Trip help?

[Themadhatterswife]

Hello all,
It is my first post and hope I am in the right place...I am wanting to plan a trip from may 15, 2016 - may 21, 2016. It will be my 5 year old daughter, my mother, and myself. I was looking at staying on site at POP and doing the deluxe dining plan option. Does this sound reasonable? Can anyone maybe shed some light on how the crowds, weather, etc. Looks during this time of the year? Im honestly looking for some tips and ideas on how to start planning this. It's my first ever trip and I'm sort of overwhelmed ):

 

[Alesia]

May is a great time to go.

Personally, I wouldn't do the Deluxe DDP with a young child. In order to get your money's worth, you'll be spending a large chunk of your time (5 to 8 hours per day) either in restaurants or traveling to restaurants. Your daughter would probably have much more fun in the parks.

The best planning advice I can give you is to buy a copy of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit

 

[Themadhatterswife]

May is a great time to go.

Personally, I wouldn't do the Deluxe DDP with a young child. In order to get your money's worth, you'll be spending a large chunk of your time (5 to 8 hours per day) either in restaurants or traveling to restaurants. Your daughter would probably have much more fun in the parks.

The best planning advice I can give you is to buy a copy of The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit

Thanks. Oh wow, I didn't realize I would have to spend so much time with dining, I was planning on getting it just for the convenience of having 3 meals a day. We are big on eating, any ideas on how to work dining? I appreciate the help

 

[Alesia]

Thanks. Oh wow, I didn't realize I would have to spend so much time with dining, I was planning on getting it just for the convenience of having 3 meals a day. We are big on eating, any ideas on how to work dining? I appreciate the help

You should plan on table service meals taking about 90 minutes. Don't forget to add in any transportation time if necessary.

We eat primarily counter service meals. A lot of people have the idea that counter service is just burgers and pizza and chicken nuggets all the time, but there are actually a lot of really good options. Go to http://allears.net/dining/menu and take a look at the menus.

How you balance CS vs TS is a personal decision. Many people have one TS meal per day. My family prefers having one TS meal about every 3 days. It really just depends on what your priorities are.

 

[minnie mum]

Alesia's has already given you some excellent advice. The book is great, and I believe the 2016 edition will be out soon. I use easywdw.com for its crowd calendar. It includes a lot of information, including average temp high/lows, chance of precipitation, predicted crowd levels, recommended parks, EMH parks, and times for evening shows for each day.

I always select which park we'll be in each day, based on the crowd calendar, and THEN plan our dining to fit in. Visiting one park but dining in another park, or at a resort far removed, will add hours of transportation time that could be better spent touring the park.

We have never found the dining plan to fit well with our needs. 3 TS meals per day is too much food and takes up too much time for us (2 adults). We prefer one TS meal per day. There is a tremendous variety of food available at CS places. It is entirely possible to eat at 2 CS places every day for a week and never eat a hamburger, french fry or cardboard pizza. Some people, usually those who have already visited many times and are willing to take a very leisurely approach to their stay, may like the deluxe plan. But even they tend to opt for one regular TS meal and then a 2TS signature or dining experience meal.

 

[Hootch]

I agree with Alesia. The deluxe plan works for some people. I, personally, would only do it if I were planning on doing a lot of signature meals which require two meal credits. Even then I would would look at my expected expenses based on what I would probably eat. Not everyone is the same. Some people like having that covered so they don't worry about the cost of food while on their trip.

The First Visit book is also helpful. I bought the first one they produced even though I had been many times. Josh, who is a co-author of the book, has a site that with crowd calendar predictions and park recommendations at www.easywdw.com. He has historical weather information included in that. In his most recent post, he noted that they were sending the new version to the printer. You might be able to pre-order the 2016 version. I know that a couple of months ago he was changing some of his recommendations at DAK. He may have some other changes.

Good luck. You're planning well ahead, but the time will go by quickly.

This is another helpful post on FPs

http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...ed-priorities-and-strategies-part-ii.3326057/

 

[Themadhatterswife]

Thank you all for the great advice. I will for sure be buying the book to read up on tips and help. I will rethink the dining as many of you suggest, I'm sure we would rather spend time in the park. I'm just hoping to do maybe a few character dining just so my daughter can have some interaction with the princesses.

 

[scdak]

Take it from 2 Pooh sized women (that's big women in case you don't know the phrase Pooh sized) - deluxe dining is way too much food! We ended up canceling a few meals and ate far too much for the meals we did keep (27 in 10 days) . The time frame for table service meals is long as others have said and takes so much of your time. With a 5 year old I would think about a character meal a day - you kill two birds with one stone, you eat and she gets pictures and autographs without waiting in so many lines for them then find counter service meals to enjoy.

I have used Birnbaum's guides to Disney for 30 years? I buy one about every 2-3 years so that I have updated ones. There is one that is for kids that is nice but it has the same information in it that a regular one does but your daughter might like her own book, I haven't looked at one of the kids ones in years but it seems like there were some nice character pictures in it plus information for kid friendly ideas.

There is a book and I hope someone can give you more information on the real name but its a guide to Disney characters alphabetically and its an awesome book to learn about the characters, their "stories" and many people use it for hunting for characters / autographs.

Welcome to the boards, you will get a wealth of information here!

 

[Lucius Best]

Can anyone maybe shed some light on how the crowds, weather, etc. Looks during this time of the year? Im honestly looking for some tips and ideas on how to start planning this. It's my first ever trip and I'm sort of overwhelmed ):

I remember lots of reports this year about how great (low) the crowds were in early May 2015. For mid-late May like you are planning, the easywdw crowd calendar for this past May shows crowds significantly increasing as you get closer to June. I'm sure it depends a lot on when schools start getting out for summer.

Like others mentioned, the Deluxe Dining Plan is a ton of food, and a huge amount of time spent in restaurants. This link has good outline of character meals that are available, both inside and outside the parks. http://allears.net/din/cb.htm With some of the in-park breakfasts, you're able to make an 8am reservation on a day when the park opens at 9am, i.e. you get into the park before it's officially open.

There is a wealth of information on wdwinfo.com concerning the parks, rides, restaurants, and resorts. To get started, I'd read about the different parks, what rides there are, and importantly, what the height requirements are, because there will be rides your 5yo is too short to go on. I've done two trips recently with niece (first as 5yo then as 7yo). Both were 6-day trips, and both were planned so as to spend 3 days at MK, alternating with one day each at Epcot/Animal Kingdom/Hollywood Studios, and both trips were a big success.

 

[Themadhatterswife]

Thanks everyone! I have received a lot of great information and will plan accordingly. I would love to go earlier in may but I can't since I'm still in school myself. I appreciate all the information regarding the dining since that is the one thing that was really bothering me. You all are the best!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

We are planning a trip around the same time as you next year. Last year, we went a bit earlier - April 25th through May 4th.

Weather: It was unseasonably hot for that time of year with lots of thunderstorms. Everyone kept talking about how strange it was that it was already in the 90s every day. The only place I was really unhappy with the heat was Animal Kingdom, but going for extra magic hours early in the morning was nice and cool. Most of the thunderstorms happened while we were at Hollywood Studios, so we spent torrential downpour times in the ABC Commissary, where we could run to Star Tours and back while we waited out the worst of the storms.

Crowds/Value Resorts: We stayed at All Star Movies. We arrived during cheerleader competitions and the dance competitions were starting as we left. TONS of youth around the resorts and it could get a bit noisy, but they were really great at self-policing. Never ran into any issues with them at the parks.

Dining Plan: We did the regular DDP, not the deluxe. It is so much food! I also need to eat three meals a day, but we had grocery delivery to our rooms and ate most breakfasts there. We ate enormous salads at most CS, which still come with a beverage and dessert. Two of our TS were bigger breakfast character meals at 'Ohana and Tusker House. I really enjoyed taking our time at later dinner TS (Prime Time Cafe, Chefs de France, Crystal Palace, Biergarten, Sci-Fi Diner). By the end of the trip, we had tons of snack credits left and used them up to buy treats to take home to extend the magic.

 

[WIcruizer]

You will have a great time! Here's my 2 cents:

1) With a 5 yr old, be sure to plan a break every day where you go back to your resort for a couple hours. They need that, especially MK days when you plan to make it a longgg day and night. The heat gets to them, all the over-stimulation, etc. Seems like you're wasting money by not spending every minute in the parks, but trust me it will be worth it.

2) Plan, but accept the fact you can't plan/control everything. (Especially with a 5 yr old)It is supposed to be fun, and she won't know if you "missed something."

3) You know her best, and what movies she likes.characters, etc. Maybe she loves animals. Point being, what many here would tell you are "don't miss" attractions, rides, etc. may not apply to you. (Once I went with my nephew and we couldn't pull him away from the animals at AK. Many people don't even bother going on those trails, but that's what he enjoyed...so we spent way more time there than we anticipated.)

 

[diznymom]

Dining - we like the plan that has 1 sit down, 1 counter service and snack per person per day. We like to eat b'fast at the resort counter service, a snack during lunch and a sit down restaurant for supper.

 

[andiraye]

I'm not sure where you are in your planning process. I think a week at POP is a good start.

From there, I would read a guide book as suggested above and decide which parks you want to go to and how many days you want to spend in each. With a five year old, I would definitely do two days in the MK, even if that means foregoing other parks.

Once you have a general sense of the parks, then check the crowd calendars for specific days.

Based on that, you can decide on the table service meals you want to do, and can make reservations.

Two things I would say about that. The table service restaurants can be pricey, so you may want to make strategic choices about that.

And you have a 5yo, daughter so you may end up wanting to do BBB and a princess meal. If so, you will need to make reservations right around the 180 mark. So it's a good idea to have this worked out before November.

That being said DO NOT FREAK OUT. if you don't work it out at all, and do only counter service restaurants, you will still have an awesome time. It's Wdw!

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Plan 90 minutes for the meal and they suggest you plan 90 minutes to get to the restaurant. Plus you will be stuck to a stick plan. Maybe at 4:00 you don't want to eat at a certain place that you have reservation for but you are stuck going because a no show would result in a $10 per person fee. If you kid does not eat a lot you will be wasting money on getting her the plan.