@Rustyprop

$10k-$12k would be fine.  Happy to pay for easier/better/VIP, etc.  We're doing this once and then never again.

I have often thought about getting my 5 year old into carpentry.

I think this is a pepper your angus moment.

@staringback05

My wife and I have done serious hiking and backpacking across the US and we've been to more national parks than just about anyone we know.  We're an outdoors, non-tablet family and we spend every minute we can outside.  

The kids want to go to Disney World... it's not going to change who we and they are.

@Skydivesnake

We both run a couple miles a day, she does kickboxing and I lift.  We're in shape.  The kids are kids.

Definitely would stay on site at a resort hotel, that's key.

No paid membership, no team.

Without even going into all the fuck Disney, their parks suck, the waits are worse than ever and for the money you could go on a real vacation many places in the world.

Did this last year OP

Stayed at Art of Animation Disney resort. Kids loved it. Whole resort is themed to different Disney movies like Cars, Lion King, Little Mermaid, etc.

Little Mermaid area is the cheapest, and farthest from the main resort cafeteria, bus station, etc. everyone online said book that one and there is a 70% chance they upgrade you if the resort isn’t full. Sure enough we got moved from a single room with two queen bed little mermaid room to a two bedroom suite in the cars section with a kitchen for free.

Art of Animation has skylift carts that can take you right to Disney Hollywood and Epcot. Buses are free at the resort to take you Magic kingdom and Animal Kingdom.

We did Disney Hollywood day one, Magic Kingdom day two and three, took a break on day four to go to the beach (one day $75 car rental) and went to Disney Springs. A big outdoor shopping dining area that’s open to the public but Disney owns it. Day five we did Animal Kingdom. We skipped Epcot since are oldest is 5 and it’s more geared towards slightly older kids.

Whole trip was around $6,000 with flights, hotel, tickets, food, one day car rental. One thing they do t offer anymore is the free bus from the airport to your Disney resort. That was awesome to get off the plane and right onto a bus headed to Art of Animation for free. Same thing going back. They dropped that this year. Buses from Art of Animation to all the parks and Disney Springs are still free.

Check out the website Undercover tourist. That’s where we got our package parks and hotel deal. They beat about everyone for prices including Disney directly. You pick how many nights and how many parks you want to go to.

@Racer_X

6 hour flight and 3 times zones vs 2 hour flight.  Nope.

Hell No !!

Save money on the room.  You're really not there that much.

Pop Century is as cheap as I'll go. All Stars are a bit too walmarty.

The high end properties are nice, but not for the premium they command.  Fun to go eat dinner at one though.  Ohana at the Polynesian or Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge for example.

Mid tier at most.

No chance in hell.

The Contemporary used to be our go to but the new theming just ruined the cool old school vibe it had. They fucked over the Polynesian really good too.

The Wilderness Lodge thingy might be our new try.

You and your kids would love staying at the Beach Club. Arguably the best pool on property too.

You can also walk or take a boat (that’s free) to two of the parks from the hotel. That whole area is cool too with the boardwalk right next door.

If you like beer, make sure you drink around the world a little bit while in Epcot. Black velvets in england are tasty.

@DOBERMAN

Cruises are like being stuck in a floating Walmart.

The kids want to go to Disney World.

She's a young teenager now. Also...
Attached File

@mudholestomper

The miserable nature of the average arfcommer isn't a surprise to me.  Plenty of great and even possibly normal folks here, but plenty of people who spend their days and nights screaming at their TVs.

My parents took me and my brother. I don’t remember a single second of Disney or Epcot. Either does my brother. My parents have some old photos that I can look at, but I don’t remember anything about it.

We didn’t take a lot of vacations. But I remember a LOT about the non fancy ones. Like when my dad bought and fixed up an old van and we did a Grand Canyon trip. Or when we’d go to his company picnics. Or when we’d go to the shooting range. Or go to Florida and hang with my aunt and uncle and go fishing. Or when we’d go see my grandparents and I’d get to sleep in their camper and I’d wish it would rain because it was so relaxing. Or when we’d go cane pole fishing behind my other grandparents house. Or my other uncle would come to town and rent a cool car and we’d go drive around.

I get wanting your kids to have the experience, but I can think of a million other things to do that would be more memorable.

We used to camp at Fort Wilderness ever summer. They have cabins if you don't have a trailer.

It's cheaper than hotels but with all of the Disney things, like park hopper passes and such.

There's a ferry from there to the Magic Kingdom and busses to all of the other locations. You can rent little boats to cruise around water too.

They did regular camping nights things, like movies with smores.

This was a while ago so YMVM, haven't been since I was a teen.

Withdraw several thousand dollars from your bank's ATM.

Put it in a pile.

Set it on fire.

You just saved yourself a week and cut out the middleman.

Been many times, but Disney has gotten super expensive in the last couple of years. We're going in two weeks and this might be our last hurrah.

My best tip for a first time visitor- using a disney approved travel agent doesn't cost you any more than DIY and will save you a ton of hassle.  

Skip the park hopper, it is kind of pricey and if you have ample days there's plenty to do to keep you occupied at a single park with no need to hop. I would only consider park hopper if you had less than four days to visit and you had to attempt to do two parks in a day.

Ideal schedule for me is two park days, a day off, and then two more park days. if you had a fifth park day it will likely be best used as a second day at Magic Kingdom with young kids. if you stay on site I recommend you be there at rope drop (opening)and stay until after lunch. You can ride a ton of rides in the first two hours before the park gets crowded. Go back to hotel for a siesta after lunch, then return before dinner and stay after dark.  The parks are cool at night.  

My favorite places to stay inside-

value- pop century (skyliner access)
moderate- port orleans is good, Swan and dolphin is not bad because of great location but it feels like a regular hotel
Deluxe- Wilderness lodge (very cool at Christmas).
Arfcoms millionaires stay at the Polynesian in the Hawaii building. I stayed there two nights a few years ago and its the most Ive ever paid for a hotel room.

Contemporary is OK, Grand floridian is boring both are super convenient because of monorail access

There's nothing wrong with staying off site and you can get a nice hotel room for less than $200/day, It's just not that immersive disney experience and makes a mid day siesta impractical.

I would eat no more than one sit down dinner a day, unless you really like to eat.

ETA-If you and your wife is into planning  check out  the Disney food blog (DFBGUIDE )videos on youtube.

If you truly mean it when you say never again, then wait a year or two so the younger one remembers it more.

@mudholestomper

I agree with you for sure.  This isn't supposed to be a defining moment or memory for them, it's just a trip.  We spend every minute we can with our kids and we camp, hike, and go on road trips with them all of the time.  We take them out of school whenever we want for as long as we want.  We're really blessed to have the opportunity to do more or less whatever we want, whenever we want.  This Disney thing is... just a trip.  In a few years, Disney won't even be relevant for them because they'll be too old.  Right now, they both like a handful of Disney characters and shows.  If they don't remember their trip there in a few years, it won't bother either one of us.  Right now they want to go.

My son and I just got back from a 3 day father-son fishing trip catching speckled trout and camping in a cabin.  This summer we have a 3 week trip planned with them visiting a number of amazing places and national parks.  My parents and grandparents spent a ton of time with us doing stuff and experiencing things instead of buying stuff.  I'm trying to do the same.  

My 5 year old looks way younger than those kids. Also I’m hoping to raise my kids a little better than my great great grandparents were raised. In all seriousness I understand making kids earn and respect nice things. I guess next year I will cancel my trip and throw my $ in FTX.

Why..just why

We used to go when they had free dining, but they're not even doing the dining plan now.

Pick a low ticket price week when kids are in school without a holiday on either weekend. November is good, and early Dec., late January/early Feb are good.

Use weekend days to travel, get 5-7 day park tickets, I'd go 7 because they hardly cost more. Decide if you want hoppers or water parks. The combo-tickets are less costly than they used to be, I'd get the water parks at least, but hoppers are convenient. There's nothing wrong with one park a day and the resort pool either.

We liked staying on site. I'd go with a value resort, especially if you got waterparks/hoppers, you aren't going to spend a lot of time in the room anyway. We mostly stayed at moderates and enjoyed all of them. If you're rich stay at the Poly. If we ever go again we'll probably drive down and camp.

Make some dinner reservations and get your fast passes as soon as they open up. O'hana is worth doing for dinner on a magic kingdom day, ride the monorail and see the Poly, good food. There's always good counter service at the resorts and at Epcot.

Get up early, hit the really long wait rides right away at open, plan on leaving the park around noon to go swimming/waterparking or have a long lunch somewhere, maybe have the kids nap if they're shot while you take turns soaking in a hot tub, go back to the park for or after dinner when the all-day crowd has burned out and left. Parades make things ridiculous but the wife will want to see them, and the fireworks, at least once. If there's a particular area you'd like to ride a lot try to be there before the parade/fireworks traffic make it hard to go anywhere, lines tend to be shorter.

Have a plan for everything, but don't sweat it when they don't work out. The thing I really liked about free dining was not having to stress over the cost of everything. It's going to cost, try not to let it spoil your fun.

I'd make sure your kids are big enough to ride the rides they want, or one is so you can fast lane all those rides twice with swaps.

And your kids and family made unforgettable memories without you.

Well, if we're so awful, why'd you come to us for advice when there is a boatload of info out there for you to find on your own with a bit of effort?

LIFE'S GREAT MOMENTS:
When someone asks for advice, then argues with the advice given

I'm just saying some life skills would be good for my sister and her daughter. $$$ won't fix everything or make her happy. Teaching her some basic skills like cooking, using hand tools, etc... will go a long way for her. A Disney trip here or there isn't the end of the world, but it won't make someone of substance alone.

You're going to have to indicate a budget. That could WILDLY change the metric.

If you're not staying on property, Disney World is not worth it. Go to Disneyland. With young kids, this is probably doubly true, and can long term help set expectations for a trip to Disney World. It's a huge undertaking, the whole property is massive.

Staying on property will save you tons of time, and you can utilize all the "public transportation" to get wherever you need to go. You also get extended hours. It simplifies logistics making it easier to operate on the fly.

Doing your own research is going to pay dividends and maximize experience at the parks. If you don't feel like doing that, I would seriously consider one of the Disney Specialized booking agencies. There's a ton of online resources to help navigate it, although it is overwhelming at first.

Best way to do it is at least 5 days.

Select your own path, but bookend it with Magic Kingdom.

For Example:
Day 1: Magic Kingdom
Day 2: Animal Kingdom
Day 3: Hollywood Studios
Day 4: Epcot
Day 5: Magic Kingdom.

Lodging.
Don't over indulge on room, you're not spending much time there, and your kids are young enough to not need the room, and if you're National Parks people they are probably used to smaller areas. One of the most parts is spending so much on a room that you're never at.

If you're balling, Club Level at Poly is the way. Club level is worth it for quick snacks and drink. Don't over indulge on room, you're not spending much time there, and your kids are young enough to not need the room, and if you're National Parks people they are probably used to smaller areas. One of the most parts is spending so much on a room that you're never at.

Contemporary is decent, stayed at it recently after reno, don't hate it but it's very "corporate hotel" and loud. The Monorail transportation goes directly through the building.

If you want to save money, pop century or art of animation. I will say, with young kids, they tend to love those places a lot more even though they are cheesy for adults.

The typical tradeoff with cheaper resorts is that they are more crowded, therefore the public transportation is more crowded or less catered to you.

Ultimately cost is going to come down to when you book it. You can get some amazing deals, if you keep an eye out.

Food.
You are going to get taken to the poor house on food if you don't stay mindful of it. Easy to rack up huge bills.

Generally accepted course of action is to book one sit down meal a day, and typically best to structure it where it breaks the day into two.

You camp and stuff, so you're used to packing snacks and such, if that's your preferred way to handle it.

Transportation.
Once you figure out where you're staying, figuring out the transportation will be the biggest aspect of planning. From each resort to each park, there are many options, be it a bus line, monorail, skyliners, boats, etc, that can get you where you want to go. Basically, you park the car and don't have to worry from that point.

Disney is really good at making sure you get where you need to go.

If you ever get confused, just know you can google it, and a million other parents have probably already asked the question online.  

Disney Springs

In addition to the parks themselves, there is also Disney Springs, which is a "lifestyle center" type shopping center with tons of great restaurants and shopping. It's fun to spend an evening at, and your best meals will be had here.

The biggest mistake.
Disney is a huge cost, and attracts the most autistic of people, so naturally people try and plan out every minute of every day to maximize value of their spend.

More often than not people then fuck up their family vacations, running from reservation to reservation or trying to stick to a strict schedule. This makes the trips miserable.

Just go with the flow. The parks are meant to be explored. You can have six days running full steam and still not get everything they have to offer. You will always leave wishing you'd have done more.

Go be spontaneous. Just enjoy it. There are certain things that are iconic Disney that you just have to do, which is part of the reason of the recommendation of two days of Magic Kingdom, but other than that you're not paying all that money to be miserable.

Make sure you go on gay day.

might be tough to avoid.

Avoid gay days at disney, it turns into a huge .... well. I don't have to say.

You'll have to look on google to see if one is planned for the day you are there.  

Plan on rise of the resistance ride to be broken. It's broken down daily now, either in mode B (simpler and less things running) or just flat out closed. And you will have to fight to get reservations early morning the same way you have to snipe auctions on ebay. If your kids have their hearts set on doing it ... well. It's fair warning.





Conditon yellow or orange in the park for awareness. (eta: I dunno if they added metal detectors at the gate like universal has, others will have to answer) Bad news from DW is suppressed. We've seen multiple reports of fights breaking out between families and groups in the last year or so.

Oh, you might also consider avoiding using the monorail for transit. It's broken down several times recently and has stranded passengers.

I've seen several reports that the genie app or whatever they call it now lies about line waiting times.

I'll give nothing to that sewer.

I missed it in 97' when we took the kids. It was the day before we went. Now everyday is pillow biter day. Celebrate!

Related, and of interest:




History of the various systems they have used in the park to try and rat-maze people (fast pass, genie, etc) ... actually interesting.



History of ticket pricing.

I heard they recently bumped the day prices up to 189$

ETA:

And it appears they are still using the fingerprint scanners at entry for pass holders:

https://allears.net/walt-disney-world/wdw-planning/finger-scans-for-park-passes/



And there was a scandal that they were using it for all kids for a while.

How much driving you want to do in the CFL area?

Unless you get deaded on the way to or from the park!

"We" is not everyone.  The GD responses are expected, but scattered among them have been some very helpful pieces of information, and I appreciate that.

Thinking $10-12k right now, is that reasonable for an on-property stay?  Airfare would be free.

Thanks for all your info.

Seeing things like this sheds light on some of the reports I've been seeing about disney execs driving the prices up to where they are.

Unreal for dirty poors like me. Glad I don't want to have anything to do with DW anymore.


ETA:



The blather stops around 3m.

Man, I got cranked at them when the tickets went over 60 bucks for a day pass.

I’ve gone the past two years and my family had fun. We went just for one day at Magic Kingdom both times. I’ve learned a few things:

1) Go in the middle of the week. We visited on a Tuesday last year and a Wednesday this year.
2) Visit in the fall. I would go around mid to late October.
3) Fast pass, fast pass, fast pass. Seriously, get it. It’s worth every penny.

Went this summer. Bought fast passes. Be ready to be nut to butt with strangers and cannot even walk your normal gait. Less people in a free bangblow orgy than that hellhole. If we do it again, there's a site that lists off-peak times. Do that and thank me later.

I gotta wonder what capacity would be like for that place if they didn't run their own fire department.

Here's to hoping they aren't allowed to have that anymore when they have to go grovel to the state and remake their special district.

If you are looking to do a proper traditional Disney experience including staying on property, eating all meals there for 7-10 days (staying In the bubble as it’s called) the best advice I can offer is that you need to be able to flush a $100 bill without flinching.  If you can do that you’re ready for Disney.

Disney vacations are best planned like a military operation to invade a small country.  There are multiple aspects that have to be planned in advance, some up to 6 months ahead of time, tickets, dining, park reservations etc...

Look for package deals with hotel stays and dining plan if they ever come back (been suspended since the virus)

You can do it a lot cheaper just getting tickets and staying and eating off site but that depends on how you want to do it.  

Watch dfbguide on YouTube, best advice you can get but there are a ton of things to research and plan if you want to make the most of the trip. The worst thing is to go unprepared, end up over budget and hating life.  A Disney vacation has caused more than a few divorces.

Edit to add,

Ignore all the haters, as is typical a portion of the membership is “too good for such poor people things”.  Same old song and dance if you’re not the typical arfcommer  billionaire who only eats food prepared by Gordon Ramsay, is married to a supermodel that was factory sealed when they met and only shoot calibers that cost $5 a round at their private range with their custom built Holland and Holland ar15 after driving there in a 100k+ vehicle and of course vacations 2 months a year in the bridge suite at Atlantis you are one of the poors.

Good on op for doing what the kids want, it’s a life experience like anything else, go forth and enjoy your trip!

Also check out DVC Rental Store you can save a crap ton if money on villas through websites like these. You can sometimes get villas cheaper than a regular room directly through disney. Big downside is you usually need to book months ahead of time to be able to get a room.

This website, and there are others like it. Disney vacation club members sell their unused hotel points to people like you and you get to stay in a DVC room.

Why the fuck would you give your $ to Disney?  Conservatives  need their heads examined.  

Shit, I can't afford it. A day pass maybe, but people drop 10-15k on it. That's real vacation money to me, and I'd personally rather use it to go traveling somewhere exotic, over a corporate theme park. I have way more memories of traveling to Europe as a teenager than I do of Disneyland when I was five (I don't remember it at all). He can do what he wants, but I'd just save that money until they're older and let them pick anywhere in the world they'd like to go.

This as I won't support pedos who prey on children.