STEP 1 – choose when and where for how long

Now that I’ve listed all the parks, the earliest and first step is choosing which parks you’re going to, when you’re going, and for how long. Although it’s warm in Florida for most of the year, one of the water parks close down during different months in the fall/winter for maintenance…so if you have your heart set on snorkeling with sharks, you better make sure they’re not shutting the Lagoon for maintenance. Also the time of year affects what special events are available.

So we’re going during the Halloween season, and we’re going for a decent length of trip. (I’m fuzzy for security reasons.) We’re not hitting any water parks, though mini-golf MIGHT be on the menu, we haven’t decided yet. We’re hitting MK, AK, Epcot for sure. We now hit other places in Orlando, so we’ll hit Universal this trip (No Seaworld this time) and we’re deciding on how long and when still as we’re not that far in planning yet.

In this step, I really want to emphasize how much better it is to stay ON DISNEY PROPERTY.

I used to think that was a bunch of hype-ey crap, but now that I’ve done this a few times, here are the reasons why, and here are some budget solutions as well:

A) Driving in and parking means having to find a place, having to remember where it is. It also means fighting the lines of folks to get in, finding your car to get back, and driving back out along with every other tourist. There’s also about 16 bucks a day for parking. You can stay off site, but then you’re stuck with their schedule for their shuttles, which may not be as convenient, as opposed to the constantly running buses at the hotels on site. The nearby hotels aren’t as nearby as they could be (it’s certainly not New York) and if you’re driving on unfamiliar roads at night while exhausted, that just sucks. The parking lots are so huge they have trams that drive around to give you a ride to the park. This is incredibly time consuming, which doesn’t sound like it’s such a big sacrifice until you consider:

B)How exhausted you and your children will be. Almost no child gets tired at Disney World. There’s too much stimulation. But by the time you start to leave and the park closes down (different times of night for different parks and events) we see it all the time, every time. The kids pass out. They’re asleep sometimes before they even get to the gate, and they’re dead weight, along with all the souvenirs you’ve bought. If you have the type of kid that needs a nap and then wakes up ready to run again, you have to make sure you don’t wake them up while finding the car, strapping them in, driving to the hotel, unpacking them and the car, putting them to bed, etc., and if they wake up and realize they’re in the land of the Mouse, getting them back to sleep might be a problem.  By contrast, when you stay on Disney property, you get on a bus, someone else drives, you arrive very quickly without having to negotiate unfamiliar roads, and your hotel room has of course been Disnefied in your absence (often with your stuffed animals posed around the room watching TV or looking out the windows waiting for you to get there. Once ours were on the bed which had been turned into a “swimming pool” with towels, and my teddy bear was holding on to the TV remote.) It’s really nice for the kids, if they’re still moving.

C)Speaking of souvenirs – when you stay on Disney property, you can sign a slip of paper, and they will send the items directly to your room. It takes a day for delivery, so you can’t do it on your last day, but when you come “home” all your items are in your room waiting for you. No carrying it around the park. **addendum – Rob says that he believes they no longer deliver to the room, only to the main desk. We’ll confirm that when we get back, if someone remembers to ask**

D)Early open hours – One of the parks (it rotates which ones) will open early every day for the guests that stay on property. If you can get your kids up and moving early, that means you can get first crack at some of the newer more hard-to-get-to rides. We find, however, that most people with children INTEND to do that, but don’t actually get to do that, because kids are kids and foil plans. Our usual plan is to hit the early-open park really early, and then leave around lunch and hit any park that is NOT an early-open, as the early-open park tends to get crowded by all the people who tried to get there hours ago. The non-early-open is, by contrast, much less crowded.

E) Another little known secret – Disney Wake Up Calls – When you stay in a Disney hotel, call and ask for a wake-up call, and then get your kid to answer the phone.  Have a video camera ready.

Wake up calls come from the Disney characters themselves, so Mickey, Tigger, Goofy, you name it, call and tell you how glad they are that you came to the park and how they can’t wait to see you. Rob and I have to share the phone in the morning, it’s pretty awesome.

SO – Budget solutions on that…..

DELUXE

– MONORAIL CIRCUIT – The hotels go by order of convenience, really. The most expensive hotels are the ones that are on the monorail circuit. The monorails run to both the MK and Epcot and are truly the quickest methods of transportation. I don’t know all the hotels by heart (I’m sure Rob does) but among that list are the Grand Floridian, the Contemporary, the Polynesian (which has a Hawaiian theme) and I think the new one they just built is on the circuit as well. So with a monorail hotel you not only get to ride the tram (“por favor mantengense alejado de las puertas!”) which is a nice experience in itself (if you have a small child, ask for the front car. The view is great, and when I was little they used to give out little co-pilot wings) but really is super-super convenient.  Rob has just piped in to tell me that not all the deluxe hotels are on the monorail circuit. AK Lodge and Wilderness Lodge are two examples. Also epcot resorts the Yacht and Beach Club (those are for really rich folk as far as I can tell. They have their own restaurants and dining experiences, and sometimes have more than one.

MODERATE – The mid-range hotels are nice. I rather like them. I think my favorite so far has been the Mexican themed one, Coronado Springs…I meant to get to their swimming pool but I never did. Port Orleans has a mardi gras flair, but there’s also the French Quarter which has theming there as well, and a third part called Dixie Landings which has a plantation style theme. The mid-range hotels have large group dining, but they also have a restaurant. There’s others, but those stand out to me.

VALUE – there are many many other hotels on the property, each one with it’s own design and flair. The budget ones are called the “All-Star” hotels, and believe me, you’re not really sacrificing. Each of them also has theming, All-Star Movies, Pop-Resort, Music, and I think Sports are the themes, and there’s everything from giant toys to climb on to memorabilia all over the place. The rooms are smaller, the pools aren’t as themed, but really…how much time are you going to spend in your room anyway?

BONUS VALUE: As far as I’m concerned, if you like camping, Fort Wilderness is totally the option! If you can drive to Disney and bring your camping equipment, you can camp on the grounds and get all the benefits of being on property (I don’t know how they take care of your souvenirs…they probably send them to the courtesy desk and you pick them up there) for much cheaper. I remember my very first trip the year Disney opened and we camped on the grounds. They sent a little tram around to pick up all the kids and take them to a place where they showed old Disney movies on a screen (Mouse and Goofy cartoons I think) in order to give the parents a little down time and privacy. I don’t know if they still do that, but it’s something to consider. Rob and I have never done this, though if I ever win Lotto, this is totally on my list of things to do. I’ll probably rent one of their log-cabins, though.

STEP 2 – CHOOSE YOUR RESTAURANTS.

…in the next note. But why is this next? I’ll explain that too.