2 week onsite plan...help please !!

[natalielongstaff]

we are staying onsite for 2 weeks in september, we don't really plan to go anywhere other than the wdw parks and shopping one or two times!!
i could really do with some advice on what to do and when to rest !!
we can park hop but don't have transport to leave the area. we are also planning on the myw dining package so need to eat in the parks/resorts
any tips

 

[Hilary]

With two weeks to spend in WDW the temptation is to take lots of time out because you know you'll have plenty of time to do everything. In my experience, this inevitably leads to a frantic last few days trying to catch up on what you've missed!

Make a list of things you really want to do, things you'd like to do but aren't imperative, and things you can quite happily miss. Cross each one off as and when you do it.

Take advantage of the fact that you'll be up early for the first few days after the flight - get to the parks for opening (make use of EMH when available) and return to your resort for a rest (you're getting up early, remember? ) once the parks get busy later in the morning. You can visit another park later in the day and spend time seeing / doing the things that tend to get left out of a whistle-stop park visit.

By about day 3 you'll be in need of a lie-in, so take time to visit a water park or Downtown Disney at a leisurely pace.

Go back to your list and work out which parks you need to concentrate on to achieve the items in the 'must do' column, and work your way through them.

Yeah, I know - easier said than done! I'm sure you'll have a fabulous time whatever you do

 

[natalielongstaff]

thanks hilary
thats given me a great starting point, last year we only had 4 days in the parks so everything was such a rush this time around i want to be able to see and do as much as possible without it being so much like a military operation

 

[wicket2005]

Well the good thing is once you have done everything, it doesn't seem essential the next time you go to do everything, so you can chill a bit.

I think the main thing to do is decide on what you are doing on each day using the busiest day guides (askdaisy.net and touringplans.com), work out for each park what are the main rides you want to do and then just make a beeline for them, anything else is a bonus.

And remember each day how lucky you are to be there. There are loads of people who do not get the chance to be there which is what I think of if I am stuck in a large queue.

 

[vinny1971]

I stayed on sight last year.
I have to admit I thought it was fantastic. Ya the rooms in disney are small but who cares you only sleep there. The place is so clean and the staff are so nice, they can not do enough for you. But if you ask them for advice on how to get to international drive and places like that, they suddenly lose all there knowledge. In all fairness who can blame them, Disney pay there wages so of course they should stay loyal and try and keep you on their grounds. The good thing is you never have to wait that long for a bus to take you to where ever you want to go (so long as its owned by Disney)
The food is not great but sufficient and more importantly not cheap (but where in Disney is?) Look at it this way. For a very basic breakfast it would cost me, my wife and our 2 young sons about $40.00 and you still felt hungry afterwards. But on International drive you can eat as much as you want for say $15.00 for the full family. But to get there and back may cost you $25.00 in taxis if you do not drive. So you may not save anything. The only difference is after eating a breakfast on 192 or international drive you wont want to eat again all day. So in a way you do save money. If you drive you wont be eating at the hotel very often.
Being a Disney guest gives you a few perks. On different nights of the week one of the Disney parks will stay open till 12 midnight. At 9pm all the other guest who are not staying with Disney are asked to leave. At around 8pm you will see queues forming around the park and arm bands being given out to the Disney guests. When you get to the front of the queue you show them the key that you use to get into your room and they will give you and your family their bands. I think the 2 main parks that do this are the magic kingdom and mgm which in my view are the best. Walking around the parks at 11pm at night is great. It lets you chill out in the day and go to your park at night, on some occasions we never went to the parks till after 8pm. We liked going to one park for 9am and left at around 12noon, we then relaxed by the pool for the rest of the day and then went to which ever park was open late. This is a great idea from Disney and it really works. Don’t worry about getting back to your hotel as the Disney buses run till 1am.

Also at magic kingdom they have the night time parade and fireworks on at 9pm, whilst everyone else is watching this before they leave for the night go on the rides and enjoy yourself because they do it all again at 11pm. I do not know it you have seen this parade and firework display before but it is out of this world, not to be missed.

The part of our holiday which we all enjoyed was Down Town Disney. We went there most evenings and its a great place to relax and get something to eat. Wolfgang Pucks was our favourite. They have 2 restaurants at down town Disney. One is very large and the other is small. The smaller one is much better. Try the Chicken Bar-B-Q Pizza; I was totally addicted to this. Also go there for your breakfast one morning. My wife got a breakfast pizza which I thought was strange (we dont have these in England), but boy did she make the right decision. No where else in Florida do they do a breakfast pizza like there


Disney is a great, friendly, cheerful, relaxing, spotlessly clean place to stay.

I hope I have helped

Vinny

 

[Miffy2003]

Welcome to the Dis Vinny1971!

Just out of interest, where did your basic breakfast cost $40 in WDW? We used to eat in the foodcourt at our resort (2 adults and 2 children) for under $20. This didn't include drinks as we had refillable mugs. I do so totally agree that 192 & I Drive are much cheaper to eat at

 

[CharleyUK]

Hi

The first time we went to WDW we only had 4 days also and felt the need to see as much as possible, so came away rearly tired.

The second time we stayed on-site also for two weeks to be able to take our time and "smell the roses".

I planned our days around the busydays listed in the "brits guide" (thank you Simon). We also wanted to eat mostly around the resorts and parks so tried to link them together. For example we had breakfast at whispering canyon on our MK day and dinner at O'hannas. On our AK day we had an early breakfast at Boma that way we were close to the park early. We ate at Sci FI & 50's PT on our MGM days.

We also wanted to enjoy some evenings out so planned a few early finish days and went back to our hotel rested for an hour or two showered and dressed up ( a little ) and spent a nice evening at the boardwalk or DTD. Even having a late night out ( You have to go to Jellyrolls ) by having a short break we felt refreshed the next day.


Have a great time

 

[natalielongstaff]

thanks everyone, i am beginning to get a plan together in my mind now ( i love this bit) i feel a lot more in control again

 

[vinny1971]

thanks everyone, i am beginning to get a plan together in my mind now ( i love this bit) i feel a lot more in control again

POP CENTURY IS REALLY NICE. YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT TIME.

Vinny