Please help me decide

[asfarrell]

This is me and my family's first trip ever to Disneyworld. I will be taking my husband, my 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter...who loves the princesses more than life. We will be visiting DW for 5 days. I am trying to save money so we can stay 3 nights at value and 3 nights at deluxe, so I am saving money by not buying park hopper tickets. What park should we visit twice, I was thinking MK? Since it is what I imagine to be DISNEY WORLD". I am so excited, I feel like a little girl, we are going the week of Thanksgiving 2007, I know it will be crowded, but I am trying to plan everything so it won't be soooo stressful. Thanks so much. Andrea[/COLOR][/COLOR]

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

This is me and my family's first trip ever to Disneyworld. I will be taking my husband, my 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter...who loves the princesses more than life. We will be visiting DW for 5 days. I am trying to save money so we can stay 3 nights at value and 3 nights at deluxe, so I am saving money by not buying park hopper tickets. What park should we visit twice, I was thinking MK? Since it is what I imagine to be DISNEY WORLD". I am so excited, I feel like a little girl, we are going the week of Thanksgiving 2007, I know it will be crowded, but I am trying to plan everything so it won't be soooo stressful. Thanks so much. Andrea[/COLOR][/COLOR]

I would go to MK twice, it is the most fun park for kids, but the only problem with you not having a park hopper is that most people only spend a 1/2 day at AK because there's not a lot to do yet unless you see EVERYTHING and you have to wait in line. But if you can somehow make a day out of it, you could go to DTD at night or swimming at your hotel b/c AK usually closes at 6. My advice would be to plan ahead, if you are getting the DDP, look at menus on allears.net to see what you might like and look ahead to see what time parks open and close and look for the EHM and take advantage of those if it is busy. Use the fast passes as much as you can, they are worth it!
Have you decided on your hotels? From reading on here, everyone seems to enjoy the POP value and the Deluxe varies, we stay at Wilderness Lodge and love it, its deluxe but not as expensive as the others, and you can take the boat to MK or to Contemp and take the monorail to Epcot. It is also a totally enclosed hotel so you dont have to walk outside to go to eat, gift shop, arcade, lobby, etc. Poly was also wonderful, but I've read a lot of ppl have problems with guests that dont stay there use the pool but we enjoyed it but we also paid almost 400 bucks for a room facing the MK which we wont do again unless we win the lottery but the time we stayed there we split and stayed at POR and Poly. My advice is stay at your value first and then your deluxe b/c although your kids are young they will notice the dif, we did the opposite were so upset we had to leave Poly. I hope this helps!

 

[asfarrell]

Thanks for the help! My thought on the Thursday at AK, is that "yes" it would be a half day (and Thanksgiving) so we would spend the evening at our hotel swimming and eating dinner (Wilderness Lodge) or go to Downtown Disney. We are planning on Movies then moving over to the Wilderness lodge. I think I have all of our dinners planned, we will be eating at the Royal Table with Cinderella our second night there, my daughter will think it is the best thing ever. I just wanted to make sure MK had enough stuff for the kids to do for 2 full days, never being there it is hard to judge the size...but I understand we will need to allow for crowds. Thanks again. Andrea

 

[Disney Crazy Debbie]

Since you are planning on two days at the MK I would suggest a character breakfast at the Crystal Palace and if you schedule it early you can do a very light lunch but it was my favorite while we were there.

Because of Thanksgiving the fastpasses are probably the way to go. It will be crowded. I would suggest check out the Walt Disney Passporter book, you can order it at amazon.com or at your local book store but the library might have a copy as well, to see what rides are the most popular to help you navigate your activities in the MK.

 

[CleveRocks]

Thanks for the help! My thought on the Thursday at AK, is that "yes" it would be a half day (and Thanksgiving) so we would spend the evening at our hotel swimming and eating dinner (Wilderness Lodge) or go to Downtown Disney. We are planning on Movies then moving over to the Wilderness lodge. I think I have all of our dinners planned, we will be eating at the Royal Table with Cinderella our second night there, my daughter will think it is the best thing ever. I just wanted to make sure MK had enough stuff for the kids to do for 2 full days, never being there it is hard to judge the size...but I understand we will need to allow for crowds. Thanks again. Andrea

Even though it's insanely expensive, consider Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast instead of dinner. From what I understand, there are no princesses greeting diners at the dinner, only Fairy Godmother. Everyone gets to meet Cindy downstairs and take a picture with her when you first enter, but I'm pretty sure that the princesses aren't in the meal itself.

At CRT breakfast, it was Princess-palooza. We had Belle, Jasmine, Snow White, and Fairy Godmother. Of course, it was also something like $130 for 2 adults and 2 kids paid 6 months in advance, but ....

I agree that giving up the idea of park hopping is a great way to save $180 + tax ($45 per person). If there is only 1 day you'd think of hopping, I can't imagine it would be worth $180 for the privilege.

And also,

 

[themudd4]

This is me and my family's first trip ever to Disneyworld. I will be taking my husband, my 8 year old son and 5 year old daughter...who loves the princesses more than life. We will be visiting DW for 5 days. I am trying to save money so we can stay 3 nights at value and 3 nights at deluxe, so I am saving money by not buying park hopper tickets. What park should we visit twice, I was thinking MK? Since it is what I imagine to be DISNEY WORLD". I am so excited, I feel like a little girl, we are going the week of Thanksgiving 2007, I know it will be crowded, but I am trying to plan everything so it won't be soooo stressful. Thanks so much. Andrea[/color][/color]

Yes, I would pick to do MK twice!

I know you mentioned trying to save money by doing 3 nights at a value and 3 for a Deluxe. You may also want to consider if the deluxe is just to much to check out a mod. This would save you even more and maybe you could just do it for the entire trip. Just a suggetion.
Also, if you are looking at deluxes, note that not all resorts and rooms are the same. Some have higher rack rates than others, unlike the value resorts that pretty much stick to the same pricing.
Another thing you may want to consider is the DDP. With your children being young enough they will be able to be ont he plan for $11 a day. If you are planning on eating many TS meals or at least one a day this may really be a large savings for you. You and your Dh will be the $39 but once again, if you are planning on eating a TS meal daily then it may work out for the best for your family. Plus you will have your meals pre paid and that always works out better in the long run...for us anyway. We saved alot by using the DDP last year.
Also, do you have AAA? It may save you a couple hundred to get it even if you don't have it yet. More than pays for itself.
Happy planning!!!

 

[Goofy22`]

We do Park Hopping on every trip but if youre daughter is really into the princesses I would do MK twice! There are also many boy things there to like pirates of the carribean, Tom Sawyer Island frontier Land etc.. and they have a section that is just kids rides and adult rides etc... This would more than likely work out to be the best for all of you! Hope your first experience is a great one! Don't forget every Park has a photographer to take a family photo if you can afford every park do one I would do it at mk but every time you get a portrait taken they give you a card they scan the card you go home and can view all the photos and have an option to purchase them incase you couldnt on your stay or maybe you couldnt purchase all of them you can online at home! So dont forget to do this its fun to look back at them! But to get them you have to purchase them I purchased the cheapest one and copied it on my home scanner copier printer. So whervever you go do this and you can use one card for all photographers.

 

[Goofy22]

We do Park Hopping on every trip but if youre daughter is really into the princesses I would do MK twice! There are also many boy things there to like pirates of the carribean, Tom Sawyer Island frontier Land etc.. and they have a section that is just kids rides and adult rides etc... This would more than likely work out to be the best for all of you! Hope your first experience is a great one! Don't forget every Park has a photographer to take a family photo if you can afford every park do one I would do it at mk but every time you get a portrait taken they give you a card they scan the card you go home and can view all the photos and have an option to purchase them incase you couldnt on your stay or maybe you couldnt purchase all of them you can online at home! So dont forget to do this its fun to look back at them! But to get them you have to purchase them I purchased the cheapest one and copied it on my home scanner copier printer. So whervever you go do this and you can use one card for all photographers.

 

[asfarrell]

Ok! Almost everywhere I read says, AK is only half a day. What do ya'll DISers consider half a day? 4 hours? 6 hours? We are going to AK one day and then spending the rest of the day swimming at WL and dining and "Fun" at Downtown Disney in the evening.

 

[LeahJ]

We personally loved AK - we spent a full day and a half there in 2004. OK - well, maybe we left around 1 the second day due to downpour. We loved the safari and went 3 times (at least). I went on the Kali River Rapids with DD (then 7) 3-4 times. And we saw Lion King twice - I got to be the elephant the second time!! I was thrilled!!!! (even though my husband made fun of my elephant call)

There were several rides and shows that we didn't see, and we still spent a day and a half. We didn't do Primevil Whirl, Dinosaur, Pocahontas, Tarzan (no longer there - it's something else instead). DH and DD went to Tough to be a bug while DD (then 5) wandered around. I never saw the tree up close. I never went on the animal exploration trails. Basically - I have a lot to do this June when we get there!!!

And - most definitely - I don't care how hot it is - GO to the PARADE at AK. It is just incredible. We loved it. You are RIGHT there. We sat in the incredibly hot sun next to the bird show area waiting and waiting. I think I got heat blisters on my tush from the hot concrete. (We probably should have sat in the shade to wait but I didn't want to lose my spot!) It was so worth it.

Signed,
AK Fan in Indiana
Leah

 

[daisyduck123]

Animal Kingdom is my DS9's favorite park. During our last trip, he did not tell me it is his favorite park until our check-out day. He simply announced that it is favorite park & I replied, "Why didn't you say that sooner? We would've gone there more often?"

 

[daisyduck123]

Ok! Almost everywhere I read says, AK is only half a day. What do ya'll DISers consider half a day? 4 hours? 6 hours?

1/2 day for my family is opening time (usually 8am, I think) until 12:00 or 12:30. We eat an early lunch around 11:00 & beat the lunch rush, then tour the park a little more before leaving. This works well for us, since we don't have any breakfast. We eat lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue, & then head to a waterpark or back to our resort to swim.

 

[kcdancer_01]

I was just in Florida in July and went to all of the Disney Parks. I'd say, my favorite park is Magic Kingdom and would say go their twice. MGM is also pretty fun, but with younger children, Magic Kingdom is the place to be in my opinon!
Have fun!

 

[ziggybaby]

Hi there
M.K is the place to visit twice​