First time and clueless

[Cfraz]

This will be my families first trip to Disney. We have a 4 year old boy. Where do we even start to know what to do, where to eat (no princess party), and anything else?

 

[Alesia]

This place can be overwhelming. My best advice is to get a copy of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, read it, and then come back here when you have more specific questions.

 

[Robo]

Also:

Click HERE and HERE and HERE and do some quick reading.

Make a list, and come back here to ask more.

 

[MrInfinity]

Hi,
Do you have any questions at this point? Our first trip we pretty much just went and explored. Didn't do too much research and it was great! The place to start is w picking your dates, arranging transportation, and have a look over the various parks. Decide on if you are wanting to do the 4 theme parks, or a water park, or anything else... Pick your hotel... things like that. Ask away w any questions!

 

[Malibustyle23]

Have you booked a trip yet? If so, where are you staying? How many days will you be there? What time of the year will you be traveling?

If you haven't decide all of those things and then just enjoy the trip taking everything in. Don't overland the first trip. You'll never know what you missed and you'll have a reason to return.

Also don't dismiss a princess meal so quickly just because you have a boy. I swear my boy enjoyed the attention from the princesses more than my daughter at comparable ages. They really know how to dote on the boys!

 

[godders]

@Cfraz welcome to the Dis! I promise everyone is really helpful and you have come to the right place! Take your time and explore the different boards (Resorts, Restaurants etc) and also feel free to use the Search bar up at the top to look for threads on "best moderate resort" for example and see what you find. Any questions you have, someone somewhere on here will have the answer!

Good luck planning your trip!

 

[Canuck16]

This will be my families first trip to Disney. We have a 4 year old boy. Where do we even start to know what to do, where to eat (no princess party), and anything else?

Can you give us some more specific info on when you plan on going, where you would like to stay and length of your trip etc?

The people on the DIS are a wealth of information so take advantage of their knowledge and experience as planning a WDW trip can be overwhelming.

Good luck planning!

 

[nkereina]

This place can be overwhelming. My best advice is to get a copy of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit, read it, and then come back here when you have more specific questions.

This. The guy who wrote the book also has a great blog that will help - easyWDW.com.

Trying to figure out where to eat is the easy part - several web sites including this one have reviews and menus posted. Very easy to find pics online. There's also the Disney Food Blog.

 

[Cfraz]

I have started reading the book! We will be staying at the Fountains (timeshare) in June or July for 7 days. I am just looking for info on where to eat and what to do that would be enjoyable for a 4 year old boy. I know we will not be able to see and do everything in 1 trip.

 

[GotLabradors]

Are there any specific Disney characters your son likes? We are doing T-REX at Downtown Disney for the boys in our group.

 

[Malibustyle23]

I like to check out allears.net they have every menu on Disney property with the prices. It's great to find restaurants that we will enjoy the meals.

What type of restaurants are you looking for? There are counter service which you just order at the window and then take to the table you pick out. These menus can widely vary from chicken nuggets and fries to steak and crabcake. Or are you looking for table service meals some have characters some do not. All are ordered from a waitstaff and almost all expect a gratuity.

I would personally suggest to get 7 day base tickets and go to a park everyday of your trip and plan your meal according to what park you will be visiting that day.

In those 7 days I would plan 3 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Hollywood Studios and it'd be a toss up for me whether Animal Kingdom or Epcot got the other 2 or 1 day left.

 

[beck00]

Welcome to the DIS! These boards will be your new best friend I haven't had a question yet, that someone or three couldn't answer for me

 

[ilovevacation]

Hi! Welcome to the dis! I know it's super overwhelming to plan a disney trip, even for many of us that have been many times before. It's likely you have someone in your life with the disney love as we have. I can't even begin to tell you have many people I know use me for a planning guide. I agree with everyone that picking your dates is the way to start . If you at completely flexible consider looking at crowd calenders to find a time that isn't too busy. Maybe you want to go to food and wine or want to visit over the summer. I have never been but understand new years and spring break/easter are very busy times, so if it's your first time. You might want to avoid as prices are high and crowds will be crazy, it might give you the wrong impression. Check back with us and keep us updated. Enjoy planning, it can be half of the fun!

 

[leebee]

On our first trip, DD was 5 and my niece was 1. Travelers were me, DH, DD, my sis, bil, and niece, we were there in early March, stayed offsite, and we had a car. I had read some of the Unofficial Guide to Disney World (still my favorite and what I'd recommend first) and came up with some basic park strategies, mostly for MK. I tried to get the layout of the park straight in my brain, decide which attractions we could eliminate, and then read over the suggestions and touring plans. We didn't do any of the evening parades or fireworks, and we didn't park hop. We tried to get to the parks fairly early in the morning (maybe not rope drop, but close), stayed for lunch and the afternoon (luckily the girls would nap in the strollers), then headed back to our condo around 6pm. We either did take-out supper (for example, call Olive Garden as we left the park, by the time we got there the order would be ready) or my sister and I dropped the husbands and girls at the condo. They'd get supper ready for the kids (chicken tenders, mac and cheese, etc.) while my sister and I went to Goodings and picked out ready-made individual meals for the adults. We'd heat our supper while the kids were getting ready for bed. It worked out well, as it kept the girls pretty close to their usual sleep schedule (which in subsequent trips we abandoned, but we could do that with our kids) and kept the parents pretty well rested, too.

One thing we learned was we all travel better if we do 2 park days and then a down-day. Sleep in late, play in the pool, go to Downtown Disney, etc. IIRC (it's been a few years, like 17?), we spent lots of time meeting characters on that first trip, so remember that you can't stick to a religious time schedule and still meet characters. I believe we did one in-park breakfast at Crystal Palace, so the kids (and the adults!) could meet Pooh and the Guys. IF you can afford the buffets (and the prices have skyrocketed in the past 15 years), a character buffet is a good use of time. I've found most meet and greets will take about 30 minutes. If you do 2, that's an hour, and then you'd still need to take an hour to eat lunch. If you can afford a character meal, it's like doing double duty, eating while doing a M&G. HOWEVER... there is no real need to do a character meal, if you are happy to relax and go with the flow. Also, remember that many kids are frightened of the fur characters (the ones in full costume, unlike princesses/princes, where you can see their real faces... aka, face characters). It sounds like you'll be in a timeshare, so I'll guess that you'll have a kitchen. I'd plan on having simple breakfasts at home, that you can eat before leaving, or even in the car on the way to a park. We find that mini-bagels, yogurt, cereal, fruit, etc. work well.

For my family on a 7 day trip, I'd get 5 day base tickets. You can do 2 park days, a down day, 2 park days, a down day, and a park day. Start and end with MK, then do one day each at Epcot, the Studios, and Animal Kingdom. IF you find that you need more time in the parks, you can add hopping once you get there... so if you had a short day at the Studios, you could hop over to MK for the late afternoon/early evening. REMEMBER that you will be walking about 8 miles a day in unbelievable heat, so DON"T over schedule ourself!

Plan around your kid's usual schedule. You know him best. With our girls, we learned that too many qs/ts meals would wear on their systems, so we were careful about what foods they ate, and made sure to get a decent breakfast in the morning. We had stroller-sleepers, so we could stay in the parks through the afternoons, but when they were little they really needed to be in bed between 9 and 10 (and that was stretching it). After all our trips (DD and I are planning #26? #27? for November), I think the most important thing I can pass on is to remember to keep people's sleep and meal needs in mind. If everyone is well-rested and appropriately fed, you'll have a better time overall. I can pretty much promise you, this won't be a "once-in-a-lifetime" trip; it'll be the first trip, with more to come!

 

[pcoleman]

First let me say welcome to the forum and congratulations on your trip. Best advice I can give you is to not stress so much. You have your dates, place to stay (which is wonderful by the way) and transportation. Decide what your son will like. I know many people ditch the Studios but it can be a wonderful park especially for little boys. If he is into animals AK may be a good route. Took my daughter when she was 3 and 5. Both times had it all planned out but changed for her. All she wanted to to was go see the animals everyday. Remember what the trip is about. Be flexible. Please allow some time off. Everyone needs breaks even the adults. Have a great trip.