NYDrPepper
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2007
- Messages
- 21
I already posted this on the Attractions and Strategies board. Someone suggested I post it here. It is not so much as a trip report as tips that worked great for me.
I got back from my first ever trip to Disney World last night and would like to share some of the things that I learned on these boards that were spot on right!!! Thanks members, as our trip was sort of last minute and I was clueless until I started reading here.
Does this apply to you?
Cast: 3 adults (age 37-47) who all dote on a 3.5 year old princess
.
Background: first visit for everyone. Flying in.
Setting: 2 days in MK. Staying offsite & renting a car. Monday & Tuesday of mid-March (peak time). Perfect sunny days with ~81 degree highs. No early entries at MK during our days there.
Storyline: Adults watch for the glee in the preschoolers eyes. Parades, shows, & mostly Fantasyland.
Free Advice from Disboards I Would Have Gladly Paid For:
Registering for Dollar Express about 2 weeks ahead. WHY: There was no one in the express line; there were about 40 people in the regular line. We saved time and already felt like movie stars. GREAT advice (& it is free)! Zero hassle about extras and insurance.
Arrival dinner at OHana. WHY: AWESOME dinner & entertainment for all ages, at a resort so no park ticket needed, our first view of Cinderellas castle, got to enjoy Wishes (piped in music) & the electric boat parade!! We were so blown away with the dinner, Polynesian, Wishes, etc. that I still cant get the smile off my face. It was magical. We were very fortunate to have a window seat for viewing fireworks & parade. What a wonderful start to our vacation.
Bring your own umbrella stroller. WHY: lots of walking that I did not expect. I had to go buy a stroller because we simply make the kid always walk at places. I learned about the Maclaren Volo here. The Disney rentals have little storage space, are hard/uncomfortable for sleep, not much shade protection, & dont go all the way to the car. Remember, we rented a car & stayed off site. The Volo was fantastic for us (it stored our snacks, cameras, etc.; folds up in snap; super light; can be used until the kid is like 60 pounds). For any newbies out there, stroller parking for rides is very easy and very organized. Also, umbrella strollers did not have to be folded up for the monorail or ferry boat (only the parking lot trams).
Buy your water at a grocer & freeze it. WHY: warm sunny weather in Orlando (it snowed this morning here in Buffalo, NY) and who wants to wait in line for $2 water. We drank constantly. I would not have done this if I had not read it here. We didnt even put them in a cooler. They were just there to grab easily from under the stroller.
Find a nearby grocery & buy some snacks. WHY: Saves money & time; plus not everyone is hungry at the same time. We had some things to snack on in the hotel room (fruit, chips, pop for the adults, pudding pops) & snacks for the park so spent less money & time buying stuff at the park. I used Mapquest to find a grocery. I stored tiny bags of carrots, fruit leathers, cheese sticks, raisins, apples, napkins, & wet wipes in a kiddy lunch box. It was always handy in the basket of the stroller and great for waiting for parades (because the stroller is with you).
Hawthorn Suites was superb for offsite. The location was super convenient. A Winn-Dixie is very close as was a Pizza Hut lunch buffet (many others too). It was an easy drive (simple & short) to Downtown Disney & the parks (we just always followed signs between MK, Downtown Disney, & Crossroads (which was near our hotel)). Hawthorn suites was a great price, the separate room for sleeping meant the kid could sleep and the adults stay up, it was clean, great location, had a full kitchen, the breakfast was adequate and had plenty of seating, & the staff was SUPER sweet, clear, & helpful. I would not hesitate to recommend Hawthorn Suites to those wanting kitchen facilities, good price, and easy access to WDW.
Tram ride is suntan lotion time. WHY: nothing else to do and we were all seated and focused on helping each other get the ears and necks lotioned. Since we went to MK fairly late everyday, we were parked way out in Grumpy and had more than enough time to get lotion on.
Buy your tickets ahead of time. WHY: No need to waste precious time and excitement standing in another line. Since we were only at WDW for 2 days, we ordered directly from WDW online and received them in the mail (the receipt had the required info for replacements so we brought that along & stored it in a separate location for safe keeping).
Stay late and pace yourself. WHY: crowds were basically unavoidable for the popular things & more enjoyable in the evening. We ate lunch outside of the park both days and then stayed late (considering we had a preschooler) each night (i.e.: catching rides after Wishes (Peter Pan because of its long fastpass return time and it is a wonderful ride for a Pan fan)). There is just no point in trying to do EVERYThing. There was only ride 1 we did outside of Fantasyland, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Well, we did the Tiki Room too (right next to the Magic Carpets) because it was there and zero waiting (we did not enjoy it much). We did other morning things (see below for Princess Storybook Breakfast and Bippidi Boppidi Boutique). The preschooler fell asleep while waiting in the long lines for the parking lot trams. We will save Toon Town and others for another trip someday.
Bippidi Boppidi Boutique for a little princess. WHY: Oh so wonderful and fun. We did the $45 one and she wore her own Cinderella dress. We did this early (9am) on our first day so she was a princess all day our first day (she took off the dress before entering the park after lunch). This is where we got our PhotoPass. This is very conveniently located at Downtown Disney (drive up parking). We basically had Downtown Disney to ourselves since it was morning. We saw a little boy get his hair done too (very cool). The 47-year old Godmother of my daughter got transformed into a princess right along with her Goddaughter. It was so special for the two of them and all the other mothers in the room were jealous they did not think to make reservations for themselves! Yes, that was another spot-on piece of advice I learned on this board.
Fastpass! WHY: shorter lines at the best rides and you feel like a movie star. I learned here to check out the wait times, compare the fast pass return time, & to get another fastpass before using one. Warning for those spending time in Fantasyland: Peter Pan's Flight had the latest Fastpass return times so you might save it for a period when you know you have some things for filler (such as parades, meals, rests, etc.). We used Fastpasses for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Philharmagic, & Peter Pans Flight. The 'rides' we did which do not offer Fast Passes were Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Dumbo, Its a Small World, & Cinderellas Carousel. We did the non-FP stuff after 4pm when the crowds were clearing out of the little kid rides.
Mickeys Philharmagic is great for ALL ages. We just loved this ride (the only thing we did 3 times). It was nice that it had a bit of Lion King in it for our little fan (since we did not got to Animal Kingdom). I knew that it was great, but words simply can not do it justice.
By late afternoon, there was no line for this (i.e.: we waited in the lobby and got it for the very next show).
Takeout dinner while waiting for Spectromagic Parade. WHY: saved time & allowed us to score front row seating. This worked well for us being a small group (3 adults & one child). Spectromagic was really cool. Again, a hit for all ages. We saw the early show from Liberty Square area on both nights. We just picked up food at the nearest counter service we saw.
Storytime with Belle at Fairytale Garden. WHY: intimate setting with a character (which is pretty rare at such a busy week of the year). Our 3.5 year-old daughter loves any princess. We got there about 30 minutes early during a hot afternoon (cool and breezy wait) so we got front row seats (though there is not a bad seat there) & our daughter played and danced around the stage with other little kids.
Bring your own lightsticks. WHY: cheap & fun. Okay, this was my own idea that worked well. I stole the light sticks (one for each person in our group for each night) from our emergency stuff (I bought 25 off Ebay). We got them out after dinner while waiting for Spectromagic (where most everyone else is buying expensive battery-operated stuff off the vendors). We had the kind that is about 6 inches long (different colors) and comes with a string to go around your neck (maybe 50 cents a piece). I even gave some away to other kids who had none. I also had people asking us where we got them. They also provided entertainment while waiting for Wishes to start.
Jackets for the evening. WHY: it got cool and windy each night. I stayed in my short sleeves, but the 2 other adults wore either a sweatshirt or thin jacket. The child wore a jean jacket and some jeans we packed for her.
Consider direction of the sun & background when choosing 3pm parade (Dreams Come True). Daughter took a nap in her stroller while the kids across the street baked in the sun waiting. We also had the castle as a background for our photos and videos (just something to think about). Just about when the parade was to start, daughter needed to go peepees so one adult took her. They did not make it back in time so they ended up stationed across the street from us (and about 4 rows of people back). This turned out to be a great thing because I filmed the parade and was able to repeatedly focus in on my daughter (who was sitting on an adults shoulders) pointing, smiling, and yelling at the characters in the parade. I could not have staged it any better.
Get silhouettes of the kids. WHY: a cheap and personal keepsake. A mere $7 and about 3 minutes got me 2 beautiful silhouettes of my daughter. I already have it framed and on the wall.
She was very excited to sit and pose. The CM told her to just look at the castle. There are multiple locations to do this. We did it at Liberty Square.
Note: the artists accept tips.
Things we avoided because I read about it here. No Snow White's Scary Adventures because I heard it was too scary. Considering my daughter ran behind me when seeing Maleficent in the Forecourt Stage show and also hid when she knew Ursula was coming in Spectromagic, I am sure this was good advice.
Some of my own advice to add:
Magic Carpets of Aladdin is not just a Dumbo. It is better. The views from the carpets are of the surrounding Agrabah. It was much better than Dumbo. We are Dumbo, the movie, fans but my preschooler is even more of an Aladdin fan. And the line was MUCH shorter than Dumbo. We did both. Just my opinion.
Character breakfast for autographs. WHY: With only 2 days in the parks, we opted for a character breakfast rather than spending time in lines to see characters during such a popular vacation time. We just did not make a big deal about autographs and were happy to see all the characters in parades. One adult (me) and the little princess went to Epcot (so we had to pay for parkhoppers) for the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway. Excellent food & excellent princesses. NOTE: Make sure the person taking your picture with the first princess (Belle in her big yellow dress for us) has you centered with the velvet backdrop so that you dont have half of a cement brick wall in the background. NOTE: no photo pass here.
I brought gifts/souvenirs for my daughter with us to Florida. They are things I had purchased off clearance in our local Disney Store. For example, she got a 98cent stuffed Roo (originally $14.50) that she carried around the park the 2nd day (she had seen some kids with stuffed toys the 1st day) and I did not get upset when it fell on the ground because it was only 98 cents! The other gift I brought along was an Arial makeup kit and purse which was great since she had done Bippidi Boppidi Boutique that morning so was into doing her makeup.
Things we got to enjoy:
Mickeys Philharmagic (3 times)
Wishes (3 times; once was from Ohana restaurant).
Peter Pans flight (2 times)
Its a Small World (2 times)
Dumbo
Playing in the water at Ariels Grotto
Seeing Tiger & Pooh (but did not stay for photos)
Cinderellas Carousel
Storytime with Belle at Fairytale Garden
Looking at the tile murals inside of Cinderellas Castle
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Tiki Room Under New Management (we did not care for it)
Dream Along with Mickey (stage show at Castle Forecourt Stage)
Spectromagic parade (2 times)
Electric Boat parade
Ferry from Transportation & Ticket center to MK
Monorail from MK to Transportation & Ticket Center (i.e.: parking)
Bippidi Boppidi Boutique (at Downtown Disney)
Princess Storybook Breakfast (a princess character meal in Epcot)
OHana (dinner at the Polynesian Resort)
Thanks again to all who responded to my questions and helped educate me. We had the most magical vacation ever (and we have had some wonderful vacations). I am sure others have other opinions, but hopefully these hints help someone else enjoy a trip like we just did.
I got back from my first ever trip to Disney World last night and would like to share some of the things that I learned on these boards that were spot on right!!! Thanks members, as our trip was sort of last minute and I was clueless until I started reading here.
Does this apply to you?
Cast: 3 adults (age 37-47) who all dote on a 3.5 year old princess
.Background: first visit for everyone. Flying in.
Setting: 2 days in MK. Staying offsite & renting a car. Monday & Tuesday of mid-March (peak time). Perfect sunny days with ~81 degree highs. No early entries at MK during our days there.
Storyline: Adults watch for the glee in the preschoolers eyes. Parades, shows, & mostly Fantasyland.
Free Advice from Disboards I Would Have Gladly Paid For:
Registering for Dollar Express about 2 weeks ahead. WHY: There was no one in the express line; there were about 40 people in the regular line. We saved time and already felt like movie stars. GREAT advice (& it is free)! Zero hassle about extras and insurance.
Arrival dinner at OHana. WHY: AWESOME dinner & entertainment for all ages, at a resort so no park ticket needed, our first view of Cinderellas castle, got to enjoy Wishes (piped in music) & the electric boat parade!! We were so blown away with the dinner, Polynesian, Wishes, etc. that I still cant get the smile off my face. It was magical. We were very fortunate to have a window seat for viewing fireworks & parade. What a wonderful start to our vacation.
Bring your own umbrella stroller. WHY: lots of walking that I did not expect. I had to go buy a stroller because we simply make the kid always walk at places. I learned about the Maclaren Volo here. The Disney rentals have little storage space, are hard/uncomfortable for sleep, not much shade protection, & dont go all the way to the car. Remember, we rented a car & stayed off site. The Volo was fantastic for us (it stored our snacks, cameras, etc.; folds up in snap; super light; can be used until the kid is like 60 pounds). For any newbies out there, stroller parking for rides is very easy and very organized. Also, umbrella strollers did not have to be folded up for the monorail or ferry boat (only the parking lot trams).
Buy your water at a grocer & freeze it. WHY: warm sunny weather in Orlando (it snowed this morning here in Buffalo, NY) and who wants to wait in line for $2 water. We drank constantly. I would not have done this if I had not read it here. We didnt even put them in a cooler. They were just there to grab easily from under the stroller.
Find a nearby grocery & buy some snacks. WHY: Saves money & time; plus not everyone is hungry at the same time. We had some things to snack on in the hotel room (fruit, chips, pop for the adults, pudding pops) & snacks for the park so spent less money & time buying stuff at the park. I used Mapquest to find a grocery. I stored tiny bags of carrots, fruit leathers, cheese sticks, raisins, apples, napkins, & wet wipes in a kiddy lunch box. It was always handy in the basket of the stroller and great for waiting for parades (because the stroller is with you).
Hawthorn Suites was superb for offsite. The location was super convenient. A Winn-Dixie is very close as was a Pizza Hut lunch buffet (many others too). It was an easy drive (simple & short) to Downtown Disney & the parks (we just always followed signs between MK, Downtown Disney, & Crossroads (which was near our hotel)). Hawthorn suites was a great price, the separate room for sleeping meant the kid could sleep and the adults stay up, it was clean, great location, had a full kitchen, the breakfast was adequate and had plenty of seating, & the staff was SUPER sweet, clear, & helpful. I would not hesitate to recommend Hawthorn Suites to those wanting kitchen facilities, good price, and easy access to WDW.
Tram ride is suntan lotion time. WHY: nothing else to do and we were all seated and focused on helping each other get the ears and necks lotioned. Since we went to MK fairly late everyday, we were parked way out in Grumpy and had more than enough time to get lotion on.
Buy your tickets ahead of time. WHY: No need to waste precious time and excitement standing in another line. Since we were only at WDW for 2 days, we ordered directly from WDW online and received them in the mail (the receipt had the required info for replacements so we brought that along & stored it in a separate location for safe keeping).
Stay late and pace yourself. WHY: crowds were basically unavoidable for the popular things & more enjoyable in the evening. We ate lunch outside of the park both days and then stayed late (considering we had a preschooler) each night (i.e.: catching rides after Wishes (Peter Pan because of its long fastpass return time and it is a wonderful ride for a Pan fan)). There is just no point in trying to do EVERYThing. There was only ride 1 we did outside of Fantasyland, the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Well, we did the Tiki Room too (right next to the Magic Carpets) because it was there and zero waiting (we did not enjoy it much). We did other morning things (see below for Princess Storybook Breakfast and Bippidi Boppidi Boutique). The preschooler fell asleep while waiting in the long lines for the parking lot trams. We will save Toon Town and others for another trip someday.
Bippidi Boppidi Boutique for a little princess. WHY: Oh so wonderful and fun. We did the $45 one and she wore her own Cinderella dress. We did this early (9am) on our first day so she was a princess all day our first day (she took off the dress before entering the park after lunch). This is where we got our PhotoPass. This is very conveniently located at Downtown Disney (drive up parking). We basically had Downtown Disney to ourselves since it was morning. We saw a little boy get his hair done too (very cool). The 47-year old Godmother of my daughter got transformed into a princess right along with her Goddaughter. It was so special for the two of them and all the other mothers in the room were jealous they did not think to make reservations for themselves! Yes, that was another spot-on piece of advice I learned on this board.
Fastpass! WHY: shorter lines at the best rides and you feel like a movie star. I learned here to check out the wait times, compare the fast pass return time, & to get another fastpass before using one. Warning for those spending time in Fantasyland: Peter Pan's Flight had the latest Fastpass return times so you might save it for a period when you know you have some things for filler (such as parades, meals, rests, etc.). We used Fastpasses for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Philharmagic, & Peter Pans Flight. The 'rides' we did which do not offer Fast Passes were Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Dumbo, Its a Small World, & Cinderellas Carousel. We did the non-FP stuff after 4pm when the crowds were clearing out of the little kid rides.
Mickeys Philharmagic is great for ALL ages. We just loved this ride (the only thing we did 3 times). It was nice that it had a bit of Lion King in it for our little fan (since we did not got to Animal Kingdom). I knew that it was great, but words simply can not do it justice.
By late afternoon, there was no line for this (i.e.: we waited in the lobby and got it for the very next show).Takeout dinner while waiting for Spectromagic Parade. WHY: saved time & allowed us to score front row seating. This worked well for us being a small group (3 adults & one child). Spectromagic was really cool. Again, a hit for all ages. We saw the early show from Liberty Square area on both nights. We just picked up food at the nearest counter service we saw.
Storytime with Belle at Fairytale Garden. WHY: intimate setting with a character (which is pretty rare at such a busy week of the year). Our 3.5 year-old daughter loves any princess. We got there about 30 minutes early during a hot afternoon (cool and breezy wait) so we got front row seats (though there is not a bad seat there) & our daughter played and danced around the stage with other little kids.
Bring your own lightsticks. WHY: cheap & fun. Okay, this was my own idea that worked well. I stole the light sticks (one for each person in our group for each night) from our emergency stuff (I bought 25 off Ebay). We got them out after dinner while waiting for Spectromagic (where most everyone else is buying expensive battery-operated stuff off the vendors). We had the kind that is about 6 inches long (different colors) and comes with a string to go around your neck (maybe 50 cents a piece). I even gave some away to other kids who had none. I also had people asking us where we got them. They also provided entertainment while waiting for Wishes to start.
Jackets for the evening. WHY: it got cool and windy each night. I stayed in my short sleeves, but the 2 other adults wore either a sweatshirt or thin jacket. The child wore a jean jacket and some jeans we packed for her.
Consider direction of the sun & background when choosing 3pm parade (Dreams Come True). Daughter took a nap in her stroller while the kids across the street baked in the sun waiting. We also had the castle as a background for our photos and videos (just something to think about). Just about when the parade was to start, daughter needed to go peepees so one adult took her. They did not make it back in time so they ended up stationed across the street from us (and about 4 rows of people back). This turned out to be a great thing because I filmed the parade and was able to repeatedly focus in on my daughter (who was sitting on an adults shoulders) pointing, smiling, and yelling at the characters in the parade. I could not have staged it any better.
Get silhouettes of the kids. WHY: a cheap and personal keepsake. A mere $7 and about 3 minutes got me 2 beautiful silhouettes of my daughter. I already have it framed and on the wall.
She was very excited to sit and pose. The CM told her to just look at the castle. There are multiple locations to do this. We did it at Liberty Square. Note: the artists accept tips.
Things we avoided because I read about it here. No Snow White's Scary Adventures because I heard it was too scary. Considering my daughter ran behind me when seeing Maleficent in the Forecourt Stage show and also hid when she knew Ursula was coming in Spectromagic, I am sure this was good advice.
Some of my own advice to add:
Magic Carpets of Aladdin is not just a Dumbo. It is better. The views from the carpets are of the surrounding Agrabah. It was much better than Dumbo. We are Dumbo, the movie, fans but my preschooler is even more of an Aladdin fan. And the line was MUCH shorter than Dumbo. We did both. Just my opinion.
Character breakfast for autographs. WHY: With only 2 days in the parks, we opted for a character breakfast rather than spending time in lines to see characters during such a popular vacation time. We just did not make a big deal about autographs and were happy to see all the characters in parades. One adult (me) and the little princess went to Epcot (so we had to pay for parkhoppers) for the Princess Storybook Breakfast in Norway. Excellent food & excellent princesses. NOTE: Make sure the person taking your picture with the first princess (Belle in her big yellow dress for us) has you centered with the velvet backdrop so that you dont have half of a cement brick wall in the background. NOTE: no photo pass here.
I brought gifts/souvenirs for my daughter with us to Florida. They are things I had purchased off clearance in our local Disney Store. For example, she got a 98cent stuffed Roo (originally $14.50) that she carried around the park the 2nd day (she had seen some kids with stuffed toys the 1st day) and I did not get upset when it fell on the ground because it was only 98 cents! The other gift I brought along was an Arial makeup kit and purse which was great since she had done Bippidi Boppidi Boutique that morning so was into doing her makeup.
Things we got to enjoy:
Mickeys Philharmagic (3 times)
Wishes (3 times; once was from Ohana restaurant).
Peter Pans flight (2 times)
Its a Small World (2 times)
Dumbo
Playing in the water at Ariels Grotto
Seeing Tiger & Pooh (but did not stay for photos)
Cinderellas Carousel
Storytime with Belle at Fairytale Garden
Looking at the tile murals inside of Cinderellas Castle
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Tiki Room Under New Management (we did not care for it)
Dream Along with Mickey (stage show at Castle Forecourt Stage)
Spectromagic parade (2 times)
Electric Boat parade
Ferry from Transportation & Ticket center to MK
Monorail from MK to Transportation & Ticket Center (i.e.: parking)
Bippidi Boppidi Boutique (at Downtown Disney)
Princess Storybook Breakfast (a princess character meal in Epcot)
OHana (dinner at the Polynesian Resort)
Thanks again to all who responded to my questions and helped educate me. We had the most magical vacation ever (and we have had some wonderful vacations). I am sure others have other opinions, but hopefully these hints help someone else enjoy a trip like we just did.
