Helppppppp!!!! New to ddp and wdw!

[DisneyMommy1022]

Ok a little background first…
We are a family of 11: 6 adults (the youngest being 18), 5 kids: 9,8,7,5,2. We are celebrating a family reunion, birthdays, and anniversaries. We are staying at POP and will be there from May 28th ~ June 5th 2010. I know I have 9 months to plan this but I have a DISorder that makes me want to have everything planned to a “T”. So please help me with my DDP. Here is what I have come up with so far. I want you to be honest with me and tell me what you like, don’t like, what you would change and any recommendations for other restaurant choices that you think would be better.


May 28th ~ Arrive
Dinner: Narcossee’s ~ 2 TS ~ Big Dinner to kick off our trip and for Emmy’s 7th B-Day

May 29th ~ At Universal
May 30th ~ At Sea World
May 31st~ At Island Of Adventure

June 1st~ Epcot/HS
(We plan to do Epcot in the morning just hitting main rides and the head off to MGM For rides and Dinner)

Breakfast: CS @ POP
Lunch: Epcot~ Coral Reef~ TS
Dinner: HS~ CS

June 2nd~ Animal Kingdon

Breakfast: Donald’s Safari Breakfast~ TS
Lunch: CS
Dinner: Spirit of Aloha~ 2 TS ~ Tier 2

June 3rd ~ Magic Kingdom

Brakfast: Tony’s Good Morning Gathering ~ TS
Lunch : CS
Dinner: CS

June 4th ~ Blizzard Beach

Breakfast: CS
Lunch: CS
Dinner: Kouzzina By Cat Kora ~ TS


Soooo total I have : 8TS and 7 CS with 1 to spear!
Please tell me what you think!!

Thanks for the help!
Kristen

 

[faindrops27]

Look up at the DDP Facts stickie. That should help explain everything you are looking for. Have a grea trip!

 

[amandelba]

Sounds like you have a great trip to look forward to. I admire your attempt to get things organized early, especially with such a big group.

Narcoosee's sounds great - we're trying for the first time this month and we're very much looking forward to it.

Coral Reef was a great experience for us last time and quite a surprise too. We weren't expecting much and we loved it. You can't beat the atmosphere either. I would suggest maybe switching this for dinner and changing your CS plans for HS, since the choices there are pretty poor an almost universally panned on the DIS. Also, I don't recall any large tables at Coral Reef, so you may have to split up.

Donald's Safari Breakfast is a lot of fun and the food is pretty good there too.

Spirit of Aloha - I won't pan this, because I've never been. The reason being is the overaboundance of poor reviews on this site. People here seem to favor Hoop de Do. I would suggest trying 'Ohana instead. It's fun, the food is similar and you can save a TS credit.

I haven't been to the other 2 (yet), but they sound good too.

Good luck - for me planning (the dining) is half the fun.

 

[Goseethemouse]

Just some thoughts:

I do have some suggestions but please bear in mind that these are just my personal opinions. Every family is different and only you know what your family will like.

Overall, it seems a good plan BUT maybe geared a little too much to the grown ups as opposed to the kids. I would add in another character meal for example and just tone down the pace a bit. I would maybe replace Narcossee's with a more family oriented place (O'hana or a buffet maybe?) Also, one day for MK might not be enough with children.

Are you planning on splitting up some during the days? If not, I think your plan might be a bit ambitious as touring all day is hard on everyone but especially on the kids.

I also noted that you are doing the first three days at Universal/Seaworld. Now, I haven't been there (only in CA) but I have heard that Universal especially hasn't got THAT much that is fun for the littler kids. Maybe you could consider splitting up a bit on one of the Universal days and the smaller kids stay back at Pop, go to the pool etc.

I also see that you are planning to eat CS at DS. While I am sure you will find something there, I do have the impression that DS is the worst park to find good CS. Maybe you could consider eating CS at Epcot instead (which offers much better choices).

Just some thoughts. Of course everything depends on your family's style.

 

[francie57]

Don't worry about small kids and Universal. There is plenty for them to do.
There is a whole area at each park just for young kids (Suess Land in IOA and Barney and Friends area in US). Also, other than the roller coasters and rides with height restrictions they can do most things.

 

[MHSweb79]

It looks like you're all getting park hoppers just to hop that one day between Epcot and the Studios? I'm in favor of park hoppers, but spending an extra 50 bucks just for one hop seems pretty expensive. Epcot is our favorite park and there's TONS to do there for kids. Personally I would take a day away from Universal and add a day to Disney, but that's just me... It would cost you FAR less to add one day to your ticket than it's costing you now for the park hoppers PLUS admission to Universal. Just a thought.

You should head over to allears.net to the rate & review area and look up the restaurants you've selected. The Spirit of Aloha dinner has gotten pretty good reviews lately although there are a couple of people who don't recommend it.

Have fun planning!