I'm new and need some help!!!

[shkc2002]

I'm sure this question has been asked before but.....

How does everyone decide what day to do what?

We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter w/ 6 day park hopper passes July 23-29th. We have been told to go to the parks early, come back to the resort during the afternoon hours(because of the heat this time of year) and go back in the evening. What do most of you all do when you plan? I have no idea if we should start at the parks with early morning hours and then go to the park in the evening with extended hours or...stay all day at the parks with extra morning hours or...stay all day at the parks with extended evening hours????? Do we go to a water park or downtown disney or relax a day in between???? I'm so lost and need to make dinner reservations for the dining plan but I need to figure out where we will be each day!!

The only day we know what we are doing so far is Animal Kingdom on Saturday for the character breakfast.

Can anyone set me on the right path? :confused3

[karmalicousss]

:welcome: to Disboards!!! Have Fun Here!!! :goodvibes :thumbsup2

[PrincessTiffany]

I'm sure this question has been asked before but.....

How does everyone decide what day to do what?

We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter w/ 6 day park hopper passes July 23-29th. We have been told to go to the parks early, come back to the resort during the afternoon hours(because of the heat this time of year) and go back in the evening. What do most of you all do when you plan? I have no idea if we should start at the parks with early morning hours and then go to the park in the evening with extended hours or...stay all day at the parks with extra morning hours or...stay all day at the parks with extended evening hours????? Do we go to a water park or downtown disney or relax a day in between???? I'm so lost and need to make dinner reservations for the dining plan but I need to figure out where we will be each day!!

The only day we know what we are doing so far is Animal Kingdom on Saturday for the character breakfast.

Can anyone set me on the right path? :confused3
Oh, my. You need to make ADRs (advance dining reservations) today. Your ADR window opened up in February and it will be harder to get decent meal times. You may have better luck getting lunch ADRs than dinner. Go to touringplans.com now and go under crowd calender. This will tell you which parks to visit on which days for the best crowds. Once you know which parks you will be in on which days, decide which restaurants you want to try to eat at. I like to use allearsnet.com to look at WDW restaurants and menus. I would have 2 or 3 back up meal choices for each park or resort area. You may just want to call WDW dining and say, for example, we will be at MK on July 23rd what ADRs do you have open. Hope this info helps!

[PrincessTiffany]

I'm sure this question has been asked before but.....

How does everyone decide what day to do what?

We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter w/ 6 day park hopper passes July 23-29th. We have been told to go to the parks early, come back to the resort during the afternoon hours(because of the heat this time of year) and go back in the evening. What do most of you all do when you plan? I have no idea if we should start at the parks with early morning hours and then go to the park in the evening with extended hours or...stay all day at the parks with extra morning hours or...stay all day at the parks with extended evening hours????? Do we go to a water park or downtown disney or relax a day in between???? I'm so lost and need to make dinner reservations for the dining plan but I need to figure out where we will be each day!!

The only day we know what we are doing so far is Animal Kingdom on Saturday for the character breakfast.

Can anyone set me on the right path? :confused3
With 6 day hoppers we would tour MK 2 days, AK 1 day, DHS 1 day and Epcot 2 days. If your children are under 4 then, I would tour MK 3 days, AK 1 day, DHS 1 day and Epcot 1 day or MK 2 days, AK 1 day, DHS 1 day, Epcot 1 day and Water Park 1 day.

As far as how to tour during the day, get to the parks early, tour until after lunch, go back to the resort for a swim and then go back to the parks in the evening.

[shkc2002]

Thanks that all helps alot. My kids are 9(son) and 7(daughter) but they are almost 10 and 8 and are tall enough to ride all but 1 ride that I know of. Is it better to go to different parks if we go back to our resort or go back to the same one? If I knew how to plan each day then dinner reservations arent a problem other then getting into a specific place. Thanks again.

[shkc2002]

I forgot to mention this was sort of a last minute vacation. We didnt even decide to go until June 5th so its been some crazy times in our house trying to figure things out!!!

[PrincessTiffany]

Thanks that all helps alot. My kids are 9(son) and 7(daughter) but they are almost 10 and 8 and are tall enough to ride all but 1 ride that I know of. Is it better to go to different parks if we go back to our resort or go back to the same one? If I knew how to plan each day then dinner reservations arent a problem other then getting into a specific place. Thanks again.
Well, different people tour in different ways. I always use the touringplans.com crowd calender and tour by their best days for the lowest crowds. We are all about avoiding some crowds! We always avoid morning extra magic hours, but do sometimes go to evening extra magic hours. If you go to intercot.com and go under park hours, it gives you a very easy to use, comprehensive list of Park Hours, Exta Magic Hours for each park and daily schedule of events for each park.

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

I guess the first thing to do is relax! I have tried to avoid the parks with extended evening hours (especially given your children's ages) because the parks are very crowded for the PM EMH. We tried them at the MK a couple of years ago and the lines were very long. We usually go to the park for the day so we really haven't taken advantage of the time at our resort but it would have helped. Also, the waterparks fill up fast. I would do mid-week for those visits. The parks are the busiest during the mid-afternoon hours.

Have fun.

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

PS. We loved POFQ, it's one of our favorites!

[shkc2002]

If only we had found this site earlier......

[PrincessTiffany]

If only we had found this site earlier......
I have PM'd you some touring plan ideas for the parks.

[shkc2002]

Thanks. I tried to reply but I dont think I was able to since I don't have enough posts. Thank you for putting in your time. We really appreciate it.

[PrincessTiffany]

Thanks. I tried to reply but I dont think I was able to since I don't have enough posts. Thank you for putting in your time. We really appreciate it.
You're welcome. Let us know if you have anymore questions.

[shkc2002]

Other than eating in downtown Disney, should we spend any other time there? Also, are there any "MUST SEE'S" that we can't miss in the parks?

[PrincessTiffany]

Other than eating in downtown Disney, should we spend any other time there? Also, are there any "MUST SEE'S" that we can't miss in the parks?
Usually, on our Animal Kingdom day, we hop a bus to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and transfer on a bus to Down Town Disney and eat dinner at DTD and then shop and walk around until closing time and then take the bus back to our resort. The World of Disney (I think it's the largest Disney Store in the World) and the Lego Super Store are right next to each other, so we spend A LOT of time in those two places. Our kids are at an age now that they don't want to rest or (heaven forbid) take naps, so we don't do a lot of the evening extra magic hours.

As far as Must Sees, if you haven't been before, there are a lot more Must Sees than not! lol!!! These are the things that our family has to do while we are in WDW:

Magic Kingdom: Mickey's Philharmagic (We always go straight to Fantasyland on our first day and see this first. It is incredible and is just the thing to start your WDW vacation with) Peter Pan, Small World, Winnie the Pooh, Goofy's Barnstormer, Space Mountain, Indy Speedway (my guys like it, me and the girls could take it or leave it), Buzz Lightyear, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Haunted Mansion and Wishes.

Epcot: Spaceship Earth, Living Seas Aquarium, Soarin', Mission Space, Test Track, Mexico, Norway, China, Morocco, Germany, Italy, Illuminations

Disney Hollywood Studios: Rockin' Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania, Star Tours, Great Movie Ride, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast show, Star and Motor Cars Stunt Spectacular show (again my guys love this one) and Fantasmic

Animal Kingdom: Expedetion Everest; Bugs Life, Kilamanjaro Safari, Train, Festival of the Lion King (best show in WDW), Dinosaur (My husband and I love this ride, my kids are not to crazy about it), Finding Nemo

We usually see and do a lot more than the things I have listed, but those are our Must Sees.

[Aliceacc]

Hi and welcome!!!

Let's make it easy for us to help you:
-How old are your kids, and what are their genders?
- Any thing you already know you do or don't want (character meals, buffets, live animals, anything at all??)
-Are you morning, evening, or either/both?

[mrstomrice]

Welcome! You're in the right place! Are you park hopping? This is an additional cost ($45.00 per person for the visit) and allows you to visit more than 1 park in a day. We didn't use ours last time. We like the early morning hours and you can get a lot done then. You need to know whether you'll be hopping then if you want early mornings or late evenings. The schedule is available at disneyworld.com
Once you have that planned, you can book your ADRs. They CM at 407-WDW-Dine will help you with this planning, based on where you'll be.
Fastpasses are great for avoiding long waits in lines and take some planning. With our use of fastpasses and early emh, we rarely wait more than 25 minutes for any ride.
We like Downtown Disney for a change of pace. There are a lot of great stores there. We usually go there after a few days in the parks or if we get in early enough on day 1 and time in a park would not be beneficial. I am not sure which restaurants take the dining plan though.
Our must sees:
AK: Everest, Festival of the Lion King (do not miss this one) and the Safari.
MK: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Railroad, Fantasyland (if you get there early emh, so this 1st and ride Dumbo first..lines get long!) Haunted Mansion, Buzz...too many to mention in MK...it's great!
DHS: Little Mermaid, Rockin Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Beauty and the Beast show, Muppets 3-D, Toy Story looks great too!
EPCOT: Nemo, Soarin, Test Track. We haven't done as much at EPCOT lately with the younger ones though.

One more piece of advice...get a dole whip in MK for a snack...if you like pineapple, you'll love this! It counts as 1 snack:)
Have a magical trip!

[Metro West]

http://bestsmileys.com/welcome/10.gif

[shkc2002]

Another question I thought of.....

Our return flight on Tuesday the 29th is for 3:45pm. How much time will we have to so stuff in the morning and when should we catch the bus back to the airport?

[PrincessTiffany]

Another question I thought of.....

Our return flight on Tuesday the 29th is for 3:45pm. How much time will we have to so stuff in the morning and when should we catch the bus back to the airport?
When you check out in the morning your hotel will store your bags until it is time for your Magical Express departure to the airport. Usually, they tell you to be back at your resort for ME 3 hours before your plane departs Orlando Airport. So, that would put you back at the resort at about 12:45 p.m. I would leave whatever park you are in that day at about 12:00 p.m. to be back at the resort in time for your ME pick up.

[mrstomrice]

Also, depending on the airline, you may be able to check in at the ME post, which saves you time at the airport. There is a list in your ME packet that you should have already received. Do you have to check in online 24 hours prior either? The hotel concierge will do that for you, or you can go to city hall in MK (as well as certain places in every other park).

[shkc2002]

Yeah, we're flying US Airways and I believe they have the online check in.

[puppyears]

I have been reading and I say a huge thanks to all who have provided me with some great facts and must sees!!
:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

i am a newbie, too, and I have tons of questions and usually find the answers somewhere in the DISboards!! :woohoo:

BTW, we leave in 7 days for our first trip to the "World"....can't wait

:yay: :yay: :yay: :yay::woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[shkc2002]

I also appreciate all the help you have given me. I've been able to go from completely lost to our trip planned out in just a few days. I got all the dinner reservations for the places we wanted except one. This site is amazing and with the help from all of you our trip already feels like the greatest vacation ever and we haven't even left yet!!! THANK YOU!!!