Help Us 1st Time At Disney!!!

[Rookie14]

HELP!!!

It is my family and my 1st time going to disney and we need a lot of HELP!!WE GO APRIL 15!!! there is 4 of us we have a 10 year old kid, and a teenager. we do not know what to do. Our hotel is right in the park. We have Hopper passes.

I have some questions:

were is the best restaurant to eat at in the park and you can see fireworks right from your table at night?

what is a good time to get up and go in the park?

what are some great restaurant to eat at and what are they like?

what sould you not miss at disney/something you need to do or see?

the day we get there we will get in Disney at about 8:30pm what do you think will be the best thing to do when we get there that night is?

ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP US!!! WE WILL BE FOREVER GREATFUL!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

 

[Jordan's MOM]

Welcome!!!

You have a lot of questions and I will try to answer a few and offer a little advice. I would first, invest in a good guide book for additional information and reference. You are going during a busy time so all the advance planning you can do will help.

First, i am asuming that by "hotel in the park" you are staying on site. There are in fact 4 parks with in WDW as well as many hotels, water parks and other things. If you are staying on site, you can take advantage of early entry and enter the park of the day, one hour before other guest arrive. During this busy time, I would in fact take advantage of EE and be at the gate at 8:00. If you choose not to do EE, go to a park that does not offer EE that day and be there before the 9:00 opening. Assuming that you have hopper passes, if the park you start the day in as EE get really crowded, you can hop to another park.

There are many great resturants at WDW. Do you know about making a PS for places you want to eat? Ask more questions here if you do not. You will want to make PS's for most places you want to eat during your trip.
Two places you can see the Fireworks from the resturant are O'hanns and Californina Grill, though all tables do not offer this view. Both are at resorts, not parks.
Are you interested in a character meal? You will want to decide and make a PS for that.

Some of our favorite family resturants are:
Liberty Tree Tavern
O'hanna's
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Trails End Buffet
Rain Forest Cafe
50's prime Time
Donald's breakfastsarus.

These are all casual sit downs. There are a lot of much nicer places if you want that too.

What you spend can vary so much. For counter service, count about 6.00 per person, table can vary 15-20.00 per person and up.
Do a search on menus and check out the prices there.
For a family of three, we budget about 100.00 a day for one sit down and one counter service and one snack.

What to do the first night depends on if you will have tickets that allow you into the park that night. Don't use a day on a hopper pass that late. Try a character meal, a ride on the momorail, a swim at your resort, a trip to down town disney or just go to bed early. Hope that this answered more questions than it created!!!

Just keep asking and someone will know the answer.


Jordans' mom

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by Rookie14
HELP!!!

It is my family and my 1st time going to disney and we need a lot of HELP!!WE GO APRIL 15!!! there is 4 of us we have a 10 year old kid, and a teenager. we do not no what to do. Our hotel is right in the park.

I have some questions:

were is the best restaurant to eat at in the park and you can see fireworks right from your table at night?

what is a good time to get up and go in the park? This all depends on if you want to do EE(early entry) or not. EE will allow you one hour access into the park as a resort guest before non resort guests get in at normal opening times. When hubby and I did EE on our last trip we did about 3 rides AND breakfast before park opening. We were usually out of the EE park we chose for the day anywhere between 1 and 2pm.

what are some great restaurant to eat at and what are they like? Opinions here will vary, but here are my favorites: Crystal Palace at the MK for breakfast~~character meal with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Hubby and I were visited by the characters twice and NEVER felt rushed.
Hollywood Brown Derby for dinner at MGM~~very distinguishing restaurant with service and food way above the norm. The atmosphere is wonderful and so is the grapefruit cake!! Do lunch instead of dinner and save yourself a few bucks.
Wolfgang Puck's Cafe at Downtown Disney Westside for lunch~~hubby and I dined here twice because we enjoyed it so much!
San Angel Inn at EPCOT in the Mexico showcase for dinner~~very , very romantic atmosphere with REAL mexican cooking! I didn't enjoy my dinner when DH and I dined here, but I would go back again simply because the atmosphere is SO romantic and it's very relaxing!
Rainforest Cafe at the AK for breakfast~~this was a FANTASTIC meal and a GREAT way to start our day at the AK. I like the RFC better at AK than the one at DD(Downtown Disney) The service and food in my opinion is much better.

Please visitOUR LAUGHINGPLACE and right here on THE DIS to get some different reviews on other restaurants.

what do you think it will cost a day in food for 2 parents 1 kids,and 1 teenager(snacks,drinks,food ect.)?Just visit DEB'S SITE to look at menus to get an idea on what you may be spending.

what sould you not miss at disney/something you need to do or see? Again, this is going to vary from one person to another. For me, I NEVER miss visiting the countries in the world showcase, I ALWAYS ride the Pooh ride first upon entry to the MK, I always visit the AKL and have breakfast or dinner at BOMA (that's one of my favorite restaurants I forgot to mention), I always visit Downtown Disney on our first and last day. Love shopping there and love just walking around looking at all the shops. I always do the Great Movie Ride at MGM, and I make sure to get the Kilimanjaro Safari done first thing upon arrival to the AK.
You just have to decide what's more important to you and then just take it from there. I will leave you some links at the end of this post so you can visit and find out where you can start on what to do and where to visit.

the day we get there we will get in Disney at about 8:30pm what do you think will be the best thing to do when we get there that night is? How bout just check in to your resort and look around it for a bit and then head on down to Downtown Disney. That way you don't waste a park day getting in so late and you can get into the Disney spirit with a walk around Downtown Disney. It's so cool seeing it at night and with Jessica Rabbit "looking down on you" from Pleasure Island. You'll see what I'm talking about when you get there.

ANYTHING THAT WILL HELP US!!! WE WILL BE FOREVER GREATFUL!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Visit the following sites to get more info on Disney, they are just some of my favorites:

www.ourlaughingplace.com
www.disneyworld.com
www.allearsnet.com
www.mousesavers.com

I do hope that I've helped.

Denise

 

[CuteKatCar]

If you check out wdwig.com there is a list of the restaurant menus. Keep reading these boards and you will find a wealth of information.

I definitely agree that you need a good guide book. The unofficial guide will even tell you the "what not to miss" attractions.

Good luck.

Cutekatcar

 

[lentesta]

Hey Rookie14,

The Unofficial Guide will help you figure out which attractions to see when, and that'll save you a lot of time standing in line. The Guide is available worldwide, and is the best-selling independent book on Walt Disney World.

I wrote the computer software the Guide uses, so drop me a line if you have any questions about those touring plans, let me know.

Welcome to the DIS!

Sincerely,

Len

 

[MELSMICE]

You have a lot of questions & will get a lot of info from these boards.

#1 - get a guidebook. I think The Unofficial Guide is the best.

#2 - Sounds like you're staying on site. Take advantage of Early Entry.

#3 - Get a map from the front desk at your resort of all the parks when you check in. You can mark the things you feel are "must do's" & try to map out a plan - refer to guidebook when you do this.

#4 - Make some Priority Seating ressies before you leave from home. The last thing you want to do when you're hungry is wait for an hour for a table.

#5 - My suggestion for the 1st night would be the same as a previous poster. Check out the resort. There is a lot to see & do at every resort.

#6 - Most important. Try to relax & enjoy. You probably won't see & do everything in one trip so just enoy the things you can do & don't fret about the things you miss.

Have fun & welcome to the DIS!

 

[mommystieg]

Another vote for picking up the Unofficial Guide!! I used this guide book when planning our first two trips and found it to be a wonderful source of info and full of great park touring ideas.

 

[AreWeThereYet]

Originally posted by Rookie14
HELP!!!

what is a good time to get up and go in the park?

what are some great restaurant to eat at and what are they like?

what sould you not miss at disney/something you need to do or see?

the day we get there we will get in Disney at about 8:30pm what do you think will be the best thing to do when we get there that night is?

When we stay in the world, we always get up early on the days we go to the parks and get there 30-40 minutes before opening so we can get on the "good" rides early.


We love Spoodles at the Boardwalk, Rainforest Cafe, Beaches & Cream, Pepper Market (At coronado springs) among others. We always hit the Teppanyaki House in Japan for a dinner or late lunch.


We don't miss the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning. Get there early and you will see lots of the animals out.

First night - we eat a light meal and visit downtown disney or explore our resort. Some of them have Hidden Mickey scavenger hunts that pass some time and are lots of fun.


Have a great trip!!

 

[Princess Chelley]

You guys give the best information!!! Thanks!!!

PC

 

[jsjohnso]

A nice "family" time for first night might be mini-golf.