Where to start with a Disney trip? Help this first-timer plan a trip?

[aggieamy]

DH and I are planning on taking DD and DS to Disney in June.  Yay.  DH and I have never been though and are feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the options.  We plan to fly down, spend three whole days doing whatever it is we're going to do at Disney, and then fly home on day 5.  

 

Some things that might be relevant:

• We have been to Universal Studios and loved it.  Had fun doing all the rides.
• We would like to stay on site.
• We don't mind lots of walking.
• DD will be 10 years old and DS will be about 7 months so we expect that we'll want to take it easy with him.

Where to start?  What should we not miss?  

 

[DawnM]

Do you have to go in June?

 

It is hot and schools are out, so it is crowded.

 

 

 

[JenneinCA]

Are you going to Florida or California?

[Kari C in SC]

If you do not have to go in the summer, plan a different time. Carolina Homeschooler does their trip in September this year. Also, fall dates usually offer free dining.

[DianeW88]

1.)  Don't go in summer.

 

2.)  Are you going to Disney World or Disneyland?

 

3.)  What is your budget?

 

4.)  Three days is not enough if you're going to Disney World.

[aggieamy]

I'm a little worried about the warnings about going during the summer.  Would late May be better?

 

DIsney World

 

Budget - $3-$5k

 

How many days should we plan?

[gaillardia]

Late May in Florida is not much different than June. That's all I've got.

[MollyAnn]

From now till the end of August it will be slammed and not the best experience for your first trip. The best time to go is in September, that is when we are going this year.

 

3 days really isn't enough time to go to DisneyWorld. There are 4 parks and each park needs its own day. Do not go for the Park Hopper. Getting from one park to the other can take up to two hours.

If you really can only do 3 days and are looking to take it kind of easy I would do: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios.

 

If you are flying and only have 3 days consider going to Disneyland. There are only two parks, going from one park to the other is very simple, all resort hotels are walking distance to both parks and Downtown Disney, far less walking at Disneyland.

 

All parks have 'Rider Switch' you get them from the ride attendants, it allows one parent to stand in line at a height restriction rides and when that parent gets back the other parent can go pretty much to the front of the line. It is so both parents can ride without wasting a lot of time. The kids can go with both parents.

 

Our favorites are Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Peter Pan.

A lot of people will laugh at me, but at DisneyWorld I love Carousel of Progress and Transit Authority. I think those are my absolute favorites along with just walking down Main St and soaking everything in. Makes me tear up every time.

 

 

Check out the 3D movies, take in one of the live shows, if your DD is into the Princesses consider taking her to the Bibbity, Bobbity, Boutique. You need reservations for that and you can make them 180 days out, you want an early morning reservation for that.

[DawnM]

If you think you could possibly go in September, I would suggest going with Carolina Homeschooler.  You do NOT have to be in the Carolinas to participate.  We had people from Canada and the Pacific NW on our trip.

 

Benefits:

 

Cheaper (homeschool group rate)

Somewhat already planned (we didn't stay in the hotel they had the good rates for, but you could)

Very nice folks and they try to do a social one day

Dianna is very nice and very organized.  She has been doing this for years.

 

Here is the link for this coming September trip:

 

http://www.carolinahomeschooler.com/atravelwdw.html

 

As for number of days........we get the 8 day park hopper passes typically and go to each park at least once.  Animal Kingdom we tend to do just once and then the others twice each or more.  We go for 2 weeks and do something else while there (Legoland has nice homeschool passes and we have gone to Universal.)

 

However, two weeks isn't necessary.  We do it because DH has a conference the first week and a real vacation the 2nd.  I would think one week would be sufficient.

 

Another idea:  The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas see a bit of a LULL.....people are busy and getting ready for Christmas, so the parks are not as crowded.  It is cooler and the Christmas decorations are up.

 

Here is a link to EasyWDW.  http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/  There are crowd calendars to see what kind of crowds you might encounter.

[DawnM]

I really disagree.

 

Walking from Epcot to HS through the back way takes 20 minutes.  You don't even have to take the bus.

 

Often you get to a park and want to just "finish up" what you didn't get to the day before.  Then you want to move on.  A park hopper allows you to do that.

 

Or, you get to a park and realize it was the "wrong park" for the day because of parades so the crowd level is very high.  If you have a park hopper, you can just go to another park.  It has never taken 2 hours to go to another park.   I think the most it has taken is 45 min.

 

Dawn

 

 

From now till the end of August it will be slammed and not the best experience for your first trip. The best time to go is in September, that is when we are going this year.

3 days really isn't enough time to go to DisneyWorld. There are 4 parks and each park needs its own day. Do not go for the Park Hopper. Getting from one park to the other can take up to two hours.
If you really can only do 3 days and are looking to take it kind of easy I would do: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios.

If you are flying and only have 3 days consider going to Disneyland. There are only two parks, going from one park to the other is very simple, all resort hotels are walking distance to both parks and Downtown Disney, far less walking at Disneyland.

All parks have 'Rider Switch' you get them from the ride attendants, it allows one parent to stand in line at a height restriction rides and when that parent gets back the other parent can go pretty much to the front of the line. It is so both parents can ride without wasting a lot of time. The kids can go with both parents.

Our favorites are Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Peter Pan.
A lot of people will laugh at me, but at DisneyWorld I love Carousel of Progress and Transit Authority. I think those are my absolute favorites along with just walking down Main St and soaking everything in. Makes me tear up every time.


Check out the 3D movies, take in one of the live shows, if your DD is into the Princesses consider taking her to the Bibbity, Bobbity, Boutique. You need reservations for that and you can make them 180 days out, you want an early morning reservation for that.

 

[kroe1]

I am not a Disney expert, but I have been over 100 times. I have already been 3 times since January and two more trips planned between now and June.

 

Every day is a good day in Disney if one knows what to do. But, before anyone can really help you, he needs to know a lot about each member of your family. For example, is your daughter the fairy tale type or more the tomboy? Is your husband a sports fiend or a Discovery Channel lover? Is anyone in the medical field? What does your family do in spare time?

 

Also, I would highly recommend the Disney Passporter or the Official Guide to Walt Disney World or some similar book if you like to plan without others doing it for you. Also, the Mouse4Less and DisBoards have quite a bit of online information.

 

So, if you give us more information, I am sure we can all help you plan the perfect trip, no matter what season.

[mom31257]

I agree with the others to avoid the summer if at all possible. We've gone in January, February, May, September, October, November, and December. Our favorite trip times were probably November and December, but we didn't go on the holiday weeks (2nd weeks of each month). The May trip was good, but it was in the earliest part of May. 

 

 

[Berley]

Buy the Fodor's Disney World With Kids 2014 book! We've been to Disney World several times and I get the most current book each time we go. There is a wealth of information in there and it's well worth the $15, especially if this is your first trip. We could spend hours giving you advice, but it's really located all in one place in that book. I'd say go through the book, then come back here with specific questions. ;) It will make your life a lot easier. There is a really good website that rates the best weeks to go to Disney and we've found that it's very accurate regarding crowds. There is also a website that recommends which parks to do which day that we've found to be a huge timesaver in avoiding crowds. It takes into account the parades happening in each park, holidays, and any special kind of days that could be going on. Just google things like "best weeks to go to Disney in 2014" or "Best day to is it each Disney world park 2014". HTH! And have fun! You'll either love it or you'll hate it...there seems to be no middle ground. But if you're prepared and know what to do when, you willot liky have a blast!

[Berley]

*Will likely...sorry.

[mlktwins]

I was going to PM you some information, but for some reason, my messages won't go through.  It's happened to me 3 times I've tried.  I will need to look into that when I have more time :-).

 

Back in 2011, I planned our first trip to Disney World.  I started planning in August and we went in the 1st two weeks of December.  Awesome time to go.  For us, the weather was beautiful (with the exception of a bit colder and drizzling rain all day for 1 day only).  Decorations were beautiful and crowds were light.  Our last day there (at Magic Kingdom) was a crowd level of 5 out of 10 and that was about our limit.  We prefer crowd level days of 2-4 :-).

 

Anyway, we are going again the end of April for 3 days at the park, one down day, and a 4 night Disney cruise.

 

I did A LOT of research before our first trip.  I had excellent touring plans in place, know what rides and shows we wanted to do, and which parks were the best to go to each day (crowd level wise).  My sources were www.easywdw.com, www.disboards.com (excellent source of free information), and www.touringplans.com (this is a paid subscription site).  You should sign up for the free monthly newsletters at www.mousesavers.com.  If you PM me your email address, I will email you the latest addition because you might not get your first one until May.  There might some special savings for on-site properties.  I also loved the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World.  I bought the paperback version for 2011 and the kindle version for 2014.  I don't like the kindle version (to hard to read and flip through the sections you want on the kindle).  The way we tour the parks will be changing this time due to FastPass+.  I can't speak to how it is going to go (I can tell you when I return), but you need to be familiar with it and know that once you book your hotel (if you go in June), you will quickly need to get your Magic Bands set up and reserve your FastPass + rides.

 

Before you plan your trip though, you should look at the crowd calendars on easywdw (and if you PM your dates I will get the info for you from touringplans.com).  I can't speak to staying on-site as we've chosen (for the second time) to stay at Windsor Hills and rent a car.  We like the room we get, the price point (we are renting a 3 bedroom condo near the pool for 5 nights at $671), and the ability to have our own car (the savings from staying off site more than pays for the cost of the rental car).  Like others have said, it will be crowded and hot in June.  We are going at the end of April/beginning of May and the weather is usually around 85 and known to have the least amount of rain through the year.  As of now, and according to touringplans.com, our park days are crowd levels of 2's and 3's out of 10.

 

If you want more information, I'm glad to help.  Because of my planning the last go around, I don't need to do as much this time.  I basically need to figure out the best way to do FP+ knowing that I can't reserve specific ride times until I'm in the actual park. 

 

 

[trinchick]

We're visiting the last week in August this year, as we did a couple of years ago. It's hot, but the crowd levels are really low since most of the country is back to school (but not the northeast where I'm from). 

 

I'll echo some pps who recommend planning a longer trip. We usually aren't amusement park lovers and a week sounded like a long time to just do theme parks, but it was hard to cram everything into "just" a week. This year, we're actually going for 12 days, with 10 park days planned (though several of them will be half days).

 

We don't get park hoppers. With small kids, it's time-consuming and lots of effort to transfer between the parks. If you do decide to hop, though, you can add that option once you get there. May be worthwhile to buy the basic tickets to start with, and then only add the hopper option if you decide you need it once you're there (can be pretty costly).

 

Even if you're staying on site, I'd recommend getting a rental car. I am so done with Disney transportation. We had to plan an hour to get anywhere. This involved walking through the huge resorts, waiting for the bus in the sun, getting preempted from getting on the bus by scooter users who have an entourage of 10 family members, waiting for the bus to fill up, not getting a seat during crowded times (even when holding an infant grrrr), and sometimes making extra stops along the way with associated delays of loading/unloading guests using scooters. I am done, done, done with that.

 

Another recommendation is that if your kids are into meeting characters it may be worth scheduling a character meal or two instead of waiting in line to get the autographs.The website "Allears.net" has lists of character dining options and associated menus/costs.

 

Finally, I concur with the previous posters who sent you to easywdw.com. That is a great website with loads of useful information.

 

Planning a Disney trip can seem like too much work at the get-go, but your time spent now will definitely improve your experience once you're there. We have relatives who hated Disney because "there was nothing to do; the lines were too long." This is completely attributable to the fact that they hadn't planned their days. You can't walk through the gates and THEN decide to look at a map. The lines will get longer and longer as you decide what you want to do. Make a plan and stick with it.

[mlktwins]

I'll echo some pps who recommend planning a longer trip. We usually aren't amusement park lovers and a week sounded like a long time to just do theme parks, but it was hard to cram everything into "just" a week. This year, we're actually going for 12 days, with 10 park days planned (though several of them will be half days).

 

We don't get park hoppers. With small kids, it's time-consuming and lots of effort to transfer between the parks. If you do decide to hop, though, you can add that option once you get there. May be worthwhile to buy the basic tickets to start with, and then only add the hopper option if you decide you need it once you're there (can be pretty costly).

 

 

I also agree about a longer trip (especially for the first trip).  We did 8 days at the parks (2 at Epcot, 2 at HS, 3 at MK, and 1 at AK), plus the Christmas Party at MK (cost us extra) and a day at Sea World.  I left there knowing that if we never made it back, and we weren't planning to go back until the boys were maybe 11 or 12 (they were 6.5 when we went), that I had seen and done most everything we wanted to do.  That was why I put the planning into it!  Since we did that the first time, I am not stressed at all going for just 3 days.  We should be able to see and do what we want to do this go around and not feel shorted.

 

We didn't do park hoppers either -- not the first long trip and we aren't planning to for this shorter trip. 

 

I would also agree to do a character meal or 2 to see the characters so you aren't spending a lot of time waiting in line.  Then, if happen upon one in the park that isn't busy, go ahead and meet them.  If not, you know you have a special time set aside for that at the character meals.

[DianeW88]

End of May is a little better....as long as you avoid Memorial Day weekend.  The beginning of May is our favorite time to go.  Our preferred times to visit in order are:  1st Week of May, early March (before Spring Break), October, early December (before Christmas break), and February (not President's Day weekend).

 

There is a price differential between the more crowded times (summer and holidays), and the rest of the year.

 

Notice how I NEVER go in summer.  Free dining is not worth the crowds and humidity to me.

 

If you stretch out your vacation to five days in the parks, you can have a somewhat leisurely time, and enjoy it.  Three days is too short...you'll be trying to cram everything in and it won't be fun.  My absolute minimum time for a vacation at WDW is 8 days.  We usually go for 12-14 though.  That allows us to relax and make it a real vacation.  Oh, and we still can't see or do everything in that amount of time.  We pick and choose, and save some things for later.

 

Since this is your first time, I would suggest staying at Port Orleans.  It's my favorite "moderately priced" resort.  Beautiful setting, great pools, comfortable rooms, and a lovely theme.  Here's a website solely dedicated to this resort.  They also have special princess themed rooms that your dd will love (for a little extra $)  http://www.portorleans.org/

 

You'll need to decide if you're interested in the dining plan.  We always get it for convenience sake.  We get the plan that allows 1 table service, 1 counter service, and 1 snack per day.  That is more than enough food.  I also bring things like granola bars, instant oatmeal, cold cereal, and poptarts (hey, it's vacation time, lol), etc. for us to eat in our room if we want to eat a quick breakfast and get to the parks by rope drop (which I also highly recommend).  For restaurant and food information check out http://www.allears.net/  and http://www.disneydining.com/  Both excellent resources with menus for each restaurant, as well as reviews.  You will need to make your dining reservations 180 days in advance if you want to guarantee you'll get the choices you want.  We can help you with that when you're ready.

 

As far as tickets go, I always get Park Hoppers.  I like the flexibility, and it only adds around $55 per ticket for the length of your stay.  I also add the Waterparks and More option.  If you think you'll want to spend the day at one of the water parks, it's great.  And they're a blast!

 

Go to  https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/ and browse through the different hotel options and price them out.  Of course, the deluxe hotels are the best, but they are pricey.  Totally worth every penny, though. Moderates are great, and we've never had a problem with certain value resorts either.  It's all up to you.

 

Also forgot to add that at 10, your dd is a Disney "adult", so be sure to figure in adult prices for tickets and meal plans for her, not the child's price.

 

 

 

[DianeW88]

Oh, and we went all the time when my youngest was a baby.  We put him in the baby backpack carrier and took him everywhere.  We baby switched at the major rides, and it worked fine.  There are also baby centers in every park (the one in Magic Kingdom is especially lovely), with a room for nursing moms, high chairs, changing tables, etc.  I visited multiple times a day.

[AK_Mom4]

We are headed to DisneyWorld in early June - not my favorite time for visiting Florida, but that's the time we have available.  I went on mousesavers.com and found a sweet deal on a hotel that's located on site.  We will have four days at DW and since my kids are all older, we went with the Park Hopper tickets.  We will have a rental car (since this is just one stop on our longer vacation) so that we can go out for meals, etc if we need.

 

When we did DW with little kids, we went at a pretty slow pace and just enjoyed the atmosphere.  This trip since we have older kids, it's all about the rides and they are figuring out their master strategy.  I intend to wander around and enjoy the shops.

[DianeW88]

Oh, and this family makes the cutest, most fun, Disney family vacation videos.  This is their most recent one, but watch them all.  It'll give you a sense of what it's like.  More freaking fun than you can handle!!  LOL

 

 Sorry, no video.  Violates the rule for posting copyright content.

[Jeannie in NJ]

in case you can only go for the 3 days, just wanted to let you know that the first time we took our dc (ages 7 and 9) to Disney World we only went for 4 days. We spent a day in each park and since it was October, it was not crowded at all and every night after we got back from the park, we would go in the pools, usually around 11 pm. My dc were actually ready to go home after 4 days, they loved Disney but they were just ready to go home.  Since then we have gone for around 8 or 9 days each time and would love to spend more time. However, for their first time at Disney, like I said, 4 days was plenty for my dc.

 

Another thing, we do is take the EARLY morning flight from our area, which is about 6 am so that gives us that entire day at Disney and we come back on the latest flight home, which is 11 pm so we also have that day to spend at Disney.

 

Also be sure and use Magical Express if you are staying on site.  It is a free bus that takes you from the Orlando airport to your resort hotel.  They take care of your luggage at your local airport and then you see it again in your resort room and the same thing when you leave, your resort gets it to the airport and you see it again at your local airport.  It is all free and the bus is very nice, after all it is Disney.

 

p.s. we have never had any problems with the Disney buses from our resort to the parks.  One time we were having a very late dinner at Prime Time Cafe in Hollywood Studios and stayed late chatting with our waitress.  When we came out, the park was closed, there were only a few employees, mostly security. Security asked us if we were staying onsite, and then they walked us thru the park to the exit where a bus was waiting for us.  The bus driver told us that the buses were not picking up as the park had been closed for a while so security had called and Disney had sent him out to pick us up.  We were very grateful to Disney for that.

[Jeannie in NJ]

oh forgot to tell you.  One year dh had a conference in Orlando in either late May or early June, whenever Star Wars Weekend is.  So since it was Star Wars Weekend, dh took ds with him (dd and I did not want to go when it was hot).  ANyway dh said it was HOT and it rained every day but ds did love all the Star Wars events .

[Jennifer in MI]

Oh, and this family makes the cutest, most fun, Disney family vacation videos.  This is their most recent one, but watch them all.  It'll give you a sense of what it's like.  More freaking fun than you can handle!!  LOL

 

This made me cry!!!  What a fun family!

[DianeW88]

This made me cry!!!  What a fun family!

 

I know.  I totally cried, too.  The end just melted me.  Watch their other videos.  Equally as precious...and funny.  This family GETS IT!  And the ones with the grandparents along are so sweet.  I want to be just like that with my grand kids!

[Jennifer in MI]

I know.  I totally cried, too.  The end just melted me.  Watch their other videos.  Equally as precious...and funny.  This family GETS IT!  And the ones with the grandparents along are so sweet.  I want to be just like that with my grand kids!

I've got them all up and I can't wait to watch them.  I love how they go back to previous visits in each video.  And, yes!  They GET it!!!!  

 

We weren't going to go back for a couple years because my oldest is going to college, but now I want to plan a trip for TOMORROW to get one more in before he goes away!

[DianeW88]

I've got them all up and I can't wait to watch them.  I love how they go back to previous visits in each video.  And, yes!  They GET it!!!!  

 

We weren't going to go back for a couple years because my oldest is going to college, but now I want to plan a trip for TOMORROW to get one more in before he goes away!

 

That's why I love living only 10 hours in the car from Disneyland.  It's great for spur of the moment Disney trips when I just *have* to be there!

 

I also want to buy DVC this year so we have big family vacations in the future with grand kids.  I can't think of anything more fun!

[Only me]

We always get park hoppers as we usually only stay at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for half the day, take a break and then go to Epcot or magic kingdom until close.

 

That video made me cry. We have been going to Disney ever since my kids were very little before my youngest was born and when my girls were 4 and 1. Now my youngest is 16, middle is 19 and oldest is 21. We are leaving in 10 days to go visit my oldest who is in the college program at Disney this semester. We still find it magical.

[katilac]

From now till the end of August it will be slammed and not the best experience for your first trip. The best time to go is in September, that is when we are going this year.

 

 

Eek, no, September is still hot as Hades! We made the mistake of going again in September this year, and we had clearly forgotten how hot it could get, lol. And we live in Louisiana! And used to live in Florida! 

 

We like October, November, and December (anytime after Thanksgiving up until the week before Christmas). We have done September, October, November, December, and January. January is better than September (or any summer month!), but it tends to be a bit chillier, and we don't love the Brazilian tour groups. 

 

 

 <snip>

 

Notice how I NEVER go in summer.  Free dining is not worth the crowds and humidity to me.

 

If you stretch out your vacation to five days in the parks, you can have a somewhat leisurely time, and enjoy it.  Three days is too short...you'll be trying to cram everything in and it won't be fun.   <snip>

 

Free dining is offered at other times, though! Like I said above, we have been in September, October, November, December, and January - and we've had free dining every time. I we went when it wasn't offered, we would pay for it. 

 

Now, I would definitely take 3 days in Disney over no days in Disney, but I agree that longer is better (and the tickets get much cheaper per day for longer visits). We would cry a bit if we had to go for less than 5 days, because that lets us start and end at Magic Kingdom, with a day at each other park in the middle. If you wind up with only the 3 days, I'd be emphasizing to dd that there's no way to do everything, so she really needs to decide what she wants to do most. On our first trip, when we weren't sure if we'd be back (ha ha ha), we had each person list their top 3 attractions for each park, so we knew that at least the #1 on each list would get done, then the #2s and #3s that were most popular. 

 

We stay on site at one of the value resorts; Pop Century is our favorite (we haven't done Art of Animation yet). Even though my kids are teens now, they still love the over-the-top theming, and we don't care about the small rooms (we don't stay longer than a week, and basically only sleep in the room). 

 

We don't park hop. We did try the water parks last time (the reason for going in September), and we had a lot of fun at Blizzard Beach, and then a horrible experience at Typhoon Lagoon. Disney did 'make it right' after the fact by sending us another ticket, but we may never use it. We all agreed that, while they are the cleanest and cutest water parks we will probably ever go to, they do not match the Disney magic of the main parks, and it dilutes the whole experience for us. 

 

We actually usually stay on Disney property the entire time - our resort, the parks, and Disney Downtown (because Wolfgang Puck's). dh loves parking the car when we arrive, and not moving it once until we leave. You definitely have to take a go-with-the-flow attitude towards the busses and other transportation, because it can be annoying, and waiting is involved (and yes, the scooter situation could be improved, lol). For us, it's worth it to not have to drive and park the car, etc. 

 

The Unofficial Guide to Disney World is my favorite book. They have a 'with kids' version that might be helpful with the baby. Oh, one thing that is especially important with kids: take any and all medicine you might need with you! And I mean anything they ever take: children's motrin, allergy meds, bandaids, Pepto Bismol, and so on. The prices are high on site, which is to be expected, but they also have a very limited selection.

 

So, when 8-yr-old dd was having an allergic reaction to who-knows-what, I could only get Benadryl in pill form, and she only took the liquid. There we sat, in the beautiful Grand Floridian cafe, with red hives streaking alarmingly up dd's arm as she let the pill sit in her mouth while I hissed, just take it, just swallow the damn thing! Then her sister threw up all over the steps as we exited. 

 

Good times, I tell you, good times. 

[DawnM]

For years we were 45 min. from Disneyland........heavy sigh.  I miss it.  We would pop down for an afternoon.

 

That's why I love living only 10 hours in the car from Disneyland.  It's great for spur of the moment Disney trips when I just *have* to be there!

 

I also want to buy DVC this year so we have big family vacations in the future with grand kids.  I can't think of anything more fun!

 

[DianeW88]

I think we might be scaring the OP. :lol:

 

OP, the one thing to remember, as you can see, is there are MANY ways to do Disney.  And none of them is the "right" way.  Some people love the dining plan, some hate it.  Some people HAVE to bring their car, others never see their car until the day they get home.  Some people need to be at the parks by "rope drop", others don't consider it a vacation if they have to get up early.  Some folks stay in the parks from open to close, others choose to spend several days just relaxing at their resort pool.  Some people go all out, staying in deluxe hotels, eating all table service, buying $$$$ of souvenirs.  Others stay off-site, cook every meal in their hotel/condo, bring food into the park, and allow each kid $10 for a souvenir.

And that's the GREAT thing about Disney.  It's a vacation that you can truly customize to suit your needs and the needs of your family.  You just need to find your own personal "Disney style".  The problem is that you'll actually have to go there once in order to figure that out.  But after your first trip, you will definitely know what you liked, what you didn't, and what you would do differently the next time.  The first trip is the hardest to plan...after that, they're a piece of cake.  And dare I say it...,FUN to plan. :hurray:

 

So just hang in there, ask for advice, and then pick what you think suits your family best.  It won't be wrong, and you will have a great time.  After all, you'll be in Disney World!!!! :D

[Jeannie in NJ]

Diane gave you wise advice.  There are many different ways to do Disney.  When dh and I first started going, in our 20's way before any dc, we would stay in the cheap hotels in Kissimmee, have a rental car, leave first thing in the morning , stay till closing and only use our room for sleeping.  We did that lots of times.  Then once we had dc, we decided to start staying onsite.  We have stayed at Old Key West, dh and ds stayed at Pop Century on their trip without us and we have stayed at Grand Floridian, last time with club level (dd was able to get us a pretty good online deal for that).  And you know what, we have loved each and every trip.

[MarinesWife]

We have used RideMax.com for Disneyland and love it. It is offered for WDW also.

[DianeW88]

Diane gave you wise advice.  There are many different ways to do Disney.  When dh and I first started going, in our 20's way before any dc, we would stay in the cheap hotels in Kissimmee, have a rental car, leave first thing in the morning , stay till closing and only use our room for sleeping.  We did that lots of times.  Then once we had dc, we decided to start staying onsite.  We have stayed at Old Key West, dh and ds stayed at Pop Century on their trip without us and we have stayed at Grand Floridian, last time with club level (dd was able to get us a pretty good online deal for that).  And you know what, we have loved each and every trip.

 

Oooh, Grand Floridian Club Level??  I'm jealous!!

[aggieamy]

Whew.  Thanks for all the advice.  I'm forwarding this onto DH and telling him ... YOU figure it out.   :laugh:

 

Not really.  Let me read and research and I will be back with more questions!

[DawnM]

Well, some people just do Disney all wrong. 

 

:closedeyes:

 

 

I think we might be scaring the OP. :lol:

 

OP, the one thing to remember, as you can see, is there are MANY ways to do Disney.  And none of them is the "right" way.  Some people love the dining plan, some hate it.  Some people HAVE to bring their car, others never see their car until the day they get home.  Some people need to be at the parks by "rope drop", others don't consider it a vacation if they have to get up early.  Some folks stay in the parks from open to close, others choose to spend several days just relaxing at their resort pool.  Some people go all out, staying in deluxe hotels, eating all table service, buying $$$$ of souvenirs.  Others stay off-site, cook every meal in their hotel/condo, bring food into the park, and allow each kid $10 for a souvenir.

And that's the GREAT thing about Disney.  It's a vacation that you can truly customize to suit your needs and the needs of your family.  You just need to find your own personal "Disney style".  The problem is that you'll actually have to go there once in order to figure that out.  But after your first trip, you will definitely know what you liked, what you didn't, and what you would do differently the next time.  The first trip is the hardest to plan...after that, they're a piece of cake.  And dare I say it...,FUN to plan. :hurray:

 

So just hang in there, ask for advice, and then pick what you think suits your family best.  It won't be wrong, and you will have a great time.  After all, you'll be in Disney World!!!! :D

 

[kroe1]

The only right way to do Disney is 100 times or more. I still haven't seen everything, but I am half way there.

[Halcyon]

We are heading to Disney for 5 nights on Sunday!!! We are so excited. We're staying at Animal Kingdom, where we've stayed before--it's a wonderful place. We are splurging on the Dining Plan and have made ressies at our favorite restaurants. We plan to spend opening until around 2 at the parks, go back for a rest in the hotel, and back to the parks or just relax at the pool and jacuzzi and have dinner. We live about 2 hours away and try to get there as much as possible, but our annual passes end in April boohoo..have to decide if we're going to renew. Probably will in September :D. We haven't done our fast pass ressies yet as DH can't commit lol and doesn't want to feel tied to a schedule. But we always have a great time!!

[katilac]

  We haven't done our fast pass ressies yet as DH can't commit lol and doesn't want to feel tied to a schedule. But we always have a great time!!

 

If you have a smart phone, it's super easy to change them on the go.