Any Tips For Family of 3's FIRST Trip to Disney?

[plutopuppy]

Me , my DD12 and my DH are going to the World in April. I was just wondering if you had any tips for our family. Any general run of the mill stuff in the area of food and time savers, also any good 'things to bring' that you can't leave home without. Thanks!!! our date is coming closer!!!!!

 

[Deputycoz]

Read the post here about what NOT to pack, we just went for our first trip in January and I agree with most of those posts. Are you doing the dining plan? if so then I would suggest packing something for breakfast, I packed some cereal bars which we did eat in the morning before heading out to the parks, I just packed too many.

Buy the rain ponchos from the Dollar store, easy to pack and buy a few for each of you, this way you don't have to worry about dealing with wet ponchos, just toss the wet ones at the end of the day.

Get a Tide2Go stain remover pen, this pen, about the size a marker, worked great for my stain prone family, I hate walking around the rest of the day when you get a stain on your shirt early in the day, we used this just about every day at the parks.

If you can try not to have to carry a backpack or anything like that, you will have to wait in line at the park entrances to have your bag checked.

 

[tink4ever]

My biggest suggestion is to plan what you want to see in which parks, use your fastpass, go in for EE when available and get the big things done in the morning because April can be pretty crowded. The Fantasmic show in MGM is wonderful and shouldn't be missed but you have to get there early to get a seat. Also we usually head back to our hotel by 1:00 so the kids could swim and we could recoup. Then we dress and head out again by 4:30-5:00 depending on what we are doing for dinner. Just enjoy yourselves and we always tell ourselves if we can't see everything this time we will see the next time. You will get a lot of great ideas from everyone on these boards so good luck and have a great time!

 

[NOLAminnie]

If you're not already in shape, I suggest some moderate exercise (walking) to get your legs ready. Being your first trip, you will want to see so much that you won't realize how tired you're getting and it really helps if you do a little "training" first.


Comfortable footwear is essential - you'll find lots of suggestions on the boards. Most popular are Crocs, Tevas, Birkenstocks and New Balance. Go for comfort not cuteness (Personally, I think my red crocs niles are really cute and love my Birki clogs)

Bag or no bag in the park? In the past I've used a backpack, this past trip I brought a medium sized zip top tote bag to hold my wallet, travel sized pack of wet wipes, water bottle, sunglasses, phone, camera, hair brush and lipstick (gotta look cute for pictures). This worked great and was not heavy to carry at all. They do check bags at the gate but they just open it and look inside, doesn't take very long.
If you don't bring a bag it helps to have pants/shorts with large pockets so you can bring your room ID (can also be your park ticket and you can use it to charge purchases) and camera of course.

Fastpass - get these as soon as you enter each park. Some attractions such as Test Track and Soarin in Epcot run out of fastpasses by early afternoon and these are can't miss attractions.

 

[f7prez]

The best advice is to take your time and really enjoy the things you are able to do during your stay. A lot of people rush around trying to see it all. We have always set aside days for relaxing rather than go go go all week.
My guess is that you will fall in love with the World and probably be planning your next trip on the plane ride home.

I highly reccomend planning at least one day at one of the water parks. Arrive early, find some chairs in the shade and have fun. Go on a few slides, swim and head back to your chairs with a cold drink and relax. Then we would go back to the hotel, shower up and head to Downtown Disney for dinner, shopping and a little entertainment.

If you can fit it into your budget, I also reccomend buying the admission passes with the Hopping feature. This will allow you to leave one park such as the Magic Kingdom, and enter another park such as Epcot. While it is not an absolute must, we like spending the first part of the day at one park and then visiting another park in the evening.

For dinner, you will find the best restaurants at the hotels. We enjoy visiting the wide range of resorts to get a look at what they are all about. Ohana's at the Polynesian is great and the resort is a real nice place for an after dinner walk on the beach.

Remember, you are on vacation so relax and enjoy what you can, rather than rush to see it all and need a vacation after your vacation.