I'm going to Disney World!

So sayeth the wife, daughter and in-laws. #-o

My m-i-l bought a package and kind of forced our hand to go, but as we are finding out.. nothing about that package may benefit the wife, daughter and myself. :x It's too late with the 4 year old to put that cat back in the bag so now I get to begin some research on deals for us.

Anybody here have the good/bad/ugly/tips/tactics/tricks on this place? From what I have gathered thusfar, staying onsite for the extra hours and shuttle service and buying the meal plan may be the way to go.

Not sure Quackr... When is your trip? The wife and I are taking the boys (8 & 4) down next year in May along with some family and friends. We lucked out on a nice time share there in Orlando which a friend of ours has and will be spending the week. I'm in the middle of a little research myself so I would be interested in anything you find out and/or your experience while there.

you need to talk to Tiffany - she is a WIZARD at this stuff... shoot her a PM, and when I get home I'll tell her about it as well.

You're not a member of Triple A by chance are you? She just went off on a trip with her parents for about 2 weeks just driving out west, and they saved a butt load of money by being members.

If you were a member of the military, you could stay at the military resort there - we did it last year and it was a great place... easy to get to everything too. I don't know if I can get friends in there or not, but I'm sure Tiffany can find out.

It looks like we will be going in October. I was led to believe last October when the package was purchased that it would pretty much cover everything but our food. I'm now finding out as the information slowly trickles in.. it may not cover anything but the inlaws' tickets and lodging. :roll:

She didn't ask anyone else to look over anything before she bought it so nobody is really sure what she has bought. I know the package is through their time share that they normally use in Gatlinburg every fall but not much more than that.

I haven't had a lot of time to look at it but https://www.mousesavers.com/ is supposed to be full of info and deals.

All I know is,that you should splerge a bit and get the more expensive passes....it lets you go through another line so you don't have to wait a half hour or more to get on a ride.

Hire a fishing guide instead of going to kiddie land.

cyberflexx said:

Hire a fishing guide instead of going to kiddie land.

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Nope.

I wouldn't miss my little girl's first trip to Disney for the world record.

Almost went two years back with close friends on the $1500 family of four ticket, well me & the wife changed our mind on it. the friends still went and they said it was what it said and had fun BUT, they still ended up spending WAY more than they planned to.

Last year two good friends from our Church went on the deal program and they as well said it was fun but spent WAY more than they planned to.

I guess the moral of the story is, You might spend more than you want to, either way O'l Mickey loves money :mrgreen: it will be fun I hear

Quackrstackr said:

cyberflexx said:

Hire a fishing guide instead of going to kiddie land.

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Nope.

I wouldn't miss my little girl's first trip to Disney for the world record.

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Take her and two others for $260 on a 2hr guided trip on one of the lakes at the resort.

Brine said:

Quackrstackr said:

cyberflexx said:

Hire a fishing guide instead of going to kiddie land.

Click to expand...

Nope.

I wouldn't miss my little girl's first trip to Disney for the world record.

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Take her and two others for $260 on a 2hr guided trip on one of the lakes at the resort.

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She's only 4. She is more about the boat riding than the fishing at this point and I don't suspect you could pry her or my wife away from the park for anything that I could bribe them with.

Well, the lakes are still inside "the park". The MIL needs to pay for it :mrgreen: I bet your daughter would have a good time on a pontoon for 2 hrs on Mickey Mouse's Lake.

Ok, I'm done selling it :lol: . Hope you have a good time no matter what you do. Make sure to take lots of pics, so your 4 year old will remember it. I took our kids while one was about that age, and he doesn't remember much of it.

Brine said:

I took our kids while one was about that age, and he doesn't remember much of it.

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That is the exact discussion that I had previously had with my wife before my mother in law pulled this stunt. We hadn't planned on taking her for at least another year or two yet.

It's been awhile since we've been there, but we opted to rent a house in Kissimmee (only 10 minutes from Disney World), and it worked out where it was better than a hotel. It was a new 3 bdrm, 2 bath (jacuzzi tub in master bath), 2 car garage, washer & dryer, all utensils, plates, pots/pans, coffee maker are there, cable tv, plus a screened-in pool! All you have to take is food, as everything else is in the house. We bought the all-day pass for Disney and and would drive back to the house and eat lunch and swim when it got too hot, then go back to Disney later in the day. It was nice getting up in the morning and drinking coffee by the pool. I probably would have gone crazy in a hotel room. As I recall we paid about $150 a day for the entire house. Compared to a cramped hotel room you can't beat that price. If we hadn't needed the extra bedrooms for the kids, we wouldn't have paid for that portion of the house. My wife and I have decided that if/when we go back we'll rent one of their homes again.

here's the link: https://www.dreamhomevacationrentals.com/Index.html


here's a trick to save some $$ and not buy the expensive bottled water in the park: We would freeze our water bottles at night then have them the next day in the park in a small backpack I carried. It lasts quite awhile that way and stays cold. I still use that trick when I take the boat out.

russ010 said:

If you were a member of the military, you could stay at the military resort there - we did it last year and it was a great place... easy to get to everything too. I don't know if I can get friends in there or not, but I'm sure Tiffany can find out.

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How was Shades of Green? Easy enough to get rooms? I assume rates are based on rank? I've been kicking around taking the new wife down there for a late honeymoon next spring.

We went when the kids were 5 and 3. It was awesome and my daughter who was three still looks at all the pictures. Best thing we did was breakfast with the characters worth the money in my opinion as it was the highlight for the kids! We stayed in the park on a package trip with my baseball team that I coach. Loved the shuttle service from the hotel. We stayed at all star sports and the hotel wasn't great but was adequate.