any tips/suggestions for Disney World??

ways to get the best deals?

We are looking to take a trip next summer with 10+ family members.

thinking of renting a house offsite....

My only advice is to not go in the summer unless the water parks are the top or your list. Go to magic kingdom, epcot, hollywood studios and animal kingdom.

A 4 or 5 day weekend on a non peak weekends is good for the following reasons.

Even though you are there for less days you probably end up seeing more attraction and riding more rides because you are not in the lines as long. Summer heat humidity in Florida is missed. Cheaper rates on hotels.

We liked staying at one of the disney hotels because of the convenience of their transit system.

[This message has been edited by Jebber (edited 5/2/2011 4:45p).]

http://www.vacationrentals.com/vacation-rentals/75256.html


This will fit your needs and would probably be a good deal with so many people traveling together.

There are so many things to do the most important thing would be to prioritize and make a plan ahead of time. You don't want to wake up and ask what are we doing today.

I would try a character meal for the experience!

Where you are staying really should depend on the ages of the people you are going with. In my opinion staying at a Disney Resort is your best bet by far. (I live in Jacksonville, FL and go to Disney about every four of five months).

Perks to staying at Disney property are large.
1. Extra hours at the parks. This is huge as you can ride almost everything in the two or three extra hours they give you. We typically will go to the park in the morning, stay until about two or three, go back to the room to rest, nap, make and eat dinner, and then go back right around nine pm to watch fireworks and then hit all the rides. The lines are incredibly shorter, for example every time we go It's a Small World in the daytime the wait can be up to a 40 minutes. At extra hours, zero wait. We have done this with our small children (2 and 3) and have not had any problems, but the next day we typically reserve as a day to leisurely hang out at the resort.
2. Ease of getting to the parks. The bus system is wonderful and allows you to from resort to park. If not be advised parking at Disney is about 18/day.
3. Being able to go back and relax. If you have small children and its summer, they will get terribly hot and need a break. With Disney resorts it is much easier to get back and forth than off site properties. Also if you get a big property you can prepare and eat most of your meals there (but you have to go to a supermarket to stock up before). If not be prepared to spend a pretty penny in the parks.

Our last big stay was at the Key West Property. It is one of the older vacation club spots, but also because of this is one of the largest in terms of Square Footage. Multiple pools, amenities, and a short boat ride to downtown Disney (which is fun to ride to). We had two families of four and my parents staying in a two bedroom condo for three days. Bedroom one has King size bed, Bedroom two has two queen beds, and living room has a sleeper sofa. We made it work as all of the kids were 1.5-4 years old, but if all are older this may not work. I believe there are a few resorts that have three bedroom units (you can also look at the treehouse condos, which are big and affiliated with the Key West Resort, but are kind of isolated.)

I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. As stated in previous post, try to plan ahead as much as possible, but be flexible. With that many people it can be hard to accommodate everyone's opinions.

If you can stay onsite I would do so--you save so much transportation time and can go back to the room easily in the heat of the day.

Don't try to do it all and plan ahead to pick out the things you want to see or ride most.

Make your dining reservations as soon as you can.

Just got back from a week long stay in Florida a few days ago. I was there for the shuttle launch which ended up being scrubbed but we planned a wdw vacation at the same time so it definitely came in handy. I stayed off site about five minutes away to save money but staying on their resorts would have definitely been nice as well.

Parking is about $15 a day at each park so take that into consideration if you'll be driving.

I would go here for all of the tips you may possibly need...

www.mousesavers.com

They have a newsletter they send out the 15th of each month with a slight discount to tickets. That's where I bought mine from. There are very few coupons or discounts out there though. AAA may have some if you book a full resort package but as far as tickets go, that's the best option (or a scalper/craigslist/etc if you want to risk it).

The Unofficial Guide WDW book has a checklist and order on how you should visit each park (based on if you'll be there 1 or 2 days at each one) and it was a flawless system. We were able to ride all of the rides, see the shows, take our time, etc and we avoided the masses. If you are not going to have access to the extended hours (staying off site) then avoid those parks for that particular day so you won't have to deal with the crowds.

Also visited both Universal parks and there is definitely a huge difference how Disney caters to its crowd vs. how how they do it. Universal had some great rides but didn't have the "magic" that Disney seems to have.

If you want to save some money I would suggest having a small backpack or daypack and filling it with snacks. You can take water bottles too (I even brought in Starbucks a few times so they're definitely lenient with what you can bring in) but since that get heavy you can usually just ask for a cup of ice and water at almost any place and that will help some. Only one place at Hollywood Studios happened to have a self-serve soda fountain but any of the drink places are more than happy to give you water/ice.

Like others have said, don't rush through and try to do everything at once.

Do your research and plan ahead- I havent been as an adult, but we went 3 times growing up. The first time we went, a family friend did a ton of research and was basically our "drill sergeant" She had the days of which parks we went, what time we would need to get there and what rides to do first. It was VERY organized and we never ever had to wait in long lines and it was nice because we had a lot of down time in the afternoons to rest before going back out at night. I loved staying in the resort- it made it very easy to travel back and forth.

got back yesterday...spent the week at wilderness lodge. We have been 8 times in 15years.
Tips,
Split up the group
Don't try to do it all
Make restaurant reservations early

Tower of Terror
Soaring
Expedition Everest
Character Breakfast
Get to park early,30 min. Before opening
Take a break/swim in the afternoon

quote:

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1. Extra hours at the parks. This is huge as you can ride almost everything in the two or three extra hours they give you. We typically will go to the park in the morning, stay until about two or three, go back to the room to rest, nap, make and eat dinner, and then go back right around nine pm to watch fireworks and then hit all the rides.

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How do the magic hours work? How do they know who is staying at their resorts and who is not? We were trying to figure that out last month when we were at Epcot. We stuck around until around 10 even though we were not staying at a Disney owned resort.

You can stay in the park after it "closes" to non-Disney resort guests, but to get on the attractions you have to show them your hotel key. They typically will have one or two crew members at the entrance to each ride.