DVDizzy Forum

Okay so I'm a west coast, who spent the first years of his life on the east coast. As a result, while I make several trips to Disneyland every year, my first memories were of Disneyworld.

I don't really prefer one over the other, I love both for different reasons. But history lessons and long story short, I am planning on taking my wife to Florida for 11 days next spring/early summer. Obviously we will be at the Disney parks.

So my question is, what would be the better approach? Staying on property (a lower end room because we'll never see it besides going to sleep and waking up) or staying off property?

Obviously cost/value is a factor and I'm curious is anyone has done both or has opinions.

Disney will be the main point of the trip and there are pros and cons to both. We also will do Sea World and possibly the beach while we're down there. So is it worth it just stay on property and use the shuttle services and just a rent car when we need it? Or is still cheaper to rent a car and stay off property. Keep in mind that we will be 24 during the trip so that will have an impact on car rental costs.

Second part of the question, which packages are the best. Are ones that include food really a better value or are they milking it?

Do you need special tickets to get into pleasure island?

Any advice would be appreciated on anything related to Disneyworld and ORlando.

I haven't been there in 10 years and this is the first time I've ever actually planned a trip there.

Hey! I'm currently planning a possible trip for September of this year right now! (well, it all depends on if I can get the time off from work, but I have a courtesy reservation so I can cancel if things don't work out). I've also been to the World 15 times (and I'm 23- just about the same age!!)

After staying on and off property, I'll never stay off property again. On-property is really the way to go, and worth it even if you're at a value resort. Disney transportation is really great, and it's so nice to have that constant feel of being at Disney.

For me if I had to choose between staying off-property or not going at all until I had the money to stay on-property, I'd pick the second choice!!

I don't know if I'd recommend doing the beach too.. it's pretty far away from what I understand, and there's plenty to do around Disney. My feeling is that you can go anywhere for the beach... why do it at Disney? Different strokes for different folks I guess.

Not sure about Sea World- I'm sure they have some sort of transportation since it's a popular thing to do. I'd look into that further- renting a car would be really expensive since you're under 25. Or you could just rent one for a day (I did that in Tampa two years ago when I was 21- it was $50 for the day). I went through Enterprise- there aren't many who rent to under 25er's.

The Dining Plan... it all depends on your food preferences. The reason I'm planning a trip for September is that from 8/13 - 9/30 Disney has the Dining plan for FREE if you book by June 4th. It's usually $38 per day and includes 1 snack, 1 counter service and 1 table service meal per night per person. We don't usually eat that much and are fine not eating table service a lot since it's so expensive but we're taking advantage of the Free dining to try out all the different restaurants. Disney has some of the best!!! If you're into gourmet food and love to eat, the DP is a good deal. If you don't eat that much or appreciate good food, it probably isn't right for you. I have a friend who ALWAYS gets the DP when she goes w/ her hubby because they absolutely love the restaurants there. It all depends on your preferences and how much you eat. If you're looking to save money- you could definitely eat cheaper.

Another way to eat cheaper is to go back to your resort for lunch or dinner because food tends to be cheaper there than inside the parks. You can also bring food to have breakfast in your room which is both cheaper and faster.

You don't need special tickets to get IN to Pleasure Island but from what I understand there are either covers for each individual club, or you can get a ticket that covers all of them (someone correct me if I'm wrong). It used to be that you couldn't walk through it without having a ticket, but that's changed since Downtown Disney added the West Side part on the other side of it.

If I can think of anything else, I'll post more

If you end up not renting a car and just doing Sea World, the Lynx bus runs from the Magic Kingdom to Sea World.

The Lynx #50 bus runs from downtown Orlando to Magic Kingdom with stops at SeaWorld along Sea Harbor Drive and the Central Florida Parkway. It runs about every half hour.

Schedule is found here: http://www.golynx.com/schedule.cfm?route=50

Not sure how much it costs, but you could call them. Probably much cheaper than renting a car. If you didn't rent a car you could afford to stay on property- if you stay off property you either have to use their transportation (which is not that great) or pay to park at each park for the day.