First Disney trip with kids - please help!

[jessrowe]

You all are FABULOUS! Thank you from the bottom of my heart

Crisi - you are so right (that dining shouldn't be our focus) but my daughter saw the Jon and Kate Plus 8 episode where they eat at Chef Mickey's and has been talking about that ever since.

Here are the reservations I could get:
@MK - Crystal Palace lunch
@Epcot - Princess Lunch at Norway
Cape May Character breakfast @ our hotel
Play N Dine lunch @ Hollywood & Vine

NO Chef Mickey's or Cinderella's Table and I have to say that the woman I spoke to on the Ding Reservation line was one of the rudest people I have ever talked to Oh well! Now I can relax a bit and get excited.

Can I ask one more ? We'll be flying in Saturday around lunchtime and don't want to do a park that day. Chef Mickey's is totally booked until 8:25 that night (no way with a 1 year old) and 1900 Park Fare the same. Any other character ideas for that day without going to a park? Are there any characters walking around @ Downtown Disney? (and thank you Trennr for the great DTD ideas!) I'd be happy just to hang out at Beach Club that day and play there, but my daughter will be desperate to see some kind of character

 

[daisyduck123]

Can I ask one more ? We'll be flying in Saturday around lunchtime and don't want to do a park that day. Chef Mickey's is totally booked until 8:25 that night (no way with a 1 year old) and 1900 Park Fare the same. Any other character ideas for that day without going to a park? Are there any characters walking around @ Downtown Disney? (and thank you Trennr for the great DTD ideas!) I'd be happy just to hang out at Beach Club that day and play there, but my daughter will be desperate to see some kind of character

You might get lucky & see them in the BCV lobby!

We spent 8 days at BCV last summer. About a week after we got back, some DISers were posting that in mid-afternoon, during their stay, Stitch (I think it was him) was hanging out in the BCV lobby greeting people. I had seen NONE of that ....but then, we were NEVER in the lobby at mid-afternoon. We were always at the pool from about 1:00pm-4pm or 5pm.

Maybe someone else can chime in with info. about this.

 

[crisi]

Honestly, we've never travelled with children where the kids were desperate for anything but a nap. Travelling is exhausting. Plan on a nap and a late swim and dinner. Your daughter will wait, most kids do - and with surprising patience. Mine are older now, and we still fly in and don't intend to do much but swim, MAYBE we go into the parks for a bit.

You are unlikely to see characters outside the parks, it happens, but not very often. Nor in DTD.

 

[libinatorsmom]

Hi - Welcome to the boards... I was like you just months ago... and now with the help of disboards, passporter, ultimate guide, bierbaums guide, and the disney planning dvd - I think I am ready for our trip... Watch the boards and ask questions!!!! you cant go wrong.... Get your adr's if you dont have them... you can use Disney Magical Express since you are staying on site and dont need to rent a car - we arent - we figure we will take a cab if we dont have time to use the disney transportation.... I hope you have a wonderful trip...

My DD4 is also princess obsessed - which is what prompted the WDW vacation... Have you looked into the Bippity Boppity Boutique

 

[wdwgypsy]

There are cast members that go with the characters I think I heard them referred to as character wranglers. The ones I saw were in yellow shirts. If you see one of them they can usually tell you where a character is going to be. The ones we ran into were very knowledgeable about characters other than the ones they were escorting.

Can a current CM confirm the shirt color?

 

[MousekaMaddi]

Hi, and welcome, many of us LOVE to help plan, it gives us a "fix"

I have a DD 5 princess lover.......heres some IMHO valueable input..
There are two types of characters, full head characters(Pooh,Piglet,Mickey Minnie etc) and face characters, with a FACE character you are able to SEE their actual FACE(all the Princess', Mad Hatter, Mary Poppins,Alice,..........)
For a FIRST EXPERIENCE, I found it MUCH better to do EPCOTS Norway breakfast(french toast,croissants, muffins, fruit,juices,coffee) than Chef Mickeys, altho I HIGHLY recommend Chef Mickeys---but the full head characters are HUGE when your 4 yr old approaches them for a first experience................HUGE!!
I suggest EPCOT for first meetings.
Have fun planning