Clueless Dad Planning trip

[dvmdad]

My wife and I are bringing down our 12 year old and 7 year old boys in april. We arrive April 11th and go home the 15th. The day we arrive I expect that we should be ready to get to a park by 1pm.(very early flight from chicago). We are staying in one of the Pirate rooms in the CBR.

I guess I am just looking for advice on how to make this a good trip. Some of my thoughts are:

1. Skip Animal Kingdom
2. Using the unofficial guide to plan my days
3. Shipping water down ahead of time from costco.com
4. Take advantage of the magic hours
5. We have decided not to do a dining plan as we can share meals, don't do dessert and don't drink soda.

Some questions:

1. We want to do one nice dinner while we are there. What do I need to do to organize this. I hear chatter of ADRs. What are those? We don't need a character meal or dinner show but we do want a nice meal at least one night.

2. We have the park hopper pass. Should we do one park each day plus a half day on April 11th or is it better to do half day at one park and half at another each day?

3. Should I be requesting a particular room at the CBR. We have a Pirate room reserved but are some better than others?

I am sure I will come up with more questions. It is a bit daunting to see that some of you are planning these trips months and months in advance. This was a bit last moment for us but I want to be as prepared as possible.

Thanks

JS

 

[livndisney]

My wife and I are bringing down our 12 year old and 7 year old boys in april. We arrive April 11th and go home the 15th. The day we arrive I expect that we should be ready to get to a park by 1pm.(very early flight from chicago). We are staying in one of the Pirate rooms in the CBR.

I guess I am just looking for advice on how to make this a good trip. Some of my thoughts are:

1. Skip Animal Kingdom
2. Using the unofficial guide to plan my days
3. Shipping water down ahead of time from costco.com
4. Take advantage of the magic hours
5. We have decided not to do a dining plan as we can share meals, don't do dessert and don't drink soda.

Some questions:

1. We want to do one nice dinner while we are there. What do I need to do to organize this. I hear chatter of ADRs. What are those? We don't need a character meal or dinner show but we do want a nice meal at least one night.

2. We have the park hopper pass. Should we do one park each day plus a half day on April 11th or is it better to do half day at one park and half at another each day?

3. Should I be requesting a particular room at the CBR. We have a Pirate room reserved but are some better than others?

I am sure I will come up with more questions. It is a bit daunting to see that some of you are planning these trips months and months in advance. This was a bit last moment for us but I want to be as prepared as possible.

Thanks

JS

ADR=Advance Dining Reservation. If you want a sit down meal, you will need to book it NOW. Most table services places can be booked 90 days out.

You will be traveling at a very busy time. The parks will be very crowded. Make use of Fastpass as best you can.

Personally I would not bother requesting a specific room.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

My wife and I are bringing down our 12 year old and 7 year old boys in april. We arrive April 11th and go home the 15th. The day we arrive I expect that we should be ready to get to a park by 1pm.(very early flight from chicago). We are staying in one of the Pirate rooms in the CBR.

I guess I am just looking for advice on how to make this a good trip. Some of my thoughts are:

1. Skip Animal Kingdom
2. Using the unofficial guide to plan my days
3. Shipping water down ahead of time from costco.com
4. Take advantage of the magic hours
5. We have decided not to do a dining plan as we can share meals, don't do dessert and don't drink soda.

Some questions:

1. We want to do one nice dinner while we are there. What do I need to do to organize this. I hear chatter of ADRs. What are those? We don't need a character meal or dinner show but we do want a nice meal at least one night.

2. We have the park hopper pass. Should we do one park each day plus a half day on April 11th or is it better to do half day at one park and half at another each day?

3. Should I be requesting a particular room at the CBR. We have a Pirate room reserved but are some better than others?

I am sure I will come up with more questions. It is a bit daunting to see that some of you are planning these trips months and months in advance. This was a bit last moment for us but I want to be as prepared as possible.

Thanks

JS

OOOOOH!!! YOU ARE A DISers DREAM!! We would love to help (speaking for Disers everywhere!)

Here are my opinions on your questions:

1. Why would you skip Animal Kingdom?
2. Never used the guide, so please let me know how it goes! I always go in the off off off season, if there is such a thing.
3. Shipping water is good. We had a grocery delivery from www.wegoshop.com, but we stayed in a villa. If you thought you would need more than water, that might be a good idea. You know, poptarts, snacks, whatever.
4. Yes, take advantage of EMH
5. We ALWAYS do the DDP, but every family is different.

PART TWO:

1. ADR = Advanced Dinner Reservation. At this point I would call disney dining just to see what is available. There are lots of good restaurants in Disney, and some aren't too expensive! If you are not on the plan, I would suggest 50s Prime TIme in Hollywood Studios, Ohanas at the Poly, maybe Chefs de France in Epcot or the Rose and Crown. You will hear great things about Le Cellier, but good luck getting it this close. I've also heard good things about quite a few of the resort restaurants, and you might have a better shot at one of those. You could take a bus from the park to Olivia's at OKW (good food!) and then board the boat to Downtown Disney for dessert at Goofy's Candy Company. I know you said you don't do dessert, but when we stayed at OKW, the boatride to Goofy's was almost nightly! Nice 25 minute ride after dinner, then a bus back to your resort!

2. Take a look at your Park maps and decide what you MUST do! We went to a park a day, and on the last day went crazy and hit everything we missed!

3. I have never stayed at CBR, but I have read great things about the Pirate Rooms!

PLEASE KEEP ME UPDATED AND LET US KNOW HOW YOUR TRIP GOES! I am subscribing to this thread to see what others say!

 

[bunkkinsmom]

OH, AND WELCOME!!!

 

[srwarden1928]

I guess I am just looking for advice on how to make this a good trip. Some of my thoughts are:

1. Skip Animal Kingdom

I would NOT skip AK. It is a wonderful park and part of the Disney magic for us.

2. Using the unofficial guide to plan my days

I ALWAYS use the Unofficial Guide, or the touringplans.com website that comes with it, to plan our days.

3. Shipping water down ahead of time from costco.com

I dont drink water, so no advice there.

4. Take advantage of the magic hours

We do NOT take advantage of the EMH because we do NOT park hop. The EMH parks are very crowded during the middle of the day in comparison to the other parks. So unless you can hop out of the AM EMH park or into the PM EMH park and spend most of the day in the recommended park, it is recommended to avoid them. Just use the UG and the website like in #2 above.

5. We have decided not to do a dining plan as we can share meals, don't do dessert and don't drink soda.

We would not consider the dining plan. We can share meals sometimes. The idea of FOURTEEN desserts in a week is unfathomable to us.

Some questions:

1. We want to do one nice dinner while we are there. What do I need to do to organize this. I hear chatter of ADRs. What are those? We don't need a character meal or dinner show but we do want a nice meal at least one night.

ADR means advanced dining reservations. Call 407 WDWDINE to make them. If you want to eat TS, they are highly recommended at uncrowded times and essential at crowded times.

2. We have the park hopper pass. Should we do one park each day plus a half day on April 11th or is it better to do half day at one park and half at another each day?

I personally would drop the hopper. It is much easier to plan one park per day, especially if you follow the recommendations of UG as you mentioned above in the other #2. IMO hoppers work if a) you want to do the EMH, b) you want to eat in Epcot more often than you want to tour there, or c) you know WDW so well that you are confident you want to skip certain attractions and do not have enough to do to spend an entire day in a park. If you are new to WDW, everything is worth a try. There is Disney magic everywhere. You dont know if it will hit you until you try an attraction.

3. Should I be requesting a particular room at the CBR. We have a Pirate room reserved but are some better than others?

I am not familiar enough with CBR to answer this question, but it looks like a beautiful resort.

Have a magical trip.

 

[DizneeMommy]

I agree. . .don't skip Animal Kingdom!! My two kids actually requested a second day there.

 

[momofrrr]

When we were planning our first trip I used the Birnbaum's Guide to Disney. It was invaluable to us. There is also a Birnbaum's Guide for Kids. I got mine at Barnes and Noble but you could probably get them at any larger bookstore. We found them to be very useful because they break down each park by area and talk about the rides and attractions as well as the dining and snacking in each. I can't tell you how many times I have loaned ours out. I hope that you have a wonderful experience and will be anxious to hear how you like CBR, we are staying there in December.

 

[dvmdad]

If we don't do an ADR, can we still eat? Does that mean that we just get food at the food court at the CBR or find something in the park that we are in at the time?

I feel that we really only have time to do 3 parks in 3.5 days. The animal kingdom seemed the most logical as we are at the zoo all the time here in Milwaukee.

 

[livndisney]

If we don't do an ADR, can we still eat? Does that mean that we just get food at the food court at the CBR or find something in the park that we are in at the time?

I feel that we really only have time to do 3 parks in 3.5 days. The animal kingdom seemed the most logical as we are at the zoo all the time here in Milwaukee.

Yes. The food courts do not require ADR's. If you go to www.Allearsnet.com you can review sample menus and get an idea of what you want to eat.

 

[jenlynn0808]

We always do AK also, but it is the quickest park we get through (and it isn't open as late as the other parks...they close earlier to bed/feed the animals for the night). An absolute must at this park is the Safari Ride, you won't believe how realistic or how close the animals actually are. I'm not a rider, but DH and DD are, so they always ride Everest, Dinosaur, and the Primevil Whirl (a rollercoaster where the car spins as you go around the track).

 

[bunkkinsmom]

If we don't do an ADR, can we still eat? Does that mean that we just get food at the food court at the CBR or find something in the park that we are in at the time?

I feel that we really only have time to do 3 parks in 3.5 days. The animal kingdom seemed the most logical as we are at the zoo all the time here in Milwaukee.

TRUST ME....Animal Kingdom is NOT like the zoo. I live in NC, and believe it or not, we have one of the best zoos in the country. Animal Kingdom rocks! And PP is right, you HAVE to do the safari, but fast pass it or get there early. To us the great thing about AK is due to the earlier hours, we wakeup early, hit rope drop, ride what we want to, see DeVine (love her!!), and then have dinner at a resort. I think last time we did Ohanas on AK day. HONESTLY, if you have to skip a park due to time constraints, I wouldn't skip AK. You will get different opinions as to which one to skip, and please don't flame me for this, but I would skip Epcot. World Showcase is amazing, but there are other restaurants around.

 

[bunkkinsmom]

If we don't do an ADR, can we still eat? Does that mean that we just get food at the food court at the CBR or find something in the park that we are in at the time?

Yeah, no need for ressies at Counter Service. I still think you will be able to do a nice meal at a Table Service, but you willl have better luck with your ADRs if you try to get a resort restaurant. allears.net has great reviews and menu lists. We are partial to OKW and Poly, but I've heard great things about lots of the resort options.

 

[mrstomrice]

TRUST ME....Animal Kingdom is NOT like the zoo. I live in NC, and believe it or not, we have one of the best zoos in the country. Animal Kingdom rocks! And PP is right, you HAVE to do the safari, but fast pass it or get there early. To us the great thing about AK is due to the earlier hours, we wakeup early, hit rope drop, ride what we want to, see DeVine (love her!!), and then have dinner at a resort. I think last time we did Ohanas on AK day. HONESTLY, if you have to skip a park due to time constraints, I wouldn't skip AK. You will get different opinions as to which one to skip, and please don't flame me for this, but I would skip Epcot. World Showcase is amazing, but there are other restaurants around.

No flames here...I would also pick AK over EPCOT. I would also skip the hopping...you can save $200 to spend on that nice dinner (more than enough). You only have 3.5 days, so you will lose a lot of time switching parks on a very busy week as far as the parks go. I don't order water any more. ALl of the counter service stands in all of the parks wil give you free ice water without any purchase necessary....sure beats paying for it and carrying it around all day long.

As for your nice dinner, you may have luck being out of the parks to find a reservation. If you want to stay in the park, just call the dining number and give a time and day that you want and they can search for available adr's. For non park restaurants, The Yachtman Steakhouse is wonderful. We also enjoyed Ohana for dinner. The Whispering Canyon cafe was fun and the food was fine. GOod luck!

 

[mjkacmom]

Since you are going at such a busy time, maybe subscribe to Tourguidemike to find the least crowded days, plan your parks, and then try to get any ADR's still available. We had hoppers the last time we went, but we stayed at the BCV's, and hopped just because we could walk to 2 parks. You might want to drop the hoppers, because you'll have to take a bus to any park you want to go to. Getting to the parks at rope drop is so valuable, as is taking advantage of fast passes (which don't expire).

 

[cogero]

with your kids ages I would definately do AK because of the Safari, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids. My daughter who is almost 8 loves the excitement of these rides.

 

[Tricia's mom]

Disboard as MUCH as you can the next 13 days( I'll be in WDW then TOO)
Go make your Dining reservations NOW Even if your not sure you will use them.If you want to sit down and be served this will NOT happen unless you have ressiesThe rest of the planning will happen. enjoy and have a good time.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

hello!
AK: We went there on our last day, and were done by early afternoon and got back on the road to home. It's a big park, but not so many rides. I was actually considering skipping it next time. If only it didn't have Everest and Dinosaur! But is it worth a whole day?....I don't think so.

Hopping: It takes HOURS to walk thru each park - why take time out to go to different ones in one day? Agreed, it will save you $200 to not hop. If you're done w/ a park "early" go to downtown disney and putz around.

Note on DDP: We did this and used the dessert as a snack to put in the backpack. Lots of desserts are a wrapped rice krispie treat, for example. Save it for later.

Unoffical Guide: LOVE it! Use touring plans, but eat whenever you want for crying out loud. I didn't like that it told me when to eat, but it was nice to have the "path" to follow around the parks.

Dinner: If you're in the mood for fun and joking around w/ waitress - 50s Prime Time Cafe in HStudios is a fun place to eat. Kids loved it!

HAVE FUN!

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

From one Dad of 2 boys to another.

Here are my suggestions. First, lose the park hopping option and save yourself $200. You will probably waste too much of your days getting from park to park. Plus you could use that for a nice dinner. Not sure how many days you have purchased but, I would go with 3. Here's why, you can hit the downtown area in the afternoon and boardwalk area in the evening and see the nighttime entertainment. (both are free and don't require tickets for admission so why use a park day on a half day).
I would skip AK not because I don't like the park but it really is a half day park.(IMHO)
Do the other three parks and stay all day, Wishes fireworks at MK and Illuminations at Epcot run every night check and see schedule for Fantasmic at DHS and plan accordingly. There are a ton of great restaurants at all the parks check menu at allears.net and see what appeals to you and definitely make an ADR.(ASAP)
Make sure you take full advantage of FP's and remember you will not see everything in 3 days, slow down enjoy the time with your family because really that's what all this is about.

Any more ?'s feel free to ask, that's what we are all here for.

 

[JESW]

Welcome!

Please realize that you are going for a relative short time during an extremely busy time so don't expect to see and do everything! We go 2x a year and still haven't seen and done everything - it makes a real good reason to go back!

Hope you have fun!

Jill

 

[nmmom95]

We stayed at CBR a few years ago and loved it! It is a beautiful resort, but it is big. You may want to check a map and make a building request if you want to be near a bus stop or dining. You can find one at http://www.kingdom-travel.com/Walt_Disney_World_Resorts/_ResortAssets/Caribbean_Beach_Resort/Disney_Caribbean_Beach_Resort_Map.pdf
Have a great time!