This is going to be my first trip to Disney... well, not exactly, I was once there, so long ago that only the Magic Kingdom existed. It was my first time ever in the States, on holidays with my parents. I was a European child who'd never tasted a burger before. Now that I'm living here, I am excited to take my "American" kids there (6-year old girl and 4-year boy). As excited as I am, I'm really not too bothered about doing
everything. We are going during boiling-hot July, for hardly 5 days, I'll be alone with the kids. I have no intention to wake up at dawn, spend whole days in the parks, and any ride with a 90' wait is not worth riding in my book
. The only musts are: ride some of the old rides I did as a child (the pirates, Peter Pan..), see Ariel, do at least some Toy Story stuff.
So this is the tentative plan, and I am sure you have 100 ideas to make it better...
- Arrive Saturday evening in Orlando. Check in New Orleans Resort - French Quarter. Head to MK around 6:00 pm. Hang around the castle. Do some low-crowd ride (which? I guess it is to late for FP right?). Is Ariel grotto open?
- Sunday - EMH at Eptcott. Aim at arriving before 8:30? Do the Nemo stuff. Maybe get FP for Soarin (is it okay for a 4-year old?). I have ADR for early lunch (11:30) at Akershus (Ariel, check). Do the Viking thing at the Norway pavillion. Maybe ride the space train. Back to the resort for relaxing and afternoon by the pool. Ship to Downtown in the evening.
- Monday - MK. Try to be there early but maybe not RD (would like to get an early breakfast reservation at CP but it is full). Get FP for Peter Pan. Do some Adventureland rides, Pirates and so. ADR for late breakfast at CP. Go back to resort. Pool. Back to MK at around 6 or 7. Rides. Any reasonable hope to do Dumbo or I give up?
- Tuesday - HDS - Have ADR for breakfast at H&V at 8. Aim to get out before the park is open. Run to TS, if queue is long get FP. Ride Starwars, Shrunk the kids etc. Go to Voyage of the Little Marmaid and Playhouse. Head back to the resort after lunch. Evening: Either back to HDS or Dowtown? (I'm not park hopping).
- Wednesday - MK. Get there around rope drop. Fit one or two rides in between 9 and 11. Say goodbye to Disney.
Does this make sense. Any advice?
Thanks so much!
Best advice I can give is to go straight to the headliners at opening. Ride them and get Fastpasses for later so you can get to ride twice. Also, by the age of 4, my kids rode pretty much everything in the parks, even Tower of Terror. Soarin' is very tame in my opinion. Pretty much the only things they couldn't ride at age 4 were Space Mountain at MK, Expedition Everest and Primivial Whirl at AK, Mission Space at Epcot and Rockin' Roller Coaster at DHS.
Here are some of my top tips for people new to WDW:
1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations, as you will be going during a very busy time of year.
2. Get to the parks at opening. You really can get a lot done in the morning because so many other people sleep in.
3. Eat lunch around 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. before the fast food places get busy. Then when everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds in the parks.
4. I buy a ton of the two for a dollar ponchos at the dollar store and keep them in the backpack. That way you can throw them a way after use and not worry about keeping up with a wet bulky poncho the rest of the day. Bring throw away ponchos to wear on Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, if not you WILL get soaked.
5. Other things I put in the backpack each morning are Tylenol/Motrin, small first aid kit, camera with extra batteries, small hand towel, hand sanitizer, wipes and a bottle of water.
6. Most single service items under $4.00 are considered a snack credit on the dining plan.
7. At Magic Kingdom always head to Fantasyland first, if you are not doing Fantasyland on a particular day then head to Splash Mountain first, then Big Thunder Mountain; at Epcot always ride Soarin' first and get a Fastpass for later after you get off of the ride; at Disney Hollywood Studios always ride Toy Story Mania first, then head over to Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror; and at Animal Kingdom ride Expedition Everest First then head to the Safari.
8. Our favorite fast food restaurants at MK are Pecos Bills and Cosmic Rays; favorite fast food at Animal Kingdom is Flame Tree Grill and Pizzafari. If you are there while it very hot, go to Pizzafari.
9. If there are two lines going into an attraction, always take the line that goes to the left.
10. My best tip would have to be USE THE FASTPASS SYSTEM - it's free! Our rule of thumb is if the wait is 25 minutes or less, we wait in line. If the wait is 30 minutes or more, use a Fastpass. It is not highly publicized, but your Fastpass does not expire until the end of the day. You can never use it before the return time stamp on the pass, but you can always use it after. We try to collect Fastpasses during the early part of the day and then use them later in the afternoon when the parks become more crowded.
Click on this link from fellow Diser, Doconeil, and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass:
http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php
If you still don't understand, just ask your specific questions.
11. I like the Photopass. You can pre-buy it before your trip for $99.00. When you enter the parks you will see the staff photographers, they will take your pictures and give you a Photopass and you can use that for the rest of your trip. Each time you see a photographer have them take your picture and they will scan your picture. Then when you get home you can pull up the pictures, with the code they email you after purchase, and pick the photos you want on a CD. They will then mail you the CD and the copyrights to the CD and you can take them to
Walmart or Walgreens or wherever and get them developed. They also have a lot of cool software that you can use to edit your photos before you have them put on the CD.
My favorite Disney planning sites are:
www.disboards.com
www.allearsnet.com
www.wdwinfo.com
I am not the planning type, but I think with Disney it pays off to do some work ahead, and I think I landed in the right place!
