Any Suggestions?

[Momoftwo9598]

I would love to hear from anyone that would want to give us tips, suggestions, must sees, etc.

I will be going to Disney World with my husband and 2 children. Our daughter is 14 and our son will turn 11 while we are there.

We will be driving from Pennsylvania. We are leaving very early on Saturday May 9th. We will go to the parks on Sunday May 10th thru Friday May 15th. THen drive back home on Saturday May16th.

We will not be staying at Disney. THey tell us the motel is 3 miles away from Disney world.

We still haven't decided on whether to buy the park hoppers yet. Any suggestions for that would be appreciated.

Our whole family likes thrill rides. Is there anything we should not miss?

If someone would want to plan out my whole week that would be great Just kidding I wouldn't ask you to do that but any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[DaveStroem]

See my the link in my signature. You are already a step ahead since you A: know enough to ask for tips and B: found the DISboards.

Have a great trip.

 

[saratogadreamin09]

I would love to hear from anyone that would want to give us tips, suggestions, must sees, etc.

I will be going to Disney World with my husband and 2 children. Our daughter is 14 and our son will turn 11 while we are there.

We will be driving from Pennsylvania. We are leaving very early on Saturday May 9th. We will go to the parks on Sunday May 10th thru Friday May 15th. THen drive back home on Saturday May16th.

We will not be staying at Disney. THey tell us the motel is 3 miles away from Disney world.

We still haven't decided on whether to buy the park hoppers yet. Any suggestions for that would be appreciated.

Our whole family likes thrill rides. Is there anything we should not miss?

If someone would want to plan out my whole week that would be great Just kidding I wouldn't ask you to do that but any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

I'd suggest not getting the park hoppers and if you want them adding them on when your in disney. I find that once your at a park you dont want to leave

The top not miss thrill rides in disney are:

Test Track at EPCOT
Mission Space at EPCOT
Soarin' at EPCOT
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad at MK
Splash Mountain at MK
Space Mountain at MK (sorry but this will be closed during your trip)
Expedition Everest at AK
Kali River Rapids at AK
Dinosaur at AK
Tower of Terror at DHS
Rockin Roller Coaster at DHS
Star Tours at DHS (this isnt as not miss as the others but I think its a good ride for thrill seekers )

 

[DaveStroem]

Ok, now for you questions.
Don't pre purchase the park hopper option. Put the $200 aside and then if you need or want to hop, you can upgrade your tickets to hoppers. If not you just saved yourself $200.

There are thrill rides at all of 4 of the parks.

Magic Kingdom
Space Mountain (closed for refurb during your trip)
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain

Epcot
Soarin'
Test Track
Mission Space (orange)

Hollywood Studios
Rockin Roller Coaster
Tower of Terror

Animal Kingdom
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur

There are other great rides like Toy Story Mania, Buzz and many more but I would not classify them as thrill rides.

Since you are not staying on site, AVOID EMH days at the park. They have early entry for those staying at Disney resorts. This tends to make those parks more crowded then the other parks on that given day. Check out the Disney calendar to see when the EMH days are.

 

[coltfan]

Since you are staying off property, you can't take advantage of extra magic hours. Therefore, plan to avoid the park with extra magic hours for any given day. You can find out which parks have EMH by checking the calendar on the WDW website. Be sure to use Fast Pass at all parks each day too.

As for rides, you'll probably want to do the following considering the age of your children:
MK: Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mtn RR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and Buzz Lightyear, (Space Mtn will be closed during your trip). If they have never been, see if they want to do Dumbo and Peter Pan or any other rides. My kids will be 12 and 14 when we visit and they want to go on Tomorrowland Speedway and some of the Fantasyland rides.
AK: Expedition Everest, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur, and Kilimanjaro Safaris (The Flights of Wonder show, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, and Maharajah Jungle Trek are great ways to pass your time waiting for Fast Pass windows to open up.)
DS: Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror, Rock N Roller Coaster, and Star Tours
Epcot: Test Track, Soarin', Mission Space, Innoventions (If the kids have never been to WDW, also go on Spaceship Earth.) Plan to see many of the life performers in World Showcase. For their ages, they'll probably enjoy Off Kilter, World Showcase Performers, Dragon Legend Acrobats, and Miyuki that have life performances in World Showcase.

You may want to have them read Burnbaums Walt Disney World by Kids book. Then they can let you know what most interests them. At their age they can help plan and give you their A and B list of attractions so everyone in the family gets to do what they most want.

Have a great trip!!

 

[DaveStroem]

This is from Touringplans.com
Sun, 10 May AK
Mon, 11 May MK
Tue, 12 May DS
Wed, 13 May EP
Thu, 14 May EP*
Fri, 15 May MK

* Not recommended but I like 2 days at EP

Looking at touringplans.com it seems pretty busy that time of year. I would also suggest a touring plan of the parks. My favorite is http://www.ridemax.com/

The real key for going during busy times is to be there 30 minutes before the park opens for Rope Drop. This will allow you to get a lot done with very little lines. As the day goes on, the lines with grow till mid afternoon.