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[hannabdav]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some advice.

We are visiting Disney August 2014 with our daughter who will be 2 and half when we visit.  It is also our honeymoon, we re jetting off to disney the day after our wedding! As you can expect we want to make it as special and enjoyable as possible! We are staying 4 nights/5 days.

Here are my points for some advice!!

1) we are currently booked into Sequioa Lodge Golden Forest Club room.  I have seen reviews on this, very hit and miss!! Slightly disheartened.  As we are asking for euros as our wedding gifts for spends, we could upgrade our hotel.  Where would people recommend? I am looking at the DLH.  We would only be able to afford a standard room in the hotel, but would this be better than staying at the sequoia with the golden forst benefits? I have read all DLH guests get the same VIP fastpass ticket (valid for one ride per day) and the breakfast every morning is a character breakfast.  That would leave us only missing out on the free soft drinks in the afternoon.  Put it into perspective, we aren't overly worried about the upgrade fee but it is £600 more for DLH in a standard room. (Castle club is out of the question!!!!)

2) meal plans.  Obviously our little one will not have a plan due to her age.  We would probably eat at counter service in the day (and not everyday as we would stock up at breakfast) and then buffet at night.  Are vouchers still given out for a free drink later in the day? If so combined with where we old probably eat, I'm guessing it would be better to buy our food as we go along?? Agree or not??

3) spends, we are asking for money as wedding gifts but will have some of our own.  We are looking at £1000 for the 5 days, that includes food.  Should be more than enough yeah?

Thank you in advance for any advice you can give.
Any other trips would be greatly appreciated!!!!

X

[polar vixen]

Really sorry I can't help with any of your ques, but thought I'd bump this back up to the top for you, and say CONGRATS!  hope you have a fab time!

[hannabdav]

Thank you so much!!!xx

[ed-uk]

I can answer question 1: If it were my honeymoon I would book the DLH, it's the best hotel but also the most expensive, it would be. We've stayed at the Sequioa Lodge the most over the years and love the hotel, we're also considering staying at the Golden Forest Club this year for the first time so i can't give any advice about that. I've been lucky enough to stay at the DLH in the past and it would be my first choice but for the cost.

[hannabdav]

DLH booked!!!!!!x

[gemma2806]

I think you've made an excellent choice! I love the Sequoia Lodge Hotel and am staying in the Golden Forest Club this November but if I had the money I would head straight for the DLH especially as it's your honeymoon! DLH means you get character breakfasts everyday and the Hotel Fastpasses as well.

Meal Plans: Personally I have never bothered with these for a few reasons. 1) Not all restaurants are included and I like to eat at a lot of the restaurants that aren't! 2) With lunch it depends on how hungry you are at the time. Sometimes we've taken breakfast items when we got bored of burger and chips etc, some days we ate a meal each at the counter service places and some days we shared meals. 3) Buffets are your best value for money with the meal plans and although we'll eat at one or two when there, we usually don't have appetites big enough to polish off enough food to be considered value for money, so we tend to eat at table service restaurants and just choose what we fancy at the time.

Spending money of £1000 for 5 days sounds about right, I am terrible and always over budget money but I'd rather have too much than too little and I always buy way too many souvenirs. Problem I had last year was it was my son's first trip to Disney ( just before his 3rd birthday) and I over indulged him, basically anything he wanted he got. I'm taking £1600 this year for 7 days because I'm also planning on buying Christmas presents for family members and I'm planning on treating myself to some souvenirs this year!

I hope you have a wonderful time, if there is anything you'd like to know before you go I have put a topic on this forum under trip planning called, "What would you like to know?". If you have anything you'd like me to specifically find out for you then ask away and I'll let you know when I get back in November.

[tubbsy]

We have done the food vouchers, but wouldnt recommend going full board. We were premium meal and found that we were even limited then with where to eat. To be honest, if you are going to do it, go plus-then if you want to eat at Inventions, Blue Lagoon, L'Auberge or Walts, be prepared to pay the difference.
We found we could eat a good breakfast-a roll and other munchies for lunch (Munchies-We packed crisps, biscuits and skoolbars to add to our lunch boxes each day)  and then ate HUGE meals each evening. Portion sizes are not small! Or we found this where we ate.
The first day we were there, we grabbed lunch at Caseys Corner (On Main Street on the left hand side at the end) It cost us 50 euros for 4 of us! So we were glad we had taken bits to cover lunch for the rest of the hols.
Hope that helps.

[never2old]

The DLH is wonderful hotel, and for a first trip + honeymoon, it will add a great touch of magic. Perfect choice!! It's very romantic

Plus with your little one, you'll be really close to the hotel at all times, so if you want to go back to your room so that she can have a nap, for instance, it will be very easy!!

Did you mention it was your honeymoon when you booked?

[hannabdav]

I did mention it but I am also going to email the hotel closer to the time to say its our honeymoon too.  Do you know if they do anything special for it??xx

[daddyof2]

We're going next June - first time for our children (who will be 3 and 2). We're staying in the Hotel New York, I couldn't really justify the extra £££ for the Disneyland Hotel. We've not booked meal plans, as we don't think the kids will make it worth it. And finally, I'm thinking about £1000 for 5 days too

[hannabdav]

We're going next June - first time for our children (who will be 3 and 2). We're staying in the Hotel New York, I couldn't really justify the extra £££ for the Disneyland Hotel. We've not booked meal plans, as we don't think the kids will make it worth it. And finally, I'm thinking about £1000 for 5 days too

I'm planning on New York next time, purely paid the ridiculous £££ this time as It is our honeymoon. I'm going to give meal vouchers a miss and just budget a bit more for food!!  With a 2 year of you never know ho things are going to go!!!

I hope your 2 kiddiwinks have a fab time!! (And of course yourselves too!!) x