Next Fall, we are FINALLY planning to visit Walt Disney World, and I am absolutely terrified to plan it.
That's right. I want nothing to do with it.
In a perfect world, I would wake up and the whole thing would be done for me: Airplane tickets, hotel reservations, rental car arrangements. Someone will have figured out our tickets, our priority seating needs and would have made those PS's for us. The stars would line up such that all we would have to do is go to the airport, fly to Orlando and we would be greeted by our Fairy Godmother, whose only purpose in life would be to serve as our personal tour guide, sprinkling pixie dust along the path in front of us, showing us where to go and supplying us with Cast Members who would be nothing but happy, friendly and overly eager, falling down besides themselves to help US.
You'd think that I would be excited. I mean, it's not a secret that my family has a 'thing' about Disney. It's very well documented. Very. Extremely very well documented.
In fact, most people who know us, or know of us, have no idea that none of us has ever even seen WDW from a distance, much less never been there.
And I think that's the beginning of my myriad of problems with this trip.
EXPECTATIONS.
The expectations on this trip are unbelievably phenomenal. They are so overwhelming for me that I am sitting here, at my computer, with no real way to articulate them. I'm trying to figure out how I can itemize them and then expand on them and create a lovely, coherent readable article about them. And I can't!
First of all, straight out of the gate, the timing has already been messed up. For years I had this plan: We'd go to WDW during the boys' November school break. It would be lovely. Too early for Holiday rush, after the Hurricane season. That was until last Spring when the boys' school district messed with their calendar and now we get a scant 3-week break in October. I don't WANT to go in October. I want to go in November. And then we have friends going in October but I wanted our friends to maybe be there when we'd be there and if they're there at the wrong time in October, they won't be there when we're there and that will just suck if we barely miss our friends being there and and and and and.... (ok, PerkyMommy, let's pause to breathe.)
Good air in, Bad air out...
We're supposed to know how to do this. This trip has to be perfect. I should know how to do this. I should know exactly already where I want to stay, how much I need to budget, and how to do it as cheaply as possibly without missing a darn tootin' thing. But I don't.
There are entirely too many unknowns. There's the airplane thing. We've never done the airplane thing with the kids. And I've never done the airplane thing to Orlando. There's the geography. We don't KNOW Orlando geography. We don't know WDW geography. If we have to pee at Disneyland, I know where to pee. I know where every stinking toilet is in almost the entire resort to include several backstage toilets and even which backstage toilets are most easily accessed by regular day guests. Hell, I can tell you how most of the toilets FLUSH from one restroom to the next! Who KNOWS this crap? I DO!
But not only do I not know anything about Walt Disney World, what I know, because I've been told so often, is that it is "Nothing like Disneyland in Anaheim. The parks in Orlando aren't like Disneyland and DCA distance apart - they're like Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm distance apart."
I know that the people who think they're special steal all the good priority seatings because they live to call the reservations line as soon as they open up and they steal them for their friends. (Do they still do that? What are they called? Harold's Angels? Harvey's Angels? Herman's Angels? Something like that?)
I know that if I go on message boards and ask stupid questions, people are going to roll their eyes at me. I know not to ask "What should I do to plan my WDW vacation?" But oh my gosh, there is so much stuff to wade my way through and figure out.
I know that the Caribbean Beach Resort is hell on earth evil but how do I know what is going to be safe? I've heard that Pop Thingie resorts are the Motel 6's but some people say they're ok and other people say they're not so good.
I don't know when is the right time to make the airplane reservations and get the best deals. I don't know when is the right time to book the hotel to get the best deals (for all I know, I'm already far too late!) And I don't know when the boys' vacation next year will actually be, so it's a bit of a gamble to even pick dates. (And then, go back to the aforementioned, when might my friends be there and is there a chance that we can hook up with any of my potential future in-laws?)
I have spent years rolling my eyes watching other people plan their vacations to Disney destinations and now here I am. I am the stupid one. I am so unbelievably overwhelmed by this process that I can't begin to describe it.
I know this much: We want to go to Walt Disney World and we have to go to the Cape. (Oh wouldn't it be grand if by some such luck we might come up with some connection to the Cape and my kids could get an awesome amazing tour? Oh, their little scientific souls would just plotz. Can you imagine it!?)
I don't know how this is going to happen. But there it is. We're supposed to go to Walt Disney World next Fall and I have no idea how it's going to happen.
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7 comments:
It's strange, because I was under the impression that not only did you have a Most Excellent Travel Agent who is a Certified Disney Specialist, but you were also a member--a prominent member, at that--of an online community that specializes in Disney Travel Planning. Not to mention being on very good terms with several people who have been to WDW many, many times and would be more than happy to answer any questions or help in planning anything you want.
I guess I could have been thinking of someone else. Weird, huh?
This is the most wrong thing I found in this blog: "This trip has to be perfect"
GET THAT OUT OF YOUR MIND!!!!!!!
Ok, but two comments and neither one of you, both of whom know some of this stuff, answered ANY of the questions I posed in the blog.
How is THAT helpful?
What do you really want to know? A lot of that seemed to be general venting, not requests for information.
I can point out the bathrooms for you, and you can get maps before you leave that will show most of them.
We did not like the CBR but it has its devotees. We like POFQ very much. Pop Century is the best of the Value resorts, mostly because it's the newest. It's probably ideal for a family of five including three children, especially if you don't plan on spending a lot of time at the hotel.
I have no idea about whether Howie's Angels are still in operation. I do know that if you want certain ADRs, you have to book six or four or three or something months in advance -- I'd check with Mark to get the latest on that as it seems to change a lot. As a party of two who visit in the off-season, we rarely worry about ADRs.
The parks are not walking distance. They're driving, or bus/boat/monorail distance. WDW transportation is pretty good but it's overburdened lately. There are times when it's better to take the monorail/bus/boat but we find it's usually most efficient to drive from place to place. Onsite guests get free parking anywhere that would normally charge for it, and everyone can use WDW transportation for free.
Allow at least two days for MK, one for the Studios, one for AK and two for Epcot. You could add one more day split between the Studios and AK, and of course you can park-hop as much as you want (assuming you buy the park-hopper option, which you should). Both water parks are a lot of fun and are good for a few hours each, but you can choose one or the other without feeling like you're missing something.
What else?
I had a whole bunch of advice in my comment before I edited it out!
I think you have 3 choices on rooms, only 2 I really recommend:
Port Orleans Riverside if you want to go cheap but crowded - it has trundle beds in the Alligator Bayou section and is 'legal' for 5 people. But the room is not that big for 5 for a week, even if you're not spending much time in the room.
More expensive would be two rooms in Pop Century. It's the newest of the values, it never shares a bus (and there's only one bus stop for the resort). The food court can get crowded especially for breakfast, and I personally don't think they have enough cash registers given the lines I've seen at times there (and I think they were all staffed at the time!)
My third choice is actually my top choice, but comes with a price tag: 2 rooms at Port Orleans French Quarter. It's the smallest (physically and room count) of the moderates, and only has one bus stop, though sometimes you do have to share a bus with Port Orleans Riverside. Plus there's a boat to Downtown Disney, which you should plan on at one point.
Other moderates - Caribbean Beach is VERY Spread out, but now you can pay more for the most-far-away rooms and get a Pirate theme!
Coronado Springs is also spread out, and because their food court is 'different' (it's a food court, but they bring you your drinks, and there's an auto service charge/tip added on) I haven't stayed there yet (might in January). BUT, according to a different Disney Travel specialist, they're upgrading those rooms to Queen beds (all the other mods and values are fulls!), so that could be a major plus. (Mark is double checking it with his contacts).
I agree with Andrew on the "in park" stuff. If you want something really aimed at planning - get a Passporter. If you want potential info overload - get an Unoffical Guide.
Don't bother with the dining plan (it'll drive you bonkers) and the Howie's Angels (or whatever) kind of got pushed out when they started requiring credit cards for the Cindy breakfast - then they added characters to other meals, and jacked the price up, so demand has gone down.
You may have to get up early 180 days from your arrival date - or maybe 60 - or maybe both, or maybe by then they'll have added on-line ADR capability...
October is a great time to go. I'm waiting for a certain website to announce info on their "twice early escapade in the parks" that's planned for fall 2010 before I decide which time period I'll be going for the Food & Wine fest then.
See, we can be helpful. And the people on some online communities don't bite in their WDW forums!
When I first browsed this entry, my first thought was that you know at least two couples that I know of who know WDW really well and who I'm sure would be happy to answer any questions you might have, especially since they know your kids really well too, so they could even answer questions with your kids in mind.
> "This trip has to be perfect."
OK, that depends on what you mean by "perfect". Is everything going to go exactly as you plan, down to the minute? No, especially with three kids, but even taking the kids out of the picture, things are going to happen. You have to think about what the most important things are for you to do/accomplish/see, and try your best to get those done. You're not going to be able to see and do everything, and you've got to plan for contingencies.
As far as Orlando geography and WDW geography, it's easy to learn. Getting from the Orlando airport to wherever you're staying should be a fairly easy calculation/lookup on mapquest or whatever. Sometimes, the signs aren't great on the resort roads, and we missed a turn or two on our last trip, but then you just turn around and do it again. On our first trip, the strangest sensation was that I was at a Disney park and didn't know where everything was, but the trick is that you have to get used to looking at a map, which is something you probably never do at DLR anymore. As for general WDW and individual park layout, I'm figuring you'll know at least one person who would be able to get/send you a map for each park that you could review/study so that you have some idea of the layout.
>I know that the Caribbean Beach Resort is hell on earth evil
OK, I'm going to disagree with that. Our first trip, we stayed off-property. In January 2007, we stayed at CBR, and I can't tell you how much I loved it. Most of the complaints I've heard about it was that it was too big - that actually was something I liked about it, that if you stood in the middle, it was like you were on an island by yourself. I thought the property was gorgeous. We had a rental car, so distance wasn't an issue, and we managed to get perfectly-placed rooms to suit our needs, so we were close to the dining and shop at CBR but being away from the noise. My only complaint was the limited food options. For our next trip, we're looking at upgrading to Deluxe because of different needs that we have, but I'm still not sure if I'm willing to spend that extra money. However, if we end up doing Moderates again, I'd totally go back to CBR.
When we were looking at where to stay, I went to the WDW site, which has a comparison of what each category offers. I knew we weren't going to splurge on Deluxe, but looking at Value, they didn't offer what I wanted, so we just looked at the different Moderates and decided on CBR, partly because of a great photo-essay done on MP of the property. And yes, each property is always going to have people who like it and don't like it. You have to read why someone didn't like it and try to figure out if it's a personal preference thing, whether it's an on-going problem, or a one-off, every-company-has-a-bad-day thing.
We're actually trying to plan another trip for next year (OK, who am I kidding - I do all the planning really), and coincidentally, I'm looking at October, because I want it to be not in the summer and after hurricane season, and October also has Epcot's Food and Wine Festival and the Magic Kingdom's Not So Scary Halloween party. So maybe we'll end up waving at each other in passing airplanes.
Heck, I've planned two trips to WDW, and I still feel a bit lost. Normally, I don't read the WDW threads on the boards unless I've just come back from a trip, but I'm reading them a bit more now to see what people are saying, and I'm figuring on browsing some of the trip reports (which I never do) if they involve resorts I'm interested in staying at.
Of the "Value" properties (the All-Star Music, All-Star Movies, All-Star Sports and Pop Century), the All-Star Music is the only one that allows more than 4 guests per room. The Music has a "Family Suite" with 1 queen bed, a living room with a double sofa-sleeper and 2 twin size sleeper chairs. There are 2 bathrooms and a mini-kitchen. For your first trip to WDW this would be my suggestion for a family of 5 who want to stay on property but are on a reasonable budget (I've emailed your husband with all the pertinent info).
I like the onsite "Value" properties They are family/kid oriented, have fun pools and the food at the food court is no better or worse than at any of the "Moderates".
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