Walt Disney World - Orlando, FL Review

GOING TO DISNEYWORLD AND ENJOYING IT IS ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS AND HOW YOU PLAN IT.  WE NEVER, EVER GO IN THE SUMMERTIME.

I love DisneyWorld, and so does my family.  We have learned how to make it an enjoyable, memorable, and relaxing experience.  We don't want to have to worry about the money we spend, even though everything is expensive when going somewhere like this, so we take the time to plan.

First, we make our reservations through Disney's Travel Agency about 6-9 months in advance, even though we do not always use them for airfare.  We always take out the travel insurance through them, as my daughter and I have many medical problems.  It is relatively cheap, about $38/person. 

We decide on a hotel/resort by comparing them on the website.  After so many stays, we like the Wilderness Lodge the best (I've reviewed it, and you can check that out -- I've included some pictures.).  We always get the Park Hopper Tickets, and if we aren't going anywhere else, (not needing a rental car), we use their newest airfare and bus service.  We use the meal option, as it gives us 2 sit down meals that can be character meals if we want, and then 2 snacks a day.  We do all of this through the Disney Travel Agency.  They require a down payment, then payments each month, and full payment 45 days from arrival.  This way, we don't have anything to pay for except our souveniers, tips for meals, housekeeping, etc., and any extra food (in a week, we maybe did 3 extra snacks per person.)

 Because we stay on the property, if we have a rental car (we usually do), we don't have to pay to park at the Theme Parks, as we ride the busses and/or monorails from park to park and back and forth to the hotel.  We can go back to the hotel to rest for a couple of hours in the hottest part of the  day, or if we are tired, as it takes about 10 minutes to get there.  There is no waiting in line to buy tickets, as our room key is our ticket.  We can use our room key to pay for things, as we have a credit card for incidentals.  Any souveniers are sent to the room if we dont' want to carry them around.  My daughter actually wanted to pay for her own souveniers this last time, so her room key had her credit card to charge things on.  They were more than willing to do this for us. 

 We've gone with friends before, and had connecting rooms, and I made the payments for us, and they paid me, and when we got there, they put there credit card for incidentals, so they were separate.  Meals are great, as we make all of them Character meals, including breakfast, and do many of them at Epcot as well (breakfast at Epcot is great!). We do it at off times (as above), so that the crowds aren't too bad and you get great service.

If you go at Thanksgiving or Christmas, the day after Thanksgiving, the Hollywood Studio's backlot is decorated with thousands of lights, and they make it snow at dark, and serve hot cocoa.  It's a great experience as long as you begin the journey with some planning.

AGAIN, AN ENJOYABLE, STRESSFREE MEMORABLE VACATION IS ALL ABOUT THE PLANNING BEFOREHAND.  Making payments, makes it affordable, and makes it less stressful, and you don't worry about being able to afford souveniers for your kids or others.