Help Planning May/June Trip for First Timer

[lchuck]

First time poster here. While I have been to Disney World as a child and also as part of a high school band trip, it's been almost 20 years since I was last there.

My wife, 4 1/2 year old son, 7 year old son, and my parents will be driving to Disney World where we will be staying from May 30-June 4, 2015. We're planning on sticking to Disney World only and will go with either a 5 or 6 day pass and are staying offsite. I'm just looking for help, recommendations, suggestions, money saving tips, etc, both in the staying offsite (we've booked a condo already) and in the actual time at the parks.

I do know we will spend at least 1 weekend day at Hollywood Studios because my 7 yo is a Star Wars FANatic and it will be a Star Wars Weekend. Is it worth 2 days? We don't have too much interest in the Wild Kingdom park, so we'll probably stick to the big 3.

Other than that I'm just interested in hearing about your thoughts on a group that includes young ones, mid 30's and retired folks. Should we try to stick together, should we purchase the photo package, how much should we budget for a good meal at the park? Please feel free to ask questions since I'm being very vague here, I'm just kind of overwhelmed on where to start with all of the planning.


TLR PLEASE HELP ME, I'm way out of my league!


Thanks in advance for all of the help!

 

[Pesky]

Man, are you lucky! Someone was just asking about this and there is a ton of good info in this thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3366207

Have a great time!

 

[lchuck]

Thank you! I must have missed that thread because it's full of helpful links. As I think of questions, I'm just going to post them here. Whether they get answered or not, at least I won't forget my questions.

Since we're staying offsite, I understand we won't get Magic Bands, but we will have RFID tickets. Is it worth purchasing the Magic Bands for everyone or will the tickets work OK?

 

[MandiC]

I'm sure your tickets will be fine unless you really want the Magic Bands for FastPasses (you can still get FastPasses you just need to connect them to your ticket and keep your ticket on hand). The major benefits to MagicBands when staying on site as things like it being your room key and how you can pay for things....but if you are off site you won't have charging ability.

 

[Pesky]

Thank you! I must have missed that thread because it's full of helpful links. As I think of questions, I'm just going to post them here. Whether they get answered or not, at least I won't forget my questions.

Yes and if your questions don't get answered, like the one about star wars weekend and how many days, just post it in a new thread. A thread about "Star Wars Weekend -- 1 day or 2?" might get more specific answers for you.

Sorry I can't answer much of anything else as I'm planning my first trip back to WDW in almost 30 years (Good grief, I can't believe it's been that long -- since I was a kid!). But people here are great with information and you'll find yourself a WDW expert before you know it.

 

[Jerzetta]

Took our daughter (4) last year for the first time.

Stayed on property- moderate resort.

Cost Saving Tips: Plan, plan, plan but be ready to be flexible due to moods, overtired feet etc...

So at night we planned to go to the parade and I knew my DD would want glow sticks. I read these boards every night for 1 year so someone posted going to the dollar store and getting their glow sticks. It was an amazing idea bc sure enough the 1st night in the park my DD wanted a glow toy. Thus the planning of what you are doing and when comes in handy.

Photopass was a life saver. It was worth every penny imo. We did a character meal 4 out of 7 days and it was great to get all the pictures. We ended up with 200 pictures overall and everyone was great. Granted it was a pain to stand in line at the entry of MK to get the beginning of the day shots but I would make an effort if you get the photopass to stop and take pictures each time,

Dining Plan: We were off the dining plan for 1 day and the food was expensive. Unless you go to Downtown Disney. We ate at the Italian restaurant last night and I was relieved that the prices were normal vs Via Napoli but like my DH said- how often are you eating in Epcot in Italy.

Have a great trip

 

[msmama]

On the Theme Park Boards there's a large thread about Star Wars Weekends.

This year will be my first time, BUT, I think the answer to "how many days" depends on what it is you want to do. It is crowded so there are lots of lines for things (meaning you may not get as much done as you normally would). If you want to get celebrity autographs, you're pretty much limited to one a day. There are shows to see and characters to meet. Also fireworks at night.

There are also special Star Wars character meals, but they are probably pretty booked up (worth a look though).

If you just want to get the star wars vibe, probably one day is enough. If you actually have lots you want to accomplish, you'd want more days!

 

[Camshell]

I love planning the meals in the parks.

You can save money (or at least stick to a budget) if you plan in advance where and what sorts of things you want to eat. Go to the DIS Menu link at http://allears.net/dining/menu/ . Look through the menus for the parks and create the food budget you want. We also find it easier because we all have different food preferences in our family and we know where are the best places to eat to suit all our needs.

Tip - if you find something food wise you're not sure about google an image of it and normally you can see what it will look like. That helps us, especially for my son who is a picky eater.

 

[AlexisMaxMommy]

Welcome! There is lots of good advice on this board, and it can be overwhelming. Please remember that people will give advice, but what works for one family might not work for another.

A site that gave me LOTS of information to help with my planning was touringplans.com One of my favorite features on this site was the crowd calendar. It was pretty accurate for our trip.

The biggest thing for me is the cost for food. I packed a bunch of snacks, juice boxes, non-perishable breakfast such as muffins and pop-tarts, a jar of peanut butter, and some sandwich baggies. When we got to our resort, we picked up milk and bread. We typically ate breakfast before leaving the room, and I packed peanut butter sandwiches, snacks, and drinks to eat for lunch. The only meal that we ate out more than in was dinner.

 

[SweetMissy]

Plan on the heat! We went May last year and never again will we go that close to summer. We found ourselves rushing around the parks to get back to the resort to jump in the pool. So, stay hydrated! Have fun!

 

[Lincolnshire]

We went the week after thanksgiving with 3 adults in their 30s, a toddler, a newborn and 2 retirees (65 and 70 but in good shape). My parents were troopers but after the trip made it clear that we had absolutely run them ragged. And we never stayed in the parks past 3-4 PM! In retrospect I wish we had taken 1-2 break (non-park) days and also planned to split up more. They love our kids but that much together time was frankly too much in terms of their stamina.

 

[Lupeix]

There's an official May 2015 thread on the DIS and a Facebook group that are great for posting questions as you plan

We are going in May and love the Facebook group, we are staying offsite and purchased Magic bands. It makes it much easier for the kids and you can get them online and delivered to your house. They are also good to identify your kid if he gets lost. I think they are worth the 12 $

In terms of money saving tips, get groceries delivered from garden grocer. The delivery fee is only $2 if you spend over 200 and you get a discount if you place your order 60 days in advance. I find that doing as late as breakfast as possible, brunch if you wish, is the best way to get your money worth of buffet character meals, we are not early risers and it counts as lunch for us.