So I think this is our destination place. (far cry from in texas...lol). Where have you stayed? I have been twice, so I know alot about layouts. But where have you gotten the best deals on rooms?

Also if you stay offsite, are you allowed to use the monorail and that transportation?

By Jackie on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 08:11 am:

Ive always stayed off site, as Im just cheap LOL.. But really Ive been going for the last 10 yrs or so and never had a problem with staying offsite as we have always had a car.
Yes, you are allowed to use the monorail, and transportation/buses..Well Im not quite sure abour the buses as we have never used them. But, I know you definitely can use the monorail.
I love Disney, my favorite place on earth

By Conni on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 08:45 am:

No idea! LOL But I hope you have a great time!!

We are going for the first time this November. We will be staying at the Port Orleans - Riverside Resort. (i think thats what its called?) I have really enjoyed reading info on the Disboards site that someone recommended to me a few weeks ago. Oh and the Passporter site is great as well. I know you could find all the answers to your questions there!

Have fun!! I am getting very excited about our trip.

Think about me over Spring Break when I am bored out of my mind in WEST TEXAS!!! LOL I am teasing. We do have family there to visit and we always enjoy our time there!

By Debbie on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 08:47 am:

LOL Kaye, yes it is a far cry from Texas. wdwinfo.com has lots of info. Also, mousesavers.com will let you know what deals are going on. I have never stayed off property,so I am not much help there. The buses are for resort guests only to get too and from their hotel to the parks. You can use the monorail once you are in the parks, but it only goes from MK to Epcot and into 3 of the hotels that are on property. So, if you stay off site, you will need a car to drive to the parks, or some hotels offer a shuttle.

As far as onsite hotels. It really depends on how much you want to spend. They do have AAA rates which you can usually get. As far as off site, I have heard that the Holiday Inn Family Suites is great.

Kaye, when are you going?? If you are going in the summer, then one thing you may want to think about when choosing a hotel, is that it is so hot mid-day. The parks are open late and it is nice to be able to go back to the hotel and take a mid day break. When we go in the summer, we usually go early then take a mid day break and swim, then go back to the parks when it is cooler. It is much easier to do that if you stay on site. You just hop on the monorail or one of the buses, depending on which hotel you are staying at.

We have gone to Disney a few times, so if you have anymore questions, I will try to answer them.

By Debbie on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 08:52 am:

One other thing, Kaye. If you want to use a travel agent to book your trip, I have heard that Dreams Unlimited is wonderful. They specialize in Disney vacations. They have a website www.dreamsunlimitedtravel.com

By Sunny on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 09:07 am:

I've been to Disney twice, both times staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort. We are going back this August with my sister, her family, my niece's friend, her mom and brother and my brother. (Got all that? LOL) This time we are staying at Port Orleans Riverside, while my sister, brother, et al. are staying at Fort Wilderness. We did consider renting a vacation home, but I really like staying onsite and I'm not sure that sharing a house with everyone would be the best idea for us. My sister is renting an RV for her stay so she can bring thier dog, but I prefer the hotel.

I went through AAA to book our trip and we got a small discount on the room. Sometimes there are codes you can use to get a discount, but I don't know a whole lot about them. You'd be better off asking on www.disboards.com

I believe Dreams Unlimited is owned(?)by the webmaster of the disboards, so I'm sure you'd get a lot of information there. If you're thinking of staying onsite, go to Disney's website and do a mock reservation to have for reference when you start pricing it out.

By Kate on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 09:16 am:

Hi Kaye, I'm planning my Disney vacation, too. This website is great as it shows you pictures, inside and out, of ALL the Disney hotels!!

http://www.allearsnet.com/index.html

Also, 'The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World' by Bob Sehlinger is a MUST HAVE. It's only $12 at Amazon. It's not only interesting reading, but it's honest advice and opinions from a group of people who visit Disney every single year, several times a year during the different seasons and peak times, and they TIME how long it takes to do things and what route is the best and what to do and what to skip and where the bathrooms are located and this and that. I can't describe it well enough, but it's a SUPERIOR book.

By Bellajoe on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 10:29 am:

the Unofficial Guide to Disneyworld is a GREAT book. It was like our vacation bible when we were preparing and while we were there.

We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort. It is a moderately priced resort. It was nice. There really are all different price ranges for the Disney Resort. From $75 a night at the All Star resorts to $400 a night at the upper scale resorts. Now that we stayed on the property i don't think we will ever go back to the off property hotels. It was just so convenient to be on the property.

By Bellajoe on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 10:37 am:

Also, don't book it online. Call to book your hotel and get your tickets (if you are doing it that way). Ask them if there are any deals on the rooms right now. My dh did that and we ended up getting a GREAT deal on our room . We planned on staying at the Pop Century Resort because it is the least expensive. But after asking if there were any deals, we ended up getting our room at the Carribbean Beach resort for LESS than the room at the Pop Century Resort! We were so excited!

By Trisa on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 11:33 am:

You are going to have a blast!
When are you going? That can make a big Diff
on how much you will pay for a room.
Disney has great room deals at times.
http://www.disboards.com/
This a a VERY good info site.

By Melanie on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 12:39 pm:

We stayed at the Old Key West. We had a two bedroom villa. The villa is more expensive, of course, but we were able to cook almost all of our meals in our room, which saved a ton of money. Our kids were young, Peyton being only 1.5 at the time, so we wanted to be able to put them to bed and still be able to be up to enjoy our evening, so the villa worked very well for us.

Definitely check out www.passporter.com. They have an incredible message board and there is even a travel agent on the site who can help you find great deals. They have a guidebook that I absolutely loved above any others I purchased. That book stayed with me the entire trip and it was worth every penny.

By Fraggle on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 01:53 pm:

We stayed onsite at Fort Wilderness for our last trip. We went in the off season so we got a great deal. For our next trip (hopefully May) we will be staying offsite at Residence Inn. I actually prefer staying offsite because we can save a lot of money on the hotel and on food (Residence Inn has a full kitchen). I don't know how it would be to coordinate transportation for so many people if you were offsite, though? You might want to check out the Magical Gatherings on Disney's website-they have info and deals for large parties travelling to Disney.

By Reds9298 on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 03:16 pm:

We go to Disney all the time because we LOVE IT!!!! (before and after our daughter!) We always stay on site because it's worth it and WAY more convenient. We've stayed at Coronado Springs which is a beautiful, LOW KID resort. Also at the Animal Kingdom Lodge (which is quite expensive) but wonderful if you get a savannah view room like we have done in the past. If you're taking kids, I don't think it's worth the $ to take them to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to stay just to see giraffes....they can see those at the Animal Kingdom or your local zoo for a lot less money!!! Hope this helps. We have always taken breakfast food with us (nutri grain bars, things like that) and small snack bags because it saves some $ when it's late or too early in the AM. Have a wonderful time. It is the best place to vacation! Also..we have always gone on the off season...there's no one there, you wait 5-10 min. in line. I would NEVER go during peak season because you will ride 3 rides all day, spend a lot of money, and die from heat exhaustion. I did that once and I felt it was a big waste of money and we didn't get much out of it. Hope this helps!!

By Dawnk777 on Monday, February 14, 2005 - 11:09 pm:

I went to Florida when I was 19, way back in 1979. (sheesh!) We stayed in Kissimee (sp), at a cheaper hotel. We still used the monorail to get to the park. I remember we were about 5 miles away from Disney World.

By Kaye on Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - 08:47 am:

Because this is a family trip we always go in the summer. One of my sil has vacation issues so we try to piggy back our trips to a holiday so she gets more time. Not what I would do if it were just my family, but it is okay. So we will be going over 4th of july. Which probably means we are spending sat, sun, mon in the parks..YIKES. But ya know it is okay, we have been twice, but we are the only ones.

By Debbie on Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - 10:21 am:

Kaye, since you are going in July, I would definitely stay on site if you can. We went last August. It was very hot and crowded, but we still had a great time. We splurged and stayed at the Polynesian hotel. We love it there since it is right on the Monorail. We went to the parks early and then left around noon when it started to get hot and crowded. We swam and both my dks actually napped(probably because of the heat). We then went back to the parks around 5pm and stayed until they closed. One morning we slept in and swam and then just went to the parks at night.

Also, a plus to staying on site, is that they have just changed their extra magic hour for resort guests. Now, the parks are actually open 3 hours later some nights for resort guests only. It varies by park and day of the week.

It is going to be busy, but you know that. We just sat down before we went and made a list of what rides everyone just had to do. We used fastpass and got do to eveything we wanted.

I am sure you will have a great time!!