Any tips for Disney?

[sportsmom]

OK, so I finally talked the hubby into taking the girls to Disney World this summer. We're leaving in about 8 weeks, so I have time to plan.

Here's the plan so far, we're driving and stopping in Atlanta to see a friend from high school and his family, then finishing the drive the next morning. We're staying offsite, because my mom rocks and gave us an extra timeshare week she had. We'll do 5 days at DW and 1 at Universal to see Harry Potter.

We have 3 dd's (15, 11, and 8), so who has the details and tips to make this an awesome trip?

[Pony_Boy]

ok go to the local book store and pick up The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2010- This book has massive amounts of info about everything you can possibly imagine and contains many very useful tips

also go to http://www.wdwinfo.com/

We used these to resources together when we went to Disney last April they helped us out tremendously

[criddle]

Agree with Pony Boy on all counts. My personal recommendation I give everyone I know who is going soon: don't miss the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure in EPCOT. It is so much fun and so engaging. I don't know a thing about Kim Possible and I just loved it.

[draftermatt]

I just went last September for the first time, and we saw almost everything, it was nuts but a lot of fun.

1. Get the dining plan, you pay like $100-200 but your meals are taken care of and that can be $100 a day!

2. If you want to go to the water parks go when they open and plan on leaving around lunch time.

Lots of people go to the water parks as the day heats up (understandable) however, that makes for long lines. We went in the morning, left at noon, had lunch at the hotel and then went to one of the 4 parks.

3. Get the book mentioned above, and also get a schedule for each day/week as you enter each park. That way you can plan accordingly for shows, and have back ups if you miss the 4:00 show.

Also helpful because some shows are only shown a few times a week.

4. The only place you're going to see Mickey/Minnie without waiting for hours is in Toon Town, Magic Kingdom. You go through Mickey's house and then out back to a tent where he's "judging the vegetables for the fair".

5. Bring cash for drinks. It's gonna be hot, also water only soda's going to wear you down.

6. Animal Kingdom - go when they open. The hotter the day gets the less likely you are to see animals. Plan on 2 mornings at Animal Kingdom in case you don't get to do both safari's early enough.

7. Bring lots of extra batteries for cameras. If you have one that is a charge battery only (like me) get disposable cameras in case your camera wears down.

8. Khaki shorts, basketball shorts, etc. No denim, you'll get crazy hot in denim shorts (I only had 1 pair of khaki and they were standing up on their own by the end of the week I was so hot in denim)

9. Sneakers only. It's a lot of walking and while flip flops/sandals are nice, your feet will hurt a lot worse. The strap cut my freaking foot from walking around in flip flops all day.

10. Lots of good info http: //disneyworld.disney.go.com/ and http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/

11. Don't get your hopes up on getting to do any character dining (eating with Mickey, Cinderella, etc). They book fast.

Last I heard they weren't allowing people to make reservations months in advance anymore so you might luck out.

Also, make your dining reservations online at that site, keep a word file going with info, dates, times, reservation # etc.

Our reservations never showed up on our trip planning stuff online even though you have to put in your trip info to book a reservation. So I carried the word file around, or kept the reservation info in my phone so if there was ever a problem (there wasn't) I had it there.

I'm sure I can come up with a lot more info, so if you have any specific questions PM me or e-mail draftermatt at gmail dot com.

[Sheldonrs]

Tranquilizers. Lots and lots of 'em.

[r2cagle]

We had the most fun at Epcot and Animal Kingdom... but then we wanted to do the fun rides (Dino Ride at Animal Kingdom is da bomb). Though in 8 weeks, you'll probably want to do the water parks like Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. (we went during milder weather so I don't know about those)

You'll want to get to park early enough to get a Fast Pass ticket for the ride you most want to do. And it is worth the money to pay extra for hopper passes. That will allow you to go to more than one park in a day. Bring lots of water and some easy to carry snacks. We ended up going through drinks like crazy.

Some of the parks stay open later at night, usually because they have an evening show like fireworks, etc. Those are fun, but you have to be at park several hours ahead of time to get good seats. OR... if you don't care about the evening shows, those are the best times to hit a different park since most people will specifically go to those parks for the evening shows. You will want to bring a stroller, or other rolling carrier, mostly because backpacks will get hot and heavy and the crowd of people will jostle and bump you, unless you decide to buy everything on park property (expensive). And nobody seems to pay attention where they are going or walking. Oh, and if possible, don't wear flip flops.

Unless you do a half day(like 5-6 hours) every day at the park... you'll want to take a couple days of just resting and relaxing. We did two full days of parks (with hopper passes we hit 4 parks). One day rest. Two days of parks (hitting our favorites again) and one day rest, pack and leave. Between the crowds and the heat, it'll be miserable trying to eke out every single day of fun.

You don't even have to do the parks the whole time, there is the Downtown Marketplace that has restaurants and stores, and Disney Boardwalk also for shopping and eating (no entry costs.. haha). Both are pretty neat to wander. And those are good places to get your souvenirs without having to drag them all around the parks.

I can tell you, I've been to Disney Parks twice since last October and in spite of going to Epcot and Animal Kingdom for a total of 6 days, I still haven't seen everything at those parks. You'll need to pick and choose what attractions you absolutely want to see. And every park has maps so you can sit down and decide on the route to take. I'm sure others have lots more advice.. but this is what I can think of off the top of my head.

Oh, and you can park at Downtown Marketplace and take the ferry to Epcot (or Magic Kingdom?? one of those) and you won't have to pay $14 for parking. Or you can park there and take the Disney buses as well. Though I am not sure where all the routes run to and from. I know that we left Marketplace by bus to Disney Boardwalk, then took the ferry to Epcot. Might see if you can find the bus schedule online.

[Gravekeeper]

Sunscreen.

I burnt to a bloody crisp when I was there as a kid.

Don't talk to ride attendants on Space Mountain, inevitably one of them will tell your children a horror story about the ride malfunctioning and killing someone. Right before they get on the ride. The story involves horrible decapitation. Though on the upside your children will probably stay deathly quiet for the next hour or two afterwards.

Also, Pluto has a tongue like a giant latex condom. And he goes for the face. You've been warned.

[Sliceanddice]

..... dont get stuck on space mountain like i did.... and winnie the pooh is a drunkard.

[sportsmom]

Thanks for the help so far folks!! There was some really good info in there.

I should have probably mentioned that this will actually be my 4th time at Disney, but only the second with kids and the last time we went, there were only 2 and they were 5 years and 18 months.

What I really need is how to do it while traveling with a bigger group of such varying age differences. That and any "insider" tips anyone knows would be a big help.

[jedimaster91]

The last time I went to Disney World there was a huge group of us (the whole extended family) and all the kids were older. We pretty much divided into groups, had at least one cell phone per group, and had a meeting spot and time for lunch and the end of the day. My personal favorite is Epcot. Some people don't like it, but the trick is to go hungry. The three of us got to pick one "country" to get something to eat. Li'l Bro wanted fish 'n chips, Li'l Sis wanted a turkey leg (which took all three of us to eat), and I wanted to eat at the Biergarten in Germany. The Biergarten is AMAZING! And then my uncle bought us gelato in Italy and we got to watch a street play. It's also fun to practice any foreign languages in the different areas. Disney hires people from those countries to work there and they get a kick out of hearing their own language. And you HAVE to ride Maelstrom in Norway. It's AWESOME!

Definitely invest in the park hopper passes and take advantage of the FastPass. Mission Space is decidedly awesome. You WILL need a FastPass for it unless you get to the park right at opening and book it for the ride. MGM's Great Movie Ride is always fun and so is Catastrophe Canyon.

Ooooh, I'm so jealous! I want to go back to Disney World so bad!

[draggar]

Why does everyone ignore SeaWorld? My wife and I love going there!

Get a park hopper - it will let you go from park to park w/o having to buy tickets for each. Yeah, it can look expensive but overall it'll be cheaper.

If you're a AAA member - look for related discounts.

Downtown Orlando is a huge tourist trap but there's a lot of fun things to do that aren't too expensive and don't take a lot of time (most you can do in an afternoon or evening). But also avoid international drive - it's a slow drive due to traffic. Very slow.

Since you have a time share and I'll assume it's like my parent's (like a small condo - small kitchen etc..) stock up on food for the week so you're not eating out all the time. keep bug attractants (like bread etc..) in the fridge. Even the best protected homes get bugs in Florida n the summer. Publix is the best supermarket around here unless you don't mind over-paying for Whole Foods.

[AriGriffin]

Magic Kingdom

As much as I love Lilo and Stitch, don't wait in line for that ride in Tomorrow Land. Seriously. The only perk to it is it is air conditioned.
Take a pair of binoculars when you ride the Carousel of Progress- there are several funny things in the background. Every section contains a dog (obvious), a bird (usually easy to find), and a cat (hard to spot in some scenes).
If you are on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, get in and turn to your left to sit so you are facing backwards. While going through Space Mountain, look up- there is an astroid thing that is a Hidden Mickey.
Splash Mountain tends to not opperate when the smoke from the fireworks is still in the sky.
During the night show/parade, the ride lines are short. I went on the Mad Tea Party during this time and the attendant let me ride as long as I wanted.
Cinderella's Carousel (name changes coming up)- the one with a gold band on the tail is 'Cinderella's horse.'
Sleepy Hollow has ice cream sandwiches that are to die for.
Every time I stopped to eat there, Pecos Bill's was nasty- the tables that is, the food was great.
Casey's Corner was a great place to get something on the run. I'd go sit near the Adventure Land entrance where there weren't so many people.
Park merchandise is available online. http://www.disneystore.com/disney-parks/c/70992/

[Gravekeeper]

Why does everyone ignore SeaWorld? My wife and I love going there!

We went to both when I was a kid. Its just easier to remember being molested by a giant dog than it is dolphins. -.-

[Sonoma]

We went to both when I was a kid. Its just easier to remember being molested by a giant dog than it is dolphins. -.-

Haven't been to DisneyWorld, but when we were last at Disneyland, Eeyore was very hands-on when posing for pictures.

On-topic, when we last went (eons ago), the Disneyland website had an online calendar showing what rides were scheduled to be down for maintenence in the future. Don't have time to find a link right now, but we found it invaluable. It was OK knowing that Pirates of the Caribbean was going to be closed when we were scheduling the trip, vs. driving 900 miles, only to discover we couldn't go on one of my favorite rides.

[fireheart]

Sunscreen.
Also, Pluto has a tongue like a giant latex condom. And he goes for the face. You've been warned.

Thank you for that mental image I will never look at Pluto THAT way again.

We went to both when I was a kid. Its just easier to remember being molested by a giant dog than it is dolphins. -.-

There's a Seaworld in Australia as well and strangely enough, I can remember Movieworld and Wet n Wild a lot better than I can Seaworld.

Haven't been to DisneyWorld, but when we were last at Disneyland, Eeyore was very hands-on when posing for pictures.

O.O Not looking at Eeyore that way again...