Travel Planning

Happy Monday everyone! I hope that everyone had a nice weekend and that anyone celebrating a holiday was able to do so with family or friends. 

I've not posted anything in awhile so I had to think about what I should share with everyone.  We're still waiting on the final bank decision and I'm hoping it's soon. Plans are still moving along though and you can find us at www.mickeysgardenvilla.com as well.

Whenever I start thinking about travelling to Florida I get into planning mode. I'm not a rigid traveller once I'm at my destination but I like to know what I can do or want to do when I get there. Over the years I've used a few sources quite a bit. It's amazing what you can find on the Internet these days and I'm often searching for new sources of information. I'll break down my favourites for you below.

Books

For Disney my favourite is The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World

If you'd like a souvenir when you're done PassPorter has the following:

PassPorter's Walt Disney World 2012: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake! by Jennifer Marx, Dave Marx and Allison Cerel Marx (Spiral-bound - Dec 13 2011)

Frommer's also has an excellent guide to Florida that we have purchased and it shows all the different areas in the state and where to go, see, do in each place.

Web

I personally love having a book to flip through when planning but using the Internet to do your research is amazing. The information you can find is great.  From dedicated websites of the place you are visiting, to discussion boards and blogs you can find professional opinions and feedback from travellers just like yourself. I've listed some of my favourites below.

www.mousesavers.com  (you'll find some info about other attractions as well, but mostly about Disney)

www.undercovertourist.com (Great prices on tickets, even better if you sign up for the mousesavers newsletter. And I think their apps for iPhone and android, and on facebook are great planning tools)

www.orlandoinformer.com (this one if for Universal Orlando and they also have a crowd calender to help with planning, as well as great information on the parks)

www.chipandco.com (for park news, planning and more)

www.allears.net

www.visitkissimmee.com

These are just some. We follow some great resources on twitter, so look us up (@mickeygrdnvilla). And we follow some amazing pages on Facebook (so check us out and LIKE our page).  We would love to answer any vacation questions or point you in the right direction.  Thanks again for taking the time to read.

When is the best time to go to Disney?

This is a question that everyone asks when they make the decision to go to Florida.  It is a much discussed question. We've been during a few different times of the year and I must admit that I really didn't like going in the summer.  We went last year in July and while we still has a ton of fun it was 2 things... really hot and humid and busy.  Now I think it's fair to say that Disney World is always busy but there are definitely times of the year that are worse.

My favourite resources for picking times of the year (and more specifically which days of your vacation to attend each park) are The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World (by Bob Sehlinger & Len Testa ) and it's website touringplans.com; and undercovertourist.com. Undercover tourist has an excellent app for both Disney and Universal (available on both iphone and android operating systems). You can also find Undercover Tourist on Facebook.

I had the 2009 Unofficial Guide and it was well used up until this summer and I just recently replaced it with the 2012 edition.  (Our local Costco has it right now for a good price).  Before this summer we had gone in the spring, both times after Easter break in the U.S. was over and the crowns were manageable as was the heat! My only complaint with early April was that at night the temperatures we only in the low 20s, which for me is to cold to jump in a pool and go swimming once the sun is down (my kids on the other hand had no problem with this!).  The biggest problem we had with going in July was the Brazilian tourists. Now I'm not talking about a few, I'm talking groups of over a hundred and they seemed to follow us where ever we went.  I think a staff member took pity on us at Universal Studios and let us go in the express pass lane when we arrived at the Men in Black ride just after a hundred or so of them.

My personal opinions aside, I'm going to give you the quick list of best and worst times to go according to The Unofficial Guide!  These guys have done an amazing job making trips to Disney easier and it's well worth the money to pick up the book. So here it goes!

Busiest times at Disney:
1. Christmas through to New Years (although from what I've seen and heard the decorations are amazing, so you need to know what you want to see/do)
2. US thanksgiving weekend, week of President's day and 1st full week of November
3. Spring Breaks for Colleges and late March until about the 3rd week of April (other sources say this depends somewhat on when Easter falls)

Least Busy times:
1. Labour day until the beginning of October (keep in mind Hurricane season, if that is an issue for you)
2. Second full week of November until the weekend before Thanksgiving, and the week after Thanksgiving until the week before Christmas
3. Early January until the beginning of February also looks good but be aware of any special events or holidays as it will affect crowds.

I would think that a lot of the same logic would apply to crowd levels at Universal Orlando as well!  The other thing to consider is the weather and what your preference is.  I hope this helps everyone with their planning, feel free to ask a question or leave a comment. Have a great day!