First Time WDW traveller... Vacation Planning Tips & Tricks Discuss First Time WDW traveller... in the Vacation Planning forums; Hey everyone, I've been checking out the site and it is full of useful info for a first time WDW traveller such as myself. I've been to Disneyland quite a ...

[Giosmommy]

Hey everyone, I've been checking out the site and it is full of useful info for a first time WDW traveller such as myself. I've been to Disneyland quite a few times but I'm sure it cannot be compared to Disneyworld and I had a few questions I was hoping I could get answered . I am planning this first-time family vacation to WDW next year and I was hoping we could go sometime the beginning of May 2010. I am thinking May 5 - May 12. There will be my husband and I, and our 4 year old son. My mom ans sister will be meeting us down there for a few days as well. I am really considering getting a cabin at the Ft. Wilderness campground because you cant beat having a full kitchen to cook meals and my logic tells me it would be cheaper to do it that way. So now for my questions....
1. Is the beginning of May a good time to visit for weather and crowds?
2. Is it worth renting the golf cart at the campgrounds? I read somewhere it is $50 something a day and when you add it up that is alot of $ I could be spending elsewhere. I also read that the size of the campround was un-walkable without one.
3. When do 2010 prices and booking options come out?
4. How far ahead should we book? Unfortunatly we will be waiting for a tax return to pay but that usually comes sometime mid-Feb.
Ok I guess thats it for now but I am sure I will have more q's as the time gets nearer! Thank you so much in advance to anyone that can help me out, needless to say planning your first vacation is a little stressful to say the least!

[HauntedGabe]

The cabins are wonderful with a young child. They can move around and chill out. Wilderness has so much for them to see and do and lets them have some down time from the hype.

I've found early May great. Few take their school age children out of school at the end of the school year. I believe the carts a must. It is so spread out and if you are going to take it all in at that resort it will make your stay more enjoyable. After the parks in the day the last thing your feet will want it to walk all over Wilderness.

[GIOny]

This should be a great trip for you, since you are so familiar with DL you can make the comparisons. I'm sure you going to find that there are things that you definitely like better about WDW and things that you definitely like better about DL.
The main thing is to give yourself plenty of time to get from one place to another because WDW is so spread out it could take an hour to get between parks. So just time yourself accordingly.
Early May should be a good time to go as far as crowds go, most kids are still in school. The weather will be warm, sometimes very warm.
We stayed at the campgrounds many years ago and we did have the golf cart, I think it was for part of the time, don't think we had it the full time. Your right it could get very expensive. There were outside rentals where you could rent golf carts, not sure if Disney is still allowing that. I think they stopped it but then I thought I heard they were allowing it again. I would goggle golf carts at Fort Wilderness and you should get plenty of info. Here is a good overall site for Fort Wilderness..
WDW - Fort Wilderness FAQ
although I noticed that this site says they are no longer doing the outside rentals, I just noticed somewhere else says they are. I would definitely check, you could save alot of money.
Sorry not sure when the updated prices come out for accomodations come out but I would call Disney for that info.

[Giosmommy]

Thank you both for all your info! I appreciate it very much!

[whatwasithinkin]

Ive stayed at Ft Wilderness 3times and never gotten a cart. But I would suppose on how secluded your site is? some are quite away from the Ft Wilderness shops and tavern. I guess its a nice conveinece if you want to spend the money. I havent been down in @ 10 years and Im not sure if its still the same as then but back then you still needed to relie on the buses to get to either the MK boat or TTC. All cart parking back then was just temporary, so you couldnt just pull up to the small parking area near the tavern and leave the cart for the day. Maybe this has changes since my last visit.