DVC & Alternatives

DVC is Disney's version of a timeshare. Most Disney resorts have DVC units, they range from regular hotel rooms called studios all the way up to 3 bedroom villas. You will find DVC kiosks all over the parks and resorts staffed with cast members eager to sign you up for a tour. We know lots of people who have bought DVC and really love owning it.

Here is why we never bought DVC or any other timeshare.

We prefer the flexibility of staying in different places each trip, including non DVC and non Disney resorts.

We generally do not plan our trips months in advance as is required when you own a timeshare. The supply of units available for DVC owners gets manipulated and if you don't plan far in advance you may not get to stay at your desired resort.

Unlike most timeshares, DVC ownership is not a permanent deed, it has a time expiration on it. The amount of time depends on the resort.

Having done the math, factoring in ongoing maintenance fees and other costs, we would have to use a DVC vacation for 8 years in a row before breaking even and then starting to save money. And who knows what our kids will want to do as a vacation 8 years down the road. And if you finance a timeshare purchase, the math gets pushed way off.

One thing many people don't realize about timeshares, is that even after you pay ten grand to own your week, you still have to pay maintenance fees annually. These fees can fluctuate, but they usually run around $80-$100 per night that you own.

One DVC week's worth of points is only for annual use, and we go 3 or 4 times a year.

Again, some people love it, and we are happy for them. But I have some ways to to enjoy the benefits of a timeshare without buying one.

One way is to just call them up and book it like its a hotel. DVC villas have very high rack rates through Disney reservations. But Bonnet Creek for example, runs less than twice what the maintenance fees would have been if you book through Ebay.

Another way of getting a DVC rental without actually buying a DVC timeshare, is by either renting points from an owner who can't use them that year and getting them to make a reservation for you, or by renting an existing confirmed reservation made by a DVC owner who can't use it. We've done the latter with great success several times.

There are also people who buy up DVC points when they are cheap and make a business out of renting them out to both DVC and non DVC members. Somehow they make a income doing this. People who do this, post on the DISBOARDS.

The DISBOARDS DVC Rent/Trade Board is an online classified where non DVC-Members can find a DVC Member who can make a DVC Resort Reservation for them, or to look to trade a non-DVC timeshare for an equivalent DVC reservation. DVC-Members can use this board to offer to make reservations for others (normally to non-members), transfer points to other members, and so on.

From my efforts, I found that renting points with the hopes of using those points to get a specific week at a specific resort was difficult because most dates were booked up already. And it was much easier if I got lucky and found a DVC member who had an existing confirmed reservation available. But these finds were few and far between. When we did succeed, we got a 1 bedroom Villa at the Beach Club Villas during the International Food Festival. And we paid about half the rack rate. As additional savings there no hotel taxes imposed by the resort because it's real estate owned.

Finding, negotiating and closing on a deal like this takes a lot of work, and some faith. We've done it, it does work. But these days, it's just easier to book at Bonnet Creek.

MK Fireworks

A Bit Of Humor

Grand Floridian Slide Show

Our Favorite Place to Stay

View Larger Map
Wyndham Bonnet Creek (BC) is on a piece of land inside the Disney Property but it does not belong to Disney. In addition to the BC resort on this plot there is a Hilton, a Waldorf Astoria, and 18 hold GC opening fall 09. The BC resort has 8 buildings around it's lake. Most of the construction is completed and we've witnessed no construction noise when staying there. BC offers 1, 2, and 3 bedroom condos, all with full kitchens and laundry machines. The resort has 4 pools, 2 lazy rivers, 1 pool slide, free miniature golf, volleyball, a kids activity center, and bars and snack bars at each pool. And the best part is, it's very cheap. For what you get, it is significantly cheaper than Disney Deluxe resorts and DVC Villas. Granted it's not on a Monorail or a 10 minute walk to Epcot, but it's pretty close. It's also pretty new and in great shape.

There are two completed buildings in the empty lot you see in this image. One of which is a Wyndham hotel. But this aerial shot gives you an idea how close you are to Epcot and DHS. From the certain BC buildings, you can request a room with a fireworks view of the Epcot World Showcase Lagoon.

Although BC is a timeshare development, they have 1000 units and 52 timeshare weeks per unit to sell. So until they are all sold out, they will continue to have days or weeks to rent to you and me like it's a hotel. And rates are low. When we went directly through the Wyndham reservations, we paid $289/night for July 4th (peak) week, and $170/night late August for a large 2 bedroom condo that slept 8. Again, full kitchen & laundry.

Ebay! If you go through an Ebay travel agent, you can get down to $120/night. But you must plan far enough ahead and do a "buy it now" auction for the dates they are selling. Which may not necessarily be the dates you initially wanted. So bid once you're certain you want those dates.

BC does offer it's own shuttle to Disney theme parks. It is not part of the Disney transportation system. We rented a car the times we have stayed there and drove to the parks ourselves. From BC, it's a 5 minute drive to DHS & Epcot. Another 10 minutes to MK.

The one thing you will notice at BC, is that your phone will ring often. A very friendly staff member is calling to invite you to a free breakfast, or an ice cream social, or free hot dogs and hamburgers and a moon bounce for the kids. If you show up to any of these events, you will be greated by sales people there who will try to sell you a timeshare or at least take a tour. They will offer you cash, or park tickets, or a free cruise, or free nights at BC. Don't buy into it. Either never answer it or just unplug your phone when you arrive in your unit. Thank me later.

Each unit has wired internet with a very short ethernet cable from the phone on the bar in the kitchen. Bring your own wifi or a longer cord if that is a problem.

We called ahead a few days to block off a specific room that we preferred. A recommended practice for any hotel stay. We mapped the place out and requested ground floor, lake view, building two. So we were right in front of the put put course, right next to the pool with the slide, and we never had to wait for the elevator. If you opt for a north tower, high floor, Epcot view, then you'll be able to see Epcot fireworks up close at 9pm every night. And possibly Wishes fireworks at MK in the distance. Check YouTube for videos of this fireworks view.

Again, blocking off your room prior to arrival is a great way to ensure a better experience. All too often I've read negative reviews by people because of where their room was positioned around the resort. This can be anticipated and avoided.

If you are serious into put put golf like our kids. You might consider packing your own putters for BC. Clubs and balls are lent out for free from the main building activity center, but you must return them when you're done playing or get charged. It's a big resort and a very long walk to pick up and drop off those clubs. So by packing his own gear, one ball and one putter, Joe shot 72 holes a day and I watched him from our patio. We learned this trick after our first trip to BC. It worked out very well.

Finally, do your own research by reading this resort's 200 plus reviews on Trip Advisor. Especially read the negative ones, the insight being offered is invaluable as well as amusing.

Rehabs & Closures

Check before your trip to see which rides may be closed for rehabilitation.

It can be a long walk across the park only to find out... Oh no! It's closed?!?

It could also be a justification to skip a park or rearrange your ride schedule. Be prepared, plan ahead.

Park & Resort Maps

Dynamic Disney Map
Resort Maps
Park Maps
More Maps from Google Images
MCO Map
Satellite View

View Larger Map

Google Maps is obviously a great way to explore, but Google Earth has some special features specifically related to Disney content. If you have time, get Google Earth.

Disney Transportation Tips & Tricks

Disney transportation provides free buses, boats, and monorails.

The buses can be slow sometimes, and bus stops are usually a good walk from your hotel room, but the are free, and they will get you anywhere on Disney property.

There are 2 monorails loops. One that goes around The Seven Seas Lagoon with stops at MK, Grand Floridian, Contemporary, Polynesian, and the Ticket and Transportation Center. And the other that goes between Epcot and the Ticket and Transportation Center. So by staying at a Monorail Resort, you can get to MK via one monorail ride, or Epcot via 2 monorail rides.

The Monorail does breakdown occasionally, and this has happened to us a few times. If you are exiting MK after the fireworks are over and the monorail breaks down, everyone in line will make a mad dash for either the boats or the buses. You can take a boat to Grand Floridian, or Polynesian, or Wilderness lodge and then cab it from there, I prefer the GF boat, it's a shorter ride. Or you could walk to the Contemporary from MK, about 5-10 minutes, and cab it from there. To escape MK at night, we've done everything but swim across the Seven Seas Lagoon.

We've also frequently used cabs for getting around the parks. When running late for a rope drop, a cab ride to DHS or Epcot from a nearby hotel is only $5 and 5 minutes. Whereas the boat is 30 minutes and free. A cab to MK on the other hand, could run $20. Cabs are always available at the hotels, and theme park cab stands. They are also great for when you just left the kids with a Kids Nite Out babysitter and need to get to your dinner reservation in a hurry.

If you are staying in the Epcot resorts area group of hotels, then you have a boat launch that will take you to BOTH Epcot AND Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS), stopping around the Dolphin/Swan and Boardwalk areas in between. The Epcot entrance in the rear of the park is known as the International Gateway, it's in between France and England on The World Showcase Lagoon.

Ride Height Restrictions

Ride Height Restrictions play a role depending on the makeup of your group.

Just because your kid is tall enough to get on a ride, does not mean they are allowed to ride it alone or go in the single rider line. Some rides still have age requirements or may require an adult.

Just because your kid is tall enough to get on a ride does not mean the the ride will not make them cry. Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom (AK) is very scary.

Baby Swap allows one parent to stand in line and ride the ride while the other parent keeps the baby and waits in the ride's gift shop. Then when the parent gets off the ride, the other parent gets to get on and ride immediately without waiting in line again. You must coordinate this with the cast member at the front of the Standby line before doing a baby swap.

Here are videos of our kids on some rides. Ours tend to want to ride everything before they are either tall enough or old enough.

Disney Dining Plan

The Disney Dining Plan is an upsale to add cost and confusion to an already complicated vacation.

The idea is that you prepay for your meals and get a discount for doing so. But this also means you must anticipate how much you'll eat each day and that you'll be eating at participating Dining plan locations.

The plan consists of a certain number of counter service and table service, drinks, entrees, side dishes, and deserts. And by combining side dishes you can upgrade to entrees, or by combining lesser walk up counter service items you can upgrade to a table service item. Easy right?

However I've often felt that the success of the the Dining Plan depends heavily on both your knowledge of the plan, which is itself intentionally obfuscated, AND the expertise of the intentionally under-trained cashier ringing up your food and applying your credits correctly. I've often stood in line listening to people in front of me either struggling to understand the plan or complaining to cashiers for ringing them up incorrectly.

Bottom line, it's a shell game. And the discount you get upfront is not realized. Their profit is based on food credits going unused. But it's obviously profitable for them given the frequent upsell you will get pitched every time you call Disney.

Give yourself your own discount and bring as much of your own food into the parks, especially water and treats. You'll save money, and time and energy from not standing in line.

Although it's not for us, we do know people who enjoy success with it. So from another point of view, it is possible, if you follow the plan, and eat all your credits, that you will save money with the Disney Dining Plan.

Here's an article from another blog with a detailed analysis.

Disney Restaraunts

Generally, eating inside the park is not that great. And it we only do it when we have to. We usually bring in our own drinks and as many snacks to hold us over until we can leave the park in search of better food.

While just about every Disney hotel does a pretty good job at breakfast, for dinner around the Disney resorts I can only recommend two places with any degree of confidence. Todd English's Blue Zoo at the Dolphin Hotel, and The California Grill at The Contemporary Hotel. Both are consistently great.

We've tried other high end places like Narcoosees and Citricos and Shulas all with mixed results. Your mileage may vary.

Every imaginable restaurant chain is within driving distance from Disney. Just Google Map it to find it. If you can make it 15 minutes north up to the Dr. Philips area on West Sand Lake Rd, you'll find a Ruth's Chris, Timpano, Morton's, and... wait for it..... Ponderosa!!!

Bon Appetit.

Character Dining

Character Dining is a great experience for everyone young and old. Reservations are almost always required and can be made 3 to 6 months in advance. Certain character dining reservations are difficult to get so again, plan ahead.

Cinderella's Royal Table.
CRT is smaller than most character dining restaurants and the four princesses you'll meet make it the toughest reservation to get. It's located on the 2nd level of Cinderella's castle in the center of MK.

Part of the cost per person includes a professional photo of your kid with Cinderella. You can also take your own pictures. While you are eating, a total of 4 princesses make their way around each table for a meet and greet.

CRT serves lunch and breakfast. We have only tried the breakfast. It was a very nice sampling of eggs, sausage, bacon, cinnamon buns and fruit. The kids had yogurt and granola. This event is very pricey, at $30-$47/pp, but you're not there for the food. You are there for the kids to meet Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, and my favorite... Jasmine.

We've done CRT several times, but for the price, we don't need to do it on every trip. It's too much work to get a reservation and it eats up a good part of the morning when we could be riding rides.

Reservations at CRT require prepayment with a credit card. Most other reservations do not.

Akershaus, Epcot, Norway.
Often, when attempting and failing to get a reservation at CRT, the reservation agent will try to point you towards the Akershaus Storybook Dining located at Epcot in the country of Norway on the World Showcase Lagoon. We've tried this too. Breakfast is great, typical eggs, bacon etc... But lunch should be avoided unless you like genuine Norwegian food which is raw fish, cold meat balls and pickled everything.


Crystal Palace.
We've eaten here many times. CP is in the center of MK at the end of Main Street USA. It's a pretty good buffet with characters from Winnie the Pooh. Reservations are tough to get during busy times.


Hotel Character Dining
All Disney hotels have some form of Character Dining experiences. We have only tried the Cape May Cafe which is part of the Beach Club and Yacht Club Resorts. The breakfast buffet is great. And Minnie, Pluto, and Chip n Dale come around to the tables.


When it comes to any type of dining reservations, people regularly cancel days ahead of time, so last minute opportunities are always available and your tenacity will be rewarded. Plan ahead and call for openings regularly. Your concierge can also sometimes get special access to cancellations before the regular public. So ask them to see what they can do for you.

If you have a 9am breakfast character dining reservation at the park opens at 9am, you are allowed access to the park prior to the rope drop. Just look for the specially marked turnstile. This is kinda a neat perk walking through an empty park, although everything is closed.

Even with a confirmed dining reservation, and pre-registration, waiting in line for your table is still required. This is Disney.

A good alternative to meet characters without paying for an unnecessary meal, is going to a character meet. Each park has character meet locations which remain open most of the day, as well as locations where characters come out for 20-30 minutes at a time 4 to 6 times a day. Try this FAQ for more info.

Renting A Car

If you decide that the Disney Magical Express is not for you and your plan is to rent a car from the aiport (MCO):

1. Cheapest rate is not always the best deal.

2. At MCO, some car rental companies like Hertz, Advantage, Ace, Payless, are OFF TERMINAL. Meaning you must haul your luggage on a shuttle bus just to get to the car lot. This will drain your clock and your energy. Avis, Alamo, National, and Budget are in terminal and a short walk from the rental counter to the car.

3. It's also a good idea to use a rental car company that has an additional location close to your hotel. This past trip, our minivan had bad alignment and problems starting, and it was my responsibility to get it running and back to the nearest location to exchange it for a new minivan. Luckily, Alamo had a location less than 5 minutes away. Avis, Alamo, National, and Budget all have locations in the Disney area.

4. Minimum Child Age for booster & car seats is a different in Florida than most other states.

5. Rental car companies charge $60 per booster seat for any fraction of a week. On your way to the parks from the Airport, there is a Target that sells booster seats for $20. Your own car seats or booster seats can be checked as luggage.

6. Rental car companies offer to prepay your tank so you can return it less than full.

7. Rental car companies offer to prepay all your tolls for one flat fee. I find this to be very useful, if only as a time saver. You can fly through the tolls like an EZ pass without stopping and digging for quarters and wait in line while the people in front of you are digging for quarters as well. Florida has a lot of toll roads with which to bleed the tourists.

8. If you normally forget where you park, get a car with a distinctive color, or one with a remote alarm switch. We've spent a good portion of our lives walking aimlessly around character named parking lots searching desperately for the ubiquitous white minivan.

Walker Mobility Scooter Rental

A trip to Disney for us, has often included getting the Grandparents together with our kids. And there is a extraordinary amount of walking involved when visiting the parks. Whenever we enjoy taking our Grandma to the parks, who a few years back had a double hip replacement. we call up Walker Mobility Scooter Rental to help us out.

Disney rents strollers and electric scooters inside the park. It's a good service. But the scooters are almost twice as expensive as outside companies. They don't include canopies. And there is still a lot of walking to get inside the park to get to the scooter rental location.

If you have a handicapped parking permit you can park in the handicap parking lot, where there are a free wheel chairs for to get you to the stroller & scooter rental location inside the park. But if they have run out of wheelchairs in the parking lot, you either ask Grandma to walk it, or send one person out to recover a wheel chair and return with it.

Walker Mobility provides an excellent service. They delivered our scooter to our hotel prior to our arrival. We picked it up in the valet area. We kept it in our room and charged it each night. They have a wide selection of scooters. We added a canopy to ours to shield Grandma from the sun and sometimes rain.

Initially Grandparents will be apprehensive about riding around in a scooter. There is a stigma attached to it. But thousands of people rent these and ride around the parks everyday. There are also crowds to navigate, and the crowds can be unkind. So I would try to make a special effort to stay with the scooter and make way so the driver would feel as comfortable as possible.

Also when driving the scooter in narrow passages or onto a ferry boat, we would have the Grandparent transfer off and one of us would act as harbor pilot to navigate the difficult passage.

Scooters can be parked in the same areas as strollers. And some rides with long lines were able to accommodate scooters all the way up to the point where you board the ride. Also, with a scooter, we were allowed to enter some rides through the exit and skip the regular line entirely.

A logistical caveat when renting a scooter from an outside company is how you will get into the parks. It depends on your hotel location and transportation choices. If you are staying at a Monorail or Epcot area hotel, then you can get the scooter on the boat or monorail and make it to the parks. If you are staying at a hotel that you would normally drive from to get to the parks, then you may need to rent a minivan or SUV. Scooters do disassemble but it's easiest to rent a minivan that has a large flat back row so two people can lift the scooter into the van without taking it apart into a bunch of pieces. We like the Toyota Sienna from Alamo. If this presents too much of a hassle, it might be best to arrive in the handicapped parking lot early, use a free wheel chair to get into the park, and pay a little extra to rent a Disney Scooter.

The best part of our scooter rental experience is the appreciation you receive from the family member who enjoyed using it. It makes the trip for them less stressful, and more enjoyable. It makes adventuring into the park each day easier and less tiring. They get to enjoy memorable moments with their precious grandchildren that will last a lifetime. And after the magical Disney vacation is over, and you all return home from the happiest place on earth, they can go right back to disliking you.

Kids Nite Out

Kids Nite Out is a baby sitting service that cares for children ages 6 weeks to 12 years at any hotel in the Disney area.

1 child $16.00 per hour
2 children $18.50 per hour
3 children $21.00 per hour
4 children $23.50 per hour
5 or more children, please call 1-800-696-8105

We have used them a few times with great success. The earlier you book, the more choices you will have amongst their staff. Early on when the kids were young, we specified that we'd like a "Grandmother type", and we got it. She was a former pre-school teacher who retired and now sits part time. She brought toys for the kids, books to read, and was really on top of things. We liked her so much that we requested her on subsequent trips.

When the kids were younger and not riding roller coasters, a babysitter was key to allow us to go out, have some drinks, get some dinner, and ride some thrilling rides.

They also provide in the park help, it's the same per hour, but you must pay for the sitters park pass for that day. A one day park pass can get up around $80. We haven't tried this yet.

Recently I considered other sites like sittercity.com or nannies4hire.com and almost hired a nanny who also had a part time job as a cast member at Disney. So her park admission would have been free since she was a cast member. But ultimately the scheduling did not work out.

Fast Pass Tutorial

Fast passes (FP) are available for many popular rides. They allow you to ride the ride at a later time and use the FP line which presumably will be shorter.

You must use your park ticket at a fast pass distribution machine to get a FP ticket. The distribution machines are located close to the ride entrance. The park tickets you use to obtain FPs must have also been used to gain admittance into that park that day.

When you get a FP ticket, you can return during or after the time window on the ticket to ride that ride. They do not let you on the ride in the FP line before that time. But you CAN use that FP for the rest of the day, but not the following day.

Until the time window on that FP has passed, you may not obtain additional FPs for that or any other rides.

It is to your advantage to plan your day's ride itinerary and obtain FPs early and as often as possible. Frequently I would break off from our group, and with all the park tickets in hand go hunting for FPs.

You can use your younger child's park ticket to obtain FPs for rides either you or your older kids intend to ride. This doesn't work for kids under 3. They don't get a park ticket.

In the past, Jacki could use one FP and bring on herself and one kid. Cast members are trained to accommodate mothers.

The best FPs right now are for Toy Story Mania (DHS) and Soarin (Epcot). The Peter Pan ride at MK is very good for FPs.

Many FPs sell out early in the day.

If you decide to leave the park before using all your FPs. Give them away to other park goers. If you can, catch people heading into the stand by line and give them a gift. What comes around goes around!

Baby Swap allows one parent to stand in line and ride the ride while the other parent keeps the baby and waits in the ride's gift shop. Then when the parent gets off the ride, the other parent gets to get on and ride immediately without waiting in line again. You must coordinate this with the cast member at the front of the Standby line before doing a baby swap.

Baby Care Centers

At each of the four Disney parks, there are Baby Care Centers. All are located close to the first aid stations.

The baby care center provide:
private feeding rooms with rocking chairs,
diaper changing tables,
a small play room with a tv for syblings to wait in while you change/feed,
diapers, desitin, or baby medicine for sale if you need it.

Baby Care Centers are a quiet, air conditioned sanctuary for you and your baby. We used it back when the kids were still breast feeding. Or if one of them had dificulty falling asleep in the stroller because of the heat or noise in the park.

During a visit a few years ago, Joe starting oozing out of one year. He showed no signs and then all of a sudden... ear infection! The Baby Care Center gave us Motrin and the number to a pharmacy that delivered right to our room. Our Doc called in a script, we got his meds on board, and the vacation continued.

Conciege Level vs. Room with Kitchen

The problem with getting a villa or condo with a kitchen is the same as it's benefit. You have to fill that kitchen with groceries. That can be either good or bad.

The bad of having a kitchen.
Time and effort spent:
Buying groceries,
preparing food,
doing dishes,
taking out the trash,
wasting food/money,
having to finish food to avoid wasting it.

The good of having a kitchen.
Getting exactly what you want, especially good when you have picky eaters,
Possibly saving money, although the Goodings Grocery Store in LBV is prices like a 7/11,
Your kitchen is open 24/7,
You can bring back left overs, order pizza or keep any carryout in your fridge,
ICE CREAM!
Alchohol!

An alternative to paying for a kitchen in your villa is getting a regular hotel room that grants you access to the Concierge Lounge.

With Concierge Lounge you can get:
Cold breakfast,
Drinks and cookies all day,
Appetizers at night,
beer, wine, brandy, at night,
deserts at night,

We have really enjoyed Concierge Level, although results vary by resort. To wake up, have a bowl of cereal or danish and go is great. Our kids had non stop milk, water or apple juice. We could take a large bottle of evian back to our room each night. We could grab some fruit or fill up plastic cups with cheerios to take into the park as a snack. Each night, I could easily drink two or three glasses of wine before either heading out for dinner or heading off to bed. And the appetizers were sometimes enough to act as a full dinner.

One caveat of concierge level is the schedule they keep. Breakfast doesn't start until 7am. Sometimes our kids have woken up earlier than than. And the apps/desert schedule at night is strict, they begin taking that food away a few minutes early whether you've had enough to eat or not.

At any concierge level, you will find, as you might expect, a concierge. They can book dinning reservations, help with special requests, and answer questions. They handle your checking in and checking out. Upon arrival, you are escorted right past the lobby to the concierge club level for VIP check in. Pretty nice!

Not all are equal. I'll rate quality of concierge level here only.

Grand Floridian (GF) Concierge level is the nicest. We stayed in the Sugar Loaf Key building. There is also a concierge level in the main GF building. We recommend the ground floor in Sugar Loaf Key, it's closest to the lounge. The security in this out building seemed somewhat porous with automatic doors on both ends and nobody attending to them. But the food was ample and very high end. One night we had crab cakes! And the staff was exceptional.


Boardwalk Inn Concierge level is 2nd best in my opinion. The food is provided by restaurants from around the Boardwalk area. So the appetizers at night were somewhat less than the GF. The walk to get to this area was long at the end of the building, but the security was very tight, there was one secure key card door to pass through attended by a staff member at all times.


Contemporary Concierge Level. We liked this one a lot. Most if not all of the Contemporary has been refurbished. And the food was lower key, we had riblets and wings or meatballs and chicken fingers. And plenty of PB&J. The best part of the was the concierge lounge was located on a high floor with a view of MK, so each night, the kids could watch Wishes Fireworks over MK in their pajamas and then go straight to bed. I would definitely go back.


Wilderness Lodge Concierge Level. For some reason, somebody thought that the menu each night should reflect the theme of the lodge. The wild wild west. So we would have chili one night, or franks and beans the next, or pulled bbq pork with corn bread, or more chili. I'm not kidding. By the end of the week my stomach had more holes than a block of swiss cheese. Bring some tums if you stay here.


Concierge Level costs roughly $100 extra per night for the rooms we stayed in. So it's a benefit you definitely pay for. As a consequence we spent less on food and drinks inside the park. And skipped expensive dinners on many nights. So I can say that it does add some value. We did zero dishes, and everything was available to us.

As an example of the convenience, we returned from the parks late one night, and the lounge was already closed, so Jacki phoned the concierge from our room with a request. Within two minutes, there was a knock at our door, we were presented with two cups of whole milk with lids and straws. The kids finished their milk, brushed their teeth, and then went right to bed. And all we had to do was make a phone call.

Another example, our concierge handle fedex packages for us and stocked their fridge with special soy milk for our niece.

Disney Magical Express

DME is a free charter bus line that gets you from the airport (MCO) to your Disney Resort. You must request DME service when booking. And you must call them back and given them your flight info to confirm DME service. DME will mail you special yellow luggage tags about two weeks prior to your trip. Putting these tags on your checked luggage will get DME to pickup your bags at MCO and take them directly to your hotel. So once arriving at MCO you can skip the baggage claim and go directly to the DME registration (on the end of the Rental Car level). Get in line, register, then get in line and get on the bus.

View Larger Map
Caveats.
1. Each bus has 3 or 4 hotels to stop at. Your hotel could be first or last.

2. The bus is much slower than if you drive your own rental car or take a private car.

3. Although your luggage goes directly to your room without you, we've seen it take 4 hours to reach the room. So plan for this and carry essentials on the plane with you, else you may not see them until much later that day.

4.5 You must be in your room to have your bags delivered from the bell desk.

5. DME lines can be long and slow, and buses can be crowded.

6. DME is free, but you're stuck on property for the duration of your trip. Unless you cab it out.

7. If you pack light and carry all your bags on the plane, half the DME benefit is lost.

One advantage of DME when going home, is that you can check your luggage at the hotel (for participating airlines only) before boarding the DME bus heading to MCO. So hang onto your DME vouchers for the return trip.

And keep your luggage under 50 lbs!!! Amazing how a $2 shampoo bottle can cost $150 extra. Again, we learned the hard way.

Deciding Where To Stay

What are your requirements? What is most important to you?

Proximity?
If you want to be really close to Magic Kingdome (MK), there are three hotels, each with stops on the Monorail that are very close. The Grand Floridian, The Contemporary, and The Polynesian. Also The Wilderness Lodge is a 15 minute boat ride away from MK and always has cheaper rooms than the monorail resorts. More good links here. And here is the best collection of resort maps I have found anywhere.



If you want to be really close to Epcot or Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS), then the Epcot resorts area offers The Beach Club, The Yacht Club, The Boardwalk Inn, The Dolphin, and The Swan.

Animal Kingdom (AK) has the Animal Kingdom Lodge close by. But not as close as you might think. The Lodge is surround by a 24/7 safari right outside your window so it's intentionally located far away so the animals don't get spooked by distant theme park fireworks. So to get to the AK theme park, either drive or take the bus.

Hotel Plaza Blvd in Lake Buena Vista (LBV) has a dozen or so regular hotels close to downtown Disney. Most offer their own shuttles to the parks.

View Larger Map

In the surrounding LBV and Kissimmee areas, you'll find the largest concentrations of hotels rooms, timeshares, and vacation houses 2nd only to Las Vegas, NV.

Amenities?
If you need a kitchen or laundry machine in your room, then some of the Disney Resorts offer Villas. The villas are also part of the Disney Vacation Club Timeshare system, but you can book them through Disney just like hotel room if they are available. Off Disney Property there are tens of thousands of timeshare villas which run very cheap. But then you'll likely require a rental car to get into the parks each day and add ten to fifteen minutes commuting time.

If you're OK with a regular hotel room but you'd like to have food and snacks readily available and prepared for you then Concierge Club Level at a Disney Deluxe Resort is the way to go. We've tried four different ones and we'll review these in another post.

Transportation?
To rent or not to rent a car. If you stay on Disney property you can get a free ride in a charter bus from the Airport (MCO) to your hotel. Once you are on site and without a car, you're bound by Disney transportation or cabs. This is called Disney's Magical Express (DME, more on this later). This is Disney's method of keeping you on property spending all your money with them until your either run out or leave.

On the othrer hand, if you rent a car you can drive yourself, and you can drive anywhere, even to another park like Sea World or Universal! We like the flexibility to drive off property go to a grocery store or to have a proper meal in a nice restaurant for a reasonable price.

So prioritize. And book early. The best of the best goes first, concierge level at the Grand Floridian is very hard to get for example. Beach Club Villas are hard to get. And it's all expensive.

No matter where you end up, do yourself a favor, look up your resort and read the reviews on Trip Advisor.

Disney Room Key & Park Hopper Pass

One thing we really liked when staying in a Disney resort is the room key. Your room key can be programmed to also act as your park hopper pass AND a room charge card. So you get into the parks and also charge food or merchandise anywhere around the parks or resorts. This is very useful for those who would rather not carry around credit cards and cash.

Of course you'll need a credit card on file with the hotel, and you can also sometimes exceed the daily charge limit if you pick up the lunch or dinner tab for your large party.

Just keep that card AWAY from your cell phone. Or else it will demagnetize and you won't be charging or gaining access to your room or the parks. And this can happen at the worst times.

Other than that, it's a huge convenience.

Fool Me Once

What we have learned about this subject came from trial and error. Mostly error. A trip to Disney is a big deal. It's not as easy as going to the beach. It's exciting and expensive. And there is almost always too much to do in the time allowed. So you need to plan. You don't want to be flying back home either wondering or knowing that either your time or money could have been better spent.

Don't be Goofy. Plan ahead.

Extra Magic Hours

Disney EMH Calendar
All Ears EMH Calendar
WDW Info EMH Calendar

EMH is a benefit for those staying in a Disney Resort. This does not include Bonnet Creek, which is NOT a Disney resort. The benefit is that for certain parks on certain dates, the operating hours are extended either in the morning or evening (never both). So if you are paying extra to stay at a hotel on Disney property, you can use EMH to get a jump start and beat the crowds, or stay late and possibly enjoy less crowds.

You will be required to show a room key to prove you are staying at a Disney resort. This gets you admitted early in the morning, or a wrist band so you can ride the rides in the evening. For pm EMH There is nothing to force you to leave the park if you are not a Disney Hotel Guest, but you won't be allowed on any of the rides without a wrist band.

You can get the EMH schedule from www.disney.com, go to parks, WDW, then either planning or schedule. They keep moving the link. We've found that even the best Disney cast members are not always well informed on park hours. So it's best to make a schedule before you leave for Disney.

I happen to believe that the lack of cast member training on the EMH schedule and the difficulty in finding the EMH schedule online is purposeful and meant to obfuscate this benefit rendering it useless to the ill prepared.

Knowing EMH schedules plays an important role in doing the Rope Drop. IF you are staying on property, it's good to take advantage of a rope drop/EMH combination because the lines will be even shorter a few hours longer in the morning. If you are NOT staying on property then you should avoid the Rope Drop at a park on a day that has AM EMH, because tens of thousands of guests who are staying on property will already be inside the park, and standing on lines, before you are even allowed in.

EMH also tends to draw large crowds to that park that morning (evening too) making other non EMH parks less crowded during the same time.

So knowing the EMH schedule is important whether you're paying for a Disney resort or not.

The Rope Drop

Regardless of all my other advice, or how you fine tune your trip to meet your personal preferences, no other piece of information I can share is more significant than THE ROPE DROP.

If you are like us, you would rather not stand in long lines. And Disney has plenty of them. Generally point of sale lines are well staffed to take your money, however, once they have your money, there will be a line for you to stand in no matter the occasion. You will stand in line at bathrooms, restaurants, bus stops, monorails, turnstiles, concierge desks, elevators, boat docks, fast pass distribution machines, ATM machines, Disney Magical Express, rental car kiosks, bag check points, oh and yes, rides.

With kids at Disney, it's hard work to wake them up, get everyone fed, load up the car, drive to the parks parking lot, take the people mover to the ticket and transportation center, get on the monorail, get through the turnstile, navigate the park to your kids first desired ride only to find a one hour wait. Mastering this process is the key to making each day a success.

Every park has what they call The Rope Drop. It's a short song and dance show they put on 10 minutes or so before they drop the rope and let the first guests in each day.

By arriving at The Rope Drop, you will be able to go straight to your ride and walk right on. And even ride it multiple times with no line. Or ride several rides in that area with no lines.

For example, Magic Kingdom. If you take your kids straight up Main Street to Fantasy Land, you could ride Peter Pan, Snow White Scary Adventure, Winnie The Pooh, Dumbo, the Merry Go Round, and It's a small world, and be done before 11am (assuming a 9am drop). If you showed up there later say after 10am or 11am, you would be there all day trying to finish those rides.

Another example, Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios. This is one of the newest and most popular rides. At the Rope Drop each day, thousands of people walk very fast directly to this ride. The Moms walk on the ride with the kids, while the Dads get fast passes to ride it again later. Before the Moms and kids get off the first ride, the fast passes are likely either sold out for the day, or pushed all the day back to 4pm that afternoon. It's a popular ride. So by hitting The Rope Drop, you can walk on, and then head over to Star Wars, Tower of Terror or whatever else. Without standing in long lines.

At the Rope Drop at Epcot, everyone either heads for Soarin or Test Track. And the lines go up to an hour long instantly.

One caveat to the rope drop is.... depending on your energy levels, it may require going to bed early, or missing fireworks either that night or the night before. Our kids (4&6) have gone all day and stayed up for 10pm fireworks, but we definitely paid the price the next day. Plan for some rest time if you think you'll need it.

Another potential caveat to the Rope Drop is Extra Magic Hours (EMH). Knowing EMH schedules plays an important role in doing the Rope Drop. IF you are staying on property, it's good to take advantage of a rope drop/EMH combination because the lines will be even shorter a few hours longer in the morning. If you are NOT staying on property then you should avoid the Rope Drop at a park on a day that has AM EMH, because thousands of guests who are staying on property will already be inside the park, and standing on lines, before you are even allowed in.

Plan for The Rope Drop, allow yourself enough time to get into the park given the transportation you've planned. We've left our hotel as early as 8am for a 9am rope drop when staying in a drive out resort. If you are a monorail stop away from your park, you are much better off for that park, but at a disadvantage for other parks.

Places We've Stayed In The Past

View Places We've Stayed in a larger map

1. Beach Club Villas (DVC)

2. Grand Floridian

3. Contemporary

4. Boardwalk Inn

5. Wilderness Lodge

6. Wyndham Star Island

7. Wyndham Bonnet Creek

8. Swan

9. Hilton and Doubletree in Lake Buena Vista (LBV) along Hotel Plaza Blvd.
10. Marriott Residence Inn on International Drive.

Our current favorite is Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I'll go into detail on each of these later.