First timer!

[kam1011]

Another vote for drive everywhere except MK. It took us a long time to realize that it's so much faster to take the bus to MK because it feels like a long time, but it's nothing compared to the hour it takes to drive to the TTC, hop on the monorail or bus, and then going HOME is rough when you're tired and hot.

 

[Happyjen27]

My next question is should we drive our rental mini van or take the bus to the parks from Caribbean Beach Resort?? I'm wondering which would be easier since we will have 3 toddlers, a stroller, diaper bag, etc.

I would think about re-investing that Deluxe Dining Plan money and staying at a monorail resort. Nothing like rolling your stroller on a monorail and being in the park in minutes. This would only be true for MK and Epcot though, you've got to bus or drive to AK and DHS no matter what.

Also, you might not want a breakfast in a park each morning. I agree with getting up and getting to the Rope Drop each morning, but, if you have a reservation there is no chance to sleep in or chill one morning if people are getting tired or run-down. Also, because it's a set reservation time, it might be stressful getting everyone going and on-time.

 

[crisi]

I think your remaining big kink will be naps. (I agree about the deluxe dining plan - you'd have spent way too much time eating, which will cut into your time seeing attractions). Your kids may or may not nap on the schedules you want. For that reason, I wouldn't rush getting back to the room "for naps"- you might never leave the room if the toddler goes down, the four year old doesn't go down for an hour and a half, the toddler wakes up in an hour forty five, the four year old wakes up and says "I want to go to the pool."

Be prepared for kids who are scared of loud fireworks and/or characters and to change your plans accordingly - at three and four my son was terrified of characters. (He's fifteen now). My kids didn't see the MK fireworks until they were teenagers, we just never made it back for them.

I'd put the extra $400 at hoppers. I'd do MK two mornings, then DHS and AK one morning each. I'd hop back to MK one afternoon and spend the remaining three evenings in Epcot. You can pop the kids in strollers and see a lot of Epcot without them having to do anything but veg in the stroller.

 

[tabm01]

Is Soarin' too scary for a 3 and 4 year old?

 

[ashleymrush]

Is Soarin' too scary for a 3 and 4 year old?

They should be fine on it as long as they meet the height requirement. The ride itself doesn't move except to lift you. Them you get so entranced in the film that you don't even realize how high you are. It's quite a relaxing ride in my opinion.

 

[tabm01]

Thanks, they are tall enough, I've been measuring them lol!

 

[GrtWtNorth]

My next question is should we drive our rental mini van or take the bus to the parks from Caribbean Beach Resort?? I'm wondering which would be easier since we will have 3 toddlers, a stroller, diaper bag, etc.

Bus service to the larger moderate resorts is inconsistent. Some families have good experiences, some have bad. My own experience (at Coronado Springs, many years ago) was that the buses would arrive at our bus stop half-full and that our party of five had to split up to find seats on the bus. Could your family cope with that? And if you plan to leave at a peak time (after fireworks), could your family handle a bus ride where some or all of you have to stand in the aisle because there are not enough seats? Don't kid yourself that people will make room for your kids. While some people will make an effort, the buses will be full of families just like yours and no one wants their kids to stand after a full day in the parks.

Driving around Disney World is relatively easy, but it's your vacation and your choice. I prefer to drive. I also push my stroller through the parking lots, never considering to use the trams (folding / unfolding strollers and carrying kids -- not worth the effort when it's just a 5 minute walk). But that's just me.

There are situations where I choose to leave my rental at my resort and take Disney Transportation:

• planning to enjoy an adult beverage or two (especially during Epcot Food and Wine Festival)
• spending the day at Magic Kingdom -- driving requires taking the monorail or ferry, plus crossing one of the worlds largest parking lots. Taking a bus from near the entrance to the resort is faster and easier.
• planning to park hop without returning to the resort. When I'm planning to go from DHS to Epcot (on "no nap" days), I don't want to have to return to DHS to get my ride at the end of the night.

 

[GrtWtNorth]

Is Soarin' too scary for a 3 and 4 year old?

Every kid is different, but mine liked Soarin' at that age. She liked it, but didn't love it. She would much rather ride Test Track or Big Thunder Mountain Railroad over and over and over again than make a second ride on Soarin'. Soarin' has a very dull queue compared to TT or BTMRR.

 

[tabm01]

Thanks, I was wondering about those rides too

 

[brekken1]

Is Soarin' too scary for a 3 and 4 year old?

My son turned four on our last trip and loved Soarin. I was apprehensive to take him on some of the bigger rides, but we started off small, like Great Goofini at MK, saw he loved it and moved up to bigger rides, like BTMRR. By the time we got to our EPCOT day, we felt comfortable trying Test Track and Soarin. He really loved them both!

 

[wallskm]

I don't remember if you kept your character breakfasts or not, but if you did I do think driving to the parks on those days is good as you won't have to worry about waiting for a bus and missing your ADR.

I agree about the deluxe dining plan, I think you will be happy you changed it. Last time we went we wanted to eat like we wanted (which would have required the deluxe dining plan) but pay out of pocket as we thought it would be cheaper. And it was. After paying tips the deluxe dining plan would have cost us around $2400 for 9 days (I think it was 9) or our family of 4. We paid out of pocket but still did 2 TS meals almost every day and "only" paid $1600 for food, a savings of $800. $1600 is a lot to spend on one week for food but hey, it's vacation and it was something we budgeted for ahead of time. In the end though, we thought 2 TS meals was too much for our kids who were 3.5 and 16 months at the time. When we go this April most days we only have 1 TS meal planned. The days we have 2 are for restaurants that are on the faster side or just ones we didn't want to miss.

As far as going back for naps, I say be flexible on that as we found it more difficult to go back for naps! But since you are going in June and it will be hotter and busier, you may not get much done in the afternoons anyway. But for us we couldn't get out of the park before the 16 month old was asleep, so leaving was pointless and the 3.5 year old was no longer napping and a nice long walk in the stroller was all he needed to regain his energy. We stayed out late a lot of nights too!

Hope you have a great vacation!

 

[cheryllarsen]

Planning is best because it takes so long to walk from one attraction to another. I would pick out your favorites and do them in a row to minimize walking.

 

[cheryllarsen]

And take advantage of fast pass as well! You can't overplan. There is so much to do at Disney and if you go without a plan you won't see or do half of it!

 

[tabm01]

And take advantage of fast pass as well! You can't overplan. There is so much to do at Disney and if you go without a plan you won't see or do half of it!

I'm having a hard time deciding about my Fastpasses. Since I'm not sure if my kids will ride many big rides I was thinking about using 1 of them for Wishes or Illuminations, but I'm not sure how good the spot would be with a fast pass. Anyone know what spots are reserved? Worth using a Fastpass??