Help! 2 Weeks to plan, just found out we're heading to Disney!

[tinyteach]

hello everyone,

i have been lurking around and trying to gather as much information as i can, but just figured that a separate post might work best.

we just found out that my family and i can head to disney as tag-a-longs to daddy's upcoming business trip in florida. woohoo! however, i am freaking out a little bit about trying to plan my little ones first trips in just two weeks time.

i have two girls ages 4.5 and 14 months. Because we are coming down on ff miles and hotels paid by the company, we are not on any "plan" or on site. we will be there 2/25 and 2/26 only and (of course) want to do it all, but don't want to cram too much. are there things that we should definitely do, see, etc.? my 4.5 yr dd loves the lion king, princesses, well.. pretty much anything. we couldn't get into any dining w/characters except at epcot, but not so sure that with only two days, that is such a fun place for kids as compared to MK or AK. help? where do i begin?

thanks in advance! i would really appreciate any expert advice and help. just SO excited to get away from the cold and sickness!

 

[estherhead]

My advice would be to only do MK. Two days at MK can be completely magical. Get there early the first day and do Dumbo & all of Fantasyland. Then do whatever else you can the rest of the day. Then the next day go with a more relaxed attitude and meet characters and see the afternoon parade and the Dream Along with Mickey show and see Spectromagic and Wishes.

I gave that advice to some of my friends who only had 2 days and had 2 girls about your girls ages and they just had a super time. Didn't feel rushed and fell in love with WDW.

 

[Mkrop]

You know your family's interests the best but based on the ages you posted and their interests, I think I might stick with MK and AK. Keep calling something might open up for characters meals even call the day of. Did you try for any at the Poly (Stitch and Friends character breakfast) or 1900 Park Faire(princesses) at the Grand Floridian. Just a quick monorail ride from MK. And did you ask for lunches, we had better luck getting lunches for character meals than dinner at places like Crystal Palace(Winnie the Pooh).

I would buy a book or borrow like Unofficial guide and try to read as much as I can, maybe you can read on the plane. Since you are staying offsite, you can skip the hotel sections and just read up on the parks. Print out any maps you can so you have a general layout of the parks, so you can decided what is important to your family.

Have fun!!!!!

 

[homedad]

agree with other posters, I'd only do one park....maybe 2 being MK,DHS or AK. I also might try a character lunch(don't waste morning time) that may appeal to your child.....if you try and do to much you won't enjoy it as much

 

[tinyteach]

we called around and all the breakfast and dinner character meet events are either really, really early or really, really late

we did get into the princess lunch at epcot, but don't really know if epcot is a place we want to go w/kids when we only have two days.

we will definitely do MK the first day and then were tossed up btwn AK and DHS (old mgm?). would love more input if anyone has it.

also, since we are traveling from tampa to orlando and need a stroller for both.. do you think we should just bring our "stand/sit/kneel" one? rentals in tampa are slim, but we'll see. i am stressed.

thanks!

 

[susykt4]

My advice is to skip all character meals until your next trip when you have more time in the parks.

Mickey's ToonTown at Magic Kingdom is a great place to see princesses. Go there around it's opening (10am when park opens at 9) and go to the big gift shop/tent. They have two character greeting lines- one for fairies, one for princesses. When we were there last week, everyone FLOCKED to the fairy line. You could walk right in or have a very short wait for the princesses! We saw Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. We've also seen Snow White in that line. We also saw Mickey and Minnie in the character area at Mickey's house and Pluto, Goofy, Donald, Marie from Aristocats and a few other lesser known characters in an area where you come out of the Mickey area. (Yeah, that's really confusing, but you'll see where I mean.)

I agree with previous posters to just go to Magic Kingdom both days, but if you really want to go to a second park, I'd hit AK or HS. Which park depends totally on your family's preferences. We love AK far more than HS, but I'm a zookeeper and animals are a huge part of our lives AK has lots of animal trails, the Lion King show (even my son who HATES any and all shows like this one) the Nemo show, a great parade, my kids love the bug 3d movie but I've read about kids who were terrified (my niece 4 and nephew 2 loved it last week.) My kids could spend all day at the Dinosaur dig site/playground and enjoy the Triceratops ride (it was closed both times we went last week.)

HS mostly has shows. The new Toy Story ride is awesome, but the waits are horrendous even at rope drop, so it's not like you can ride it over and over. The kids love the playground and that's about it. (DS hates sitting through shows.) The characters at HS are abundant! The parade was rained out the day we went so I haven't seen the new one yet. If your kids can handle show after show they have Playhouse Disney, Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast which are all pretty good.

Eh, go to Magic Kingdom both days!!!

 

[Mkrop]

I would not bother with Epcot with those ages of your kids, save it for next time. Keep calling for the character meals, you may luck out, people do cancel. I got a reservation for Fantasmic dinner pakage once for Wed night while I was sitting in the park waiting for DS11 and DH to get off a ride. Just called from my cell and viola! If not there is so much to see and do, enjoy, characters meals are fun but they are not the end all of any trip. Although really early at a place like Crystal Palace has you in the park before opening

 

[Faldred]

Since it's not on the dining plan, you may be able to get a character dinner (Goof & Pluto on a Weds. or Thur.) at the Swan resort's Garden Grove restaurant without too much trouble.

I really wouldn't push the kids too hard for a 2-day trip. Magic Kingdom for sure, maybe Animal Kingdom (be sure to budget time to let them play in the Boneyard) -- the latter has some good shows to make up for the fact that there aren't many rides for the younger kids.

 

[SmallWorld71]

My DD5's favorite parks, in order are:

Magic Kingdom (2 day park for her to see all her favs)
Animal Kingdom (1 day to see her favs)
Epcot (1 day park for her to see all her favs as well)
Hollywood Studios (this park is by far her least favorite and was the least fav of my boys when they were younger as well; definitely a half day park for her)

For a first trip though, I would say MK and AK or 2 days at MK. Have fun!

By the way, I would bring the stroller!

 

[tinyteach]

thanks everyone. i feel pretty convinced that we will MK and AK while there. i found out that my dh told my dd that we were going by accident, so i was able to ask her what she wanted too. after looking at the maps and such (thanks for all the great input!) it makes sense that she could go to MK and "fall in love" and then relax a bit after a long day to go to AK. one more quick question though? should i buy tix for MK, see how it goes, and then go to MK or AK once we see how that first day is? thanks again!

oh yeah, and we will definitely keep calling on the character dining! thanks!

 

[saratogadreamin09]

Just a suggestion but why not get a park hopper ticket and go to MK in the day and EPCOT for the character meal. I'm sure your kids would really love the character meal but there's really not much to do at EPCOT for kids. So I would suggest to try and get a day at MK but still get teh character meal.

MK definetely over AK because MK is really the heart and sould of disney and has the most kid friendly rides. THe must do's at MK for young kids (in my opinion) are:

dumbo
small world
winnie the pooh ride
mickey's philarmagic
peter pan ride
magic carpets of aladdin
laugh factory show
snow white ride

I wouldn't suggest haunted mansion or pirates because you have two young girls and these rides might be too scary, but its your call.

 

[Faldred]

thanks everyone. i feel pretty convinced that we will MK and AK while there. i found out that my dh told my dd that we were going by accident, so i was able to ask her what she wanted too. after looking at the maps and such (thanks for all the great input!) it makes sense that she could go to MK and "fall in love" and then relax a bit after a long day to go to AK. one more quick question though? should i buy tix for MK, see how it goes, and then go to MK or AK once we see how that first day is? thanks again!

You could buy a 1 day ticket, and then upgrade it to a 2-day ticket if it's going well. Same on the park hopper option -- don't buy it unless you're sure you'll need it, because you can always add it on later.