Fantasia, too bad you won't be there a few days before. We'll be leaving the day you arrive! I'll try to remember my green ribbon--maybe we'll spot each other.
The front-of-the line access will make all the difference for you. Except for a couple of exceptions (the Pteranodon Flyer ride, for one) you won't have to wait in long lines. If your daughter is 40" tall you will be able to go on Spiderman and Back to the Future (my 3yo is right at the 40" mark and I hope he stands up straight so we can all go on it) and if she is 42" you can do MIB (one of my favorites--very fun!) and the Barge raft ride (very wet).
We were good at eating cheap, at least as cheap as we could with 4 children, most of them with big appetites. We kept food in the room (Nutrigrain bars, juice, etc) and ate quick breakfasts before going to the parks. I brought oranges, little peanut bags, etc into the parks for when we got the munchies. We then either ate a late breakfast or early lunch and an early dinner. One of those meals was sit down and the other not. So basically we only bought 2 meals a day. My kids eat a lot, but they don't like big breakfasts so that worked for us. We liked the Monster Cafe (counter serve) and loved Mythos (our nicest sit down meal). We were only there for 3 days and I'm trying to remember where else we ate.
It helps to have snacks available in case hunger hits when you are waiting for a show, etc. Also, make sure that you have water with you. We used a 1 quart Igloo type water jug that we refilled in the parks whenever we needed to.
You have a great attitude and will have a wonderful time with your kids. I take care of two children who lost their dad when the now 7yo was 2yo. They recently went to WDW and had a great time. It took their mother a long time to work up the time and energy (and $) to make that trip.
Remember to take lots of pictures!
T&B
