Planning our January 2011 trip

[justmama]

This will be the second trip for me and my boys (8 &12) and the first for my DH. It will be a Christmas present for the boys. It will be so hard keeping it a secret, but well worth it. I have lots of planning to do and wondering where to start. We are staying at the All-Stars Movies Resort. We will be driving from Virginia. We leave VA on Jan 20th, check in on 21th and stay for 7 nights. We are doing the dining plan and need suggestions on places to eat. I can't wait to start planning the little details.

 

[brewhome]

This will be the second trip for me and my boys (8 &12) and the first for my DH. It will be a Christmas present for the boys. It will be so hard keeping it a secret, but well worth it. I have lots of planning to do and wondering where to start. We are staying at the All-Stars Movies Resort. We will be driving from Virginia. We leave VA on Jan 20th, check in on 21th and stay for 7 nights. We are doing the dining plan and need suggestions on places to eat. I can't wait to start planning the little details.

Congratulations!! It's so exciting, isn't it? DH, DS1 (age 10) DS2 (age 8) and I will be there form 1/11 - 1/18. We're not telling the kids about the trip until Christmas morning!! It will be so hard to keep the secret, I agree - but very well worth it when they find out it is only 17 days away at that point.

Here are a few things I would do if I were you:

1 - Take a look at the park calendars that are on the Disney website, and figure out what park you want to do each day. If you have park hoppers, it's not as big of a deal, but if you don't have park hoppers, you should probably try to pick one park each day that you want to go to based on when shows/fireworks/parades are being held.

2 - Use that schedule to then pick a table service restaurant you'd like to try, and then make your reservations. I would have a back up restaurant or two for each park, and try to remain flexible about lunch vs. dinner reservations. If you have the quick service dining plan, you don't need to worry about reservations. You can have some fun looking at menus at allears.net, wdwinfo.com, or themouseforless.com. What I would also suggest is exploring table service options at some of the resorts, especially ones that are close to the park you are visiting on a particular day; for example, how about the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch the day you will be at MK?

3 - Don't stress too much about it! I see so many posts from people who are totally stressing out and trying to plan every single minute of the trip - to me, that doesn't seem like much fun on a vacation. My family really likes to "go with the flow" and see what each day brings. We don't mind planning to get fast passes for our favorite rides as soon as we get in a park, and we don't mind having one table service reservation to get to each day, but beyond that, we just like to enjoy and be flexible.

Have a wonderful time - and let me know if you have any more questions!!

 

[labrat1429]

We will be there some of the same days you will. 1/23- 1/28. We are doing the quick service dining though. Our kids are 1,4 so we dont stay very long anywhere really right now. Im soo excited. My gf said there is a good character breakfast right off of main street that she takes her kids too. We arent doing that since the kids are so young, but DH and I will probably do that the next time we go. Im sure once we are down there a 2nd trip will be planned when we get back, lol.