Can you help a first timer???

[PAULA1]

Hey everybody. I have been browsing this site for a few weeks now making note of the excellent advice you all have. So far I have booked my park tickets, and upgraded my flight to PE from the advice given. (Although I've not received the park tickets yet!!)

I just have a couple of questions. We are staying courtesy of my Aunty in Disney Beach Club Villas and have heard these are quite nice? As we are staying on the Disney resort and only plan to go to the Disney Parks and Universal is it worth hiring a car? If not how do we get to Universal from where we are staying?

Should I book my charector dining now or wait until I get there and where is best to book?

What should we take with us to the parks?? (two boys 6 & 3)

Is the dining plan worth it or are you restricted to when and where you can dine? Is it really so expensive to eat there?

As we are only staying 10 days in Florida (5 with my Aunty in Tampa) what should we concentrate on, I have heard to not bother much with Epcot?

Any tips and advice would be really appreciated I am sure you can all remember your first time - what you'd do different eh!!!

 

[Pooh Bear Hugs]

You can book your meals 180 days before you go and it's best to do so to avoid disappointment.
Hiring a car is up to yourselves, you can manage Disney fine without one but shopping and Universal will be harder although Mears do transport if needed.

 

[jtlover]

Welcome to the boards.

The dining plan is good but you should look at the menus first as I understand the childrens menus are not great - which might make your decision. If you do choose the dining plan definitely book in advance of going as popular restaurants book up early.

Epcot is very educational. MK will probably be the main park you and your young children will enjoy.

I would recommend buying the Brits Guide to Orlando which gives lots of useful information.

Other questions I am sure someone will help with.

 

[PAULA1]

Thank you - where can I buy the Brits Guide from??

 

[kevin harrison]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brits-Guide...7420717?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1184792312&sr=1-1

 

[PoppyAnna]

Hello and welcome to the DIS
We went a couple of months back with our girls (1 & 4), we'd been as a couple before and didn't rate EPCOT at all. Check the link to my trip report below and our first day was at EPCOT, needless to say I've changed my mind about EPCOT, you could just give it half a day and see how you go.

Book any character meals you wish to do asap - the Pooh and Friends buffet at the Magic Kingdom is great, a web site called PS calculator is great for working what is available and when you can book it (dates are is US format).

Good luck and have a lovely time doing all the planning.
If you have questions, just ask....

 

[PhilUK]

Lucky Lucky!

Beach Club Villas is probably one of the Nicest Resorts there is !

Dinner at Cape May is a must, especialy if you like Seafood !

If Aunty is a DVC Member she'll have a freephone number to Member Services and can get them to connect to Advance Dining Reservations.

We love Epcot but get Park Hoppers and if it's not your thing you can sail to MGM via Beach Club, Boardwalk & Swan & Dolphin.

I would definitely do Epcot Fireworks. We usually watch from the Bridge to the right of England and then it's a 5 minute walk "home" to Beach Club.

Phil

 

[Beep]

Hi Paula, welcome to the family!

Have a look on ebay for the Brits guide, there were a few on there and cheaper than Amazon. I'm not overly keen on that guide myself I much prefer the Unofficial Guides but the Brits guide is very popular.

The Beach Club villas are close to Epcot so it may be worth giving it a go if you have a park hopper ticket and seeing what you think. There is a lot of interactive/futuristic stuff with games, the Nemo show is excellent, the world showcase can be very interesting for kids but you'll need to judge what your kids are into. If they don't like it you can always hop somewhere else.

Happy planning - it is just as much fun planning it as being there!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Hi,

Car hire is a much discussed subject, if you are not travelling around too much and staying on-site you can have a great holiday without one.
This is kind of a contradiction for me because we always rent a car, but that's mainly as we do a split-stay 'on-site and off-site', plus we do like to travel around.
If you are exploring Florida or even just Orlando a car in my opinion is a must, and you have so many more options with one.

Many people don't rent a car, especially if they stay on-site.

However, if you want to go shopping, go off somewhere for the day a car (in my opinion) is essential.

Staying on-site though does mean you can do the parks without a car - at the end of the day it's all a matter of choice.

Never stayed at Beach Club, though we have at nearby Boardwalk - for a stay on Disney property the location cannot be beat.

Magic Kingdom is the park that will appeal to children *of all ages * the most, but can depend on your little one's tastes/likes - our son has never really liked ANY of the Disney parks apart from MK, he falls asleep at EPCOT....but that is just him.

Universal is great, personally apart from MK our favourite parks with the huge advantage of having 2 parks walking distance apart, Universal Studios and Islands Of Adventure.
You could probably catch a taxi there perhaps but have never done that as....we always drive

Car or no car with planning a great holiday awaits.

 

[natalielongstaff]

welcome to the boards, i would advise booking meals in advance....don't under-estimate the importance of the disney dining experiance

chef mickeys should probably appeal to your boys

 

[Disney owl]

you can usually buy the Brits Guide from WH Smiths, too.

I would advise having a car especially with young children, makes taking a mid day break much easier.

Take water into the parks with you & make sure you all drink regualarly.

 

[Hobbes]

Not sure how much your boys will get from universal-Islands of Adventure is mostly big kids rides-the sort that make you revisit your lunch! Sea world may be a better bet, plus its easy to get to by public transport from Magid Kingdom TTC

 

[PAULA1]

Thanks to each and every one of you for welcoming me to the boards and for all your fantastic advice. It really is nice to know other people want you to enjoy your holiday as much as you do!!

I am still not really sure what to do about the car, my Aunty is due to visit us while we are there so we could just ask her for a lift should we wish to venture out!

As Epcot is so close I think I will just test it out - it can't do any harm can it! I am sure we will enjoy it whatever.

Again thanks to you all - I am starting to get quite excited now as the planning can really begin. I have ordered the Brits Guide and will book the dining asap, I may book the one at the beach club for convenience.

 

[AlanUK]

You can rent a car through Alamo at the Dolphin if you just want it for one day rather than have it hanging around for your whole trip. This is what we did on our last trip so we could have a shopping day with the freedom to go where we wanted.

 

[PAULA1]

Thanks for this - where is the Dolphin?

 

[queenarmadillo]

The dolphin is a disney resort, and you could therefore reach it by getting a disney bus there from one of the parks if you wanted to pick up a car.

As a child Epcot was my second favourite park after magic kingdom--I think the problem families have with Epcot is that the bit kids enjoy (future world) is almost completely seperate from the bit adults enjoy (world showcase). I didn't get MGM at all though the first few years, I guess because as a british child I had no exposure to hollywood concepts, so the theming and great movie ride etc made me feel a bit disorientated. I still am not very fond of Animal Kingdom: it gets half a day tops from our 14 day stay. I think my longwinded point is to try everything (and learn as much as possible before you go about what rides might interest you and your family) cos everyones opinion is different.

We used to go without a car and ask the front desk at disney hotel to arrange the Mears bus to Sea world for us for one day during our stay. Whilst they dont advertise this service (obviously) they have no problem with doing it for you.

 

[AlanUK]

Thanks for this - where is the Dolphin?

The Dolphin is only a short walk away from the Beach Club. It's another of the EPCOT resort hotels.

Have a look at this map which should help to give you an idea

http://www.wdisneyw.co.uk/eramap.html

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Each park has it's own attractions - I'm sure your children would love Nemo in Epcot, Soarin & Imagination. My DD age 7 enjoyed the 'ball' ride too & test track. Every time we go we have always gone to Epcot with DD - I agree that the countries don't hold much interest for her but the kiddie stops do. Just the mask colouring is fun & getting their name wrote in Japanese is good to see.

As others have said - just try it. You're near enough to pop in for a few hours & then return to the pool - or just stroll across to see the fireworks.

Sounds like you'll have a great holiday

 

[PhilUK]

The Dolphin is to the right of the Beach Club. Can't be missed as there is a huge Not Dolphin on top !

Phil

 

[disneyholic family]

Since you say you're only going to be in Orlando for 5 days, i would skip universal (and as another poster said, i think your kids are too young for it anyway).

My kids have always loved Epcot.
Even when they were little.
As another poster said, they enjoy the Future World part of Epcot (not world showcase).
They enjoy all of future world - the big attractions as well as innoventions, which probably many parents would be willing to skip. There's even stuff in innoventions for little kids to do. Bit it's a very slow paced sort of place, so if you're a type A personality who has to do do do as much as possible in the shortest time possible, then it won't be for you....
Also, the living seas (or whatever it's called now since the renovation) is great for little kids.

As someone said, get a park hopper and then you can pop in for as much or as little time as you want.