Tips, suggestions, opinions for first WDW trip for Christmas 2011

[labloverinsc]

I'm planning a trip for my family as a Christmas gift in 2011. This will be our first trip to WDW. Any tips, suggestions, opinions, etc. will be GREATLY appreciated!!!

 

[PrincessTiffany]

I'm planning a trip for my family as a Christmas gift in 2011. This will be our first trip to WDW. Any tips, suggestions, opinions, etc. will be GREATLY appreciated!!!

The first tip is if you want to see Disney during the holidays, go sometime between mid-November and mid-December and avoid Christmas through New Year's week. It's the single most expensive and crowded week of the entire year. The parks, espcially, Magic Kingdom, are known to close before noon due to the park being at capacity levels.

If you can not go any other week than Christmas - New Year's, then you need to prepare yourself for the enormous crowds. You will need to get to the parks at opening and utilize Extra Magic Hours and Fastpass. You will need to have a good touring plan, so I highly recommend The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and their companion website, www.touringplans.com. We always use their Best Days/Crowd Calendar to plan our park days.

Osborne Lights at Disney Hollywood Studios and The Candlelight Processional at Epcot are do not miss Christmas attractions. Here is a link to all the other WDW Christmas activities:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/holidays/christmas_world.htm

Here are some of my top WDW touring tips for people new to Disney:

1. Make sure you have Advance Dining Reservations, as you will be going during a very busy time. The restaurants most likely will not be taking walk-up reservations.

2. Get to the parks at opening. You really can get a lot done in the morning because so many other people sleep in.

3. Eat lunch around 11:00 or 11:30 a.m. before the fast food places get busy. Then when while everyone else is eating lunch, you will have lower crowds.

4. I buy a ton of the two for a dollar ponchos at the dollar store and keep them in the backpack. That way you can throw them a way after use and not worry about keeping up with a wet bulky poncho the rest of the day. Bring throw away ponchos to wear on Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, if not you WILL get soaked.

5. Other things I put in the backpack each morning are Tylenol/Motrin, small first aid kit, camera with extra batteries, small hand towel, hand sanitizer, wipes and a bottle of water.

6. Most single service items under $4.00 are considered a snack credit on the dining plan.

7. At Magic Kingdom always head to Fantasyland first, if you are not doing Fantasyland on a particular day then head to Splash Mountain first, then Big Thunder Mountain; at Epcot always ride Soarin' first and get a Fastpass for later after you get off of the ride; at Disney Hollywood Studios always ride Toy Story Mania first, then head over to Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror; and at Animal Kingdom ride Expedition Everest First then head to the Safari.

8. Favorite fast food restaurants at MK are Pecos Bills and Cosmic Rays; favorite fast food at Animal Kingdom is Flame Tree Grill and Pizzafari. If you are there while it very hot, go to Pizzafari.

9. If there are two lines going into an attraction, always take the line that goes to the left.

10. My best tip would have to be USE THE FASTPASS SYSTEM - it's free! Our rule of thumb is if the wait is 25 minutes or less, we wait in line. If the wait is 30 minutes or more, use a Fastpass. It is not highly publicized, but your Fastpass does not expire until the end of the day. You can never use it before the return time stamp on the pass, but you can always use it after. We try to collect Fastpasses during the early part of the day and then use them later in the afternoon when the parks become more crowded.

Click on this link and it will give you an excellent overview of Fastpass from fellow Diser Doconeill:
http://www.oinc.net/disney/fastpass.php

If you still don't understand, just let me know your specific questions.

11. I like the Photopass. You can pre-buy it before your trip for $99.00. When you enter the parks you will see the staff photographers, they will take your pictures and give you a Photopass and you can use that for the rest of your trip. Each time you see a photographer have them take your picture and they will scan your picture. Then when you get home you can pull up the pictures, with the code they email you after purchase, and pick the photos you want on a CD. They will then mail you the CD and the copyrights to the CD and you can take them to Walmart or Walgreens or wherever and get them developed. They also have a lot of cool software that you can use to edit your photos before you have them put on the CD.

My favorite Disney planning sites are:

www.disboards.com
www.allearsnet.com
www.wdwinfo.com

 

[Hootch]

has given good and fairly comprehensive advice. I'll add a couple of things:

You should identify the things you want to and prioritize them. You don't mention the length of your trip, but Disney World has so many things to see that a typical vacation does not provide sufficient time to experience everything.

The DIS boards have a lot of people with experience that are willing to share their knowledge. If you're like me and enjoy reading about these things there a number of guides available. The Unofficial Guide has a wealth of information that covers almost every conceivable issue associated with a trip to Disney. I even used it to pick our rental car company one trip. They have added an illustrated version that is less comprehensive. I have not yet had a chance to read it. The Complete Guide to alt Disney World has some helpful information also. Their ride descriptions are some of the best. The guide includes the script for Splash Mountain. I've always found the story on that ride hard to follow.

There are a lot of things in the background at Disney placed by the Imagineers to enhance your visit. Some people, me, enjoy reading about that type of stuff. Some people, my wife, do not necessarily care to know about these items. The Complete Guide has a number of things noted in it. The Hidden Magic of Disney World (the author used to be a board member here) and The Imagineers' Guide for each aprk can be helpful. One of the better sources is the "Your Best WDW Theme Park Secrets II" thread on this site. There have been so many entries and discussions that the first thread hit maximum length and the second is on page 38. Not to worry. DCanoli has spent a lot of time aggregating and updating a list of the information submitted. If you send her a PM with your email address she will send a copy of the list in short order.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1712235&page=38

The last bit of advice is to go with the flow. Things usually go wrong but Disney can still be fun. We had a short trip a few years back where the flight was late, the rental car company did not have a car available, my bag ended up in Newark for most of the trip, our reservation was messed up, I was told my vacation may be canceled the first night due to work and my boss shipped my laptop to me to do work while on vacation. The next year as my wife and I were planning our vacation, I suggested going back to WDW for a longer trip. Even with all of the issues we had, I still enjoyed the time there.

The good news is that you have a lot of time and a lot of resources available to you.