Helpful tips please

[Ronnie]

We are looking forward to our first trip to Disney World with DH, DS9, DD8 & DD3. We are staying for one week mid June at Old Key West. Any time saving, money saving, or sanity saving tips would be much appreciated. Been reading through a the "Unofficial Guide" as well as the "Birnbaum's" guide and feeing a bit overwhelmed.
Thanks
Veronica

 

[momofbgtwins]

You should be presented with many tip threads to read through. And they will all be helpful!

 

[all4fun]

You've certainly gotten the right idea, reading the guidebooks. My big tips are: Get to the parks early, use Fast pass as much as possible. I found the touring guides in the back of the UGtoWDW very helpful as well. Most of all though - relax! and enjoy yourself.

Since you'll be staying at OKW, you can use Disney Magical Express to get to the resort if you're flying. You can also buy into the Disney Dining plan if you want (in case you weren't aware of that). Since you'll be in a villa, you can also have Gardengrocer.com deliver food to your resort. In the past, we rented a car and stopped at Publix to pick up breakfast items so we can get ready in the morning and eat before we head out, that way we don't have to stop anywhere once in the park. Our next two trips (yes, we are planning for the next two trips at the same time - we're addicts! ) we will be on the dining plan and I am looking forward to that.

hth!

 

[Ronnie]

You've certainly gotten the right idea, reading the guidebooks. My big tips are: Get to the parks early, use Fast pass as much as possible. I found the touring guides in the back of the UGtoWDW very helpful as well. Most of all though - relax! and enjoy yourself.

Thanks "all4fun" In regards to getting to the parks early, did you drive or take the Disney Transportation? And did you follow th UG rule of not attending a park that was on "Extra Magic Hours"

 

[all4fun]

We have done both - taken our car and taken Disney transportation. If you're using Extra Magic Hour, then you'll have to take the bus. If you're skipping EMH and going to a different park then driving is nice because you don't have to wait for the bus! Plus as a Disney resort guest, parking is free.

We follow the UG plan of skipping the EMH park when we choose not to use EMH. Even when using EMH, if it gets crowded in the afternoon, we go to a different park (this is where having the park-hopping feature added to your passes, comes in handy!). We like to plan our trips in advance, but it's also nice to build a little flexibility into it as well.

 

[amarberry]

I second everything that all4fun told you! My only other suggestion is tourguidemike.com (see the theme boards page...he's the sponsor). We've subscribed to tourguidemike for our last 2 trips and I think that his info is awesome! He's similar to UG, but I like his philosophy more. I also like the fact that all of his info is current, unlike the guidebooks that were probably written over a year ago.

 

[susykt4]

We've been 3 times with kids and I have to second the previous poster's advice about TourGuideMike. Our first trip we totally wasted a day at Epcot because we were just overwhelmed at the size of the park and didn't have a clue what to do. (This was when DD was 18 months.) Our 2nd trip was with DD4 and DS2. We used TGM and went during a busy spring break week in April. The info was awesome and we got to experience every ride/show we wanted despite the crowds. The most surprising thing we got out of TGM was how much DH and I loved Epcot this time. With a good plan there was sooo much to do. It was the kids' 2nd favorite park after MK.

Our third trip was Jan 2006 (kids now 5 and 3.) We used TGM again and had so much fun at Epcot and Animal Kingdom we couldn't believe we missed so much before!

If you don't have enough time for TGM before this trip I'd suggest making a list of each child and adult's top picks of rides/attractions at each park you're planning to visit so you are sure of hitting those. Don't overdo the first day or your kids will be dragging the next day or two. Get to the park at opening and leave when the midday crowds get out of hand and head back in the evening. The touring plans in the UG and TGM seem overwhelming and exhausting, but if you only use them for the first couple hours of the day you can knock out tons of rides and then spend the rest of the day touring at a much slower pace and taking everything in. Have fun!!!