First time at Disney World... need advice!

[secantofx]

Hello everyone! My wife and I are taking our toddler son to Disney World for our first time in January, (right before his 3rd birthday so he's free!), and we couldn't be more excited! Of course, since I seem to be the most excited, all of the planning falls on me, and I am starting to feel a little stressed out here lol! :/

We have a reservation at the Kidani Villas from Jan 14-21, and we want to try out each park for as much as they can offer our toddler and I. So I'm thinking thats a 4-day single park pass for each of us. Any tips in particular for families with toddlers?

I love my family (really, I do!), but then I also want a chance to be able to explore as much as I can by myself since it's been a total bucket list dream to come here so I want to have an extra solo day to do as much as I could (my wife gave her blessing!). Should I get a separate single-day park hopper pass? Where should I go?? What should I do?!? Lol, I'll take any recommendations or suggestions!

Thank you!!

Edit: Just saw there was a Disney for Families subforum... would this be better off posted there? My bad!

 

[disneyfan123]

If you are planning on spending more time at the park than your family, just buy a longer pass for yourself. You will save LOTS of money adding on a day or two to your pass, than buying two separate passes for yourself. You should go everywhere and do everything! You may just want to buy a 5-6 day pass for everyone, as the price doesn't go up much per day, once you are at that many days.

I really like touringplans.com, as they have lots of info on Disney World (and more), including indepth reviews of all the restaurants and rides, as well as touring plans to optimize your park time. You need to purchase a subscription, but it's only about $15 and well worth it. There smart phone app "Lines" is a great tool too. They have a book, too, "The Unofiical Guide to Walt Disney World", if you are interested in reading a proper book on the subject.

I'd also check out Allears.net and the Disney Food Blog, as they are great resources, along with the Dis Boards!

Research as much as you can to get a layout of each park, what rides you want to do, what restaurants you want to try, etc.

Especially with young kids, I'd probably plan to take a break in the afternoon for naps/pool time, and head back out to the parks for the evening.

Rope drop (be there for park opening, preferably be at the park at least 30 mins prior to the opening time) is important if you want to maximize your efficiency. Some people hate getting up early, and that's understandable, but I wouldn't do Disney without it. It will save you lots of time in the park and let you get on the major rides with the lowest wait times. Lining up for rides right before park closing is effective too.

Lots more info out there, but I hope that helps a bit.

 

[loves to dive]

I'm going against the grain here but there can be such a thing as too much planning. I agree maybe watch a few videos and look at a map or two to get to know the parks but that's it.

Here is the thing. DW is huge. I've been going for over 38 years and have yet to do everything there is to do there so don't even think about trying. With a little one, it's important to go on their schedule or you and they will be miserable. We started going when my son was just shy of 3, now that was a long time ago, there were only 2 parks and so it wasn't as overwhelming. We did not rope drop because I didn't want to deal with the crowds with a little one. I was a single mom and he hated strollers at that age and would not get in one until he was too tired for words. We went slow and just took in the place, it wasn't all about riding rides with him, he was fascinated with the parks and the people. We did ride rides but I knew he would get tired fast so that wasn't our focus. We didn't plan on when to take a break, just when he was getting too tired for words, we would go back to the resort (we always stayed on site and back then the monorail resorts and Shades of Green were the only ones available). We would usually grab lunch at the resort, then either go to the room for a nap (for me) or to the pool for some down time. Then later in the day we would head back to the parks. When he got tired but still wanted to be there, I would rent a stroller, that way I wasn't trying to deal with one on the buses and with the crowds.

Don't push the little one too hard, it's a lot of walking, a lot of people, a lot of noise and can be overwhelming. I'm thinking the crowds shouldn't be too bad in Jan. so there is that. Let him dictate your day. If he wants to ride the carosel, ride it. If he doesn't want to ride Dumbo, don't (we have yet to ride that ride to this day). If he wants to spend 1/2 hour running around the grass on the hub, do it. If he rides a ride and loves it and wants to ride it again, do it.

For your solo day, it's time to do what you want to do. By that point you should have at least seen the parks and gotten some idea of what you might want to do. Don't push yourself, like I said, you can't see and do everything any way. Also, I wouldn't do too much research. You are only going to set yourself up for disappointment because either you didn't get to do that "must do" whatever or you did that "must do" whatever and it didn't seem all that and a bag of chips for you. You can't miss what you've never had so don't think you have to do or eat where everyone else thinks you must.

 

[secantofx]

If you are planning on spending more time at the park than your family, just buy a longer pass for yourself. You will save LOTS of money adding on a day or two to your pass, than buying two separate passes for yourself. You should go everywhere and do everything! You may just want to buy a 5-6 day pass for everyone, as the price doesn't go up much per day, once you are at that many days.

Super good idea on the adding to the existing pass! I must admit, I was seeing dollar signs swirling around for a while just staring at the ticket prices, but money saved sounds good to me at this point! Thank you for the links and tips!

 

[secantofx]

Don't push the little one too hard, it's a lot of walking, a lot of people, a lot of noise and can be overwhelming. I'm thinking the crowds shouldn't be too bad in Jan. so there is that. Let him dictate your day. If he wants to ride the carosel, ride it. If he doesn't want to ride Dumbo, don't (we have yet to ride that ride to this day). If he wants to spend 1/2 hour running around the grass on the hub, do it. If he rides a ride and loves it and wants to ride it again, do it.

YES, this is so true and I have to remind myself of this every day! Now that I think about it, what I'm looking to do is to research and plan what kind of things he might be interested in, or for what's even available for a toddler-- that way we minimize the time spent getting lost and standing around trying to figure out what is possible while he gets antsy! Thank you for the great perspective!

 

[Disturbia]

Definitely take a good stroller and a rain cover if that’s forecasted. We like the mcclaren volo. It’s easy to fold and lightweight for buses (AKL means lots of buses). You can buy an attachable parent console (we have bjorn) for cup holders. We also have a backpack convertible diaper bag (better to have extra set of hands while getting on and off buses). We have the Allcamp Zebra diaper bag (the blue stripes doesn’t have as many pockets inside).

We’ve stayed at Kidani and I’ve volunteered to stay behind with the baby and let the older kids go early and enjoy the parks and join them in the evening for fast passes and ADRs. We’ve also had to change plans when kids stood in long lines (max 2 with a younger child); we’ve had to give up evening ADRs twice (Oga’s and BOG), so be flexible. Once the kids discover the pool, it will be a daily demand. We’ve spent time just letting kids run around empty spaces (eg bathrooms near figment, splash areas).

They don’t have enough buses running at AKL (30 min waits were normal, except for AK) and we’ve had better experiences at AOA (except 1 Epcot day when rain shut down gondolas).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I think a lot of people will disagree with this, but my kids are 7, 4, and 2 and we've been going two or three times a year since the oldest was 6 months and this is what works for us.

I'd buy 8-day tickets for everyone and then take it slow each day. We find that to be much more relaxing than doing busy park days with entire days of doing nothing. If you're going to spend 40 hours in the parks, I think it's better to do 5 hours every day rather than 10 hours every day for four days and 0 hours the other days.

 

[Disturbia]

We do a couple of hours (no rope drops) if the younger kids are with us and lunch in the park, break (pool or nap) 2-5 and then couple of hours before an evening ADR. We buy 7 day tickets so we have 2 days for the favorite parks and do a couple of hours on travel days as well (Epcot or AK), so no need to rush.

Also, make sure your child has protein for breakfast (we microwave fish sticks ordered from garden grocers). I had to make sure we had a freezer at AOA (they do not, but we were given a small freezer). Do not give your child a lemonade slushy at Epcot unless you want an hour long cardio.

Note: Make sure you know the ins and outs of rider switch for rides your kid is too short for (so the waiting parent can ride without having to wait again).

 

[Disney Fool]

There are very few thrill rides at each park-save those for when you're by yourself. you got some good advice here. check out the families board also. great advice there. as previous poster explained, you CAN'T do it all. As for "bucket list" phfffft!!! You'll be back before you know it! (you just have to trust me on this) grab a guide book, circle things you think you'll enjoy. most times, your 3 year old will be able to ride with you. other rides have height requirements. but there is PLENTY to do with a nearly 3 year old. make sure you factor in some down time, napping in stroller, snacks, etc. you may even find it fun to just sit on a bench and take in the sights and sounds. Have a wonderful first trip!

 

[Gehrig1B]

I'd buy 8-day tickets for everyone and then take it slow each day. We find that to be much more relaxing than doing busy park days with entire days of doing nothing.

I agree with this, and an 8 day ticket costs about $75 more than a 5 day ticket... And if you can swing hopper passes you will have even more flexibility.

 

[JCornell]

It'll help if you can give us more of an idea of what you're looking forward to out of the trip. There's a lot and that's part of what brings a lot of us back over and over. For some people, it's all about the rides and attractions and there are plenty of those. But there's also the construction, how everything (attractions, stores, restaurants, even the ground) has a story behind it and everything is done with intent. There's food and drink, a lot to explore outside of the parks (we often visit many of the resorts which are decorated differently for the seasons), the different forms of transportation (monorail, skyliner, boats, including boats you can rent and explore on your own), not to mention Disney Springs which can be a destination itself. You could explore the countries at Epcot for hours. Same for all of the animals and trails at Animal Kingdom but is that what you want or something else?
As mentioned previously, Unofficial Guide is sort of the standard book everyone recommends for good reason and a great place to start to just see which things seem most interesting to you and not to be missed. As I tell others, I've been going for 40 years and regularly for over 20 and still haven't done everything so get that idea out of your head early and just focus on what you really want to check out. Our first trip with the kids was when our younger daughter was one. She has little memory of it but we definitely remember the experience she had so it was awesome.
I'll also suggest finding a few youtube vloggers you resonate with and watch some of their videos. They walk through the parks regularly, filming and commenting on their experiences. Recent videos will focus on the current goings-on such as Halloween and Christmas soon but they're good to get different general vibes of what a day in a park can be like (most are locals though, so they don't necessarily pound the pavement like some tourists do). Just like us, some of them are all about the rides, others on dining, drinking, shopping, doing whatever is new, enjoying the classics, etc. Some even have young kids.
You'll find this board happy and eager to help and with plenty of preferences and opinions so let us know some of yours and that'll help more.

 

[Miffy]

I certainly agree with the "more park days are better" sentiment here, but if you're going to be there for only the 5 days and you want a day to yourself to do everything you can fit in, I think the best thing to do would be to buy a 4-day non-hopper ticket for your wife and a 5-day hopper ticket for yourself. I didn't research the numbers, but this has got to be cheaper than buying a 1-day hopper, if there even is such a thing.

Check out Undercover Tourist. They have discounted tickets and many of their 4-day tickets have a 5th day added for a great price.

But if you could swing a week instead of the 5 days, you'd be able to do everything at a better, slower pace.

And, as other posters have said, if you love it there, you will be going back. And I've been more times than I can count and there are many, many things I've never done and intend to do one day.

WDW is enormous and you'll be doing a ton of walking in the parks. Be prepared. And prepare to be amazed!

 

[Disturbia]

With mid day breaks you have to walk a lot back and forth to transportation. I registered 20-23k steps a day. I take aspercreme with lidocaine, an epsom salt lotion (eg pro foot heel rescue; activene, temple spa foot cream Aaahhh) and a massage gun (I have the YABER mini and Bob and Brad).