Travel Review - Walt Disney World (yes you can afford it and you will LOVE it!!)

[mom2faith]

So I have been hemming and hawing about where to put this review and have even asked a few people, and I finally decided I would put it here - since it is something you "shop" for and "buy".

I am going to do this similar to the Scrapbook review I did, where I divide it up into categories and sections so it is easier to read. Please bear with me as it may take me a few days to complete this.



Categories:

• Booking with Walt Disney World website, deals and information
• Flights
• Hotel - All Star Movies
• Food - various Character Meals, other Table Service meals and Counter Service (Quick Serve Meals)
• Rental Car
• The Parks - Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot
• Shopping in Orlando, including Downtown Disney
• Sea World
• Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure
• Other information

First of all I wouls like to start out by saying that when we planned our trip for September 2008 we figured this was a once in a lifetime trip. If we returned, it would be years away. We thought it was going to be very expensive, and that once you had done it, that was it. We were very wrong!!

We loved our stay so much we booked a trip for this September while we were still there!! And, as this trip approaches I am getting so excited again, that I wanted to share this trip planning information with my SC friends!!

As for the cost, we are a family of 3, with one child who was 3 years old at the time (so she was past the "free" age for anything we did). Our total cost for everything including all of our souveniers and spending money was $5500.00 CDN for 11 nights, 12 days. It also includes a trip to Sea World and a trip to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure.

This may seem like a lot of money to some of you, but as the reviews go on and you see the cost of each thing individually, I hope you see what I see, that for what you get, there is incredible value. It truly was magical, and worth every penny!!

Well, on to the reviews!!

Amy

[mom2faith]

We initally went to a TA for our trip, but quickly realized that booking a Disney trip on their website (www.disnyworld.disney.go.com) was much easier and cheaper. We managed to get 11 nights, 12 days at a Value Resort (All Star Movies) for $2920.00 for the three of us. This price included 10 day Park Hopper Tickets, and the Disney Dining Plan. I will review the hotel and the dining plan later, for now the deals and the tickets....

Disney requires a ticket to get into any of their parks. You can choose several options for your tickets including howmany days, park hopping or not, and the water parks and more option. Of course as with all tickets, the more days you buy the better the deal. One day is $75 and 10 days is $237.00 (so $23.70 per day). Your tickets must be used up within 14 days of the first use (unless you add the no expiration package for an additional fee - $200 for the 10 days passes). If you plan your trip ahead of time and know what you want to do, the no expiration package is not necessary as you will buy the right amount of tickets for what your plans are.

Park Hopping allows you to go from one park to another on the same day. This option is an additional $50 on a 10 day ticket, making the 10 day ticket $287.00. We chose this and are very glad we did!! Disneyworld is HUGE!! We needed to take breaks during the afternoon, and often we chose not to go back to the same park we had been to in the morning. It allowed us to spread out our days and spread out our trip a lot more. We were not "forced" to do everything we wanted to do in one park that day, we could "hop" around and cover what we wanted to do. Often we migrated back to Magic Kingdom in the evening as that was our favorite park.

Water Parks and More option allows you to add access to the 2 Water Parks (Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach) as well as the arcade, Disney Quest. We did not add this option for either trip. It would be $50 each to add it (for a total per ticket price of $287). For the 3 of us, that would be $150. However, if we just go to the waterpark one day it is $40 per adult and $34 per kid for a total of $114. So therefore, if you are planning to go to a waterpark for one day only, pay the one day price, but if you plan for more than one day, do the adder. As you can see, the trip is a lot about planning. I will cover that more as the reviews go on.

So for each of us we paid $287 for the park tickets. Now, again, that sounds like a lot, but there is value to that - there is magic!! The parks are all so clean and there are Cast Members everywhere to make your stay enjoyable (more on this under parks). Before we went I agreed that this was very expensive, but not that I have seen what you get, it really is worth it IMHO.

Disney does offer a lot of deals throughout the year and taking advantage of these deals can change the price of your trip incredibly. For example, we did get Free Dining. So our $2920.00 original booking came to $1975.00 with the promotion - a savings of $945!! (More on Dining later). They also ran a Buy 4 Get 3 promo this spring that allowed you to stay for 7 nights for the price of 4 - another great way to save.

Another tip is that there hotels are priced by season and if you go in value season your can get a room onsite for $82/night. To me this is a great price, and staying onsite is much more magical.

Overall, it is a very easy trip to book, but it will take some preplanning. One of the great things about booking on the Disney website is that they only require a $200 deposit and the remaining balance is due 45 days before your trip. You can cancel at any time before 45 days and you will get a full refund of the $200.

[mom2faith]

Reserved for future review of flights and MCO.

[mom2faith]

Reserved for future review of All Star Movies Resort

[mom2faith]

Reserved for future review of Dining at Walt Disney World

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Reserved for future review of transportation.

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Reserved for future review of the parks.

[mom2faith]

Reserved for future shopping review

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Reserved for future review of Sea World

[mom2faith]

reserved for future review of Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

[mom2faith]

reserved for other information

[mom2faith]

Saved for future overall budget