My sister and I are going to be flying down from Massachusetts in mid-November. This is going to be our first time staying at Disney although, in the past, we've done day trips to some of the parks while visiting family in Sarasota.
We've made reservations at the Port Orleans Riverside and a Magic Your Way Package Plus Dining. We also added on Memory Maker. We're planning on making dining reservations as soon as we're able, sometime in mid-May...can't remember the exact date...and FastPass+ in September.
Some of what I guess would be the more popular rides (Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain), we're planning on giving a miss mainly because I have some physical limitations on what I can do (and also a larger than normal dose for fear of heights). I'm wondering what kind of tips or advice you might have for someone going the first time.
HI!!
Not sure when your flight is, what time you'll arrive, or if you have park tix planned for that day, BUT: We flew and stayed at POFQ a yearish ago (Nov 2012): if you don't already know it, heads up - when you use Magical Express, your checked bags won't get to your room until a few hours after you do. If you DON'T have park tickets for that day (we didn't): make use of that lovely ferry from your resort to DD!! We went ahead and booked ADR for dinner at DD for the night of arrival - So when we got into our room we changed, freshened up, and took the ferry down to DD for the remainder of the afternoon/evening, and when we got back to the room that night all of our stuff was waiting for us. Worked out great because we got to get right to it without missing a beat!!
Beyond that, just general advice:
A little research goes a long way!! (and a lot of research can help pass time and ease the "why isn't it November already!?"
feelings when they come)
Get a general idea of what ADR's you wanna make ahead of time so you can book early - Some of them go quickly (Be our guest, O'hana, etc.)!!! And if you change your mind on something 2 months out you can totally change it! (just make sure the change you want is available first and book it before you cancel anything - and don't forget to cancel the other you will be charged!!
)
It can take up to an hour+ to park hop or get from a park to a resort for an ADR (busses can get backed up, monorails can go down, etc.). So give yourself enough time to get there. (being rushed/running late always puts me in an icky mood - which is a NO GO at Disney). It once took us 2 hours to get from WL to AK because the busses got backed up. It's frustrating, but even at Disney it happens sometimes - if you are familiar with public transit at all you may already be familiar with this - lol.
Also - because of the previously mentioned problem: try to book restaurants in or close to the park you already plan to be at if you have hoppers: WL and AK was sort of ill advised from the start since they are a ways off from eachother. (Of couse if that's what you want to do that's great - the time in between can be well used relaxing in between the GOGOGO) That being said: On our upcoming trip we booked an ADR for a restaurant at Epcot during a DHS day. They're pretty close together and pretty easy to walk/ferry back and forth from, and we didn't book ANY ADRs in DHS. So to me that one in particular isn't that bad.
The biggest thing is don't get caught up in trying to make everything perfect and squeeze everything in. - Give yourself time to relax, revel, and enjoy it!!!
Have fun with planning, and Enjoy your trip!!!!
