just back from 8 - 15th june trip - tips

[nataliesdaddy]

wow - just fantastic - I worry whether my daughter had a good time but that is more a symptom of being a self concious single dad. Trip cost way too much though. hahahahahahaha. Tips are the fourth paragraph down if you want to skip the section about our first day there

This board has been great could not have got it so well planned without you guys. I was trip coordinator and the dd and df (dear fiance) didn't have to do a thing but wake up

June 8th checked into contemporary then went to epcot for illuminations - got daughter a blinking medallion thing - and a twirling mickey light - was a beautiful evening.

June 9th went to early morning at AK. We rented a car so we got there pretty quick which let us be a little more relaxed as we did not do the bus thing. Were the first 23 cars in line (according to my DD age 7) Did its tough to be a bug first, did face painting over in front of the safari, then DD wanted to do the cali rapids water ride, so got fast passes for the safari and walked over there but it did not open till 9am so then we went on the nature trail when I realized I could get passes to kali I left and met them at the exit of the nature trail, we then did FP for the safari, then after that went to Kali river rapids and went right to the front... my 7 year old DD was amply impressed we blew by the crowd. Started to rain before noonish - put on ponchos and went to rainforest cafe for PS seating lunch - Sun came back out - we meandered for a while - daughter got this really cute monkey doll that sucks on a pacifier - went back to contemporary around 2 ish
ate goodies, went swimming, ate at chef mickeys that night - went shopping for a cinderella dress and shoes... then headed over to MK and cinderellas castle an hour and 20 minutes early to get a place at the hub just before the castle... should have been there 20 minutes earlier... so we got first row at the rose garden picture site... was agreat vantage point for fireworks and to see tinkerbell fly... was OK place for spectromagic but not great - walked home from MK to conteporary... DD wanted to be on shoulders so put her up there and we ran all the way back to contemporary with her laughing up there. - Got in bed way too late...next mroning it was off to cinderellas castle for 8am ps breakfast

I will write the rest on the trip report board - but for some tips...

1) definitely bring ponchos - we only used them twice but just that was enough to warrant getting them - 2) for sure arrive early at the park and go home early in the day and relax - That way you can get in a reasonable amount of rides before the crowd hit and be able to leave early and get out of the sun for a while to just relax and whatever. It gets blazing hot in florida and if you stay at the park all day you will get burned out fast. 3) If you can - stay at a resort that is super close to the park where you will be spending the majority of your time... hopping on buses and park hoping can eat into a lot of useful time... or if you can rent a car. From what I was told by concierge staff we shaved about 1 to 2 hours off our commute to other parks by having a car... also we had to have one because we did non disney stuff we had to drive to... like seaworld/discoverycove. 4) be sure to plan some downtime by day three or periodically have a day where you can just veg out or sleep in or whatever... By the third full day of our trip we were all pretty tired... and amazingly I did not have to ask my daughter to nap... she just did it... 5) the two way radio things did really help - get ones that have a ton of channels and a bunch of security codes - I wasn't sure they would be worth it... but just the few times we did use them they were worth it - 6) buy a mister or a mister fan before going - we had the mister bottle and then bought a mister fan at DD's request... those things are entertainment for a 7 year old all on their own - and helpful in the florida sun 7) get a fanny pack that has good back support and also has compression straps - also if you can deal with it get one that carries a water bottle or two - I got a Mountainsmith fanny pack from a sporting goods store - was awesome - carried two water bottles, two cameras, moleskin, extra battery, extra film, ponchos, a mister, a radio... I was expedition ready daddy !!! and the pack could be worn as a fanny pack, or swung over the shoulder as a "purse" or could be carried by hands like a handbag or briefcase... sounds like overkill but it was worth it for sure... Dear Fiance had a smaller more light weight bag for miscellaneous stuff oh and for sure 8) bring plastic ziploc bags to put things in - very convenient and kept things dry 9) bring an extra change of clothes to the park and put them in a locker if you stay a long distance from the park - when we went to animal kingdom we brought extra socks, pants, shirts etc - very much came in handy ...while it was raining and we went to the rainforest cafe the airconditioning and dampness made my DD and DF rather cold...so daddy could go get them fresh and warmer clothes...

many other tips if anyone needs - let me know - in the meantime I will post the full trip on the trip reports board

thanks again to everyone here

 

[minivan3]

Sounds like a wonderful time had by all ! Thanks for posting. My DH and I will be there tomorrow night for a weekend anniversary trip!! This is our first time there without the kids. We may end up wandering about aimlessly, or we may turn into kids ourselves. I'm betting on the later one !

 

[higgyCU]

Thanks for the insights. We are going to stop by the w/e of the 28th. How crowded were the parks? What were the wait times for the more popular attractions? (Buzz, SM, Dumbos, etc)

 

[nataliesdaddy]

wait times were not bad at all as long as you were there early and did not stay too late - by afternoon waits for some rides could be 30 to 45 minutes - however I have been a DW when waits could be up to 2 hours - also as many eastcoats schools had to many snow days this year a great number of schools did not let out until the 15th of june this year - so we were fortunate - by the time you go you should expect maximum crowds as all the schools will finally be out and as you will be going on a weekend - so if I were you ...get there way before the park opens so you are in the first few hundred people let in the park - then hit all the kiddie rides like dumbo first - while one of you goes and gets fast passes to space mountain - then do character greatings if your kids are that young and right before your fastpass window of opportunity for space mountain you are then allowed to get another set of fast passes (about 5 minutes before your fast pass begins you can get more fastpasses) that way you can get on space mountain and then still avoid the wiats for buzz when you get off space mountain - once you get very late in the morning expect to have a minimum wait of 30 to 45 minutes for popular rides if you do not use fastpasses

 

[higgyCU]

Thanks for the advice. We will be going straight to WDW from Port Canveral, we are taking our 1st Disney cruise. I am hoping to get there around noon. Any suggestions on what park to visit at that time of day? I am leaning towards MGM or Epcot and then going to MK later in the day.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

yeah if you are hitting land noonish or so I would go to epcot or mgm also depends on what day you hit - you want to see what parks have early entry the day you arrive then avoid it - due to the early entry feature (which is great of you are early entry) the park with early entry seems to have more people as first a wave hit at 8am for early entry and then a subsequent wave at normal opening at 9am - so I would avoid the ealry entry park the day you arrive at noonish and then hit the other park early the next day... from my past weeks experience - epcot was way less crowded then the magic kingdom - we enevr got over to mgm - but I have heard that will tend to be less crowded too

 

[DDreneeT]

I was glad to read your posts. We (myself, DD -7yo, and DH) are going in July. What kind of souvenirs(and prices) did your DD want to buy? Thought that might be interesting since they are the same age. This trip is part of my DD b-day present. So we are celebrating at WDW. She's very excited. We have dinner reservations at GF w/ Cinderella and breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Any advice you can give me wouldbe greatly appreciated. We are staying at CSR. Hope to have fun there too.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

I have a bad habit of spiling my kid to death as part of compensating for a very evil and wicked divorce process - so understand that when I say what we bought - plus by nature my little girl has had me wrapped around her finger from the moment she was born - anyway keep that in mind as I go over what she wanted - what we got - and what it cost

of the stuff she seemed to like or want most

1) character dresses
2) Jewelry
3) stuffed animal/characters
4) Towels with disney stuff on them
5) Mickey Mouse ice cream bars galore!!! 2.50 a piece
6) and the Disney pins for her lanyard to wear around her neck

most of the stuff was in the 10 to 20 dollar range with occasionally something at 60 to 90 dollars

1) we were lucky enough to get cinderella's castle breakfast - she "had to have"/"I need" a cindrella outfit with wig - even though she is blonde anyway - dress plus shoes plus wig - 80 to 90 - in the end my daughter realized her hair was prettier then the wig anyway so she "wore her own hair"

2) Obviously we had to get an autograph book - 5 bucks - also she wanted to get autographs for her half brother and sister - 10 more bucks

3) we had a mister but DD wanted a "mister/fan" - you can get them at walmart cheaper - we got her one at disney cost? 15 bucks or so.

4) first night at illuminations she had to have a wizard mickey twirling light gadget - don';t know how much that cost - the fiance bought it while I was getting cokes

5) we also had a princess breakfast at Epcot world showcase with various princesses... she already had a snow white outfit she got at home but "the jasmine outift is so pretty and you can't find them anywhere where mom lives and I can use it for halloween...etc" cost another 80 or so wig, shoes, and dress

6) a big honkin pen for the characters to use to sign the autograph books - 5 bucks or so

7) as part of our hotel stay a lanyard with a couple of disney themed lanyard pins was part of our package... this got my little girl hooked - we got probably about another 7 pins at about 10 to 12 bucks a pop - so 70 to 84 bucks

8) monkey doll was about 17 bucks I think

9) an umbrella (very cute) hand painted with her name on it - got it over at liberty square... mmm I think that was 25 to 30...

10) we saw alien encounter and it scared the heebee geebees out of my kid - there is this cute creature that gets "teleported" from one place to another and in the process gets hurt... this greatly disturbed my little girl that this cute darling creature got fried... during the ride I had to keep telling her that the whole thing was pretend and that what appeared to be happening was not really happening - in the end at the gift shop I bought the stuffed animal version of the cute creature to reinforce in her that the cute little guy did not get hurt afterall that it was all just pretend...10 to 15 bucks I think - oh and another pen she liked 2 or 3 dollars

11) professional pictures taken with the characters - 15 a piece

12) a blinking medallion necklace (looked very cool at night and frankly she didn't ask for it I wanted to get it for her) 10 to 15 bucks

13) tinkerbell earings - mmmm don't know what they cost probably around 10 to 15 - don't know cause fiance bought tham

14) mickey mouse sapphire (not real saphire) earings because they are my daughters birth stone and she loved them - 15 to 20

15) a very nice princess towel for hanging out at the pool - 20 bucks

16) some magic tricks from a store at downtown disney - 15 dollars a piece

17) a faux diamand ring and aquamarine ring at the store at the base of cinderellas castle - $25 about 12 a piece

18) face painting at the animal kingdom $8

19) a stuffed animal dog whose relation to anything disney I have no idea what it was - fiance bought it so I don't know for sure the price - probably 10 to 15 dollars

20) a mini Minnie doll - didn't buy that one either

hmmmm.... I fail to recall if there was anything else... I am sure there was just can't remember what...

 

[DDreneeT]

Thanks. It sounds like what my DD will want too. She's already got a princess towel.. And I know all about that cinderella outfit. My DD was that at Halloween and needed the whole 9 yards. She talked her "nanna" into all the extras. Her hair is sstrawberry blond so we were fortunate to talk her into not using a wig because her own hair matched so well. We are really looking forward. We have a DS who just turned 1. He's staying with the grandparents. I felt the heat and hectic schedules would be too much for him.. Thanks for the advice

 

[cyndilou01]

The one thing you may want to get your daughter is the Mickey Pal. Mickey talks to you and lets you know what is about to happen in the parks. You can rent them for $8 a day and at the end of the day if you want to buy it they use that $8 toward the price of about $50. I saw several kids and ADULTS with it on our last trip. they said it was wonderful. He talks to you no matter which park you are in. He plays games with the kids so when they are in line they will have something to do... He tells what events are happening in each area. Tells them jokes...
We are going back in October I am going to buy me one... Kid of the over forty gang.

 

[julieannbabe]

For NataliesDaddy,

you sound like a fantastic Dad.

God Bless You.

 

[bratray]

hello

sounds like you had a wonderful trip and your daughter is a very lucky girl!!

your tips were great and i plan on using many of them- if you have more tips or suggestions please post

thanks

lisa