kirax2

My sister wants to plan a trip for our family to DisneyWorld sometime in 2014. We live in San Diego, so we've been to Disneyland many times, but we've never been to the enormous complex that is Disneyworld/Epcot/etc.

Do you guys have any particular recommendations about which airlines we should take (we can go from SAN or LAX or anywhere in between) and especially which hotels we should be looking at? I already have a stock of BA points, as well as some United and AA points (I like to save my AA points for International awards, though).

We have 80k points and platinum status with Priority Club, and we can easily get more points by signing my sis up for the 80k card. I also like Hilton because their points and Gold status are easy to get. We also have some Starwood points and a SPG card. I'm not as familiar with the other hotel chains like Hyatt and Marriott, but I would welcome suggestions. Also, what time of year would you guys say is the best time to go?

In short: Which airline/hotel program would you recommend I concentrate on collecting points for if I want to take my family to Disney World in 2014?

centrifuge41

Do you have much airline loyalty? If not, just fly what's cheap from SAN/LAX/SNA to MCO. If you are saving AA points for international travel, you might want to do the same for your UA.

BA won't help much. You'd have to pay for two flights with BA: one to DFW, and one to MCO. Save those for Hawaii, a sudden need to fly to SFO/SJC, etc. I'd probably just book cash, or do Southwest, or something.

As for hotels, I'm not sure what's good/bad in the Orlando area. I do know that they have a Radisson there that is only 9000 Club Carlson points. Awesome deal! Given how many people have Club Carlson points nowadays, you should be able to figure something out in the coupon connection, once you have access.

What time of the year to go? Whenever the schools in Fla are not on vacation!

charms81

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Since there is a ton of walking needed in Disney World, hot weather makes it worse. IMO the best time to go to Disney is the week just after Easter weekend when it is not yet too hot, or thanksgiving until the new years day (hurricanes and weather has subsided).

Often1

1. It's way too early to make firm plans. Air fares, hotel rates and the like are not only not set or available, but could go way up, way down or stay relatively stable.

2. What's your budget? Do you want to do this on the cheap? Would you pay more for a better experience? If so, how much more?

3. For instance, if you stay at one of the Disney properties on the monorail loop, you not only get extended hours at the park, but you can hop on the monorail and be in your room in between 5-10 mins. and in the pool 5 mins. after that. If it's onsite and a bus ride, it might take 30 mins. from the park just to get to the front of your hotel. If you stay offsite, you might spend less, but have an endless drive. On the other hand, food on "campus" isn't cheap.

4. I would strongly advise taking a look at a trip based on current costs in order to map out the options.

tjbrooks

Good advice but you're wrong about connecting. SAN/LAX-Hawaii is one of the best Avios uses on the west coast. If you like Hawaii OP, save your miles for that. But AA flies LAX-MCO direct, and at good times. Award availability is very good in the direct flights, which IME are much pricier with cash than connecting flights. So it can be a decent deal if you're a domestic coach redeemer.

As far as hotels go, I think you'll find a pretty poor value on points with the big chains (off season). Although the 9K Radissons offer excellent value on a budget trip. Ifit's a Disney-centric trip, don't rule out package deals, for both price and conveniences listed above.

TimesTwo

You could consider the US card for 40k each, which (with the 5k discount) is two roundtrip tickets per person. Not the best "value" for your miles, but if you're really trying to save some cash, it's an option.

gohogs34

We have been to Disney 15 times and 12 we drove 960 miles one way. Then we began flying and staying on Disney property. My thought are. Airtran is usually cheap to fly or get the Southwest personal & business CC and fly them. I would stay in a Disney property. Reasons: Flying in to Orlando, Disney (FREE) picks you up and takes you to their hotel. If you have check on luggage, you check it in at your area airport and no need to touch it from there. Disney will put it in your hotel around 7:00pm that night. You get magic hours, that is where you get to either arrive an hour early (not for us) of stay late at a park after all the non Disney guest leave. This is a big bonus! When would I go. If you follow Disney at all, you will see that for the past several years certain times of the year they offer FREE food. Debate free if you want, no discounted packages. I have done the figures without free food and with and have saved several $$ with it. We eat places that we would not afford without it. Also SPG has the Dolphin resort for points, but even though on property this hotel doesn't do the free food. OK, I would choose the first FULL week in December. Why? Less crowds, Free food (have to wait till next August and see what is offered if anything) ALL is decorated in Christmas stuff and the Christmas parade. That is my take. I could go on & on! If I can help just PM. Have fun, I will add that Disney is all about planning!!!!

JoeJetplane

For 2014, this is a great time to start.

There are going to be hotels all over you can redeem your points, Orlando has more hotel/motel rooms than any city in the USA, with Las Vegas coming in at a distant second.

However, despite that, I am a firm believer that the best value you can get planning WDW this far in advance, is to actually stay on site at Disneyworld, pay for your room, and get their "free dining plan" promotion. This promo has been coming out to the general public a couple times per year, and usually requires a lot of advance notice. Those who pay for the dining plan pay roughly $40/day for adult, and $15/day for child. But the amount you can get off the dining plan (and YMMV here big time depending how you use it) can easily be close to $80-$90 per person per day, and booking far in advance allows you to make the most of that, because their top restaurants book 180 days in advance, and its pretty darn nice eating at the top restaurants in the parks (or other hotels) for free. You also get free transportation and free parking at the parks (if you have a rental car) if you stay on property. Our kids absolutely love the value resorts. We have been going every year for 6 years now, and every year they offer us the free dining promotion if we set it up before we leave.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

jrm68

2014 is a long way off, so things will change. There are also so many variables, that it is hard to make to many suggestions.
How many people would be traveling? How many days do you want to stay? I am assuming that since you mention using awards that you want as cheap as possible.
I would recommend not burning points since hotels are notoriously cheap on Priceline or hotwire in the area. (using the knowledge at the bidding sites)

If money is really short and you are determined to use points, there is a decent holiday inn located on hotel blvd in downtown Disney area that should be available for around 25,000.
Downtown Disney is a great place to stay, close enough to the magic to feel part of it. You could feasible do 6 nights with 2 accounts or even use cash and points bookings for a longer stay

Also there is a Radisson in Kissimmee that is only 9,000 points a night if you took advantage of the Club Carlson offer.

If you want to stay the perks of "on property" then the only point ones are Swan and Dolphin from SPG. There is currently 30,000 point credit card sign up If you can spend something like 5,000 in 3 months.

Truthfully the largest expense is tickets to the parks. You can sometimes find discounts on disboards or other disney related travel sights.

good luck and enjoy the planning.

crabbing

mousesavers.com is the best place to start.

mnscout

There are a lot of great tips in this thread to stay onsite, but if you are content to stay off Disney, then think about renting a villa. Seriously, this advice it not very FF-oriented, but those 3-4 brm villas can be had dirt cheap, and if you have a lot of people in your party it beats the hell out of booking several hotel rooms. Some of those properties are quite luxurious too, with private pools, hot tubs, game rooms and beautiful grounds to unwind after a long day. Check out VRBO and related sites. For a small family, it might be more sensible to stay onsite, though especially if you can get this free food plan (I've never heard about this option, thanks).

andycat

All US and most int'l airlines have extensive schedules in and out of MCO. Ditto for hotels. Best advise is to focus on the loyalty program where you can accumulate the most miles/points/value. If you already have a program with a substantial investment, stick with them, but look around at ways to increase your point accumulation (credit card sign-up bonuses, transfer opportunities, etc).

One question you should answer before you get too far into planning is if you're going to stay in the Disney "bubble" or if you're going to see some of the other attractions in the area (Universal, Sea World, Kennedy Space Center).

If you're only seeing Disney and as JoeJetPlane and GoHogs34 mention, staying at a Disney property has real advantages. The only non-Disney operated hotel on site is the Starwood-operated Swan and Dolphin. You can also look for rentals from Disney Vacation Club (timeshare) owners for $9 - $12 per point. Point charts are here. (Full disclosure - I'm a DVC owner.) Look at the point charts even if you decide to stay somewhere else - the various levels will give you a rough idea of how crowded the parks will be at different times of year. Another resource for crowd levels is Touring Plans. If you decide to stay on Disney property, you won't need a car - there's free service from MCO to WDW, and the internal transportation system is very efficient.

There's a world of information online. Here are a few sites to explore:
All Ears
Mousesavers
WDWInfo

emma dog

+1 ^

DavidAL

+1 on the dining plan. But I think it can only be had at semi-last minute bookings, aka not 12 months in advance. We did that last year in October, booked in September. We stayed at the Value resorts, and received the cheap dining plan for free. I think it was only like $100/night for the value resort, but then all of us got free dining (2 adults 2 kids). The park tickets are usually the most expensive part of all.

JoeJetplane

What had been typical is they would offer it March->May for bookings August->October, but they do change it up, and I have never seen it available for a last minute booking.

Also when you do book with it, they have always offered a "Bounce Back" offer (a really cute page that they leave in your hotel room when you arrive) offering the same free dining package if you return the following year (we have been doing this for 6 years!)

If you are in a value resort, you can upgrade the free cheap dining plan for the standard dining plan (for a lot less than you can upgrade to a moderate resort with the free standard dining plan.) A few years back they stopped offering the free standard plan at value resorts, but now I guess the standard plan isn't completely free at the values.

To get the free dining plan, you need to buy the hotel and tickets in the same package. You can save a little on tickets without buying the package (Mousesaver's has a link), you can save a lot on hotel if you want to use points elsewhere, but you can't get the free dining plan without getting them all at the same time.

One note on tickets.... The magic your way ticket is about $75 for one-day, $150 for 2 days, $220, for 3 days, but then each additional day is only a couple dollars more. So you get tremendous value for staying at least a week (with 4 parks, free dining, and a reasonably priced hotel that the kids will love, staying for a while really isn't so bad.)

We take our kids out of school for a week in late September to go. Their teachers never complained, and going the first month of school in the middle of Florida hurricane season leads to really uncrowded and enjoyable conditions.