First time poster with questions.

[new2disney320]

Hi everyone. This is my 1st time posting as well as my first visit to Disney World since I was 7 nearly 20 years ago. We are a family of 5. I have 3 dd's almost 9,almost 5 and a 2 yr old and of course dh. Anyways we will be going for 7 days starting March 15th this was the only time we could with dh's new job. From what I've heard thats a very busy time is it really that swamped around then?

Another questions is about money we have our plane tickets, hotel,car rental,and park tickets bought, so how much money should we need for food,gas and souveniers for 7 days? I was thinking maybe $1500 would be enough with about $800 for food thats about a hundred a day. We will be buying food for the hotel for mornings and late evening snacks. Also how much is the tolls there? I have heard you need exact change I will just bring a roll of whatever I need if I know.

We will be going to each park once and Sea World as well. The girls are wanting to visit a beach as well, is there a beach close by between the Sanford airport and Kissamee? We will be flying in there and driving to our villa but thought we might make our first stop the beach if possible.

Ok enough questions for this time I'm sure I will be back with plenty more. Thank you all for any help you can be to us I like to be prepared before we go anywhere and this is the first time we have ever went so far away as well as our first time on a plane. Perfect for us I know dh and my first flight is with 3 children very scary thought. Anyways thanks again.

Carrie

 

[loopner67]

I can't answer the questions about how much money to bring or toll costs, but I can give you some tips....

To find out about how busy the parks will be, you can go to this link and check out what they say for each date you'll be there....

http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm

You need to read up on what days are early opening days and late days in each of the parks - there's a lot of debate here (usually on the "parks" page) about what days are best to visit what park.

Here is another link that will be helpful.

http://www.allearsnet.com/pl/planning.htm

Have fun on your trip. I'll be there RIGHT before you (3/3 - 3/10)

 

[o2bacelt]

As far as the beach goes you're about an hour inland from the Atlantic and a little more than an hour from the Gulf.

There are some maps on mouse planet if you want to take a look.

Enjoy planning!

 

[mommystieg]

Here's a link to the menus http://allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm. This will give you an idea about how much money you will need for food. If you plan on doing any table service meals and you haven't already made ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) you may want to consider scheduling a few now. I have read that during busy times it is next to impossible to eat at the sit down restaurants without an ADR. You might want to try a few character meals - Chef Mickey's and Crystal Palace are a couple of our favorites. We are a family of 5 (DD13, DD5 and DD15mos) and we typically spend between $1500-$2000 -- we usually stay for 9 or 10 days. DH says that he budgets for about $200/day for food and souvenirs. We have one sit down meal per day and one counter service meal per day. HTH

 

[new2disney320]

Thank you all so much for your help with this. I will definitly check out the links you gave me and go from there. I'll base how much we need to bring on that.

I have another questions for you all as well. What about strollers? Is it worth the hassle to drag your own on a plane or should we just rent one at the parks? I was thinking of just renting one and bringing a towel or something to make it more comfortable for them. Would this be the bestway to go?

Thanks again to you all. We are so excited the countdown begins.

Carrie

 

[o2bacelt]

You might do better with a rental since two of your kids are a little older and they'll fit in the double rental really easily. We just got a new umbrella stroller for our trip.

About the beach, check out Cocoa Beach, it's almost directly across from Disney, about 45 minutes to an hour away. There are some things to do but everytime we've been there it's been nice and quiet. I also love Ron Jon's Surf Shop. Just google it and there are tons of links telling you about the stuff to do there.

HTH!

 

[mommystieg]

What about strollers? Is it worth the hassle to drag your own on a plane or should we just rent one at the parks? I was thinking of just renting one and bringing a towel or something to make it more comfortable for them. Would this be the bestway to go?

Thanks again to you all. We are so excited the countdown begins.

Carrie

We bring our own stroller but we drive to WDW so we don't have to hassle with it in the airport. We like having our own stroller for a couple of reasons
-after a long day in the parks neither one of us has the energy left to carry exhausted kids to the car
-we park hop a lot so it easier with our own stroller since we don't have to check one stroller in and then check another stroller out at the next park
For our trip last June we bought a nice Maclaren for our older DD and we love it so much we are getting a 2nd one for this trip. I found our stroller here:
http://www.specialtybaby.com/strolfrommac.html