Clueless Dad Planning trip

[FSUDisneyGirl]

I would def. suggest Animal Kingdom. With boys that age, I can see some of their fave rides overall being at AK....Expedition Everest, Dinosaur (might be too scary for the younger one), It's Tough To Be A Bug, Kali River Rapids, etc. Maybe you can do it on your first day? Although if it was me, I would get to AK very early, it can get really hot there for some reason. Maybe you can do a nice sit down lunch in the afternoon there? I don't think it would make sense to go back to your hotel on an AK day, because the park usually closes early.

Good luck!

 

[dvmdad]

Thank you all for the advice thus far. My wife and I have decided that we will hold off on the ADRs as we looked at the menus for the food court dining and think that will serve us well. Our kids are pretty picky eaters and we don't want to have to get somewhere for a reservation if we are in the middle of something else.

I would imagine that the crowds may go down a bit during dinner time anyway??

So, if we arrive on Saturday April 11th, at about 1pm, what park should we go to that afternoon and evening?

If we are not park hopping, should we just avoid the parks with the EMHs?

More questions to come!

 

[Disney MAINEiac]

with two boys of that age definitely do AK. They won't be thrilled with EPCOT world showcase, so you may find they drag you through fairly quickly, tho the adults will love it. Hollywood studios is a smaller park and can be done in less than a day in my opinion. you can use the boats to transfer between DHS and epcot much quicker. and the kids may like the boardwalk at night and there are several really good restaurants on the boardwalk.

My top tip, take time to allow them to swim in the pool and let yourself get some rest

 

[mrstomrice]

Thank you all for the advice thus far. My wife and I have decided that we will hold off on the ADRs as we looked at the menus for the food court dining and think that will serve us well. Our kids are pretty picky eaters and we don't want to have to get somewhere for a reservation if we are in the middle of something else.

I would imagine that the crowds may go down a bit during dinner time anyway??

So, if we arrive on Saturday April 11th, at about 1pm, what park should we go to that afternoon and evening?

If we are not park hopping, should we just avoid the parks with the EMHs?

More questions to come!

I really like the early emh's. We don't hop, but we don't seem to have a big problem with the crowds b/c we are able to do the major attractions early and with fastpasses, we are ahead of the rest of the visitors. The evening emh will have MK open until 3 am some mornings! Evening may work for you if you are able to stay up that late The crowds wull be pretty big all day, every day. Check out touringplans.com to see what the crowd counter says for each day of your trip...the higher the number, the larger the crowds. have fun!

 

[mrstomrice]

I just checked touringplans.com and they list MK as the best park for the
11th and AK as the best for the 12th. The crowd level is at a 10 for both days.

 

[irene_dsc]

Let's see...

We stayed at CBR last year, before they renovated. We enjoyed it a lot, but the food court was definitely limited. Otoh, if you are at the parks most of the time, you don't need to worry about that as much. You may want to spend an afternoon at the pool - it underwent a large redo after we left, so I don't have current info. (There are also smaller pools scattered throughout the resort.) I will say, it often took a long time to wait for the bus to whichever park we wanted.

With picky eaters, I like the option of either family style or buffet - there are several to choose from. Garden Grill at Epcot has characters and family style, which might appeal to your boys. (We enjoyed our dinner there on our first night - and it isn't one of the top popular places, so you have a good chance of getting an ADR still.) Btw, they don't charge if you skip an ADR, so it's not a big deal - just be polite and call to cancel if you change your mind.

I think the conventional wisdom is that if you have hoppers, it can be useful to do the morning EMH, then hop to another park if it gets too crowded. Otherwise, avoid the EMH parks, and just get there at rope drop.

3.5 days is a whirlwind trip! Definitely figure out your Must Do's. I didn't find a touring plan worked with my willful children, but it might for you - YMMV.

Oh, and have you heard about the Jedi Training Academy at DHS? If your 7 y/o ds is into Star Wars, you need to be prepared - some kids get picked to learn light saber moves, then "battle" Darth Vader. (It is next to the Star Tours ride). Of course, not every kid gets picked - so it is good to know about these things ahead of time if this would be an issue for your kids! (They rarely pick kids over about 10, it seems, btw, in case your 12 y/o would be interested.) My then 6 y/o ds got picked, and it was the highlight of his trip!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

OOOH JEDI TRAINING ACADEMY!!! That sounds so cool! How come we didn't do that when we went?!?!

My son (4) got to learn how to sword fight with Jack Sparrow!!

If you asked him right now about Disney, that is all he would tell you!!

Listen, this is all about happy lovey fam time. I have to agree, drop the hoppers, take a look at each park and circle your must do's. And then, ENJOY YOUR FAMILY!!

Have a fantastic time and update us when you get back!

 

[oddBotkins]

Get ready to rise early, get your main ride picks done in the am, I have used the Unifficial Guide with great success. We are no longer fans of EMH. We'll go to the park that just had an EMH the day before. Arrive at rope drop and cruise for 3-4 hours before settling down for lunch and then operate the fast passes and quick loading rides or large sit down venues. We have also returned to the room for a quick swim, it invigorates, then return back to the same park for the evening parades and fireworks. If however you have not been able to get to all of your attractions I would skip the parades and fireworks and get those rides/attractions in while the lines are temporarily decreased. Sometimes while everyone is holding on to a great spot your hitting the rides and when you come off of one find your at "the perfect spot" to watch the fireworks display.

 

[RN4Babies]

Hi There,

We were at WDW last month; it was my kids' first trip there (and I hadn't been there for many, many years).

In response to some of your thoughts:

As I live one mile from the Milwaukee County Zoo, we're there a LOT (we have an annual membership). Animal Kingdom was my dd8's favorite park. It's nothing like the zoo; Kali Rapids is great, the safari was fabulous, and the Nemo musical and Lion King shows were top rate. My kids both loved Expedition Everest. The park is a much different feel than the other WDW parks; more laid back and relaxed, IMO. The cast members are amazingly knowledgeable and friendly; take the time to chat with them!

If I were going to skip a park, it would be Hollywood Studios. There are more shows there than rides, and it was the least favorite park of both of my kids (they liked it, just not as much as the other three parks). Alternatively, I would keep the park hopper and do the front part of Epcot (Soarin', Mission to Mars, Test Track) and then hop to Hollywood Studios. My kids weren't all that interested in World Showcase, and were done with it before we were halfway around the lagoon. That's my family though; maybe your kids are different.

Try to see Hoop De Doo Review for your sit down if you can. The food isn't bad, and the show is a lot of fun! My kids LOVED it; it's what they're telling people about over and over. Yes, it's expensive, but remember it includes tax, tip, all you can drink soda/milk/beer/sangria AND a fun show!! Call NOW to book it (or any other reservation); don't count on being able to walk in for any TS restaurant. It's very, very popular, so it may not be available; I'd call daily and try for ADR's, because people do cancel sometimes.

I don't know what time your flight leaves Chicago. Our flight left Milwaukee at 8am (direct flight); we landed at Orlando about 11:30am their time. By the time we got to MK it was 3pm. It takes time to make the transitions from airport to hotel to parks.

We didn't do the dining plan either, and were very happy with CS/snacks (be sure to try the Dole Whip and turkey legs!). Don't count on the lines for rides/attractions decreasing during mealtimes; I didn't notice that happening at all. The only time the lines seemed thin a bit was when people were settling into their spots for parades or fireworks. I remember reading somewhere about someone who enjoys watching Illuminations from a hammock at CBR; I think that sounds wonderful!!!

I used the Unofficial Guide for planning. Yes, it's a ton of information, but IMO it gives you a lot of sound advice. We tore out the touring plan for the park we were hitting on a particular day and used that as a guide, but tried to stay somewhat flexible too. We skipped the parks that had EMH, as those are the most crowded parks of the day (and you're going at a very crowded time to begin with). The Unofficial Guide also has you avoiding parks with EMH.

I'd drop the park hopper; we didn't hop because we felt the time involved going from one park to another was a waste of our magic time, and we were very happy staying put in one park each day.

If you have any other questions, let me know (feel free to PM me).

Have a fabulous time!

Anne

 

[dvmdad]

Eight days and counting until we depart for Orlando. I have learned a lot over the last few weeks and swing between feeling that "this is going to be great" to "was I nuts to go to Disney at this time of year?"

I keep reading over the UOG(?) and I signed up for TourGuideMike.com as well. I really don't want to go down with a brutal plan that no one enjoys but I don't want to wing it either.

I have had several people recommend dropping the park hopper. Can I do that at this late date? Does it really save me $$? Also, do I then just switch to a 3 day ticket plan and just do free stuff the afternoon we arrive?

I am thinking that we won't do the parks with EMHs as the crowds may be heavier.

I think the final plan will be based on what the kids want but they won't know that we are going until we are on the plane.

Any more last minute advice??

 

[RN4Babies]

I know the park hopper is $50 extra per ticket, so in your case that's a total of $200 for your family. I'm think you can drop hopper now...I'd call WDW and ask. How many days are your tickets for? If you have three day tix, you could add a fourth day for relatively little $$$, and go to a park on your arrival day. On the flip side, you could go to downtown disney on arrival day, walk around and take in the atmosphere, eat, etc., and then go back to your resort to swim. The parks get more crowded as the day progresses, so it might be a bit more enjoyable if you have a "chill out" afternoon. We loved downtown disney; we went there on our arrival day for lunch before heading to MK, and it got us even more excited about the days to come. Another idea is to head to a waterpark that day; I'm sure your kids would love it!

I hope you have a terrific trip!!