Quote:
Originally Posted by Hammer755
I would recommend one of the All-Star or Pop Century value resorts. It's never made sense to me to pay for the premium hotels, as my family spends the overwhelming majority of our time in the parks themselves.
I also think it is an absolute necessity to pre-plan the trip as much as possible. You have to go to MGM knowing to hit the Toy Story line as soon as the park opens, or that Soarin's FastPasses run out very quickly, if you want to avoid waiting in line for over an hour. My wife uses a couple of the Disney websites like TourGuide Mike (which is not free, but totally worth it) and has our day planned down to who and when is getting a FastPass for a specific ride. Yes it seems like a pain, but it is absolutely worth it to minimize waiting in lines. Going with the flow just seems like a recipe for disaster to me.
Our first couple of times we didn't do the Dining Plan, but after doing it a couple of times, I really think it's the way to go. Also, Disney has been offering the Dining Plan for free a good bit recently, so be on the lookout for it.
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Heartily agree with all of this. On the Dining Plan being included, as well as other hotel specials, these get announced about 90 days ahead of the start date and run about 90 days. So as much as I agree with the 'plan ahead' talk, great deals at the resort hotels (including the 'free' dining plan) get announced a relatively short time ahead. Check the fan websites. They will instantly post the deal details as soon as they are available.
If your kids are Pirate fans, check out the new Pirate theme rooms at Caribean Beach. My daughter got us one of them last Novemeber. Cannons built into the beds, as well as pirate baseboards. Fixtures all pirate-y. I loved it, hard to imagine a kid not thinking it is the greatest room they ever saw.