OMG, you guys are so, so, so amazing. Reading this thread and all the kind, experienced advice felt like Christmas in January!!! ❤
Too bad about AK. Hey, maybe I will leave the kids and husband home next time and will go there at some point in the future with one of my mom friends for a girls only trip... Sounds like a fantastic reason to NOT make this our "one and done" trip.
Thank you so much for the reminder that both parks are different but that different doesn't mean one of them is better or worse than the other. I am sincerely excited about going and wildly determined to not get too hung up in comparisons. I am just happy that WDW is open!
Hmmm. Maybe I should give the whole ADR thing another thought? I am a bit paranoid about indoor dining--do some of the table service restaurants have outside seating (and, if yes, which ones)? I guess, given that our visit doesn't really start until March 30 (we'll arrive on the afternoon of the 29th), waiting for the 60-day-ADR deadline gives me a little bit more time to obsess about this.
Thank you for the Disney Food Blog guide tip; that sounds like such a great resource. Between four more-or-less picky eaters, I found that thorough preparation is definitely key to peaceful meals. Especially when heat, jet lag, and achy feet make everybody just a little more sensitive than usual, it tends to be helpful to have food "must"s discussed beforehand rather than argue about them in the park.
We've used mobile order in DL, too, so I hope the process is similar, even though the apps are different. One thing that bugs me about DL mobile order is that you cannot use Disney gift cards for ordering. Is that the case at WDW, too? We're usually take a bunch of gift cards (bought at Target, using our red card discount) with us, but if we do mostly mobile order and the system doesn't do gift cards, then we'll probably have to reevaluate that.
Absolutely yes to Touringplans!!!! I have been using the Disneyland version of Touringplans for years and have heard that the WDW version is supposed to be even better. I already got both the WDW and the Universal Touringplan subscriptions. Those of you who use Touringplans, have they been good in terms of their estimates about adjusting to COVID procedures/distanced lines and such? That must be such a challenge for them, I figure, to suddenly have to take all your historic data with a grain of salt, because of such fundamental, crazy, pandemic-related policy and crowd pattern changes. When using Touringplans in DL, I usually make up a bunch of different plans, just to be ready for different eventualities. I also love the "make your own plan and then have Touringplan evaluate it" feature. It's not just a great tool for preparation; it's also my favorite toy! My kids like making fun of my going into hardcore Disney planning mode before each of our DL trips (and now, too), but they know how much I love making and tweaking plans, and they also admit (and appreciate) that my tenacious research and obsessive preparation have, over the years, saved them an enormous amount of unnecessary wait time.
Despite all my hyper-compulsive parks planning type-A-ishness (will I lose your respect when I confess that I took every single reply on this thread, summarized the information, and copied all of it into a big, fancy chart???), I know to, ultimately, remain flexible, especially in this case, in which there are so many unknowns for us. We value being prepared, but we are also be prepared for things not always going as planned. I have found that sometimes the most amazing experiences are utterly unexpected! One of my absolutely favorite DL experiences was completely unplanned. In summer of 2019, we hung out at a Haunted Mansion exhibit in the Main Street area that was celebrating the ride's big anniversary. The exhibit had some of the original concept sketches and artwork. An elderly gentleman and I ended up talking about some of the amazing pieces there. He introduced me to his wife, and I was amazed to find out that she had been one of the original Haunted Mansion opening day cast members!!! What a treat to have her tell me about it (and definitely nothing any planning app or any however thoughtful preparation could have possibly predicted)!!!!
My main mantra "Get up as early as possible; do the headliners, and then take it easy and relax for the rest of the day" will probably apply here, as well. I love it, when we have done most of our "must-do"s and get to slow down, walk around, and people-watch.
Thank you again, for being so generous and kind with your experience and for sharing your passion for WDW with me. I truly appreciate it.