opinions wanted

[strykerrcr]

Hello everyone. I will be taking my family of four to WDW in two weeks. I'm trying to plan and wanted to run my itinerary through you guys and see if you had any advice. I'm from Oregon and this will be my first trip to WDW. My kids are 5 and 8. Here goes: We are staying at Springhill Suites Orlando. Is this one of the hotels that offer the "after-hours" passes? We will visit Magic Kingdom for one day, Animal Kingdom one day, Seaworld one day, and the Blizzard water park one day. So far, I have learned to show up 30 minutes prior to opening and to use Fast-pass. Anything else I should know? Any help and tips would be appreciated. Thank you.

 

[danny1649]

Eat a early lunch and dinner when dining venues are not so busy to save yourself some valuable touring time.Bring sunblock so you don't burn.Drink plenty of water and take a 5 or 10 minute break in shade or AC attraction so you don't overheat.Have a basic plan for what you want to see at each park and what you would forgo seeing until your next trip.Be flexible and have fun.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

For your day at Animal Kingdom, get there as early as possible, and get a FP for the safari. (The animals are very active in the morning). While waiting, check the gorrilla trail;, they are often up eating then! Then head to the safari!

Have fun!!!

 

[EsmeraldaX]

Also, call ahead to make PS if you plan to eat sit down meals. This will save time. There is a nice Winnie the pooh character meal at Crystal Palace. Also, remember that the shops stay open as you are walking out at the end of the day. So shop then. Make a list of must see attractions and make sure that you hit those first.

I'm not sure what you mean about after hours, I don't know of any off site hotels that offer this.

 

[kilee]

Your hotel is an offsite hotel, so you won't be eligible for EMH or the new evening EMH program. If you haven't made any PS's yet--you may want to try to still get 1 or 2. Counter service can get old after awhile. Remember that for things like parades you may need to stake out a spot 30-40 minutes ahead of time, up to 60 minutes if it's busy or Spectromagic. Same thing applies to Fantasmic at MGM/DS. That was the biggest mistake we made on our first trip, thinking we were gonna walk right up at 3pm and see the parade (Easter week too!!)

Have fun!! Don't forget to post a trip report when you get back!!

 

[GoofysPrincess]

I'm curious how much you have your heart set on Blizzard Beach... Our kids really like Typhoon Lagoon better. BB is better for older kids (I think) because it has better slides and such. It's just a thought.

Hopefully it won't be too hot when you're there. As others suggested, have a plan on how to get out of the heat for a bit in the early-mid afternoon. In AK -- there aren't many air-conditioned attractions. If you think your kids are ok with Tough to be a Bug -- schedule that for mid-day. And maybe the conservation station too, if you plan to do that. I suppose you can always cool off on Kali River Rapids. The Lion King show is really great -- try to maneuver so that you get a seat under one of the fans -- same for Tarzan. MK has lots of air-conditioning -- you should be fine there.

I do think it's worth the money to do at least one character meal. Decide on the characters your kids would most like to see and then find the meal that has them so you won't be disappointed.

I know many of us on these boards can be accused of over-planning, but I really think it helps to have an idea of which rides you want to hit in each park and an idea of where you might want to eat. It just helps to avoid the 'okay what should we do next' syndrome and will prevent everything from being so overwhelming. I don't think you'll be able to do all of MK in a day -- you may want to skip some 'lands' altogether and save them for a later trip. It will be less walking with tired feet than trying to do some rides in each land. You may want do Toon Town and Fantasyland for sure as your kids will begin to outgrow those pretty quick...

This is probably way more than you wanted. Sorry! Hope you have a great trip!

 

[HaleyB]

My best advice is to get The Unofficial Guide to WDW at your local bookstore. Read the section on park touring and think about using their touring plans.
Enjoy your trip!

Oh, and at AK you can buy a meal deal where you get one entree and a drink, and coupons for an icecream or popcorn and a drink that you can use later that day. I think they are $11.99 adult and $5.99 or $6.99 child... I think there is also a deal like this at the water parks now.