Hey Ranger!
I hope you found this thread,,,I couldn't PM you, so I figured I'd start a new thread...maybe other people have Disney as their goal too! one warning,, this might be a LONG post!

ok, first of all, I don't always trust travel agents! They get a percentage and don't always put together the most cost effective itineraries. And whatever you do, don't buy a package,..you're actually bettter off to buy the pieces separately....

I have found time and time again that if you spend a little time on the internet, you can do the research and reservations yourself and come out ahead.
For airfares, go to travel.yahoo.com to compare airfares. orbitz.com is good too. If you book now youre booking pretty far in advance which means you'll get the seats you want, but won't neccessarily get the cheapest airfare...they tend to offer specials a few months before the travel date....I think your ID said you were from Mass..are you flying out of Boston? If so you should be able to get airfare for $100-$180 a person. My parents live just below cape cod and my mom has gone out of boston and providence. she usually pays around $140...

As for the hotel...what are your travel dates exactly? Value season at Disney starts a few days into November. Before then its Regular season. The All-Stars are the way to go for the best prices and all the Disney perks...There are 3 to choose from and I definately suggest ALL-STAR MOVIES>>>it's the newest, only built a few years ago, and I think the cutest...It also has a much better, newer food court...You can request an "area" of the hotel to stay in by calling Disney reservations directly. I LOVE the TOY STORY area. It good also cause its close to the main building with the food court and buses to the parks...they can't promise that you will get the area that you request, but I've never not gotten what I requested so I think they're pretty good about it...

Disney Tickets...if you told your travel agent that you wanted to stay for 10 days, there's a good chance that the ticket she (or he!) priced for you was the Ultimate Park Hopper Ticket...also known as the length of stay pass...these are the worst way to go! They charge you for admission for EVERYTHING for every second that you are at disney from the start of the day you check in, to the end of the day you check out...even if you arrive in the afternoon or evening, you've paid for a day at the parks that you didn't even use! At that point it's better to just get an annual pass! BUT here's what I would recommend...get a PARK HOPPER PLUS ticket...they come in 5, 6, and 7 days. Depending on which ticket you get, you a certain number of "pluses." 5 comes with 2, 6 with 3, 7 with 4 (if I remember correctly). The pluses are good for admission to any of the 3 water parks, or pleasure island, or wide world of sports...So say you get the 5 day...what that means is that you can spend 5 days in the theme parks (can hop between parks for all of the 5 days, days don't need to be used consecutively and never expire) and 2 in the water parks. That gives you seven days and then you can spend time at the pool, downtown disney (free to get into, except pleasure island, which has a covercharge after 7pm), and visiting some of the other hotels...the different themes are fun to see...

Just to get an idea of the difference in ticket prices...these are 2001 prices (2002 are a bit higher but I can't find my price sheet for 2002)... 10 day length of stay per adult=401.77, child=314.85......5 day park hopper plus per adult=250.18, child=177.02.....that's a pretty big difference!
Also: A theme park annual pass (lets you in to all the theme parks every day of the year) is 343.44 adult, 291.50 child....and the annual pass comes with discounts so the room could be cheaper too! www.disneyworld.com will have some ticket prices listed...are you a memeber of AAA? They offer ticket discounts on the 5 and 6 day park hopper plus I believe. Buy them at your local triple A office and it's about 5% or 10% cheaper than through disney, but they don't sell all the tickets..

Ok, so that's a start for hotel, air, and tickets...do a bit of research on the internet and just compare it with what your travel agent has to make sure you are getting the best deal...one more thing I forgot to say about airfare...if you book online through the airline's website, you get between 1000 and 5000 bonus frequent flier miles!!

Also, how old is your daughter?

You'll also need reservations for the Halloween Party,and some restaurants if you want to eat at anything besides the food courts and fast food. You should book at least 1 character meal (CHEF MICKEYS is the best! don't miss it!) but we can get into restaurants later if you want!!

Oh and if you give me the travel dates you're working with I can help you price stuff cause I know it can be a bit overwhelming...Disney has gotten so big, it's hard to know where to start!

Ok so that covers the basics. I hope it's a help. Let me know if anything I said needs clarification... I know I kind of babbled on!

Have a great day!
Suzy