Dear Friend needs a crash course in Disney!

[IMGONNABE40!]

And I can't be of much help since I really only know Universal. Other than meeting my brother for dinner at BOMA about a year ago, I have had very little experience with the mouse.


I am hoping you will help me anyway. My friend will be taking his seven year old daughter on a family reunion cruise that sails out of Fort Lauderdale in 3 weeks. Since they have a new baby (rather unexpectedly) the wife will be staying home with the baby. So, now my friend says that while he is in Florida, he will take his daughter to Disney for a couple of days. Just like that. No planning. Just get a room in Orlando and "do Disney" for a couple of days. Neither he or his daughter have ever been there.

How should I advise him? Better yet, how can I advise him without scaring him out of the idea? All thoughts appreciated.

 

[Otimon]

First piece of advice: Instead of staying in Orlando, stay on Disney property and use their transportation system. So much easier. Disney has rooms from moderate priced to luxury and many in between to choose from.

You indicated they would only be there a couple (two?) of days. One day at the Magic Kingdom would be a must, especially with the youngster. My own personal recommendation would be to spend perhaps the second morning at the Animal Kingdom and then take in one of the water parks during the afternoon.

There is, of course, so much to choose from depending on their likes and dislikes. A good guide book from the bookstore will help them decide what they would be most interested in and plan from there.

If I may be of help please let me know.

Best wishes.

 

[Microcell]

Why deprive the baby of a first WDW experience? Wife too! Take the whole brood and get a crib and stay on property. Go to Magic Kingdom and maybe MGM would be my top two, though I like camping out at the MK most of the time. If he buys one day at a time he can get 5 dollars off the second day. Eat at Crystal Palace breakfast with pooh and call ahead for priority seating and ask what else they recommend. Doubtful that they could get in for princesses at this late time but it never hurts to ask. Anybody have the number on hand, I do not. At MK do not miss the standbys, but my DD really loves Philharmagic show, and Buzz Lightyear ride. Never wait more than 20 minutes for a ride and use fast passes whenever possible! At MGM fast track was well, fast. I am missing Disney, I have to go in a corner, roll myself into a ball and cry now!

 

[GeorgeG]

Order them the WDW vacation planner DVD and buy them a copy of Birnbaum's Official Guide. Then, after they've had a chance to digest those, sit down with them and talk about it.

We had some friends who decided they were going to spend three days in Florida with one day at Cape Kennedy Space Center, one day at Sea World and one day at Disney. At that, they thought they would be able to see and do everything at WDW! They still haven't done any of that.

Make a decent effort, but in the end they will either do it right or end up going to some amusement park and never know what they missed.

 

[IMGONNABE40!]

Thanks for the suggestions. Is Birnbaum's the best out there? Anyone swear by another guide?

Microcell--It is actually the cruise part that they do not want to do with a 1 month old baby. My friend (the husband) thought it would be a real pain to be bringing along all of the baby stuff, not to mention they will be pretty tight in their cabin without getting into all of the baby paraphernalia. The big reason not to bring the baby is that he is just too young to be exposed to that number of people, between the closeness of a cruise and a theme park vacation. Since he is adopted, he is getting formula so they need to be a bit more careful about his immune system and the # of people he is exposed to. I am happy they have decided to have him stay at home, actually. Perhaps I should offer to babysit so the mom can go along as well.