First timers ;)

[Cjones13]

HI! I am taking my husband and daughter to Disney in November. It will be both of their first trips. What extra, above and beyond, things should I add or do to make their first time amazing?!

We are already eating at many character meals and have our FPs for A&E and 7DMT.

Thank you!

 

[ajwolfe]

My tip for first timers is not to overload yourself. There are so many fun things to see and do at Disney that there is no reason to stress with the "extras" that those who go more often do. I would have them look at a travel guide or on-line and see what they really want to get done or see and make sure you hit those highpoints.
For me, I wouldn't let them miss Wishes or Illuminations; those are always such special moments in our family regardless of how many times we have seen them.
Otherwise just take it slower and let them soak it all in!! Hope you all have an awesome trip! And I totally recommend taking the ferry into MK. For everyone that we know that has been(including us) there is just something so magical about seeing it all come in to sight from a distance.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Even the basics are pretty overwhelming - I agree with PP. I don't know that "extras" are all that necessary for a first time

 

[SarahDisney]

I agree with everyone else - let them enjoy the basics and don't overload them. Trying to squeeze everything into one trip can be overwhelming - and you want to leave some new experiences for their next trip!

My 1 tip would be - get them the (free) "1st Visit" buttons (you can get them from Guest Relations or I think also at the hotels and some of the stores). The cast members who see the buttons will often make sure to welcome them and help you make the visit special. Plus, it's an awesome souvenir!

 

[MandiC]

I agree, try not to overwhelm yourselves, Disney is pretty special even without extras if you do too much it might make everyone cranky

 

[Aunt Bee]

The only thing I would add is to make sure you take lots and lots of pictures. Every time we take a trip (and we've been going to WDW practically since it opened), we make a special photo album of us enjoying ourselves in every possible way. We take silly pictures, eating pictures, standing in line pictures, character pictures, sleeping pictures, getting there pictures, leaving there pictures, pictures of CM's, checking in pictures...

Sure, everything is digital now, but we're old and haven't really mastered all the new technology, so we have our Disney albums (with the physical pictures) all together on shelves and our children and grandchildren still love looking through them and reminiscing.

Throughout the years, we've loved seeing the pictures of 'us' in front of some of the Disney icons; boy how we've changed! We still have fun, though.

This is one trip you will want to document completely; it will be special to all of you always.