Starting to plan a WDW trip - help??

[scrapperjade]

Ahhh girls! I am frustrated already & I've only started planning in seriousness tonight, lol!

I'm looking for suggestions about a blog/forum to follow about DisneyWorld. Isn't there one that you pay like $20 & some guy named Mike (or something) tells you all about everything? LOL!

Also, I'm in Canada & flights are RIDICULOUS. Like $700 - $1100 round trip PER person (we have to pay for 3 of us, Elora will still fly for free). So we are thinking of flying from a US spot, like Billings, Montana to Orlando (or Kissimee, or somewhere??). Does anyone know how to find decent priced flights?? Tips & tricks??

I have no idea what I am doing, lol!!

[BrattyMeg]

You want to fly to Orlando (MCO) so you can get the Magical Express bus to the resort free of charge. Any other place and you'll have to hire a driver or rent a car.

I'd use touringplans.com or easywdw.com for a touring guide. Tourguidemike doesn't update like he used to. I was happy with Touringplans and will probably use them again whenever I am lucky enough to plan another trip. I like reading/planning with easywdw forums

my first suggestion would be to have a budget and work your trip into that. When do you plan on going? Discounts for January-Aprilish should be coming out soon. Free Dining thru December just ended yesterday. Definitely go when there's a discount offered. There's way too many available for you to go paying full price.

[scrapperjade]

I guess I should have been more specific in my details! Okay, here is some info:

• There will be 8 adults, 5 kids (ages 8, 6, 5, 5, & 23 months).
• We aren't doing a resort. We are going to get a vacation house for 10 days.
• Planning on going in mid-February
• We want to do WDW for 3 - 4 days max, and do free or cheaper stuff for the other days.
• With that many of us, car rentals are pretty much a necessity.

So when do discounted flights start? It's insane right now, but I am wondering as Feb sneaks closer if we will find cheaper flights?

Fun things to do that are free / cheap? I know about the Disney World Marketplace, and a few other places that look interesting (just Googled "free stuff to do in Orlando), but if anyone has suggestions of places you've been & liked, I would love to hear it!

[jessica31876]

If you can get a flight to Sanford I think it may be cheaper. Not far from Disney by taking I-4

[jessica31876]

and cheap? Old Town in Kissimmee. Itll be great for you hubby if he likes old cars and it has a small amusement park behind it. Oh and four go-kart tracks. Awesomely fun!!

[jessica31876]

one more recomendation...rent with Enterprise. They will pick you up and take you to pick up the rental and then take you where you need to go when you drop the rental off.

[jessica31876]

Leu Gardens is an amazing place to visit too and Feb is one my favorite times to go. It is a huge botanical garden. It is free for kids under 12 I think and like 7 dollars per adult. I might still have free passes though if you did want to go. Last I checked I had four

[BrattyMeg]

I forget people go and don't stay onsite lol

I'm no help really with offsite rentals...There's a forum for it on easywdw though I'm sure some people there might have some suggestions. I agree checking out Sanford airport might find some cheaper rates.

There's a resort/timeshare type thing you can rent called Bonnett Creek. It's inside WDW but not Disney property. You might be cheaper getting a couple 2 BR units that each sleep 6-8 people. They run about 180-200/night depending on your dates.

[jaylensmom]

I've been researching WDW too...I'm a huge fan of the disboards.com. Someone on that board will either know the answer to your Disney question or will help you find the answer.

[Nettio]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

Also, I'm in Canada & flights are RIDICULOUS. Like $700 - $1100 round trip PER person (we have to pay for 3 of us, Elora will still fly for free). So we are thinking of flying from a US spot, like Billings, Montana to Orlando (or Kissimee, or somewhere??). Does anyone know how to find decent priced flights?? Tips & tricks??

I apologize if this is a stupid question but since I have no idea where you live would you be driving or flying to Montana? Because if you'd be flying, you might be better off flying into a larger hub airport since you can often find better deals from those airports than smaller ones.

As far as booking flights, Tuesday afternoon around 3pm Eastern is supposed to be when the fares are lowest since they all price match each other at that point. And if you're flexible with your travel dates, flying midweek Tue or Wed is always cheaper than other days. I've also found I have better luck on individual airlines websites over sites like Travelocity or Expedia but like anything it depends on when and where you're going.

[mariewilcox]

Another piece of advice is to not go later than around February 15th. Before that it is much less crowded (in my experiences) but a lot of schools have mid February breaks that start on the 18th and we've been there during that time and it has been so much more crowded than early February.

[Txcorey]

I also like the disboards and I think the book called "The Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld" is an absolute must. The book has all kinds of tips about traveling, and tells you just about anything you would want to know about the parks. I would also consider spending more days in the park. The longer you stay the cheaper the tickets are per day. There is so much to see at Disney World that 4 days wouldn't even begin to cover it. Just a suggestion since you will still be in the area.

[nesser1981]

Disboards is awesome!

Kenny the pirate is amazing for all the character meeting info.

I love these books.
http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-Walt...=Birbum+disney

And this app is a must, wait times, menus W/ pricing info, Disney World Magic Guide. We used it for the maps & planning our meals. It has every place in the Disney Resort complex with prices.

[AmberK]

yes- DISboards were awesome when we were planning our trip.

Dont use tourguidemike. I paid for the membership but found the same info on the sites Meg mentioned.

[BrattyMeg]

also I know you said you only want to do 3-4 days WDW max but after I think 4 days each day becomes cheaper..way cheap like 8-10 bucks/pp/day You will need more than 3-4 days in the parks. Epcot will take 2 days alone and I'd do 2 days for MK for your girls...maybe even 3 so I'd consider that. Other cheaper attractions around Orlando aren't going to be "cheaper" after your 4 days at WDW. If you use an outside vendor like Undercover Tourist for tickets here's the prices

4 day base ticket 268.35 (really a 5 day b/c 5th day is free with that ticket thru UC)
6 day base ticket 279.65 so the increase is minimal

sign up for the newsletter at mousesavers.com and there will be a special link to buy tickets from UC in there which is a discount on top of the discounted price they sell them...they send out their NL on the 15th of the month

[scrapperjade]

Thanks for all the advice so far!

Lynnette - if we fly out of Montana, we'd be driving to the airport. But I don't think that would work much better cost-wise, since we'd have to pay the gas to drive (it;s about 8 hours from us to Billings), then hotel, then parking at the airport).

I know that the general consensus is that we'd want more days at WDW, but I think we will be sticking with 3. If we were going to Orlando just for WDW, then yes, we'd do more days. But we are mostly going to Orlando because my sister (who we haven't seen for 3 years) is able to fly up with her hubby & daughter from the Dominican. He has not been able to fly out of the country to meet most of our family and we are pretty much just wanting to meet up & relax. We don't really want to be running all over the place & not actually getting to visit each other, you know?

I figure we will get 3 or 4 days, and do 2 at Magic Kingdom, 1 at Animal Kingdom, and if we do the 4 day, we'll do one of the other parks. But most of our time, we want to just hang out, do some fun touristy stuff, and just relax.