A Bewildered Beginner Needing Help

[tiggerifictiggers]

Hi everyone, we're off to Florida for our honeymoon right at the end of December for 2 weeks. Does anyone please have any helpful hints and tips of how we should plan our days, where to eat, how much time will be needed in each park etc. It'll be just me and my new husband Oh and we're staying on the Lake Buena Vista resort and have hired a car.

We're not fussed with water parks just the main parks such as Magic Kingdom, MGM, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios and Seaworld.

Also, does anyone know what parks are celebrating New Years this year?

I've been reading the forum boards but they have made my head spin with all the abbreviations .. DH .. EMC .. etc. See I'm an absolute beginner, this will be our first time to Florida.

Any help / advice / tips would be greatly appreciated

 

[travelin' tigger]

Hi everyone, we're off to Florida for our honeymoon right at the end of December for 2 weeks. Does anyone please have any helpful hints and tips of how we should plan our days, where to eat, how much time will be needed in each park etc. It'll be just me and my new husband Oh and we're staying on the Lake Buena Vista resort and have hired a car.

You've come to the right place for hints and tips. The end of December will be busy with Christmas vacations, but it is doable. Since you have 2 weeks, take your time and don't overwhelm yourself the first few days. I like to be at the theme park first thing in the morning (at rope drop) and get as much done as I can before noon. Then I take a break back at the resort before heading back for round 2 in the late afternoon. All day at the parks can make for a long day!!

Oh, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding!!!

 

[Alesia]

For help with abbreviations, check here: http://www.stitchkingdom.com/acronyms/

 

[KJ Luvs Pluto]

Look at the allearsnet.com site for dining reviews of the restaurants and menus. Then make your dining reservations for any sit-down meals (also called "table meals" NOW! People make reservations for these meals 180 days in advance and many of the popular places get booked that far in advance. If you are not particular about where or when you eat it is not as important, but since this is your first trip, there may be some places you would like to try. If you have purchased the dining plan from Disney this would be especially important in order to be able to use your dining credits.

Congratulations on your wedding. By reading the threads on this site and asking specific questions, your trip will be much more enjoyable. Don't forget to use the fastpass system at WDW and have a plan on what you want to see and do before you go so that you don't waste time standing around thinking about it after you get to the parks.

 

[mybestieismickey]

The best advice that I can give you for a honeymoon at Disney is to take it as it comes. Make the dining reservations that you can/want, but other than that just spend time with your honey. For me, this was key. After a lot of work and running around like crazy leading up to the wedding, it was nice to spend time with just the two of us. Something we hadn't done too much right before the wedding. We slept in, went to the parks, did a LOT of eating (mostly snacks), parades, shows, people watching, etc. No plan, no schedule. It was nice to be together with the magic.

That said, that time of year, I would be at the parks as early as possible if you want to ride a lot of the more popular rides with minimal wait. And don't forget about fastpass.

 

[Luhts]

Congats!!! My dh and I spend New Year's Eve at Hollywood Studios a few years ago and we had a blast! They handed out hats and noisemakers, and the Christmas Lights display was on, which was beautiful. We basically just wandered around enjoying the crazy atmosphere. Loved it!

 

[tiggerifictiggers]

thanks everyone i am SO excited
we have done a semi-schedule so we dont waste time just standing around twiddling our thumbs but as to rides not sure what we will go on. i'm a bit of a scaredy cat and have had back problems so i'm guessing most rides wont be suitable for me sob sob -- can anyone recommend what rides would be good and what ones to steer way clear of?

off to look at allearsnet.com ...

 

[ZoZo]

If you're a complete beginner, a good place to start is to buy a travel guide and read it cover to cover. My favorite is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It's very comprehensive, gives great tips, and also gives reviews of things like restaurants (which I find quite valuable!). It explains how to use Fast Pass and other things.

I know these boards can be quite overwhelming if you're new - in my opinion, if you get oriented by reading a good guidebook, then you can ask specific questions (i.e. "What's your favorite counter service restaurant in Magic Kingdom?") rather than asking for general info.

Good for you for planning ahead - you won't be sorry!

 

[tinkerbell34]

Congradulations on your up coming wedding! This is so exciting....going to WDW for the first time! First, just to clarify, Sea World and Universal are not part of Disney (I was not sure if you knew that or not). They are very easy to get to however. I would also like to recommend the La Nouba show in Downtown Disney. It is a fantastic show! Now, let me think about each park.....Magic Kingdom you could definitly spend two whole days in. It is expansive and much to see. I really don't want to go down the road of telling you what rides are great and which or not because everyone has diffrent tastes. The "classics" would be Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Carribean, It's a small World, Peter Pan, and the Haunted Mansion. These are rides that have been there since Magic Kingdom's inception and are still favorites. There are many other fun rides. I would get the silly hats and just have fun with one another. The parades are worth seeing but at the same time the lines for rides are not as long during parade times. As the earlier posters have said, make sure to make any dining reservations before hand....this goes for the resorts as well as the parks. There are two dining shows.......there is a Luau at the Polynesian Resort and the Hoop Dee Do Review at Fort Wilderness that we have enjoyed. Next, Epcot....another park I think you could easily spend two days in. I would recommend you experience all the rides there at least once. Our personal favorites are Mission to Mars and Soarin. The world show case is really cool. I enjoy meeting people from their prospective countries and getting insight into their cultures. It is a great learning experience and can be very eye opening in many ways. I still get misty eyed when I watch the film at the American Pavillion (yes I'm a sap). I love each and every world and could spend a whole day just in the world showcase! Animal Kingdom is actually my boys favorite. It is easily and all day park depending upon your interests. I would do the Safari first. The animals are more active first thing in the morning whereas in the afternoon they are sleepy and mostly napping. Kali River Rapids (our favorite), Everest, and Dinosaur are very popular rides there. Don't miss the 3D movie "It's tough to be a bug" either. Hollywood studios is fun. It has our favorite night time show Fantasmic (everyone has their own favorite from the various parks). You might want to check into a dining/ Fantasmic package so that way you don't have to arrive obscenely early to catch the show. The Rockin Roller Coaster is our personal favorite ride here (and anywhere). There are a lot of shows in this park so if you like that type of entertainment you will be pleased. After decades of going to WDW, we finally purchased a "Pal Mickey". We are totally in love with him! He tells you all sorts of neat trivia details about the park and can even inform you of short wait times at rides and parade information. We got ours on ebay. You are going during a time where the weather is great but it is also VERY busy. Pack your patience and don't let yourself feel rushed. One trick we do is to get a fast pass for one ride and wait in line for another. Usually by the time we are done waiting in line and riding the one ride it is time for our fast pass to be used on the other. Also, one sore detail I would like to tell you about is that at Universal there "fast pass" costs extra money. WDW gives you their fast pass for free. (In all fairness I am a Disney snob and have been to Disney many times a year since I was 8 and I'm 35 now....I have been to Universal once). On New Years Eve I would be sure to get into the park of your choice EARLY....as in rope drop. I stay away from the parks during this time but I have been informed by others that the parks can quickly reach compacity during this time and you may be without any place to go. One more thing, I'm not sure if you are going to be there for Christmas, but if you are you need to step on getting reservations for that day. They do have dining specials that would not normally be offered but they go very fast. You don't want to be stuck eating at McDonalds for a special day like that. I hope this helps and if you have any other detailed questions, I would be all to happy to help. Above all just have fun!

 

[overlyspoiled4sure]

Best wishes to you & your fiance! How exciting to be able to honeymoon at WDW.

I recommend you both buy the bride & groom mickey ears! You can even ask for help from other visitors to use your camera to get pictures of the 2 of you. When we visited WDW in 2005 (our first trip) there were a few couples wearing those ears & once we were asked to take pics of the happy couple! Made my day, that's for sure.

Reading the unofficial guide book helped us too, although we were still very overwhelmed! The best tips I got from the book was to be sure I had moleskin to stick to hot spots on feet from shoes BEFORE a blister happened!

Our favorite place to eat was Chef Mickey's, a restaurant in the Contemporary resort which is served by the Monorail too. It's easy to get around with the Monorail. We also liked Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. You absolutely do need to make your dining reservations asap!

Enjoy all the magic; if we ever get back there, I'm hoping I can get the whole crew up to enjoy early magic instead of sleeping until noon!

 

[ClaireW]

Plan in some opportunities for visiting other resorts on WDW property - a guide book combined with AllEars menus would be a good way of finding out aout places to visit for sit-down meals. We've just come back from taking our 1 yr old for the 1st time and wanted lots of ideas for relaxing and I got some great ones from a section on AllEars called 'Overlooked Attractions'. Sometimes even just the journey to another resort was a nice way to spend our time (taking boats, strolling along quiet paths).
Hope you have a lovely time