First ever WDW trip with kiddos - this is a whole different ballgame!

[TeamDP]

My best friend (that we'll be visiting while on our Disney trip) had her baby boy today!!! I'm so excited for her and her family! While texting this morning after getting the happy news that baby boy joined them last night, she mentioned that they are thinking of driving over to Orlando and joining us for a character breakfast one day while we are there. She thinks her kiddos will be too little for a full day at that point (they'll be 3 and almost 1), so this would give them a little taste of Disney and us some extra time together which I won't argue about She's heard good things about Ohana which was on our list when we thought we might do a dining plan. The only other breakfast I think we might do would be Chef Mickey's. I'm not even sure there is another resort character breakfast that would make sense? I clearly need to do more research but if anyone has suggestions, I'm listening! I'm thinking we probably should have Mickey and/or Minne for the littlest ones. The kids will be 7, 5, 3, and almost 1 so not a huge range but mine are past the Winnie the Pooh stage already. We've got plenty of time to plan this but with a party of 10, I know I'll need to reserve it along with the rest at 180+ days.

 

[reyasmommy]

Ohana is a ton of fun.... Plus you get to see Stitch, he's my favorite!


You can still use rider swap..... We have to use it all the time with my son because he's scared to go on some of the rides. He's 8, but definitely tall enough to ride everything.

 

[TeamDP]

Ohana is a ton of fun.... Plus you get to see Stitch, he's my favorite!


You can still use rider swap..... We have to use it all the time with my son because he's scared to go on some of the rides. He's 8, but definitely tall enough to ride everything.

So glad to read this about rider swap! My son is getting braver but I'm still a little concerned he won't want to get on some rides. I'm guessing my daughter will go on anything she's tall enough for - she's even said she'll go on Tower of Terror with me while my son says no way!

I'm definitely leaning towards Ohana since we can walk to the Polynesian from Shades.

 

[TeamDP]

The summer has just FLOWN by! We are two weeks away from the first day of school and we've had a busy summer! I have mixed feelings as the summer comes to an end but I am really looking forward to getting back to a routine.

We are mostly in a wait and see mode with our plans. The touring plans crowd calendar brought the crowd levels back down to where I expected them for our originally planned week, so we will likely stick with leaving the day after school gets out. Otherwise, we are waiting to see if Disney renews the Military Salute tickets and packages. We will make our final stay/ticket decisions once they are hopefully released. I'm guessing we will end up still at Shades but my son really wants to stay in the bunkbeds at Fort Wilderness cabins, so if that were a possibility, we would probably at least consider switching to stay there. We might also consider 2 rooms at a value resort to get Magical Express. Obviously we still have a lot up in the air.

I've been watching and trying to learn the ADR system and figure out how to best fit in the ones we want. I think these are the reservations we want:

Cinderella's Royal Table breakfast for 3 - we will just have the girls do this one - my mom, me, and my daughter. My son isn't really interested in the princesses at all so we gave him an out on this one.

Akershus breakfast for all 6 of us - the last time we went to WDW with my parents (12 years ago) we did this for Christmas breakfast so we have fond memories. I'm really hoping for a PPO time so that we can go on Frozen right after without a crazy wait time.

Be Our Guest for either breakfast or lunch for all 6 of us - do you see a trend here? My daughter wants to go in ALL the princess castles and Belle is her favorite princess (Moana is her favorite but she's not a princess - her words ) so this is definitely a must do.

Hollywood & Vine breakfast PPO - this one was suggested as a good strategy to be sure we get the kids in on Jedi Training. From what I've read lately, though, it may not be necessary. I'll probably try to get this one and see what happens.

Ohana - this will be for 10 - the 6 of us plus my best friend's family of four who want to join us for a character breakfast.

If any of you experienced at doing this have advice, I am all ears! I'm really not sure how best to plan for this. Do you get your ADRs and then plan your park days around that? How do you see availability across days? Or do you have to check each day by day? Do you have a plan for which park you'll be in and then just look for times that day? It's all so confusing to me

 

[sheri18]

We are going in January a family of 11... Me, DH , DS1, DIL1, DS2' DIL2 and 5 out of our 6 grandkids age 1-10
We first made a grid of the parks, days, and hours and have tried to do our ADR around that, it's hard to plan this far out..which days to go to which parks and when and where to eat..nut doing our best...fingers crossed... I have 3 breakfast planned and 2 dinners so far....I also have PTR going. A few ideas there

 

[Jules76126]

So you have to check for each ADR day by day. Unfortunately, the system does not show multiple days at a time. You can also either select a specific time or a general time like Breakfast or dinner. I typically pick where I want to eat and have a rough idea of days when I start searching, but I am willing to be flexible if something isn't available when I want it like Bog. Also keep checking as you get closer as things open up all the time. I really wanted BOG lunch and didn't get it until a month out. Good luck.

 

[TeamDP]

We are going in January a family of 11... Me, DH , DS1, DIL1, DS2' DIL2 and 5 out of our 6 grandkids age 1-10
We first made a grid of the parks, days, and hours and have tried to do our ADR around that, it's hard to plan this far out..which days to go to which parks and when and where to eat..nut doing our best...fingers crossed... I have 3 breakfast planned and 2 dinners so far....I also have PTR going. A few ideas there

That sounds like it will be a great trip! I'm going to go look for your PTR right now

So you have to check for each ADR day by day. Unfortunately, the system does not show multiple days at a time. You can also either select a specific time or a general time like Breakfast or dinner. I typically pick where I want to eat and have a rough idea of days when I start searching, but I am willing to be flexible if something isn't available when I want it like Bog. Also keep checking as you get closer as things open up all the time. I really wanted BOG lunch and didn't get it until a month out. Good luck.

Thank you! I know I've got months before I can even start looking but fall gets really busy for me so trying to do as much of the research as I can beforehand. I'm happy to hear you were able to get one even a month out. I'll keep checking when the time does come.

 

[TeamDP]

Well, we're already a month in to the school year here and I can't believe how fast time is flying! I didn't have a lot of time in August or the beginning of the month to do any more planning, but as the time when we *hope* Disney will announce the Armed Forces Salute for next year is coming close I'm trying to figure out if our plans should stay the same if they do renew the salute.

Right now, we are booked at Shades of Green from the day after school gets out til the next Saturday and there isn't any availability to change those dates. I've been looking at flights and it's a lot cheaper if we leave one day later, so I've been playing with the idea of possibly staying elsewhere if the Salute is renewed. If it is renewed, we could actually stay cheaper at any of the All Stars, Pop Century, or the Fort Wilderness Cabins. And we'd only be spending a total of between $100-$300 more for any of the moderates with Carribbean being the cheapest and POR being the most expensive. I'm really conflicted - mostly because I just don't know how the kids will do - whether they'll need mid-day breaks, whether we'll need to drive a car and park at the parks so we can make a quick exit rather than waiting on a bus, whether it would be an advantage to have a dining plan, whether we'd use Magical Express. Just so many moving parts and it's hard to know how the kids will do.

I think I'm leaning towards the cabin because the kids really want the bunk beds (they saw them on a video) but I worry about transporation in and out of Fort Wilderness, putting my parents on a pull out couch (which they've said they would be ok with or I wouldn't consider it), and 1 bathroom for 6 people. I also wonder if it's worth the splurge to experience a moderate. Way back in 2006, my husband and I stayed at the campground (we were much younger!) and then when we went with my parents and my brother, we stayed at All Star Music, so that's really all I know first hand.

Just so much to consider and from what I've been reading, I'll have to act fast once the renewal does come out next week (if it does as expected). Sigh. I know we'll have a great time regardless, just trying to figure it all out is overwhelming right now.

 

[cadien]

FWIW, my 7-year old has had half a dozen theme park trips in the last three years (but somehow no WDW) and has done beautifully at all of them. He's certainly always the last to run out of energy. Have they ever done things like a state fair?

 

[TeamDP]

FWIW, my 7-year old has had half a dozen theme park trips in the last three years (but somehow no WDW) and has done beautifully at all of them. He's certainly always the last to run out of energy. Have they ever done things like a state fair?

They've had a day at Sea World a couple of times last year and we did Sesame Place when they were much younger and living on the East Coast. They did relatively well in these parks but it was just one or two days and not nearly as much stimulation as Disney I have no doubt they'll be raring to go for the first day - maybe even two - but it's after that point that I'm just not sure if all day touring will be too much. They both say they want to stay in the parks all day but I just don't know how that will work after a few days. They might surprise me and be able to just keep going. We will definitely stay as flexible as possible - it's just hard to plan the things we have to plan not knowing how they'll do. The plan right now is to have 5 day hoppers, so I'm leaning towards maybe a break after two days in the parks and then maybe hopping on the last day to give a mid-day break and I'll just have to work our reservations around that.

 

[TeamDP]

Military discounts came out today and we got through! We now have 2 rooms booked at Pop Century, where my son decided he really wanted to stay! My daughter will be in heaven being surrounded by Princesses and all things Disney while we are in the parks so I'm so glad we could get the resort my son really wanted We had Shades before but this feels more official - not sure why - maybe it's because it's where we will actually stay and we will actually get to arrive via Magical Express. I can't wait for my kids to see the Magical Express and be driven onto WDW!