Booking a first visit from the UK!

[Soph]

Hi Guys

This week I'm going to be booking 2 weeks in Disneyworld and just wondered if any of you guys have any tips? It is just me and my best friend going, and we are hoping to go early may 2019. I have read that may is a great time to go for first time visitors, as the crowd levels are not to bad and the weather is not unbearable. Although I have heard that the Cheer competition is on at this time.

Do you think that this would have a negative impact on our holiday? Like make the crowds heavier and the hotels super crowded with cheerleaders

Also we are trying to decide between Value Pop Century and the Moderate Caribbean Beach as both end up around a similar price. With the dining plans upgraded for the pop to quick service

Which one would you guys recommend?

Any other tips for first time UK visitors would be great too, we have been planning on going for over 7 years and we are super super super excited that it can finally happen!!

Soph x

edit: Sorry if i've done this in the wrong place or anything im new here :')

 

[James J]

Hi Soph!

From what I've read, the Cheerleading teams tend to mostly be located at the All Star Resorts and Coronado Springs, so your choice of hotel shouldn't be too affected by them. Magic Kingdom tends to be the park that sees it's crowd levels increased because of the groups, but it should be bearable.

Of your hotel, I believe most of the construction at Caribbean Beach will be completed by May 2019 and I'd always go for the Moderate if prices are similar. Pop Century can see long bus queues at the end of the night from my experience too, so CBR may be better for getting back each night.

As a Brit myself, I absolutely recommend buying the Brit Guide to Orlando if you haven't already. I still get it even though I don't need it anywhere as much as I used to, and it is so helpful for first time visitors: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brit-Guide...08&sr=8-1&keywords=brit+guide+to+orlando+2018

Who are you looking at booking your trip through? I've used Virgin before but have gone with Disney themselves this year.

 

[Soph]

Hi Soph!

From what I've read, the Cheerleading teams tend to mostly be located at the All Star Resorts and Coronado Springs, so your choice of hotel shouldn't be too affected by them. Magic Kingdom tends to be the park that sees it's crowd levels increased because of the groups, but it should be bearable.

Of your hotel, I believe most of the construction at Caribbean Beach will be completed by May 2019 and I'd always go for the Moderate if prices are similar. Pop Century can see long bus queues at the end of the night from my experience too, so CBR may be better for getting back each night.

As a Brit myself, I absolutely recommend buying the Brit Guide to Orlando if you haven't already. I still get it even though I don't need it anywhere as much as I used to, and it is so helpful for first time visitors: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brit-Guide...08&sr=8-1&keywords=brit+guide+to+orlando+2018

Who are you looking at booking your trip through? I've used Virgin before but have gone with Disney themselves this year.

Hi James!

Thats great information on the hotels thanks!

I think I'm more inclined to go to the moderate resort it sounds amazing! I'm not too sure who I'm booking through yet I have been into a few travel agents like TUI and got back prices which seem much more expensive then the Disney website!! I think we might look at booking it through the website as it seems like the best deal? We are just a bit concerned about booking flights because the dates for May 2019 haven't been released yet. Do you have any advise on booking the flights? I've seen that some websites recommend booking 3 weeks before to guarantee the cheapest prices. This seems like leaving it very last minute which worries me a little.

I'll have to give that book a go it sounds like it will be super helpful!

 

[James J]

Hi James!

Thats great information on the hotels thanks!

I think I'm more inclined to go to the moderate resort it sounds amazing! I'm not too sure who I'm booking through yet I have been into a few travel agents like TUI and got back prices which seem much more expensive then the Disney website!! I think we might look at booking it through the website as it seems like the best deal? We are just a bit concerned about booking flights because the dates for May 2019 haven't been released yet. Do you have any advise on booking the flights? I've seen that some websites recommend booking 3 weeks before to guarantee the cheapest prices. This seems like leaving it very last minute which worries me a little.

I'll have to give that book a go it sounds like it will be super helpful!

No problem!

I booked my trip for this October in August last year, and I found that the costs with Disney seemed to be better than elsewhere. I've seen some sites say that booking flights 3 weeks out gets you the best prices too, and one of those was Skyscanner who I've always found useful. Personally I wouldn't want to leave it that late though! I haven't booked my flights for this year yet, and I'll likely do it about 2-3 months before as the prices tend to start dropping around that time. You could also book them 11 months out as soon as the flights are available because the flights shouldn't be overly expensive then either.

Definitely get the book, it's the best guide I've ever had and especially because a lot of it is geared towards what Brits need to know!

 

[ItsJustMeAgain]

Not so much a tip but a huge perk of coming in from the UK (and so spending a couple weeks instead of days there) is that you have time to do a lot without rushing, your plan can be much looser, if you have one at all, and you don't need to make rope drop to fit things in (albeit you may want to anyway, it's nice to have a morning in bed or the pool as an option). It also means you have time to sit and watch shows or street performers, which I would really recommend as they have some fantastic acts in all of the parks, which a lot of people do just run past.

As far as being first-timers goes I would just say let yourself get lost in the place and try everything, even if it doesn't sound like something you would be interested in, in Disney anything can surprise you.

 

[Soph]

Not so much a tip but a huge perk of coming in from the UK (and so spending a couple weeks instead of days there) is that you have time to do a lot without rushing, your plan can be much looser, if you have one at all, and you don't need to make rope drop to fit things in (albeit you may want to anyway, it's nice to have a morning in bed or the pool as an option). It also means you have time to sit and watch shows or street performers, which I would really recommend as they have some fantastic acts in all of the parks, which a lot of people do just run past.

As far as being first-timers goes I would just say let yourself get lost in the place and try everything, even if it doesn't sound like something you would be interested in, in Disney anything can surprise you.

I think we are going to plan the main things we want to do (like character dining and some rides) but everything else I think we are going to be quite chilled about, we will have 2 weeks so hope to get a lot done and explore everywhere we can.

We did a very intense 4 days in Disneyland Paris in 2015 and we were there early magic hours till close every night. I think we ended up doing something like 60 hours of Disney on like 15 hours sleep!! I had a knee strain by the end of it lol :')

Looking forward to having a slightly more chilled Disney Holiday haha!

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

The Free dining deals for 2019 were released last Thursday, the official Disney UK travel site was in meltdown for most of the day, we did finally manage to get our November 2019 trip booked though.
My advice would be to get your trip booked as soon as possible if you know which dates you want to go, prices for some of resorts are already going up from last week, I've just checked what we booked (Two weeks at The Yacht Club in the last two weeks of November) & it's jumped by £300 already.
As far as flights go, most airlines usually release their flights from 330 to 365 days in advance, in my experience, you would want to get your flight booked as soon as possible once they are available especially for somewhere like Orlando.
I would not want to leave booking a flight until 3 weeks out, that's crazy.

As far as books go, we normally order the following two:
1. The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World
This one is a monster, text heavy & no photos but covers Disney & Universal & will tell you just about everything you want to know (Good & bad) in great detail about the resorts & the parks, it's a great book, we order it every year we go as it's updated annually.

2. Birnbaums Official Guide to Walt Disney World.
As the title says, this is the officially sanctioned guide, it's photo heavy & as you would expect from something that the mouse has approved it's very upbeat & positive with little or no negative views on anything related to the house of the mouse.
Saying that it's a nice book to get you in the mood for your holiday & the photos are great.

Fingers crossed that you get something booked.

 

[Soph]

The Free dining deals for 2019 were released last Thursday, the official Disney UK travel site was in meltdown for most of the day, we did finally manage to get our November 2019 trip booked though.
My advice would be to get your trip booked as soon as possible if you know which dates you want to go, prices for some of resorts are already going up from last week, I've just checked what we booked (Two weeks at The Yacht Club in the last two weeks of November) & it's jumped by £300 already.
As far as flights go, most airlines usually release their flights from 330 to 365 days in advance, in my experience, you would want to get your flight booked as soon as possible once they are available especially for somewhere like Orlando.
I would not want to leave booking a flight until 3 weeks out, that's crazy.

As far as books go, we normally order the following two:
1. The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World
This one is a monster, text heavy & no photos but covers Disney & Universal & will tell you just about everything you want to know (Good & bad) in great detail about the resorts & the parks, it's a great book, we order it every year we go as it's updated annually.

2. Birnbaums Official Guide to Walt Disney World.
As the title says, this is the officially sanctioned guide, it's photo heavy & as you would expect from something that the mouse has approved it's very upbeat & positive with little or no negative views on anything related to the house of the mouse.
Saying that it's a nice book to get you in the mood for your holiday & the photos are great.

Fingers crossed that you get something booked.

It was madness on Thursday when the dining was released! I tried for hours to get quotes for various dates and it just wouldn't let me, just kept getting goofy's message saying it was super busy. I went into a travel agents and they said the servers had crashed from all the people trying to book! Hopefully tomorrow is the day for booking!!! Super super excited

Ooo I'll have a look at the Official guide too! I'm love anything that has photos of the parks in

Thank you for your help!

 

[LauraRose]

Hi Sophie, also from UK. We have always gone in May, last year we did 8th till 22nd and same again this May. We did go once in June and wasn’t as good as May! The weather is more tolerable, the crowds aren’t as bad and I know the rain doesn’t bother most people in Florida but when your from the UK and it rains all year around, it’s nice to escape it!

Flower and garden festival is on which is beautiful! And as I said the crowds in June compared to May seemed a big jump.

I’ve always gone with mum and dad and stayed in international drive and hired a car, this year however with my boyfriend (his first visit) we are in Caribbean Beach as we got a good discount for construction, we originally booked Art of Animation but we upgraded for dining plan which I’ve never had!

I agree with what was said about not having to have such tight plans. Because we stayed off site we always spent morning till around 4pm in parks but it was too hot and we found we would be fed up come 1pm. Massive perk of staying on site is doing magic hours and going hotel to rest mid day and back to a park in the evening when it’s cool!

We go through travel city and they’ve always been really helpful! Wish you the beat of luck hope you find something soon, feel free to message if you have any questions

 

[ItsJustMeAgain]

I think we are going to plan the main things we want to do (like character dining and some rides) but everything else I think we are going to be quite chilled about, we will have 2 weeks so hope to get a lot done and explore everywhere we can.

We did a very intense 4 days in Disneyland Paris in 2015 and we were there early magic hours till close every night. I think we ended up doing something like 60 hours of Disney on like 15 hours sleep!! I had a knee strain by the end of it lol :')

Looking forward to having a slightly more chilled Disney Holiday haha!

That is pretty much what we do and it has always worked for us! We've never waited more than 40 minutes in a queue (even that was a bit of a one off) because when you have two weeks, if a queue is big you can just come back another time/day, or know to get a fastpass if it's a queue that doesn't seem to get any shorter. Having said that, even when we go in about at around 1-2pm we manage to rack up 15,000+ steps easily so even taking it slowly I would recommend comfy shoes - the last thing you want is to be hobbling around Disney!

One thing you might want to consider, not that I have ever done the Disney Dining Plan (never stayed on property), I have heard some say that it is not worth it as to make it worth the money you need to eat A LOT of food. As I said - can't vouch myself- but that might be something you want to check out. I follow the DisUnplugged on youtube as they seem to be pretty on it with these things (albeit I disagree with a lot of their personal opinions!) - worth checking them out, even if just to get you more hyped about going

 

[James J]

That is pretty much what we do and it has always worked for us! We've never waited more than 40 minutes in a queue (even that was a bit of a one off) because when you have two weeks, if a queue is big you can just come back another time/day, or know to get a fastpass if it's a queue that doesn't seem to get any shorter. Having said that, even when we go in about at around 1-2pm we manage to rack up 15,000+ steps easily so even taking it slowly I would recommend comfy shoes - the last thing you want is to be hobbling around Disney!

One thing you might want to consider, not that I have ever done the Disney Dining Plan (never stayed on property), I have heard some say that it is not worth it as to make it worth the money you need to eat A LOT of food. As I said - can't vouch myself- but that might be something you want to check out. I follow the DisUnplugged on youtube as they seem to be pretty on it with these things (albeit I disagree with a lot of their personal opinions!) - worth checking them out, even if just to get you more hyped about going

Last time I went we upgraded our free Quick Service dining plan to the regular plan and it was absolutely worth the money. The deal they have on at the moment is well worth it and we've upgraded our free QS plan again for this October. It's worked out at £140 extra for the 10 days we're there, so that's £14 a day for one TS credit, one QS credit and two snacks plus the re-fillable mug that's included.

 

[ItsJustMeAgain]

Last time I went we upgraded our free Quick Service dining plan to the regular plan and it was absolutely worth the money. The deal they have on at the moment is well worth it and we've upgraded our free QS plan again for this October. It's worked out at £140 extra for the 10 days we're there, so that's £14 a day for one TS credit, one QS credit and two snacks plus the re-fillable mug that's included.

I think the articles I saw were just pointing out that you should consider realistically how much you think you will eat and the value compared to what you save by making use of room discounts, in many cases it is possible to get greater value by taking a room discount instead. As I said, I haven't used it myself, but I thought I would mention it just incase it was helpful

 

[James J]

I think the articles I saw were just pointing out that you should consider realistically how much you think you will eat and the value compared to what you save by making use of room discounts, in many cases it is possible to get greater value by taking a room discount instead. As I said, I haven't used it myself, but I thought I would mention it just incase it was helpful

Oh absolutely, I don't disagree. It's more that I don't recall ever seeing room discounts as part of the offers we get in the UK, but the free or half-price upgrade on dining is definitely worth it in my opinion, as I know I'd end up spending more than £14 per day on food if I was paying out of pocket.

 

[Soph]

ALL BOOKED

We decided to go for the Port Orleans Riverside room and we are super super super excited!!!

Thank you all so much for all your help x

 

[James J]

ALL BOOKED

We decided to go for the Port Orleans Riverside room and we are super super super excited!!!

Thank you all so much for all your help x

Excellent choice, that's where I stayed in 2015! Loved being able to get the boat down to Disney Springs in the evenings.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

As @ James J said excellent choice. Stayed there twice in the past and really enjoyed it. Also stayed at Carribean Beach (CBR), All Star Movies (ASM) and most recently Port Orleans French Quarter (POFQ). All have good points but I like Riverside best. Choice of transport to get around, and wihin walking distance of POFQ.

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Also forgot to say welcome to the boards. Lots of people to answer questions you may have.