1st Disney Trip - Overwhelmed =(

[HotMama]

Welcome!!!

You really have to take these threads with a grain of salt. You can't stress about the crowds. Just make sure you have some sort of plan for each day and it does not have to be a minute by minute plan. Your vacation will be as magical as you make it. Relax and have fun.

 

[dmmichelle]

Wow! Your first trip to Disney! Our first trip with our kids was in 2008 and I too was overwhelmed. Everyone has said the right things...really take the time to think about the rides/parks you want to see the most and don't fret about not seeing everything (we've been there twice for two weeks each time and there's lots we haven't seen). The Dining Plan worked for us as we really had some wonderful TS meals...but if you want to save money and wouldn't normally eat in the parks, the DP probably isn't a good deal for you.

I definitely agree with making time for downtime. For us, we never did parks day after day...we spent lots of time on property, visiting other resorts, restaurants, Boardwalk, Downtown Disney, etc...for a 7-day trip I probably wouldn't plan more than 4 park days...but that's me. And for SURE watch out for your 5-year old getting overtired. It's no fun to see these stressed-out families dragging around an overexhausted, overstimulated child. A nice break in the middle of the day for a swim or nap can be the best thing (for you too mom!) I would definitely book at least one character breakfast (we loved Chef Mickey's) and relax and have fun! Don't overplan but definitely "educate" yourself on the differerent parks, rides, bus trips from your resort, etc..

Have a magical vacation!!!

 

[emeraldmom]

I agree with much of the advice you have already been given. You know yourselves, and what works for your family. I wouldn't worry too much about crowds. I'm thining it won't be too bad when you are there, lots of people wait until Christmas or New Years. We went over New Years 2008-2009 and WOW, talk about crowded. It was wonderful though, and I wouldn't have traded it for anything. Also, the weather will likely be good that time of year.

Now I'll tell you what works for my family. It's me, my parents, and my two boys, one is 12, the other almost 9. We're going back in August, I just told them tonight!

We are on vacation, and I'm not dragging myself out of bed for morning extra magic hours, or rope drop. We usualy stay in an RV in Fort Wilderness Campground, so we make many of our own meals. We have breakfast and get ready. We typically get to whatever park we start at somewhere between 10 and 11 ish. We do a few hours in that park, and go back to the campground in the afternoon, maybe 2 or so. This is more important during the hot months, but we often still do it when it's cool. We hang out, have some down time, take a nap, go to the pool, whatever. We often have a late lunch/early dinner. We head back to a park somewhere around 4 or 5. Then we stay late. I usually stay for evening extra magic hours, especially at Magic Kingdom. We try to plan for at least one down day around the middle of our stay. You don't realize until you go just how exhausting it can be.

I do do morning extra magic, and often don't go to the park that has them early in the day. It seems to me like the parks with them in the morning tend to be more crowded for the first half of the day. I love evening extra magic hours. We were there in June last summer. Our last night there Magic Kingdom had evening extra magic hours until 2AM. We had a good rest in the afternoon, and staying until 2. I think we did more in those 3 hours that we had all day. The park will often still *seem* crowded, but many of the people are not resort guests. They can still shop and buy food, but can't ride anything or see shows.

Anyway, that's how we do it. If you are morning people, try to morning extra magic and see how you like it. You aren't going to see everything, just decide ahead of time the things you feel like you must see. There are so many memories to make. My 12 year odl told me today that he is still jealous that his brother went with me to buy popcorn last time, and got to pet a duck and he didn't. There was a duck eating popcorn off the ground near the stand. One of the things the really LOVE is these silly boats over by the Jungle Cruise. You put (WAY TOO MANY) quarters in and drive these little remote control boats around for like one minute. Wait and see what kind of cute little memories your family makes.

Have fun, take tons of pictures, and enjoy watching your little girl's face

 

[blondietink]

Another thought to keep in mind about going in December: We were used to going in August when the parks, for the most part, stay open late. we were very surprised when we went in December and especially in Jauary how early the parks closed compared to the summer. This changed our plans a little about taking a break in the middle of the day.

 

[RNtheRN]

Well if its info on WDW your looking for, you certainly came to the right place. Enjoy yourself!!!

 

[mill4023]

I love the DIS. You will find more WDW information here than anywhere else on the planet. It's a great resource for getting tips about how to vacation in WDW.
The problem is that everyone has their own personal opinions and they often conflict with each other. For a first-timer, it can be extremely overwhelming trying to plan a trip based off of so many opposing opinions.

My suggestion is that you listen to the opinions and decide for yourself what works best for your family. If you pay attention, you will actually find that there are some things that most people on the DIS actually agree on. For example, use Fastpasses when you can, get to the parks before they open.

I can tell you that crowds won't be bad, despite what some may say. Many people think December = Christmas time = crowded. But the truth is that it's only super crowded from a day or two before Christmas until a day or two after New Years. Early and mid December is actually a time of fairly light crowds because most kids are still in school.

If you want some good advice to help you plan your trip, but don't want to have to sort out opposing opinions, check out Tour Guide Mike. It's about $20 to sign up and he has a ton of great advice to help you with your trip planning. It's still a lot of information to read, but at least you won't have one person telling you something is great and another telling you to avoid it.

 

[Sandy1975]

One thing I MUST advise you to do is get the Disney Dining Plan, it will save you tons of $$ on food. At first, when they give you the price of the plan for your family, it will seem like OMG..this is crazy, but, believe me, when you break the price down per person, it only comes to about $20-$30 a day per person and when breakfast is around $10-$15, one meal at a quick service counter like McDonalds comes to $10, for a snack, like a Churro and a drink, it is like $7, then dinner in a restaurant is about $20/person you can see how much you are actually saving,.....the Dining plan includes breakfast, lunch, Dinner and a snack. AND you get desert also....we never go to Disney without getting a dining plan and my cousin who never gets the dining plan, ends up spending hundreds of dollars more than us, but he just won't listen.

I have a question about this. I like the idea of the plan, but my DH thinks we will havce to walk all over the place to find a place that will accept the plan if we want a snack/drink or are ready to eat at the parks. How many places really take the plan? thanks

 

[persimmondeb]

Different strategies work for different people. Like the meal plan. It unquestionably works for us, but not so well for light eaters or people who don't enjoy sitting in Disney restaurants. Morning EMH works well for early risers who are park hopping, but not for people who are dragging themselves out of bed and are then committed to one park for the day. Evening EMH works reasonably well for people who like to stay up late, but if it's crowding the entrance and the busses around the time you'd be leaving anyway, it might not be the best choice. Opinions vary wildly on character buffets, but if you have a small child who is not afraid of the characters, it's worth every penny for the relaxed and air-conditioned interaction, even if the kid won't eat much. If you are the kind of person who hates not using every minute you've paid for, consider fewer park days, so you have time to swim, relax, wander around Downtown Disney, etc. Most of the advice you see is sound, just not for every person and every situation.

 

[persimmondeb]

Sandy1975, almost every place, except at Downtown Disney and a few of the carts, takes the plan. Many shops will even honor snack credits for small candy items (ask, though, since no two cast members seem ever to agree on which candy items are allowed). You do need to make reservations in advance for table service though, or you will end up walking all over the place in search of someplace that is willing to feed you, plan or no plan.

 

[Happiest mommy]

 

[jspringe]

Welcome, I'm new too and this board seems like a great place for advice.

 

[Beckypooh1972]

My advice is relax for this first trip! You will have a fabulous time and will be so distracted - in a great way - by the magic you really won't care if it is crowded, etc. because you've never been and don't have anything to compare to! The one possible exception to my advice is make ADR's if you are paying for the dining plan. My first trip was over 10 years ago before the dining plan came out when it wasn't especially necessary to make ADR's. Back then if we wanted to dine at a table service restaurant in Epcot we'd just go into guest relations in the morning and book something. The planning is a fun part of the Disney obsession but don't set your expectations so high for this first trip that you have nothing to look forward to on the next trip. Just my advice

Becky

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Unfortunately, since it is Christmas, it will most likely be crowded no matter what you do but, maybe, due to the economy, they may not be as crowded. Just expect the worst than anything that isn't as bad as you expect, will be a bonus.

The OP is going the thrid week in December and that's one of the lower crowd weeks of the year. She will be leaving a couple of days before the crazy Christmas week crowds arrive.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Actually, it's not quite that good of a deal. Depending on season the Standard Dining Plan (Plus) will set you back either $41.99 or $46.99 per adult or $11.99 or $12.99 per child. This does not include breakfast, you get one counter service meal, one table service meal and one snack. For a family of four that comes to $167.96 - $187.96 per day (assuming kids are 10+).

On a budget, our family can easily have a pop-tart for breakfast, eat two counter service meals and carry our own snacks for about $75 per day. Over our two week stay the cost savings is about $1,500!!!

I guess it all depends on where you want to eat and what you want to spend, but I've never been able to make the dining plan make financial sense for us. The perk to the dining plan is that you get to eat whatever you want (with a few exceptions), but then you do have to make reservations and keep to a pretty strict schedule as well.

The dining plan is an excellent deal for us. Long before there was a DDP we always ate at least one sit-down meal per day and we still do. So, the DDP saves us at least $200.00 vs. out-of-pocket. Also, we've been lucky enough to get a free dining discount on our last three trips and that has saved us about $1,200.00 per trip.

The DDP isn't for everyone, especially if you are bring your PB&Js into the parks kind of folks, but if you want to do at least one character or sit down meal per day the DDP will save you money. If your kids are under 10 then it's a HUGE money saver.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

3. Mickey's V.M.C.P. - At that time of the year the parks will be crowed no matter what however I didn't feel that they will be significantly more crowed on a "Party" day than if there weren't. Unless things have changed since I last did that once the time for the party draws near Cast Members and Disney Security will start blocking off all stores and rides to people with out the Mickey's Christmas wristband then they will sweep everyone else out so that the show can start. Once all the non-paying people are out you will notice that it is MUCH less crowed than before ... and surprisingly they are VERY good at getting rid of any stragglers.

4. Crowds - If you're talking about certain DAYS of the week being more crowed than others ... not really. Estimating crowds is done by the time of year (season) and by watching out for holidays or when kids have off from school. For example, if you go during Easter break the parks are going to be crowded, regardless of day, because people are on vacation that time of year. For my family and I ...we don't notice any significant drop for specific days of the week.

Take Care & Be Safe!!!

Frank
Disney DieHard

The OP is going during the third week of December which is a slow time of the year to visit. We've been during that timeframe twice and the crowds are not bad at all. The crazy Christmas crowds won't start coming in until after the 20th, after the OP is gone.

As for planning your park days for certain times of week, there is most definitley a difference. Just ask Tour Guide Mike or The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. They've made millions of dollars telling people which days to visit which parks for the best crowds. For the record, I perfer UG.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I have a question about this. I like the idea of the plan, but my DH thinks we will havce to walk all over the place to find a place that will accept the plan if we want a snack/drink or are ready to eat at the parks. How many places really take the plan? thanks

We LOVE the Disney Dining Plan. All restaurants in the Disney Parks and all restaurants in the Disney resorts are included in the DDP (except Victoria and Alberts at GF). There are a couple of places in Downtown Disney and at Swan and Dolphin that don't take it, but that's pretty much it. As for snacks, a pretty good rule of thumb to go by is that any single serving food item under $4.00 is pretty much counted as a snack credit on the DDP.

As soon as we plan which parks we are going to go to on which days, we then sit down and decide which WDW restaurants will want to eat at on those days. Just pick restaurants that are in your chosen park of the day or at a near-by resort. Then make sure you make your ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) as soon as possible.

 

[ItsDisney]

WELCOME......You will have a magical Christmas at WDW. Its truly the place to be at Christmas time. Disney does it all so well. AT Hollywood Studios you have to see the Osborne Family Lights. Truly amazing. Keep asking questions here at the boards. There are so many great things to see and do.