Question for recent WDW first-timers...

[cruisnfamily]

Originally posted by manchurianbrownbear
Also, after listening to everyone's advice, remember, you know your family better than any of us. .....I think the overwelming majority of DISers will tell you, that you must take a break during the day. One of things I wish we had done differently on that trip is skipping the breaks.

Wow, the first person to agree with me! We've been to WDW when our kids were as young as 2, now they're 8 & 11. We never take breaks! If we left, that would be it for the day. There's no way we'd swim or sleep and then have the energy to go back to the parks. We take our break in the park with a nice air conditioned sit down lunch and then we continue on. No out of park breaks for us!

But the most important thing MBbear said is this after listening to everyone's advice, remember, you know your family better than any of us.

 

[WhenUwishUponAstar]

One way you can save on money when using a package is making seperate reservations for travel days. That way you are not spending money on PHP that are not being used. Make three seperate that way it's room only on travel days.

Also unless this is a once in a lifetime trip and you seriously won't be going back, slow down , take your time and save something for next time.

 

[DVCTiff]

I wish I hadn't been such a cheapskate and thought that MNSSHP was just for kids. I've vowed to never miss it again. And I wish I had known about taking breaks. We got in on a Sunday and by Friday morning I literally could not get out of bed. I also wish we had spread out our PS's and made them later. We ended up skipping about half of them.

Have a great trip and welcome to Disney-planning mania!

 

[Gary M]

#1MusicMom you should go to www.allearsnet.com and click on dining, for the menus of the WDW eating places. You may want to keep an eye this board and www.mousesavers.com for room discounts and then decide whether the silver package is what you want. It appears that your group will be staying in 3 or 4 rooms at the WL(our favorite resort). If room discounts are available for your stay you may save several hundred dollars or most likely a few thousand $$$$ on room discounts.

Feel free to ask questions on these boards. Planning the trip can be fun.

 

[Atotty]

#1 regret...we stayed at AKL and our regret is not spending more time at the hotel. It's a vacation in itself with so much to do and such wonderful surroundings.

#2 Take more pictures of Disney stuff....I've got lots of pix of kids with characters...kids in front of castle....300 or so....but didn't take any of hotel and parks, etc. My girls like looking at pix with them...but they'd also like to see pix of WDW.

#3 Go ahead and buy the Minnie Mouse ears for me...it doesn't matter if I look silly...I'm on vacation LOL

#4 If we have a choice of going to the parks the last day or DTD...pick the parks

 

[manchurianbrownbear]

#1MusicMom,
I'm pretty sure you're family will thank you for the effort you put into planning your trip. Before our 2000 WDW trip I thought my DW had gone off the deep end, but I was amazed at how much more we were able to do because she had done all her DIS research! I was worse than her preparing for our 2003 trip!

cruisnfamily,
maybe we should keep our mouths shut and enjoy lighter crowds in the afternoon while everyone else is back at their room taking a nap ! Taking a break make A LOT of sense, but on both of our trips in the last three years, our kids have done very well without naps.

Another thing we did on our 2003 trip that we didn't do on our 2000 trip was take a DCL cruise after our stay at WDW!