Disney World - Forney,TX

I disagree that taking little ones is a waste of money!! We just took our 2 girls in March (ages 2 and 5). They BOTH loved it so much that I'm glad I didn't listen to the people who told me not to take a 2 year old there! Their reactions to seeing the characters was amazing! They really believe in all of the magic. I have nephews who went at age 8, and yes they enjoy it too, but it's so much more "magical" for the little ones who believe they are meeting the real Mickey Mouse and princesses! My 2 year old even keeps saying "Remember the Dumbo ride?" and "I saw Ariel in Disney!"

We stayed in a condo right off the Disney property that we got through my parents timeshare, so it was inexpensive, but we had 2 bedrooms and a kitchen which was very nice. We ate breakfast in our condo most mornings and packed our own lunches (they let you bring in a backpack with your own food, which saves alot of money and is healthier).

We bought our tickets through undercovertourist.com, which is recommended on the website mousesavers.com (you can subscribe to their newsletter which is full of money saving tips). Another good website is allears.net. I got most of my good advice from "The Unofficial Guidebook to Disney World". It was extremely helpful in planning our first trip!! We brought our own strollers to avoid the expense of renting (and it was nice to have them in the airport and parking lots too). We used priceline.com to save money on a car rental, and flew on southwest, where "bags fly free". I bought Disney t-shirts ahead of time from the Disney store (on sale about $4-$5 instead of $20-$30 in the parks) and brought my daughters' princess dresses from home because the little girls like to dress up there.

Watch the Disney website for promotions and check out those other 2 websites I mentioned for all kinds of deals. I had almost as much fun planning as I did going! It was such an incredible trip that we are hoping to go back in 2 years.

I can't comment much on the budget part, because my MIL funded the trip we just took there in Jan.
However, I will agree that the older child will probably get a little more out of it and remember the trip, but there's a lot to do with little ones, too. We had a group of family (in-laws, my hubby's brother's fam. and us.) The age range was 9 months,4,5,7,9, 10 and 11. There are shows that the younger kids enjoyed as well as rides in Magic Kingdom. My daughter(7) and niece(5) love High School Musical and really liked the "traveling" spin-off that entertained the crowd. They were even called up to dance with them. The older kids, who were boys, loved Epcot. The hands down favorite ride for the older ones was Mt. Everest in Animal Kingdom. The other awesome rides for them were ROckin Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Of course, it depends on how old your kids are and if they like roller coasters. My daughter went on every ride and had a blast. My niece, however, decided against many of them.
Definitely take advantage of the Fast Pass. You go to whatever ride you want and get a pass that you can use usually in about 45 minutes. You come back at that time and you can get into the ride almost immediately. We were there in Jan. which wasn't a busy time, plus it was unseasonably cold. However, I've been told it's pretty much this was all the time. We never had to wait for more than 10 minutes.
Also, there's the baby exchange pass (can't remember the official name of it) I would go on a ride with my kids while my hubby or Grandma watched the baby. Once off the ride, we switched and I waited with baby while hubby went. You get right back on, no waiting.
The kids really liked the shows. Even my 9 month sat and watched a couple. The 3D Mickey show(cant' remember that official name, either -geesh!)was great! We saw that one twice. We also like both Nemo shows. I didn't think the kids would really get into them, but they did.
My MIL got books from a friend and the library to plan. Most, if not all, of the rides were rated by stars. We picked out a lot of what we wanted to do by how many stars the shows or rides got. That way, we weren't wasting time by going on a lot of rides that weren't that great. Although, once there, the kids picked a couple things to do that weren't on the list. (This caused some anxiety with "planner" Grandma...LOL!) I can't say we were disappointed in anything. I will warn you, though, the ride 'It's a Small World" will cause you to have that song go through your mind...FOREVER!!! heehee.
There are character meals, too. We did a breakfast at Cinderella's castle where we got to meet all of the princesses. The girls loved this. You can bring your own autograph book or buy one there. There are characters all over the park that you can get autographs from. The other characters are at other meals, too.
I would definitely recommend getting some Disney books. There's a lot of information that you'll be glad you have.
HAVE FUN!!!!!

You're going at the best time of year. Fall is off-season, and crowds are light. You should also be able to find off-season deals on hotels. It's wonderful if you can afford to stay on the Disney property, BUT you will save a ton of money (and still have fun) if you stay off property. You can look for hotels that have a free shuttle to the parks and save on parking. I think they have some good deals on the dining plan right now, but we always eat breakfast in our hotel room (muffins, cereal, etc, make sure you have a little refrigerator in the room), bring our own snacks to the parks, eat a counter service lunch, so dinner is our only "sit down" meal, which saves money on food. Carry paper cups in your day pack to split beverages for your kids. Oh, and I would only get the base tickets. You can skip the park hopper, one park/one day, is PLENTY enough with young kids, and skip the "waterpark and more" option. Although I LOVE Typhoon Lagoon, the hotel pool should also be enough of a swim break for a budget minded trip.

This all depends on the ages of your kids. If you have little ones please know that it is a waste of money. Wait until they are 8 or so. That said if you want to get the best bang for your buck September or October is the best time. Get the Fodors Disney books out of the library and follow their advice and suggestions.
YMMV
PVC

Disney has a lot of great deals. The best way to do disney on a budget is to plan how many days your going to be there, Stay at the park (all star resorts or pop century) and don't plan outside excursions. there are shuttles from the airport to disneyworld. and transportation all over the park so you won't need a car. some people really like the meal plan. my daughter loved it when she took her kids. we have never done it ourselves so i can advise on that. But i can tell you that if your careful and have a family of 4 you can dine on less than $200 a day. But plan for at least $200 a day for food as you will need to purchase snacks during the day as well as your meals. We love Disney and went often when our children were younger. Last trip was in 2006 with our kids then ages 12, 17, 18, 20 and 23 my self and my husband. We spent a fortune but had spent 3 years planning for it. We spent about $9000 on the total trip. that was airfare for the two girls to fly in and out from their respective colleges. We rented a house for the week. I found the house on ebay. It was great had 4 bedrooms and pull out couches. and a private pool off the back of the house. We found the house on ebay. Look for florida vacation rentals. It was less than 10 minutes from the gates at disney world. The other 5 of us drove in. We ate at the park every day. at whatever restaurant we wanted. Didn't skimp. saw all shows etc and did take 1 day out and went to some outside stuff. It was a spectacular week. So glad we did it while the kids were all able to come. Planning another vacation a little bit away when we will take grandchildren with us.

A few things that can help your budget at Disney...

You can bring food into the park. So bring along a back pack and stock it with some snacks.

Everything cost more at the parks, so keep in mind things the kids might want like a Disney sweatshirt, and buy it somewhere else. When we went lanyards were extremely popular. In the park they were $10 and had a plastic clip, at Walgreens in Orlando they were $4 and had metal clips.

Central Florida is known to have ocassionally rain showers that only last an hour or two. Be sure to bring rain ponchos, they cost a small fortune in the park.

If you stay at a Disney hotel, you can buy a souvenier cup and get free refills of soda, ice tea, coffee, etc. at the hotel only. But definetly worth it. I would fill it up and drink my beverage while waiting for the bus. The empty cup went in the backpack and I'd use it in the park at the drinking fountains. You can also get a small refrigerator in your room for an extra $5 a day. We drove down so we were able to stock the frig with yogurts, fruits, juice, lunchmeats and cheese for a light meal or a snack. You can buy some food items in the back of the gift shop located at the hotels (it's reasonably priced).

Have a great trip.

If you stay at a property outside of Disney look for one that offers a free shuttle. You'll save a lot in gas and parking fees.

My daughter went on the Disney CRUISE ship with us 2 times - when she was 18 months and again when she was 2.6 years old. Then she went to Disney when she just turned 4 - LOVED LOVED it all!

That said, if you can, I STRONGLY urge you to stay IN the park with little ones - especially a resort that is walking distance into a park or monorail. That way if your kids get tired, you can easily get back to your hotel to take a nap and then go back to the park later.

Disney has CRAZY deals right now - we looked into the first week in December, and our family of 4 in the Beach Club (right outside EPCOT) WITH FOOD and ALL PASSES, was $2800!!!!! And that was for a full week!!!

Have a wonderful time!