Need Help Questions for 1st Family Trip

[PrincessSue]

Hello All,
I am new to this site and I am planning our 1st family trip :mickey:. I am so excited and very overwhelmed.

There are 5 of us going. 3 adults and 2 children.
2 adults will be staying in 1 room and Myself and my 2 children will be staying in another room.
I am about to call disney to make the reservations but I have so many different requests.
I would like adjoining rooms is possible or ones right next to each other. I also want to make sure that our airline seats are next to each other. Either my girls next to me or 1 with me and 1 with another adult in my traveling party.

I also need to know when I put down the deposit can I use 2 credit cards?

Would it be better to call Disney direct or go to a travel agent locally?


Sorry alot of questions for this crazy lady.

Thanks so much in advance for any answers/

[HndrdPrcnt]

:welcome: to Intercot!!!! You can't even begin to imagine what a wonderful site this is and how quickly you can make some great friends and find wonderful support here on Intercot.

As far as your trip, you need to know that you are going to have a GREAT time!! I can say that because you are doing the right thing by researching on this site to learn all the tricks to planning a trip.

My first suggestion would be to use Magical Journeys travel agency. I did not use them myself for my trip, but after talking to a number of people here on this site and hearing about the wonderful service that they have gotten from this company, I can confidently recommend that you use them.

Secondly, as for connecting rooms, that should not be a problem. They usually will try to honor those requests when you are travelling with a party requiring 2 rooms. If not connecting rooms, you should be able to get at least adjoining rooms. Just be sure to request that when you do book your reservations.

As for reservations, the sooner, the better. The further in advance you start with your reservations, the more chance of you making the most of your trip. You also need to take a look at the Disney website and find out what parks have EMH (Extra Magic Hours) on which days and then plan your itineray accordingly. With that, you can then start making reservations for your meals.

Speaking of meals, the next question is taking advantage of the meal plan or not. This depends on what you and your family enjoy. If you are big sit-down meal eater types, then take advantage of the plan. If you like to eat on the run, then skip the plan.

Depending on the age of your children, this will really determine what restraunts I would recommend. However, a good one for sure is Chef Mickeys (Contemporary Resort) for a great breakfast, or dinner. I recommend this restaurant because it has the traditional "Fab 5" characters and your kids can get some quality time with the characters there instead of you having to stand in line to see them in the parks.

There are many more don't miss restaurants, but again it depends on your preferences and the ages of your kids.

Well, I could type forever. However know that you have come to the right place for gaining insight and recommendations.

Have a great trip!!

[Jillirose]

We ususally call disney direct to make the reservations, but you can play around with the reservations online to get an idea of the variables. Go to their website, go to the travel tab, and then to plan your trip. You can select different accommodations, tickets, and dining packages, and see how the price changes.

Another good idea is to surf the boards, reading about dining, accommodations, etc. Don't stress about getting everything right the first time, everytime I go I learn something new. :mjump: Also, when you make your reservations by phone, the castmembers will help you plan and give you ideas.

As far as the plane ride goes, you should be able to work out the seating and select seats ahead of time. We usually pick our seats online when we make the reservation.

Have fun, the planning is just as fun as the trip!:tink:

[PrincessSue]

Does Magical Journeys travel agent book airline tickets as well?

[faline]

Magical Journeys (http://www.yourmagicaljourneys.com/) does not book airline reservations. They are a wonderful resource in planning your trip to Disney and will help get you the best rate possible for your resort.

When are you planning to go? Is it soon or is it still a ways off?

I'd suggest getting a good guidebook such as the Official Guide by Birnbaum. This offers you lots of basic information in an easy to read format.

[PrincessSue]

We are headed to Florida July 20-25.

[Tink#64]

:welcome:Welcome PrincessSue!

You're going to love it here! :rocks: Everyone here loves Disney so much & is always eager to help & share their excitement & experiences!

I've read so many wonderful things on here about Magical Journey's although I've never used them. I've always called Disney myself, made a room only reservation, for a Value resort, then asked for the AAA discount for the room ressie, then I also purchase tix at that time. In the past, handling my ressies & tix in this way, it's always been refundable up until a very short period before the trip if necessary. (Luckily for us, we've never had to do that, but it's comforting to know that you can!) If you call & book directly through Disney you only have to pay a room deposit until your arrival! I believe it's equal to one night's stay. You would also pay for the tix at that time! You would pay the balance of the room at checkout! We give the cc # upon checkin for the balance to be charged upon checkout. You will get a bill on your door the day before departure so you will know what the total is.

I've also always booked my airline tix myself. We've always flown Delta, & I've purchased online & you get to pick the exact seats you want. I always put 1 DS with each myself & DH! I definitely have to know my DS's are sitting with us!

When you make the original ressie's you need to state what type of rooms you would like to have, ie: connecting, adjoining, preferred, etc. I also call the resort directly about a day or two before arrival & repeat the request. I was told by Disney that you are actually making ressies through a central location & that the ressie info doesn't go to the resort you chose until a couple of days prior to arrival. ?

I hope this helps a little. I wish you happy planning! For me it's the next best thing to being there! I guess that's why I do it all myself! I'm kind of a control freak - can you tell? :blush:

[heidi614]

We always travel with my parents, so we get two rooms. I do mine online and it ask if you are traveling with another party. I then enter our info and cc# and my parents name. Then make a new reser under their name and cc# with traveling with us. I put connecting do a must and any other request. Call 10 prior to central reser. to confirm all request. Of course, not gaurenteed but request. Book all dining 180 prior they are called Advanced Dining Reservations. Always give a general time not specifics, so if 6:00 is booked 6:10 may be open. Character meals are great way to see the guys. Birnbaums guide is a good choice. Look at the maps, plan your days at which park, and the things you want to do in each park. Try to plan a rest in the middle of the day especially summer time (pool) would be nice. I get the hopper pass to go to one park to the other b/c we only do 1/2 day at Epot and AK .
Planning and talking is this site is 1/2 the FUN!!!:mickey:

[faline]

Since your trip is only 5 months away and will fall during the busy summer season, I'd suggest making your reservations as soon as possible. Additionally, I'd suggest making any dining reservations for full service restaurants as soon as possible. You may already find it difficult to get into some of the most popular restaurants.

[Young@Heart]

:welcome:

You'll love Intercot! This board helped so much w/ our last trip! We also found the Passporter WDW planning book helpful and will be buying our 3rd copy for our 3rd family trip. :mickey:

We just booked for August, and after lots of research w/ different booking options, we went w/ AAA again. We got a great price, and they put in our connecting room request for us. We're driving down this year, but they've booked flights for us in the past.

You're not too far past the 180 day point for your ADR's, so you should be good w/ most (if not all) of them. But you should probably book them as soon as you can.

Enjoy checking out everything on Intercot and I'm sure you'll have a magical trip. :tink: