Help! Our first time in WDW, a little overwhelmed.

[lcmtam86]

We (DH, DS going on 13, DD 10 and myself) are finally going to see The Mouse and his friends and as much as I have heard , I'm still not sure what to do and how to go about it. We will be there Nov 4 thru the 12th. Staying @ HIFS, which I have read good and bad on these boards. Have 5 day PH+ passes and 2 day universal passes. Hubby wants to do busch gardens and seaworld also but i told him that there is no way we could possibly put all this into 1 trip unless we added a few days, which he said absolutely not. Well I'll wait to here from anyone willing to give me some advice and answer any ?'s. Thanks for all your help so far.
Tammie

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Don't try to do too much or you will be too tried and overwelmed to enjoy any of it. For a one week stay we are doing the 5-day hopper pass to Disney and leaving 1or2 days to enjoy the other Disney attrations such as Disney Quest and a water park. We are leaving Universal, Sea World etc. for another trip. Enjoy your trip!

Jordan's Mom

 

[casmanuel]

Have you put together a basic itinerary and meal plan? You can start by noting which days are best to visit which WDW parks. This is generally the day after an EE day. For example EE at EPCOT is on Friday, so plan to visit that park on Saturday. Since you will be staying off site, plan to avoid each park on its EE day, at least before lunchtime. Have you all discussed what you'd like to use your "plusses" on? Water parks, etc. With your kids being older, they are sure to have pretty strong opinions on the matter. I can't offer much on Universal on a "best day" basis, but you might find out more on the Universal board. You certainly don't have to stick to your itinerary once you get there, but it will help as a general guideline and save a lot of time from the "what are we going to do now" debate.

For my family, none us morning people, I explained very carefully before we left that WDW is best enjoyed by early risers. I did not want to spend 30 minutes each morning trying to get three grumpies out of the bed. I did not want to have to be the drill sargent either. This helped us (me) a lot.

Do a search for "packing list" on these boards. There are some really good ones that list things you might forget or not realize you need.

Finally, since your kids are older, you might consider getting each family member a 2-way radio. These were really handy for our family and allowed us to split up occasionally or find each other in some of the larger indoor areas like at EPCOT.

Hope this helps get you started.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says.............................................. Are you able to tour on all nine days listed?? If so you are OK, but forget everything but WDW and USF. You can do three days parks, one day break, two days park, one day break, two days park. If you only have eight days, good luck. Last time and the next time in November we have planned ten day trips with 6 days in the parks and four off. Sounds like a lot off off time?? On our touring days we wake up the roosters, and go all day and tour till the bitter end. Can't do that more than two days in a row and maintain maximum efficientcy. But we do more in six days than most will do in ten and have four days for pools, sleeping ( to get caught up!), and a day for a slow paced park like Seaworld if we wanted. Your plan sounds really packed, better watch the board for tips on touring, or you may have a meltdown.

 

[josierac]

definitely plan some down time. We went for 3 1/2 days once and we toured all 3 full days and we were definitely ready for a break after 2 1/2 days.

If you try and go every day all day you will be tired and cranky and everyone will be upset.

 

[lcmtam86]

Thanks to all for you advice. I guess I'll just have to spend a little more time on these boards to try a figure everything out. Don't want to wear the family down. and yes we pretty much have all 9 days to tour the world.

 

[AKASnowWhite]

Have you read the Unofficial Guide to WDW? They have touring plans that range from commando-style to slow paced. That, along with the wisdom of the veterans on these boards, will give you a really good idea of what can and cannot be done! Our approach has always been to stick strictly to Disney properties while we were there....(our personal choice, I know plenty of other people do other parks too....) and to definitely arm ourselves with as much info as possible. We have found that overplanning, then maintaining flexiblity works for us.....I have seen alot of families who attempt to tour un-informed and they end up wasting so much precious time trying to decide what to do/where to eat next! Also, for me, planning and the anticipation of the vacation is almost as much fun as actaully being there!!! No matter what you decide to do, relax and enjoy every possible moment!

 

[Planogirl]

We like to tour in a bit of a commando style in the morning, slow down after lunch and do quieter things and then enjoy the parks at a medium speed in the evening. This works well for us and keeps us from being too tired. That is, it works well for WDW since we've never been to USE. Next year! We do normally take a day in the middle of our trip to just relax and maybe shop a bit or whatever. I always enjoy the break.

I would check a guidebook with help from this website and list all of your must-dos at WDW. If this includes parades and fireworks, I would check the schedules for these and plan my days around these schedules. Make sure that you avoid early entry parks if you can since you're offsite. The days for early entry are in all of the guidebooks. Once you pin down which days you wish to spend in certain parks, I would look through the restaurants and decide on any that you have an interest in. I would check how far out you can make Priority Seating for particular parks' restaurants or those outside of the parks and make those when you can. You can easily cancel these if your plans change. Then you could look into all of your attraction must-dos and determine if any of them require planning due to high popularity. You can use the FastPass system to help with touring but be sure to hold off on figuring that out until you get all of this other stuff pinned down. Don't try to get too wrapped up in this. Just try to plan on those things that you really, really want to include and relax for the rest.

I don't know if Universal works like this or not. There is a Universal board on this website that would probably be helpful.

Sea World is a nice quiet park for the most part but does require a lot of walking. Make sure that you're energetic if you decide to go there one day. Busch Gardens is great but is quite a lengthy drive away. I might skip that one for now if it were me.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

Tammie - no way in heck can you do all that! As you know we were just at
Disney World for 9 nights. In that time we did 5 Disney park days and 1 Sea World day. How can you possibly do 5 day park hopper plus, 2 Universal days and either Busch or Sea World? You will have to come back again next year!

 

[kidzmom3]

What you have planned can be done but you need to plan a little more. We were down for 9 days last Thanksgiving. We stayed in Kissimee in a rented house (15 people total, family group) and the 2 end days were a wash because of travel so with 7 useable days. We did

day 1:mk
day 2:epcot
day 3:sea world _we didnt even make it hear until 1130 so it was a good day for it (quiet)
day 4:mgm/mk open late 12pm
day 5:islands of Adventure
day 6:animal kingdom/epcto
day 7:epcot /mk

we were exhausted when we got home, our kids DD's 2 and 4 DS7 actually napped during the day in our rented double stroller a few times. But we had a great time!!! Extra adults probably helped and we did not keep up this hectic pace on our most recent trip 9/01 but if you think this is it. Your only trip, I say go for it cram away. But if your family reaches a critical mass (melt downs, tantrums) take a break, or call it a day and live to ride another day (lol)

 

[lcmtam86]

Thanks Kidsmom3,
believe it or not but we are down to 16 days and i am still strying to figure it out, tried to do itinerary but changed it at least 5 times already. and my kids are 12 1/2 yo boy and 10 1/2 yo girl, so hopefully we won't have too many meltdowns."yeah right" and yes I think that this is it the only wdw vaca but then again i could be wrong.

 

[Tigger7570]

Hi:
Having been many times over the years, the biggest suggestion I have is not to run from one end of the parks to the other. In other words, when you enter the Magic Kingdom, get your map. Then go up Main Street (you can do the shops on the way out or another day), then either go to the right into Tomorrowland or the left to Adventureland. If you start with Tomorrowland, check off each attraction as you do them. Don't try to go from Space Mountain (Tomorrowland) and then jump over to Splash Mountain (Frontierland) because you'll waste all your time running back and forth. The lines move quickly so just finish one Land before you move onto the next. Then if there's time, you can go back to your favorites. Also, since it's your first trip, you may want to do lunch at one of the many quick counters and maybe do dinner off site or one of the sit down restaurants. I suggest this for all of the parks. Remember, if you miss anything, it's a reason to go back. Also, take breaks, buy an ice cream or popcorn and sit on a bench and regroup and look around at the beauty of the place. You want to enjoy the trip, so take your time and you should be able to do all the parks. Like everyone else has said and I agree, give yourself some down time. Have a wonderful trip. Hope to hear from you when you return.

 

[imgoingtodisney]

I know Ive been nagging you but--- go and have a good time! Have lots of fun doing whatever you get done and take lots of pictures. And buy lots of souveniers-good reminders of the great trip that you will be taking in 11 days! Tell Mickey Im on my way back!

 

[POOH&PIGLET]

Don't do it all. Stick to WDW and Universal.
Take time to enjoy everything Disney has to offer. Go to Downtown Disney, visit some resorts. There's alot going on outside the four main parks.

Our family's favorite is EPCOT's World Showcase. It has great exhibits, restaurants, and shopping. Don't miss the Tapestry of Dreams parade, Illuminatrions, and the live entertainment. You will be there for the EPCOT Food and Wine Festival. Here's a link: Food & Wine info.

Don't worrk, no matter what you do, you will have tons of fun. Enjoy.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad Says..........................................................Well, what did you decide? Just thought I'd post to get you back up to the top so you might get some last minute tips from someone. Just be advised when I suggested two days off it didn't mean to loaf around! You have downtown disney, and city walk? at USF. We ate at Emeril's, but didn't go to USF. If you eat at Emerils be prepared to leave one of your children as payment for the bill!! PLan but be flexable. Our early morning Fantasyland plan is simple. Go on Dumbo, then hit the other rides with the shortest wait. Go to Tommorrowland. If Space has a short line hit it, if not on to Buzz, if it has a short line hit it, if not on to AE. Just give yourself a general area you want to be in at what time, thats complex enough. Most of all, and this is the most important part, HAVE A GREAT TIME, and while you are there write down what you want to do on your NEXT trip to WDW!!!!!!

 

[goofypat42]

Besure to enjoy the resort. Take time to relax. The first few days is when you can
over do it. If you do, plan on some time at the end of your vacation to relax a
little bit before going home.

 

[lcmtam86]

Thanks disneefamily,
for all your good ideas and i kinda figured when you said take a couples day to relax that it wasnt' meant for loafing. And yes i will be thinking what will we want to do next time as next time may be the first week in Dec. if my daughter and her cheering squad win the regionals at the end of Nov. So for now we officially leave in only 20 more hours! oh my how that creeeps up on you . We just finished packing and are more than ready. Also I see that you leave in 7 more days. Have a great time!!!!!!
Tammie