Hello to all. I'm sure if your here on this site your planning your disney trip, I scoured this site for 9 months before our trip. The trip was really a once in a lifetime trip, here's our groups profile, Mom(35) and Dad(me 38), our kids Addison (6), and Sawyer (4), and Mom's parents Bob and Chris. The kids were at the perfect age for WDW and they got to experience it with Grandma and Poppa, and they got to see their grandkids experience it as well.
General Planning
I took care of all the planning for the trip. Staying on disney property was very nice in that you take the magical express from and to the airport, your checked luggage arrives, no worries just get on the bus gus. I did buy the park hopper on top of our tickets. I knew at least twice we would visit a different park at night. Do you need this? if you really plan it out no, but I purposely left 2-3 nights open so if the kids really wanted to go back somewhere or we missed out on something we could revisit a park. This really came in handy for going back in and seeing the fireworks.
The biggest tip, and I can't stress it enough is to have some sort of plan. Understand that you can ditch it anytime, but literally the first day there a guy came up to us at Hollywood studios and asked us where we were going, what was a good ride to go on, what are those people waiting to see? In my head I wondered you paid how much to come to Disney but didn't think for a sec about what you wanted to see?
I used a couple of iPhone apps, the main app was the touringplans.com lines app. I subscribed to the site for a year, less then a set of mickey ears. Its worth it for just figuring out what parks to go to on what days. the touring plans truly streamlined the visit. you knew where to go, when to get the there and you could adjust it heavily.
With two little ones and two older ones we knew they wouldn't be able to walk all day, so we always accounted for mid-day breaks. The breaks varied from 4-6 hours everyday. In that time we ate, napped and swam in the pool. The kids were never exhausted and never had a meltdown. On a side note they both walked, everyday. At 4 and 6 they are old enough to walk on their own, no strollers, they were both done with strollers by the age of 3. You would be surprised at how much faster your group can maneuver through the parks when your not concerned with a a stroller.
One question a co worker asked me was how did we decide the kids were old enough to go. If your kids want to ride rides, its a matter of height, simple as that. my son just crossed the 40 inch mark so he was able to go on everything except a few really fast rides that even mom wasn't sure about going on. Both kids rode tower of terror, during the ride they both had a look of terror on their face but when it was over, man we had to explain we could just jump back in line to do it again because the wait was gonna be so long. Two little thrill seekers there.
Dining Plan
Did we get dining plan, no. Is it worth it I'd say no. WhenI initially booked the trip I had the dining plan on there at a cost of just over $2000 for all six. That was the middle plan one sit down meal and one quick service, so really only two meals a day were covered for that price. The deluxe plan was priced at $3600 for 3 meals for the week. People buy the plans because they think they are easy and they wont have to think about paying etc while they are there. Every time I was in someone on the plan was confused about the number of snacks they got etc. It was so much easier to just charge everything to the room.
How much did we spend on food. We charged everything to our room, every meal, beverages, adult beverages, souvenirs, two buffets, and a meal in downtown. By the end of the trip we only spent $2000. We ate three meals a day, did chef mickey's buffet, donald's safari breakfast buffet, Cafe T-Rex, and bought souvenirs, (hats, shirts, swords, etc) all for $2000. If someone asks me if they should get the plan I would say no way. There is sticker shock on the cost of food however you pay, but once you understand the costs and do a little homework you'll see its just not worth it. There's even a spreadsheet online where you can put in where your going to eat and it will estimate the cost of what the plan costs vs what you'd pay.
The only way i think the dining plan would be worth it, is to stay at Disney Beach Club and make a reservation for a sit down meal in a different country every night in epcot. Its way more work then you would think to try and take advantage of the buffets. I think being within walking distance of all those restaurants though would be an advantage and be something to look into.
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Art of Animation Finding Nemo suites. Great resort, great theming, the rooms were great, two full baths, 3 beds. The grandparents had their own room to close a door, kids shared the fold down bed, and mom and dad on the pull out. I can't say enough about the room, its the only rooms to stay in at AOA. There are other buildings at AOA to stay in, Cars, Lion King and Little Mermaid. The exterior theming was very nice, it comes down to distance. The big pool at AOA is something we visited everyday, the kids just loved it, they would ask if we can go in while we were in the parks.
So the distance is the question, the Nemo Buildings are right next to the Pool, Main building and Laundry area. This is a huge convenience after walking at the parks. Also if its pouring down rain, which it will be its florida, you have a significantly shorter walk int he rain between buildings. Cars, and Lion King isn't such a huge distance, but once your kids see the big pool they will want to go to it rather then the smaller ones at the other buildings.
One great tip for where ever you stay, grab towels when you see them. My mother in-law grabbed towels every time we passed the cart near the elevator. the first wo days we picked on her calling her a hoarder. We realized that was the best thing as first really hot afternoon we went to the pool and just figured we'd grab towels ont he way down, all gone. So we would grab 2-3 towels every time we passed then we were always ready for the pool.
One more tip. If you dont want to wait for a AOA bus at a park, hop on one for POP Century, walk in the hotel past the pool and over the bridge and your back at AOA. The walk isn't bad at all and actually pretty nice at night. This is a great advantage when you miss a AOA bus and see a POP getting ready to go.
The food court was great a pretty good variety, didn't get to try everything before we left.
Parks
The parks were great, the best thing you can do is get there early. Every park, everyday, go early. One of the best strategies is the Extra Magic Hours, using the Touring Plans, you realize the parks offering early magic hours are the ones to avoid. The parks official opening times are 9am, but most do open as early as 8:30. We were always leaving the parks for breaks by 11-12 just when it was getting packed and really hot. We'd head back in around 5-6 just when crowds were getting lighter and it was getting cooler.
Getting there early we could get on all the popular rides fast and hop back on a second time if we wanted. Toy Story Mania, we rode first thing, could have jumped in line again for a 5 min wait, grabbed fast passes instead. Rode again before we left for lunch. Use the fast passes, use a fast pass runner, while your group is inline or heading somewhere its take one person 5 min to grab tickets for another ride. We rode test track and we weren't even out of the car and the kids we screaming "Dad get a fast pass i want to go again!" I even waited a little bit before grabbing the fast pass so the return time coincided when we returned to the park later. When your walking past a couple hundred people waiting in line, you'll never not want to grab a fast pass. The longest wait we had in a line was 15 minutes and that was for the train in Magic Kingdom.
Tip for parks. We always brought insulated water bottles. Wil would fill them with ice at the food court then at the parks ask any food vendor for a cup of ice water we'd fill up the water bottle and have ice cold water where ever. If you don't want just plain water bring some mio for flavor. If your a pop/soda/coffee drinker the resort refillable mugs are worth it.
Hopefully someone find something I said useful. If you have a question let me know. Oh and if you didn't figure it out I cant wait to go back with them.
General Planning
I took care of all the planning for the trip. Staying on disney property was very nice in that you take the magical express from and to the airport, your checked luggage arrives, no worries just get on the bus gus. I did buy the park hopper on top of our tickets. I knew at least twice we would visit a different park at night. Do you need this? if you really plan it out no, but I purposely left 2-3 nights open so if the kids really wanted to go back somewhere or we missed out on something we could revisit a park. This really came in handy for going back in and seeing the fireworks.
The biggest tip, and I can't stress it enough is to have some sort of plan. Understand that you can ditch it anytime, but literally the first day there a guy came up to us at Hollywood studios and asked us where we were going, what was a good ride to go on, what are those people waiting to see? In my head I wondered you paid how much to come to Disney but didn't think for a sec about what you wanted to see?
I used a couple of iPhone apps, the main app was the touringplans.com lines app. I subscribed to the site for a year, less then a set of mickey ears. Its worth it for just figuring out what parks to go to on what days. the touring plans truly streamlined the visit. you knew where to go, when to get the there and you could adjust it heavily.
With two little ones and two older ones we knew they wouldn't be able to walk all day, so we always accounted for mid-day breaks. The breaks varied from 4-6 hours everyday. In that time we ate, napped and swam in the pool. The kids were never exhausted and never had a meltdown. On a side note they both walked, everyday. At 4 and 6 they are old enough to walk on their own, no strollers, they were both done with strollers by the age of 3. You would be surprised at how much faster your group can maneuver through the parks when your not concerned with a a stroller.
One question a co worker asked me was how did we decide the kids were old enough to go. If your kids want to ride rides, its a matter of height, simple as that. my son just crossed the 40 inch mark so he was able to go on everything except a few really fast rides that even mom wasn't sure about going on. Both kids rode tower of terror, during the ride they both had a look of terror on their face but when it was over, man we had to explain we could just jump back in line to do it again because the wait was gonna be so long. Two little thrill seekers there.
Dining Plan
Did we get dining plan, no. Is it worth it I'd say no. WhenI initially booked the trip I had the dining plan on there at a cost of just over $2000 for all six. That was the middle plan one sit down meal and one quick service, so really only two meals a day were covered for that price. The deluxe plan was priced at $3600 for 3 meals for the week. People buy the plans because they think they are easy and they wont have to think about paying etc while they are there. Every time I was in someone on the plan was confused about the number of snacks they got etc. It was so much easier to just charge everything to the room.
How much did we spend on food. We charged everything to our room, every meal, beverages, adult beverages, souvenirs, two buffets, and a meal in downtown. By the end of the trip we only spent $2000. We ate three meals a day, did chef mickey's buffet, donald's safari breakfast buffet, Cafe T-Rex, and bought souvenirs, (hats, shirts, swords, etc) all for $2000. If someone asks me if they should get the plan I would say no way. There is sticker shock on the cost of food however you pay, but once you understand the costs and do a little homework you'll see its just not worth it. There's even a spreadsheet online where you can put in where your going to eat and it will estimate the cost of what the plan costs vs what you'd pay.
The only way i think the dining plan would be worth it, is to stay at Disney Beach Club and make a reservation for a sit down meal in a different country every night in epcot. Its way more work then you would think to try and take advantage of the buffets. I think being within walking distance of all those restaurants though would be an advantage and be something to look into.
Accommodations:
We stayed at the Art of Animation Finding Nemo suites. Great resort, great theming, the rooms were great, two full baths, 3 beds. The grandparents had their own room to close a door, kids shared the fold down bed, and mom and dad on the pull out. I can't say enough about the room, its the only rooms to stay in at AOA. There are other buildings at AOA to stay in, Cars, Lion King and Little Mermaid. The exterior theming was very nice, it comes down to distance. The big pool at AOA is something we visited everyday, the kids just loved it, they would ask if we can go in while we were in the parks.
So the distance is the question, the Nemo Buildings are right next to the Pool, Main building and Laundry area. This is a huge convenience after walking at the parks. Also if its pouring down rain, which it will be its florida, you have a significantly shorter walk int he rain between buildings. Cars, and Lion King isn't such a huge distance, but once your kids see the big pool they will want to go to it rather then the smaller ones at the other buildings.
One great tip for where ever you stay, grab towels when you see them. My mother in-law grabbed towels every time we passed the cart near the elevator. the first wo days we picked on her calling her a hoarder. We realized that was the best thing as first really hot afternoon we went to the pool and just figured we'd grab towels ont he way down, all gone. So we would grab 2-3 towels every time we passed then we were always ready for the pool.
One more tip. If you dont want to wait for a AOA bus at a park, hop on one for POP Century, walk in the hotel past the pool and over the bridge and your back at AOA. The walk isn't bad at all and actually pretty nice at night. This is a great advantage when you miss a AOA bus and see a POP getting ready to go.
The food court was great a pretty good variety, didn't get to try everything before we left.
Parks
The parks were great, the best thing you can do is get there early. Every park, everyday, go early. One of the best strategies is the Extra Magic Hours, using the Touring Plans, you realize the parks offering early magic hours are the ones to avoid. The parks official opening times are 9am, but most do open as early as 8:30. We were always leaving the parks for breaks by 11-12 just when it was getting packed and really hot. We'd head back in around 5-6 just when crowds were getting lighter and it was getting cooler.
Getting there early we could get on all the popular rides fast and hop back on a second time if we wanted. Toy Story Mania, we rode first thing, could have jumped in line again for a 5 min wait, grabbed fast passes instead. Rode again before we left for lunch. Use the fast passes, use a fast pass runner, while your group is inline or heading somewhere its take one person 5 min to grab tickets for another ride. We rode test track and we weren't even out of the car and the kids we screaming "Dad get a fast pass i want to go again!" I even waited a little bit before grabbing the fast pass so the return time coincided when we returned to the park later. When your walking past a couple hundred people waiting in line, you'll never not want to grab a fast pass. The longest wait we had in a line was 15 minutes and that was for the train in Magic Kingdom.
Tip for parks. We always brought insulated water bottles. Wil would fill them with ice at the food court then at the parks ask any food vendor for a cup of ice water we'd fill up the water bottle and have ice cold water where ever. If you don't want just plain water bring some mio for flavor. If your a pop/soda/coffee drinker the resort refillable mugs are worth it.
Hopefully someone find something I said useful. If you have a question let me know. Oh and if you didn't figure it out I cant wait to go back with them.
