planning a disney vacation

Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Ten: Why Not Take a Train?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning , , , 1 Comment

This is part ten in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

monorail_train_118065_tnsOn our first visit to Disney World with our then 7 year old daughter, we made the decision to take the train. I had grown up traveling by train when I was young and loved the sense of adventure. And since we live in the Baltimore/Washington area, we had the ability to use Amtrack’s Autotrain, which allowed us to take our car with us. We wanted to have a car, and found out that doing this was a great way to help us have an affordable Disney vacation. We took the train down, and drove home at the end of our trip and found out we loved the train! On our second trip we again used the Autotrain, only this time we drove down and took the train home (it was VERY nice to relax and not worry about driving at the end of a Disney World vacation!).

So if you are interested in doing this and you live on the East Coast of the US, what should you know?

First of all, you will have a couple of options as to trains as well as seats/accommodations. If you choose the basic train, you will make a number of stops along the way, so be sure to look at the travel time on Amtrak’s schedule to see how long it will take…and realize that it may actually take a bit longer than estimated. It is nice if you can time the trip for overnight so you wake up the next morning in Florida, ready to go! There are several stops that are close to Disney World: Sanford, Orlando, and Kissimmee. From each of these stations you can arrange for a taxi to take you to your hotel, or from Sanford and/or Orlando, you can rent a car.

For the Autotrain, it goes from Lorton, VA to Sanford, FL in about 15-16 hours, departing around 4 p.m. and arriving the following morning. While this version may seem pricier, it will include the cost of transporting your car, as well as dinner and continental breakfast the following morning. Plus you have the added bonus of being able to bring with you as much “stuff” as you want for no additional charge, provided it can fit in your car. 🙂

With both options, you have the choice of just buying a seat, or a compartment. While seats are clearly the least expensive option, you will want to make sure you will be comfortable sleeping pretty much upright for the night, and that you don’t mind not having any real privacy for the duration of your trip.

But if you plan ahead, a compartment may be an affordable option. Compartments come in various “sizes” to accommodate different family needs, often including toilets, and always including dinner and continental breakfast.  This is what we chose and it was so much fun and very relaxing. We brought games, read, talked, enjoyed the scenery, and watched dvds.

If you decide to go by train, be sure to watch Amtrak’s site regularly, and check out their specials. Once you book, continue checking, since if your cost goes down, they will usually refund the difference.

Traveling by train is a totally unique experience, and can really help you have an affordable Disney vacation. If you have never done it before and have the chance, I highly recommend it! 🙂

Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part Two: What do You Want to See?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning , , , , , 0 Comment

This is part two in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and will eventually link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

6B5DQCAHDPRZJCA6A37BCCAQBWPGVCAOGKYV1CA4NKBVFCA5MQD18CAGLF2T0CAG313FKCAOPGICLCAN0PVKFCA117EAPCAGA970MCAYLGNQ9CAIMS9L7CADTW8CMCAHBZI5ZCAE0HYPQCAX3J7KACA1FCWELThis week we are going to discuss the things that you and your family are interested in seeing on your visit to Walt Disney World. It may seem odd, when planning your vacation, to not immediately choose your hotel…but frankly if you can have an idea of what parks your family will be most interested in (meaning where you will spend most of your time) then you can plan your accommodations accordingly.

For example, do you and your family really enjoy animals and plan to spend a lot of time at Animal Kingdom? If so, then choosing an Epcot area hotel would not be the most convenient…or best use of your time.

You can, and should, tie this into the time of year you plan to visit. For example, will you be visiting during the fall months when the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom are held? Think about your family and their interest in attending these events. Little ones will love the Halloween Party, and you may want to be convenient to the Magic Kingdom to make it easier to attend.

So you want to get a general idea of what is at each of the parks, and what events will be occurring during the time that you plan to be there. But what is the best way to do this?

I know how overwhelming this part can be because there is just SO MUCH to do at Disney World. So you will need some good planning guides to give you an overview of what is available at the parks to help you decide.

I recommend you do two things here:

  1. Go to www.disneyworld.com and order their free planning DVD. You will need to sign up for a log-in on their site: do it. You will then get lots of Disney vacation planning information and will be on their email list for promotions and special offers. You may even get a special “email code” that will give you a discount on various bookings. (These are pretty coveted, so if you get one that is helpful to you, lucky you! J )
  2. Get a good Disney vacation planner. I have a series of blog posts devoted specifically to this. My favorite, especially if you want to save money, is the Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide.

OK, then, your action step for this week: research what the parks have to offer, and decide what will be most important to you and your family.

Good luck continuing to plan your affordable Disney family vacation! Have a magical day!

Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. Part One: When Will You Go?

Nancy Affordable Disney Vacations, Disney Vacation Planning , , , 1 Comment

This is part one in my blog series: Affordable Disney Vacations Step by Step. You can read the rest of the posts here.

I get many questions from people who are thinking about visiting Walt Disney World and want Disney World vacation tips and suggestions. Disney vacation planning can be very involved and confusing as well, so the goal of this series is to start at the beginning, and look at everything you need to think about, in the general order you need to think about it. Each week’s post will be numbered and will eventually link to all the others so that, when complete, you will have a guide with all the steps and information you need to plan your own Disney magic.

QuestionGuySo, as Mickey would say: “On with the show!” 🙂

Let’s start at the beginning, because you can’t do any other Disney vacation planning until you do this: decide when are you going to go?

I think you can’t really decide this until you take an honest look at yourself, your family, and everyone’s tolerance for things like crowds, heat, rain, as well as your budget to a certain extent.

Let’s look at a common scenario: If you have children, you may need to plan around school vacations: summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring breaks etc. If you do this, it is important to realize that everyone else will probably be doing that as well. So, these are the times that will be most crowded. Is that ok for you and your family? These are the times that can also be the most expensive, or offer the fewest discounts. What is your budget like?

Are your children in school? Will going during the school year compromise their school work and grades? Many people choose to visit Disney World during the school year, precisely to avoid the hot weather and crowds, but if you are considering this, make sure you discuss this with your child’s school and/teacher.

Consider how you feel about weather as well. Do you mind heat and humidity? If you do, then you should probably not consider a vacation during the summer months. Florida humidity is brutal if you are not used to it, and vacations during this time of year require careful logistics to keep everyone from having “meltdowns”.

The thing is, there is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions, just what is right for you and your family. Everyone has a different comfort level when it comes to this. Only you know what is best for your family.

For this week then, let’s decide when you are going to go. Look at school and work holidays if necessary to help you decide when you want to visit. And in addition to the above, it will be helpful to consider the following:

  1. Try to plan as far ahead as possible, 6 -9 months in advance is optimal.
  2. Try to allow some flexibility at this point in your planning: have a general idea of the time of year, or the month that you want to visit, but if possible, don’t choose an actual week/days. Having some degree of flexibility may allow you to save money down the road when booking your hotel room and transportation, since even within a season some days of the week will be less expensive than other.

Good luck with your affordable Disney vacation planning. Have a magical day!

Special Note:

This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival.  Be sure to visit there to read more fun and interesting posts from some great Disney bloggers!