Help!!!!!

[mx3man123]

Ok we are going to DW from March 2nd to March 12th 2006, we will have 9 days to do things, I figure 4 for disney, 2 for Universal and 3 days for other things. My problem is I have NO CLUE on which park to start at, what should we do the afternoon and night we get there or anything. I feel sick I'm so stressed about this trip. i want this to be memorable but I can't handle the stress and I need help setting up an itinerary as too what to do what day and what attractions to visit in what order, what restaurants to eat at. I don't know where to begin. Can someone help??

 

[hockey mom]

Inhale....exhale....

What day are you getting there?

We usually hit downtown disney on our first day. Our first stop is always MK.
The bottom line is that it really doesn't matter which park you hit on which day because either way the trip will be memorable. Your at Disney how can it not be?

 

[mx3man123]

I am getting there on March second which is a thursday. This trip is going to cost me about $6000 and I want everything planned but I have no clue where to start so I need some assistance!!!!

 

[Valjean13]

Just a guess, since this is my first Disney World trip coming up(only been to Disney Land), going to the Magic Kingdom first might be nice. As to planning out everything....my mom tried to do that for our Disney Land trip and it all changed the moment we got there. No harm in trying, certainly good to plan where you want to eat, but which rides and in which order might be a bit much.

Maybe pick which day for which park based on the EMH (if you are staying on site) and then plan the dinning around that. That's what I've done. Check out the reviews on the dinning board to help pick restaurants.

Good luck!

 

[tone.def]

I am getting there on March second which is a thursday. This trip is going to cost me about $6000 and I want everything planned but I have no clue where to start so I need some assistance!!!!

$6000!!!???

What on earth are you doing - staying at the Grand Floridian the whole time??? If you're paying 6 grand for an average family of 4, I think you're getting scammed.

 

[sandraB]

We went last year for a week and spent that!

We stayed on property, AKL, and ate out the entire time....it adds up! Not to mention being suckered into all the splash mountain photos...and frames to match!!!!

Anyway, bottom line...you are spending a lot of money...you want it to be worth everypenny!

I did a lot of research on this website. I planned the trip right down to the little details...and it was worth it! I had all our dinning requests done ahead of time...and planned which park which day by reading everything I could!!!

My advice....read read read! Another great source is the touringplans.com, they tell you which parks are going to be busy which days. We were on property, but used the strategy to avoid the EMH parks anyway. This worked well. We allways were at the part at opening..this makes a huge difference! At MK, go straight to Space mountain, get a fastpass, then go to buzz lightyear, and you can usually walk right on both. By midmorning...that place is packed! We did MK our first day...which was a sunday...and after lunch went back to hotel...(kids wanted to do pool), then back to MK, around 5pm. We walked onto splash mountain, and big thunder railroad....

Anyway, however you do it....just read everything you can, it really helps to make the trip more fun....my kids hate waiting in lines (I hate waiting inlines!!)

Happy Planning!!
Sandi

 

[hockey mom]

O.K. give us some more info.

How many are going and ages?

Where are you staying?

Do you care about early morning entry or late extra hours?

First of all you are arriving mid afternoon thursday- correct?
If that is the case I would check in, do any grocery shopping if that is on the plan, hit downtown disney or do a character meal at Chef Mickeys to get the party started. A nice little swim at your resort and then you are totally relaxed for a packed day tomorrow.

Make Friday your MK day. Universal will be busy on the weekend so try to plan those days through the week. You are doing 2 days at Universal so neither day will be a long one so plan a park that you want to hit early for the morning after. On the flip side plan a water park day(if you are doing one) after a late night park.

And I do know how easy it is to spend $6000 but I will say if you are going to enjoy yourself completely you have to stop worrying about the cost and if others are having a good time.

 

[mx3man123]

There are three of us, myself and my fiance and her 14 year old daughter. Were staying at the Boardwalk Villas.
I just can't believe how stressful this trip is making me, I want everything to go smoothly but I know something will happen that I will overlook and all hell will break loose. Thanks for the replies though.

 

[SnowWhite]

Man, RELAX, goto your happy place for a min..................o.k. feeling better now? You are staying at the boardwalk villas so you will be entitled to the extra magic hours. You have a 14 yrs old with you so naps may not be necessary to worry about except for yourself When you find out the extra magic hours for your stay then plan your park hours around them. They will be very useful to you as we practically "walked on" to most rides without a wait. Yes even space mountain, splash mountain, big thunder mountain, gm test track, soarin, peter pan, etc. We only used the evening hours so I can't speak for the early magic hours as that is when we did our character meals. Remember use the fast passes they also are very useful! At epcot when you first enter the park you can do one of two things if you want to ride soarin and gm test track a couple of times. Head to test track and immediately get a fast pass and then get in regular line to ride. After your ride is done then go over to soarin and get a fast pass for it as well. Just make sure that your fast pass times are not for around the same time or disney will not let you get a second fast pass. I believe there is a board in the middle of the park that tells you what the fast pass times are for the popular rides so keep an eye on it. It will give you an idea how busy the rides will be. If you plan on riding missions space same thing applies. Pretty much all the parks work like this, just pay attention and you should be fine. We did great at the parks and rode most popular attractions multiple times. Here is another secret, don't be afraid to approach other people at fast pass machines and offer to trade times with them. (ie. you have a fast pass for test track for 11:20-12:20, and you get to soarin and find out that their fast pass times are the same so you can't get a fast pass ticket there, make a trade if they have different times, sometimes people might be willing to trade times) Asking never hurts. You will have free parking at all the parks so don't be afraid to drive to them, the signage is pretty good with where you need to go. Only a couple times was it alittle vague and caused me to miss my turn. Don't get stressed, you are going to the "Happiest Place on Earth" there is no stress, there is no stress, there is no stress..........EXCEPT I have to go back to work now....THERE IS ALOT OF STRESS, THERE IS ALOT OF STRESS, I need a vacation........whoops just got back from one........... No worries we will help you plan.........

Rob (Snowwhite's DH)

 

[Yzma and Kronk]

I'm one of those super planners so here is my advise.

Make a spread sheet. I'm not that computer savy so I do a handwritten one.
I plug in (in pencil) the things we want to do.

Start with the research. I like The DIS (of course!) Baubaums book and www.wdwig.com.
Write down all the things/parks/restaurants that interest you. Any special "events" you want to do like Richard Petty, fireworks cruises or the like. Pencil those in. Ask you fiance and her daughter to look at any guide book you buy and let you know what interests them. Then pencil them into your spread sheet. Make a sort of itinerary for yourself.

If you have anything to prebook check the day you can do this (ie. 120 days out) and mark that in red on the top of you spread sheet. Cross it off when booked. For the restaurants, think about making a PS. You can always cancel then if you don't want to use them. You can move it around, but the goal is to put in those items you really want to do and get a plan.

Keep in mind that this is a loose itinerary, not set in stone. Therefore there is no stress in doing all the things you set out. Make sure you put in break/pool time for relaxing.

Once you are ready to go, I put the daily itinerary on an individual page (you can give out copies if you want to ) and refer to the page the night before. You can then add in things you didn't do, don't want to etc.

I think a loose itinerary keeps you on track, maximizes what you do and reduces the stress.

I hope this helps. But the best advise is relax, don't try to do everything and have a great time!

 

[SplashMom]

I think $6000 is pretty good for a family of 4. We spend approx. $7000 and we stay at a value resort and eat at medium-priced restaurants. I guess it depends on where you are coming from--airfare is expensive for us. As far as advice, do lots of research but don't get too caught up in a strict schedule. I did that on our first trip and by day 3, we were exhausted and things had to change. Once we relaxed a bit, we fit everything in without being too tired to enjoy. Flexibility is important. The other major thing we learned quickly was to take a mid-day break to relax, swim, nap, whatever. Our kids are older teenagers but we still find that after our rest, we are reenergized and able to accomplish more. If we don't rest, we get cranky and start skipping things that we really wanted to do. Don't become too overwhelmed. Just visiting and hitting the most important things on your list is wonderful--have fun!!

 

[indigoxtreme]

With a 14 year old or any age don't do the MK first. Start with MGM or AK or Epcot. We did AK first them MGM and then MK with Epcot last. It helped to build the excitement. With a 14 yr old if she likes rollercosters etc she will love MGM with Tower of Terror and Rock N rollercoaster. Do you have the dining plan? If so look at the home page here on the Dis and get the times etc for your trip. Calendars are now 6 months out. Plan your park days then read these boards about the ADR for restaurants (even if you don't have the dining plan but want to eat at Disney restuarants) Allearsnet.com has copies of the menus for the restaurants. Review them and ask each to pick one or two that they would like to try. My schedule this past Sept was done this way, our evening meals were ADR's and our lunches etc were counter service, we read over the menus and picked 1 or 2 in each park that we would like to eat at. Depending on where we were in the parks is the one wee would eat lunch at. Don't overplan the day, basic lunch dinner and parks for the day is enough, be flexible in case some one wants to do a show again or a ride 2 or 3 times.

 

[Manon]

Wow! 6000$ is way to much! It must be the airfare....

We are going in january, we are 5, but we are driving from Montreal, and as it is right now it will cost us around 4000$ Can for 9 days at Port Orleans Riverside, 7 days passes, dining plan.

But do you think that 4 days is enough at Disney???? We were there 6 days in june and it wasn't enough for us!!

Good luck!

 

[mbb]

we're out of Halifax, flying AC...and if we had paid cash for our 4 return tickets, we would have been out $2600 - and we booked back in May/June..

By the time we add on accomodations, tickets, and car rental..not to mention some "mouse money", hello! 6 grand, easy.

Friends of ours booked 3 weeks ago for March break, out of Halifax, on AC..and they're paying $1100/person, for a grand total of $4400

WestJet wasn't any cheaper...prime time, and flight times that would work with little ones and *ahem*... a "full service" airline

At this point, if they could be paying $6000 *total* for their vacation, they would be thrilled

You've come to the right place, mx3man123 for help..and you've received some great tips already.

Have fun planning!!

 

[mx3man123]

I'm not sure why there are so many people surprised at the $6000 price tag. The tickets alone for three 4 day hopper passes and three 2 day Univerasal passes came to $1350. When you add in accomodations, flight, food, rental car, spending money I don't think $6000 is that far out of the realm of possibility.

I already printed out the park maps and a list of all the attractions at each park. Now I need to know in which order to do what attractions and also which parks I should visit on which day, again I am going from March 2nd to March 12th so our first day at the park will be March 3rd and it will be a Friday.

 

[marylou]

My teens love disney quest and they spend the day there. With a 14 yr it might be something to look into
For commando style tour plans look through one of the books on WDW they outline birnbaum has one