Dw 1st time planning

[ragweed]

Hi, just finished planning our family's first trip to DW, beginning of May. I am trying to plan the trip and have a few basic questions that I need guidance with.
Family of 4 , kids 12 and 14,
Staying at Bonnet Creek
Planning on going to DW for 4 days, then to sea world 1 day, Universal studios 1 day

Where is the best place to buy park passes? I am an AAA member, so I was thinking there (best to buy before we leave on trip or should we wait until we arrive?
Do you need to buy basic 4 day tks plus Water park fun plus Hopper pass ?? do you need a basic credit tk for everyday you are at DW ? even though we want to spend a day or 2 at Minor parks ?
Restaurants? If we choose to not buy the Disney dinning plan, are there lots of good restaurants close by?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You might want to look at the Everything About WDW Tickets locked sticky in the TPA&S Forum. Especially the items bolded in the list below.

Post and Contents

1. This Table of Contents
2. Magic Your Way (MYW) Ticket Basics Including Definitions
3. Annual Passes and Water Park Tickets
4. Tickets Available Only to Florida Residents
5. Tickets Not Available to the General Public
6. Upgrading MYW Tickets (Not to Annual Passes)
7. Upgrading Tickets to Annual Passes
8. Dealing With Tickets Issued Prior to 1 January 2005 (Pre-MYW)
9. Children and Adults
10. Special Events
11. Comprehensive MYW Ticket Example
12. Hotel Card (Key To The World (KTTW))
13. Lost Tickets
14. Finger Scans
15. Frequently Asked Ticket Questions.
15A. Hopping Rules
15B. WPF&M With No Expire
15C. No Expire Upgrades
15D. Upgrading an Unused Ticket
15E. Upgrading Special Tickets
15F. Checking on Old Tickets
15G. Renewing Annual Passes
15H. Upgrading a Completely Used Ticket
15I. Getting Park Tickets Before Package Start Date

Page Two of the Sticky

16. Resident 4 Day Wild 4 Disney Pass
17. 2010/2011 Armed Forces Salute Tickets
18. Prices Effective August 5, 2010
19. "Free" Tickets and Special Promotions
20. Ticket Purchase/Upgrade Locations and Telephones
21. Florida Resident Installment Purchases of Annual Passes

To get there directly, follow the link in my signature.

 

[ccgirl]

Hi, just finished planning our family's first trip to DW, beginning of May. I am trying to plan the trip and have a few basic questions that I need guidance with.
Family of 4 , kids 12 and 14,
Staying at Bonnet Creek
Planning on going to DW for 4 days, then to sea world 1 day, Universal studios 1 day

Where is the best place to buy park passes? I am an AAA member, so I was thinking there (best to buy before we leave on trip or should we wait until we arrive?
Do you need to buy basic 4 day tks plus Water park fun plus Hopper pass ?? do you need a basic credit tk for everyday you are at DW ? even though we want to spend a day or 2 at Minor parks ?
Restaurants? If we choose to not buy the Disney dinning plan, are there lots of good restaurants close by?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated

AAA (buy before you go as they do not give AAA discount at the gates), Undercover tourtist of Maple Leaf tickets are all good. You will not get a huge discount on tickets anywhere though.

If you plan to visit more than 1 park (MK, Epcot, DHS, AK) on 1 day then you need the hopper. You cannot go from park to park in 1 day without this. Do you plan on going to the water parks? If so, then you need to add that as well. Tickets expire (unless you got the non-expiry option) 14 days from first use. So, you could go to MK one day then Sea World, then to Epcot, then to Universal etc. What do you mean by minor parks? You cannot get the Disney dining plan since you are not staying on site. That is only for guests of the WDW owned resorts. There are loads of restaurants off site though. If you want to eat on site be sure to make reservations. You can make reservations 180 days from your travel date.

Hope this helps.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Hi, just finished planning our family's first trip to DW, beginning of May. I am trying to plan the trip and have a few basic questions that I need guidance with.
Family of 4 , kids 12 and 14,
Staying at Bonnet Creek
Planning on going to DW for 4 days, then to sea world 1 day, Universal studios 1 day

Where is the best place to buy park passes? I am an AAA member, so I was thinking there (best to buy before we leave on trip or should we wait until we arrive?
Do you need to buy basic 4 day tks plus Water park fun plus Hopper pass ?? do you need a basic credit tk for everyday you are at DW ? even though we want to spend a day or 2 at Minor parks ?
Restaurants? If we choose to not buy the Disney dinning plan, are there lots of good restaurants close by?

Any help or advice is greatly appreciated

Walt Disney World has 4 theme parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom - not sure what you mean by minor parks. Usually I recommend 6 days to people new to Disney, but if you only have 4 days, then I would purchase the 4 days base tickets. The hopper and water park add-ons would be a waste of money. With the 4 day base tickets you can at least to 1 day in each park.

You can not purchase the Disney Dining Plan unless you are staying on-site at a Disney owned resort. There are hundreds of places to eat on Disney property and you don't have to have the Disney Dining Plan to eat there. But, if you are planning on eating any Table Service/Sit Down/Character Meals you will need to make Advance Dinining Reservations ASAP. ADRS can be made up to 180 days in advance and most of the popular places and character meals will already be booked up or have limited availability.

Here are some touring tips for people who are new to WDW:

1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations for any Sit Down/Table Service/Character Meals most restaurants will not be taking walk-ups.

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 while everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds.

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 Disney dining plan. (This doesn't apply to you since you are staying off-site)

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. 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. 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 Doconeill and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass. It is from Doconeil over on the Disboards and super helpful:

http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php

If you still don't understand, just let me know 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
www.intercot.com

 

[Shakthi]

Walt Disney World has 4 theme parks - Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom - not sure what you mean by minor parks. Usually I recommend 6 days to people new to Disney, but if you only have 4 days, then I would purchase the 4 days base tickets. The hopper and water park add-ons would be a waste of money. With the 4 day base tickets you can at least to 1 day in each park.

You can not purchase the Disney Dining Plan unless you are staying on-site at a Disney owned resort. There are hundreds of places to eat on Disney property and you don't have to have the Disney Dining Plan to eat there. But, if you are planning on eating any Table Service/Sit Down/Character Meals you will need to make Advance Dinining Reservations ASAP. ADRS can be made up to 180 days in advance and most of the popular places and character meals will already be booked up or have limited availability.

Here are some touring tips for people who are new to WDW:

1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations for any Sit Down/Table Service/Character Meals most restaurants will not be taking walk-ups.

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 while everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds.

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 Disney dining plan. (This doesn't apply to you since you are staying off-site)

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. 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. 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 Doconeill and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass. It is from Doconeil over on the Disboards and super helpful:

http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php

If you still don't understand, just let me know 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
www.intercot.com

We are DL veterans and would love to come to WDW for Xmas this year. We'd like to stay on site, but I find it so overwhelming to choose hotels because I am not familiar with the options available and there are so many. Would you have any recommendation?

 

[Alesia]

We are DL veterans and would love to come to WDW for Xmas this year. We'd like to stay on site, but I find it so overwhelming to choose hotels because I am not familiar with the options available and there are so many. Would you have any recommendation?

The first thing you need to do is decide your budget. That will help you narrow down your choices.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

We are DL veterans and would love to come to WDW for Xmas this year. We'd like to stay on site, but I find it so overwhelming to choose hotels because I am not familiar with the options available and there are so many. Would you have any recommendation?

Hey! We have stayed at all levels of resort at WDW, and really, they are all nice and I don't think you would be disappointed with any of them. You just have to decide on how much money you want to spend and what you want out of the stay. Now that we have kids we usually just stay at the value resorts. We are in the parks from open to close and really just sleep and shower in the room so I can't ever justify spending the money on a Deluxe anymore. Plus we area family of 6 now so we need two rooms, so we like getting two connecting rooms at a value, that way we have 2 bathrooms and plenty of room to move around. Also, my kids really love the value resorts, they have great, fun theming.

Our favorite value resort is All-Star Movies; favorite moderate resort is Port Orleans Riverside (it's the only moderate resort that holds 5 people); and our favorite Deluxe resort is The Polynesian.

Here is a link to Allearsnet.com. Just click on the links for each of the WDW properties and you can see pictures, reviews and prices for each resort:

http://allears.net/acc/faq_hot.htm

 

[Shakthi]

Hey! We have stayed at all levels of resort at WDW, and really, they are all nice and I don't think you would be disappointed with any of them. You just have to decide on how much money you want to spend and what you want out of the stay. Now that we have kids we usually just stay at the value resorts. We are in the parks from open to close and really just sleep and shower in the room so I can't ever justify spending the money on a Deluxe anymore. Plus we area family of 6 now so we need two rooms, so we like getting two connecting rooms at a value, that way we have 2 bathrooms and plenty of room to move around. Also, my kids really love the value resorts, they have great, fun theming.

Our favorite value resort is All-Star Movies; favorite moderate resort is Port Orleans Riverside (it's the only moderate resort that holds 5 people); and our favorite Deluxe resort is The Polynesian.

Here is a link to Allearsnet.com. Just click on the links for each of the WDW properties and you can see pictures, reviews and prices for each resort:

http://allears.net/acc/faq_hot.htm

Thank you so much for your help. I might come back with more questions later.