can anyone help me plan our parks strategy?

[igitur]

We'll be arriving at BCV on Sunday, Feb 13th...leaving Sat., Feb 19th...with Annual passes in hand.

In tow...we'll have our 6 year old DD and 5 year old DS.

So, which parks should we hit on which days? Any tips on when to go where?

(This will be a busy vacation....from the 9th - 13th, we'll be hitting Universal and Seaworld while staying at the Marriott Grande Vista!)

Thanks for any tips you can offer!

Deb

 

[disgal1]

Hey, we just returned from the Marriot grand vista!! It was beautiful!

My kids are all grown, so can't help you with your trip strategy, except this, don't try to do everything. !!!
Pick out afew things that are the biggest priority and plan around them, Use the fast pass!!! Make a PS for a character lunch, especially if seeing characters is important. it is much more fun when they come to your table, then when you chase them down.
we love chef mickey's or the crystal palace. I've heard liberty tree is good too but haven't tried it mysself for dinner. Get the Disney Dining Experience card if you plan to eat a lot of sit down meals.
get there early, take a break in the day, even if you don't leave the park.
we use to take the kids to tom sawyer island to blow off steam and then sit at aunt pollys for a awhile.
since you are staying off site, stay away from the park that has early entry that day.
Read this board alot!! make out plans, and remember to be flexible!
Keep checking the weather!

 

[HomeSweetDisney]

I would really recommend using Tour Guide Mike to plan your trip. We've used him before and are using him again. It's $21.95 to join but it's really worth it! He helps you plan EVERYTHING. He'll tell you what parks to go to on what days, what times you should go so that you have the shortest wait possible on the rides, and tons of other useful tips. It's a customized trip planner so you can answer some questions ahead of time and he'll know what kind of budget you are on, how much time you have, and that sort of thing. He'll even recommend retaurants to eat at based on your answers. We really love his vacation planner and it helps your trip go so much more smoothly. Hope that helps

http://www.tourguidemike.com/

 

[SandieT]

We just returned from Disney World on the 11th and had a great time. I did learn one very important lesson.
DO NOT PLAN BIG EVENTS FOR THE FIRST DAY ESPECIALLY NOT THE FIRST MORNING.
Our flight arrived 2 hours late and all of our luggage did not arrive at all. By the time my kids ate and settled down, (3 and 6 years old) they were so excited, it was almost midnight. Then I got to take a trip to the nearest walmart to buy some clothes for the next morning. I made it to bed around 2am. We had plans to eat in Cinderella castle for breakfast at 8:30 am. We made it but did not do too much the rest of the day my kids were wiped out by noon and wanted to go back to our room. We decided to change our original plans so instead of going to Animal Kingdom one day we went back to Magic Kingdom and had a great time.
We got our lugguage at 6am on our second morning and all was well after that.
Plan something simple for the first day just in case.
Also don't try and plan too much, my 6 year old kept telling me "Mom I just want to have fun not do everthing on your list!!!" Once I finally listened to her the trip was much more relaxing.