Advice on trip plan please...

[hipmaman]

Hi,

I am in need of help on what to do and such. We'll be at WDW from Apr 22 to 28 (7 non-travel days) and stay at the Coronado Springs. Dh and I have a 5 yrs old and a 6.5 yrs old. All of us have 4 full days together and dh will be with the kids for 3 days when I'm working (9-5pm).

I have access to good conference rate for the tickets. There are 2, 3 or 5-days tickets with Hopper, Water Park Fun, No Expiration options. In addition, the base tickets have one multi ticket to Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. I can also buy up to 2 after-2pm or after-4pm tickets.

Would it be enough if I buy for dh and the kids
- 5-day with Hopper and Water Park options,
- 1 day around the Resort pools and go Downtown after my work
- 1 day at one of the Water Park

Or would that be too much and I can forget about the extra WaterPark option? We are quite layback when on vacation and don't feel the need do everything (not that I think we can do everything on one trip, lol).

Would you also suggest what are the must-see or must-do things other than the parks? If you think a Waterpark is a good option to add, then which one of the two?

Btw, how does the Water Park Fun option work? On the ticker order form, it says "4 or 5-Day Ticket = 3 Fun Visits". Does this mean that if I buy 5-day ticket and Water Park Fun options, I have 3 additional visits to the water parks, night club, downtown, etc.?

One last question... Do I bother with the No Expiration date if there are only 5-day tickets for a 7-day stay?

Sorry for the multitude of questions but there are so much to think about and I have never been to WDW. And thanks for the help.

 

[hockey mom]

I think a 5 day with options would be perfect. I would do a water park because it is hot in April. My choice with the ages of your kids would be Blizzard beach. Best family raft ride, great kiddie area, and the main pool does not have the huge waves like TL.

You will get 3 options with a 5 day ticket and Blizzard Beach can be used for one, your Dh could take the kids to DQ(interactive arcade) with another option and maybe a half day at Typhoon Lagoon while you are work would be fun. You already have the options so you might as well use them.


A pool day at CS is also a great idea- we stayed there, it is a great resort.

 

[hipmaman]

Thanks for your help! Off to buy those tickets

 

[rlovew]

I would not start with the no expiration but if looks like you won't use the tickets you can always add it. I agree that you kids will probably love DisneyQuest if they like arcades at all. The Pirate Ship and Raft are both family activities. They can design there own rollar coasters if they enjoy e\coasters. They can become pinballs or play in bumper cars that shoot as well as many video games.

For you I would suggest getting the 5 day hopper so if you want to go one evening after work to join your family in a park you could but I would not buy the plus option for you because you dh can take them to those parks while you work.

As far as must sees at each of the main parks, we would need more information about your family, are you all daredevils, do you love a particular Disney movie, can you handle spining in circles? While the price may be a bit better now you can always add something to the tickets later but you can't ever get your money back for a option you don't use.

 

[hipmaman]

As far as must sees at each of the main parks, we would need more information about your family, are you all daredevils, do you love a particular Disney movie, can you handle spining in circles? While the price may be a bit better now you can always add something to the tickets later but you can't ever get your money back for a option you don't use.

Thanks! A bit more...

When we were in Disneyland last year, we basically hung out at DL for 2.5 days and only when over the California Adventures for .5 day to see Aladin. We enjoyed Magic Kingdom. We had fun looking for the characters, easy rides and such. Oh, enjoyed the Snow White show too.

We are not into daredevil rides, nothing that involves too many spins, lol, but I love Space Mountain (well I did when I went at DL 15 yrs ago and I figured what I didn't see up ahead couldn't hurt )

Surprisingly, dd was not into Character meals, so we didn't spend the extra money then.

Are there some shows that we should see? Are these the kind that we need to buy tickets ahead of time?

Thanks again.

 

[MECH8T7]

We've spend the past two March Breaks (15 days in total) at WDW with our young kids (now 7,5,1). Out of those 15 days, we spent 1 at Sea World but were otherwise either in the WDW parks or our back at the resort. I would have thought that our family would have been to BB or TL by now but there was always something in the parks or in the resort that we would rather do and our kids haven't shown any interest (despite the video promos on the in-room televisions). Our kids love to swim but they were happy enough just to be in the resort pools. (DS7 is just now brave enough to go down the slides at the resort pools, so I wasn't sure he would have been too keen to try too much at BB or TL.) So, if you can save some money by passing on the water park options, you could probably do it without feeling like you missed out.

Hoop Dee Doo Revue is a live dinner / show that is great fun for the whole family, over at the Fort Wilderness campgrounds. You can get there by boat from either the Magic Kingdom or any of the monorail resorts. It is kind of expensive (around $55 for adults, cheaper for kids). But, for the adults, the price includes selected alcoholic beverages. The price isn't all that bad when you compare to the cost of a sit down meal and the cost of a live show separately.

The Family Magic Tour is a small group (about 15 people) tour / make-believe adventure that runs in the Magic Kingdom everyday at 10:00 am. Its about 2 hours long and can really put a dent into your Magic Kingdom park touring plans but our kids (then 4 and 6) LOVED it last year. It $25 per person and should be booked in advance, though not that many people seem to know about it. Without giving away too much abou it, the MK tour guide will take everyone on an adventure though the Magic Kingdom involving a map, some riddles/puzzles, Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook. (At least that was the premise when we went last year.) You will meet some characters at the end (in our case Wendy and Peter Pan) for photos and autographs and the characters will take the group on one of the rides at MK. Great chance for the 5 or 6 kids on the tour to spend lots of time with some characters.