Hi Jan,
Welcome to planDisney! Happy Birthday to you!
The Walt Disney World Resort is a fantastic location for celebrating a birthday. I am so glad you brought this question to us. First things first, I suggest that you familiarize yourself with the
Disney Resorts Collection hotels. Review the amenities at each resort hotel and the room types. We love to have access to multiple transportation options, so we prefer resort hotels that, in addition to bus transportation, are within walking distance of a theme park or have access to
Walt Disney World® Monorail Transportation,
Disney Skyliner, or
Walt Disney World® Water Transportation. We last stayed at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa and loved being able to walk to Magic Kingdom and take the Resort Monorail.
Once you have your preferred resort hotels picked out, review the
Special Offers to see what discounts might be available during the dates of your visit. Then, I suggest that you search
vacation packages. Once you click on that link, click on Book your Walt Disney World Vacation today. From there, you just need to enter your travel dates, number of people in your party, and ages of any children traveling with you. Once you compare prices, consider those prices with the amenities that you would prefer and then choose your top resort hotel.
If you are traveling with family, I would suggest pricing the same travel dates for this year to get an idea of the pricing. Although prices could certainly differ by the time of your visit, it will give you some sense of how much money to save. We always get our girls into the savings mode with our Disney trips. Since our very first trip with them, they have a Disney jar in which they drop their change and other cash that they want to save for souvenirs.
Once you can book that vacation package, be sure to create a
My Disney Experience account and
link that vacation package in your account. Once linked, you should be able to log into My Disney Experience, click on My Plans, scroll down to your reservation details, and then click on the link to Make a Payment. If you do not see the link or it will not let you make a payment, you can always make payments over the phone with a Cast Member.
Jan, I hope this helps you get started! We cannot wait to welcome you to the magic!
Magic and memories,
Donyell