If you could give one piece of advice...

[torsie24]

Sounds good.

You will get 2 schools of thought on here regarding 'rests':
First is get to the parks for rope drop and take a break mid-day returning for evening
Second is take a complete rest day every so many days.

People swear by whichever one they do.

Personally, I wouldn't want to spend all day in a park as we love that swim of an afternoon it is a nice break plus you miss the worst of the crowds - you also have Stormalong bay as a pool so I think the girls will want to make the most of it. DD has always loved the fireworks and by making sure she has a proper rest of an afternoon she can happily stay up till 10/11 at night at 4 without any meltdowns.

My only other advice - know which things you want to do before you get to the park. For example with MK we split it up in to different days and one day we will head straight for Fantasyland - do all the rides there and then choice the none queue building rides on our way out such as HM & POTC.

Good point Elise.

Excluding the day we go to US/IOA we never do a full park day. But then we never do a full rest day either.

We often do rope drop until lunch and then a different park at night. Or if we do a late night we'll have a lie in and then get to a park late afternoon (these are the days we catch the parades)

I think a lot of Americans like the full day approach as they don't have hoppers and have shorter trips. But on a 2 week+ break I love dipping in and out.

When we were staying at GF & BLT sometimes we'd just go to MK for an hour or two to grab an ice cream and sit on Main St. I know some people would think that's crazy or a waste, but we love taking it all in.

Same when you're at an EPCOT resort. We'd just wander to WS to grab a tasty lunch from a certain country while we decided what to do with the rest of the day.

I also agree with everyone's advice about the busy day guides. We printed off the your guide mike ones and stuck with green days. Also used the touring plans wait time app.

Xxx

 

[Holstar]

I've been looking at crowd predictions.... my only worry is that we arrive on the 23rd of August, so I'm expecting it to be quite busy for the first couple of days of our holiday. But, everything seems to predict it quietening down after the 25th or so thankfully.

We're at the YC for twelve nights/thirteen days so we've planned to just do Disney parks during that time.

Then, we're in a villa for another eight days so we're going to do the other parks the girls want to do then... i.e. Wet 'n Wild, Aquatica and Discovery Cove!

Do you think it's a sensible way of doing things? I wanted to give ourselves enough time at the YC to do Disney at a leisurely pace, and then a week and a bit to do some other parks, but mainly relax or drive to the beach.

I know we won't get to do everything, and I'm 100% certain I'll be planning another trip as soon as we get back!

xx

 

[torsie24]

If your first few days are predicted busy, then maybe work the jetlag early wake up to your advantage and do a few rope drops and then have a few chilled out evenings.

Even on super busy days the parks are very managable for the first couple of hours of the day.

 

[Pinkgirl]

Hi, we stayed at the Yacht Club this year from 17-30 August and it was fantastic (we got married there are well). We did our trip the opposite to you and stayed on I-Drive for our first week to do Universal, Islands, Seaworld etc.

Yacht Club is a brill base to just stroll into Epcot and I would highly recommend doing this on your first night. Avoid booking an ADR (delayed flights etc) there are plenty of Counter Service in Epcot. You can watch Illuminations then stroll back to the hotel and maybe catch the movie on the beach.

 

[Holstar]

Hi, we stayed at the Yacht Club this year from 17-30 August and it was fantastic (we got married there are well). We did our trip the opposite to you and stayed on I-Drive for our first week to do Universal, Islands, Seaworld etc.

Yacht Club is a brill base to just stroll into Epcot and I would highly recommend doing this on your first night. Avoid booking an ADR (delayed flights etc) there are plenty of Counter Service in Epcot. You can watch Illuminations then stroll back to the hotel and maybe catch the movie on the beach.

Movie on the beach? I've not heard of this!! Exciting!

xxx

 

[starrysky]

They have movies at either the pool or beach of most resorts I believe. They were showing wall e at the poly one night and OKW it was Pocahontas.
They have these giant blow up screens. Lots of people on the beach watching wall e when we were there.

 

[1nfrequent]

My advice would be to be flexible and just try to relax. Long queues and crowded areas are all part of the general experience so if it's too mad in one area of the Park, dive out and do something else. Some of my best experiences have actually been when I've wandered around aimlessly, people-watching, taking snacks from the stalls and knowing that I don't have to go to work in the morning. People can sometimes feel like they're under pressure to have fun RIGHT NOW!!! and I think it's better to just kick back and let it all wash over you while you take it in.

Hope you have a lovely time.

1F

 

[arieliwish]

I've been looking at crowd predictions.... my only worry is that we arrive on the 23rd of August, so I'm expecting it to be quite busy for the first couple of days of our holiday. But, everything seems to predict it quietening down after the 25th or so thankfully.

We're at the YC for twelve nights/thirteen days so we've planned to just do Disney parks during that time.

xx

We fly out on 25th Aug so there same time as you, staying at OKW and haven't been to WDW since 2005 so really excited all over again!

 

[Ciorsdah]

After my recent trip, one tip I'd certainly share is to take time to stop and just people watch!! Some of the funniest moments this year were sitting at the fountain in France watching people go by, all whilst sipping a grey goose cocktail

 

[Littlenemo]

Can definitely recommend comfy shoes. DH wore relatively new trainers while there and got huge blisters.

And I never heard the end of it. Lol.

I've told him he is wearing his walking boots next year or he isn't allowed to come with me. Haha.

Also try not plan too much for the first couple of days. As I had jet lag and couldn't sleep the manic schedule I had was perfect for me but didn't sync up for my DH so he was tired and wanted to leave MK when I wanted to stay.

And I didn't get on well with the big buffet breakfasts. We went to Walmart and got cereal some plastic bowls/spoons and ate in our hotel in the morning.

The only time we ate a big breakfast was on our rest days when it wasn't at 7am.

 

[LeaversOnTour]

I've been looking at crowd predictions.... my only worry is that we arrive on the 23rd of August, so I'm expecting it to be quite busy for the first couple of days of our holiday. But, everything seems to predict it quietening down after the 25th or so thankfully.

We're at the YC for twelve nights/thirteen days so we've planned to just do Disney parks during that time.

Then, we're in a villa for another eight days so we're going to do the other parks the girls want to do then... i.e. Wet 'n Wild, Aquatica and Discovery Cove!

Do you think it's a sensible way of doing things? I wanted to give ourselves enough time at the YC to do Disney at a leisurely pace, and then a week and a bit to do some other parks, but mainly relax or drive to the beach.

I know we won't get to do everything, and I'm 100% certain I'll be planning another trip as soon as we get back!

xx

We do the same thing.

We spend 2 weeks on idrive - Doing Universal, IOA, Seaworld, Busch Gardens and Aqautica and then 2 weeks at Disney OKW.

This way we know that we dont HAVE to get EVERYTHING done in one day. We can take our time and have breaks.

With 3 girls under 4 this will be a must for us next year, as it was this year.

Our tradition is CRT on our first day. Late so we can hear the fireworks from inside our eldest loves it. We hit MK about 9ish and maybe go back to the hotel after lunch for a nap (kiddies) and maybe some pool time xx