Please give advice for 1st time disneyworld trip!!!!

[disneydoodle520]

Hello!

I am going to Disney World this Summer and was wondering if anyone have good advice! ( Rides to ride, Places to eat, things to do, etc.)

THANKS!!!

I like these:

 

[IATink]

Wow! You are in the right place if you are looking for the answer to that big question. My best advice would be to do a lot of reading on the DIS and other sites to get all the information you can before you go.

Also, remember that you are not going to see everything. Take your time and enjoy it. My family's favorite rides are Rock n Roller Coaster, Splash Mountain, Expedition Everestt, It's a Small World, Test Track, and several others.

Remember to get all you dining reservations before you go. Our favorite restaurants are Le Cellier, Chef Mickey's, and Cinderella's Royal Table just to name a few.

Hope that helps a little! Have fun planning your trip!

 

[WizardLarz]

Please give us some more information; how many people in your group, and their ages. When are you thinking of going? Do you have thrill seekers, any one scare of the dark? Give us some clues to start with so we can help!

 

[RandFamily]

The single most important advice I would give you is to PLAN. There are lots of different kinds of vacations, but to get the most out of WDW you can't wing it. Plan every day, eating, rides, breaks, etc. and you will have a better time.

Oh, and one more bit of general advice. Go early to the parks. EARLY!!!!

 

[disneydoodle520]

Please give us some more information; how many people in your group, and their ages. When are you thinking of going? Do you have thrill seekers, any one scare of the dark? Guive us some clues to start with so we can help!

We have a lot of our family going...there will be 12 of us total! The youngest will be 12 on up to adults. We're all pretty adventurous, so I think everyone will ride most of the rides. We're going the first week of June and are staying at Bay Lake Tower. We can't wait!! We've been to Disneyland, but this will be our first time to WDW.

Mostly what I'm looking for is whether we should try to focus on one park each day...or try to move around to several during the day. Also, wondering what people would recommend to see and do beside the rides. Any special exhibits or shows? There's so much on the DW Web site, it's hard to narrow it down.

My DD really wants to do the water parks, but I'm not sure we'll be able to do both of them. Which one is better?

And finally, what restaurants should we not miss? We already have reservations for the Princess Breakfast in the Castle. What else is good?

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!

 

[sk8jdgca]

One park as day- WDW is huge you will waste alot of time if you try to got to more than one park in one day.
You should have each person make a list of 3 Must do per park- then plan accordingly. You may want to split up at times depending on your personal preferrences.

 

[chrismass]

I agree - planning ahead is key! Plus the must-dos for each member of the party, that way no one feels they missed out on "mine" because they had to go to "theirs" - choose your park for the day based on the restaurant you want to go to that day.

Use a guide book to give you an idea of what rides or attractions are available. and be careful when planning, Fantasmic is not shown every night.

Have fun!!

 

[pattibehan]

I agree, one park a day. Plan on the MAIN things you want to do, and the rest is gravy! Our first trip, I had a list of 4 things I wanted to do/see in each park...MK - the three mountains and Pirates were on our list. HS - ToT, Indiana Jones, Star Tours and RocknRollercoster...if you keep your expectations LOW, you wont be dissappointed. My family prefers Typhoon Lagoon..the tide pool is a place I could stay all day!!!
La Nouba is a bit expensive, but WELL worth the money!

Plan and RELAX !!!

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

We have a lot of our family going...there will be 12 of us total! The youngest will be 12 on up to adults. We're all pretty adventurous, so I think everyone will ride most of the rides. We're going the first week of June and are staying at Bay Lake Tower. We can't wait!! We've been to Disneyland, but this will be our first time to WDW.

Mostly what I'm looking for is whether we should try to focus on one park each day...or try to move around to several during the day. Also, wondering what people would recommend to see and do beside the rides. Any special exhibits or shows? There's so much on the DW Web site, it's hard to narrow it down.

My DD really wants to do the water parks, but I'm not sure we'll be able to do both of them. Which one is better?

And finally, what restaurants should we not miss? We already have reservations for the Princess Breakfast in the Castle. What else is good?

Thanks so much for any advice you can give!!

We always focus on one park a day. There is so much to see and do at each park that we never use the hopping feature. We have only ever gone to Blizzard Beach and it was so much fun. I am sure your dd would really enjoy it; ours sure did. As far as restaurants go, we love Chef Mickey's alot. I think you should check out a bunch of Disney guidebooks from your library. Have an awesome trip!!

 

[LockShockBarrel]

Agreed..plan your must sees/dos as best you can, and have a least a basic gameplan. It's not a matter of "we go to Dumbo at 8:46 to IASW at 9:12...MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!!" because you'll drive yourself nuts with it, especially the first time. Find your happy medium between "We'll just go and see how busy things are" vs the whole disney commando. Remember its a vacation, a time to relax and be with friends/family, it's not worth it to freak out and stress out over things you probably don't have control over.

Anything else really depends on what you and your group like. If you like thrill rides, grab your fast passes for TOT and RNRC. If you're eaters, try to plan in a couple of the nicer sit down restaurants.

Some of my must dos are
Epcot: Ride Soarin, shop in China and Japan, Pick a pearl in Japan, get henna in Morocco, get chips from UK
MK: go see Mickey's Philharmagic, ride Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion, get a funnel cake from Sleepy Hollow
AK: see It's Tought to be a Bug, see Finding Nemo the musical
HS: ride Tower of Terror, RockinRollercoaster and Toy Story Mania and eat at 50's Prime time

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

I used the Disney World website ( disneyworld.com) to research each park and the best attractions / rides / shows at each one.

Get a map...u can order free ones on that web site....look over it and familiarize yourself with each park and its layout...just so you wont be totally lost when u get there.

Order the free planning dvd.

Before we went I had no idea how BIG each park was and how spread out the 4 parks are from each other and from the resorts. We love the free Disney transportation btwn each park but be prepared that it will take at LEAT 3o to 40 mins to travel from parks to park or park to resort. I thought we would go back to the room for quick snacks or changing clothes, etc....but it takes a lot of time for stuff like that.

Read up on Fast Passes and how they work and be sure to use them...they are wonderful!!! You can get one FP per person approximately every 1 or 2 hours. THe FP for a ride may all be gone by noon ( Like Toy Story Mania, Rocking Roller coast and Tower of Terror at at Hollywood Studios...Soaring and Test Tack at Epcot...Expedition Everest at An Kingdom) So, if you have park hopper tickets. just be aware that you may park hop to a different p ark and plan to get a FP for certain ride, but they may be all gone by noon to 2 pm.

If you plan to eat at the table service restaurants, call in advance to get advance dinging reservations (ADRs). If u plan to eat at table service places, consider the dining plan. For about $40 per day , you get a table service meal (that costs about $40 anyway), a quick service meal and a snack. So w/ the dining plan your quick service and snack can basically be free. Again, this is a savings if you would have eaten at a table service place anyway. Otherwise, some people prefer to pack their own lunches and eat dinner off site or at their hotel, etc....

Decide if you need park hopper tickets. if this is your first trip, I don’t recommend park hoppers. It takes time and organization to park hop. For first trips, you need a WHOLE day at one park to see the best attractions. To me park hopping is best for people who go frequently and just go to certain parks to hit the "highlights". That is just my opinion though.

Also, just keep in mind that a little planning and research on the front end, makes the trip more fun. It maximizes your ability to see and experience more things. Disney is more of an adventure than a restful vacation. So, it helps to do what you are doing and ask questions and make plans in advance.

Well...this should be some basics to get you going...this board should be helpful as well.. Have fun planning! To me, planning is half the fun!

 

[Dan J]

For your first visit, if you have not already, I would HIGHLY recommend the Unofficial Guide. Its a good read and the touring plans are fantastic. Closer to your trip, check their website and look at the Crowd Calendar. We do and it works!

 

[jewels1916]

I agree with Dan J - the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World is one of the best planning guides out there. I read mine sometimes when I don't have a trip planned, because it gives enough details to give me that Disney feel.

I always prefer to park hop, but that is primarily because of having dining reservations. It does take time away from the time you could be spending in the parks if you are spending time traveling between them. I also tend to travel during the less crowded times of year, so hopping isn't as much of an issue.

My family prefers Blizzard Beach to Typhoon Lagoon, because we feel like the thrill rides (slides) are better. It really depends on how you want to spend your time at the water park. If your primary goal in going is to ride the slides, then BB is probably the one you want. If you are going to get a break from running around the parks, then Typhoon Lagoon is probably the way to go.

Another suggestion I have on your pre-planning is to go over to the Trip Reports and Pre-trip reports boards. You can read along with people that are planning trips and see what all they are thinking, and you can also read trip reports from folks who have just come back from Disney, and see what they did.

The most important thing to remember (and I'm repeating this...) is to relax and have fun. You can plan everything down to the minute, but if you stress out too much about following a specific plan, you won't have the trip that you want to have. (I speak from experience!!) Be prepared, but also understand that sometimes the most fun things are the little unexpected experiences that you can never plan for. Have a great, great time!!!!

 

[disneydoodle520]

Also, should we do the Luau at the Polynesian Resort???? Some people say it is good: and others say it is terrible!