Just back from first trip with kids, a few things to share...

[Meeko5]

1. I had been nervous about the dining choices based on recent reviews and went in with low expectations, and was totally blown away. We had the dining plan (free dining) and had dinner at Ohana, Mama Melrose, Boma, Be Our Guest, and Tusker House. All the meals were excellent, service was great. Food was hot and fresh at all the buffets, we weren't disappointed in anything all week and had great servers and service.

2. Rider swap/baby swap is AWESOME - definitely use this service if you can. A few times we forgot to ask for the pass at the entrance because of my overexcited 6 year old and we explained it to the next cast member. They happily gave it to us at the internal FP scanner, or back at the entrance if we doubled back. We had a pre-opening BOG breakfast and jumped in line for 7DMT and at the entrance they saw me wave to my husband who had the stroller with the 1 year old in it and they called him over and gave him a swap pass even then (which we saved for another time because when we got off he and our older son jumped on before the rope drop crowd got there). So we had a total of 5 rides on 7DMT with only 2 FP. IT does take time even for the FP lines twice, but it's worth it!

3. USE THOSE SNACK CREDITS! I had read that people often have a ton left over and vowed not to do it, then we did anyway. The meals are large, and we just werent as hungry as we normally are because of the heat I think. We ended up with 2 CS and 6 snacks at the end of 6 days and had to load up on candy snacks at the gift shop.

4. All the CM we came across were super friendly and helpful, dont be afraid to ask for something. It never hurts to ask. We were given fruit cups and juice for the infant at table services and never charged, one CM carried my meal tray at Sunshine seasons when he saw me balancing food and the infant (DH and DS were riding Soarin at the time), wandered around with it until he found me a table then brought me a highchair. Another took us in the back entrance to the Nemo ride after Turtle talk so we didn't have to trek outside in the downpour. I just asked how to get to the entrance and he winked and said "follow me if you want to stay dry" and we walked right on. I'm sure there are plenty of less than magical people, but we were always polite and nice and never had any negative experiences with anyone.

5. Give yourself extra time to get places - we had great bus service from Pop all week, our longest wait was leaving Animal kingdom just before park close and that was 20 minutes. But loading and unloading scooters and strollers and such takes time. Don't cut yourself too short!

6. enjoy every second - months of planning and it's over so quickly. Take lots of pictures, keep a good attitude and don't let things like bad weather ruin your trip. It's probably going to rain, bring or buy ponchos and just go with the flow. Let the kids lead at times if possible, it's the little things like feeding ducks or splashing in puddles that will make them happy.

7. My 6yo LOVED the Sorcerer's card game. We all got signed up and he collected 35 cards in 3 days, they are one of his favorite souvenirs and they were free! So fun.

Any questions let me know - we stayed at Pop, had the meal plan with 1 TS/1CS/1 snack per day, rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers, had groceries delivered from Orlando Grocery Express.

 

[Meeko5]

Oh and perhaps MOST important - if using luggage service when leaving on magical express - get there WAY early. We were in line 45 minutes before our bus was to arrive (later than planned thanks to sluggish kids at 6:30am) and waited 40 minutes only to be turned away because it was too close to catch the bus. Then the bus was 25 minutes late picking us up, and we had to lug 4 suitcases, 2 kids, 3 backpacks through the ariport and get those checked ourselves. SUCH a pain, do yourself a favor and get there way in advance!

 

[MCharpie]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences! I love to hear that you had such a fantastic time.

 

[North of Mouse]

1. I had been nervous about the dining choices based on recent reviews and went in with low expectations, and was totally blown away. We had the dining plan (free dining) and had dinner at Ohana, Mama Melrose, Boma, Be Our Guest, and Tusker House. All the meals were excellent, service was great. Food was hot and fresh at all the buffets, we weren't disappointed in anything all week and had great servers and service.

2. Rider swap/baby swap is AWESOME - definitely use this service if you can. A few times we forgot to ask for the pass at the entrance because of my overexcited 6 year old and we explained it to the next cast member. They happily gave it to us at the internal FP scanner, or back at the entrance if we doubled back. We had a pre-opening BOG breakfast and jumped in line for 7DMT and at the entrance they saw me wave to my husband who had the stroller with the 1 year old in it and they called him over and gave him a swap pass even then (which we saved for another time because when we got off he and our older son jumped on before the rope drop crowd got there). So we had a total of 5 rides on 7DMT with only 2 FP. IT does take time even for the FP lines twice, but it's worth it!

3. USE THOSE SNACK CREDITS! I had read that people often have a ton left over and vowed not to do it, then we did anyway. The meals are large, and we just werent as hungry as we normally are because of the heat I think. We ended up with 2 CS and 6 snacks at the end of 6 days and had to load up on candy snacks at the gift shop.

4. All the CM we came across were super friendly and helpful, dont be afraid to ask for something. It never hurts to ask. We were given fruit cups and juice for the infant at table services and never charged, one CM carried my meal tray at Sunshine seasons when he saw me balancing food and the infant (DH and DS were riding Soarin at the time), wandered around with it until he found me a table then brought me a highchair. Another took us in the back entrance to the Nemo ride after Turtle talk so we didn't have to trek outside in the downpour. I just asked how to get to the entrance and he winked and said "follow me if you want to stay dry" and we walked right on. I'm sure there are plenty of less than magical people, but we were always polite and nice and never had any negative experiences with anyone.

5. Give yourself extra time to get places - we had great bus service from Pop all week, our longest wait was leaving Animal kingdom just before park close and that was 20 minutes. But loading and unloading scooters and strollers and such takes time. Don't cut yourself too short!

6. enjoy every second - months of planning and it's over so quickly. Take lots of pictures, keep a good attitude and don't let things like bad weather ruin your trip. It's probably going to rain, bring or buy ponchos and just go with the flow. Let the kids lead at times if possible, it's the little things like feeding ducks or splashing in puddles that will make them happy.

7. My 6yo LOVED the Sorcerer's card game. We all got signed up and he collected 35 cards in 3 days, they are one of his favorite souvenirs and they were free! So fun.

Any questions let me know - we stayed at Pop, had the meal plan with 1 TS/1CS/1 snack per day, rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers, had groceries delivered from Orlando Grocery Express.

Soooo happy to hear of your 'very' positive and happy trip!!

Sometimes we wonder if we are actually vacationing at the same place as some families as they seem to have such a negative slant on so many things (the food/ service is horrible, cast members rude, etc.) DH & I are mostly positive and laid back, and try to always smile and say a hello or friendly quip to the cast members and they always return the attitude.

Have been going to Disney many, many years, with and without children and always leave happy and satisfied.

Thanks for your excellent post!!

 

[Brancaneve]

Glad you had a great trip! It's been a few years since we have been to WDW. Can you please explain the Sorcerer cards? Thank you!

 

[Wes1stTrip2016]

1. I had been nervous about the dining choices based on recent reviews and went in with low expectations, and was totally blown away. We had the dining plan (free dining) and had dinner at Ohana, Mama Melrose, Boma, Be Our Guest, and Tusker House. All the meals were excellent, service was great. Food was hot and fresh at all the buffets, we weren't disappointed in anything all week and had great servers and service.

2. Rider swap/baby swap is AWESOME - definitely use this service if you can. A few times we forgot to ask for the pass at the entrance because of my overexcited 6 year old and we explained it to the next cast member. They happily gave it to us at the internal FP scanner, or back at the entrance if we doubled back. We had a pre-opening BOG breakfast and jumped in line for 7DMT and at the entrance they saw me wave to my husband who had the stroller with the 1 year old in it and they called him over and gave him a swap pass even then (which we saved for another time because when we got off he and our older son jumped on before the rope drop crowd got there). So we had a total of 5 rides on 7DMT with only 2 FP. IT does take time even for the FP lines twice, but it's worth it!

3. USE THOSE SNACK CREDITS! I had read that people often have a ton left over and vowed not to do it, then we did anyway. The meals are large, and we just werent as hungry as we normally are because of the heat I think. We ended up with 2 CS and 6 snacks at the end of 6 days and had to load up on candy snacks at the gift shop.

4. All the CM we came across were super friendly and helpful, dont be afraid to ask for something. It never hurts to ask. We were given fruit cups and juice for the infant at table services and never charged, one CM carried my meal tray at Sunshine seasons when he saw me balancing food and the infant (DH and DS were riding Soarin at the time), wandered around with it until he found me a table then brought me a highchair. Another took us in the back entrance to the Nemo ride after Turtle talk so we didn't have to trek outside in the downpour. I just asked how to get to the entrance and he winked and said "follow me if you want to stay dry" and we walked right on. I'm sure there are plenty of less than magical people, but we were always polite and nice and never had any negative experiences with anyone.

5. Give yourself extra time to get places - we had great bus service from Pop all week, our longest wait was leaving Animal kingdom just before park close and that was 20 minutes. But loading and unloading scooters and strollers and such takes time. Don't cut yourself too short!

6. enjoy every second - months of planning and it's over so quickly. Take lots of pictures, keep a good attitude and don't let things like bad weather ruin your trip. It's probably going to rain, bring or buy ponchos and just go with the flow. Let the kids lead at times if possible, it's the little things like feeding ducks or splashing in puddles that will make them happy.

7. My 6yo LOVED the Sorcerer's card game. We all got signed up and he collected 35 cards in 3 days, they are one of his favorite souvenirs and they were free! So fun.

Any questions let me know - we stayed at Pop, had the meal plan with 1 TS/1CS/1 snack per day, rented a stroller from Kingdom Strollers, had groceries delivered from Orlando Grocery Express.

What building did you stay in at Pop? How was the stay? How was the food court? Any rides your 6yr old say no way or didn't want to try?

 

[NJlauren]

Any more information on the POP? What building and section? Was it loud? Staying at the POP for the first time in a few weeks.

 

[Meeko5]

Glad you had a great trip! It's been a few years since we have been to WDW. Can you please explain the Sorcerer cards? Thank you!

You go to the fire hall near the entrance on main street, and they have you start a game that gets linked to your magic band or key card. Then you get a deck of 5 sealed cards per person (anyone with a park ticket can play and have the games linked). These are your spell cards, and they have various disney characters on them with information on their type of spell, strength, etc. Really neat cards. Then you get a map showing you where each portal is in all the lands in MK. You find the portal by symbol and then when you scan your magic band at the key to the portal a screen appears and a story begins, telling you how to help defeat the villains. You'll choose a card (or several), hold it up in front of you to cast it, then when that portal is completed it shows you where your next portal is. They are all over the place. It takes a bit of time (and backtracking!) to find them and complete them, but we did all of Main Street and Adventureland in 2 days before we stopped. Each day you go to the MK you can pick up a new deck per person that is with you in the game (as long as they are there to scan their magic band!). We had a lot of fun doing this, I highly recommend! We picked up the cards first thing, then once the park was stupid crowded and hot and lines were all long we did the missions then

 

[Meeko5]

Any more information on the POP? What building and section? Was it loud? Staying at the POP for the first time in a few weeks.

We were in building 2, 50's section ground floor. I Asked for Lake View, ground floor. In hindsight I would have requested a closer building to classic hall. We had a long trek to everything. The view of the lake was nice, but being on the ground floor it was obstructed by bushes and stuff anyway. We asked for ground floor to avoid elevators with the double stroller and it was a good choice in that regard. We had no trouble at all with noise, but we only used the bowling pin pool since that was just on the other side of the building.

We had great luck with busses at Pop, both to and from. Most of the time a bus pulled up within 5 minutes, and if the loading section was full 2 busses would come at the same time. Minimal waits, pleasant drivers. We really loved Pop. Lots to see and do for the kids. We never ate in the food court, but the food looked good

 

[Meeko5]

What building did you stay in at Pop? How was the stay? How was the food court? Any rides your 6yr old say no way or didn't want to try?

Building 2, lake view. LONG walk at the end of the day, wish we had asked for a closer building. We had a wonderful stay - mousekeeping was great, they were short on bed rails (we asked for 2) so they came and pushed the bed next to the wall for us (didnt know it would even move since the headboard is attached to the wall!) and that worked out great. Room was small, but clean. and quiet.

We never ate at the food court, just stopped in for drinks in our mugs that came with the dining plan. Food looked good though!

My 6 year old did everything, and LOVED the coasters. We rode them all 3-5 times with baby swap haha. He didn't care for Dinosaur at AK, said it was cool but too loud and didnt want to ride it again after with DH. That was the only one he absolutely said no again to. He thought the haunted mansion was lame (boo!) and his favorites were Tower of Terror, Space Mountain, and Expedition everest

 

[NJlauren]

We were in building 2, 50's section ground floor. I Asked for Lake View, ground floor. In hindsight I would have requested a closer building to classic hall. We had a long trek to everything. The view of the lake was nice, but being on the ground floor it was obstructed by bushes and stuff anyway. We asked for ground floor to avoid elevators with the double stroller and it was a good choice in that regard. We had no trouble at all with noise, but we only used the bowling pin pool since that was just on the other side of the building.

We had great luck with busses at Pop, both to and from. Most of the time a bus pulled up within 5 minutes, and if the loading section was full 2 busses would come at the same time. Minimal waits, pleasant drivers. We really loved Pop. Lots to see and do for the kids. We never ate in the food court, but the food looked good

Thank you! I was thinking of a high floor actually incase of noise... But maybe I'll just request 60's to be close to the classic hall and the buses!

Thank you for sharing your experience!

 

[Meeko5]

Thank you! I was thinking of a high floor actually incase of noise... But maybe I'll just request 60's to be close to the classic hall and the buses!

Thank you for sharing your experience!

As I walked by the 60's section every night I said "man I wish we were in that building!" haha. Even non-preferred rooms in that section will be a much shorter walk, you won't regret it!

 

[NJlauren]

As I walked by the 60's section every night I said "man I wish we were in that building!" haha. Even non-preferred rooms in that section will be a much shorter walk, you won't regret it!

Thank you! That's what I'll do leave the rest to chance

 

[amatherne]

Hi there! Thank you for such a helpful post! My husband and I will be traveling with our 13 month old in January. We are also staying at the POP and have the dining plan. We also have reservations for Be Our Guest, Boma, and Ohana (plus Crystal Palace, Biergarten, and Akershus) so I'm glad to hear you had good experiences at those!

Do you have any specific tips or advice for traveling with an infant? This is a 5 year anniversary trip for us and our last trip was for our honeymoon in 2011 so lots has changed!! I've done lots of research but since you just got back with a baby about the same age as mine will be for our trip I thought it would be good to ask!

What rides did your infant like best? We are definitely planning on using rider swap- what did you do to keep baby entertained while waiting and about how long did the whole rider swap process take for both adults to ride? Did you take a break or did baby nap alright in the park? Any other advice? I get to book fast passes tonight at midnight so I'm in super planning mode! Thanks!!

 

[Meeko5]

Hi there! Thank you for such a helpful post! My husband and I will be traveling with our 13 month old in January. We are also staying at the POP and have the dining plan. We also have reservations for Be Our Guest, Boma, and Ohana (plus Crystal Palace, Biergarten, and Akershus) so I'm glad to hear you had good experiences at those!

Do you have any specific tips or advice for traveling with an infant? This is a 5 year anniversary trip for us and our last trip was for our honeymoon in 2011 so lots has changed!! I've done lots of research but since you just got back with a baby about the same age as mine will be for our trip I thought it would be good to ask!

What rides did your infant like best? We are definitely planning on using rider swap- what did you do to keep baby entertained while waiting and about how long did the whole rider swap process take for both adults to ride? Did you take a break or did baby nap alright in the park? Any other advice? I get to book fast passes tonight at midnight so I'm in super planning mode! Thanks!!

We also did Biergarten, which was fun for the kids. Good choices!

My advice would be - if they are walking, plan to give them time to get out of the stroller and wander a bit. Being strapped in made my son frsutrated quickly, so we often just wandered to a deserted sidewalk or area to let him roam and explore. Most of the bushes have little lizards in them and he chased them constantly I brought new little toys such as playdoh, sticker books, etc and brought them out at mealtimes. Also snacks go a long way, and he was happy sitting in the stroller so long as he had some popcorn or a cup if ice cubes to munch on. We did buy a stroller fan since the heat got to him, but that may not be an issue for you in 2 months.

As for rides - he loved anything we took him on. Even the dark/loud ones like Great Movie ride didn't bother him and he happily sat back and took it all in. He loved Buzz Lightyear space ranger spin, the peoplemover, and all the dumbo type spinning rides most. He napped every day in the stroller so we didn't end up leaving for breaks which was a bonus. When we were waiting for the other parent and kid to get off a ride, he was happy to run around near the exits, or watch the ride go. He would yell "here it comes!" every single time any of the coasters came down the kill haha. so cute. the fastpass lines were pretty short waits for most rides, but even with only 5-10 minutes wait in addition to loading and unloading it takes more time than you think. We often saved the swap pass for later in the day, or another day if we were returning to that park later in the week. We had a nice collection of paper passes after our first MK day that allowed us to do more rides on our second MK day without waiting. Winnie the Pooh has a nice ride line with games, and there is a little play area near the exit to splash that he liked as well.

What worked best for us was to start our FP times around 10, then go back for more after the third. Worked best for MK since there are so many FP rides there. We used 6 one day there, since the kids like the Buzz ride so much we just kept getting FP for that and hung in tomorrowland. Definitely get FP for Peter Pan, that line gets insanely long fast. Same for SDMT if you want to ride that. It was cute, but short. And definitely not something I would want to wait more than 20 minutes for!

 

[April1212r]

Thank you for this info! Taking the kids in April (6 year old boy and my daughter will be 5 when we go) so I'm trying to get a feel for what kids liked/didn't like before we go. This helped! Did your 6 year old also sit in stroller, or get very tired walking since you were there all day in a park? Trying to decide whether to rent a stroller or not. I figured it would help (especially at night when kids are beat, after long day) but I'm still unsure.

 

[Meeko5]

Thank you for this info! Taking the kids in April (6 year old boy and my daughter will be 5 when we go) so I'm trying to get a feel for what kids liked/didn't like before we go. This helped! Did your 6 year old also sit in stroller, or get very tired walking since you were there all day in a park? Trying to decide whether to rent a stroller or not. I figured it would help (especially at night when kids are beat, after long day) but I'm still unsure.

My 6 year old sat in the stroller more than my toddler haha. He tires easily (and well, is super lazy) so he happily jumped in when we were walking. I knew he would, so I had no problems renting a double stroller for both of them. Plus for me, I wanted them both in the stroller when we were walking through all those people so I knew where they were at all times.

with your kids' ages, I would maybe consider renting a park stroller IF they start to tire. Not as comfy, but they will only be riding in it for short times, and wont need to nap or be too comfy in it. Then if you keep your receipt you can get a new one if at the next park if you hop, or leave and come back. All depends on the kids' stamina, and they might surprise you.

As for rides, my 6 year old loved it all BUT Dinosaur. Too loud. His favorites were Tower of Terror, Space, and Expedition Everest. He'd never been on a roller coaster before so that was an awesome surprise for us!

 

[kingqueenandprincess]

What a great post! We took our one year old the first week of November and it was just so fun. The rider swap is definitely amazing and I am glad you posted about it because I feel like not many people know about it!