How to plan honeymoon?

Sembree1

Hi everybody!

I am not asking for opinions on our plans for the trip itself or about us taking my daughter along with us. Just how to plan:)

TIA for helpful advice!

We are getting married on March 15, 2014, but no honeymoon until June of 2014. The reasoning is my daughter is in kindergarten and I don't want her to have so many changes during the school year. As a honeymoon, we have decided to take a family trip to disney world for a week to celebrate our marriage and daughters 6th birthday. My parents have offered to go down the same week and keep her at nights and if we want to go out to dinner etc. (Daughter loves my parents, will most likely want to spend more time with them then us, especially since my mother allows her to sleep in bed with her haha) We will take her to the park, swimming etc during the days, and she'll get time with her grandparents in the evenings while we get our "honeymoon".

My question is how to go about planning this trip. I'm not sure if I should do it myself or use a travel service such as AAA or go through Disney themselves. We will need to book plane and park tickets for 3, but hotel just for 2 people.We also need to add in another hotel room for my parents and daughter. (they will be paying for their own room, flights, etc., it is there wedding gift to us to go along and help with daughter:)) My dad suggested it will be easier for me to just book 2 rooms and them reimburse me.

Any suggestions/insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Jells2dot0

I highly recommend using a travel agent, in particular, one that specializes in Disney (yes, they are out there!). That way, you have one booking that contains everything you need for yourselves and your parents, it's all on one confirmation, and it's all covered under the same insurance plan. Disney specialists can include park tickets and other perks in the booking as well. Plus, they are experts, so you have one place to go to to get questions answered. I'm not sure if Disney has a link on their website for "Find an agent", but you can also Google "Disney Specialists" or something like that

ashleyep

It might be too late now, but isn't there a character lunch you can sign up for? Or tea with the Princesses? It books up a year in advance I think, but you should check it out ASAP!

daria24

I've booked Disney trips a few times, sometimes on my own, sometimes through AAA-AAA has their own rates, that are usually slightly less than the web rates on the Disney site. But these rooms do sell out (Even though there are full priced rooms available on the Disney site). It should be easy to book both rooms, and your parents can pay AAA directly for their portion, they don't have to reimburse you.

That being said, when I've booked rooms over the phone directly through Disney, it's been very easy, even with people arriving at different dates, some nights with three adults in a room, some nights only 2, different park pass options, etc. When you book directly through Disney you pay a deposit, then have to pay off the full balance about 45 days out, if I remember correctly. So once again you could book both hotel rooms, but your parents could pay off their portion directly to Disney without having to reimburse you. 

If you are a AAA member, I would have them see what price they can offer, and check the hotel rate vs. the Disney website rate. 

Cokezerofreak

Coming from someone that lives in Central Florida, book through Disney or at least a Disney travel agent. The packages you can get for hotels and meals are worth it and Disney knows it.  If you're not leaving Disney property, you do not need to book transportation.  They have buses that take you from the airport to your hotel to the parks/Downtown Disney.  Don't forget to make reservations at restaurants ASAP.

mzbda

Hi OP. MY BF and I took my 5 year old son to Disney in July. We worked with mousefantravel.com and they were wonderful. The agent I had sorted out everything for us form hotel to food reservations and even gave me a five page document with Disney tips. PM me if you want more info. 

Just know that they book on property, which has many pros and cons and is more expensive than staying off property.