help! overwhelmed!

[anphsmom]

HI! I'm definately a newbie. My dh and I are planning on taking our two ds ages (new)4 and 6. WE have never flown with the boys and haven't flown since before 9/11. We are planning on going Feb. 9 - 13. only 4 days. we are also probably only doing MK and hope to stay at WL. Questions:

how soon should we book our room?
should we get the dining plan? what is the dining plan?
should we plan to go to a park the day we land?
do we need to use a booster/carseat for flight or ME?
how soon should I make airline ressies?
We are in NC, for you from nc is it better to fly from Greensboro or Raleigh?
we are 35min from gsboro and only 1 1/2 hrs from Raleigh.
I know I have tons more questions, but I'll stick with these for now. I am totally overwhelmed! Last time @ wdw was 1979!!!! Thanks so much!

 

[all4fun]

First, to the Dis!

I'll try to answer some of your questions. We are DVC members so we don't typically book a regular resort room so I'll leave that question up to more experienced Dis'rs. I do believe that if you make a ressie now and a better deal comes up, you could change the ressie - but it might actually be a cancellation and rebooking (think fees) so hopefully others can clarify how that works for you better. You might even be able to get a great answer to this question on the resorts board.

WL is a beautiful resort, and has fairly easy access via bus or boat to MK. We have stayed there (in the Villas though) and love it. DS was enthralled with the water fountain in the lobby. The whole resort is very well themed (we are from the NW so we especially enjoyed the theming lol).

Since you're only going for four days and will be on property, you will want to maximize your time in the parks so will probably be eating at Disney restaurants anyway. In this case I wold highly recommend the Dining Plan. There is a whole FAQ about it on the Restuarants board. Basically you pay a set fee for each day of the entire stay and you get 1 counter service, 1 table service meal, and one snack, per person, per day of your stay. The meals are plenty to eat (we've done DDP on three prev trips now). This page on the Dis shows the eligible restaurants for the DDP: http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm....

You can download the disney dining plan brochure here:

www.disneydining.info/2008.html

Here's menus www.allearsnet.com/menu/menus.htm

Should you go to a park the day you land? Depends on what time you're landing I think. You may want to just spend the rest of that day getting checked in, maybe enjoy the pool, have a meal, and get to bed early so you can start your next full day in a park relaxed and refreshed. Sometimes we do go into a park on arrival day but we usually have APs so we don't have to worry about burning a full days admission on a limited pass.

We start looking at airline prices about 3 months out, well dh is looking long before that lol. He's a planner! But usually we end up buy 2-3 months out. That seems like the time to get the best prices.

You're gonna have a great time! I do recommend considering at least one other park while you're there though. They all have their merits. MK is definitely a favorite of mine so it's a must do but there are some great attractions and things to do and see at the other three parks as well.

edit to add: forgot about the DME and car seat question. If your boys are out of 5pt harness seats then they cannot use boosters on the airplane. The DME busses are operated by Mears and are coach busses that do not have seatbelts, so you cannot use car seats or boosters on them. Busses have size on their side and use compartmentalization to keep passengers safe. If you'll be taking a taxi or non-disney transportation anywhere then you'll need to have a booster at least. I actually recommend bringing (minimum) backless boosters for your kids because you never know what type of emergency situation might arrise where they'll need them. On our last trip we got to the airport for our flight home only to find out that one of our flights had to be cancelled so the airline had to put us up in a hotel for one more night. We had used DME and disney transport for the whole trip so did not have a booster or car seat for our 5yr old with us and he had to ride in just a seatbelt on the shuttle van to the hotel. I am a stickler for car passenger safety especially when it comes to my ds, so this did not make me happy and I will never be in that position again!

hth!

 

[truck524]

You are asking your questions at the right place! Book as soon as you know you can go! You can start paying off your vacation, so it is not a huge bill all at once. Flying a 2 yr. old. can sit on your lap but not a 4 year old. We are getting the dinning plan this year for the first time. It seems to work out for the kids better than the adults. my kids are 5 and 8 and eat a whole lot! We estimate them spending around a $160 but only paying $70 on the dining plan, for adults we will break even. Having everything paid off before going makes the trip less stressful.

 

[bas71873]

HI! I'm definately a newbie. My dh and I are planning on taking our two ds ages (new)4 and 6. WE have never flown with the boys and haven't flown since before 9/11. We are planning on going Feb. 9 - 13. only 4 days. we are also probably only doing MK and hope to stay at WL. Questions:

how soon should we book our room? You can call the Disney ressie line and book a room only ressie now. That way you at least have your resort booked. Don't forget to mention AAA if you have it for a discount. Packages for this time of year came out late summer if I recall. We go in Feb too. When the packages come out, then you can call back and add the dining plan if you decide too...and all your tickets as well.

should we get the dining plan? what is the dining plan? check out www.allears.net GREAT source of info for the dining plan. You are basically pre-paying for your snacks & meals. I personally found it nice to have the whole trip paid for in advance and not have to worry about what I'm paying to eat. You are staying 4 nights so you will have 4 snack credits, 4 counter-service credits and 4 table service credits per person per day...or 16 of each per person to really use anyway and anytime you want. Read up on the DDP, it's not as difficult as it seems in the beginning.

should we plan to go to a park the day we land? We did not. We got settled in, explored our resort and when to Downtown Disney for dinner and some shopping. They have a lego store and lego filled play areas there that your boys will probably love and a little playground which was nice for our DD to burn off some energy while we sat and watched

do we need to use a booster/carseat for flight or ME? Nope.

how soon should I make airline ressies? You can fly Southwest from Raleigh to Orlando NON STOP....my parents did it last year in Feb to meet us there. I know flights on SW for that time are not out yet but I would book as soon as they post on the web.

we are 35min from gsboro and only 1 1/2 hrs from Raleigh. I love RDU, but I would say whatever flight works best for you guys out of whichever airport. I have never been to Greensboro but my hunch is it's smaller which usually means more expensive flights.

I know I have tons more questions, but I'll stick with these for now. I am totally overwhelmed! Last time @ wdw was 1979!!!! Thanks so much!

Good luck, read up and relax. It's not as hard to plan as it seems

 

[pgee]

HI
Thanks for the post. You're in great shape, lots of time to plan. We've only been once; for a week the last week of Nov 2007. My wife and I are 44 and our children are 8 and 4. Absolutely beautiful trip, would never ever consider going at any other time of the year, so FEB is a great time to go. You will wait very little if any to ride anything. The most we waited was 10 mins for SOARIN'.

My son and I rode Test Track one night 17 times in a row using single rider lines without ANY waiting. Walked straight into the preview room without stopping after getting off and the end of the ride. I couldn't imagine anything worse than having to stand in some line for 2 hours!!

Our kids are well schooled in "stranger danger" so they always stayed right with us. We practiced a bunch of situations and role played stuff. My wife even went so far as to write our cell phone numbers on their chests so if they got lost and really freaked out, they could ask the Disney people to call us.

Sine none of us had never been before we bought this book on the Net and did everything she suggested:

The Ultimate Disney World Savings Guide 2007
By Beth Haworth

Don't know if the hard cores on this site like it or not, but her tips easily saved us the cost of the book ($35 or so US)

If we go back, (which will be a while because we are off to Washington DC next summer and then London the next year), we will do the Disney Dining Plan which we did not do this past November. We did use the Disney Visa card for the Disney Dollar points, and they do offer some nice discounts as well (like a FREE Dining Plan), but you just have to be lucky to get the right offer before you book.

I'd get her book and then follow her suggestions to the letter (for example, call at 180 days out on the dot to reserve Character meals, etc).

This board is great for tips and ideas too. Take it all in and do what works for YOUR family. Your children's personalities, temperment and tolerances will determine how much and for how long you can do stuff. If they normally don't enjoy loud things (for example), then don't plan on lots of fireworks etc etc.

Go for it. Don't sweat the small stuff. Plan well. Love your kids (I'm sure you do). Play the cards your are dealt. You will have a great trip!!

 

[Donald Duck Dad]

You have plenty of time to prepare.

IMHO we use "Tour Guide Mike" and the "Unofficial Guide to WDW"
for park planning days etc. Lot of info in both of these sources
as well as using the DIS Board.

Going in Feb should be less stressful than we travel. We have to so
summers due to school, usually early to middle June and the sources
mentioned above made our visit great.

Do not know about the DDP. I have a family of PICKY eaters (at least
3 are oldest DS is usually the adventurous one).

Pay as much in advance as possible or at least have the $$$ put away
in advance.

Have a great trip and don't STRESS.

as my sig line says "Life is short, spend your time at DISNEY"

 

[pgee]

RE: Car Seats. We always brought ours for the plane and the rental car. Big Bummer carrying them in the airport but was necessary and kept the kids in a normal situation (ie, riding strapped in the seat) during the flight. Since they were buckled in, they had no chance to climb into anyone's lap etc etc

We use gum so we are prepared for the change in air pressure. Food, games whatever really surprises them and will take their mind off of the pain of the change in pressure (it may not even affect your kids at all).

We don't have a problem with take offs or landings other than the air pressure (ears) deal. We talk about "how cool"
and "wow, look how fast we are going" stuff that seems to keep ours less apprehensive. You can always find some Berenstein (sp) Bears books or the like that are centered on flying and then read those in the few weeks before you fly.

 

[tripplanner]

I'm in NC as well. I tend to fly out of Greensboro mostly. Occassionally, Charlotte and then rarely Raleigh. It really depends on your proximity. I choose Greensboro because it is the closest to me (about 45 minutes away). I then choose Charlotte because sometimes it's cheaper (it's about 1:30 minutes away from me). The only time I choose Raleigh (it's 2 to 2 1/2 hrs away depending on the traffic) is when there aren't any flights that fit my plans anywhere else.

 

[eeyoregon]

Flying a 2 yr. old. can sit on your lap

The OP's kids are 4 and 6 so it won't apply but FYI: to fly as a lap child for free they must be UNDER age 2. Just booked on Delta and had to pay full fare for 26 month old.

 

[anphsmom]

Thanks everyone! The replies have been great! So would you go ahead and book our room or wait until later? My dh just shakes his head at me as I'm on the internet everynight reading about wdw!

 

[Marthonica]

I'd say no to carseats - they are a pain to lug around the airport and at 4 and 6 you don't really need them anymore. You don't need them for ME.

I'd check flight prices out of both airports. We fly out of Raleigh, but we live there. I do think prices are often cheaper out of Greensboro. Southwest only posts schedules a few months in advance so you may not be able to see their prices.

Book your hotel as soon as possible You can always cancel and it's better to have it. Then book flights.

I like the dining plan both for picky and non-picky eaters. Disney caters to kids so it's not too hard to find things even for picky eaters.

Have fun!

 

[irene_dsc]

You've got a ton of time, so I'd probably start by learning about the parks and what you really want to do and see. I ended up using a combination of Birnbaum's Official Guide, which was good for getting us excited about various attractions or restaurants, and then the Unofficial Guide, to get reality checks about what was really good or not. I also really liked the attraction guides in the UG, because it detailed what might be scary about any attraction (dark, loud, etc).

The Dining Plan (2008 version, at least - who knows what they will do for 2009) has its pros and cons. I liked that everything was pre-paid, so I wasn't stressing about constantly spending money on food. Otoh, it was often confusing to figure out what things counted which ways, so that ended up being stressful, especially about goofy things like when the kids wanted a counter service meal on the adult menu. (Go figure - a place called Pizzafari that doesn't have pizza on the kids menu...) (Oh, and the answer on that one - officially, you are supposed to only order as many adult & child meals as you have people, but they track the meals the same. I only found that out on the last day, so I ended up ordering the kid meatballs for myself!)

 

[bas71873]

Thanks everyone! The replies have been great! So would you go ahead and book our room or wait until later? My dh just shakes his head at me as I'm on the internet everynight reading about wdw!

I would call and book your room that way you have the resort you want...you never how fast things fill up. And, you can always start paying on that part of the trip now. Then in a few months when the "packages" are released for that time of year, you can add dining, tickets, etc.

 

[dromio42]

You may want to consider looking at information about the other parks as well. The park tickets are not park specific so you may want to explore another park. DHS has alot of pre school entertainment, Animal Kingdom has, well, animals, and Epcot, although it appears very adult, was one of my 3 year old neices favorites. There are Kidcot stations at each country where she got to color a paper mask and get stamps, plus she is adopted from China and really liked seeing the entertainment in China.

 

[VAN]

First of all, if at all possible, I would add some days to your vacation! You are going to find that you only have time for the "tip of the iceburg". I realize it may not be possible, but I always encourage people (especially for first visits) to consider 7-10 days.

Okay, based on what you are planning, I think that WL is the perfect location. You have easy access to several of the resorts. You also have easy access to the MK.

Fort Wilderness is just a boat ride away and has many playgrounds for the kids running off steam. Hoop-de-doo-Review is there and is a wonderful dinner show for the whole family. They also offer a campfire sing-along (with Chip & Dale) followed by a movie (outdoor screen). Any resort guests is welcome to attend.

I also think that you should consider visiting at least one other park. Be sure to get the Park Hopper feature added on if you can.

I am going to say that unless money is no object, I would not recommend getting the Dining Plan. My reasons are that this will be your first visit and will be a short one. Having to plan for table service dinners is going to cut into your option of being spontaneous based on the children's energy levels. You may find that your time would be better spent back at the resort for a short nap rather than be locked into a dinner reservation. I know, I know ... this is just my opinion. If you were there longer, and could afford it, then I would recommend it.

I would also like to point out that the park hours will most likely be shorter because of the time of the year. The weather will be cooler. Just some things that will factor into your touring plans.

I would highly recommend the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. I would also suggest that you order the WDW free travel planning DVD. It is a lot of fun to watch and will help to generate excitement for your visit.

No matter what, you will have a good time. Welcome to the DISBoards!

 

[TexasTodds]

I am going to say that unless money is no object, I would not recommend getting the Dining Plan. My reasons are that this will be your first visit and will be a short one

I respectfully disagree with this simply based on the ages of your children. With kids that age (I have ones that age also) it seems crazy not to get the DDP. This way, you can plan for fun character meals that you would otherwise probably avoid so as to keep a better budget. For adults, I think mostly it is a break even thing (If you don't order alcoholic beverages or appetizers also).

I would also try to visit other parks, not just MK. My kids LOVED DHS -- Star Tours, Muppet show, Indiana Jones, and the Car Stunt show. They also really like Sci-Fi, and the younger two also had a great time at Play and Dine (H&V)--my oldest, not so much! We didn't even do the "big ones" RnR and ToT because of height restrictions, and my oldest just doesn't like "scary rides"

Is there any way that you could expand your trip by a couple of days? The tickets get really cheap after about 4 or 5 days, and maybe even consider a moderate resort? We looked into WL for our trip in January, and it was going to be about $1100 more for the week (for both of the rooms we needed), which is about what our airfare was, so I couldn't justify it since I really wanted to fly to have more time in the parks (also really wanted to avoid 2 days in the car with 3 kids and my MIL!!) My kids loved POR...we did the surrey bikes, and they loved the boat to DTD.

Also, I know this has been answered, but unless you are renting a car, I wouldn't bring a carseat. I really went back and forth over this, since my DD was almost 4, but I knew that on ME we couldn't use it, nor on the regular disney busses. All of the kids did great, didn't try to get out of their seats on the plane. One morning we did take a taxi (van) to beach club for the boys to do the pirate cruise, and we just buckled DD into the middle seat and hoped for the best. I would normally never do anything like that, but otherwise, what do you do, carry the carseat around epcot all day? I don't think it would fit in a locker.

By the time you leave you won't feel so overwhelmed! I bought the Birnbaum book for Disney with Kids, and found the format very easy to read. I also joined TGM for touring plans, and made a folder for each park with whatever info I thought I would need.

I would make your reservations when you feel comfortable with the payments, but prob. by September (even though we did ours for end of January the 2nd week of November!!). I would also watch out for codes and specials...when we booked there was one for a free parkhopper and also added the Water parks and more, which we never used, but we did love the PH, for which I don't think I would have paid $50 each for. I'm pretty sure that you can add these specials to an existing room reservation too,

Hope this helps!!