Disney world for 2 adults and 6 kids

[sadetom]

Hello everyone, my husband totally surprised me by telling me he wants to go to disney world in june. I love this thought, but it scares me, because we have never gone and I need help....We have 6 kids 13,12,9,5,3,1 are the ages. I have no clue what to plan or where to start can you guys help any thrifty suggestions would be helpful...Thank you in advance!

[434Teresa]

The 1 and 3 year old are alittle young to do much but they will still like it tho.

1)I would take a first aid kit of sort for kids run and fall down.
2)If may want to take a few of those little things that you wet and put on your neck to stay cool for it gets really hot..
3)Everytime(4) I go it has rained at some point when it did not look like it was going to,so be ready.
4)Take more money than you think you will need..
5)Get fast passes when you can to ride the rides for if you dont you will stand in the lines forever.

[troubles]

Use Priceline to book your hotel! It saved me. I got a room valued at $125 for $35 a night...it included breakfast in the morning that saved me a bundle!

[kookiecrisp]

Your 12 & 13 year olds are considered adults so you will pay the adult prices for park tickets, meals etc. I am pretty sure your 1 year old at least gets free meals (they eat off your plate) and may even be free to get into the parks.
Most definitely get the Disney Dinning Plan! Which works out great for you because they are offering free dinning into next year!! There are some black out dates for the free dinning, so after you pick your dates for going, you'll have to make sure your dates are within the range for free dinning. This will save you over $1,000!!! We booked our latest trip before the free dinning came out and once it was made public, our travel agent applied it to our package and for a family of 4, it was a $750 savings!!!
I would also use a travel agent, if you have a AAA, I would check through them. We have used AAA for each of our trips to Disney and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!!
I would stay at the Value resorts because they are the cheapest and while they are not fancy by any means, it really doesn't matter because all you are doing in them is pretty much sleeping. You will have to either get to rooms or ask for a bigger room, as most rooms only sleep 4, unless you stay at a "fancier" resort.

[justmama]

We are going in January, we opted for the free dining plan. We were able to stay longer. We are staying at a value resort. Check out disboards.com too. We found a lot of information online. I booked on the Disney website, and got a great deal. A lot cheaper than we had anticipated. I checked the free dining dates and planned around them.

[sadetom]

You guys are fantastic. I have a notebook i am writing all this in and keeping track of it...We have never been on a vacation like this before so it will be a big deal for us...I am also afraid of flying and we will have to fly, but I am willing to overcome all of that for my kids. Thank you everyone keep it coming.

[kookiecrisp]

Also, I check allears.net daily as there is so much useful info on there!

[Macaela25]

Try mousesavers.com. Definitely stay on property - trying to shuttle back and forth from an outside resort is unrealistic with 6 kids unless you have a rental car. Free dining will save you a huge amount of money, and is going on pretty much all year. The Value resorts do have a limited amount of suites, so I would try to book one of those.

Take ponchos/umbrellas with you - they cost way too much in park. You can get ultra cheap ones at Walmart for like $1 or so apiece in the sporting goods dept. It WILL rain daily if you come in June, anytime between 1-6 PM, sometimes multiple times. It's usually short-lived.

Bring your own folding strollers for the little ones. It's $20ish for a double stroller a day in the parks, so even if you pay an airline fee for each it will be less. Or stop by a Walgreens here and pick two up for about $20ish apiece and leave them at the resort to avoid a baggage fee. I haven't flown in awhile so I don't know how the baggage fees/carryon policies work now - you might have enough passengers for them to carry them on.

Try to get a room with a fridge, and take chilled water to the park with you. It's $2.50 a bottle otherwise. And drink lots - you're going to need it.

[notablanda2000]

I went about six years ago with my family (2 teenagers, 1 college, both parents). We needed more space on less budget than any of the Disney resorts could give us, so we stayed at the Doubletree Lake Buena Vista. We got a free breakfast as part of a Mousesavers deal, cookies on check-in and cookies delivered to our room to cheer us up (airline debacle getting down). Rates and accomodations were great.

There are a few resorts that aren't Disney-owned but considered part of "Downtown Disney". They operate a reliable, efficient shuttle to all the parks and the hotels in that area, and I believe some of those hotels do breakfast with Minnie, etc.

[joshmamabear]

Iced water is free from any of the concessionaires inside the park so you can refill thermos bottles as much as you want. You can let the kids carry a backpack each to hold some snacks like sandwiches, chips, granola bars, etc. Food is expensive inside but since you're going in the summer, you might have to buy ice cream for the kids. Outside Disney in Kissimmee, you will find rows of restaurants you can pig out and there's a lot of restaurant coupons, even the buffet restaurants. There's also plenty of WAG, CVS, Publix, WM and Target over there.

In the summer, they sell those mist fans inside for a little less than $20 IIRC, that's highway robbery in my books If it's a must that you need to buy them for your kids, check WM and Target for cheaper ones. May not have the Disney sticker but they work just the same for a fraction of the cost.

Don't forget to buy ponchos for everyone while you're outside; it is about $6 inside the park. With kids, you will be forced to buy it when it starts to rain.