Need some input for our first Disney trip!

[gabbyfamily]

I have been spending hours and hours planning our upcoming trip, and now I am second guessing myself! Arghhhh! We are coming January 26 for five nights at the Animal Kingdom Villas Kidani Village. We don't get into the airport until 4:00 the first day, so we really only were planning on four days, one at each park. (Iknow, I know, its not enough time, but we're going on a six night cruise from there, so it'll have to do!)

I just bought my tickets through Maple Leaf yesterday and they had a deal where when you buy a four day pass, you get the fifth day free. We are on the dining plan and have reservations for 7:30 the first night at Whispering Canyon Cafe, but now I'm wondering if we should hit a park instead with our extra ticket. We fly out at 6:45 am and are supposed to be at the airport 3 hours ahead, so we will all be exhausted early I'm sure. Do I keep my reservation or hit a park instead? We could hit a park our last day instead. We need to be on the road by 10:30 am, but we could get an hour and a half in. Is that just a waste of time for such a short period? We also could just pretend we don't have the extra day.

Also, I planned my ADR's around going to the parks that have extra magic hours, but I have since read in a few places to avoid those parks because they are the busiest. Do I start from scratch?

We are a family of seven, with children ages 12 - 5 if that makes any difference.

I would appreciate any advice from all you seasoned experts!

 

[Daddy_of_Princesses]

Not sure what to say about your first day. If you have the free ticket, maybe head of to MK. When we went in Jan of 07 we went to MK, and didn't visit any parks after that since that's where dd wanted to go. We did the other parks prior to MK just in case this would happen.

As far as avoiding the parks during the extra hours, I wouldn't bother in January. It really isn't that crowded at this time. I think those warnings are more important in the Summer when the parks are packed.

 

[testtubes]

When our children were that young, we always saved MK for last!! Some do not follow that advice, but it always worked for us. I would try Hollywood Studios and get that done which has much to do for the ages of your kids.
Good luck and have fun. Remember that you will not see everything.

 

[GRUMPY D]

i would go to mk the first night after you eat its a big park and to do it right it should take one and a half to two days , you can do one part of the park and then the next day you can take your time and finish it plus for desert you can get a sweet treat from main street bakery or a dole whip

 

[HermanTriplets+1]

Hi,
We were at the parks for 4 nights in December with 4 kids of similar ages (10 - 13). We arrived a bit earlier than you will but also with an early morning flight i.e. up at the crack of dawn. We went to MK and were there in the park by 4pm, tried to do a 1/2 day plan. We were very tired and it was an afternoon and relatively crowded. If I had to do it over again, I would have done different. It was the least successful of all of our park visits

I would think of two options if you want to use your extra day.
1. Use your evening ADR on the first night without a park visit, and use your last morning for a last park visit. You will have had a "taste" of all 4 parks, and then you can choose which one your group wants to see just one more time. You can even send part of the group while one grownup stays back to finish packing and checking out.

2. If you decide that you really want to jump right in and see a park on the first evening, then sell it to your group that you are going to see fireworks (or Illuminations etc) and go to the park without the intention therefore without the high expectations of going on rides. Enjoy the atmosphere, buy a snack, watch the characters, see the fireworks, and go home!

That's my 2 cents,
Hope it helps!

 

[Joshua.Thomas]

The price of insurance varies based on what you need. Since you may need more cover medically, it may cost you a little more. Disney offers vacation protection as well, that you can book directly through them, however, you really should call and discuss the situation with them to find out what will be covered and what won't be. There are other companies as well that may cover more of what you need, you can get plans that are suited more for you, than the Disney plan which is one that the same for everyone, one cost, same coverage. So, before buying their insurance, it would be very beneficial to you to make sure everything would be covered. I don't know of any good info on insurance, for Disney, online, but I will look around and see if I can find anything.

 

[flipflopmom]

Our first ADR was at dinner at Chef Mickey's. Once my kids saw the castle, they had to go in.... We went in, and let them buy their ears, walked main st., and that was it. They were fine with that, and started the trip off right. Went back in after dinner for a bit, just to soak up atmosphere.

 

[disneylovin24]

If I were you, I wouldn't worry so much about hitting every park. I'd take it day by day because you'll probably run yourself ragged after 2 straight days at parks. You can't do it all when your there and you're only going to make yourself tired and miserable. I would also keep your reservation at WCC the first night. You'll be tired from traveling and it will be nice just to relax and have a good meal.

If you really want to make it to every park, then I'd suggest you take 1 day to do AK and DHS. Those two parks don't have as many rides so it's easier to do both in one day.

 

[swisely]

We went in August and I decided that I didn't want to be confined to a reservation on the first night, that way we could do whatever we wanted without that pressing on us. We arrived at POR around 1:00p.m. and headed for downtown disney and ate counter service for lunch (EOS). Shopped a bit, went back to the room to freshen up and headed out to MK. I wanted my son to see the castle--and I wanted to see it too. Nothing like it, and it is what makes Disney what it is. Magical. Our arrival was on a Sunday and evidently, that is a day that a lot of people leave, so we had low crowds and were able to walk right on a lot of the rides. Yes, we were up early that day due to an early flight, but our adrenaline was flowing and we were excited. My view is, you can sleep later. Take it all in. You will get to bed sometime that night and be ready to go the next morning. Have fun! Hoped this helped some. BTW, I wasn't overly impressed with WCC's food anyway. It was just ok.

 

[jlafferty]

I will also be there the 26th, we are staying at WL. We have the 5 day passes and are planning on 4 parks. Can we use the 5th ticket to go back to another park? We do not have park hopper. I was thinking we would do a few things at DHS one morning, go back and rest then go back to MK that night? Am I wrong that we could do this without the park hopper.

TIA
Jamie

 

[ramsfootball92]

Jamie - You will not be able to use your tickets at two different parks in one day unless you have purchased the hopper option. Sorry.

 

[nicki.momof3]

We fly out at 6:45 am and are supposed to be at the airport 3 hours ahead, so we will all be exhausted early I'm sure.
!

Are you flying international?

Three hours ahead of time (even with increased security) seems very excessive for a 6:45am flight. I would call and verify this requirement. If you are planning on getting to an airport by 3:45am - what time are you planning on getting up and getting everyone moving.

With kids I could not imagine that they could handle anymore than you have planned - if that.

You can only go to two different parks in one day if you have park hoppers.

We enjoy EMH and plan our ADR's according to them. We travel at peak times and do not have a problem with them - now you will get different opinions about this.

 

[Cdn Gal]

I would go straight to the MK- the kids can sleep during the flight and besides they (and you) will be soooo excited that it will be hard to settle down. In the grand scheme of things though it doesn't really matter b/c you're going to have a blast no matter what you do!

 

[msminnieears]

I would go to MK as soon as I got checked in. Everyone will be so excited no one will be able to stand it. Cancel the ADR's for that night and eat counter service in the park. Enjoy one area of the park like Tomorrowland. At this time of year it's not that crowded. I would try to get another TS ADR on another day or do a signature TS ADR instead. Do this before you leave. This way on the day you are planning on going to the MK you will not be as rushed and can enjoy the park more. You may want to think about sleeping in on your last day and staying out late at the EMH park. That way you can sleep late on the day you have to leave. Don't forgot you will have 7 days of rest and relaxation on your cruise and WDW in not a relaxing vacation just an exciting one!!!

 

[Lglchick]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here or not, but you guys seem to be commenting along the same lines as my question:

We'll be arriving at approximately 4:00 p.m. for a 7-night stay. My husband thinks we should simply get to the resort, maybe hit the pool, have a light dinner and get to bed early so we'll all be ready to go on our first full day. Me? Not so much. We've got 7 days of tickets, but will only be using 6 if we don't use 1 on the day we arrive.

Your thoughts.

 

[jlafferty]

Jamie - You will not be able to use your tickets at two different parks in one day unless you have purchased the hopper option. Sorry.

Thanks!

 

[msminnieears]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here or not, but you guys seem to be commenting along the same lines as my question:

We'll be arriving at approximately 4:00 p.m. for a 7-night stay. My husband thinks we should simply get to the resort, maybe hit the pool, have a light dinner and get to bed early so we'll all be ready to go on our first full day. Me? Not so much. We've got 7 days of tickets, but will only be using 6 if we don't use 1 on the day we arrive.

Your thoughts.

I, myself hate to waste a day ticket in WDW but there is a lot to consider. I recommended to the gabbyfamily to go for it based on their limited time and more vacation after WDW. My questions would be "is this your 1st visit?" "How many children and their ages?" Our 1st day at WDW is always a half a day. We fly in and get to the room about 3:00pm and in the park about 4pm so this gives us a little time to do our favorites or the kids must do's first thing. Then we have a character meal at about 7:30pm (Chef Mickey). This allows them to see their favorite characters and takes the edge off of the excitement. Then we are off to our rooms for a great nights rest. We usually stay 5 days and this allows us plenty of time to enjoy the parks. But this trip we are staying 7 so we are looking forward to the extra days.

 

[cdnmomof2]

It all depends on the age of the kids and how tiresome the trip was. For my family I know everyone likes to settle in, get something to eat, take a walk or tour around a bit, then start fresh on the adventure in the morning.

 

[MSMomTJ]

I'm not sure if I should be posting this here or not, but you guys seem to be commenting along the same lines as my question:

We'll be arriving at approximately 4:00 p.m. for a 7-night stay. My husband thinks we should simply get to the resort, maybe hit the pool, have a light dinner and get to bed early so we'll all be ready to go on our first full day. Me? Not so much. We've got 7 days of tickets, but will only be using 6 if we don't use 1 on the day we arrive.

Your thoughts.

We will be arriving later than you - probably around 6 - and I have decided that we will either explore the resort or go to Downtown Disney. We'll probably do the 2nd unless we are super tired. We will lose a day of our tickets, but I'm not worried about it because we'll use the dining credits towards our two meals that take 2 credits. I want my kids' first time at the park to be special, so we have a character breakfast planned first thing the next morning and then we'll spend the day at MK.

 

[Kuffam]

I have a similar dilemma, the 5 day tick is hard to pass up, but we want to see Sea World and Busch Gardens also. We get in around noon in Saturday and leave late the following Saturday. So either way, will spend a 1/2 day in a park.

If we go to a park on our arrival day, we enjoy EPCOT. It's usually open late and we walk around world showcase and then enjoy the fireworks.