Critique my trip!

[emilik]

I'm gearing up to make my reservations so that I can do my ADR's on the 27th and I'm hoping another set of eyes can confirm that our plan sounds decent!

We're trying to do relatively "low key" (as much as you can at WDW anyway). We live a VERY quiet, simple life at home, we don't watch TV or even have toys with batteries so Disney is going to be majorly overstimulating for our girls at first. We tried to build in adequate down time and we'll be returning to our cabin each day midday for lunch and rest. We are staying at the Cabins at FW because we thought it would be the most peaceful, give the kids the chance to have creative play in nature like they're used to during our down time, and enable us to cook the type of meals we're used to most of the time (I plan to bring my trusty crockpot!).

We'll be driving down from CT, spending one night on the road each way, checking in 2/22/14. Girls will be 4 and 21 months.

Day 1 (2/23) - Magic Kingdom
CRT breakfast
Columbia Harbor House dinner

Day 2 - No parks, swimming (praying it will be warm enough!), exploring campground etc.
All meals in cabin

Day 3 - Magic Kingdom
Crystal Palace dinner

Day 4 - No parks
Sanaa dinner

Day 5 - Epcot
(Planning to explore Future World in the morning and World Showcase in the late afternoon/evening)
Garden Grill dinner

Day 6 - Animal Kingdom
Tusker House dinner

Day 7 - No parks
All meals in cabin

Day 8 - Animal Kingdom
Undecided quick service dinner (we'll be getting on the road after this)

For budget I'm hoping for a nice room discount on our dates (seems historically reasonable) and I have the following planned:
Room $2500
Gas 400
Groceries 150
Meals 500
Tips 70
Tickets 800
Travel costs (hotel, food on the road) 300
Total: $4720

Any critiques? Suggestions? Experiences or costs that I overlooked? I'd also love to hear from anyone else who lives sensory-friendly/media-free at home but loves Disney and has done a trip with children. Thanks everyone!!

 

[BooCar3126]

Have you thought about souviners at the parks? Or maybe a snack there?

 

[emilik]

Hm, we don't really do souvenirs. I'm pretty sure I worked some money for emergency snacks into the 500 meal budget bit I'll double check. We'll bring snacks to the parks with us for the most part. We have a lot of dietary restrictions so we're used to bringing food everywhere we go.

 

[Taylor'sMom]

Since you are driving, are you bringing stollers for your little ones? Don't forget to account for that space in your vehicle, or budget for stroller rentals.
We are not big souvenir people either, but many Disney attractions force you to exit by walking through a gift shop. You may want to budget just a bit.

 

[ktaggie]

I know you said you don't really do souvenirs but i would budget for at least one or two items per girl. A tshirt or stuffed animal maybe. Just a thought.

 

[Taylor'sMom]

not really budget related, but if you haven't yet, check out the forums for where you are staying (not sure if the cabins are grouped in with camping or resorts?). You will likely get lots of good tips for staying in a cabin, activities in the area (like the campfire singalong), etc.

 

[MSSANDRA]

I think 500 looks a bit low for food budget with doing CRT and a few other character meals.

I think just knowing that WDW is very wonderfully loud and over stimulating is important. You may want to utube some of the rides and just get a feel for how your little ones may react. If they are not used to TV or movies, the 3D movies may be too much for them. Do they know the characters? Maybe books to introduce them or a planning DVD on your computer would be helpful. WDW is wonderful with food issues so be sure to note needs on your ADRs and ask for what you need.

February can be still cool or warming up. Pools are heated so that helps. Lots of low key things you can do on off days other than swim, but sometimes having more days in the parks, with less time each day can be helpful as well.

 

[BeastsFlower]

$500 def seems low for meals and snacks. And $70 seems low for tips.

 

[GadgetTheInventor]

Restaurants can be noisy during peak meal times. CHH has an upstairs and the further you walk from the staircase, the fewer people there are. CP will probably be quite noisy so try to get your reservation for late afternoon/early evening. GG is very quiet. In the AK, FTB has a nice outdoor seating area and the quieter areas are down near the water. One of the CS in the AK (I forget the name) serves a ceaser salad that I find very offensive smelling.

The parades and perhaps parts of some of the rides will be the nosiest part of your day.

There is a lot of great Disney material out there that doesn't involve electricity. My DN2 loves being read Winnie the Pooh stories and had a Pooh themed cake for her last birthday. There are Cinderella stories told around the world, some of which make it into children's book format. I grew up with the educational Disney books, one of which was learning how to tell time with Goofy and Mickey. Alice in Wonderland will be a fun book in a few years.

 

[Spunky946]

That is definitely not enough money for food. Check out www.allears.net for menus and pricing.

Also why so many non park days? I'm all about taking one, but three seems like a bit much. Maybe do some half days. Park in the am come back for lunch and resort.

Or take the morning off and go in the afternoon.

 

[kim175]

Agree about checking allears.net for food pricing. You may do better having breakfast at those restaurants rather than dinner...it's usually less expensive of breakfast. Just a thought

 

[emilik]

Those prices are based on the allears menus I can double check them but we are only eating one meal per day in the parks (so only 5 or 6 park meals total) and that is ALL that money is for. Groceries that we're having delivered to our room is a separate budget. Sorry, should have made that clearer!

The non-park days are just to give the little ones time to recharge and process so they don't burn out halfway through the vacation - we can't do half days because that would double our ticket cost!

I'll definitely plan to show some YouTube videos of rides and such, that's a great idea! They do know some of the characters just because they're kind of ubiquitous these days in the stores, and my older daughter is very excited to meet princesses. I don't plan to do any of the 3D movies there and not many of the shows either, which is one reason we're skipping
DHS altogether.

 

[GSUJillybean]

$500 def seems low for meals and snacks. And $70 seems low for tips.

I agree. Did you pay for CRT already? Is that included in the budget? If not, $500 seems okay, but I would budget more for tips. That's not even 15%.

Also, are you going to feel like cooking? And what are the girls going to do during the cabin days if it's not warm enough to swim?

 

[daniele_ut]

The non-park days are just to give the little ones time to recharge and process so they don't burn out halfway through the vacation - we can't do half days because that would double our ticket cost!

I agree with the pp who said 3 non-park days seems like a lot. I would really consider adding at least 1 more park day. We took our 3 kids to Disneyland last fall and had 4 day tickets and they would have loved 1 more day if we had been able to spare the time. They were 11 months, 4 and 8 at the time.

 

[4xmom]

We have stayed in the cabins many times with our 4. We love them! They have arts and crafts that the kids can attend. My kids love just sitting and feeding the ducks. Also plan to bring your own s'more makings if you want them to the campfire...they are expensive if you buy them there. We also always add a golf cart into our budget for the cabins. It is always a life saver and the kids love to spend time just riding around.

 

[Julylady]

I also advise half days at the parks. Since subsequent park days become less expensive as you buy tickets for more days, it might just add a few dollars. It certainly won't double your costs.

My favorite trips have been those where we plan to spend only 5-6 hours in the park each day. We either go first thing in the morning, or wait and go mid afternoon and stay until late. Everyone gets plenty of sleep and no "overload."

We only stayed in the cabins one time,but I loved it! Have a great time!

 

[karmomof3]

We are going in a couple of days and I also have 3 non park days. We are staying 9 days. We will not go to the parks on arrival day, one day in the middle and the day before we leave. DD love to swim in the pool and do resort activities. We are doing a split stay so we save two full days to enjoy each of our resorts. I planned this schedule after two years of visiting Disney. We also take a break in the late afternoon and go back to the parks in the evenings. Your schedule seem fine to me.

We also do not have cable and my children watch very little T.V. The T.V. has been on about 2 times this summer. I have a toddler and two tweens. I am bringing two tiny lego sets for older DS to play with. He will set them up according to the instructions and them break them apart and make his own designs. DD has an art design kit that will keep her entertained for hours and younger DS loves to learn his letters and words so we have flash cards for him. We will do those while waiting in line. I will also bring some of younger DS animals. He loves to make them gallop, play hide and seek, have them visit each other and do many other things. I will however bring kindles as a back-up. We have books and games on the kindles.

The first year we went we bought a hat for each boy and a princess doll for DD. Last year when we went, younger DS got a Buzz lightyear. He used his gift card from his birthday. This year, I will not buy anything to bring back.

I think your budget for food seem reasonable if you have already paid for CRT. I am assuming the $500 is also for some quick service meals and that is why you only have a $70 budget for tips.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I would look at golf cart as you are looking at 2 buses or a bus and boat ride for each park trip. at you kids ages look for falling asleep on boat or bus and not going back to sleep at cabin and being over tired. most of cabins are at the far end from boat to MK and you do have a short walk from boat to the bus stop. a lot of folding and reloading stroller. you are looking at a bus ride to the pool. the pool with the kids area is in the center of the campground, not the quiet pool near the cabins. love to stay at the Fort but getting around campground can be a pain esp with young kids. granted we were in a RV iste near cabins but daughter was able to get back to site and have kids ready for bed other than bathroom stop with golf cart than us who had to wait for bus with ECV

 

[cheshireqt]

That is definitely not enough money for food. Check out www.allears.net for menus and pricing.

Also why so many non park days? I'm all about taking one, but three seems like a bit much. Maybe do some half days. Park in the am come back for lunch and resort.

Or take the morning off and go in the afternoon.

I was thinking the same thing.
My 2cent. Wouldn't it be less overwhelming to do half a day/half a park each day and have downtime, alternating with mornings and evenings for park/downtime? Eat one meal in the park each day you spend in the park.

Doing an entire park in one day is going to be rush, rush, rush and probably disappointing to you, since you are not used to that amount of stimulation. Park tickets for extra days go down each day, so budget shouldn't be a huge factor in the decision.

A day in the middle of the week to just relax and swim would be awesome though!

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

I agree with the others that adding a couple of extra days to your tickets is not going to increase your price much - after 4 days, the price per day is only about $10, so since you're already planning 5 days, another half-day would only be $30+tax.

On your AK day, are you planning to be there all day until dinner-time or take your afternoon break? AK closes the earliest of all the parks, usually 5:00 or 6:00. I would try to get the Tusker House breakfast or lunch and power on through the whole day until you've done everything you want to do, then go back to your cabin. AK is the furthest park from FW and the bus ride (or even a car ride) is going to be 17-20 minutes, minimum, plus wait time. That's a lot of transit time to go back and forth. And if you have a 5:00 dinner, you won't have time to do anything else in the park, you'll just go in (and Tusker House is allll the way at the back of the park near the Safaris), eat and get out. I would re-think that.

I also think you might need to work on your food budget a bit. Assuming you're not counting CRT (since it's prepaid and gratuity included), I still think you'll be cutting it a little close. Garden Grill and Crystal Palace are going to be about $100 each, plus tip, Tusker House $90, plus tip. That's already close to $300 in food and $60 in tips. And I would expect prices to increase yet again between now and February, so I'd aim for at least $600 in food and $100 in tips. That way you have a little wiggle room. Be sure you're figuring in 6.5% tax on food, too.