Plan your trip. We headed out in Spring for six nights at Disney World with 14 peeps from my wife and my family. Five kids, nine adults and four parks to conquer. We hit Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, then Magic Kingdom again.
Save money with gift cards: We purchased gift cards from Target on our Target Red Card, which gave us 5% back. There are similar deals to be had through Sams, Costco and other stores. We then combined the many $50 cards onto one $1,000 card so we didn't have to lug them all around.
Transportation: Many cities have direct flights to Orlando for good prices. And Disney will provide their Magical Express bus from Orlando International (MCO) to your hotel for free.
Lodging: We decided to stay on the Disney property to take advantage of the bus routes between the hotels and parks. Since there are 14 of us, being able to hop on any bus and head to and from the park was key.
We stayed at the Art of Animation, which is great value for the money at around $200 per night.
Art of Animation has a great pool, okay restaurant and decent rooms. We weren't too concerned with the room since we spend so little time in it. We would hit a park for most of the day, the crash at the rooms at night. I could see staying elsewhere if you have teens or no kids, but the value and themes are great. The hotel also has a decent view of the fireworks from a couple of the parks.
The restaurant can be a pretty heavy and greasy diet for a few days. My kids didn't like the pizza, or much at all, but they barely eat. I found the curry chicken and chicken nuggets to be good.
Save money with Amazon delivery: You can use Amazon Now, or Prime to have goods delivered to your room. We had water, milk, cereal, soda, swimming goggles, yogurt, chips and some other groceries delivered, however the process had complications. Only a few of the items arrived, or were able to be located by the hotel staff. The milk and yogurt were left in a bag for over a day. I'm not sure if the service is so new that there are kinks to iron out, or Disney isn't too keen on you sidestepping their restaurant. I contacted Amazon and they refunded our order plus a $10 credit. We did get the sodas, so at least something made it.
Another guest told me she went to Walmart to stock up on bananas, cereal and other healthy options. I don't blame her after paying $6 for a half gallon of milk, $3 for a cup of fruit loops and $2.12 for a banana.
Food: We passed on the meal plan this time and purchased a $1,000 gift card for meals, which is still cheaper than what the meal plan would have been. We had plenty of credit for our food and even spent a considerable amount on toys.
Fast Pass: Arrange your fast passes as soon as Disney gives you access. I think it opens about three months out. We grouped ours by regions within each park. Aim to use them early, since after you use your three allotted FPs, you get a fourth, but the later in the day it is, the less options.
Highlights from the tip:
Character breakfast at Ohana. Food was decent, atmosphere was awesome.
Dancing to British rock at Epcot.
More family the better. Staying at a Disney hotel made travelling with 14 people easy, as we didn't all have to leave and return at once. And more people to help wrangle the kiddos is great.
Character lunch at Crystal Palace
Happy camper on flight home...beats driving.
Save money with gift cards: We purchased gift cards from Target on our Target Red Card, which gave us 5% back. There are similar deals to be had through Sams, Costco and other stores. We then combined the many $50 cards onto one $1,000 card so we didn't have to lug them all around.
Transportation: Many cities have direct flights to Orlando for good prices. And Disney will provide their Magical Express bus from Orlando International (MCO) to your hotel for free.
Lodging: We decided to stay on the Disney property to take advantage of the bus routes between the hotels and parks. Since there are 14 of us, being able to hop on any bus and head to and from the park was key.
We stayed at the Art of Animation, which is great value for the money at around $200 per night.
Art of Animation has a great pool, okay restaurant and decent rooms. We weren't too concerned with the room since we spend so little time in it. We would hit a park for most of the day, the crash at the rooms at night. I could see staying elsewhere if you have teens or no kids, but the value and themes are great. The hotel also has a decent view of the fireworks from a couple of the parks.
The restaurant can be a pretty heavy and greasy diet for a few days. My kids didn't like the pizza, or much at all, but they barely eat. I found the curry chicken and chicken nuggets to be good.
Save money with Amazon delivery: You can use Amazon Now, or Prime to have goods delivered to your room. We had water, milk, cereal, soda, swimming goggles, yogurt, chips and some other groceries delivered, however the process had complications. Only a few of the items arrived, or were able to be located by the hotel staff. The milk and yogurt were left in a bag for over a day. I'm not sure if the service is so new that there are kinks to iron out, or Disney isn't too keen on you sidestepping their restaurant. I contacted Amazon and they refunded our order plus a $10 credit. We did get the sodas, so at least something made it.
Another guest told me she went to Walmart to stock up on bananas, cereal and other healthy options. I don't blame her after paying $6 for a half gallon of milk, $3 for a cup of fruit loops and $2.12 for a banana.
Food: We passed on the meal plan this time and purchased a $1,000 gift card for meals, which is still cheaper than what the meal plan would have been. We had plenty of credit for our food and even spent a considerable amount on toys.
Fast Pass: Arrange your fast passes as soon as Disney gives you access. I think it opens about three months out. We grouped ours by regions within each park. Aim to use them early, since after you use your three allotted FPs, you get a fourth, but the later in the day it is, the less options.
Highlights from the tip:
Jedi Training at Hollywood Studios. My wife and son got there for rope drop and were actually the first in line. The Jedi Training show was cool and he dug it. We rode the Star Wars ride, then afterwards, of course, there was stuff to buy from the gift shop.
Dancing to British rock at Epcot.
Pee pee incident: My oldest son and I stayed late a Epcot to ride Test Track, which was cool. We ended up leaving as the park closed, on a crowded bus.
A group of drunk obnoxious girls complained about the traffic and having to pee until they disgraced Scranton, or wherever, and peed onto a towel the bus driver had given them. They then naturally put the pee towel into the compartment that says to not sit on it (I had wondered what was in there and now I know: fire extinguisher, first aid kid, and now a pee towel). I had to move my son away from the pee on the bus floor and shield him from what was going on. It was super classy. And one girl exclaimed "C'mon, it's Epcot. Everybody's drunk!". I wasn't so sure, at least not at that pee onto towel on a crowded bus level. She kept it real.
The crummy experience of standing in the aftermath of her "drink around the world tour" was ameliorated by how amused my sister was when I told her.
Beautiful scenery at Animal Kingdom
Happy camper on flight home...beats driving.
