First Time Disney Advice

[defendthehill]

I booked my FIRST ever Disney vacation for the first week of June. I have three little princesses ages 8, 5, and 3. I booked us at The Beach Club mainly due to its pool. I have read many of the threads and discussions on this board and they are great. But this is my first time at Disney...I am 40 and my daughters first time and I want to make this the best. I will listen to any and all advice. Thanks for the insight!

 

[Metro West]

 

[MarkinNM]

to the DIS!!!​

We will be at WDW in June also!!

Have fun...........

 

[RNtheRN]

WELCOME HOME

 

[Fram]

The one thing I can say is enjoy it to the fullest ,the first time we took my 2 girls it was amazing to see the look on there face and that is one memory that will be etched in to my memory forever . Thats why we are going back with our 3rd child in September

 

[defendthehill]

How much time does it "normally" take to get from the Airport to Disney Resorts via the Express? We have ADR at CRT for 7PM and my flight lands around 2:30.....does that give me enough time?

 

[DWFan4Life]

I just wanted to say welcome to DISboards and may you have a great time, have fun and enjoy in your upcoming trip. Looking forward in hearing more from you.

Have a nice and safe trip coming.

 

[Aliceacc]

Hi and welcome.

A few ideas:

- Are you on the meal plan? If so (and even if not) have you booked any Princess meals yet? (You can book them 90 days out, so your window is open.)
Aside from dinner in the Castle, 2 alternatives:
a) Dinner with Cinderella and the Stepfamily at 1900 Park Fare (easy to reach by monorail from the Magic Kindgom.) We did this last year and it was hysterical!!! The characters go from table to table, signing autographs. The stepsisters bickered about who was prettier, and Lady Tremain was the best!! My daughters both wore their Halloween Princess costumes to dinner (my youngest kept hers on all night) and they were called "Your majesty" all night... they just ate it up!
b) Princess meal at Aukerhaus (Norway) in Epcot. This one has lots of princessses. We may add this one on this year.

Also, think about eating at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary (again, easy to reach by monorail) But be careful here-- are your kids freaked out (as one of mine is) by characters in costume? If not, it's a great choice!

 

[VAN]

You should have time to get settled in at your resort prior to your ADR on your arrival day.

If this is your time at WDW, I would like to suggest that you purchase and read the "Unofficial Guide to WDW" ... it will give you a very good overview of the property and what to expect.

I would also suggest that you plan on having some downtime between park visits. The weather will be warm and it gets very exhausting for children and adults alike pounding the pavements, battling the crowds, and being exposed to every kind of stimuli known to man!!! LOL.

For the days you plan to visit the main parks, please try to be there early and then take a break mid-day when the crowds begin to build. Don't know how late you will want to be at the parks with the younger ones, but just be prepared to adjust your plans based on how everyone is doing. You can always plan another visit if you do not "see it all." In fact, plan on the fact that you will NOT do/see it all on this visit.

The UGW will help you to familiarize yourself with the parks ... you should then have the discussion with your children as to what their "must see" attractions are and make sure those get top priority. You certainly don't want to hear about "I didn't get to do what I wanted" on the trip home.

Enjoy, pace yourself, and do your homework PRIOR to arrival.

 

[defendthehill]

Thanks for the info.....my wife did buy the Unofficial Guide and we have started reading it. We also did purchase the meal plan and at the encouragement of a few Veteran Disney Friends made all our dinner reservations already. They include CRT, Chef Mickey's, Crystal Palace and a few others that escape me at the moment.

We will certainly take the advice of returning back to our resort during the mid day.....everyone we have talked to says this is great advice for the kids......but I think I will probably need the nap

Should we rent a stroller? We had this discussion last night. Does anyone have advice on this?

 

[defendthehill]

One other question for now. The Disney Photo package....is it worth it? I don't mind spending money on something that is worth a lifetime of memories.

 

[tjmac11]

One other question for now. The Disney Photo package....is it worth it? I don't mind spending money on something that is worth a lifetime of memories.

I'd still take a camera, but the Photo package is nice.

 

[VAN]

I believe that strollers are uber expensive to rent. You may want to bring one with you or purchase one ($50 umbrella stroller) at a WDW gift shop.

You will definitely want your own camera; however, the Disney photographers do a nice job and I would think the pre-purchase of a Photopass CD would be well worth it for first time visitors with children.

Don't be shy about approaching the photographers and asking for them to take photos. Sometimes things can get busy and you might need to be the one to initiate the contact with them. You'll see them all over though and also at the character greeting areas.

I can't say enough good things about the character greeting area at Epcot. A lot of people don't seem to know it is there and so I've never seen a large line. Good way to meet a lot of the major characters.

Sounds like you have had a lot of good advice!

 

[Tigerman81572]

I will not rent a stroller again. Its nice at the park but you can't take them anywhere else. When we left the park, the kids were out, we had to pack them to the transportation station, stand in line , and then pack them from the bus stop at the resort all the way to our room. You can take a stroller on the bus and monorail with you, its not a big deal. Have a great vacation.

 

[Tigerman81572]

Here is some counter top meal advice I learned from reading one of the disney guide books and believe it or not, it works. When your at the parks and you go into one of the fast service meal places, the lines are usually very long. For some reason, everyone packs into the middle and right lanes. Always go towards the left, the lines are much shorter. I don't know why but it works. Iv'e been to DW 2 times since 2005 and am going back the first week in June too. Here is some other news you might want to know that I found out about after it was too late. The first week in June is Gay Pride Week in Orlando with Gay Day at DW on Saturday June 6th. They come from all over the country to Orlando that week. Just my luck! I don't know if you care about that or not just thought you should know since DW does not tell anyone about it. Have a great vacation!

 

[Malibustyle23]

One other question for now. The Disney Photo package....is it worth it? I don't mind spending money on something that is worth a lifetime of memories.

I think the worth is based on how much you will use it. Our first trip we didnt even know about it. The following two we used it and every future one we will also.
You can get as many pictures as you would like on it. A CM has told me that he has done them with 3 discs on them before (and I thought I was hot with 120 pics on mine! )You always have the option of having everyone being in the pic, they can always locate the pics even if you lost your photopass as long as you have the id # (not the case when I lost my camera in park). There is photopass photographers everywhere but as a PP said sometimes you may have to approach them but its their job and the memories are well worth it.

 

[Malibustyle23]

Oh and I also read somewhere that with a first time visit and especially with young children NOT to visit the MK first. Try another park first and then work up to the MK because it is so magical and so much what everyone expects of WDW that the other parks are kinda a dissapointment after that to younger kids (please dont flame me for this I just read it but kinda agreed since I started out at MK too).

 

[defendthehill]

Our plan is to go to Magic Kingdom the night of our arrival at Disney. We have dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table and then we thought we might hit a couple of the classic kid rides...Dumbo and Peter Pan's flight before we head back to our hotel to hit the sack. Then we are going to hit Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios before we go back to Magic Kingdom. I hope that plan works out for my family. I am excited to think that my daughter's first experience at Disney will be walking into MK and to the Palace to have dinner! I hope that is worth the entire trip!

 

[LMO429]

Welcome to the disboards

the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to ensure you are at the rope drop (or about 10 to 15 minutes) before the parks open. Go to the bigger attractions first. It will make your trip much more enjoyable!

 

[darrius1st]

I purchased the guide by Beth Haworth. Is there another?