The *Official* February 2011 Thread - Happy Dance Time...The Park Hours Are Out!

[Shunasee]

Oh, no, not that bad... we've doing it the villa way this time, but as for Parks etc, we'll decide which to go to, and when, when we get there! So now worried that I'm missing something amazing by not having a printed out schedule or similar? eeek!

That was our last trip. We just had the Quick Service dining plan and park hopper tickets so, there was really not a ton of planning involved. No matter which park we went to it was packed, as it was mid-july.

this trip, when we booked, the dining plan was free, and it included a table service meal a day. That was the bulk of my planning. Trying to figure out months in advance where we would want to eat. I was not overly concerned with what the crowd level in the parks would be, as it HAD to be better than it was in July.

IMHO, the biggest planning issue the the dining, if your doing table service everyday.

 

[DLB]

I am so overwhelmed. We are DL lovers been a couple of times and could plan that trip in a week. But wow DWD is a different story and I only have a month plus a little to plan a great vacation (a little stress) Please please help me. This will be our first time to DWD (okay I went 30 years ago that does not count) we want to see it all but I know that in 6 days that is not possible could you please recommend some must see items for a family of 4. Kids are ages 5 and 3 our three year old boy (okay four in Feb) loves Mickey will not leave the house without some type of Disney clothes. Five year old Daughter is totally into Princesses. Boy am I babbling just so excited but don't know where to start.

First of all... Take a DEEP breath! It is going to be ok!
I have planned a WDW vacation in order a month before and we had a terrific time and all was ok! remember - It is a vacation

Are you staying on site? IF so, do you have the dining plan? Have you made any reservations to eat? If not, I would do that ASAP.
First plan which parks you will be going too on which days. I use an Excel spreadsheet to map it all out based on crowds, emh, etc. If you have Park hoppers which will allow you to go to more than one park per day you can be a little more flexiable with your schedule.

For your children's ages, I would suggest going to some character meals. This will give the kids a chance to meet a lot of the popular characters without wasting time in the parks waiting for each one.

We find things in all the parks that we love, but for your children's ages -

Epcot will most likely be their least favorite. (my children do love the countries but they do not appeal to all) There is also Nemo ride for kids, space ship earth is great too. My children LOVE Soarin!
Hollywood Studios has play house disney characters and lots for little kids to do as does Magic Kingdom (I would plan 2 days for MK park if you can).
Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun for children that love animals. My children LOVE it here. We really like Donald's Breakfast here as well. It is a buffet and the characters are all dressed in Safari gear.

Hope I helped you a little bit. The best way to plan for me has been asking questions.
Best of Luck!

 

[srauchbauer]

First of all... Take a DEEP breath! It is going to be ok!
I have planned a WDW vacation in order a month before and we had a terrific time and all was ok! remember - It is a vacation

Are you staying on site? IF so, do you have the dining plan? Have you made any reservations to eat? If not, I would do that ASAP.
First plan which parks you will be going too on which days. I use an Excel spreadsheet to map it all out based on crowds, emh, etc. If you have Park hoppers which will allow you to go to more than one park per day you can be a little more flexiable with your schedule.

For your children's ages, I would suggest going to some character meals. This will give the kids a chance to meet a lot of the popular characters without wasting time in the parks waiting for each one.

We find things in all the parks that we love, but for your children's ages -

Epcot will most likely be their least favorite. (my children do love the countries but they do not appeal to all) There is also Nemo ride for kids, space ship earth is great too. My children LOVE Soarin!
Hollywood Studios has play house disney characters and lots for little kids to do as does Magic Kingdom (I would plan 2 days for MK park if you can).
Animal Kingdom is a lot of fun for children that love animals. My children LOVE it here. We really like Donald's Breakfast here as well. It is a buffet and the characters are all dressed in Safari gear.

Hope I helped you a little bit. The best way to plan for me has been asking questions.
Best of Luck!

We are not staying on site would like to save some $$ for Character meals. Hopefully DWD is like DL and lets you bring in snacks and stuff. Still trying to figure out where to eat so many choices just figuring out resies is a nightmare.

Do you think parkhoppers are a necessity with the hours it seems like you would want to hit one park per day and not worry about traveling around.

I kind of thought Epcot would be low on the list so I am figuring one day for epcot. Two days for magic kingdom. One day for the animal park and one day for the Studio park. Oh how I wish we had two more days.

With Feb being a down month will there be many characters out and about or is it better to try and get character meals?

Time to fly and get some work done around the house.

 

[Marlynmik]

That sounds like a good plan. This is exactly our plan actually We may or may not even hit AK (I'd like to spend some time in DTD) I also wish I had more days! We didn't bother with park hoppers because DD is only 3 and it will be too much trouble to lug her around to many parks in one day.

I used this chart to plan which days to go where:
http://www.disneytravelagents.com/S.../pdf/ParkHours/WDW_Operating_Calendar_Feb.pdf

At the very least I think you should plan your park days, especially if you aren't getting hoppers. I made my decisions based one shows (Illuminations and Fantasmic!) then on EMH. That alone determined where we were going to go. If you're still unsure, you can use Touring Plans but I chose not to because it's still a pretty low crowd time of year.

Then once you know your parks, you can decide which restaurants you want to try and get a reservation for.

We tried to get a few character ADRs, but just the basic characters that DD3 knows (mostly Pooh, princesses and Mickey's gang)

Even though we are on the DP, we will still bring snacks/water into the parks.

Try not to stress and have fun!

 

[srauchbauer]

I have been reading and reading and went to check out DTD and saw this T-Rex resturant, is it like a rainforest cafe? Don't want to eat at rainforest since we have one at the Mall of America, but thought that would be a fun place with little/medium ones. Thoughts please.

 

[lamb616]

yes, it is exactly like Rainforest (same owners), except..... dinosaurs! IDK if you're on the Dining Plan but it is NOT part of the dining plan so can't use your credits there. Call them directly to make ressies b/c they don't have all their openings on the WDW website so if you look online, it could say they are booked when they do have openings.

 

[DiSnEyLvR76]

Hey everyone,
I know we discussed this a few months back, but I couldn't find it....I was thinking about booking an Illuminations cruise for 2/9....does anyone have one booked for that day that they are sharing? or any other days for that matter? Just remembered this and it might be too late to try and book one! I'll try in the am. Thanks!

 

[prittfamily98]

We're going We'll be there to celebrate my Big 4-0 We are staying at Bay Lake Towers --first time staying there, we've never stayed at the Contemporary either, so we're SUPER excited!!!!

I too am Celebrating my 40th birthday at Disney. My family and I are staying the first night at AKKV then moving to the SS Treehouses.
I have a spa day set up for Monday the 7th.
Then my husband has planned something for my on Tuesday.
Then Wednesday night is date night and
Thursday (which is my 40th bday) We are eating at Cape May and THEN I am getting my hair done at Periwigs.
I AM SO EXCITED.....

 

[disney20082011]

For those of you that have gone before in February, what do you pack for clothing? Do you even need shorts? We have went in November and it was still really warm, but have no idea how to pack for February.

 

[DLB]

Yes you can bring snacks into the parks.

I do not spend the extra money on park hoppers, but that is a personal preference.. I dont like to waste precious park time traveling.

We have always stayed off site (this upcoming we will be in Disney). You can still do the character breakfasts - you just
need to pay out of pocket.

T-Rex is the same idea as rainforest and I "believe" it is owned by the same company. The menu is different as we as the themeing and my children LOVED it! My DS (5) asks to go there all the time

I like your allocation of days in the parks. EPCOT is an acquired taste so to speak? I could spend the whole week there. The kids enjoy the kidcot stations at each country (they get to decorate a mask at each country and a stamp) it helped keep them interested in touring each country.

I have to go re-read you post because I am on my iPhone and I want to be sure I answered all your questions.

 

[srauchbauer]

It's official we bought the airline tickets tonight now I can really start to plan. I didn't really believe we were going until airfare was bought.

 

[DLB]

It's official we bought the airline tickets tonight now I can really start to plan. I didn't really believe we were going until airfare was bought.

HOORAY!!!!!

Have you decided which days you will do which parks?

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

DisneyLvr76- I may be interested in a cruise share if you would be able to move it to the 10th!!!

 

[prittfamily98]

For those of you that have gone before in February, what do you pack for clothing? Do you even need shorts? We have went in November and it was still really warm, but have no idea how to pack for February.

We went last February.
We had to wear a combination of clothing. A couple of days we wore short sleeves and jeans with a jacket in the morning. A couple of days we wore long sleeve and jeans. At night we did wear jackets. BUT this year's weather patterns have been weird so I really can't say what might happen.
My kids still swam.
A MUST: RAIN PONCHOS!!! Target and Walmart sell nice ones for under $10. Or buy ones at Disney.

 

[DiSnEyLvR76]

For those of you that have gone before in February, what do you pack for clothing? Do you even need shorts? We have went in November and it was still really warm, but have no idea how to pack for February.

Feb can be tricky, some years we were in the pool and other years like last year it was not the norm for feb. and freezing! you really just have to watch the weather and pack accordingly....we usually wear whatever jacket down from here in ny...and pack layers...a sweatshirt that you can take off after chilly mornings and put back on when its chilly at night.
hoping its nice weather for all of us!

 

[DiSnEyLvR76]

DisneyLvr76- I may be interested in a cruise share if you would be able to move it to the 10th!!!

hmmm let me look at my vacation plans for the 10th, tomo am and see what I have going on...and i'm going to call in the am and see if there is even anything available still...will keep u posted!

 

[ChocoKat]

Trying to keep it together!
I am so excited!

Having a ticker check moment

 

[mommyrach]

Not stressing as much now. We are paid in full and I have made all of our ADR's. I was surprised to get everything I wanted!

We are trying to wait to tell the kids until the day we leave. We will have the car packed and head out as soon as they get off the bus. Any ideas on how to surprise them with the trip?

 

[DisneyFirstTimer10]

hmmm let me look at my vacation plans for the 10th, tomo am and see what I have going on...and i'm going to call in the am and see if there is even anything available still...will keep u posted!

Perfect! We will also be in Epcot on Mon Feb 6th if that matters!

 

[srauchbauer]

HOORAY!!!!!

Have you decided which days you will do which parks?

Have not decided on days of the park that is todays project while I watch playoff games. Usually when I have football on the kids aren't around so I have quiet time. Do you have any recommendation on days?

Thanks to all the dish diva's.