I have only gone and booked to go to Disney World next year OMG!!! Dreams do come true!!!

[xxpeplyxx]

Thank for the reply bagOlaughs,

Im glad to hear from more than one person that the weather in may is nice, I love the warmer weather would certainly rather it be on the warmer side than cool lol.

Thanks for your suggestions on places to eat, I think the only place we have decided we will eat so far is using 2 table service credits and having dinner at Be our guest, aside from that we are still excitedly lookin At the menus.

Am glad to hear you had plenty to do, we are so used to finding time to cram everything that I was worried we wouldn't have enough to fill the time this time.

 

[scoobydooby]

Re your previous two posts. There is a Boots airside which sells food. My DD always chooses something from there rather than endure the food on the flight! Also, BOG is only a one credit meal at dinner. It is a quick service credit for lunch and breakfast.

 

[BagOLaughs]

Random question but supposing we wanted a car for say 3/4 days in the middle of the holiday could we do this from the hotel and have the car brought to the hotel for us to use for those days and collected again?

I'm not sure about drop off/pick up from resort but there is a free shuttle bus to the Alamo hire car center near the magic kingdom. They'll pick you up from your resort and when you return your car they'll take you to any where on Disney property.

 

[Tash87]

We took my daughter on her first trip when she was two and a half, we didn't take enough nappies to last as we thought they would be cheaper over there but tbh there wasn't much difference. Hopefully when we take DS on his first trip he will be out of nappies, but if not I will take enough to last the whole trip, along with wet wipes etc.

I have heard of people doing a Garden Grocer delivery for the day/evening they arrive for other bits like fruit, milk and water. I am definitely going to try this when we go! Especially for you if you don't hire a car.

Also I would suggest on taking lots of snacks (that won't melt) for the plane journey and in the parks. We made this mistake on DS first trip. Now we take a box of Cheerios and put them in snack bags each day. Also snack bags of biscuits or cheddars etc.

Have you looked at prices for hiring a car for your whole trip? I would highly recommend a car with little ones.

From another super excited Mum

 

[Whizzy]

Congratulations on booking. We took our dis when he was 21 months, to be honest he was great during the flights. We took things to occupy him including snacks.

 

[DisneyPayne]

how easy is the Disney dining plan to use?
what is it like going to Disney with a nearly 2 year old little boy (1 year 10 months)
what is the animal kingdom lodge like? is it as amazing as it looks? (standard room)
what are flights like with a toddler?
how different is the memory maker to the photo pass plus?
what is the weather like in may? we usually go I July, august time.
what is it like planning your trip around meals and fast pass? in the past we haven't planned a single second of our holiday, and this time it will be heavily planned, im worried It'll be more stressful!

thanks so much for your time much love xxx

Hi

Thought I'd answer your questions for a bit of help.

DDP is so easy. We have used it for years now. For breakfast just use a snack or if you are hungry the quick service breakfasts are quite big, big enough for 2 to share really. With table service meals, don't bother with starter as it's the main & dessert that are included but if you have starter you will have to pay for the starter & also will be too full for dessert (although you can takeaway most of the time). However there have been changes announced which I think means you can substitute the dessert for a soup or salad I believe.

We have done Disney with small children. It's fine, just make sure you take your pushchair, plenty of rest breaks & water. Have a few rest days too, just lounging round the pool etc. We usually do two days in parks, one day relaxing, two days in parks & so on.

We've stayed at Caribbean beach, Saratoga & Animal Kingdom. Personally Saratoga is my favourite. AK was lovely but I prefer the layout of Caribbean beach & Saratoga, with the rooms spread out around the property rather than a hotel as AK is. It's also very far away so journeys take longer & when we stayed there last year the buses weren't too good, not very regular. However after speaking to reception about it the service did improve. The restaurants are lovely & the food is amazing. It really is personal opinion & my OH's parents loved it, but I probably wouldn't stay there again. I hope this doesn't dampen your spirits at all as it really is just down to personal preference & I just prefer the layout & location of Saratoga.

Flights with toddler - well we were very lucky because our daughter fell asleep as soon as the plane took off when we flew with her at that age. However, it does get very uncomfortable having them on your lap for 9 hours, especially when they sleep because they get heavy like a dead weight! If there is an option to get an extra seat for them I would take it, but otherwise just try to swap between your lap, your husbands lap & little walks. I wouldn't walk them up & down the aisles too much though because of the trolleys & other people milling around.

Memory maker is great as the photos go straight to your band when you go on a ride & scan your band. Then they're all just there to view & purchase if you want to.

The weather is great in May. It's warm & the evenings are lovely. It's probably my favourite time of year because the weather is warm but bearable, perfect for children.

Meals & fast pass aren't stressful at all, especially with the new magic bands because you can pick 3 fast pass tickets in the morning before you even get to the park. So you can work out the timings around meals while you sit for breakfast & then your whole day is sorted.

Honestly I would say just go with the flow. Some days your plans will go without a hitch, other times you might find everything has to change because you can't get a table somewhere you wanted to eat or your little one might decide they're not liking your plans & just won't let you do what you want to do.

Have fun! We love it there & next year will be our 7th time : ) x

 

[DisneyPayne]

Oh and one last thing. Don't forget that with the table service meals you will still have to pay gratuity, this is not included in the dining plan.

 

[pickers1982]

Would say with meals, whatever you want just ask especially for a little one. My mother hates garlic and even in the Italians they rustled her up something (I know who goes to an Italian and doesn't like garlic!)

 

[xxpeplyxx]

Hi

Thought I'd answer your questions for a bit of help.

DDP is so easy. We have used it for years now. For breakfast just use a snack or if you are hungry the quick service breakfasts are quite big, big enough for 2 to share really. With table service meals, don't bother with starter as it's the main & dessert that are included but if you have starter you will have to pay for the starter & also will be too full for dessert (although you can takeaway most of the time). However there have been changes announced which I think means you can substitute the dessert for a soup or salad I believe.

We have done Disney with small children. It's fine, just make sure you take your pushchair, plenty of rest breaks & water. Have a few rest days too, just lounging round the pool etc. We usually do two days in parks, one day relaxing, two days in parks & so on.

We've stayed at Caribbean beach, Saratoga & Animal Kingdom. Personally Saratoga is my favourite. AK was lovely but I prefer the layout of Caribbean beach & Saratoga, with the rooms spread out around the property rather than a hotel as AK is. It's also very far away so journeys take longer & when we stayed there last year the buses weren't too good, not very regular. However after speaking to reception about it the service did improve. The restaurants are lovely & the food is amazing. It really is personal opinion & my OH's parents loved it, but I probably wouldn't stay there again. I hope this doesn't dampen your spirits at all as it really is just down to personal preference & I just prefer the layout & location of Saratoga.

Flights with toddler - well we were very lucky because our daughter fell asleep as soon as the plane took off when we flew with her at that age. However, it does get very uncomfortable having them on your lap for 9 hours, especially when they sleep because they get heavy like a dead weight! If there is an option to get an extra seat for them I would take it, but otherwise just try to swap between your lap, your husbands lap & little walks. I wouldn't walk them up & down the aisles too much though because of the trolleys & other people milling around.

Memory maker is great as the photos go straight to your band when you go on a ride & scan your band. Then they're all just there to view & purchase if you want to.

The weather is great in May. It's warm & the evenings are lovely. It's probably my favourite time of year because the weather is warm but bearable, perfect for children.

Meals & fast pass aren't stressful at all, especially with the new magic bands because you can pick 3 fast pass tickets in the morning before you even get to the park. So you can work out the timings around meals while you sit for breakfast & then your whole day is sorted.

Honestly I would say just go with the flow. Some days your plans will go without a hitch, other times you might find everything has to change because you can't get a table somewhere you wanted to eat or your little one might decide they're not liking your plans & just won't let you do what you want to do.

Have fun! We love it there & next year will be our 7th time : ) x

wow 7 times! your so lucky, next time will be mine and my mums 4th, my partners 3rd, and our baby boys 1st time

With the memory maker we got it free as part of package, is there any way we can buy something like we did with the photopass where we actually got all photo's taken on it, once we got home we edited what ones we wanted to them got them all sent on disc which we had already purchased as part of the photopass, fingers crossed there is, as I love the pictures taken by the photographers so would love to keep them all

Im so glad to hear from more than one person that the dining plan is easy enough to use! this helps so much, also that they accommodate to food orders, my mum also hates garlic, I have said to mum before that im sure Disney when it comes to fussy eaters lol, so far we have decided we would like to eat at garden grill, be our guest and the restaurant in the Germany pavilion, anyone have any reviews on them?

The answer to you hoping it hasn't dampened our spirits about staying there, yes it's totally ruined it for us.......... just kidding you haven't dampened our spirits at all, its mine and mums dreams come true (my partners is Polynesian but he is equally as excited about AKL, and we have said when we eventually get married we will have our honeymoon split between grand Floridian and Polynesian so he knows he will get to go there someday) we have stayed in international drive, pop century and art of animation before, this is going to be just wow in comparison (don't get me wrong I love the value resorts, we plan to go back to AOA when Toby is a little older and can get more out of it) travelling isn't a concern for us, It takes how ever long it takes, the fact we are there will be amazing in itself, I just cannot wait to see the animals every day and im sure our son, who is animal obsessed is going to love it equally as much

Glad your daughter had a good flight and so did you, we have me, my partner and my mum so share Toby duties between lol so hopefully none of us will have too much of a hard time with him, we have a flight leaving here at 13:00 so we wont get there until evening time, my plan is to take Toby's pj's on the plane and get him changed into them mid flight so if we get to the hotel and he is shattered he can just go straight to bed I also very much plan to take plenty to keep him occupied on the plane the portable dvd player, ipad (he has his own, my old one, with loads of apps on for him so im sure that'll keep him busy), I will also take some paper and crayons, and a couple of small toys (fingers crossed the flight goes smoothly) im a very nervous flyer so this will either make me worse or take my mind off it completely lol.

I love it hot so im glad it'll still be nice but also more comfortable for Toby

once again thankyou for you reply

 

[Elise79]

The memory maker you have included is like the old Photopass disks except when you get home you edit all your photos and then download them instead of them arriving on a disk MM also includes all the ride photos too plus the photopass site has had a revamp and there are more boards to choose from etc

We have taken DD around twice a year since she was 9 months old (she has just turned 7) - I would leave your DS in clothes until you get to your room. Try and make sure he has a good nap on the plane and DD used to go off in the car on the way from the airport but by keeping her up she did adjust better to the change in the time - the daylight once you get out of the airport helps and also a small snack on arrival as otherwise they wake up hungry as the tea on the plane will be served about 3.30. None of us ever eat much and TBH I will in reason let DD eat whatever she wants as longs as she eats something. Another small thing that helps them adjust.

Night flights I would change her in to pjs after dinner and she'd stay in them till we got home

 

[Claireywalsh]

Congrats on booking, we just booked for Christmas next year too! Tip for the plane if you don't get an extra seat, try and request seats in the bubble, you will have to pay for this I think £25 each but if you get a window seat they have a bucket type storage bin next to the window probably 12 inches or so deep so you can spread out stuff more to the side too. Our 5 year old sat at the window last year so she had her tray drop down and the side to spread out her crayons dolls or legs when she was sleeping! It's also super quiet up there!

 

[Tash87]

Congrats on booking, we just booked for Christmas next year too! Tip for the plane if you don't get an extra seat, try and request seats in the bubble, you will have to pay for this I think £25 each but if you get a window seat they have a bucket type storage bin next to the window probably 12 inches or so deep so you can spread out stuff more to the side too. Our 5 year old sat at the window last year so she had her tray drop down and the side to spread out her crayons dolls or legs when she was sleeping! It's also super quiet up there!

What is a bubble on the plane? If it's with Virgin I have to pay £25 each anyway to reserve my seat.

 

[DisneyPayne]

You will love it. Everybody has their own favourites & I know my husbands parents want to go back to AKL. We had a character buffet in the Grand Floridian and it was lovely, very fancy. I think I'd like to stay there at some point but will have to save for that one! The Polynesian looks lovely in the photos but we've never ventured over to have a look.

The first few times we went, we would get to the resort, put our luggage in the room and gone to have food in the resort. Then we would go back to our room, unpack & have an early night. But last year we put our luggage in our room & went to Rainforest Cafe for food. We were all knackered but it was good to have a proper meal rather than a quick service meal & when we got back to our room we went straight to sleep and felt so much better the following morning. We were all up pretty early and didn't suffer jet lag. We will do this from now on but as your little one is a lot younger it might be too much for him.

I think by 'the bubble' they are referring to the premium economy seats upstairs. We sat up there once and they are very comfortable. However, when we had those seats it was for our honeymoon & the seats were in rows of 2, so it depends if you want to all be sat together or not. They can also be a lot more expensive depending on the dates you fly. For the 4 of us to fly premium economy it's an extra £1000+ per way. We have considered it but we would much prefer to have that money to spend on other things.

 

[Tash87]

I think by 'the bubble' they are referring to the premium economy seats upstairs. We sat up there once and they are very comfortable. However, when we had those seats it was for our honeymoon & the seats were in rows of 2, so it depends if you want to all be sat together or not. They can also be a lot more expensive depending on the dates you fly. For the 4 of us to fly premium economy it's an extra £1000+ per way. We have considered it but we would much prefer to have that money to spend on other things.

Oh, that's out of the question for me ha. We are already stopping at the GF so saving like crazy already!

 

[xxpeplyxx]

Oh, that's out of the question for me ha. We are already stopping at the GF so saving like crazy already!

The person who mentioned the bubble wasn't referring to premium economy seats, they now have a selection or economy seats up there not lots so you really need to be on the phone getting the seats asap!! we got them on the way home last time we went in 2013, and we are going to try and get them both there and back this time, it was fab upstairs, as the person above said it's so much more quite up there and yes the compartments at the side of the seat are an amazing use of space we literally had everything stored in there and needed nothing down by our feet! so yes for us the plan is to get seats up in the bubble, and I will do everything in my power to make sure we get them lol!, we were also told that by getting the seats upstairs you get off the plane straight after upper class and premium economy, meaning you don't join a massively long queue at the airport in orlando when going through security, we didn't get seats up stairs on the way there but did however gets seats as close to the exit door on the left hand side of the plan, which also meant we got a good choice of food on the menu as they hadn't run out of anything, and we also got off the plane straight after the bubble so we had about a 10 minute queue at the airport to get through security, rather than our usual 40mins + lol made a massive difference and meant we were well on the way to the hotel whilst people were still in that massively long queue!

 

[xxpeplyxx]

The memory maker you have included is like the old Photopass disks except when you get home you edit all your photos and then download them instead of them arriving on a disk MM also includes all the ride photos too plus the photopass site has had a revamp and there are more boards to choose from etc

We have taken DD around twice a year since she was 9 months old (she has just turned 7) - I would leave your DS in clothes until you get to your room. Try and make sure he has a good nap on the plane and DD used to go off in the car on the way from the airport but by keeping her up she did adjust better to the change in the time - the daylight once you get out of the airport helps and also a small snack on arrival as otherwise they wake up hungry as the tea on the plane will be served about 3.30. None of us ever eat much and TBH I will in reason let DD eat whatever she wants as longs as she eats something. Another small thing that helps them adjust.

Night flights I would change her in to pjs after dinner and she'd stay in them till we got home

thanks for the heads up about leaving Toby in his day time clothes until we get to room, does actually make sense, I don't want him falling to sleep too early and then being up at like 3am lol! we never have enough energy to head out anywhere on that first evening, and the plane food usually fills us up, so we will probably just do our usual and get a couple of small pizzas to share and then head back to our rooms to unpack everything then hit the deck for the night, and what with us having the later flight out there im sure we will be even more tired than usual.

also thanks for replying about the Memory maker, was worried the pictures would all be ours at the end! that would have sucked, as I literally love looking at them all and having them to keep when we get home

 

[Tash87]

The person who mentioned the bubble wasn't referring to premium economy seats, they now have a selection or economy seats up there not lots so you really need to be on the phone getting the seats asap!! we got them on the way home last time we went in 2013, and we are going to try and get them both there and back this time, it was fab upstairs, as the person above said it's so much more quite up there and yes the compartments at the side of the seat are an amazing use of space we literally had everything stored in there and needed nothing down by our feet! so yes for us the plan is to get seats up in the bubble, and I will do everything in my power to make sure we get them lol!, we were also told that by getting the seats upstairs you get off the plane straight after upper class and premium economy, meaning you don't join a massively long queue at the airport in orlando when going through security, we didn't get seats up stairs on the way there but did however gets seats as close to the exit door on the left hand side of the plan, which also meant we got a good choice of food on the menu as they hadn't run out of anything, and we also got off the plane straight after the bubble so we had about a 10 minute queue at the airport to get through security, rather than our usual 40mins + lol made a massive difference and meant we were well on the way to the hotel whilst people were still in that massively long queue!

I am def gonna look into this, sounds a brill idea. Is this with Virgin? does anyone know when you can pre book seats from? I have over a year till my holiday so there is no urgency but I wanna book them as soon as they are available!

 

[Claireywalsh]

What is a bubble on the plane? If it's with Virgin I have to pay £25 each anyway to reserve my seat.

The bubble is the upstairs seating . There is about 6 rows of premium economy and then about 7 rows of economy. I think you can book the seats about a year from when your return flight is scheduled. The information is a bit sketchy on the virgin Atlantic website as my sister tried to do it recently for her trip next year in May and it ended up being about 4 weeks after the date virgin stated it's bookable when she actually managed it.
We were lucky last year as we just fell into the window where we could pretty much book straight after confirmation was received, around about the time they changed there seating policy. We loved it up there. However the previous time we took the vs75 flight, we were downstairs and the plane wasn't full so we could stretch out amongst the seats, I literally had a whole row in the middle to lay across. That was the end of April.
This is presuming they still use the 747 for the route. We have also been on the a330 which was 2 4 2 seating and definately more roomy. That also wasn't full and we were encouraged to move round the cabin.
Just to note, I am a very nervous flyer so don't mean to sound plane geeky, I have to prepare myself for the flight by finding out as much as pos to reassure myself it's safe! #apologies

 

[Tash87]

The bubble is the upstairs seating . There is about 6 rows of premium economy and then about 7 rows of economy. I think you can book the seats about a year from when your return flight is scheduled. The information is a bit sketchy on the virgin Atlantic website as my sister tried to do it recently for her trip next year in May and it ended up being about 4 weeks after the date virgin stated it's bookable when she actually managed it.
We were lucky last year as we just fell into the window where we could pretty much book straight after confirmation was received, around about the time they changed there seating policy. We loved it up there. However the previous time we took the vs75 flight, we were downstairs and the plane wasn't full so we could stretch out amongst the seats, I literally had a whole row in the middle to lay across. That was the end of April.
This is presuming they still use the 747 for the route. We have also been on the a330 which was 2 4 2 seating and definately more roomy. That also wasn't full and we were encouraged to move round the cabin.
Just to note, I am a very nervous flyer so don't mean to sound plane geeky, I have to prepare myself for the flight by finding out as much as pos to reassure myself it's safe! #apologies

Thank you for all your info. I am going to try to book the seats in the bubble (if possible) purely for the fact being near the front when unloading (fingers crossed)

 

[PrincessIndia]

So happy reading this as we have chosen May too! it looks like lots of disboarders love may breaks and cheapskate princess, kenny the pirate and tons of other bloggers have may and september as being the best crowd/weather combos! Glad I am not crazy for looking at adr ideas and stuff already, flower and garden looks good doesn't it? x