Disney World tips

[Candee]

Anyone? Please?? Any suggestions helpful.

[Ticone4]

Originally Posted by Candee We have 3 kids, 7, 9 and 13 and then the two of us going/(myself and hubby). What is the best place to stay for 5 people. Everything is geared for 2 kids and 2 adults. My kids are too young to want a separate room. I don't mind a suite but never hear them talk of anything really-you seem penalized for having more than 2 kids-which is defeating the purpose-they are selling another ticket to the park.....

All Star Music has a Family Suite that will sleep 6 but it's somewhat hard to find available and you really have to book it quite a ways out. We had originally reserved that for our upcoming trip but then were able to upgrade to a moderate resort which would also accomodate 5 people. We are now staying at Port Orleans - Riverside which has 2 double beds and a trundle bed. The cabins at Fort Wilderness are another option but these are a bit pricey and from what I can tell you really need to rent a golf cart to get around the premises so that can add up to another $400 or so. :sad:

We did take a spur of the moment Disney trip once after our Nick Hotel trip went horribly wrong and we stayed at All Star Movies and had two double beds and then rented a rollaway bed for our older son for $15/night. The room was a bit crowded for sure but we are hardly ever in our room and we are all so tired at the end of the day it's not like we were needing space to run around anyway. We just moved a few things around and it worked fine. My son said it was pretty comfortable and it can actually just be folded back up if you need extra space while you are in the room. We stored suitcases and other bags under it to utilize the space it was taking up. Of course , our kids are younger than yours (11, 4.5 and 20 months) so it might be different with older kids.

[cjnelson]

Ditto some of the Value resorts now have family suites. We went with 2 kids & 4 adults & this worked out well. It's basically 1 room with 2 double beds and an adjoining room with 1 double bed with a sleeper sofa in the sitting area & 2 baths.

[Iluvdisney]

Originally Posted by Candee We have 3 kids, 7, 9 and 13 and then the two of us going/(myself and hubby). What is the best place to stay for 5 people. Everything is geared for 2 kids and 2 adults. My kids are too young to want a separate room. I don't mind a suite but never hear them talk of anything really-you seem penalized for having more than 2 kids-which is defeating the purpose-they are selling another ticket to the park.....

My issue withthe all star family suites is the transportation. It has shared buses and it can take quite some time. But the room is a decent size though. All the other deluxes sleep 5 except the WL and AKL. But you can also get a cabin at Fort Wilderness. Also the DoubleTree Guest Suites at DTD are very nice and a good price.

[Iluvdisney]

The All Star Music is the only one with family suites right now.

[mars1990]

We are going to Disney! I'm looking into PhotoPass and the review range seems to be either loveit or hate it. So, for my frugal friends, worth it or not? Would you care to share any deals or what you paid for what you got if you have tried it?
Pros: I thinking about doing it becuase we will be a party of two and I would love to have pics w/ both if us in them.
Cons: On the down side, many complain about the photographers being hard to find and very few at EPCOT (our fav park)
I'd love your

[zansammommy]

Originally Posted by mars1990 We are going to Disney! I'm looking into PhotoPass and the review range seems to be either loveit or hate it. So, for my frugal friends, worth it or not? Would you care to share any deals or what you paid for what you got if you have tried it? Pros: I thinking about doing it becuase we will be a party of two and I would love to have pics w/ both if us in them. Cons: On the down side, many complain about the photographers being hard to find and very few at EPCOT (our fav park) I'd love your

We have been home from WDW for a week now. Yes the photopass is free and it is up to you whether or not you want to order the pictures either there or online so why not take advantage. I think it is cool because the photographer had my family pose in funny ways then computer add characters. One of my favorites is my son and I sitting on the curb on Main Street waiting for the parade. The photographer had us cup our hands (mine under his ) and look surprised. Got home and Tinker Bell is in our hands.

I do agree that we only saw two photographers at EPCOT but we didn't make it into the World Showcase part much, just enough to see Jasmine.

I would do it just because it is free and it is just the two of you. People are kind to take pictures for you but it is in the hands of stranger while or not it is good. Where the photopass photographer are trained. Out of 250 photos, we only have about five that are "bad" (meaning little peoples eyes closed due to bright sun)

Oh the cost can be found online. I ordered a CD so I can take it to Walmart or where ever to have the pictures made. Also just to have it forever. You can also edit and add borders and characters to the pictures. It is costly 100.00 for the cd but a 5X7 is 12.95. After eight photos you might as well by the cd with all the photos. Plus you can upload your digital photos to the website. It is expensive but photopass had 200+ photos and we took over 300. It was our first trip. We have some wonderful family pictures due to the photopass.

I am a fan!

let me know if you need any other tips, like I said we just came home last weekend.

[Teens&Tots]

OK - heading to Disney for Halloween - will be there 10/29 - 11/4 - we are planning to do the Halloween special and wondered from anyone that has been there - should we shy away from going on the 30th? We are flexible and I wondered if that night would be CRAZY?

Also, when we went in the spring, I just missed attending a time share presentation that would have netted us 10 day all hopper plus - blah blah for a GREAT price (dh wouldn't do it, not knowing ahead of time so we payed for our 3 day tickets what we would have paid for these 10 no exp lifetime passes + 90 minutes of time - and we are interested in a timeshare.....) so my question is, does anyone know of any reputable places, I think if I set it up ahead of time and the inlaws take the kids, we'd be all set.....any help would be appreciated greatly and repped;) thx thx thx

[mars1990]

I have only been to the party early in October and LOVED it. No lines, great fireworks and parade. That being said, I read the 31st is already sold out. I betting that makes more people go on the 30th. IMO if I had to fight the crowds, long lines etc. the extra $$ would not be worth it. Also, since you have kids, I will throw in, that the later the night got, the more cranky and crying kids we saw. I think our party was 9PM-1AM? Hope this helps!
Have you looked on allears.net for info about DVC info and presentations? I'm not too interested in it, so I can't be of much help in that area.

[Ticone4]

Originally Posted by Teens&Tots OK - heading to Disney for Halloween - will be there 10/29 - 11/4 - we are planning to do the Halloween special and wondered from anyone that has been there - should we shy away from going on the 30th? We are flexible and I wondered if that night would be CRAZY? Also, when we went in the spring, I just missed attending a time share presentation that would have netted us 10 day all hopper plus - blah blah for a GREAT price (dh wouldn't do it, not knowing ahead of time so we payed for our 3 day tickets what we would have paid for these 10 no exp lifetime passes + 90 minutes of time - and we are interested in a timeshare.....) so my question is, does anyone know of any reputable places, I think if I set it up ahead of time and the inlaws take the kids, we'd be all set.....any help would be appreciated greatly and repped;) thx thx thx

We went to the party once several years ago and it happened to fall on the last Friday prior to Halloween and it was pretty crowded and not at all as others had described (no lines for rides or candy, not many people, etc.). We had a great time but from what I can tell the closer you get to Halloween the busier the party gets so I would think the 30th would be pretty busy especially since the 31st is sold out and it falls on a Friday night so you will probably have a lot of Florida residents in addition to vacationers.

We just got back and we almost went to the party while we were there but decided it would be too much for our 20 month old. Plus we were a little tentative about it b/c when we went before a huge rain storm came up out of nowhere and we ended up only being able to spend about three and a half hours at the party. My son's candy bucket was full of water and there was literally water up to our ankles in some parts of the park when we were trying to make it to our resort bus. It was an absolute downpour so we felt like we didn't really get our money's worth out of it but that being said it was really cool to be there for a special event and we did have a really good time before the rain.

You probably already know this as well but a quick tip is if you have any interest in riding Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios you should sprint to that ride as soon as the park opens and try to get in line to ride it and then if you want to ride it again immediately get in the fastpass line. It was CRAZY trying to ride that while we were there. We had a character breakfast in the park so we were able to get in early and finished right as the park was opening and went right to it and it seemed like everyone came straight in and headed to that ride. Our server told us that the fastpasses are gone by noon everyday. When we came out of our ride the standby line wait time was up to 105 minutes!!! The same for Soarin' at Epcot. They seemed to be gone by lunch as well.