What Disney Tip Are you really glad you listened to?

[SURVIVORARA]

Hello all.. this is our first DW trip. We are going the week of Thanksgiving.
We plan to spend 2 days at WDW and 1 day possibly 2 at Universal.
We have a son with special needs .... any advice?

I paid for Tour Guide Mike's thing but can not figure it out..
I would like an easier guide to help us through..

Our kids range from 12-23.
Im so confused. We rented a 4bedroom house offsite, 6 miles from WDW.

What are all these abbreveations? DD, DH, DS.... etc... is there a guide.

Thanks all I love all the advice Ive read, Im to page 14 and still reading...

Please reach out.. Im overwhelmed..

9 of us going.. Praying for magical memories!

[chimilady]

Originally Posted by SURVIVORARA

What are all these abbreveations? DD, DH, DS.... etc... is there a guide.

DD = Dear Daughter
DH = Dear Husband
DS = Dear Son

Same goes on for the rest of the family.

[stindall]

Originally Posted by chimilady

DD = Dear Daughter
DH = Dear Husband
DS = Dear Son

Same goes on for the rest of the family.

really? I always thought it was 'Disney Husband' 'Disney Daughter' etc

[Disneynut4ever]

Originally Posted by stindall

really? I always thought it was 'Disney Husband' 'Disney Daughter' etc

Me too.

[fuzzlekins]

Originally Posted by SURVIVORARA

Hello all.. this is our first DW trip. We are going the week of Thanksgiving.
We plan to spend 2 days at WDW and 1 day possibly 2 at Universal.
We have a son with special needs .... any advice?

I paid for Tour Guide Mike's thing but can not figure it out..
I would like an easier guide to help us through..

Our kids range from 12-23.
Im so confused. We rented a 4bedroom house offsite, 6 miles from WDW.

What are all these abbreveations? DD, DH, DS.... etc... is there a guide.

Thanks all I love all the advice Ive read, Im to page 14 and still reading...

Please reach out.. Im overwhelmed..

9 of us going.. Praying for magical memories!

So many veterans here and so much great advice. I'm only on my third trip but my most basic advice would be:
1) Go to Undercover Tourist's crowd calendar to figure out which days to do which parks. You obviously want the least amt of crowds possible, esp. that week.
2) I'd spend more time at Disney than Universal unless your kids are coaster fanatics. I love coasters, but I generally only ride Big Thunder Mountain when in FL - there's just so much more to see and do. Universal can be squeezed into a day easier than Disney can.
3) If you're only spending 2-3 days at Disney parks, definitely do the park hopper option so you can see as much as possible.
4) Check the parade and fireworks schedule on this site (or just google it) so you don't miss whatever interests you. At a minimum, I would try to see Wishes at MK and Illuminations at Epcot to close 2 of the nights.
5) If you're planning to dine at table service restaurants (either w/ dining plan or w/o), make your reservations on Disney's site NOW. There are lots of restaurant reviews on this site if you're not sure where you might want to eat.
6) If you go to HS, head for the Toy Story Mania fast pass station immediately when you get into the park. Those go quicker than any other ride in any of the parks (at least both times we were there in the last couple of yrs anyway).

Good luck and have fun!

[tonyhoop]

In terms of your child with special needs, Go to guest services and get a Guest Assistance Card(GAC) i think thats what its called. It helps you get thru the attractions faster. Our son has special needs and this card has helped us tremendously while at the world.

[ScoMar]

Hi everyone! I am new to this board. I am so glad I found it! I haven't been to DW in 20 or more years, and back then I was young enough that my parents did all the planning! This year we are bringing our six kids, age range 8 -19, and I am doing the planning. We are joining my dad, his fiance, my brother, SIL, and niece there. So excited to see them for Christmas! This board has been VERY helpful! Thank you to everyone that has contributed their best tips!

We will be there on Christmas Day, staying for just a short visit of four days! So far my plan is to just take it easy! I am letting each kid pick out one thing that they really want to see or do and try to make that happen for each of them. Besides that I am just going to take it slow and see what we can see, since I know ya can't see it ALL. I do want to see the Osborne lights though for sure! I also want to hit up the Disney Outlet store for souvenirs. We are staying on site. We have Park Hopper Passes. My dad has made dinner reservations for two of the nights. The rest we are considering eating outside of DW. Any tips on nearby McD's or other fast food places where we can eat cheap? With a group of 8, the cheaper the better! LOL

If anyone has any more tips for this time of year at DW, please share!

[Kdouglas]

Originally Posted by Grand2me

Best piece of advice that I got was to bring your own poncho and have it with you at all times...EVEN if they say it's not going to rain. You never know. We found out the hard way last year . A really good piece of advice that I got from my brother was to start walking. I know it sounds wierd but he said that you do an OBSCENE amount of walking in all of the parks. He wanted us to be ready. Really glad that I followed that one.

THIS. Getting caught in the rain is horrific in Florida D:

[DarthMama]

My magical tip -- if you go to Enchanted Tales with Belle in the new Fantasyland section, volunteer to be part of the show. It's a lot of fun (even saying just one line) and you get a nice picture with Belle and a bookmark from her. Great fun for both kids & grown-ups. My daughter got to play the horse and I was the maid/feather duster when we went on Nov. 7 and we are all still laughing about it.

[aym4Him]

We are here now & I'll say the tip on packing light is a good one. Also the filtered water bottles.

Where is the Disney outlet? We thought there was one on 535 but it's a "Character Outlet" with a very small selection of things. I found much more at the Wal-Mart on 535 as well as on Vine/Bass Rd.

[carlbarry]

Originally Posted by aym4Him

Where is the Disney outlet? We thought there was one on 535 but it's a "Character Outlet" with a very small selection of things. I found much more at the Wal-Mart on 535 as well as on Vine/Bass Rd.

The one closest to WDW is Orlando Premium Outlets - Vineland Ave
8200 Vineland Avenue Orlando, FL 32821
It has some great bargains.
There is another one, but it is pretty far from WDW, north of the airport.

[gracer9977]

I don't know how important this would be to most people but if you have the option I would bring an old cell phone that you might have gathering dust in the house.

When we were there in 2011. My DH and I had our brand new (only 1 month old) droids. I had loaded all kinds of interesting apps about Disney lines, locators, etc and was so looking forward to trying them out. We were also going as a family party of 12 and would not be together all the time so this was going to be our first trip to WDW where we would be easily able to communicate where we were, how much longer we would be in line (my mom doesn't go on a lot of rides so she is always stuck waiting for us) and things like that.

We got to Disney, checked in and since our rooms weren't ready decided to head over to the pool. MY DH went to change into his bathing suit and I was just going to watch the kids go down the slide. As the kids came down the slide I suddenly realized that the water at the bottom of the slide was 4ft deep (way over their heads) they came down and started to flounder around, I dove in to save my babies and in the process drowned my new phone.

Don't get me wrong I would make the same decision now as I did then but it sure sucked to lose my phone. (it was completely dead, putting it in rice and all the other things people recommended didn't work). When we go in 2014 I plan to just bring my old flip phone, won't have the data plan or anything but really it was the texting where I was and where to meet that was the toughest thing not to have. My cell company is able to transfer your account to a different phone no problem so if I should have something happen at least I will have a back up.

Sorry that was a long story but figured I would share.

[aym4Him]

Originally Posted by carlbarry

The one closest to WDW is Orlando Premium Outlets - Vineland Ave
8200 Vineland Avenue Orlando, FL 32821
It has some great bargains.
There is another one, but it is pretty far from WDW, north of the airport.

Thank you! We'll check it out!!

[Crazy Mother of Two]

Originally Posted by gardengalB4

To avoid putting dish detergent in a 3oz bottle or less (for airline travel).... I've made my own dish detergent sheets-just squirt dish detergent on a good quality paper towel & let dry-then fold up & place in a zip-top bag.These are great for washing resort mugs.
One of the major dish detergent brands had a version of this on the market some years ago.

I did the same thing only I used a sponge that I cut into 4 sections each. I brought 2 cut up sponges. The first time I used the paper towels and found that it didn't last the entire day.

[pmdeve]

Originally Posted by Crazy Mother of Two

I did the same thing only I used a sponge that I cut into 4 sections each. I brought 2 cut up sponges. The first time I used the paper towels and found that it didn't last the entire day.

Great tips, thanks.