I tried to post earlier and got bumped off.
1. Get the Unofficial Guide and use this site to your full advantage!
2. Your UPH tickets if already purchased can be used starting the day you arive at the resort and are good through the day you leave and are good for all the Walt Disney Parks.
3. You can plan a really fun trip, have a loose schedule, and make good meal choices for your family at a reasonable cost.
We have had APs in the past and I will give you a run down of how we do things to give you an idea.
We normally check into our resort around 3-4pm and after getting situated in our room head to a park. Our kids love Epcot, and we find this park easy to walk and visit in the evening. In July/Aug you will have daylight hours until 8-9pm. We enjoy touring Future World in Epcot, riding Spaceship earth, touring The Land, Imagination (we avoid Honey I Shrunk the Audience), and Ice Station Cool. We then head to Mexico in the World Showcase and get a counter service meal. Two of my children easily share a meal and we just buy an extra drink. We then often get a couple of dessert items in Norway that we split between all of us and the kids play on the boat. We also ride the rides offered in Mexico and Norway. Depending on what is going on Epcot we may tour some of the countries. If the kids are up for it we find a place to watch Illuminations (in which our youngest often falls asleep) and then head back to the hotel.
The next day we pick what I refer to as an "easy" park. Consistently we have gone to Animal Kingdom our first full day. If it open at 8, and you are there in the summer, I highly recommend being there for the opening. The opening is really nice and not to be missed for one! After the opening we head left towards Africa. We walk right onto the Safari with hardly any wait! After the Safari we tour the trails and do Conservation Station. After Cons. Station we go to Tusker House to purchase the "meal deal" they have. I highly recommend it. It will provide you with a bottled drink, a snack, and a full counter service meal with drink for a very reasonable price. We like Africa, and my kids play with the band, get face paintings, eat snacks. We then usually head to China to explore the River Rapids and the Jungle Trek. They also have a bird show call Flights of Wonder which we have missed every trip due to some problem (rain, sick animal, etc) After China, we eat Lunch -- we like Tusker House back in Africa because you can get a nice peice of Salmon, rice with steamed veggies there, but there are several other places to check out with really great food (Flame Tree BBQ is one). After a nice lunch we normally head back to the front of the park and catch the shows. Its a nice break and the areas are either cool or shaded. We see the Lion King first and walk right out into Pocahontas. If your kids are into a Bugs Life, you may want to Fast Pass that before going into the Lion King. After Camp Mickey and Minnie, we tour around the Tree of Life and then head to Dinoland where we often sit and hang out while our kids eat ice cream. Some of the things our children can't do because of height restrictions in Dinoland. Tarzan Rocks is also a great show to see. By mid afternoon we then head back to our hotel for some R&R. After a good rest, we then head back to Epcot just because our kids love it and ride Spaceship Earth more times than I personally want too! We will normally tour Wonders of Life if its open, Universe of Energy, and most the time my kids want to go back to the Land. FW closes at 7, so we normally head back to our hotel to swim. (we may only spend 2 hrs at Epcot)
The second full day we have we go to MGM. Our kids in 2003 were too small for the thrill rides so we slept in arriving about 30min before the shows began. We normally head to Playhouse Disney first, and then check the wait on Little Mermaid. We will Fast Pass Mermaid, and then go tour or ride something else. We enjoyed the Great Movie Ride and after a bathroom break and snack, it was time to see the Little Mermaid. After Mermaid we watch Beauty and the Beast and then determine what kind of meal we would like. We have eaten at Prime Time (good), Brown Derby (excellent but IMO not kid friendly), ABC commisary (good counter service) and a buffet style place that escapes me (it was plain gross). After lunch we normally just wing it and see Muppets. Our children were not as into this park and so we normally were gone by 2-3pm and back to our hotel for some R&R. Depending on weather and crowd levels we plan to see Fantasmic at MGM that evening (which you need to be there plenty in advance)
Our Third full day we go to Magic Kingdom. The first time we went it was late fall and we bascially did "Do Disney and Die". Most people to this day are shocked at how many rides our family rode in one day!I think the key is to read about what rides your children can ride and what they will like to ride and do the ones that historically have the longest wait time. Our kids were younger in 2003 (and shorter) so we often opened up MK and headed to Fantasyland, jumping on Dumbo first, then we woud do Pooh, Snow White, and then walk over to do Peter Pan, Small World and then we ate snacks and did bathroom breaks or stood in line for the Mickey Philharmagic. After this we would head to Frontier Land where we would see where the line was on Haunted Mansion. This my favorite ride and I can usually gauge how fast its loading despite what the sign says. We will normally ride this next and tour Frontier Land. My husband and children do the Riverboat, I do not, so I relax and just enjoy the atmosphere. Traditionally we get lunch in Frontier Land -- Hot Dogs, which my children think are the best! On days we've have been at MK and its been crowded and hot we often leave after we get our Hot Dogs. We head to the hotel to rest, swim and play. Around 5-6pm we will go back to MK and usually have no problem touring, visiting characters and riding rides we didn't get a chance to ride earlier that day plus watch the Parade and Wishes (if it shows that night)
Our Fourth full day we go normally go to MK again. This time we try to get in some attractions at Tomorrow Land, play in Toontown, and hear a story from Belle at the Castle. We often eat counter service and then hop to Epcot to do all the Kidcot Family Fun Stations in Future World which my children really enjoy -- once it was blistering hot and we decided to go to DTD instead, shop and let our kids play in the water outside the toy store there and we then ate our evening meal at Rainforest Cafe.
Our fifth full day at WDW we sometimes skip a park all together in the morning. We normally head to DTD or to do something else Disney related. IF this is our last day, we will go to MK that night and let our kids buy some souveniers and just take things easy.
I am a planner. I try to have some loose ideas of what we are going to do each day and what my children can ride and what they want to ride.
Each trip we try to do a character meal. Some are more expensive than others but worth doing while you are there. Since you thought you were going to have to pay for tickets on this trip to a couple of parks I assume you had an idea about the money you were taking. Now that you know, you don't have to pay for any tickets you may want to consider doing a Character Meal and maybe another sit down type meal. We often try to eat our sit down meal at lunch because it is less expensive. One meal we always enjoy is Rainforest Cafe and I think it is reasonable to eat there and I believe the price is the same for lunch and dinner.
I know this is really long! LOL
