First Family Trip Planners Thread for WDW Newbies!

[WishnDreamer]

What are the top 3 tips you've learned during planning so far?

 

[WishnDreamer]

Is anyone doing a Pre-Trip Report? I had started 1 a while ago but wasn't happy with it and hadn't done anything with it. Plus I hadn't done a signature with it or anything. I have a ticker with a link to it now if anyone would like to check it out I would love any feedback.

 

[WishnDreamer]

What are the top 3 tips you've learned during planning so far?

Avoid EMH. I know a lot of people disagree with this but the explanations I received made sense to me. It makes the EMH park really crowded & lines long.

Rope drop. Rope drop. Rope drop.

Plan times to rest & stick to them. Don't try to do it all.

Of course I have not been yet, so I don't know if these tips will work out for me, but I kind of have a feeling they will. We'll see soon & I'll let you know.

 

[lamb616]

Avoid EMH. I know a lot of people disagree with this but the explanations I received made sense to me. It makes the EMH park really crowded & lines long.

Rope drop. Rope drop. Rope drop.

Plan times to rest & stick to them. Don't try to do it all.

Of course I have not been yet, so I don't know if these tips will work out for me, but I kind of have a feeling they will. We'll see soon & I'll let you know.

If you're staying on Disney property then morning EMHs are the absolute BEST thing ever b/c not many people get up that early to take advantage. We're early birds anyways so it's perfect for us. That first hour is like having the park to yourself practically, and if you get the most popular rides out of the way in that hour, then you're way ahead of the crowd for the rest of the day.

Now evening EMH's, I may avoid that park in the late afternoon/early evening, but I don't think evening EMH affects the early day time crowd

 

[Groomer Gal]

I would LOVE to see your touring plan Wishn! Thanks!

Lamb616, and Wishn, see...thats where it starts getting confusing. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on EMH hours. For the most part though, I have heard the EMH in the morning is how Lamb describes it. (especially the time we are going in Dec...generally lower crowds)
We do plan on doing rope drop as much as we can. Also planning on an afternoon break to rest up and head back to the parks or to another resort for dinner.
We are NOT doing park hoppers. For a couple of reasons. It's our first time (well, I haven't been since 1987 ) and I want to just concentrate on one thing at a time. I know myself all too well and if I have park hopping....I'll push everyone to the point of no fun to try and make the most of it.
I do have lists of the attractions that are most important to us. Our TA has been great and will make a touring plan for us with all of our wants and needs....so that will be helpful.
If she could only make the time go by faster so we could get there......

 

[lamb616]

I think the people who say to avoid morning EMHs are the people that don't get there during that hour. If you're not going to take advantage of the EMH then there may be another park that day that is less crowded.

 

[WishnDreamer]

I think the people who say to avoid morning EMHs are the people that don't get there during that hour. If you're not going to take advantage of the EMH then there may be another park that day that is less crowded.

I agree with this. What I have heard is that the park becomes very crowded with resort guests in the late morning/early afternoon because for some reason even though they didn't make it to early EMH, they still come to the EMH park. Also, that even though you PLAN to go to early EMH, if you don't schedule right (ie have a late night out the night before for fireworks, have REALLY long days with no breaks the day before, etc) you get burnt out and end up not making it to the early EMH which then puts you behind and makes you one of those folks showing up later because if you don't have hoppers, you may already have an ADR at that park and feel you NEED to go there for that ADR.

My family is early birds too, but my kids also go to bed at 8 & 8:30. On the weekends they go a little later but I figure by the time we get back on Disney busses from Fantasmic, Illuminations, and Wishes, we may not be such early birds at Disney. I am already pushing rope drop so I didn't want to push for early EMH too...It probably does work for a lot of people but I think you'd really need a plan then or you'd be worn out. I am no expert though. This is my first trip. This is all just my opinion and research right now. I can't put it to the test for 34 more days!!!

 

[WishnDreamer]

I would LOVE to see your touring plan Wishn! Thanks!

Lamb616, and Wishn, see...thats where it starts getting confusing. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on EMH hours. For the most part though, I have heard the EMH in the morning is how Lamb describes it. (especially the time we are going in Dec...generally lower crowds)
We do plan on doing rope drop as much as we can. Also planning on an afternoon break to rest up and head back to the parks or to another resort for dinner.
We are NOT doing park hoppers. For a couple of reasons. It's our first time (well, I haven't been since 1987 ) and I want to just concentrate on one thing at a time. I know myself all too well and if I have park hopping....I'll push everyone to the point of no fun to try and make the most of it.
I do have lists of the attractions that are most important to us. Our TA has been great and will make a touring plan for us with all of our wants and needs....so that will be helpful.
If she could only make the time go by faster so we could get there......

No park hoppers here either. I am mostly doing 3/4 days. My kids won't need naps and Disney transportation (especially by bus back & forth to AKL) will take too much time to be hopping around. I'd rather spend more time at 1 park than on the busses or whatever. I think it could be a little bit of overload for my mom & husband too.
Yes, if only the time could go faster. Tomorrow I can say NEXT MONTH WE GO TO DISNEY WORLD!!! I will work on posting my plans. You can check out my pre-trip report if you like.

 

[lamb616]

we're all early birds so had no problems getting up. YDD was up at 5 every morning, and believe me, when she's up.....,....everyone's up, lol. So we were at the bus stop by 7:15 every day to be in the park by 8:00. DH and I both despise (and won't wait in) long lines so that was our priority - to spend as little time as possible in lines. We were pretty much in bed by 8:00 every night. We were done with the parks by 4-5:00, go back to the hotel to swim & have supper, then hit the sack.

Now when I go in 2 weeks with just ODS and my father/step mother - and my sister and her family are also going to be down there too - I had to just suck it up and come up with a schedule that worked for all of us, EMHs and crowd calendar be damned. It's giving me anxiety to look at the crowd calendar and see we're going to a park when it's a "day to avoid" And none of the parks have morning EMHs either. it's going to be hard for me to relax knowing I didn't have an extra hour that morning and that I'm at a park that's not the least crowded for the day, lol.

 

[WishnDreamer]

Are you planning to see
Main Street Electrical Parade?
Wishes?
Illuminations?
Fantasmic?
Which 1 are you most looking forward to?

We are planning to see all of these.
Originally I was going to skip Fantasmic. I didn't think my family would be too crazy about the wait for it. But after telling DD about the trip it was her top pick of things to do, so it went on the list.
It's kind of hard to say which I am most looking forward to. I am looking forward to MSEP because I saw it as a kid and can't wait to see it again. Wishes because I hope we get to see Tink fly. Fantasmic because I think it will be really neat and I've never seen it.

 

[WendyWonderland]

Top 3 tips:

1. Plastic baggies.
2. Glow sticks from Dollar Tree.
3. Laminated schedules for each park.

Are you planning to see
Main Street Electrical Parade? Wishes? From the schedules we've seen, looks like we'll get both of these on the 11th of September.
Illuminations? I actually haven't looked much into this one.. Not sure why..
Fantasmic? Yes! Sept. 9th, with dinner at Mama Melrose's.
Which 1 are you most looking forward to? Fantasmic, definitely.

 

[WishnDreamer]

Top 3 tips:

1. Plastic baggies.
2. Glow sticks from Dollar Tree.
3. Laminated schedules for each park.

Are you planning to see
Main Street Electrical Parade? Wishes? From the schedules we've seen, looks like we'll get both of these on the 11th of September.
Illuminations? I actually haven't looked much into this one.. Not sure why..
Fantasmic? Yes! Sept. 9th, with dinner at Mama Melrose's.
Which 1 are you most looking forward to? Fantasmic, definitely.

I have Dollar Tree bracelets & necklaces ready to go. Thank heavens for that tip or I'm sure I would've been paying a fortune at the parks!

 

[Groomer Gal]

I have to wait until the schedule for Dec comes out BUT, at this point we are thinking MVMCP, Fanasmic, and Osborne lights. Don't know about illuminations. Our girls are not the stay up late kind. I think I can get them to take naps a couple of days to stay up later for some activities but don't think I'll manage that every day. Better to pick and choose our battles wisely then over schedule things and have them too tired to enjoy it.

Generally they are in bed at 8. Even last night we were watching a show and it was 8:30 and they started asking me if we could watch the rest another time. They wanted to go to bed.

 

[WishnDreamer]

I have to wait until the schedule for Dec comes out BUT, at this point we are thinking MVMCP, Fanasmic, and Osborne lights. Don't know about illuminations. Our girls are not the stay up late kind. I think I can get them to take naps a couple of days to stay up later for some activities but don't think I'll manage that every day. Better to pick and choose our battles wisely then over schedule things and have them too tired to enjoy it.

Generally they are in bed at 8. Even last night we were watching a show and it was 8:30 and they started asking me if we could watch the rest another time. They wanted to go to bed.

I would love to go back at Christmas someday to see the Osborne lights. Are you guys going to see all the Santa Clauses at Epcot World Showcase too? That's what I would really like to see as well. I know my daughter would love that too.

 

[WishnDreamer]

Do you plan to see or does anyone in your party have any special desire to see:
Celebrate a Dream Come True Parade
Move It Shake It Celebrate It
Dream Along with Mickey Castle Stage show
Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade
Pixar Pal's Countdown to Fun


We are planning Celebrate a Dream Come True & Dream Along with Mickey for arrival day. We figure that will be pretty low key for afternoon/evening arrival rather than running around trying to ride rides but we still wanted to head to MK to see the castle (& keep the kids from driving us nuts since we are arriving early). We are also planning on Move it Shake it. I read about it and it sounds pretty fun, kind of interactive, inviting the kids to dance in the streets with them.
We are not planning on the Animal Kingdom parade because we are planning a short day there and will probably be seeing a show. The Hollywood Studios one we will probably be taking a break at the resort at the time, unless we change our minds, in which case we may see it. I heard the old HS one was better.

 

[salann]

I'm not much of a parade girl...so I'm not planning around these events...if my kids decide that they just HAVE to see one, then we will do it, but its not something I'd feel I was missing if we didn't do them

 

[HalloweenNut]

Are you planning to see Main Street Electrical Parade? We're planning to see this on our second MK day. If we catch any of the daytime parades in the various parks it will only be by chance - we're not going to sit and wait for them. Most days we should be back at the resort for a rest/swim by the time the afternoon parades are on anyhow.
Wishes? We'll see this the same night we watch the MSEP. We'll leave the park around 3:30 for a rest back at the resort and then head back for dinner, the parade and Wishes in the evening.
Illuminations? This will be our last night at Disney and thought it a great way to wrap up the week. Again we'll leave the park early afternoon for a rest before returning for the evening.
Fantasmic? We'll see Fantasmic our first night at Disney. We have a very early flight so I'm desperately hoping that our room will be ready so we can all crash for a few hours sleep before heading out to HS. We have the Fantasmic dinner package booked at Mama Melrose.
Which 1 are you most looking forward to? I think Wishes. Just to be there and see the fireworks and the castle - I can't wait to see my daughters face light up! I'm just NOT looking forward to the crowds that go along with any of the parades/shows.

(BTW I should clarify that since this is thread for first-timers - even thought technically I've been to Disney 3 times already that was so long ago and the parks have changed so much I very much consider myself a first-timer in terms of planning!! )

 

[WishnDreamer]

Which 1 are you most looking forward to? I think Wishes. Just to be there and see the fireworks and the castle - I can't wait to see my daughters face light up! I'm just NOT looking forward to the crowds that go along with any of the parades/shows.

(BTW I should clarify that since this is thread for first-timers - even thought technically I've been to Disney 3 times already that was so long ago and the parks have changed so much I very much consider myself a first-timer in terms of planning!! )

I can't wait to see my kids faces either ESPECIALLY if we get to see Tinkerbell fly. I am not looking forward to the crowds and the waits for the parades either.
We have several that have been to WDW before but this is the first time they've planned a family trip. I went eons ago when there were only 2 parks or maybe 3 but I only went to 2...that's how much I can remember!

 

[WishnDreamer]

I'm not much of a parade girl...so I'm not planning around these events...if my kids decide that they just HAVE to see one, then we will do it, but its not something I'd feel I was missing if we didn't do them

Haha! I'm the exact opposite. I wanted to see them all. But wasn't thrilled about the crowds involved. My son said, "I don't want to see any daytime parades, just the night ones." I told him his sister & I wanted to see some so we had to compromise. As I started my planning I realized HS & AK's just weren't going to fit into the plans. I can't say I'm too sad when I think about standing in the heat & the crowds. The others will be enough for us, I think.

 

[Groomer Gal]

If it were up to my DD's they would see EVERYTHING!!!

We still have a long way to go so I haven't made any definite decisions yet.