First timer - plan

[Laszkowicz]

Hi been reading here for a few months now.got some great tips and common pit falls to avoid thanks to you all.

I'm going to brave putting my plan up for feedback.
Please consider
DDs are 10, 7
Disney mad family MK will prob be our fav !
Blue man and DC swim are set in stone dates.
All other dates can shift.
No ADR booked yet. 180 is this weekend I think.
Want to watch wishes.

Cc welcome.

30 oct
Land 16.40

31 oct
ADR chef mickey breakfast not booked yet
Rope drop MK

1 nov
MK

2 nov
AK

3 nov
HS
Derby brown & fantasmic not booked yet

4 nov


5 nov
Epcot

6 nov
Sea world - got tickets

7 nov
Busch gardens - got tickets

8 nov
Chill out day
BB OR TL waterpark
Blue man 7pm - got tickets

9 nov

10 nov

11 nov
DC Dolphin swim - got tickets

12 nov

13 nov
Flight home

 

[Laszkowicz]

Ps

Staying AOA
no car
Don't want many ADRs happy to eat Idrive

 

[Elise79]

I would book a 7am ADR for chef Mickeys if you want to get to rope drop. It's about a 10 minutes walk from the CR to MK.

Also if you are planning on eating offsite how are you thinking of getting there if you don't have a car? Eating offsite regularly without a car is going to be a PITA and taxis would wipe any potential savings.

There are some better CS choices at the resorts if you are interested in that.

 

[Minniesgal]

I was going to say the same thing, how are you going to eat on Idrive with no car?

I would personally fully recommend having a car. If you want to eat offsite you will probably save the cost of the car in cheaper meals.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

Ps

Staying AOA
no car
Don't want many ADRs happy to eat Idrive

We take a 9 night WDW trip every year staying onsite. We drive in but regardless, we use our car as the disney transprotation can be slow. However, seeing that you are going to Sea World and Busch Gardens (which is quite a drive away in Tampa), I would assume you HAVE to get a car. There is no other way to do it with those trip sand if you are wanting to eat off property. Nothing in Orlando or Florida is close so taxis would not even make sense.

Here is my tip. Most ADR's do not require any type of credit card deposit. As such, I would really review all the options and make some decisions on dining about restaurants that your family would like. In our house we print off menus, review and then make a plan. Book these restaurants for if Disney decides to offer free dining during that time (which they have done in the past), the restaurants will be completely full and have no walk ins available. I know Sci-Fi was like that last year in September. You don't want that!

Additionally, if you are staying on property you can take advantage of the extra magic hours. Since we don't get park hoppers, we look at the Disney calendar for the park hours looking for extended hours and decide which parks we will do based on that. That makes it easy to then decide what park we will be in which day. Thusly, making dining reservations becomes easy based on where we will be.

I want to let you know that my kids favorites are Sci-Fi diner at Hollywood Studios and Ohanas at the Polynesian Resort. They are incredible.

Anything else I can help you with, just ask. Having done this like your extended vacation for many years, I am an unofficial pro at it!! Also there are Disney 180 day counters. Check those out to calendar when you need to hop on reservations. Hope this helps.

 

[NC Disney Fan]

I saw you are doing Brown Derby. I have to say think about it. It takes 2 Dining Plan credits and from what I hear, is not really worth it. Like I said, Sci Fi will be a total winner for your kids. Fantasmic is a huge theater so you can get a seat no problem and from the arena, you can see everything well from any spot. You can always plan to get there a bit early. If Sci Fi doesn't have the package deal, i would still opt for Sci Fi over Brown Derby anyway!!! Great ambiance, great food and a unique expereince versus the overpriced Brown Derby. That's just my opinion for what it is worth.

 

[duffdo]

I will be there the same time as you!! .....your itinerary looks ok. I understand that with children you won't want to cram in too much! I would seriously recommend you get a car. Taxis are really expensive and you can hire a car for £225, cheaper if you only get it for a week. Staying on site means that around Disney you will be just fine, but if you plan to go off site, the local bus service is virtually non existent and I dread to think how much a taxi to Busch gardens would be! (Probably a weeks car hire!)

 

[chmurf]

Well ... first of all, your planning gives me the feeling that your planning does not fit with the description of your trip.

You are staying onsite, whithout a car, and your planning *screams* "offsite with a car".

I'll just ask a few questions to see if you got everything covered

How will you go from AoA to Seaworld & DC ?
How will you go from AoA to Universal (for BMG) ?
Do you realise that going to eat on idrive will either cost a lot of money (taxi) or a lot of time (40min to 1hr each way door to door) if you use public transportation (Lynx)
Nearest offsite restaurants on crossroads will take you a lot of time to get to. Time to go to DTD bus stop, and then Lynx to crossroads, that's at least half an hour each way (probably on the 40 minutes side if you hit rush hour on hotel plaza blvd)

As PP suggested, it might really be worth it (and cheaper, and more flexible) to get a car.
It really seems that you're planning too much offsite activities for a strictly onsite (no car) stay.

On a side note, TL or BB on a Friday might not be the best idea crowd-wise. (even though on nov 8th there is a fairly high chance that only people from the "North" like us will be willing to freeze at a Water Park

 

[Laszkowicz]

Hi guys

Thanks
I knew it was a good idea to get some feedback. You can tell we're first timers.

The reason for eating off site more was menu's aren't so too our taste from what we've seen so far, and I guess we totally underestimate how far it is from disney to get off site.

This is so hard when you nothing to go on ! Grrr

Could get a car for one week n split our stay 1 week disney other week off site stuff.

We wanna do SW Universal, Busch and DC as they're already paid for.

I don't mind getting a car just a bit weary of hiring cars. Never drive abroad before. I'm confident but if someone hit us or something happened to the car I would be prepared.

We have virgin transfers so could get a car for last week or a middle portion of 7 days or so.

Could I book this when we get there, and would disney sort it or would I have to book direct with a hire Co.

I assume I'd pay parking charges at US,SW,BG,DC?

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Hi guys


The reason for eating off site more was menu's aren't so too our taste from what we've seen so far, and I guess we totally underestimate how far it is from disney to get off site.

WOW !!! with all those restaurants I am totally gobsmacked you are having problems finding places to eat ...... we usually have the exact opposite problem with too many places to eat and not enough days to eat at them

Now with my serious face on what type of food do you and your family like maybe we can point you in the right direction of some more onsite places to eat to save on all the time taken up going back and forth onsite to offsite and back to onsite

 

[Laszkowicz]

Great idea.

We can stay on site but saw a saving off site but with taxi fair or bus times I see its not a benefit.
But we've gotta try sizzlers lol

We're generally plain Janes.
Meat n 2 veg
Chicken dishs
Sandwiches
Wife likes pasta
Spag Bol

Kids generally kids usual nuggets, sausage, spaghetti Bol etc etc, with fries lol.

We've looked at a few menus but I must admit not lots.

Def wanna do chef mickey for experience and rainforest cafe CID we loved it in Paris.


Might have to be serious about a car !!

 

[Groovee]

Your plans indicate a car is needed. There is a disney car hire place I think near the swan and dolphin.

My only concern with DC is if it gets cancelled you don't have many days to change it to. You may miss out completely if the weather turns.

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

Great idea.

We can stay on site but saw a saving off site but with taxi fair or bus times I see its not a benefit.
But we've gotta try sizzlers lol

We're generally plain Janes.
Meat n 2 veg
Chicken dishs
Sandwiches
Wife likes pasta
Spag Bol

Kids generally kids usual nuggets, sausage, spaghetti Bol etc etc, with fries lol.

We've looked at a few menus but I must admit not lots.

Def wanna do chef mickey for experience and rainforest cafe CID we loved it in Paris.


Might have to be serious about a car !!

Ok well to start with the kids can order off the kids menu of which there is one at every restaurant. On the kids menus there is usually nuggets, pasta etc and the chefs at every restaurant will tailor dishes to your needs.


Pasta & Pizza
Tony's Town Square - Magic Kingdom
Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria - Epcot
Tutto Italia Restaurant - Epcot

Burgers
Big River Grill - Boadwalk

Meat & 2 veg
The Rose & Crown pub - Epcot
Liberty Tree Tavern - Magic Kingdom
50's Prime Time Cafe - Disney Studios

Hot Dogs
Casey's Corner

Sandwiches
Earl of Sandwich - Downtown Disney

Chicken/Pizza/Pasta
Wolfgang Puck Express - Downtown Disney

This list should start you off and I'm sure others will add their tuppence worth

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

Two good places to look at food menus and reviews is www.allears.net and www.disneyfoodblog.com .Sorry but have you already booked your hotel or are you still deciding,as I was just going to say if you stay at a Disney moderate hotel eg Port Orleans you could possibly get free disney dining.

 

[MrRomance]

Hi been reading here for a few months now.got some great tips and common pit falls to avoid thanks to you all.

I'm going to brave putting my plan up for feedback.
Please consider
DDs are 10, 7
Disney mad family MK will prob be our fav !
Blue man and DC swim are set in stone dates.
All other dates can shift.
No ADR booked yet. 180 is this weekend I think.
Want to watch wishes.

Cc welcome.

30 oct
Land 16.40

31 oct
ADR chef mickey breakfast not booked yet
Rope drop MK

1 nov
MK

2 nov
AK

3 nov
HS
Derby brown & fantasmic not booked yet

4 nov


5 nov
Epcot

6 nov
Sea world - got tickets

7 nov
Busch gardens - got tickets

8 nov
Chill out day
BB OR TL waterpark
Blue man 7pm - got tickets

9 nov

10 nov

11 nov
DC Dolphin swim - got tickets

12 nov

13 nov
Flight home

You're going the same time as we are!!! We are 29th Oct - 12th Nov!!!

As pointed out above... make your ADR for Chef Mickey at 7am. You'll probably be up at the crack of dawn which is common with the jet lag, so make the most of it, eat early so you can walk over to MK for rope drop.

To do 4 days on the spin right at the start of the trip might require some thought. You will be jet lagged and unless you're planning very full days in the parks you won't cover everything.

Great point made above about eating off-site. Do you have a car? If not there is nothing to be gained by eating off-site.

 

[Laszkowicz]

Hotel and all park tickets are booked.


Re:car
I think ill book one then. I can use it for all other parks off site. Can I drive from AOA to MK AK EPCOT HS ? Is this a good idea if I get one.

Should I get a car for 2 weeks or one.?

 

[Laszkowicz]

Thanks for the menu points. Ill check allears again tonight.

I think I might get a car then
Should I go for 2 weeks or one ?

Can I drive from AOA to MK EPCOT HS AK ? And is this a good idea.

I'm warming to the fact we are 'free' if we have a car and can re jig the whole itinerary.

Might get DC a few days earlier incase of bad weather.

 

[Elise79]

We always have a car so I would go for the full 2 weeks. You may want to collect it on your first full day rather than driving and trying to find you way after the long flight. Won't save you much if anything except a bit of stress! If you collect it from the car care centre they will send a shuttle to your hotel to collect you and take you over. It's free and you can book at a time to suit you.

We always drive to the parks except MK as you have to park at the TTC and get a ferry or monorail anyway. We will drive sometimes if we have plans to head straight out after.

We prefer eating offsite too - it is much better value and the food is as good if not better offsite. We will do a couple of character breakfasts and a couple of dinners on site everything else we eat offsite.

 

[ChipnDaleRule]

We always have a car so I would go for the full 2 weeks. You may want to collect it on your first full day rather than driving and trying to find you way after the long flight. Won't save you much if anything except a bit of stress! If you collect it from the car care centre they will send a shuttle to your hotel to collect you and take you over. It's free and you can book at a time to suit you.

We always drive to the parks except MK as you have to park at the TTC and get a ferry or monorail anyway. We will drive sometimes if we have plans to head straight out after.

We prefer eating offsite too - it is much better value and the food is as good if not better offsite. We will do a couple of character breakfasts and a couple of dinners on site everything else we eat offsite.

Is their a charge for parking at the parks or is it free for Disney guests?

 

[Disneynutinlondon]

We always drive to the parks except MK as you have to park at the TTC and get a ferry or monorail anyway. We will drive sometimes if we have plans to head straight out after.

I've always thought the main problem with driving to the parks is that you have to use the car parking lots which if you're no where near the park entrance can mean you end up having to take a shuttle from your car to the entrance, whereas the Disney buses drop you and pick you up right at the park gates