Neat - thanks! We’d be going probably from July 8 through July 13 (so would need accommodations for the nights of the 8th through the 12th which is Sunday through Thursday nights).
Is it better / cheaper / easier to go through that board you mentioned vs. direct through Disney? Mousesavers implied you could rent directly through the Disney site as well.
It is cheaper (I’m a DVC member to and visit that board) - but as to “better or easier”
You need to know that you are dealing with a private individual - Disney will not get involved in disputes and the member holds the keys to the reservation (they can take your money and leave you without a reservation - it seldom happens on that board, though). You need to understand that the money thing is very different (usually half up front, half 60 days out - no refunds - if you have to cancel you’ll most likely be out the money).
One bedroom 22 points a night Sun-Thur - 54 Fri and Sat
Two bedroom 30 points a night Sun-Thur - 73 Fri and Sat
Points rent for $10-$12 per.
(You can put five in a one bedroom, but no rollaways - one kid would have to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor, but that would be more cost effective).
Oh, if you can shift to early June or late August the point cost goes down. Even better if you pull the kids and go in September…Only Christmas and Easter are more expensive at WDW (and more crowded).
Yeah - wish we had more flexibility on schedule. We were in Orlando that same time 4 years ago and it was miserably hot and humid. Unfortunately we have a family commitment down there that first weekend so our schedule is pretty much fixed.
I’m waiting until the kids are in college, then Typo Knig and I can go off-peak again 
7/8-7/13 would be 150 points at OKW, 200 points at Beach Club, 180 at Saratoga Springs. As **Dangerosa ** says, points are renting for about $10/pt at the DIS board.
I have never rented points, so I can’t tell you about the process. Sounds like **Dangerosa ** knows more than I do. I have hung out on the boards on occasion, and it seems like a good group, and the rental board is heavily moderated.
One thought I have is you could see if you could get travel insurance, if you are nervous about losing the points. Travel Guard offers a special plan for DVC members - they may have other types of vacation insurance as well.
Good idea - I should check into travel insurance in general. Never done it before but we’ll be fronting more money for this trip than we have before for a family vacation and if something comes up, it may be worth it!
I just read about the Fort Wilderness cabins on MouseSavers and that looks like a possible good choice for us. Air conditioned, sleep 6, good on-site pool, looks to be about 1600 for our 5 days. Boat to Magic Kingdom… have any of you guys had any direct experience with those accommodations? Aside from the campground of course which isn’t an option due to logistics. Oh, and Florida July weather 
I haven’t - we’ve stayed over at the Wilderness Lodge, which is walkable from there and is very nice. The campgrounds are huge. My cousin has stayed in the cabins and found them serviceable and would stay in them again. If you think you want the cabins, I’d call now and book - that’s a popular time of year and I don’t think there are an endless supply of cabins.
Well, I’ll just go ahead and plug MousePlanet.com as an excellent resource for planning a trip to a Disney park. I’ve actually never been to a park, but the site is run by two of my most favorite ex-Dopers and good friends. I’m on the site often for the movie reviews and other misc. stuff. Great site.
I don’t have any suggestions for frugal Disneying, but I’d like to commend your sensible measures with respect to the risk of a child becoming lost in a theme park.
Dammit, you owe me a new monitor :). Hadn’t occurred to me this could be read that way. Of course if we do interpret it that way, best to lose the spare on the first day so we can stay in smaller accommodations for the remainder of the trip
On a more serious note, just as an aside - when we do take the kids to parks, we ensure that each child has a card in his/her pocket (or on a lanyard) with our cell phone numbers so s/he can “find a Mommy and ask her to call us”.
I’ve stayed at the cabins at Fort Wilderness three times and rented from a DVC member once (via the disboards). The FW cabins are great and we really liked Fort Wilderness, room for the kiddies to run around, bbq grills etc. The cabins have dishwashers, kitchens, AC etc. It’s not like a camper, more like a very nicely laid out trailer (that sounds cheesy but it’s not), with maid service every day, just like in a motel.
There’s an out-door movie theatre with movies every night and a camp-fire you can toast your marsh-mellows at (bring your own). You can take a boat directly to the Magic Kingdom (maybe with a stop at the Contemporary, can’t remember).
On the down-side you do have to take a bus everywhere, even to hop on the boat to go to the MK or to the swimming pools. You even have to take a bus to catch the bus to the other parks. Our kiddies liked the buses so it was no big deal for us.
Damn, I haven’t been to Disney since last spring, now you’ve got me thinking about it again. Maybe Easter break, yeahhhhhh that’s the ticket.
I leave tomorrow morning for Disney World. We (the Maxx Family) are staying at the Pop Century hotel in Wide World of Sports complex. We booked our vacation through a local travel agent and got a much better deal than through Disney’s website. I’ll probably start a thread (now with cute kid pics!) once I get back into town and get settled in.
The commercials that they’ve been running promise “affordable” vacations at $1500/wk for a “Value” resort at DisneyWorld.com/affordable
Hell, I just write my cell number and name on Chloe’s arm with magic marker. I did it once at Sesame Street Live while waiting for a friend to show up, and everyone who walked by said, “Wow, what a great idea!” I think I got it from the Unofficial Guide. Also, they have a reader suggestion of taking a picture of the kids each morning, so if they get lost, Disney people know exactly what they’re looking for, even if you can’t remember off the top of your head what the kid is wearing, etc. Even easier to do these days with camera phones.
Excellent idea - we got the Unofficial Guide this morning (well, actually last night but it was left on our doorstep so we didn’t see it until this morning) and they had those suggestions also. Note to self: pack some Sharpies 
Thanks to everyone who suggested that book, by the way - there is a metric shipload of info there and our minds are boggling. Since this trip is going to be one of those “do everything and have fun whether you like it nor not” jaunts, we’ll want to plan things out as much as possible in advance!
We went to Disney World about two years ago - “we” here meaning fella bilong missus flodnak and I, our two little flodnaks, and my parents. We booked a room-only reservation through a travel agent that’s a sponsor for a Disney-fan board, for two connecting rooms at one of the “Value” level resorts. One morning I checked my e-mail and found a message from the travel agent saying our reservation had been changed a bit because all of the rooms covered by the new discount were booked at our resort of choice. That was the first I’d heard of a discount, but it saved us a tidy sum. We ended up at All-Star Movies. The rooms were great, and the travel agent took care of putting in a request for rooms close to the bus stop (Dad has arthritis and really appreciated that after a day of walking around the parks).
Two connecting rooms worked very well for us. In addition to sharing the two bathrooms as needed, we shared a small fridge that we rented from the hotel (about $11/night), brought breakfast foods and a hot pot for boiling water, and bought milk and juice at the resort shop - still much cheaper than breakfast out for six every morning, and quicker, too. Theme park tickets were bought through a legal discounter that’s also a sponsor on that same board. Each individual ticket wasn’t much cheaper than buying through Disney but with six people, it adds up. (BEWARE though - many companies offering cheap tickets require you to sit through a long time-share presentation, and in spite of Disney’s efforts there are probably still some outright scams out there.)
I wrote a web diary of our trip, which includes links to the companies we dealt with.
Whatever you end up doing, have fun, and know that I’m jealous 
The book probably recommends this, but if you prioritize the attractions that each of your party wants to see and get to as many of them early in the day (within the limits of the book’s recommendations for avoiding crowds) on your first few days, you will be better able to cope with having to give up on the lower priority items when you inevitably get tired at the end of the day, and the end of the trip. I’d suggest choosing as many #1 top priority items as you have days, and getting to one of them early each day (although not necessarily first). Then do priority #2 attractions near it, then 3 and so on. But close each day with a #1 or #2 priority item, for a big finish. The Illuminations light show at EPCOT is a perfect example. Don’t miss it.
I think the important thing is to be flexible as people get tired and cranky, and not drag everyone around to the next thing, just because it’s next on the list. But make sure that everyone knows that there will be things that they won’t get to see, and that after a plan is drawn up that covers as many high priorities as possible, any impromptu changes to the schedule will almost certainly result in something else being missed. But be open to that if everyone’s having a good time.
Have fun.
Oh, and don’t miss the Smorgasbord at Norway in EPCOT! Great place for lunch.
Its a princess meal now. Not what it was at all - expensive and crowded.
Damn. What a shame. It was one of the real highlights of my trip, but that was way back in 1992. :eek:
A word of advice on eating in the park -the cafeterias is one of the places where WDW makes a ton of money. It’s not good value. It’s been a couple of years, so I don’t have a good idea about prizes right now, but the cafeteria menues typically include prebaked and reheated pizza. With a pop and a sallad, it could easily be $12 a person, whereas the sitdown restaurants, while more expensive, offers great value for money. Food is 50 per cent more expensive, but 200 % better. I suggest Coral Reef restaurant at Epcot, if you feel like splurging one day. Excellent lobster last time I was there.
Oh, and keep to the left at all wlanes, when waiting to go on a ride. Remember, Disney almost always post longer waiting times than they actually are. If the sign says “30 minute wait from here”, it’s more likely to be 20 minutes, making you feel good and thinking “Wow, that wasn’t so bad.” This is policy at the park, don’t ask me for a cite, I got it from a seminar I attended with a marketing dude from WDW, so I can’t point to any official place that states that.