Disney World - Keller,TX

You can go straight through Disney by calling them or by using their website. They are the most experienced with their own company. If you do decide to go through a travel agent, I would also call Disney direct anyway and see who can give you a better deal. In addition, there are many websites that seem to give you discount prices and they may be worth exploring. Whoever you work with, make sure that they really know DisneyWorld. It is very large and imposing if this is your first time.

No matter what you decide to do, get familiar with all of the hotels and their placement on the property. Each hotel is very different and their locations will determine how long it takes to get to certain parks. For instance, Disney Wilderness Lodge is located near the Magic Kingdom by a quick boat ride. You need to take a bus to get to the Animal Kingdom and the other parks and the bus rides vary in length. However, Disney's Wild Animal Lodge is closer to the Animal Kingdom but you will need to take a bus to each of the parks if you stay there.

By familiaring yourself with the overall layout and the different hotels and their adjacent parks, you will feel more comfortable when you are there.

Enjoy!

You can certainly book your vacation yourself. If you use a travel agent we can do all the leg work for you.We do the work...get the resort that will fit not only your family but your budget, make your dinner reservations for you, assist you in making decisions on how you will see ALL of Disney..is this even possible! Agents can take care of questions/concerns you may have. We do the work, you have all the fun! If you do not have an agent please let me know I love to book Disney!

I think either would be fine. If I were you, I would spend some time on the Disney web site so you have a feel for what there is to offer. We booked our vacation ourselves and made a few calls to Disney with questions. Although they always answered our direct question, I don't think they went out of their way to provide additional information. For instance, if you call Disney and ask about pricing for a particular promotion, they will give it to you. However, they will not tell you if other promotions are going on at the same time which may be cheaper or give you additional information to consider. So if you call Disney make sure you ask for ALL promotions going on and get several different room rates. I found a lot of good info on the disney moms panel (link on their web site). Have a great trip!

Last time we went - 2004 - we used AAA to make our reservations and it was cheaper. This time, I'll call AAA as well as Disney directly to see which is cheaper.
YMMV
LBC

Hi! I planned a trip for 12 of us in 2006. I created a spreadsheet into which I combined tips and information from several books. If you're interested in my spreadsheet, please e-mail me - ____@____.com - and I'll send it to you. :)

Check out The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World from your library! Helped us a lot.

Check out allears.net it has lots of good tips, hints, when NOT to go, etc! That's where you can find out if say it is national cheerleading competition or something so you can avoid those dates. It covers onsite and offsite accomodations, etc.