General Touring Advice

[Metalliman98]

We are a family of three (myself, DW, and DS 5) who are DLR vets but will be taking our first family trip to WDW next March. DW and I went to WDW for our honeymoon in 2009, but that was before mymagic+, plus we stayed offsite. For this trip, we are staying at the Poly Villas through DVC point rental, and will have 7 day hoppers with the waterpark add on. The trip is the first full week of March, so hopefully we avoid the worst of the Spring Break crowds.

The advice I am seeking:

1. Is it better to utilize early EMH, or go to rope drop at whatever parks do not have the early EMH that day? I've heard that the park with early EMH is often more crowded and that it is better to go to other parks that day.

2. Our thoughts with 7 day hoppers is two days MK, two days Epcot, one day each DHS and AK, and one non-park day at water parks/mini golf, though we'd probably hit at least one park for a little bit that day. Does that sound reasonable?

3. We are looking at our restaurant options and have narrowed it down to this list: Be Our Guest, Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen, Biergarten, Hacienda de San Angel, Restaurant Marrakesh, Le Cellier, Via Napoli, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine In Theater, Tusker House, 'Ohana, Kona Cafe, Beaches and Cream, Boma, California Grill, and T-Rex. Anything to add or subtract from this list?

4. And as far as ADR priority for the above, this is what I am thinking: BOG, Le Cellier, 'Ohana, Tusker House, California Grill, and then the rest. Is that right?

5. Regarding Fastpass+, are those 60 days plus 10, like ADRs are 180 plus 10? Or are they 60 days one day at a time?

Thanks!

 

[Accident]

1. Early morning emh is usually a great choice as most don't wake up early enough to do it. Late night emh is the opposite in my opinion.

2. If you have a Star Wars and Pixar family you may want a full day for HS. Check what is there to see how much it interests you. The fireworks might be disneys best.

3. Sounds good overall, be careful with too much table service, it can really chew into your time and you may end up eating more than enjoying.

5. It's 60 days and you can get them for all days. It's not +10.

Being dlr vets, the big thing to watch out for is WDW is huge and excessively spread out. it takes some time to get anywhere.

 

[Metalliman98]

1. Early morning emh is usually a great choice as most don't wake up early enough to do it. Late night emh is the opposite in my opinion.

2. If you have a Star Wars and Pixar family you may want a full day for HS. Check what is there to see how much it interests you. The fireworks might be disneys best.

3. Sounds good overall, be careful with too much table service, it can really chew into your time and you may end up eating more than enjoying.

5. It's 60 days and you can get them for all days. It's not +10.

Being dlr vets, the big thing to watch out for is WDW is huge and excessively spread out. it takes some time to get anywhere.

Thanks for the advice. Regarding the food, we are not planning on eating at all the restaurants I listed, but we've narrowed our choices to those. I'm thinking one TS per day, tops.

 

[berryinDC]

I think your restaurant options are all solid choices and very different than what would be available at DLR. The one exception might be Hacienda de San Angel. It's perfectly fine, but nothing special. If you live in Cali you will be used to way better Mexican food, and the Mexican options at DLR are better.

 

[amy1981]

I read an article somewhere on EMH and crowds and it said that EMH can affect crowds more later in the morning & afternoon. I think the reasoning was people think it will be less crowded and also think they'll make rope drop...but end up arriving around 10 or 11 or so and that's when you see the increase. So basically, EMH are great and you can get a lot done IF you are there 20 minutes or so before rope drop. I'd plan to ride everything you want in that first couple of hours in standby, which should be short (we walked on BTM 3 or 4 times in a row with no wait during EMH), then make your FP selections starting around 10:30 as that's when you'll see crowds pick up. That's our usual plan and it works great for us. I wouldn't plan rope drop mornings on days when you do fireworks/shows the night before because it might be a bit much for your DS5.

Since you have the hopper you may want to mix up you am & pm choices...instead of a whole MK day & EP day, do a morning MK & evening EP and vice versa. Mixing parks works best for us. We like to take and 'off' morning to eat a character breakfast, mini golf and then head to HS around 3 or 4 and do a few rides/shows and see fantasmic. The hopper gives you the flexibility to switch parks based on crowds/events, so take advantage of that and use it to make the best of each days park choices for your family's touring style.

Your dining choices at ADR order sound good, although Le Cellier has been getting more and more negative reviews. I'd read up just to be sure you won't be disappointed. Like every restaurant it's all up to personal preference!

 

[jsmla]

I will only do EMH with a ParkHopper ticket. Morning EMH is usually great, evening depends. It's usually much less crowded when EMH runs 12:00-2:00 AM (most likely at the Magic Kingdom during busier times) than if it is from, say, 9:00-11:00 PM.

With morning EMH I usually hop to another park late morning/early afternoon. I usually only go to evening EMH at the MK but will visit another park that morning.

 

[IrishNYC]

3. We are looking at our restaurant options and have narrowed it down to this list: Be Our Guest, Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen, Biergarten, Hacienda de San Angel, Restaurant Marrakesh, Le Cellier, Via Napoli, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine In Theater, Tusker House, 'Ohana, Kona Cafe, Beaches and Cream, Boma, California Grill, and T-Rex. Anything to add or subtract from this list?

4. And as far as ADR priority for the above, this is what I am thinking: BOG, Le Cellier, 'Ohana, Tusker House, California Grill, and then the rest. Is that right?

We took DD to WDE for the first time last year, when she was 5. I can tell you that she HATED T-Rex. It was loud, and there is a "meteor shower" even 15-20 minutes that is very noisy, and it terrified her. The restaurant gets dark, and there is loud, thunder-like noise. If your DS is at all scared by loud noises or thunder, I'd skip it. DH and I hated it too, but we just thought

I'd try to do BOG for PPO breakfast. We all loved it. It was one of two meals we loved there. The other we loved was Boma. The food at Boma was the best we had there, and the staff was so warm and wonderful. We also really liked breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Great character interactions.

DD loved 50s prime time (we all did), and we loved having just ice cream at Beaches and Cream.

On our must-do list (that will have to be narrowed down) for our next trip are BOG breakfast, Kona breakfast, Ohana dinner, Boma, Chef Mickey's breakfast, Spice Road, Biergarten, Tusker House breakfast.

One TS a day is what works best for us. We don't want all that food, and we don't want to waste all that time sitting down to eat.

 

[IrishNYC]

Also, we love morning EMH, especially at AK, Epcot, and DHS. AK felt empty for morning EMH.

We haven't done evening EMH just because DD needs her sleep. Maybe next trip.

 

[ChasingLeslie]

1. Personal choice, really. We are avoiding EMH parks even though we are early risers.

2. Yes, great plan!

3. Looks like a good list. No Disney Springs...?

4. I'd put Ohana second, after BOG.

5. 60 days for your whole stay...and remember that the 180+10 is not 190 days. That can be confusing.

 

[BrokeMack]

1. Early morning EMH makes for a better morning at that park. After about 11, that park will be more crowded than others. Only do EMH if you can arrive prior to EMH rope drop and park hop later. Otherwise skip it.
2. Your park plan sounds fine as a starting point, just leave yourself some flexibility if it's your first trip. You might find you like certain parks better than others.
3. Pretty good list. I didn't see if you were on the DDP, but if so, consider BOG for breakfast as it's a better use of a QS credit than TS. If you are OOP then go to BOG for lunch. It's a better value that way. Also, I didn't care for T-Rex but YMMV.
4. See above, otherwise, yes.

 

[MelissaBee]

Morning EMH is totally worth it. Empty park. Evening EMH is definitely not. Longer lines than during the day, especially at EPCOT, in our experience. I agree with PP who said to hit morning EMH and hop if crowds increase too much. This can make FP+ trickier and hopping does take time, but it might be worth it. We tend to skip evening EMH all together.

Ohana can be hard to get at a good time, so I'd do that after BOG if timing is important. The others are hard to get too though, so prioritize the ones you'll be saddest if you don't get, though if you have a normal-sized group, you should be OK booking 180+. Getting preferred times might be your only dilemma.

 

[Iowamomof4]

Also, we love morning EMH, especially at AK, Epcot, and DHS. AK felt empty for morning EMH.

We haven't done evening EMH just because DD needs her sleep. Maybe next trip.

I take it you feel am emh at MK is too popular to make it worthwhile? Your comments are quite interesting to me as I more often see people who feel the opposite: that MK is the only park (or at least the best park) worth doing emh at.

 

[IrishNYC]

I take it you feel am emh at MK is too popular to make it worthwhile? Your comments are quite interesting to me as I more often see people who feel the opposite: that MK is the only park (or at least the best park) worth doing emh at.

They're all worth doing for morning EMH. I just prefer PPO ADRs at MK, rather than EMH.

 

[Metalliman98]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

1. Evening EMH is pretty much a non-starter for us with a 5 year old. Problem is, DW and DS are definitely not early risers, plus they like to have actual breakfast, so I'm not hopeful about our chances for morning EMH either. Though it looks like none of the parks open before 9 that week in March, so morning EMH wouldn't be too bad. Does anyone know when they will finalize park hours and EMHs for next March? Hopefully by September, when it's time to make ADRs? Would last March's schedule be a reliable go-by?

2. We will definitely hop, though I was thinking the hop would be after we are done with rides and FP for the morning park, and we'd go back to hotel then off to a different park for dinner and/or evening show. I'm wary of planning our FP for an evening park with the travel times between the parks and the increased likelihood we may not feel like using them later in the day, meaning they'd be wasted.

3. We are not doing DDP, but we will have quite a bunch of reward dollars from our Disney Visa to cash in, enough to cover our dining/souvies for the trip, or close to it. One concern I do have is that our son has a peanut allergy, so we may need to avoid some restaurants we'd otherwise try. We are leaning toward dropping Beaches because of this, and Marrakesh and San Angel may get chopped because of that too. Can you pre-designate allergies in your profile, or add them to a reservation after you make it? I am hoping not to get slowed up during the ADR process by having to specify the allergy for each reservation at time of booking.

4. I've seen the decline in the reviews of Le Cellier recently too, but it's probably the best steakhouse we can do with a five year old. DS is reasonably well behaved in restaurants generally, but asking him to wear more formal clothes and eat fancy food at a place like Yachtsman after a day in the parks is probably expecting too much. We think he would love the theme of T-Rex, but he's been super skittish about noises recently, out of nowhere, so we may have to reconsider, or prep him. We'll probably move 'Ohana ahead of Le Cellier for priority, based on all the advice.

5. So to clarify, we can book FP for our entire stay once we hit 60 days before our arrival, just like we can with dining at 180 days before?

 

[DVCkidsMOM]

1 - morning EMH really is the best deal, but you may want to create and incentive to get DW and DS moving. "Here, honey; I brought you a coffee and _____ to get you started After a couple no-line rides, we have a reservation for the most fabulous breakfast at ____ in the park" would totally work for me Or a pre-park opening breakfast ADR.

2 - an idea I haven't seen on this thread yet is something that worked well for us. Go to the water parks after a theme park. If there is an afternoon thunderstorm and there are still open hours after the rain, the water park will re-open but be nearly empty. Even without a Tstorm, by mid-afternoon some of the folks who were there at water park opening will be leaving...

3 - you have more points that we do. Anyway, we do have food allergies and find WDW a great place for that. One of the screens during the on-line dining reservation process allows you to check a box for your food allergy - definitely do that! I would expect everywhere to be able to accommodate your allergy. There is food allergy information on DISabilities area of this board. I don't consider our food allergies disabilities, but that's where the info is. There's also a post with some of the allergy menus listed.

4 - sounds good. There are attractions for which you may want earplugs or headphones for DS if noise is an issue. The thunder in the pooh ride is very mild, but many shows are very loud. The thunder in the Enchanted Tiki Room is not mild. I'm trying to think of other attractions with sudden noises. Knowing how tall DS is would help us know which rides you experience.

5 - yes, as long as your resort reservation is linked to your MDE account

 

[JZCubed]

We are a family of three (myself, DW, and DS 5) who are DLR vets but will be taking our first family trip to WDW next March. DW and I went to WDW for our honeymoon in 2009, but that was before mymagic+, plus we stayed offsite. For this trip, we are staying at the Poly Villas through DVC point rental, and will have 7 day hoppers with the waterpark add on. The trip is the first full week of March, so hopefully we avoid the worst of the Spring Break crowds.

The advice I am seeking:

1. Is it better to utilize early EMH, or go to rope drop at whatever parks do not have the early EMH that day? I've heard that the park with early EMH is often more crowded and that it is better to go to other parks that day.

2. Our thoughts with 7 day hoppers is two days MK, two days Epcot, one day each DHS and AK, and one non-park day at water parks/mini golf, though we'd probably hit at least one park for a little bit that day. Does that sound reasonable?

3. We are looking at our restaurant options and have narrowed it down to this list: Be Our Guest, Jungle Navigation Skipper Canteen, Biergarten, Hacienda de San Angel, Restaurant Marrakesh, Le Cellier, Via Napoli, 50's Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine In Theater, Tusker House, 'Ohana, Kona Cafe, Beaches and Cream, Boma, California Grill, and T-Rex. Anything to add or subtract from this list?

4. And as far as ADR priority for the above, this is what I am thinking: BOG, Le Cellier, 'Ohana, Tusker House, California Grill, and then the rest. Is that right?

5. Regarding Fastpass+, are those 60 days plus 10, like ADRs are 180 plus 10? Or are they 60 days one day at a time?

Thanks!

There are many strategies.

With a 5 y.o., I would not plan on too many nights out or maximizing evening EMH. But morning EMH can work to your benefit if you are also planning on time at the swimming pool (the most common response to, "What was the best part of your Disney vacation?") and leaving Parks before they get crowded just before lunch.

A good primer for Disney World planning is:

http://www.easywdw.com/easy/cheat-s...t-sheets-maps-touring-plans-and-wait-times-4/

Also, look through the Crowd Calendar on the same site.

 

[IrishNYC]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

1. Evening EMH is pretty much a non-starter for us with a 5 year old. Problem is, DW and DS are definitely not early risers, plus they like to have actual breakfast, so I'm not hopeful about our chances for morning EMH either. Though it looks like none of the parks open before 9 that week in March, so morning EMH wouldn't be too bad. Does anyone know when they will finalize park hours and EMHs for next March? Hopefully by September, when it's time to make ADRs? Would last March's schedule be a reliable go-by?
There will definitely be morning EMH then. It's just too early to know now.

2. We will definitely hop, though I was thinking the hop would be after we are done with rides and FP for the morning park, and we'd go back to hotel then off to a different park for dinner and/or evening show. I'm wary of planning our FP for an evening park with the travel times between the parks and the increased likelihood we may not feel like using them later in the day, meaning they'd be wasted.
We thought we would hop with our 5 year old, but it just didn't happen as often as we thought. We only hopped after a resort rest once.I wouldn't plan for evening FP with my 5 year old, and it sounds like yours might be similar to mine.

3. We are not doing DDP, but we will have quite a bunch of reward dollars from our Disney Visa to cash in, enough to cover our dining/souvies for the trip, or close to it. One concern I do have is that our son has a peanut allergy, so we may need to avoid some restaurants we'd otherwise try. We are leaning toward dropping Beaches because of this, and Marrakesh and San Angel may get chopped because of that too. Can you pre-designate allergies in your profile, or add them to a reservation after you make it? I am hoping not to get slowed up during the ADR process by having to specify the allergy for each reservation at time of booking.
DD has a dairy allergy, although nothing severe enough that we need special assistance. When you make your ADRs there will be an option to tell them about allergies, and when you check in, and when you are seated, remind them of the allergy, and the chef will come out and speak to you. WDW is great for allergies.

5. So to clarify, we can book FP for our entire stay once we hit 60 days before our arrival, just like we can with dining at 180 days before?
Yes! As long as you're staying on site, you can book FP 60 days in advance for up to 10 days of visits.

Have a great trip!

 

[CynBeth]

Disney is great with food allergies. We eat at any TS including buffets with no issues. The waitstaff and chefs are wonderful. Definitely fill in that section when you make ADRs and when you arrive at the restsurant they stamp in red allergy on the paper they bring with you up your table and they do bring the allergy menu but you can definitely request a chef. As far as the restaurants you listed some we have never been to. We have done BOG dinner, Le Cellier dinner, 50's PTC dinner, TH breakfast, Beaches lunch and Boma for both breakfast and dinner. You didn't mention this but we love Crystal Palace breakfast. Also, we enjoy dinner at Chefs and lunch at Tutto, We went to Sci Fi and T Rex years ago and are going to them again in Dec.