Newbie with a lot of questions!

[Going to Disney!]

Hello,
I am planning a trip from april 5-10th. I know it's a busy time to be there so I want to plan the best I can so we can do what we want to do. My DDs 8 and 11 have never been to Disney and DH and I were there about 20 years ago. We are all pretty flexible and since it will all be "new", we don't have any thing we have to do.
I have seen recommendations for tourgudemike and I probably will subscribe. My questions are, will he help in setting an itinerary? what does it offer that other Disney forums and boards do not? are things adjusted for your family's style (laid back, not necessarily morning people!)?

Another question regarding the DDP: I have been reading the boards, and I think my younger daughter age 8 would be better off with the adult DDP. Do you know if this is possible? I'm calling my travel agency once they open up. (we are snowed in today!!)

Thanks for all your replies and I am looking forward to planning my trip with your help!
R

 

[mericletwins]

Hello,
I am planning a trip from april 5-10th. I know it's a busy time to be there so I want to plan the best I can so we can do what we want to do. My DDs 8 and 11 have never been to Disney and DH and I were there about 20 years ago. We are all pretty flexible and since it will all be "new", we don't have any thing we have to do.
I have seen recommendations for tourgudemike and I probably will subscribe. My questions are, will he help in setting an itinerary? what does it offer that other Disney forums and boards do not? are things adjusted for your family's style (laid back, not necessarily morning people!)?

Another question regarding the DDP: I have been reading the boards, and I think my younger daughter age 8 would be better off with the adult DDP. Do you know if this is possible? I'm calling my travel agency once they open up. (we are snowed in today!!)

Thanks for all your replies and I am looking forward to planning my trip with your help!
R

I have never used tourguide mike so I can't help you with that. We have always just used the boards and books, like the Unofficial Guide. That was a wealth of info. Since you are staying on-site, the EMHs will be very helpful. We are also laid back in our touring. One thing that you may like to do is to but the Birnbaums guide either the one for kids or the general one and have your girls make list of the top three things they would like to do in each park. Everything beyond that is gravy.


Have a great time.

 

[Indy's Girl]

If you have your 8 year old on the adult dining plan she will also be considered an adult for park tickets which can get much more expensive. It might be more cost effective to pay for some things OOP for her, or share your appitizer and dessert with her etc. than to upgrade her to adult.

 

[CleveRocks]

Do you enjoy voraciously reading, learning everything you possibly can, and then creatively solving problems and thinking and planning and having fun doing it? If so, save your money, read the books, read the DIS, post a lot of questions and click on threads with interesting-sounding titles, and then have fun figuring out what to do. That's what I've done -- for me, thinking and planning about travel is about as much fun as I can have with my clothes on.

But if everything I just wrote gives you a headache, and you want it all just GIVEN to you, no muss no fuss, then by all means pony up thr money for TGM or a similar service. If doing that kind of thinking and planning is mind-boggling or is drudgery to you, then whatever TGM or a similar service costs is well worth the money because it'll help you have a more fun less stressful vacation.

And, I almost forgot,

 

[karibritt01]

There are ways to feed your DD8 well, but on the child price. Buffets are great - everyone eats from the same buffet, so she will get adult food. TS restaurants are reported to be accomodating in serving child portions of adult meals when requested. I haven't tried this myself, as we ate all buffets last year, but I keep reading that DISsers are doing this with no problems. For CS meals, if there is nothing available that she wants, you can ask them to "de-combo" an adult meal. You can buy her adult serving of fries, drink, and dessert with a child CS credit, then buy a burger OOP. There are also a few CS places with no child menu (Pizza Planet at MGM for example) and she eats off of the same menu as everyone else. Go to www.allearsnet.com and check out their menus, and begin putting together favorite TS and CS restaurants, based on where everyone will be happy. When making my itenerary, I listed 2-3 CS places in each park where my kids would be happy with the choices. When we get hungry, we can refer to the list, and see what strikes us. I learned this after having to eat corn dog nuggets, so DS8 could have a chicken sandwich and fries last year!

As for planning your days, the PP was correct when saying choose a few things that are important. I would also suggest taking advantage of EMH if you are night people. We did this every night last June, and loved it. We closed down every park (MK until 2AM!) then slept in until 10:30ish every AM. We were able to do more in that 3 hrs than we did all day! The main thing to really plan now is your TS meals. If you don't have an ADR, you may never get a seat during a busy week. Look through the calendar, decide which parks you want to visit each day, and chhose a TS restaurant. If you can't get an ADR that you really want, try back every few days, as they often get cancellations closer to the dates.

Hope some of this helps! Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions!