Both of our first times to Disney and we will be celebrating OUR HONEYMOON!!!!

[lilbrimomma]

My name is Ashley and my fiance is Brian, we have a beautiful (almost) 2 year old little boy!! We will be getting married at home in WV 2/29/12!!! We will leave (just me and Brian not baby) on march 1st at night time and arrive to the WORLD on 3/2/12!!! We want to stay some where that will have a bit of a romantic feel but yet somewhere fun also since we are only soon to be 23 and 24!! We both love animals and i thought maybe the animal kingdom place sorry im new to all of this We wanna keep the first day open to rest because of the long drive the night before, so I'm thinking maybe we could do the board walk or something that day. We wont be leaving till 3/9/12 so figured that would be fine!! I dont know about how the extra magic hours work?!?!?! Do you know in advance of who will be opening early or staying open later?!?!?!? Should we get the hopper tickets or would the one park a day tickets be fine for us?? We will be driving down with our own car, do you have to pay to park at other places in disney if you are staying on location?? or should we just catch the buses and monorails to other parts of the world??? Sorry again but we both have no idea of what to expect and none of our family has ever been there to help us out Thank you for reading and please help me with any idea's tips anything will help!! as i think of more things to ask or things i wonder about i will ask Thank you!!! remember that we will be mostly paying fr all this ourselves on just one income!! im a stay at home mom

 

[lilbrimomma]

I also think we will be doing a dining plan, and we will not bbe going to the water parks, but i have no idea what the quest is??

 

[stl_figment]

First of all Congrats!

I personally like park hoppers - that way we aren't limited to the park with the extra hours. Extra magic hours will be posted a few months ahead of time. We have no kids and are more night-time people so the night hours work better for us. If I remember right we had to show them our card key and we got wristbands.

I can't answer the driving question. We fly in and use disney transportation.

Disney Quest is a place with a bunch of games/simulators/etc. I've never been (doesn't interest me) but other people I know who have gone have liked it. Its a matter of choice of what you like.

Read/ask around. I have gathered tons of information from the boards

 

[DisneyDream88]

My and my fiance drove down to Disney at the beginning of March this year! That's where he proposed We're in Indiana and it was about a 17 hour trip. As far as I learned, we had to pay for parking at each of the parks if we had our own car and I believe that is the case even if you are staying on the property if you drive. If you are going to stay on the property, take the buses and the monorail. They are free and run til the parks close.

DEF. get the park hopper passes! Magic Kingdom usually stays open later than the rest so you could go to one park during the day and back to MK that night! Me and my fiance spent a day at Hollywood Studios and had really good luck getting on all the rides so we went back to Epcot for dinner and to ride Test Track and then when that closed we went back to HS to see the fireworks! It was all very cool.

Make sure to go to Downtown Disney while you guys are there, especially without the baby

OH, important - if you are driving, when you get into Florida and near Orlando make sure you HAVE CASH and QUARTERS for the tolls! They have a million tolls I swear haha

 

[MissManners]

If you are staying on Disney property then you don't have to pay to park anywhere. When you check into your hotel they will print you out a parking pass, just pop it on your dashboard and you're good to go! Have fun!

EDIT: Just read the above post, I could have sworn that you don't have to pay, maybe someone else can clarify?

 

[wdwdreamin]

We've always stayed on property and have never had to pay for parking. As the PP said, you get a pass for your dashboard to show you are a resort guest.

 

[lilbrimomma]

My and my fiance drove down to Disney at the beginning of March this year! That's where he proposed We're in Indiana and it was about a 17 hour trip. As far as I learned, we had to pay for parking at each of the parks if we had our own car and I believe that is the case even if you are staying on the property if you drive. If you are going to stay on the property, take the buses and the monorail. They are free and run til the parks close.

DEF. get the park hopper passes! Magic Kingdom usually stays open later than the rest so you could go to one park during the day and back to MK that night! Me and my fiance spent a day at Hollywood Studios and had really good luck getting on all the rides so we went back to Epcot for dinner and to ride Test Track and then when that closed we went back to HS to see the fireworks! It was all very cool.

Make sure to go to Downtown Disney while you guys are there, especially without the baby

OH, important - if you are driving, when you get into Florida and near Orlando make sure you HAVE CASH and QUARTERS for the tolls! They have a million tolls I swear haha

THANK YOU!! We drove to north carolina last year and were surprised by all the tolls!! LOL GEEZ!!! thanks for that tip I was not even thinking about all of that!!!
How was the weather and crowds?? we will be there the first week of march so im thinking it shouldnt be too bad cuz of us going right before spring break but then i have heard that sometimes the wine festival is around them dates sometimes?!?!?!?!
What is downtown disney OMG is that not the same thing as the boardwalk??? do i have to buy anything extra to go there??

 

[lilbrimomma]

First of all Congrats!

I personally like park hoppers - that way we aren't limited to the park with the extra hours. Extra magic hours will be posted a few months ahead of time. We have no kids and are more night-time people so the night hours work better for us. If I remember right we had to show them our card key and we got wristbands.

I can't answer the driving question. We fly in and use disney transportation.

Disney Quest is a place with a bunch of games/simulators/etc. I've never been (doesn't interest me) but other people I know who have gone have liked it. Its a matter of choice of what you like.

Read/ask around. I have gathered tons of information from the boards

Thank You!! My fiance would prob be interested in the Quest but we mayyyyy just have to wait till next time
We also are more night time people Thank you for the input

 

[Tonyandnate2013]

If you stay on property you do not have to pay for parking. You just show your parking pass for whatever disney resort you are staying at. I would also recommend the park hopper ticket as well. That way you are not limited to one park a day. It also helps when you are judging which park is less crowded ( I love the phone apps that can tell you wait times). I have done both the dining plan in the past as well as pay for things as you go. I like them both but the advantage to the dining plan is that once you pay for it, your meals are included and you dont have to worry about paying for each meal separtely.

 

[lilbrimomma]

If you stay on property you do not have to pay for parking. You just show your parking pass for whatever disney resort you are staying at. I would also recommend the park hopper ticket as well. That way you are not limited to one park a day. It also helps when you are judging which park is less crowded ( I love the phone apps that can tell you wait times). I have done both the dining plan in the past as well as pay for things as you go. I like them both but the advantage to the dining plan is that once you pay for it, your meals are included and you dont have to worry about paying for each meal separtely.

THANK YOU!! And for the dining plan, like for the table service meals you only have to tip is that right???

 

[stl_figment]

THANK YOU!! And for the dining plan, like for the table service meals you only have to tip is that right???

Correct

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

THANK YOU!! We drove to north carolina last year and were surprised by all the tolls!! LOL GEEZ!!! thanks for that tip I was not even thinking about all of that!!!
How was the weather and crowds?? we will be there the first week of march so im thinking it shouldnt be too bad cuz of us going right before spring break but then i have heard that sometimes the wine festival is around them dates sometimes?!?!?!?!
What is downtown disney OMG is that not the same thing as the boardwalk??? do i have to buy anything extra to go there??

Boardwalk and Downtown Disney are not the same thing. DTD is lots of shopping and dining and entertainment; it is free to go there (not free to buy souveniers though, duh! ). Boardwalk is the same but on a much smaller scale. At DTD there's Cirque Du Soleil, DisneyQuest, and House of Blues, the LEGO store, and much much much more. Boardwalk is a little more quaint but still beautiful. It has Jelly Rolls and Atlantic Dance Hall for really fun night-life. Jelly Rolls is a dueling piano bar and Atlantic is a night club for dancing. Was just there Saturday night and it was awesome!!

Even if you don't have to pay for parking I still suggest taking the buses and monorails...who wants to drive after you just drove down for a whole day?? Park Hoppers are definitely great, especially for parks like Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios because you can get those done in half a day. The extra magic hours are posted on Disney's website. All you do is go to the Disney World site, click on whichever park you want to go to, on the left hand side there is a menu, click on calendar and it will show you which days have EMH for that park, and which times, sometimes they are in the morning, sometimes at night. If one park has EMH, the others don't.

I definitely recommend doing rope drop at least one day for Magic Kingdom...they do a show and it is sooooo cute!! And you'd be able to get fast passes and get on rides rather quickly.

DisneyQuest is kind of..........eeehhhhh. DF and I were just there on Saturday, and it's exactly the same as it's been since they opened it some over 10 years ago. All it is is video games and virtual reality. They have about 4 really fun attractions, and the rest aren't that great. You could get everything done in a matter of 3-4 hours, so I would categorize it as something to do on a down day/rainy day. That's what DF and I did Saturday, we went to DisneyQuest, got there at about 5, did just about everything, and left at 8:30 and went to the Boardwalk to go to Atlantic Dance Hall.

That's all I can think of at the moment. If I think of anything else I'll let ya know!

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

Oh yeah,

CONGRATULATIONS!!​

 

[DisneyDream88]

Your welcome As for crowds.....We were there on our first day 3/14/2011 a Monday and it was INSANE! You could barely move and the lines were sooooo long. So many high school band groups lol (this was at MK) If you do go when it is crowded, get Fastpasses! You can get I think one every couple of hours, it will tell you on the pass when you can get your next one. But I would recommend getting them for the rides you really want to go on, and then go on the other rides and you have a sure time to get on the good ride

It wasn't as crowded at Epcot the next day, but Hollywood Studios make sure to go EARLY and walk straight toward Toy Story Mania and get a Fastpass. It was always have over a two hour wait and the Fastpasses always run out early. When you can get another fastpass, go for Rockin' Rollercoster and Tower of Terror. In Epcot make sure you go EARLY to get a fastpass for Soarin', another one that always has a two hour wait. Also, try to get one for Test Track. The world showcase is awesome at Epcot. There is a Mexican restaurant that looks like a Mayan temple that has such good food!!! You should try to do the drinks around the worlds so he can get beer and you can get wine from the different countries

Animal Kingdom, get a fastpass for the Safari when you get there. I would say there will be crowds anywhere you go and especially at that time. Enjoy it, we had absolutely perfect weather the entire time so I hope you do too!

 

[lilbrimomma]

OMG you guys are all soooo much help what resort would you all suggest?? cheap(er) but also romantic!!

 

[lilbrimomma]

If anybody would like to help us out check out our site http://www.travelersjoy.com/brianashleyabbott

 

[lilbrimomma]

What Value resort would you guys recomend?? We wanted to stay at something real nice and all that. But then we thought about it!! We are doing this all on our own and if we stay at a cheaper place that leaves more money for us to do funner things!! and we wont be in our room much anyways since its both of our first times we will be out exploring ALOT!! So PLEASE help me!!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

All the value resorts are pretty much the same lay out and such. They are just themed differently. So whatever one you can get for the time you are wanting to go I would say book it.

 

[lilbrimomma]

All the value resorts are pretty much the same lay out and such. They are just themed differently. So whatever one you can get for the time you are wanting to go I would say book it.

Thank You!! tonight hopefully i can get my fiance to quit working on something long enough to look at some pics of some rooms!! I oping since school will still be in that it shouldnt be too over crowded!! fingers crossed!!

 

[WishingApple]

OMG you guys are all soooo much help what resort would you all suggest?? cheap(er) but also romantic!!

Hi! So if you LOVE and I mean LOVE animals, the Animal Kingdom Lodge might be fantastic. From personal experience my disney fiance and I prefer to stay at the Polynesian. You still get that exotic tropical feel BUT you have much better transportation and resort amenities. At the AKL you are surrounded by the animals which is very cool if you're awake at 6am to watch the giraffes feed from your balcony, however there are very limited walking paths because of the space needed for the wildlife. Also the only park you are close to is the Animal Kingdom. The Polynesian resort is more central, you can monorail to Magic Kingdom and Epcot (Wayy better than driving) and it has a lot of walking paths, beach front, and a great pool area.

If you are late night people, I alos believe the pool/recreational areas at AKL close early because of the animals, where at the poly everything is open, and most nights you can watch fireworks from the beach!

Hope that helps! DF and I are honeymooning at the Grand Floridian, I am very experienced, he is not so the deal was we had to pick a resort neither of us had been to!