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Use our Travel forum for recommendations on everything from day trips to the best family-friendly holiday destinations.

Original poster

Planning a trip to Disneyworld in 2012, any helpful hints?

32 replies

Jossiejump · 04/01/2011 22:17

We are planning to go either Easter or Summer 2012 and would love to hear what you did that went well or was a mistake.
Our boys will be aged 4, 8 and 11 when we go.
We followed others advice when we went to Eurodisney and it really helped.
By the way we would like to stay in either a villa or a cabin as there will be the 5 of us.

OP posts:
SuchStuff · 04/01/2011 22:25

First of all, I am very jealous!! As I have one two year old and am pg with my second, it will be some time before I get to go again!!

However, even though I have never been with my own children, I cannot recommend highly enough a book entitled 'The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World'. The advice contained therein would be utterly invaluable if going with kids - info on eating, staying, activities etc etc. There's far too much to say here but, to give you a taster, my Hubbie and I went in August a few years ago and used their park plans and we didn't queue for longer than 20 minutes the entire week we were there. I think that's pretty impressive.

There's an updated guide every year, so get one from the library or buy your own - it is worth it!!

Original poster
Jossiejump · 04/01/2011 22:30

That sounds good-I'll look out for that, exactly thekind of thing I want.
Was it too hot in August and do you think that is a good time to go?

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Kbear · 04/01/2011 22:32

Firstly - go at Easter not summer - soooo hot in the summer.

Kbear · 04/01/2011 22:35

Disney Hotels are fab but expensive of course, worth it for the bus service to and from all the Disney Parks and the general feeling of happiness fabulousness that the staff convey! I am in the lucky positon of having a cousin who can get me a lovely discount which is why we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside (loved it) and Caribbean Beach.

Bloody love Florida, love Disney, a happy bubble of happiness to float around in for two weeks - FAB.

Y'all have a great time now!

Original poster
Jossiejump · 04/01/2011 22:41

Thankyou! The main prob with a hotel is that we are too big a family for most Disney hotel rooms, so would need two, which is v.expensive!

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Tobagostreet · 04/01/2011 23:02

Just visited in October 2010. (4th visit for me + DH, but 1st visit with DSx2)

Wonderful family holiday location.

Would really recommend the villa option - so convenient to have home comforts at hand and actually much cheaper than hotel rooms.

I booked one privately from this website and couldn't fault it. www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/orlando/13180

It's a UK owner with fab facilities and loads of room. Even though there were only 4 of us, found it handy to have a bigger villa with lots of space to get some time out.

Booked a flydrive with Virgin - Top Tip - it's cheaper if you book 1 x adult flydrive to get the car and then book 1 x adult and 3 x child flight only, rather than book a family flydrive.

One word of caution - we spent a fortune before we went, buying 14 day Disney and 14 day Universal flex park passes as we though it would give us great flexibility (being able to go to any park, any day we wanted). We then spent two weeks being asked by DS(6) and DS(4) "do we need to go out? we want a day at the pool".

Don't get me wrong - they LOVED Disney and Unviversal parks, but they ADORED having their 'own' outdoor heated pool to splash about in all day. So we could have saved a bomb by not being so ambitious about our plans.

I'm so jealous - you are sure to have an absolute ball!!

Grin
TrollyDolly1 · 04/01/2011 23:10

The villa option is what we did in October when we took ds. He was 2.6 at the time. It was lovely to have our own little home from home. Agree that you should go in Easter, summer is very hot for little ones. Who are you planning on flying with?

TrollyDolly1 · 04/01/2011 23:12

We got a 14 Disney park hopper from virgin holidays. Think it was only £215. Really worth it. :)

TrollyDolly1 · 04/01/2011 23:17

Sorry, IPad keeps posting when I have not finished. That was for an adult. Not sure how much the children's ones are, ds was free as he was under 3. We are going back in feb for his birthday. Can't wait to see his little face light up again when he sees all the characters! I actually go to Florida all the time with work so if you want any more tips just pm me. Hope you have a lovely time.

ElizabethWakefield · 04/01/2011 23:30

We went in July this year, a group of 11, and had a fantastic time.

We booked a villa from owners direct, I've used owners direct a few times and can really recommend them, we have always had really lovely properties at great prices.

It was really hot in July, (we were told it was hotter than normal for that time or year) but it was bearable and the kids coped with it fine (ages between 4 and 10)

We also got a 14 day ticket for Universal and a 14 day for Disney as we thought it would give us more flexibility, which it did, but it would probably have made more sense to actually plan what we were going to do and buy accordingly (as we only went to Universal 3 times...)

It is very tiring, so allow for maybe a day or so at the pool to recover. The Waterparks are less full on than the parks, they also have areas set out in age groups, so we let our older kids go and play themselves for a while and we just lay about on sun loungers Grin

ElizabethWakefield · 04/01/2011 23:31

Also, your 11 year old will be classed as an adult, which is quite annoying!

Original poster
Jossiejump · 04/01/2011 23:58

Thankyou for all of the info so far, lots of things we hadn't thought of! Going to chat to travel agents as well just to see what they have to say, but would rather here as much info as poss from people on here!
Thankyou!

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SuchStuff · 05/01/2011 18:22

I don't remember it being unbearably hot, in fact, IIRC, we had an unusual amount of rain and less warm than usual. Didn't affect us adversely, though - we had such a brilliant time!!

StarPlayer · 05/01/2011 18:31

We went December 2009. We would never go in December again - too cool/coldGrin

The best advice that we got was 'get to the parks early' - so true. It may be difficult with your younger one but it is so worth it - we hardly had to queue for anything when we got there before 9.45 a.m. If we went again we would try to get there for when the parks open or atleast by 9.30 a.m. definately.

Universal had my favourite ride - 'The Simpsons'. My ds and I went on it 5 times. We go there early so we could just come off, go around the entrance again and just get back on.

The 'Toy Story' ride (which we queued 1.25 mins for as we got there late) was an absolute waste of time - really.

I know you'll have a great time. We stayed in a villa and would do so again.

StarPlayer · 05/01/2011 18:33

The 'Toy Story' ride is in one of the Disney ParksSmile

Lizzywishes · 06/01/2011 15:08

Get ' the unofficial guide todisneyworld'. New edition each year. Has loads of tips and reviews of all parks and accommodation and brilliant touring plans that really do mean you don't wait in queues for rides. They work like magic!

Original poster
Jossiejump · 06/01/2011 21:32

Going through a travel agent, we've been quoted £7,700 for the five of us for villa, flights, car(SUV) and ins , park tickets for 14days to universal and Disney. How does that compare roughly for booking individually? sorry for so many questions!!

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joydivisionovengloves · 06/01/2011 23:35

Try holidaysplease.co.uk. they found us a great deal last year.

I second SuchStuff's book recommendation, that really helped us.

Also cannot stress enough how much easier life is if you get up and out early and get to the parks before they open. You'll be able to get a few rides done before the queues get bad, especially if you follow the plans in the Unofficial Guide.

Make sure you factor in plenty of rest days. You will walk miles in the park and it's bloody knackering and baking hot in summer.

redskyatnight · 07/01/2011 09:58

Also suggest looking at www.thedibb.co.uk -I've basically used that site to plan our holiday - there are many knowledgable folk on the forums who can answer anything and everything!

ElizabethWakefield · 07/01/2011 14:03

I think you could probably get it cheaper if you booked it all separately, might be worth looking into, as all the travel agent prices we are quoted were way above what we actually paid for things.

If it helps I can tell you where we booked and what we paid for things (July 2010 for 15 days) We were in a group of 6 adults 5 kids, but it might give you an idea.

We booked a 15 seater minivan/bus thing from here with insurance and petrol it cost £700 for 15 days hire.

We booked our villa from here it cost £750 for 15 days, it had 5 bedrooms and a private pool, you wouldn't need one as large, so I imagine you would pay less.

We booked our park tickets from here We found they offered the best deal. Also there are loads of shops that will buy back unused days from you. We did this on our last day, as we didn't go to Universal studios until the end of our first week, so the 14 day pass still had days left on it, which were bought from us.

We got our flights through Terminal 1 (which went bankrupt the month before we flew!!) but the flights were with BA so we were fine.

Hope that helps a bit.

Original poster
Jossiejump · 08/01/2011 11:48

Thankyou for all of the help-Elizabeth,, that's great, I feel like I'm getting a bit more of an idea about things, so can investigate independent prices of things, but if anyone thinks of anything else, please let me know!

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goingroundthebend4 · 08/01/2011 15:15

oh im going to look in as were planning summer 2012 and becuas esize of family look to book direct to

mumto2andnomore · 08/01/2011 17:28

I recommend looking at complete orlando who do great deals.

Also if you stay at one of the disney hotels you get free dining ! We went last year and had the dining plan which included a quick service meal and a sit down meal each day, meant we ate in the parks and hotels at some lovely restaurants we would never have afforded otherwise !Some of the hotels are villa resorts which sleep up to 6.

The disboards and the dibb are great forums to look at.

mummery · 10/01/2011 01:04

Bear in mind the crowds at Easter - US Spring Break, the busiest time at Disney after Christmas. I went with DS when he was 4 and we both found the crowds unbearable, in fact we left Magic Kingdom early because of it.

goingroundthebend4 · 11/01/2011 06:19

I been using the dibb and dis forums after recommendations on here and after talking to them we are going for booking own villa as were planning more than just Disney parks and with 4 children more room

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