HELP! First trip to WDW Thanksgiving week . . .

[HannaAddict]

I appreciated all the advice and loved the HOJO rec for our first trip last year to Disneyland. We are now looking at a flight across country to Florida for an in-law's b-day, the weekend before Thanksgiving. It is less than an hour from Orlando, we'd fly into Orlando so we should try and do WDW, right? We have somehow gone from DINKs to a traveling circus of 6 yo, 4 yo, and will be ten month old. We would love to have connecting rooms of some sort or a suite, but the prices are pretty crazy even by Disney standards. We want something nice, not old, newer or renovated, and I don't see us all crammed into one room . . . nor do I see us spending every single second at the Parks.

Should we still try and stay on property, the Polynesian? Contemporary? Try and get the two cheapest standard rooms they have? Has anyone done connecting rooms at WDW? Or is there anyplace off the property that you would recommend and is worth the hassle of packing kids into car seats, etc. to get to WDW.

Thanks for any and all info. The Disney boards make my head hurt, I could cope with planning Disneyland but WDW just seems crazy. We would be there for five nights, including Thanksgiving.

[TwinFoxes]

You might want to give the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) properties a try. You can get one or two bedroom suites, that come with a small kitchen and washer/drier. We are staying at the Boardwalk Villas for our fall trip. You don't have to be a club member to stay. You can rent through Disney, or you can rent points through DVC members, which is much cheaper. I'm really excited to stay at a DVC property.

From what I've read, the Pop resorts have family suites. I don't know much about them.

Someone posted about the Wyndham Bonnet Creek. It's still in The World, looks AMAZING and is much cheaper than staying at a Disney property. And it's closer to the parks than the Pop resorts. It's also a suites property, and part of Wyndham's vacation club.

Disboards.com is a good, but overwhelming place to research properties. Allears.net is also good, and more manageable.

[Momof3Labs]

Thanksgiving week this year? It's probably late to try to get into DVC for a holiday time. I'd also not bank on being able to get connecting rooms at that time (connecting rooms are never guaranteed by Disney). I'd probably go the suite route just to ensure that you get the layout you want/need - whether it be at All-Star Music or an offsite property. Two rooms at the Poly or Contemporary would be ridiculously expensive that week, but maybe you don't mind.

Another place to consider is the Swan/Dolphin. They often run specials over holidays (they are big convention resorts so that is downtime for them) and they are NICE!! Walking distance to Epcot and DHS, too. I'm not sure about suites there, though.

[egoldber]

I agree with Lori, that is a VERY busy time and at this point there may be limited availability. It is also the highest $$$ season. The crowds will be really large as well.

Honestly, there is a lot to do in FL, I don't know that I would try to do that for my first trip to WDW.

[SnuggleBuggles]

You could just do it as a day trip and save yourself some work. Pick one park, probably Magic Kingdom or Epcot, go super early and make a full day of it. We did that when were in the area for spring break 2 years ago. We did stay offsite b/c we did Sea World one day then Disney the next. But, even if we had just done Sea World we could have done it as a day trip (we did Disneyland that way- even had a 1.5 hour drive after we left at 11pm). Busy, crazy but lots of fun! One or 2 parks (park hopper) still gives you a great taste of Disney!

Beth

[HannaAddict]

Thanks for info. I was not excited about this since it seemed like an awfully busy time to go, peak rates, and just sprung on us with not much time to plan it. Let alone hauling three kids including a baby across country and my oldest missing school. So, after pricing out the stunning amounts for Disney properties, my husband is just going to fly out non-stop the Saturday of his relative's b-day weekend (Sunday is the bday) and fly home non-stop on Monday. Whew, and we will do WDW sometime when it works for us. Thanks !!

[WatchingThemGrow]

So, what was the stunning amt for the rooms? I called a while back for one room for the 5 of us, and I felt like I scored the bargain of the century at $380/nt for one room in the garden wing of the Contemporary. A bit later, my head was spinning at the price of one Monday night, with a discount, not on a holiday.