Jan (3) day trip - Mom and Teen

[ajenali]

I am planning a quick trip to Disney in early January as a Christmas present for my teen. We have been to WDW once, about 10-12 years ago. With it being just me and her, whats the best plan? Should we get park hopper or just plan on 1 park per day, skipping AK? We really don't do shows, will probably hit the rides 95% of the time.

Any tips you can offer would be great!

 

[erij11]

I took a 4 day trip with my teen daughter (DD16) in January of this year and we had an absolute blast. We had park hopper tickets and I suggest you get them. Since it was just the 2 of us, we could just do whatever we wanted. We hit all 4 parks. My daughter's favorite meal is Tusker House breakfast so we couldn't skip AK. And that's the beauty of the park hopper. We only spent the early part of the day at AK and hopped the rest of the day. On some days, we hit 3 parks on the same day. We wanted to do 4 parks in one day on the last day but that didn't work out. Maybe next time!

On our last night, we originally planned to head back to our resort early after Fantasmic @ HS but we decided we didn't know when we'd be back again so we went back to MK and shut down the park. We had such a good time that we are going together again in late January 2017. I can't wait!

 

[ajenali]

I haven't even thought about meals. I will have to check into it. Is buying a meal plan worth the $ or are we just better off paying for our meals as we go? I think we may have to do park hopper. Thank you for the info! I am so excited but can't share it with her until Christmas day!!!

 

[WiscMomof2]

I've taken both DD's on trips separately. I have to say, these were some of the best trips ever. Both times we stayed at POP. IMO it's perfect for this kind of trip. It's cute, clean, inexpensive, and has great bus service to parks. I highly recommend it if you're going to be hitting the parks heavy and not spending a huge amount of time at the resort. For meals, the dining plan wasn't a good fit for us. I booked a few sit downs for our favs, we shared a few meals, and did a lot of snaking in between. For the parks, we didn't do a hopper, but still went to all 4 parks and did everything we wanted. It probably takes a bit more planning to fit everything in without a hopper, but it worked well for us. It honestly was such a blast. I hope you have an awesome time!

 

[erij11]

We stayed at POP too and I agree, it was a perfect resort for a mom-daughter trip. The rooms were clean and comfy. Bus service as excellent. We drove but never left Disney grounds while we were there. Keeping the costs down for the resort gave us more spending money. We also didn't do the dining plan because we wanted to be as flexible as possible. I only booked 3 ADRs for that trip because I wanted to just do things on the fly.

 

[Nancyg56]

I have thought about how I woudl handle a trip with my DGD. She 15, and we actually talked about what we woudl do.

I love the meal plans, but I would skip it on this kind of trip. I would buy hoppers so we could hit all four parks if we wanted to. For instance, you could hop between any park during the day and return to a different pne for evening entertainment. On a three day trip you do not need to plan to rest.

I would book one TS meal that you both want, and then wing it with CS so you are not working with schedules.

This is going to be so much fun!!!

 

[GrumpyDad1974]

Two years ago DD and I went for a father daughter trip when she was 16. We have been a few times and went for a week, we didn't do hoppers. But since you are going for three days I would probably do it and go commando for three days straight. Rope drop, FP the headliners and the stay till closing (shouldn't be late in early January). We did a lot of Counter Service Dinning, I just let her set the pace and where to eat. I did make a three reservations, BOG twice for lunch and Via Napoli for dinner. Other than that we just kind of ate whenever and sometimes just had snacks for meals. Enjoy your trip.

 

[glassslippergirl]

I haven't even thought about meals. I will have to check into it. Is buying a meal plan worth the $ or are we just better off paying for our meals as we go? I think we may have to do park hopper. Thank you for the info! I am so excited but can't share it with her until Christmas day!!!

Unless you really work hard to choose the most expensive options at the most expensive restaurants every time, DDP will likely not save you money. The best you can hope for is to break even. I'd go OOP for two reasons: money and flexibility. I feel like the benefit of a mother-teen trip is that you can do what you want when you want. Park hoppers will facilitate that. You can get off Thunder Mountain and say, "Hmm, I wonder how that compares with EVerest," and go right then to check it out if that's what you want. A lot of dining reservations would get in the way if that-- unless dining is really important to you, but you said you were 95% rides. I'd choose one, maybe two, memorable dining experiences and do fun, in park counter service for the rest of your meals.

I think PH will help you maximize the number of rides in your case. Know what park you will start in each day-- probably one day for each park except AK-- and make mid-morning FPs for that park. Then, you can decide to stay in that park or hop once you've done everything you want. I don't think you'll need a lot of time in DHS, for example. There's only a handful of actual rides open right now. Using RD and FP, you will likely be done there by early afternoon. Enjoy!

 

[Nancyg56]

Unless you really work hard to choose the most expensive options at the most expensive restaurants every time, DDP will likely not save you money. The best you can hope for is to break even. I'd go OOP for two reasons: money and flexibility. I feel like the benefit of a mother-teen trip is that you can do what you want when you want. Park hoppers will facilitate that. You can get off Thunder Mountain and say, "Hmm, I wonder how that compares with EVerest," and go right then to check it out if that's what you want. A lot of dining reservations would get in the way if that-- unless dining is really important to you, but you said you were 95% rides. I'd choose one, maybe two, memorable dining experiences and do fun, in park counter service for the rest of your meals.

I think PH will help you maximize the number of rides in your case. Know what park you will start in each day-- probably one day for each park except AK-- and make mid-morning FPs for that park. Then, you can decide to stay in that park or hop once you've done everything you want. I don't think you'll need a lot of time in DHS, for example. There's only a handful of actual rides open right now. Using RD and FP, you will likely be done there by early afternoon. Enjoy!

Exactly.. For instance, I would try to book BOG before park opening if possible, get breakfast out of the way and know I was in the park early. If that was not possible, I would maybe try to BOG lunch or dinner. It is a great way to see the Castle, have a meal and break.

Or maybe on Epcot day book Garden Grill. I think if a character meal was in order, this one would be a fun one for a mom/daughter meal. If you could manage a PPO evn better! You wil be on a great position to hit the attractions in The Land and close to The Living Seas.

I woudl use that one or two meals to my advantage, and wing the rest.

 

[ajenali]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! We will definately get park hopper and more than likely not the meal plan. still trying to figure out what all these abbreviations are, but i will get there! lol.

 

[Nancyg56]

Thank you all for the great suggestions! We will definately get park hopper and more than likely not the meal plan. still trying to figure out what all these abbreviations are, but i will get there! lol.

LOL!!

PPO- pre park opening
BOG- Be our Guest
RD- Rope Drop
FP- fast pass
PH- Park Hoppers
ADR- advanced dining reservation
TS/CS- Table service/counter service
MK- Magic Kingdom

 

[ajenali]

Perfect! Thank you NancyG!!!

 

[Nancyg56]

Perfect! Thank you NancyG!!!

You are welcome! Now you must keep us posted because I know that I for one, would love a special Nana/Kady trip. WE have planned twice, but neither ended up happening. Once we had an extended family trip which was awesome, and this one in December, she cannot go. She is a sophomore for whom school work does not come easy. Taking time off would have put her in a panic, and I am not willing to participate in that, especially since she is working so hard, and is so responsible.

I think we are giving up on the WDW trip and will keep planning long weekends away together in our area. So I have to live through you, no pressure! LOL!

 

[ajenali]

No pressure? lol!! okay, planning a january trip and a march cruise at the same time is mentally exhausting! DD is 19 and in her first year of college. I gave her a list of 5 destinations and her top pick was WDW, so here I am. After researching for a few days, I am super excited and ready to go now. I can't wait, and its going to be so hard not to tell her before Christmas. I hope doing a quick trip is going to be worth it and not too little time at the parks. I know we will be exhausted by the time we get home, but it will be worth it.