Advice Wanted: bringing my girlfriend for her first trip

[JustinS]

Next summer, my girlfriend and myself are planning a trip to WDW! (yayy!) Now, I've been multiple times, but this will be her first visit. Naturally, I want to maximize this trip, and show her everything or as much as possible, and she is really excited and wants to see everything.

Now, in the past, especially growing up traveling with my family, we've often been to the parks for rope drop each day, hustle for your fast passes and your big attractions early in the morning to beat lines and secure the opportunity to experience them with minimal waiting. This was with groups of at least 4 but as large as 12.

This trip will just be the two of us. Do you think this strategy will be necessary for a party of 2, or do you think it would make more sense to hit each park (still get there for rope drop of course) and go park section by section? Or do you have other ideas that I haven't even thought of.

OPEN TO ANY IDEAS! THANK YOU!

 

[Alesia]

Next summer, my girlfriend and myself are planning a trip to WDW! (yayy!) Now, I've been multiple times, but this will be her first visit. Naturally, I want to maximize this trip, and show her everything or as much as possible, and she is really excited and wants to see everything.

Now, in the past, especially growing up traveling with my family, we've often been to the parks for rope drop each day, hustle for your fast passes and your big attractions early in the morning to beat lines and secure the opportunity to experience them with minimal waiting. This was with groups of at least 4 but as large as 12.

This trip will just be the two of us. Do you think this strategy will be necessary for a party of 2, or do you think it would make more sense to hit each park (still get there for rope drop of course) and go park section by section? Or do you have other ideas that I haven't even thought of.

OPEN TO ANY IDEAS! THANK YOU!

It depends on what you want. Do you want to see as much as possible as efficiently as possible or do you want to take your time and move leisurely through the park?

 

[RafikiTiki21]

Have you traveled together before? If not, discuss her style! That will help you know if she'd be excited about rope drop and touring plans or if that would stress her (and then, you) out.

I think a balance of touring efficiency/not waiting in line with enjoying the special time together, delicious meals, etc would win out in not overwhelming her as her first time.

 

[minnie mum]

Depends on how much time you want to waste, er, spend in standby lines. We've been visiting as just a couple for many years. We generally arrive at RD, hit several rides standby ( or single rider) until later in the morning, and then use our 3 FPs before and after lunch. This gets our high priority attractions under our belts before the crowds max out. It also allows us to take an afternoon break at our resort and return to the park with a much more relaxed, less structured approach and perhaps using a FP that we booked before we left the park in the afternoon.

I like to use easywdw's cheat sheets as a touring guide, just eliminating those rides we aren't interested in and jumping to the next ride on the list. So its not either/or but a combination of both approaches.

 

[lroger01]

I suggest the cheat sheets mentioned above to "schedule" out your morning. Then keep the afternoon and evening less scheduled and more meandering.

Plan your FP+'s (the old run to get FP is no longer) at MK for early so you can get a fourth and more later (but not at opening unless it's Seven Dwarves Mine Train). At the other parks, plan your Fast Passes for convenience since there are fewer attractions that need them and a fourth "good" one is less likely. This will allow you to do everything in one area before moving on to the next. You'll still need to keep aware of FP times, but the hour window gives some flexibility.

Alternatively, go early and commando the morning without FP's, return to hotel for a break, then head out again to the same or a different park and just meander around the park gradually working your way to each FP attraction. It's a great way to re-ride favorites without doing it back-to-back. Or, ride the great but not a rush-to-at-opening attractions early - such as pirates, buzz, star tours, great movie ride etc, when lines then are non-existent.

 

[kay1864]

Next summer, my girlfriend and myself are planning a trip to WDW! (yayy!) Now, I've been multiple times, but this will be her first visit. Naturally, I want to maximize this trip, and show her everything or as much as possible, and she is really excited and wants to see everything.

Since you're going in the summer, if you really want to see as much as possible, I strongly recommend RideMax. Here's what we do (there's two of us):

- First, choose "which day/which park", based on the easywdw calendar.

- Select the rides you want to do (regardless of FP).

- Of those rides, "assign" your 3 FPs (for each park) based on mesaboy's list.

- In RideMax, select FP attractions (but not times) (Note that RideMax has tiering built in)

- Then in RideMax, select the rides for each park. RideMax generates the touring plans, including FP+ times.

- Then get on MDE to select the FPs, based on the FP times in the RideMax schedule.

 

[JustinS]

Thanks for the feedback! If you have a Fast Pass+ can you get on the ride after your assigned time window, or are they more strict on this than they were with the paper Fast Passes?

 

[minnie mum]

With the old FPs, they enforced the window pretty strictly in the year or 2 before FP+ want mainstream. Now the FP+ window is enforced, but usually allows 5 minutes before, up to 15 minutes after the window. But forget about showing up later with a "story". The FP tapstyles won't listen.

 

[vicb]

Thanks for the feedback! If you have a Fast Pass+ can you get on the ride after your assigned time window, or are they more strict on this than they were with the paper Fast Passes?

I think they are being more strict about past window times. Atleast they were when I was last there which was May 2014. My husband and I took a solo trip a few years ago, we had a plan and used FP (although it was before FP+) and most importantly we had dining ADRs. But we did not go commando, we stuck to the main plan but just being two of us it was easy to change plans and be more spontaneous. We are big believers in hoppers, they give you lots of options. One night while at dinner at Jiko we decided to zip over to HS and catch the second show of F! something we totally had not planned in advance.

 

[Disney Khaleesi]

I think it really depends on her touring style, and this is something I would discuss with her. Would she enjoy an ambitious approach? Does she have anything specific she would like to see or do? I've heard of people on first trips not wanting to back because they're either too scheduled and not used to the approach you're describing, or they didn't plan anything at all.

 

[Serrina89]

I always like the laid back approach. I like to take in the sites and smell the roses. I went to disneyland with my uncle for the first time this year and he drug me from one side of the park to the other non-stop....I loved being there but felt like I didn't get a sense of the park because I couldn't stop and appreciate what was in front of me. With fastpass plus you could schedule the rides in the touring order. That being said I took my boyfriend (now fiancee) in Summer 13 for his first time. We went for a total of 10 days (whew!!!!). If I could change things about it I would
1) Not hype it up so much.......say you'll have fun and do all the planning or obsessing in secret, it will help the relationship trust me
2) Order a free planning dvd to show her what it's like without spoiling all the details
3) Thoroughly do research to make sure you know what rides are available---I don't know how many times I went to the parks without realizing there was a carousel of progress
4) Be Prepared and prepare her for the heat (fan/waterspray), things to do or portable phone charger for long waits.
5) If the trip is long enough leave time to check out the resort (if on property) and relax at the pool.

Have fun and take lots of pictures!

 

[kollerbear]

I think that commando trips make a LOT of sense for families that are familiar with Disney World and know what they want to see and do and know the parks and attractions really, really well (and know this is how they like to do things!) Bringing my (now) DH with me for his first trip--granted he is a Disney skeptic--I was really amazed by how interested he was in things that honestly didn't even hit my radar. (The two things that come to mind most strongly for me are Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom and the Frontierland Shooting Arcade.) And he happily had his fill of the Magic Kingdom after like, 3 hours.

Without the nostalgia from trips as a kids, things that are classics to you as a Disney fan (e.g. Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise) might be kind of underwhelming to her. (I had this experience with my DH.) On the other hand, things that you didn't necessarily think very much of might end up being a highlight.

I think one of the biggest advantages to FP+ is that it can help you have a realistic sense of what you will accomplish in a given day comfortably. Pick your must-do's and FP+ wisely (don't waste them on anything like It's a Small World!) but maybe try to schedule much more loosely than you would if you were traveling with your family. Make sure that you have your must-do's covered, but remember that you don't need to see EVERYTHING, leave some stuff for her to experience as brand new on her next trip! I think that allowing for her to be tired, want to take a break, etc., and to have that not be disrupting any plans is a really good idea to make her really experience the WDW magic. Because the magic isn't about doing and seeing EVERYTHING, but about enjoying your day to the max and finding it filled with little details and surprises along the way.

ETA I'm not implying that you do the REVERSE of commando-- which is to walk away from any line longer than 15 minutes and just let the day take you wherever it will-- I certainly don't get to the parks often enough for that kind of thing to feel fulfilling to me! But maybe skip the 15-minute increment plan and leave your expectations open.

 

[disnut8]

You have a whole year to talk to your girlfriend about this. I would start now. Show her the responses to your question and get her feedback on it. Explain the language to her. Set her up with her own account so she can ask questions or, tell her if you don't know the answer, you will ask it for her.

My son took his then girlfriend and her daughter to Disney World for the first time (when she was proposed to and is now our daughter-in-law) and, while she was prepared for things, she really wasn't. She just had it in her mind that Disney World was like Cedar Point but with four sections and each required a separate entrance and exit. Once she saw the actual size of Disney World, she was amazed. But, she quickly adapted and on the last day, she mapped out for them to do all four parks in one day and they did it easily with her guiding them.