Anonymous wrote:OP here. I am not sure what our budget is. I have to check with my husband. The kids that we will have with this will be a jizz two, three, five, seven, and 11 months. I just figured that it would be easiest to be on the monorail, since I suspect that most of our time will be spent at the Magic Kingdom.

Yes, with those ages I think the monorail resorts would be most helpful. Personally, I would pick Contemporary as it is the only resort you can walk to from the Magic Kingdom--you won't have to wait for the monorail. It will cost quite a bit though.

One thing about staying off site and Magic Kingdom--you will have to park at the TTC (cost to park with be $14, I think?) then from the TTC take a monorail or boat to get to the Magic Kingdom. The other parks (Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios) the parking lot is right next to the park, so it is more convenient. We've stayed both on site and off and have found it really inconvenient to get to Magic Kingdom when staying off site.

Look into renting a house or condo at Windsor Hills. More space, less money.

Whoops. Should be "ages," not "a jizz"

OP here. I am not sure what our budget is. I have to check with my husband. The kids that we will have with this will be a jizz two, three, five, seven, and 11 months. I just figured that it would be easiest to be on the monorail, since I suspect that most of our time will be spent at the Magic Kingdom.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the comments. I don't think that staying off-site would be an option because we will have five small children with us, And we will be flying, so I assume that if we stayed off site we would have to rent a car to get back and forth to Disney World? I think We would need to stay at a hotel that has monorail access.

Why do you feel you need monorail access? That limits you to the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian--those are 3 of the most expensive hotels at Disney. Are you on a budget for this trip, or do you have a lot to spend for this trip?

How old are the kids that will be going? While Monorail/Magic Kingdom area resorts are a huge convenience for the very young children--I think that older kids would actually spend more time at Epcot and Hollywood Studios, in which case Beach Club, Yacht Club, and Boardwalk Inn would be better choices--but again, those are among the most expensive resorts at Disney World. Not knowing your budget, it's hard to say if it would be worth it for you.

Just got back. It was HOT. Check out the JW Marriott Grande Lakes. Awesome pool, and about 15 minutes from the parks.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for the comments. I don't think that staying off-site would be an option because we will have five small children with us, And we will be flying, so I assume that if we stayed off site we would have to rent a car to get back and forth to Disney World? I think We would need to stay at a hotel that has monorail access.

that is going to be pretty expensive in a resort hotel. Find out how much you can rent a car for at the airport. (or a van since there will be so many of you). if you split the cost might be cheaper than what the onsite resorts will charge

OP here. Thanks for the comments. I don't think that staying off-site would be an option because we will have five small children with us, And we will be flying, so I assume that if we stayed off site we would have to rent a car to get back and forth to Disney World? I think We would need to stay at a hotel that has monorail access.

I don't think it's too late. Just stay at an off-site (non-Disney) hotel or resort in the Lake Buena Vista area. There is an Embassy Suites, Homewood Suites, and and Marriott Residence Inn in the Lake Buena Vista area that are not that far from Disney Parks. There is a Doubletree and a Hilton in the downtown Disney area. There are other hotels located in the downtown Disney area as well. I think there is a Holiday Inn there.

Two others places that I recommend are Hilton Bonnet Creek http://www.hiltonbonnetcreek.com and the Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resorts http://www.wyndhambonnetcreek.com (both of these hotels are actually closer to the parks than some of the Disney Resorts.

Another place that I recommend to people is the Floridays Resort http://www.floridaysresortorlando.com


Also, go to this following site: http://www.disboards.com This is the ultimate Disney Forum. The folks can assist you with all things Disney. There is a Budget Forum, Family Forum, and a Hotel Forum where you could post specific questions.

You could just purchase your Disney park tickets on-line, but stay at a non-Disney hotel.

Anonymous wrote:Yes and no. You can very likely still get this trip put together, but with some major caveats:
- reservations for sit-down restaurants will be hard to get, possibly impossible for the most popular spots and character meals
- there is currently a discount available on Disney resorts for summer dates, but it expires in two days. Not sure how much availability is left with the discount.
- this is a PEAK season for crowds and incredibly HOT. I love Disney, but I wouldn't set foot there in July unless that were the only time I could ever go. I especially wouldn't want to go there in July without some Disney-navigating experience or at least a lot of research.

Possibly useful links:
July crowd calendar/park recommendations: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/07-july-2013-crowd-calendar/
General comparison of different seasons for visiting WDW: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/crowdcalendar/

I would have thought the same for late june when we went and were pleasantly surprised. The heat was do-able, there are a lot of places to sit an rest, heck ride the train around the park a few times! lots of shade, we found one area that had water sprays so we could get wet. And we went with NO disney navigating experience and still had a lot of fun. PS I am the one who posted about making our plans in 5-6 weeks time.

I say Yes because we did it. granted we didnt have a full week, and was on a pretty limited budget.

My daughter came home and told me her job was sending her to orlando for a conference and wished the kids could go. my DH and I talked about it and said lets do it. I would say I have 5 weeks maybe to plan the trip. Maybe 6? i cant remember.

Anyway, we did not stay at a resort, we got lucky and found a hotel in Lake Buena Vista for like $55 a night. No frills, 2 pools, spray park area for the little ones. My daughter left over the weekend on the plane (paid for by her job). DH and I and kids left here at 9pm Tuesday night and drove to Dunn, SC, where we stopped for the night, and then arrived in Orlando around 7pm the following evening. We did Gatorland on Thursday, Disney World on Friday and Sea World on Saturday. My daughters flight took her back home early the Sunday morning and we sent the 3 yo back on the plane with her for $100 so it would be a quick trip. The 13 yo rode back with us. Was a long trip but we made the best of it and had a BLAST. We took some food so we could eat breakfast in the room, lunch was in the parks, and Dinners, we went to Golden Corral one night, ate at Disney World the night we were there and ordered to go from Ihop the night before we were coming home.

We are planning another trip down for next year, spring break for a full week. Will still most likely drive down, but will be more planned out. All in all we had a great time!!

To be honest, I get overwhelmed looking at the website for the resorts and such. It was actually nicer to just do a quick planning to be honest, doesnt leave much time to have to think about things LOL Oh and we were like 10 miles I think from Disney, if that. And there was even one resort that was on the main strip where we were staying.

A couple links a friend sent me:

http://www.mousesavers.com/

http://www.moremouse.com/

The second one is for lodging, like renting a house/condo. Some are not bad priced but not sure how their availability is. that is what we will be checking out when we go next time, getting a house/condo, since it will be a week and we had rented 2 hotel rooms for the 5 of us and my niece an her baby met us down there. SO def a house next year.

I say go for it! and enjoy

OP here. Wow, thanks PP. It sounds like this isn't such a great idea.

Yes and no. You can very likely still get this trip put together, but with some major caveats:
- reservations for sit-down restaurants will be hard to get, possibly impossible for the most popular spots and character meals
- there is currently a discount available on Disney resorts for summer dates, but it expires in two days. Not sure how much availability is left with the discount.
- this is a PEAK season for crowds and incredibly HOT. I love Disney, but I wouldn't set foot there in July unless that were the only time I could ever go. I especially wouldn't want to go there in July without some Disney-navigating experience or at least a lot of research.

Possibly useful links:
July crowd calendar/park recommendations: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/07-july-2013-crowd-calendar/
General comparison of different seasons for visiting WDW: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/crowdcalendar/

OP here. Whoops. Guess this should have gone in the travel section. Excuse me.

We've never been to Disneyworld. My SIL and her family are visiting in July and they really want to go to Disneyworld. I just took a look at the Disneyworld website and I'm a bit overwhelmed. Also, it seems like there is hardly any hotel availability for mid-July. Is it too late to try to plan such a trip? Any other tips or suggestions from seasoned Disneyworld visitors would be appreciated. TIA.