Tips for planning needed!

[KaylaElaine16]

Hello everyone!

I am planning my own trip to Disney World. I have been there three times and everytime I was with my family. So, I have no how to go about this by myself. I have dome lots of research but I would love to learn more. I'm going now as an adult with my boyfriend and would love some ideas.
[COUNTDOWN=2016/09/16]My Trip to Walt Disney World[/COUNTDOWN]

 

[englanddg]

What sort of advice do you feel you require?

What sort of activities are you two into?

Off the top of my head...

1) Dinner at California Grill (Contemporary) during the Wishes fireworks
2) Dinner at the Rose and Crown (UK) during Illuminations
3) Roast Marshmallows and make smores (multiple resorts, but I think the venue at Jambo House (Animal Kingdom Lodge) is the best.
4) Rent a Sea Raycer and tour the Sassalouga River (Downtown Disney)
5) Do one of the backstage tours (multiple tours, multiple marks)
6) Do the late Luau at Polynesian and then watch the water parade and Wishes fireworks from the beach
7) Do the Safari excursion (not the ride, there's a walking tour of the Savannah you can take)
8) Go bowling at Splitsville (DTD)
9) See Cirque de Soleis (DTD)
10) Have a late meal at Le Cellier and walk out of EPCOT after closing

 

[KaylaElaine16]

That all sounds wonderful! I will have to look into a few of them. I would love to get the full Disney experience as an adult but still feel like a kid. On my previous vacations my family and I rode all the rides we could and saw as many shows as possible. I believe that there is more to Disney.
I'm basically looking for tips to make our stay more magical. Also, tips on where to find discounts would be very helpful.

 

[englanddg]

AAA sells discounted tickets. Also, if you are military or related to the military, discounted tickets can be purchased through MWR.

You can save a bit of money by staying offsite, but in my experience, you won't save that much compared to a value or a moderate if you have to rent a car.

You can rent points from a DVC member as well. This will get you more hotel for your money, but still could be pricey. There are several sites which specialize in renting DVC points. You'd also want to rent them well in advance of your stay (it can't be done last minute).

If you two plan to do a lot of sit down meals (if that's something that interests you), it may be a value to get the Dining Plan of some sort. If you plan to do a lot of quick service and not table service, then I'd just skip the Dining Plan.

 

[KaylaElaine16]

Thank you so much! You have been so helpful. I started looking into some of your suggestions and they sound perfect.
We aren't going until the fall of 2016 so I still have awhile to plan. I'm just not sure how soon I can start booking our vacation. I would like to start as soon as possible though.

 

[englanddg]

You can start booking as soon as the hotel dates become available on the Disneyworld website, which is generally a year and a half out (I could be wrong on that, I generally book a year in advance, but not always).

If you purchase the tickets now, they will not expire until you use them. So, if you plan on not packaging tickets with your resort (not required) you may want to go ahead and pop for the tickets now, as ticket prices are likely to go up again between now and 2016. That being said, it won't save you a lot of money to do this, but it would save some.

 

[dreamfinder]

Planning that far out? Spend time lurking on the boards here, reading and participating to learn. Get a recent copy of the unofficial guide and read it. Everyone will have their own opinions and insight. You will most likely get much better info asking specific questions.