Family of 7; 1st trip to DW together suggestions appreciated!!

[busymommy]

I have a family of 7, 5 kids. Their ages range from 3 to 16. We are taking our first trip to DW as a family. (My oldest and I were last there in '96). I am looking for any suggestions as to what park to visit first. Where to go first at each park. Good places to eat. What not to miss...etc. Anything would be helpful. Only 2 weeks away!!!:

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Where are you staying? What kind of tickets are you getting? Are you on the dining plan or do you plan to do table service restaurants? We need more info!

 

[busymommy]

Staying at AS Movie. 6 day park hopper w/dining. Princess breakfast 1 day.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Have you made your dining reservations? If not, you need to go to allearsnet dot com and look at the menus, then call (407) WDW-DINE and make some ressies. Restaurants are now booked up to 180 days out and many of the good ones go quickly.

 

[busymommy]

Should we have a reservation for everyday? Not sure what parks we are going to be in what days, does this matter? New to this need help!!

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

You're going to be spending a lot of time on the DIS over the next two weeks!

The issue is that the dining plan is very popular and because of that getting reservations is an absolute MUST at most table service restaurants. If you are extremely flexible you'll find someplace to eat without making reservations, but they may not be at the places you want. On the plan you should make one reservation per day for your table service. Most people do either lunch or dinner.

Go to Disney World dot com and click on the calendar icon near the top of the page. You can see park hours during your trip there, and whether or not each park will have EMH (Extra Magic Hours). The easiest way for you to plan at this point would probably be to avoid those parks on those days (they get crowded). Sketch out a basic itinerary of which parks you'd like to do, and then pencil in your meals. Remember that many good restaurants are in the resorts so if you completely don't know where you are going to be, book one of those.

I very much hate to say this, but you will have a very difficult if not impossible time getting into a princess breakfast if you don't already have one booked. Try the one at Epcot (it's in Norway, I don't have girls so I don't remember what it is called). Good luck!

 

[busymommy]

Luckily we do have a princess breakfast booked. Our TA did that for us!!!

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

Luckily we do have a princess breakfast booked. Our TA did that for us!!!

Very good news!

Don't stress yourself out, but do schedule those meals as soon as you can. You'll have a blast!

 

[Hannathy]

Take cell phones because with that age range I'd be prepared to split up or let the older ones go on their own in some of the parks, esp MGM. The 16 yr old will not want to go to playhouse Disney and the youngest can't go on RNR so that park is an esp. good one to split up on.

 

[smi727]

Don't force everyone to be together all the time. If you need to take a break with the younger ones, let the older ones go on some "big kid" rides. Stay in touch by cell phone or walkie talkie. And don't worry about character meals being too "baby-ish". My whole family loves them and we range in add from 14 to 52!

 

[LizzySwan1022]

Take cell phones because with that age range I'd be prepared to split up or let the older ones go on their own in some of the parks, esp MGM. The 16 yr old will not want to go to playhouse Disney and the youngest can't go on RNR so that park is an esp. good one to split up on.

Don't force everyone to be together all the time. If you need to take a break with the younger ones, let the older ones go on some "big kid" rides. Stay in touch by cell phone or walkie talkie. And don't worry about character meals being too "baby-ish". My whole family loves them and we range in add from 14 to 52!

This is a very good suggestion. I'm 15 and sometimes it's nice to be able to say "Mom, I'm gonna skip going in Winnie the Pooh for the 10th time today, I'll be shopping in the POC store, call me when you're done." It's also nice because I can take my younger siblings on rides by myself, and that's special time for us.

I think one of the best resturaunts there is Spoodles, I also like Sci-Fi. As for rides and shows, one of my favorite shows is the Indiana Jones show, and my first ride is usually Pirates. I hope that helps.

 

[ajcolorado]

Have you seen this info on the All-Star Movies (abbreviated ASMo): http://disneyworldlinks.com/Stephens-Resources/

I love Epcot and will put my suggestions in a separate post. Some families do better when they do this park first because it is a little less theme-park than the others.

Do you have a touring plan? It is really going to make all the difference in the world as well good "best days" info. www.buildabettermousetrip.com provides custom itineraries and touring plans and you deal with a real person but it is a bit more expensive. The Unofficial Guide to WDW is a fantastic book but I think you have to go to the companion site for the "best days" info. www.tourguidemike.com is also excellent but - with only two weeks to go - you might find the sheer volume of information overwelming.

 

[ajcolorado]

I think Epcot is WONDERFUL for kids. Mission Space is probably the only thing too intense for the littlest one. If they’re tall enough; Soarin’ and Test Track should be fine. Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3-D and Maelstrom might be a little scary for some but many do just fine. Spaceship Earth, The Universe of Energy (Dinosaurs & 45 blessed minutes of air conditioning), and Journey into Your Imagination with Figment are all visually interesting for kids. One of the Innovention pavilions has a lot of things geared for little ones. “The Seas with Nemo and Friends” is great for kids – marine life & “Turtle Talk with Crush” are fantastic. “The Land” has a character meal and there are Princess meals at the Norway Pavillion. There are Character Meet & Greets all through Epcot. There is some great entertainment too – the Jammitors are a “Stomp” like percussion group.

There are “Kidcot” stations throughout the World Showcase. Your kids can make a cardboard mask (free) at which ever station they stop at first. Then they can add a decoration at each additional station. The boat ride at the Mexico pavilion is similar to “It’s A Small World”. The kids may or may not enjoy the American Adventure or the Circle Vision movies in China & Canada. If I was going to choose one, I’d go with the China movie. There is a little hedge maze in the UK pavilion that is too short for adults to find challenging but I saw a bunch of kids gleefully running through. I also saw kids intrigued by the model train at the Germany pavilion. My kids loved wandering through the Morocco pavilion. There are Koi fish in the pond in Japan. There is some fantastic entertainment that kids will enjoy: The “Serveur Amusant” (France) is a comedic balancing act. Japan has three great things for kids – “Matsuriza” is a traditional drum act; “Miyuki” is a very neat candy artist, and there is a Japanese Storyteller “Honobono Minwa” on Wed, Thurs, & Fri. Sergio (Italy) is a juggler. “OrisiRisi”, he drum circle and African Storytellers (Mon- Fri) in the Outpost get good reviews. Kids always love the Dragon Legend Acrobats (China) because they are children too. Some kids will enjoy “Off Kilter” (Canada) – bagpipe rock and “MoRockin” (Morocco) – Middle Eastern pop sounding band. IllumiNations is the evening fireworks show and it is excellent.

Epcot takes a little advance planning so that you see the entertainment that you want to see - some starts earlier in the day, others a little later in the afternoon. You'll received a "Times Guide" when you get to the park but you can get an idea of the schedule by clicking on the "Epcot" tab at http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/

 

[kellyg403]

OP, your family sounds like ours! Last time we went we had our 5 kids plus our 5 yo gd. You will have a blast.

That being said, please do make some dining reservations. Even if you only make them at resort resturants since you are not wanting to be tied down to what park what day. Then when you get there, if you get up in the morning and want to go to a park, you can always call disney dining from your room and change your reservations. With the size of your party, the ages of the kids it will be best to have a place to go to. Many times when we have gone there were people that were trying to walkup and were not able to get in to the place for awhile (hours) if at all. Especially the more popular dining places with characters. That would be my suggestion with going with 7 people.

Also, we do let our older kids go off on their own...13,15,16 and carry the cell phone so that we could do the kiddie things with the smaller kids. I think I rode Dumbo 6 times in a row, followed by the Aladdin ride at least 3 times! Everyone got to go on thier own pace and not have to be stuck riding the same things! The little guys find something they enjoy and want to stay there.

Have fun...you will love every minute!

Kelly

 

[tiki23]

Great suggestions on this thread!

With a larger group, everything takes longer - from bathroom breaks to getting snacks. Definitely figure out at least a bare-bones touring plan or you'll be doing a lot of wandering, looking at the map and trying to reach a concensus.

Since you're staying onsite, you'll be able to go to the Extra Magic Hours. Only go to the morning EMH parks if you truly will be up and at the gate at the start of EMH. If you think you'll run late, say closer to the parks regular opening time, skip the EMH park (and all of those people that got there ahead of you) and go to another park. No reason to battle with extra crowds. If the parks are busy during your visit, and you go to the evening EMH, go mostly for the entertainment and the atmosphere and figure that any rides you get on are bonus.

I have to enforce getting some ADR's for dining now. With a party of 7, you'll be in for some long waits...if you can even get a table at the more popular restaurants.

Plan like the parks will be super-crowded, take advantage of it if they're not, leave some room to be spontaneous and have a wonderful time!

 

[NYDrPepper]

Perhaps your family would like to do Disney's Family Magic Tour. I have not done it before but I have read about it. Just google "Family Magic Tour" and you will get some descriptions and reports. I have heard that it is very good for ALL ages above about 4.

 

[alicenwonder99]

We have a large family, too. Since you are on the dining plan, my suggestion would be to eat at buffets for your TS's. For some reason, our meals dragged on for HOURS when we ate at a sit-down restaurant that wasn't a buffet. The kids were falling asleep at the table. Our oldest left to do some shopping, and came back about 45 minutes later and we were still there waiting for dessert. At the restaurant in England, after over 2 hours, we finally just told our waiter to forget our dessert and give us the bill. Anyway, I would suggest eating at Biergarten and Teppyanki for dinners at Epcot.

Also, if the older kids split up and go off on their own, just make sure they know how to take the buses back to the resort. And, if they stay at a park until closing, keep in mind that it's going to take a long time for them to get back to the resort. So, don't freak out is they're not back right after the park closes. My teens went off on their own to a park and stayed until closing and they didn't get back until about 2 hours after the park closed. They did some shopping (some shops stay open a bit later), then it took them awhile to wait for the bus because the lines were very crowded at the bus stops.

HTH

 

[bless7ings]

Your going to have a blast! We went in Sept 2005 w/ my parents and we had 6 kids. I would recommend booking an opening character meal to get the disney spirit going! We went to Liberty Tree Tavern - there was lots of character interaction!(we saw them at least 5x) I have heard Garden Grill is good and I will go to Chef Mickeys next time. I could say alot more, but I have a little one that needs attention. Have fun!