Preparing for a 2017 trip

[maranara]

Hi! We're starting to plan our daughter's first Disney trip in January 2017. I was talking with some friends yesterday - one who just got back from Disney - about things to do start to do NOW to get ready. One suggested picking Disney movies when we do family movie night, which seems like a great idea (especially since we own a ton and can do that without DD knowing - we're not telling her about the trip until it's MUCH closer). The friend who just got back suggested working on cutting back on sodas (I love my diet cokes) so that by the time we go I will only want water anyways. What else would you do? Any particular movies we should watch? DD (will be 7 when we travel) has seen Frozen 4 million times and the Pixar movies are in regular rotation but not too many others. THANKS!

 

[sharonabe]

I know you don't want to tell her until later, but you may want to shop for a kid's guide book (perhaps a Christmas present?).

This one, http://www.guidetothemagic.com/shoppingaenspecialoffer.htm, is one of my favorites. My kids liked Birnbaum's Kid's Guide as well.

I would also suggest you come to the DIS regularly to keep up with all the changes, new things, etc. It will help you not feel as overwhelmed when it comes time to do your actual planning.

If you have some leeway in your dates, I like this page, http://**************.net/wp-conten...ld-Week-Rankings-from-**************.net_.png, to compare costs and crowds throughout the year. If you can narrow down when you think you might go next year, you can also watch what happens during that same time frame for this year and read some trip reports to help you make your own plans.

Enjoy!!

 

[beautybelle]

Hi there. We're starting our May 2017 planning too. We're going with another family and we have started celebrating by having mini parties at certain milestones. Like for instance, we're in the 400's (days) right now and tomorrow we move over to the 300s (399) so we're celebrating by watching a Disney movie. Then we're going to celebrate our 1 year mark (365 days) by getting together and having a Disney dessert party and we probably wont do anything else till we move into our 200's. It just helps move the time along and gives us something to look forward to. Planning wise though, we're saving money toward making our reservation in July buying up Disney gift cards here and there and thats about it for now. Happy planning to you.

 

[GWhitten98]

Has your daughter ever been to any kind of theme park? If not it might be worth wild to plan a day trip to one if you have one close. It will help prep her for the long days at the park trip and see how she reacts to different rides/shows/distance walking etc.

Sorry I missed the part where you don't want to tell her till later, these items will have to wait...
If you haven't gotten the free planning video, I would suggest getting it, not so much for planning but to let you DD see a little glimpse of what is in store. Also you may want to hop on u tube and watch some videos of rides/shows so she has an idea of what to expect. Plus it will help you prioritize if there are things she considers amazing and don't miss.

 

[MammaMoe48]

You can get a lot of great advice here but I should warn you to take the complaint posts with a grain of salt. Even better, avoid reading them if at all possible. I have our first trip planned for August and I almost felt like cancelling after reading some of the posts on here. After being on here a while I realized that the complaints were mostly from people who either didn't plan well so were disappointed or long timers who feel like quality has diminished. I also realized that I can control how fun my vacation is by my attitude. The big thing I'm doing is listening to the people who know when they give advice about making ADRs and being flexible. I have chosen 4-5 things that I must do each day in each park and scheduled FPs for my top three, then I will work in the other things if there's time. I think trying to cram too much into one day can be overwhelming. Have fun planning.

 

[maranara]

Has your daughter ever been to any kind of theme park? If not it might be worth wild to plan a day trip to one if you have one close. It will help prep her for the long days at the park trip and see how she reacts to different rides/shows/distance walking etc.

We live in Virginia, so we go to Busch Gardens 3 or 4 times a summer. Turns out she loves rides and costumed characters...she's almost 7 and when we were there last week she HAD to stop to take a picture with Elmo & Abby.

 

[maranara]

You can get a lot of great advice here but I should warn you to take the complaint posts with a grain of salt. Even better, avoid reading them if at all possible.

I'm trying really hard to do this! I don't think that the complaints are unique to Disney - we're regulars are Busch Gardens and for the first time had complaints about our most recent trip. Trying to balance wanting to be on these boards because I'm so excited and staying off because the trip isn't until January and I have actual work to do....

 

[EmmyKay]

Hello! I took my kids for the first time in 2014. That was the first time I had been there since 1995, so a lot had changed. Planning my 3rd trip now. The Unofficial Guide helped me tremendously, so I highly recommend that. I also subscribed to Touring Plans which helped with determining the best days to go to each park. I know other posters on this board like other sites, but I used Touring Plans and really liked it. I got the app for my phone and used it for wait times while I was there.
Also...if you are on Facebook, follow a couple of Disney pages, like The Dis, Disney Parks Blog, etc. to stay up to date on any changes.
The planning is part of the fun, so enjoy it!!!

 

[StirlingSilver83]

honestly January is really just around the corner in my book, LOL...We are going March 2017 and I have already been planning stuff to do while there, lol...I usually you tube a lot of the rides with my kids so they can see them and see what they are. My oldest DS he will be 10 on our next trip has been to Disney 4 times already so when we go next year it will be his 5th time going. He has been on almost every single ride (except for new ones being built and scarier ride likes ToT and EE). Anyways I youtubed with him the ride videos so he can see if he wants to ride them or not while hes theres. He doesn't do well with surprises and I don't want him to be scared of a ride in the middle of the ride. Also for my younger DS hes 2 now, will be 3 on our next trip...our last trip he was scared to death of certain characters so I have been youtubing character dining and character meet and greets with him. Now he's only 2 and is OBSESSED with Mickey so he's only wanted to see the Mickey characters, LOL, if I pull anything else up he gets mad, lol. Also you can start planning where you want to eat and what ADRs you want to make thats always a fun thing to do. I am always on these boards as well to find out useful information on new things happening at Disney so I feel like I am kept in the loop when it comes time for our trip, lol. I am a MAJOR overplanner...it annoys my hubby but it keeps me busy when my kids are in school, lol

 

[MammaMoe48]

I am a MAJOR overplanner...it annoys my hubby but it keeps me busy when my kids are in school, lol

LOL, me too! I love lists, I make lists for EVERYTHING. Even though this is our first trip to WDW I have already mapped out our park plan and which days we will go to which park thanks: Touring Plans!). I have the Disney app on my phone for wait times - which I've been using already to get an idea of what it will be like when I go in August (5-7 crowd levels) and I've made my ADRs and booked Fantasmic dinner package. I'm so efficient, I have nothing else to do until I hit the 60 day window to book FPs (which I already know what rides I want to book) and to do online check in. I don't know what to do with myself until then. I'm so desperate for planning that I've begun to look at DLR and figure out what we might do there if we decide to go in 2018 or 2019! The only thing I can't do anything about right now is Jedi Training and until I know what show time my son will be able to sign up for (if we can get there early enough) I can't really map out DHS but that park in late August shouldn't be too hard to figure out on the fly. DS won't be riding ToT or the Aerosmith coaster so there isn't much else we need to FP there.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

LOL, me too! I love lists, I make lists for EVERYTHING. Even though this is our first trip to WDW I have already mapped out our park plan and which days we will go to which park thanks: Touring Plans!). I have the Disney app on my phone for wait times - which I've been using already to get an idea of what it will be like when I go in August (5-7 crowd levels) and I've made my ADRs and booked Fantasmic dinner package. I'm so efficient, I have nothing else to do until I hit the 60 day window to book FPs (which I already know what rides I want to book) and to do online check in. I don't know what to do with myself until then. I'm so desperate for planning that I've begun to look at DLR and figure out what we might do there if we decide to go in 2018 or 2019! The only thing I can't do anything about right now is Jedi Training and until I know what show time my son will be able to sign up for (if we can get there early enough) I can't really map out DHS but that park in late August shouldn't be too hard to figure out on the fly. DS won't be riding ToT or the Aerosmith coaster so there isn't much else we need to FP there.

I am so efficient that I have already mapped out which ADRs I want, and which FPs I am going to get (FPs are tricky this time around because my kids will be 10 and 3, so I don't think the 3 year old will want to hang around and wait while big brother does the big rides like in previous trips, LOL), and my trip isn't even until March 2017! We live in NJ so we usually drive down and stay overnight in Florence, SC both ways. Anyways just this morning I booked the hotel for Florence, SC for our trip down, but its too soon to book the hotel for our trip back, lol. My hubby thinks I am nuts! I actually told him we should move to FL bc I am Disney OBSESSED! He will never go for it though because he can't stand the heat, lol. I also make my own autograph books so after I book my ADRs that gives me 6 months to make my autograph books for the trips. I have gotten fancy with them too, lol...last year the kids got a lot of attention from the characters with my books. I think for next year though I want to format the autograph book so I can put a 4x6 photo with the autograph...and for the characters pictures we saw sooooo many characters last year I might use the pictures from previous vacations with the kids for autograph books (well at least for my older sons books, LOL, my younger DS was crying in most of the pictures, LOL). We shall see though, I can't wait til I can book everything but time seems like it is flying by! I can't believe tomorrow is already April 1!

 

[Dallas_Lady]

You can get a lot of great advice here but I should warn you to take the complaint posts with a grain of salt. Even better, avoid reading them if at all possible. I have our first trip planned for August and I almost felt like cancelling after reading some of the posts on here. After being on here a while I realized that the complaints were mostly from people who either didn't plan well so were disappointed or long timers who feel like quality has diminished.

I've been on these boards 15ish years and yeah, you have to take what is old "get off my lawn" types say with a grain of salt. Things are different and that's hard for us Disney veterans but if you've never been before you'll have a great time and won't even notice all the stuff we complain about.

 

[MalkaR]

Mine isn't till January 2017 too. I'm keeping busy combing vrbo and bookmarking my favorites, reading stuff on here and on touring plans. I even have a tentative plan of which park on which day, but I'm guessing that there will be things that change by the time next year rolls around, so it'll change. But all this planning is actually so much fun!

Edited to add: Oh, and my kids know about it, I find the anticipation and talking about it is part of the fun. They talk about how they'll be another year older and braver and they might or might not be willing to go on haunted mansion

 

[snowman]

I am so efficient that I have already mapped out which ADRs I want, and which FPs I am going to get (FPs are tricky this time around because my kids will be 10 and 3, so I don't think the 3 year old will want to hang around and wait while big brother does the big rides like in previous trips, LOL), and my trip isn't even until March 2017! We live in NJ so we usually drive down and stay overnight in Florence, SC both ways. Anyways just this morning I booked the hotel for Florence, SC for our trip down, but its too soon to book the hotel for our trip back, lol. My hubby thinks I am nuts! I actually told him we should move to FL bc I am Disney OBSESSED! He will never go for it though because he can't stand the heat, lol. I also make my own autograph books so after I book my ADRs that gives me 6 months to make my autograph books for the trips. I have gotten fancy with them too, lol...last year the kids got a lot of attention from the characters with my books. I think for next year though I want to format the autograph book so I can put a 4x6 photo with the autograph...and for the characters pictures we saw sooooo many characters last year I might use the pictures from previous vacations with the kids for autograph books (well at least for my older sons books, LOL, my younger DS was crying in most of the pictures, LOL). We shall see though, I can't wait til I can book everything but time seems like it is flying by! I can't believe tomorrow is already April 1!

Mine isn't till January 2017 too. I'm keeping busy combing vrbo and bookmarking my favorites, reading stuff on here and on touring plans. I even have a tentative plan of which park on which day, but I'm guessing that there will be things that change by the time next year rolls around, so it'll change. But all this planning is actually so much fun!

Edited to add: Oh, and my kids know about it, I find the anticipation and talking about it is part of the fun. They talk about how they'll be another year older and braver and they might or might not be willing to go on haunted mansion

Glad I'm not the only one. Still trying to figure out my restaurants. Lol

I second the suggestion of the kids WDW book...maybe it could be part of big reveal.

 

[maranara]

Thanks! We'll definitely be getting her one of those kids books. We'll probably tell her in August - after swim team season but before school starts - so she can help plan but not have SO long to think about it! She's the kind of kid who likes to have advance notice of things but too much advanced notice is a mess.

 

[maranara]

What about movies to watch? I feel like we should get familiar with some of the characters we're bound to meet or rides we're going on. She's a Pixar pro and seen Frozen a million times. What others would you be sure to watch?

 

[StirlingSilver83]

What about movies to watch? I feel like we should get familiar with some of the characters we're bound to meet or rides we're going on. She's a Pixar pro and seen Frozen a million times. What others would you be sure to watch?

My kids grew up on Disney, but the "newer" disney films. They new who Anna & Elsa was thats for sure, lol, and they new Cinderella, Rapunzel, Aladdin & Jasmine, Mulan, Ariel, Gaston, Belle, and the Beast were. Before the trip I put in some "older" films...I let them watch Alice in Wonderland so they knew who she was, and Sleeping Beauty so they knew Aurora. The had no interest in Mary Poppins (plus I couldn't find the movie to let them watch it) and I won't let them watch Snow White, lol, I think its really dark and just inappropriate for little kids, lol...So the only characters they really had no idea who they were, were Snow White and Mary Poppins...everyone else they knew.

 

[Shellyb84]

I know you don't want to tell her until later, but you may want to shop for a kid's guide book (perhaps a Christmas present?).

This one, http://www.guidetothemagic.com/shoppingaenspecialoffer.htm, is one of my favorites. My kids liked Birnbaum's Kid's Guide as well.

I would also suggest you come to the DIS regularly to keep up with all the changes, new things, etc. It will help you not feel as overwhelmed when it comes time to do your actual planning.

If you have some leeway in your dates, I like this page, http://**************.net/wp-conten...ld-Week-Rankings-from-**************.net_.png, to compare costs and crowds throughout the year. If you can narrow down when you think you might go next year, you can also watch what happens during that same time frame for this year and read some trip reports to help you make your own plans.

Enjoy!!

I never even thought/knew about a kid's guide book! What a great idea! My DD has been before but I think that would be a great way for to know more about what is there and maybe (hopefully) alleviate some of her worries about the rides.