Good Morning everyone in blogland! I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE getting feedback whether it be from friends, strangers, or family members about my blog! Encouragement is the best form of flattery when it comes to this and even though I feel very new to the blogging community, it helps my spirits to hear works of encouragement. What's prompted this is praise from my Daddy. I hadn't told him about it for a couple of months because I wanted to get it underway to say, and he finally has read all of them...and told me he loves it. YAY! When I told my younger sister this, she asked if I had told him who came up with the title for my blog...yes, it was you--not me, you! Thank you sis!! :)
So now onto what you guys are here for!! What to blog about today?! Well, I wanted to talk briefly about decision making. Let's face it. There are A LOT of things to choose from when visiting the Walt Disney World Resort. First and foremost, which resort do we stay at? How many days on the tickets do we purchase? Should we add any features? A park hopper? The water parks? The dining plan? Which restaurants should we dine at? These are all questions that pretty much every first timer faces. And I realize that some people do not handle planning this sort of thing out very well. But at the same time, I've seen many people just simply give themselves TOO MANY options to choose from, OR after they "choose" what they're going to do, continue to look back over their shoulder per say and wonder if they chose the right or wrong option.
Advice from the travel agent: DON'T DO EITHER OF THESE THINGS!
The first one will literally drive you insane and make you completely unbearable to be around. Also and more importantly, it will make you dislike the vacation that is supposed to be "magical" before you've even been on it because it's caused you so much grief! The second will keep you second guessing and in turn will do the same thing...make you crazy. What if you planned your vacation 6-8 months in advance? Do you really want to keep going back to the website and to the chat boards and get people's "advice" for half a year on what you "should've" done? " Oh and this was terrible, and this was great, and we had the worst experience at..."
Let me tell you something about chat boards and tripadvisor and such while I'm on the subject. These are FANTASTIC tools. BUT, I always tell my clients, take them with a grain of salt. You have to realize that some people use these as forums to COMPLAIN because that's all they do! So I advise people to go with the majority and keep moving.
My last piece of travel agent advice today to solve the above problems is simple. Be happy with your choices. I know its expensive to go to Walt Disney World, but it's not going anywhere. Make your choices of hotel, tickets, etc the best way for your family or party and just exhale, and look forward to your vacation. Do your research, read the reviews, and then enjoy your trip! Not to mention, that's what this blog is for...if you are reading this and planning a trip to Disney World, ask me questions, but still do what's best for you! A Bientot! :)
Hello, I am a fellow LMOTC Member and I had written your blogspot down just in case we were able to go to Disney World in the next year. Turns out, we are going for fall break Oct 2nd-9th. We already have our accomodations because we have a relative with a timeshare in Orlando so we will not be staying on property. (which is a shame now that the dining plan is free) I have only been one other time and we didn't purchase the dining plan, what a mistake. I didn't know food could be so expensive. Luckily, the condo has a full kitchen so we will not have to eat all of our meals out. We went in 2005 with our then 6 year old daughter. She is now 11 and our twin boys are 3. I will probably have lots of questions for you, but right now I can only think of a couple. What is the best "Mickey" character meal...my boys love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. What would you recommend we do about strollers, we are driving so taking them is not a problem....I'm thinking cheap umbrella strollers, but what do you do with them to keep them from getting stolen when you are on a ride? Last question for now, any way to get discount WDW tickets? Our relative thinks the condo may offer them, but she hasn't checked into that for me yet. I am a planner. I planned for 4 months before we went last time...I used the official WDW book and allearsnet. Your post yesterday scared me and I need to be booking our character meals, especially since the dining meal is now extended. Thanks for your help and I am sure you will be hearing from me again.
ReplyDeleteHi Nikki!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you and let me start out by saying great questions!! And also, I'm sorry if I scared you! I don't want to Scare the clients away or anything, haha!! I was just trying to let people know that booking the meal is best...you don't think you're going to want it later? Cancel it...no big deal. :)
As for the best Mickey Mouse character meal I'm going to have to with (in my opinion) Chef Mickey's at The Contemporary Resort. I have blogged about it before and have some pictures attached. I believe it was about 2 weeks ago in the April posts. Its loads of fun and the food is delish! This is one that you're definitely going to want to make reservations for as soon as you know what day you'd like to try for, be it breakfast or dinner. And worst case scenario, say you can't get into it, a great back up with Mickey is the character breakfast at Ohana in the Polynesian Resort with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo, and Stitch.
And another tip, my twins are very much into Playhouse Disney and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse as well, there's a great show at the Disney Hollywood Studios called "Playhouse Disney'Live on Stage!" Make sure to take them to see it! :)
Ugh...strollers. I'm not going to sugar coat it. They're not fun. But you need them, right? I need them, there's just no way around it. Besides, its nice to have somewhere to keep everything. I can honestly say in my 12 years of WDW knowledge including the time that I've worked in the parks, I've never heard of people having their stroller stolen. Not to say that it hasn't happened, but I don't think it happens often. Now, the stuff INSIDE the stroller...different story. I'm one of those paranoid people who needs to take as much stuff out of the stroller every time I park it because I think it's not going to be there when I get back. But honestly, there are usually cast members in the general area around the stroller parking areas that (hopefully) would notice someone rummaging through different strollers. And if you're there on busy days, cast members are right there organizing the stroller parking area anyway...been there, done that too. :) So just use the common sense of don't leave any expensive cameras or video cameras in the stroller and stuff like that and you should be fine. Also a good idea is taking a black sharpie and writing your last name on it where it can been seen.
(Tickets questions continues in next post)
Jenn
I know it is expensive to get into Walt Disney World. I never trust these un-official discount Disney ticket offers. These are the one thing that I will pay retail for every time. This is the reason: I can't tell you
ReplyDeletehow many times I've heard people crying because they bought their Disney tickets on Ebay or Craig's List or something like that and when they got down there they don't work. Anyone can put their USED tickets online and sell them and you would never know until you get there. As far as buying them at the Disney Stores in the malls, well Disney Stores are not affiliated with Walt Disney World either. Their tickets are legit, but make sure you do the research of what type of ticket you'd like and then CALL your local Disney Store to see if they sell that ticket first before going to the mall because all Disney Stores do not sell every type of ticket (meaning different amounts of days, add ons, etc). And once you purchase them, they cannot change them at Walt Disney World. Your condo very well may offer them and I'm sure they are legit, just make sure your family who calls asks what types of tickets they offer. Like how many days. Otherwise, the only other way to get a slight discount on the tickets getting them through WDW is to buy them in advance. When I say advance, I mean as long as you buy them at least the day before you use them and not at the parks. Either over the phone or online. The only people who Disney regularly discount to is military (you must have a military ID) and Florida Residents (each person who purchases a Florida Resident discounted ticket must have a valid Florida Resident ID at the gate when entering the park).
I hope I've been some help and whenever you have any other questions, don't hesitate!
Thanks! Jenn :)
Thanks for your response. I'm not much on trusting anyone besides Disney for my tickets either, other than maybe AAA, which I will look in to. I checked out your blog about Chef Mickey's and I will probably try to get reservations there. It does look like the best characters. Thanks for your tips and like I said, you will probably hear from me again.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nikki
You're welcome Nikki! You can trust AAA. :)
ReplyDeleteAnytime! :)