Newbie questions, DisneyWorld resorts

[Reepicheep]

Since I'm Canadian, I figured I'd post this question in the Canadian forum instead of the Disneyworld forum.

I've been to Disneyland many times, but will be travelling to Disneyworld for the first time in July (my oldest daughter got a Disneyworld summer job through their "International Program"; WHOO HOO, I knew having kids would eventually pay off...). After watching the recent DisUnplugged "7 in 7" videos, I decided that the review for the All-Star Movies Resort was so good that it seemed like an excellent first resort for us to stay at.

There was an excellent deal on standard rooms that appeared yesterday, so I figured it was a good time to book. To make a long story short, as a result of sale prices disappearing and reappearing for certain nights on the Disneyworld website, and problems with the website going up and down, I ended up with a total of 3 reservations which are back to back, for a total stay of 15 nights.

All three reservations (8 day + 1 day + 6 days) are for a "standard" room, so I'm confident I won't be forced to change rooms at the end of each stay. But I was wondering if I will have any trouble down the road when I go onto the "My Disney Experience" website and start entering data. I'm hoping having 3 resort reservations rather than 1 reservation will be a non-issue.

Last night, I did try booking a single 15 day reservation at the sale price, with the intention of cancelling my three shorter reservations, but for some reason the sale price wasn't allowed for stays longer than 14 days. Hopefully, I haven't broken some rule by booking a sale price room for 15 consecutive days.

My current inclination is to leave the 3 reservations as they are. In a worst case scenario, if I encounter any planning problems in the months ahead, I figure I can always phone Disneyworld and have my 3 reservations combined into one reservation.

 

[Sue M]

Congrats. My cousin did that program and had a great time. And I got Family and Friends rate at Animal Kingdom Lodge!
I think there is a rule about nothing more than 14 day consecutive reservation. Have you considered a split stay, maybe 7 days at All Stars and 8 days at one of the deluxe resorts or Port Orleans, a moderate resort?

They could have you move rooms. If you want all 15 days at All Stars, maybe you could combine it into 2 reservations, 14+1. Make sure your reservations are linked together as a continuing stay, and also tell the desk at check in that you’d like to stay in same room. Then the night before I go down to the desk and check to see if I’m able to stay in same room.

 

[Average Joes]

I agree you should do 14+1 although I would do 1+14 in the off chance you had to switch rooms to get it over with. I would also see if there is a discount for a split stay if it is in the budget. I've only stayed at Allstar Music for one night and it was nice. However, somewhere more relaxing in that second week can be nice. Especially for afternoon pool breaks in the summer. Moving to a new resort is very easy. Disney transports your luggage for you.

Besides the potential of getting moved having 3 different reservations is a problem for booking meals. You have to restart your 180 day advanced dining reservation ability when each hotel reservation ends.

 

[chartle]

I have heard of the 14 day max rule but not sure how it effects you.

 

[Reepicheep]

Congrats. My cousin did that program and had a great time. And I got Family and Friends rate at Animal Kingdom Lodge!
I think there is a rule about nothing more than 14 day consecutive reservation. Have you considered a split stay, maybe 7 days at All Stars and 8 days at one of the deluxe resorts or Port Orleans, a moderate resort?

They could have you move rooms. If you want all 15 days at All Stars, maybe you could combine it into 2 reservations, 14+1. Make sure your reservations are linked together as a continuing stay, and also tell the desk at check in that you’d like to stay in same room. Then the night before I go down to the desk and check to see if I’m able to stay in same room.

Thanks for the reply. It appears, if we stick with 15 days at the Movie resort, that we will require two back to back reservations, so I suppose having three back to back reservations wouldn't be much worse. I guess it won't be the end of the world if we are forced to change rooms once or twice during our stay.

Since this is our first time at Disneyworld, we spent most of Thursday watching DisUnplugged resort videos and reading online reviews before deciding, for simplicity, to stick with one resort for this trip. The All Star Movie resort seems to be the "most Disney like" of the resorts. We got a rate of $116.80 for weekdays and $139.20 for Fri/Sat (a 20% discount), so I assume this rate will be hard to beat during the summer busy period.

My daughter is in a five year program at university, and will maybe work at Disneyworld each summer, so I'm hoping this will be the first of five yearly family trips to Disneyworld.

*************

Changing topics slightly, perhaps you (or another poster in this forum) can answer a question I have about the Family and Friends rate. The relevant dates are:

May 7 - my daughter reports for work (start of training period)

May ?? - first day of actual work (May 14? May 21? I don't know how long training lasts)

July 24 - my wife, younger daughter, and I arrive at Disney resort for a 15 day trip

As I understand it, my daughter can start making bookings at the Family and Friends rate as soon as her training is over, so May 14th at the earliest. My basic strategy involving the resort reservation: make a cancellable "worst case" resort booking (already done), and possibly replace this booking with a Family and Friends rate in mid-May.

So, I guess my main question is, will there still be lots of room availability in mid-May? I'm not at all familiar with how quickly the various resorts fill up.

My daughter says she is eligible for a discount of between 20% to 40%, based upon the resort and room availability. If I could stay at, for example, the Animal Kingdom Lodge and receive a 40% discount, then I would certainly take it. Or, alternatively, if my daughter could re-book our Movie resort stay at 40% off, then I wouldn't complain, either.

Planning a Disneyworld vacation is certainly more challenging and complicated than planning a Disneyland vacation, but I'm slowly getting up to speed. I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday because of all this work, then at church the pastor offered special prayers for the people affected by the Humboldt bus crash and the chemical attack in Syria. If my biggest problem in life is that I have to make a decision about whether to stay at the All Stars Resort or Animal Kingdom Resort, then I should certainly stop my whining and be grateful for how good my life is...

 

[Reepicheep]

I agree you should do 14+1 although I would do 1+14 in the off chance you had to switch rooms to get it over with.

I've been reconsidering, and I think there is a certain logic in changing my All Star Movie stay to a 14d + 1d. Our first 13 full days will be park days (I bought 10 day passes, plus as an employee my daughter can get us three additional free days), so with an initial 14d stay I'd be able to book fastpass reservations for the entire trip 60 days prior to July 24th. The last day of our trip we were planning on going to Disney Springs, plus perhaps look around at some of the other resorts, so I don't think we'll need to make any fastpass or restaurant reservations for that last day.

The other alternative is to assume that I (my daughter) will be able to book a "Family and Friends" rate in mid-May, so if I'll likely end up cancelling my reservations at All Star Movies anyway, there is no real need to change to a 14d + 1d booking now.

 

[Sue M]

Thanks for the reply. It appears, if we stick with 15 days at the Movie resort, that we will require two back to back reservations, so I suppose having three back to back reservations wouldn't be much worse. I guess it won't be the end of the world if we are forced to change rooms once or twice during our stay.

Since this is our first time at Disneyworld, we spent most of Thursday watching DisUnplugged resort videos and reading online reviews before deciding, for simplicity, to stick with one resort for this trip. The All Star Movie resort seems to be the "most Disney like" of the resorts. We got a rate of $116.80 for weekdays and $139.20 for Fri/Sat (a 20% discount), so I assume this rate will be hard to beat during the summer busy period.

My daughter is in a five year program at university, and will maybe work at Disneyworld each summer, so I'm hoping this will be the first of five yearly family trips to Disneyworld.

*************

Changing topics slightly, perhaps you (or another poster in this forum) can answer a question I have about the Family and Friends rate. The relevant dates are:

May 7 - my daughter reports for work (start of training period)

May ?? - first day of actual work (May 14? May 21? I don't know how long training lasts)

July 24 - my wife, younger daughter, and I arrive at Disney resort for a 15 day trip

As I understand it, my daughter can start making bookings at the Family and Friends rate as soon as her training is over, so May 14th at the earliest. My basic strategy involving the resort reservation: make a cancellable "worst case" resort booking (already done), and possibly replace this booking with a Family and Friends rate in mid-May.

So, I guess my main question is, will there still be lots of room availability in mid-May? I'm not at all familiar with how quickly the various resorts fill up.

My daughter says she is eligible for a discount of between 20% to 40%, based upon the resort and room availability. If I could stay at, for example, the Animal Kingdom Lodge and receive a 40% discount, then I would certainly take it. Or, alternatively, if my daughter could re-book our Movie resort stay at 40% off, then I wouldn't complain, either.

Planning a Disneyworld vacation is certainly more challenging and complicated than planning a Disneyland vacation, but I'm slowly getting up to speed. I was feeling sorry for myself yesterday because of all this work, then at church the pastor offered special prayers for the people affected by the Humboldt bus crash and the chemical attack in Syria. If my biggest problem in life is that I have to make a decision about whether to stay at the All Stars Resort or Animal Kingdom Resort, then I should certainly stop my whining and be grateful for how good my life is...

I have no idea of availability, when my cousin worked in Epcot he was able to book a few months ahead at AKL for us at the 40% rate. I’m thinking availability will be limited by May. So it’s good you have something to fall back on.
When your daughter is able to book have her look at all the resorts to see availability. Just a note, the All Stars rooms are 2 double beds. At the moderate and deluxe resorts rooms have 2 queens. And larger rooms. Coffee makers....

If you are lucky enough to snag a deluxe or moderate at 40% off I’d grab it. Animal Kingdom and Wilderness Lodge are the lowest cost deluxe. And they’re both amazing. The Epcot resorts are also great, being able to walk to 2 parks, or boat.

For moderates we love the Port Orleans resorts. Riverside mansions are our first pref. But French Quarter is very nice too. They have beautiful grounds, a boat to Disney Springs, carriage rides, and fun evening entertainer.

 

[isabellea]

If you consider going to Disney Springs a lot at then end of you stay, I would consider switching to Port Orleans Riverside or French Quarters for the end of your trip to be able to use their boat to DS. We stayed 2 nights at POR last July for a resort-only stay before our beach vacation and the proximity of DS with the boat was so nice!

In your situation, I would also consider an annual pass.

 

[kiford]

In your situation, I would also consider an annual pass.

I would also recommend this. We're planning to do WDW at least twice in the next year with stays of at least 7 days each. At 14 days, you break at least even on an annual pass plus better if you take advantage of the restaurant and merchandise discounts. It's now convinced us that we might go a third time for 4-5 days. If this works out, we'll continue with the APs and go 3-4 times per year in future with 1-2 of those being shorter visits of perhaps a long-ish weekend as long as the flight costs aren't too outrageous. And if we don't get to do a lot or get on a lot of attractions, so what - the passes pretty much pay for themselves after two 7-day visits.

 

[KelNChrisKYDis]

I believe the F+F rate is 25% off at value resorts. I have a cast member friend that makes our reservations, we've stayed at the Art of Animation in a family suite (40%), Contemporary & Animal Kingdom Lodge (40%), and upcoming, Pop Century, which is 25%.

As an aside, I would absolutely consider splitting your stay up between 2 resorts. 15 days is a long stay for All Stars. If you can get the 40% discount at one of the deluxe resorts, it would be a great way to end your visit!

 

[Donald - my hero]

You mentioned this is your first trip to WDW and i want to point out one tiny little thing ... the potential for park burnout is HIGH based on your proposed schedule. Add in the fact that i *assume* you live on the west coast so you'll have some jet lag at the beginning of the trip and you could be looking at feeling EXHAUSTED! The resort is huge .. like MASSIVE and there is so much more to do that simply going to the parks. You will also be dealing with weather that is much warmer & more humid that you are used to on the west coast and that will zap your energy as well. You should consider breaking up your parks days by either leaving those 3 days your daughter will have as NON-PARK days so you can enjoy some down time with her exploring the entire area. Hit up all of the resorts, play Disney Transportation Roulette (get on whichever bus/monorail/boat that comes next and go wherever it's headed), do the monorail loop stopping at each resort to enjoy a drink/snack/lobby gawking. I agree 100% with others ... 15 days at one of the AllStar resorts will feel like a very long time in one rather small room (and if you get the misfortune of getting stuck in a room that is a long trek to the main building/bus stop you'll be regretting that choice, quickly!) I don't know if there are any special events happening when you are there but if there are any things that involve large groups of school age kids they will be placed at the value resorts and noise/crowding in the food court and pool areas can be beyond annoying. Resort switching is very easy to do, Disney will move your luggage for you while you are out doing something else and you will feel like it's a brand new holiday!

Since this is not a once-and-done trip, i think you need to scale down your expectations and leave things to experience the next time you go to visit your daughter after she has found those little hidden gems that only the CM know about!

 

[JB097]

I would definitely call and confirm you can stay in the same room, better safe than sorry!

 

[mort1331]

I might be one of the few that would switch up 3 times. 5 days at each level, starting at value and moving up. Its like 3 mini vacations. To cut costs on the last leg you can see about renting points from a dvc member and staying in a deluxe resort. This way each leg of the trip you can have a couple of park days, couple of down days to enjoy the resorts. But we are a family that doesnt see moving as a big deal. We move on park days that we are not going comando on. We pack, leave our things with the front desk, and it appears at the next resort.
Just a thought.

 

[Sue M]

Good points, if you are planning multiple trips in a year period getting an AP would be the best option. And considering you are going in summer, the pass that includes water parks would be a good option.
We do a water park in the morning, and usually have enough by 1:00, then return to resort for mid day break and either go to a park or Disney Springs in the evening.

@Donald - my hero has a good point about touring. We typically go for 14 nights. We have a relaxed touring plan, going to the parks for rope drop, then returning to our resort for the afternoon to relax at the pool. Then head out at night for another park and dinner. Or take a day off here and there, sleep in, maybe head to Disney Springs, walk around Boardwalk, tour monorail resorts.

I would highly recommend you change to a moderate or Deluxe depending on availability of CM discounts. The values are as mentioned loud, not very relaxing esp around pool.

 

[Reepicheep]

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. There is lots of good advice in this thread.

Although I do want to stay at the All-Star Movie Resort for at least part of our stay, I agree that 15 days in a tiny room might be a bit much. Plus, on each of the last four days I've received an email from Disney warning me that the Movie Resort will be undergoing renovations while we are there.

My daughter should be able to book us rooms at a discounted rate in approximately 30 days. I think I'll leave things as they are now, with the intention of moving to a moderate resort for the last half of the trip (Coronado Springs and both Port Orleans resorts received good reviews in the latest set of DisUnplugged videos). Assuming prices don't rise much in the next month, and assuming my daughter can get us a 40% discount, a stay at the Coronado would be around $130/night, and $170/night for both Port Orleans resorts. My current inclination is to stay at the Movie resort for the first third or half of our trip, then move to one of the Port Orleans resorts for the remainder.

Jet lag and high humidity are both excellent points. As an aside: we have been to Florida exactly once (Fort Lauderdale) when my oldest daughter was 14 months old. My wife was there to attend a conference, and we stayed at a resort right on the ocean. Because of the time difference, I spent the first few evenings pushing my daughter around the grounds in a stroller until 10pm or 11pm until she fell asleep. The humidity was awful, even in the evening when the temperature had cooled down. I do recall my daughter being fascinated by the tiny lizards that were running around outside in the evenings.

I just now checked a weather website, and it gives a 4am Orlando humidity level of 100%. At least it can't get any worse than that. I trust that the humidity does drop down a bit later in the day.

I also agree that we need to spend some time exploring. I think (for example) on one of our days we might do something like spend 2 or 3 hours in "The Magic Kingdom", then spend the rest of the day exploring the Deluxe resorts that surround it.

Buying annual passes is something that hadn't occurred to me. I assume, like at Disneyland, we have the option of converting our 10 day passes into annual passes? I might do so, with the intention of taking our next trip in early July 2019, so the annual passes would be good for both trips. But this year, we bought our 10 day passes during the "Canadian sale", and if there is a similar sale next year, two 10 day passes actually cost less than an annual pass.

Thanks again, everyone.