Advice requested for WDW vacation!

[Nancyg56]

I would either add park hoppers (as many others have said), or split up your MK and AK days. I think that even though there is a lot to do in MK two full days back to back would be way too much time for us to be in the same park. We would also struggle to fill two full days in AK. We usually knock everything out there we would want to do by early afternoon. I'm sure that will change with Pandora, but I don't think it would add a whole extra day.

The shows alone can take a lot of time, so adding in pandora and the evening entertainment I can see visiting DAK twice. We don't generally spend an entire day in any park, so that may skew my perception of two days.

 

[MichaelWill&Megan'sMom]

If you are staying at boardwalk, you should really consider park hopper. It is far too convenient to be able to hop over to Epcot for a drink or a last minute FP when you stay there, to not be able to do it will be a frustration.

 

[DekrRini]

I go the week after Thanksgiving every year and I rent DVC points. I don't rent from David's, but from an individual. I've found that I need to rent the points for BWV a year in advance, especially for one of my 9-10 day trips. Also, the longer the trip, the harder it is to get the resort you want. On this trip, I had to split my trip between BLT and BWV. I can't remember if it was due to availability or the number of BWV points he had available. If the latter, using David's wouldn't cause that problem.

AKV is easier to get closer to your trip time. Some friends decided to join me on my May trip about six months out and the only thing available was AKV Savannah view. Your kids would love AKV because of the animals on the savannah, but transportation is a bit of a pain because you have to bus everywhere. Even though there is no real slow time at WDW anymore, I've found the week after Thanksgiving to be a good time to go.

Hope you have a magical trip!

 

[cgattis]

Many of the things I would've said have already been covered, but...

You can look on allearsnet dot com for last years Xmas party dates. (There is a thread here too, but I never have much luck with the search.) I personally recommend the party since it's your first time--the parade is awesome and it's fun seeing the special characters and/or outfits on regular ones.

I also agree with ending at MK. That's almost a must for us. But I think NOT starting there is smart.

Personally, I wouldn't plan a sit down dinner every night. I'd probably do some of those at lunch instead. The parks are gorgeous at night and that time of year, with shorter hours, you'll be spending all the dark time in restaurant instead of enjoying the nighttime ambience.

I don't think you mentioned whether you're renting a car, bust remember as PP have said, parks and resorts are much farther apart than at DL. We rarely drive to parks, even though we usually drive to WDW, but sometimes Disney transportation can take longer than you want (although in 10 trips we've only had a couple of frustratingly long waits). Just saying, when they say allow an hour, they mean it.

Have a great trip

 

[LISmama810]

We've been to Disney World a few times, but I lived in Southern California for 20 years so I consider myself a Disneyland veteran. With that in mind, these are my suggestions:

If you find yourself short on time, make anything you can do at Disney World a lower priority. Some rides are a bit different and worth seeing in their other form (Haunted Mansion is one, for example). Some are exactly the same (Dumbo) and not a must-do if you're just going to do them the following month at Disneyland, you know? (Word to the wise: We MUCH prefer Small World at Disneyland. At Disney World it's much less impressive, to the point that DH doesn't even want to do it next time we go to Disney World because it makes him so mad that it's not as good as Disneyland's.)

I would only do one day at Animal Kingdom. Actually, *I* would do no days at Animal Kingdom, but since it's your first-ish time, maybe you should. I'm not a big fan of the rides there, and the whole thing feels like a lame imitation of the San Diego Zoo's Safari Park. The only reason we're going next time is because my husband and oldest kid want to see the Avatar things (which might be enough to redeem the park, I suppose).

If you need to "focus" on one park over others, I'd probably do Epcot since it's the most different. (MK and Disneyland are very similar, Hollywood Studios and California Adventure are pretty similar.) It sounds like you have enough time to explore everything, though.

 

[10CJ]

I would probably break up the AK and MK days. You will need to work around the holiday parties at MK and decide if you want one of you MK days to be a party day.

If you want to do both new rides at AK I think two days could be a good idea so you can FP one each day.

I am also confused on the 2 HS dinners.

I would probably just have a rough plan of parks until you figure out which resort you are at.

 

[as1]

hey everyone- you are amazing! thanks for all the comments. this is really helpful! To answer some of the questions I received:

Jiko- we are planing on this being a date night restaurants since it's on our day off, and having our kids stay at the Kids Club on property that night which we think will be a good change of pace for all of us. Good to know that Boma is also a good option if we decide to take the kids with us to dinner that night.

DHS- on that day we were thinking 50's Primetime cafe for lunch (we hear the cast member interaction is awesome), then Brown Derby for Dinner. One question I'd have for people is if they think Brown Derby is very similar to Cathay Circle at California Adventure? We love that restauarant and go there whenever we can, but if Brown Derby and Cathay Circle are similar, we may skip it.

Park Hopper- Disney Mac, I think that's solid advice on waiting on the park hopper, but my understanding is you can only add Park Hopper for ALL the days of your tickets, or NONE (no matter when during your trip you decide to add on). In other words, on a 7 day ticket, if you add park hopper on day 7, you pay the upgrade for all 7 days. If I'm misunderstanding the rules, please let me know!!

Boardwalk Restaurants- great idea on Flying Fish. That definitely looks like a solid place to visit, and may be nice to have atlas one meal close to our room!

 

[Disney mac]

hey everyone- you are amazing! thanks for all the comments. this is really helpful! To answer some of the questions I received:

Jiko- we are planing on this being a date night restaurants since it's on our day off, and having our kids stay at the Kids Club on property that night which we think will be a good change of pace for all of us. Good to know that Boma is also a good option if we decide to take the kids with us to dinner that night.

DHS- on that day we were thinking 50's Primetime cafe for lunch (we hear the cast member interaction is awesome), then Brown Derby for Dinner. One question I'd have for people is if they think Brown Derby is very similar to Cathay Circle at California Adventure? We love that restauarant and go there whenever we can, but if Brown Derby and Cathay Circle are similar, we may skip it.

Park Hopper- Disney Mac, I think that's solid advice on waiting on the park hopper, but my understanding is you can only add Park Hopper for ALL the days of your tickets, or NONE (no matter when during your trip you decide to add on). In other words, on a 7 day ticket, if you add park hopper on day 7, you pay the upgrade for all 7 days. If I'm misunderstanding the rules, please let me know!!

Boardwalk Restaurants- great idea on Flying Fish. That definitely looks like a solid place to visit, and may be nice to have atlas one meal close to our room!

Park hopper: you are correct. It's all 7 days or nothing.
I took family to DL for 2 summers then to WDW...hoppering is NOT the same. I thought we'd hop more, but with little kids it's not as feasible. We stayed at boardwalk and thought sure we would hop...instead we came home early and hit pool and got an early night rest or stood on bridge to watch illuminations (Epcot) fireworks or from our balcony with pool view could see HS Star Wars fireworks. I'd still say wait until you're there as the price is no different ordering ahead vs upgrading on site for hoppers. And the concierge in hotel can do it or at the Epcot ticket window (no line).

As much as we liked 50s prime time, my kids liked mama melrose (altogether go the pizza by muppets 3D is a great quick service too). Also take a look at fantasmic dining with brown derby (since you're already going) for possible lunch and snag better seats and an extra fast pass.

 

[Blue32]

I would still be spending 2 at least partial days in DAK. The shows do take time there and none of them should be skipped IMO. It is probably the best themed park of them all and it is the thing I miss most about a DL trip. Both resorts are great. Give AK plenty of time.

 

[Jeff Laughlin]

One time when having a park hopper came in handy for us was when unexpectedly Space Mountain was closed for the day almost right off the bat. We were told it would open the next day again, so sometimes that is a benefit of park hopping too, if there's a favorite attraction that goes down, at least you can try to get to it another day if it's a must do.

 

[Dumbo7]

I'm a fan of park hoppers. You might want to compare an annual pass for at least one person. Then you can take advantage of AP discounts on food and merchandise since you're staying so long.

 

[lovewdwdvc]

You may like a TS everyday or you may not. If you get tired of all the food remember that you have to cancel one day in advance to avoid penalties.

 

[Dumbo7]

To get the most of Disney World we always take advantage of extra magic hours and rope drop. Also we are fans of renting a car because sometimes if just way more effecient than Disney transportation. It gives more flexibility. We also tend to break our times into thirds. So say there's early extra magic hours at Hollywood studios. We'll rope drop and do toy story, then make sure we have an early fast pass for rockin roller coaster and then do the tower of terror. Then we eat an early brunch at brown derby or head to the hotel or another park.

 

[Disney mac]

To get the most of Disney World we always take advantage of extra magic hours and rope drop. Also we are fans of renting a car because sometimes if just way more effecient than Disney transportation. It gives more flexibility. We also tend to break our times into thirds. So say there's early extra magic hours at Hollywood studios. We'll rope drop and do toy story, then make sure we have an early fast pass for rockin roller coaster and then do the tower of terror. Then we eat an early brunch at brown derby or head to the hotel or another park.

A friend of mine just used uber for the first time a month ago at WDW and they reported $10 a ride and never more than a 3-4 min wait if that helps too. Personally, I think the waits help teach some patience in life to my kids (plus we play little games and teach them how To be social and polite with people around us), but to each their own. They were very positive about the Uber's.

 

[GillianP1301]

I like the spacing of your down days. Personally, I don't like full down days and usually do a half park day and then half down day twice during our 9 day trips, regardless splitting your vacation with rest days spread out works well.

I would not do the same park 2 days in a row and I personally always end my trip with MK, so I would split up the MK days and the AK days for sure.

You've got some great restaurants on your list to try and there really isn't a lot there I would change. If you're doing Le Cellier because you're looking for great steak, then I would recommend changing that to Yachtsman. It's nice and close by to Boardwalk, which is a bonus. If you're doing Le Cellier because you just want a great in park option then I would suggest checking out Les Chefs de France, Biergarten or Teppan Edo.

I think you've got a great start to a plan going. When I'm planning a trip, I always try to get my days sorted out for which parks I want to be in each day and then I fit in the dining plans and then finally the FP plans. Enjoy the planning and your trip!

 

[Nicole pidgeon]

My first Disney world trip was nov 2015 and my kids were 4 1/2 and 7 1/2. Like you we had been to Disneyland many times. We decided to not do park hoppers and for us it worked great. We actually left the parks well before the fireworks and spent every night in the pools. I had our meals planned out and did the dinning plan. For our 1 table meal we did character meals and this helped because in the parks we were able to save time by skipping many characters since we saw them with our meals. We stayed at the POFQ. We are going back May 2018 and staying BCV and renting DVC. with the amazing pool we will probable be spending every night their again. To us fireworks and shows are not that important. Once you have some idea which meals you want and which parks you want it will be a little easier. You will preobably have to change your plans depending on reservations you get for meals. Be ready to reserve them on day 180. One thing I will say about the dinning plans, The sit down meals were nice but what i liked is with the quick service meals i would get 3 adult meals and my kids would share it and this stretched our credits out. Hope this helps in somway.

 

[Smokeyspawn]

You may have better luck getting the reservation you want on the DVC board here. When I need a BWV reservation, which is often, I ask dissers first. A few owners will walk reservations in for you. (Book 12 months out and move the reservation every 3 days until it meets your dates) If you develop a relationship with an owner, they can be a resource for years to come.

 

[as1]

You may have better luck getting the reservation you want on the DVC board here. When I need a BWV reservation, which is often, I ask dissers first. A few owners will walk reservations in for you. (Book 12 months out and move the reservation every 3 days until it meets your dates) If you develop a relationship with an owner, they can be a resource for years to come.

I share what I'd imagine is a similar concern with many in that there's an inherent risk when dealing with renting points from a stranger. Do you have any thoughts or advice for dealing with that, or is it just about blind trust and hoping for the best? Would be curious to hear your thoughts!

thanks