass? (Not sure about this)
5 Day Meal plan (1 sit down, 1 quick service, 1 snack)

They recommended the Grand Floridian
The total they quoted me (not including air fair). $4846.72

Here are my questions:

1. My kids are young (8 & 5). My son tires very easily and needs frequent breaks. Does it make sense for us to get the park hopper pass? Since we are first time Disney-ers, will we really have enough time to get to the other parks? Do you think we will probably spend all of our time in the Magic Kingdom? Should/Can we get a park hopper pass valid for just one or two days?

2. Do we need more of a meal plan?

3. The Grand Floridian has a the Mouseketeer Club (childcare program). Have you guys ever used this? My husband and I would like to have one night to ourselves (possibly).

4. What do you think of the Grand Floridian?

5. Do you think 4 days in the park are enough?

6. Am I missing anything? Are there other options to consider (we are going to book a character breakfast for sure).

I would love any and all feedback! Thanks so much in advance for helping me (such a rookie).

Park Hopper is a MUST to me. With park hopper, this means you can do the day at Magic Kingdom, Dinner at Epcot, and fireworks at another park, even. It's well worth the money.

1. My kids are young (8 & 5). My son tires very easily and needs frequent breaks. Does it make sense for us to get the park hopper pass? Since we are first time Disney-ers, will we really have enough time to get to the other parks? Do you think we will probably spend all of our time in the Magic Kingdom? Should/Can we get a park hopper pass valid for just one or two days? You don't need park hopper, park hopper is only if you want to go to more than one park in the same day. Get 4 regular tickets and you can go to all 4 parks, just one different days, my kids are close in age and I'm honestly worried about doing 2 parks in one day, I think they'll be so tired and it won't go well. LOL! Keira is almost 7 and Cooper will be 4 when we go.

2. Do we need more of a meal plan? You don't need it, but it might make it easier to have the food figured into your total. When we go back I'm going to do the meal plan. Snacks are considered anything under $4. Quick Meal is the counter service restaurants, and a table service is anywhere that recommends reservations. These can also be used for Character Meals. FYI, certain character meals, like Cinderella's Royal Table is 2 table service credits.

3. The Grand Floridian has a the Mouseketeer Club (childcare program). Have you guys ever used this? My husband and I would like to have one night to ourselves (possibly). don't know, but I'm sure they'd be great.

4. What do you think of the Grand Floridian? Never stayed there or even been there, but its the best from what I understand and from what I've read. :)

5. Do you think 4 days in the park are enough? yes because you'll never be able to do everything in a single trip. LOL! We're actually doing all 4 parks in 3 days this time. 1 day each at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios and combining Animal Kingdom and Epcot, because I think the kids will care the least about these.

6. Am I missing anything? Are there other options to consider (we are going to book a character breakfast for sure). I think you've covered it all, there is a character meal at the Grand Floridian I think, 1900 Park Fare, so that would be super easy for you guys. And Chef Mickey's is at the Contemporary Resort, the monorail runs right into there too, that would be another good one. We've been, it was great. It's the big 5 characters. Make your reservations now though for your meals.

FYI, I haven't ever stayed at a Disney Resort, but I have been reading nothing but Disney related stuff since we found out about Keira's Make a Wish trip.

I would love any and all feedback! Thanks so much in advance for helping me (such a rookie).

Susan, did you get a free Disney Planning DVD from Disney? You can get one online, I like watching it, gives lots of information and the kids like seeing the rides and such.

Nope...haven't done that yet. Thanks!

Also, what is up with the Water Parks - are they included in the Park Hopper pass?

I think it's a tad $$ personally...

you can stay at the Polynesian with the same specs (dining plan, 4 day park hopper-it is standard view room) which is also monorail resort..for about 1500 cheaper. It's about 1k cheaper with a theme park view but they can't guarantee what you see...The GF is more $$ than the Contemporary and the Poly

I would get the hopper..I mean if you don't it saves you 200 bucks but it limits your choices for food and such. I mean you can eat at whichever park you want to be at for the day but we really enjoyed taking a break during the day then heading to a different park in the evening.

Also--if your kids like to swim the pool at the Poly is this cool Volcano pool with a sandy zero entry area thats beachlike. I'm not sure what the pool at the Grand Floridian is. It's all really based on what you like too. The theming at the poly is more my style than the GF..it's very ritzy and proper vs Hawaiian and islandy

The water parks are sep from the regular tickets. Blizzard Beach looks pretty cool but one or the other is always pretty much closed for renovation/repairs so no guarantee both Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon will be open.

I disagree with Vanessa on the Dining Plan and Hoppers...We enjoyed not having to price out meals and junk beforehand. The 1 table, 1 quick service, and snacks were perfect..we bought a few more snacks during the day but nothing major.

1. My kids are young (8 & 5). My son tires very easily and needs frequent breaks. Does it make sense for us to get the park hopper pass? Since we are first time Disney-ers, will we really have enough time to get to the other parks? Do you think we will probably spend all of our time in the Magic Kingdom? Should/Can we get a park hopper pass valid for just one or two days?

You really don't need the park hopper if you plan well. Plus the parks are pretty far apart so you'd spend a lot of time walking and traveling around, especially if he tires easily. I'm not sure how it works with the package but I think you can add them later if you end up wanting them? You should probably check on that though.

2. Do we need more of a meal plan?
My family did that same meal plan and we all thought it was way too much food. I don't think we ever used the snacks! When Adam and I went, we paid out of pocket for all our food and I actually liked that better. Lots of people love the dining plan though and it can be handy to not have to worry about the cost of the food since it's all theme park pricing.

3. The Grand Floridian has a the Mouseketeer Club (childcare program). Have you guys ever used this? My husband and I would like to have one night to ourselves (possibly).
No idea, but I imagine it's nice.

4. What do you think of the Grand Floridian?
We did breakfast for Mother's Day there and it is really nice. I felt rich just walking around it. :D It's pretty much the premier hotel there. Plus having the monorail there is nice.

5. Do you think 4 days in the park are enough?
We did 4.5 days (we left our 5th day in the evening) and I definitely felt like that was plenty of park days. Again, if you plan well and hit the rides and shows that most important to you, you'll be fine. We didn't do park hoppers so we had one park per day and it worked out fine.

6. Am I missing anything? Are there other options to consider (we are going to book a character breakfast for sure).
Not that I can think of but you probably want to get on your dining reservations ASAP for May. They disappear fast.

That is funny because I asked them to quote me the exact same plan for the Contemporary and the Polynesian and they gave me this:

Poly - $4756.72
Contemp - $4891.14

What am I doing wrong? Could it be because I asked for Caste-View room?

For me, I'd need the meal plan. LOL! But I think you can manage without it. But me, personally, I wouldn't consider going without a meal plan because the food can be so expensive.

And I do thing that the quick service, table and snack would be perfect, I was looking at the meal plans and we'd considered the 3 table service meals a day, but I don't know how you'd be able to eat all that, and it would take up a good chunk of your day by trying to schedule all those meals.

For the Water Parks Susan you can add that to your ticket package, its not a park hopper, its the Water Parks and More. I think that is totally worth it for May. It'll be plenty hot enough to enjoy it. :)

I'll go play with it too for you Susan. I love this stuff. ;)

I priced it on the website...maybe you aren't getting the current discount offer right now over the phone?

This price includes the tickets to the park, the park hoppers, the hotel and the meal plan. Everything but the airfare. She told me that I was getting a discount. :huh:

I am going to PM Kendall and see what she thinks....

I think that's too time consuming and way too much food. I really think a sit down everyday was too time consuming when we had it and I ended up cancelling a few dinners we had planned (they take a long time I think..could be b/c it was really busy..was Dec) but the convenience of it is nice plus I think some kids just need to sit and eat and have that break.

I priced it online too Susan for the Poly, May 9-May 13 (which says 4 nights, 5 days) 4228.24
That's w/ 5 day park hopper passes
Waterparks and more
Dinning 1 Quick Service Meal, 1 Snack & 1 Table service per person.

yeah that's what the others I did included too

so weird!

you can play around on disneyworld.com for pkgs and see what you get. You can make a reservation online too with just $200 down

That's so weird because we are staying in the hotel 5 nights. But only 4 days in the parks (and park hopper) and 5 day meal plan.

I just PM'd Kendall. I should probably just work with her on this, huh?

her services are free so I'd just have her plan it for ya. She can reserve it with the same discounts that WDW online offers as well.

Let us know what you end up with!

I ran it through again Susan at the Poly w/

6 days 5 nights checking in May 9-May 14
4 days of tickets (no park hopper)
Water Parks
and the same food for $4616 at the Poly or $4351 at Contemporary with a park hopper for 4 days at Contemporary its still $4586

And then if you're doing 4 nights & 5 days, Contemporary is even cheaper.

$3980
Travel Dates
Check In
May 9, 2012
Check Out
May 13, 2012

Travel Party
2 Adults
2 Children (Ages 5 & 8)
Resort Choice
Disney's Contemporary Resort
Dining and Entertainment Choice
Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining
Park Ticket Choice
4 Day Magic Your Way Ticket
Park Hopper Option
Water Park Fun & More* Option

You can manually change how many ticket days you want online when you price it out. I think it defaults by how many nights you will be there.

of the 3 monorail resorts the GF is going to be the most $$..that much I know lol

do you have a preference of which to stay?

Yes, I just ran it and came up with a little bit lower but I think the additional cost is coming from the fact that I requested a "Theme Park View" room.

maybe so...when I did theme park room for one I priced it was only $4100 which was still a bit cheaper than your quoted price. The cheapest quote was just a standard view.

I really had no idea disney was so expensive.. wow guess I better start saving now for when we are talking about maybe taking the kids (5 years or so)

Disney can def be done much cheaper if you are willing to research it, stay at a moderate or value resort (or offsite..but then you have to pay parking and find a way to the resort from the airport if you fly..etc), and use vendors like Undercover Tourist for Tickets, etc.

You def pay for the convenience of staying at a monorail resort in room costs.

Kristin, its not if you stay at the one of the cheaper resorts. I just priced it out for my friend, she only has 1 kid, but it came up to like $3050 for 3 people. w/ a flight. I think it would have cost our family around $3200 for the Moderate Resorts w/ food and everything without a flight, that's what I was pricing before we found out Keira could get a trip through Make a Wish. Also depends on the time of year you go. The week after Labor Day is the cheapest time to go there.

This is what I figured for my friend, she's been asking me about it.
Travel Party
2 Adults
1 Child (Age 9)
Resort Choice
Disney's All-Star Movies Resort
Dining and Entertainment Choice
Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining
Park Ticket Choice
6 Day Magic Your Way Ticket

yes, the Monorail is a big part of it. If you're never been, you can't drive up to the Magic Kingdom (I can't remember if the others are like this, but I don't think so) you have to either take the Monorail in or the Ferry after you park.

Susan,

I dont know if you want to consider it, but the brand new Bay Lake Tower just went up right next to the Contemporary and you guys could get a 1 bedroom Villa for around what you guys are being quoted at the GF.

That would include a bedroom with a king for you and your hubby and a living room with a sleeper sofa for the kids and a full kitchen for snacks and stuff in the mornings / afternoons etc.

The villas are absolutely gorgeous and while they dont have the monorail running through the building, they are connected to the contemporary via a bridge which is a really short walk to the monorail all things considered.

http://www.timesharejuice.com/resort...ics/230_02.jpg

We're going to be going in December and will be staying there this year. It's pretty gorgeous and modern - can't wait and think it's a great option if you want to splurge a bit.

Rocky and I stayed at the GF on our honeymoon - it's very pretty but I'd take the villa with 2 rooms over the single room with two double beds any day. We like our space though. Put the kids to bed in one room, close the door and stay up for a couple of hours chillin in ours - it's awesome.

R

ahh the new towers are so pretty too we saw them when we were just there in Dec

That looks nice!! I am not so worried about them having a separate room (although I do take your point about putting them to bed and then being able to stay up a little longer). I think that is why I like the GF....they have that Mouseketeer club that is open until MIDNIGHT! I was thinking I would drop the kids in there in the evening...maybe just for an hour or two while Andrew and I have a cocktail in the bar.

I think with Ben's asthma and his PT issues, the monorail is a must for us. When we were in Paris, we were only 2 blocks from the Metro and that was the absolute most he could walk without starting to fatigue. So I really want to limit his out of park walking. I am actually even considering renting a scooter in the park if he can't deal with all the walking. I feel so badly for him....Madeleine can go go go and he just can't.

Hotel should be on the monorail (my son has some mobility issues).
Would love a view of Cinderella's Castle
Park Hopper pass? (Not sure about this)

There are 3 hotels on the monorail, but another you might consider too.
The big three are: the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and the Grand Floridian.
The Wilderness Lodge is a fun, short boat ride to the Magic Kingdom... from the MK, you can hop the monorail. So, I am not sure how much mobility is an issue, but the Wilderness Lodge is cheaper than the other 3 and is slightly less convenient.

I stayed in the Polynesian, in the Hawaii building, a few years ago. The Hawaii building is the concierge level, which is pretty dang expensive and not really worth it. We only did it because we had a killer discount and it was my husband's college graduation gift. I'll dig up a pic from our room and post in a minute. Most of the "view rooms" are concierge level, but there are some at the Poly that have a view and aren't concierge. The Hawaii building is exclusively concierge, but half have a view of the park and beach, and the other half face away and look at the lush grounds of the Poly and a pool. There are a few other buildings that have a theme park view at the Poly.

When they are quoting you prices, be sure if they are telling you concierge level or regular theme park view. You pay out the nose for concierge, so be sure you even need it before you get that. Personally.... I wouldn't do it again. It was nice of course, but we didn't get the value out of it. I can talk more about concierge level if you have questions.

Here are my questions:

1. My kids are young (8 & 5). My son tires very easily and needs frequent breaks. Does it make sense for us to get the park hopper pass? Since we are first time Disney-ers, will we really have enough time to get to the other parks? Do you think we will probably spend all of our time in the Magic Kingdom? Should/Can we get a park hopper pass valid for just one or two days?

Like others said, the park hopper is for going to more than 1 park in a single day. We don't get the park hoppers. If you are just staying for 4 days, then that is 1 park a day. I think the regular tickets will do you just fine and save you money.

2. Do we need more of a meal plan?

We had that same meal plan for our 7 day trip and loved it! We saved a bunch of money because my husband and oldest son have expensive food taste... always ordering the most expensive stuff on the menu like seafood and steak. We did end up with a bunch of snack credits left over, so I used them up on the last day for Mickey Mouse Rice Krispie treats. Those were easily packed for our trip. Or you could use the snack credits as your breakfast. The disboard has a list of what you can use snack credits on in the parks.

3. The Grand Floridian has a the Mouseketeer Club (childcare program). Have you guys ever used this? My husband and I would like to have one night to ourselves (possibly).

We didn't use it, but the Polynesian has that Mouseketeer Club. I've heard good things about it.

4. What do you think of the Grand Floridian?

We wandered though it and had dinner at Narcoossee's (a restaurant at the Grand Floridan). It is very beautiful, very elegant. It's more polished (by a LOT) than the Polynesian. I'd love to stay there some day, but personally would probably pick the Contemporary (also on the monorail) because of the cost savings between the two.

5. Do you think 4 days in the park are enough?

no. LOL I don't get to go on vacation very often and since it's clear across the US for me, I'd insist on at least 5 days. That way you can go to each park once and then an extra day at Magic Kingdom.

6. Am I missing anything? Are there other options to consider (we are going to book a character breakfast for sure).

If you have a picky eater, I'd recommend trying to get a reservation for Chef Mickey's. It's buffet style, all you can eat. It's not gourmet, but there is a variety that my son enjoyed. Each character (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald) comes directly to your table and allows you to take pics. It was a real hit for my son and he was almost 6 years old.

I would love any and all feedback! Thanks so much in advance for helping me (such a rookie).

FYI, I think Character Meals are the best way to meet the characters! No lines. You sit and wait for them, which is perfect!

Julie - thanks so much for the info. I will ask about that concierge level. Out of curiosity, what did you get that was "extra" on that level? ETA - would love to see your pics!

When I was quoted the Poly...it was only $100 bucks cheaper....so for that little amount, I would probably just stay at the GF.

Thanks for the tips on Chef Mickeys. I will definitely look at that.....Ben & Maddy would love that.

Susan, the bridge from BLT into the Contemporary is way smaller than a city block, just FYI.

We've also stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and it is amazing too. The boat ride is so fun and I bed both Ben and Maddie would LOVE it!

Here are a couple pics from immediately in front of my room. Notice in the first pic that the castle is above my son's head..... yes, it's that far in the distance. It's wonderful to be able to see the fireworks from your own room... but do think about how much time you'd actually be spending looking at that view. We ended up not spending much time at all looking at the castle, because we weren't in the room! The second pic is using my point and shoot's 4x zoom. Shot from the patio outside my room.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ee70/poly1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ee70/poly2.jpg

Sounds like you are leaning towards the GF or the Contemporary, but I wanted to show you that the view from the Poly side of the lake.

Here are my questions:

1. My kids are young (8 & 5). My son tires very easily and needs frequent breaks. Does it make sense for us to get the park hopper pass? Since we are first time Disney-ers, will we really have enough time to get to the other parks? Do you think we will probably spend all of our time in the Magic Kingdom? Should/Can we get a park hopper pass valid for just one or two days?

We were just there in December and did not do the park hoppers. I decided what days we wanted to go to which park and then did meal reservations based on those days.

2. Do we need more of a meal plan?
We had the same meal plan and we had PLENTY of food. The one thing that I didnt realize is that with a snack you only get 1 thing. We always got a mickey bar and then paid for a drink. But you get SO.MUCH.FOOD with the table service places so we didn't feel the need to snack most of the time.

Breakfast at Disney is phenomenal! We did Chef Mickeys and Tusker House in Animal Kingdom for breakfast and they were by far our favorite meals. Both are character meals and we all had so much fun. But with the table service meals we were there at least 1.5-2 hrs which was kind of annoying especially if it was a non-character meal.

3. The Grand Floridian has a the Mouseketeer Club (childcare program). Have you guys ever used this? My husband and I would like to have one night to ourselves (possibly).

Sounds awesome and if our hotel had offered it we would have taken advantage of it.

4. What do you think of the Grand Floridian?

I havent stayed there but we went over there to eat at 1900 Park Fare and I wasnt impressed by the Grand Floridian. It was just too over the top for me. Im not a fancy-schmancy person and this hotel is definintely fancy-schmancy.

5. Do you think 4 days in the park are enough?

We did 1 day at each park and then an extra day at Magic Kingdom which was awesome. I loved having that extra day at MK to go back and do the stuff that we didn't do the first day. Plus MK is the most magical of the parks and I just coulnt get enough of it!

6. Am I missing anything? Are there other options to consider (we are going to book a character breakfast for sure).
If your son tires easily you might want to look at a stroller rental. We wented a double jogging stroller for my kids- 6 and 4 and they sat in that most of the time we were walking around. I got mine from orlandostrollerrentals.com and they had GREAT prices and MUCH nicer strollers than the plastic piece of junk strollers that you can rent at Disney.

Definitely do character meals! It is the best way to meet the characters!

I would love any and all feedback! Thanks so much in advance for helping me (such a rookie).

Robin - I just was looking at the Wilderness Lodge and it looked super cool.

Julie - Whoa...I didn't realize how far away the Castle was. Maybe it really isn't worth it to get a castle view room!!!! See...these are the things you can't possibly know until you've gone. So helpful.

The Contemporary looks mega cool. Worried the GF might be too over the top. I do like their amenities though.

This is so hard.....

Susan, about the concierge level. They have sections of each of the deluxe resorts with concierge service. So, this applies to each of the resorts that we've been mentioning. Basically, you get a private lounge area (like a family room/kitchen area) plus their extra planning services. I didn't use their planning services at all, but if you book a concierge room you can tell them which places you want to eat and around what time and they will look it up for you and book it. Which I did all myself, because I'm anal like that. As for the lounge, in the Poly, it's a large area with tables and a kitchen.

They bring out FREE food three times a day (this could have changed since we were there). In the morning it is 3-4 types of cereal, a few types of pastries, toast, english muffins. There are also free drinks. They do lunch stuff at lunch, and a few things at dinner. Now for dinnertime, you can't really expect to get a full dinner. This is suppose to be a mini-meal and the choices are limited. We eat there once at dinner, but we did have every breakfast there. At the Poly they keep the refrigerator stocked with soda all day long and you can grab it whenever you want. (We almost got our value just out of the free soda, because we are big soda drinkers.) At night they also have free beer and wine, but we don't drink, so I don't know anything about that really.

I believe the other resorts have similar concierge offerings. The disboards has a ton of info on them. Some have the menus and pics too. Hope that helps, let me know if you think of a question about that!

Here's what I say, if you can afford it, do it! I'd love to stay at one of those resorts. Next time we go and we're actually paying for it I'm going to shoot for the Moderate resorts, but if I had the money, I'd totally be at the GF or actually DH would make us stay at the Wilderness Lodge so he could see the animals. ;)

oh, and on the strollers... I got a stroller pass that lets you get a stroller each day at any park. I LOVED it. My son was almost 6 and he was thrilled he didn't have to walk the long distances in the parks. I personally was happy we went with the Disney stroller rental because you can just leave the stroller at one train station (in the Magic Kingdom) and pick up a new one at the other station. Plus, I didn't worry about the stroller. :)