Help me get started

[undecidedowl]

I am trying to start planning a May 2017 trip to WDW for my family (2 adults, 2 kids- will be 5 yo and 2 yo) and my parents. All I know for sure is that we will stay about a week and plan to stay on property. We want at least one bedroom. No specific budget in mind but don't want to go too crazy.

I've been looking at AoA because it looks really fun for the kids. I thought about a monorail resort for the convenience but I can't tell how much more convenient it would be other than MK. I think I'd like to go to all of the parks. Last time we went to DS1 we only went to MK & AK. I briefly looked at DVC, but it kind of looks like a PITA.

Right now, I'm just feeling overwhelmed trying to explain this all to my mom and plan for everyone. Any ideas to get started?

[katrinabennett]

I was you a week ago and am still pretty close to your spot.
I joined some Disney pages on Facebook that post articles every day. Mouse savers is a decent website. Dis boards have interesting reviews of everything. They have some big threads on each resort with photos. You could read the first page for all the compiled info.

There is a video you can send away for / I haven't because my 180 days are a few weeks away.

[curbsideprophet]

We used DVC rental store to rent points. Pretty sure they will give you a quote for free.

We enjoyed our two bedroom at BLT. It was probably more space then we really needed but my parents wanted the space and were willing to pay for it.

[ssmjlm]

I would start with - do you want to stay together in one suite or do you want separate rooms? I would keep in mind budget. We started with 3 separate hotel rooms for 6ppl, but renting DVC for a 2bd at BLT was cheaper.

Transportation would be your next thing IMO. Do you want the ease of hopping on the monorail to take a break mid-day? Or can you deal with buses and maybe not going back to room as easily.

You can look at point values for renting DVC through December 2017 (I know b/c we're hoping to go Dec 17) to get an idea of price. Some charge a premium if you're more than 7 months out to rent points, FYI.

[undecidedowl]

Aug 2, 2016 6:46:36 GMT -5 ssmjlm said:

I would start with - do you want to stay together in one suite or do you want separate rooms? I would keep in mind budget. We started with 3 separate hotel rooms for 6ppl, but renting DVC for a 2bd at BLT was cheaper.

Transportation would be your next thing IMO. Do you want the ease of hopping on the monorail to take a break mid-day? Or can you deal with buses and maybe not going back to room as easily.

You can look at point values for renting DVC through December 2017 (I know b/c we're hoping to go Dec 17) to get an idea of price. Some charge a premium if you're more than 7 months out to rent points, FYI.

I know we would prefer to all stay together.

I'm having a hard time knowing how much easier/worth it the monorail would be. It looks like it would be very fast for MK and Epcot, but no benefit for HS and AK? How much longer do the buses take to get places?

[ssmjlm]

We had horrible experience with the buses to HS from BLT. I think it was a mix between being May 4th (so everyone was headed there and me, non star wars person didn't realize it would be a madhouse).

We had no issues with the AK buses. We also went to Disney Springs 2x on the buses, no issues.

We used the monorail to GF too for dinner. I think if we do BLT again I'll do park hoppers and would head back to MK in the evenings vs going back to the park we were at earlier in the day.

[was5]

I think a lot depends on your budget. DVC is popular here, but from one I've seen getting 2 rooms at a budget resort would be less expensive than any of the DVC options (I could be wrong or missing something so don't take my word for it). Some drawbacks of budget resorts are full instead of queen sized beds, smaller overall rooms, and less luxurious bedding (I honestly was fine with all of that but these are things I've read on other people's reviews), unless you go with a suite. Then of course you have a separate bedroom and 2 baths, but the suites are more expensive than most moderate resorts.

We stayed at Art of Animation 2 years ago in a Little Mermaid room. We only had time for 3 days the parks so I was pretty laid back in my planning. I knew we wanted to see spend 2 days at MK and 1 day at HS. I booked directly through the Disney website, including park tickets and a dining plan. Dining plans aren't very popular here either. Getting one of those depends on how much you eat and if you want to do a lot of table service vs. quick service meals. I wanted to make sure everything was paid for ahead of time, but I am not a good budgeter and that was just easier for me.

When you book with Disney they make things pretty easy. They tell you when you can make your advanced dining reservations (ADR's) and when you can select your Fast Passes.

If you do decide to stay at AoA, the only drawback to the LM rooms is that they are far away from the big pool, on site restaurant (cafeteria style) and the bus pick up and drop off. You can see the layout of the buildings if you google images of AoA. See if you can request a room in one of the buildings closer to the pool and main building. The bus service to MK was great. We had our car and decided to drive and park at HS. The plus for AoA is great theming. The kids will love it if they are into Disney characters.

I say to get started, figure out your budget and where you want to stay. The other planning (ADR's and FP) can wait for now. It's sort of like a wedding. Figure out where you want to get married and have your reception before you pick your flowers and photographer.

[Deleted]

AoA has gone up considerably in the last year in terms of pricing. It can sometimes be cheaper to rent a DVC.

But it's a whole different process and more DIY.