Unsure if this is where this goes... plans for vacation in WDW - never been - help! :)

[ruthie_]

@senadler - thanks! I will look at the crowd calendars. Are there any ways to know which characters are at the meals? Ex, Anna and Elsa - they are not at any meals, right? Rapunzel and Cinderella - they do character meets and are at CRT right?

 

[TI double-GUH ER]

Cinderella meets with you before you go up to your meal at CRT. Rapunzel isn't there -- it's Jasmine, Aurora, Snow White and Ariel - although it's always subject to change. Cinderella and Rapunzel do meet and greets. Anna and Elsa are not currently at any meals.

Crystal Palace has Pooh Bear and his friends (Eeyore, Tiger, Piglet). Chef Mickey has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy - which is a little more fun for boys than the princess ones. My DS 7 enjoyed that meal and interaction. He wasn't too interested in CRT, although he did get a kick out of eating in the castle. Ohana for breakfast has Lilo and Stitch, and also Mickey - so that's fun too. I'm sure that one of the web sites has a list somewhere of who meets at each meal...

Agent P - it's sort of a scavenger hunt... they give you a flip phone device and you go on a secret spy mission with Perry the platypus from Phineas and Ferb. You are given different hints and you can set off different things happening in different countries. My son loved the Mexico one - thought it was funny. They have several missions to choose from.

I also highly recommend the Pirate Adventures - another sort of puzzle/scavenger hunt thing in MK with lots of interactive elements. My son LOVED this, and we ended up having to do several...

If you want to interest him in some non-princess photo ops, you can take a picture with Lightning McQueen at Hollywood Studios, (although be warned, it is a little on the loud side) and it looks like they just opened up a meet and greet with Darth Vader, so maybe he'll like that. Jedi Training at Hollywood studios can be a lot of fun if he is interested, but seriously if you want to do that, get to the park right at opening, and walk quickly with your son right to the sign ups, because that fills up FAST.

Buzz lightyear is a great ride, and we had better luck with that line than Toy Story Mania. Fun - and you'll get a picture from it with your memory maker.

Looks like you are getting a lot of great ideas!!!

 

[ruthie_]

@TI double-GUH ER - super! Thank you so much!!!! Everyone here is so kind. I appeciate the feedback. It's hard to plan a trip that clearly needs some planning with never having done anything like it - ever! So this community is so helpful.

I'm so happy there will be some specialized things for my DS - I was worried with all the princess-inclined things that I wasn't even sure what they had for boys! Looking forward to this trip more now!

 

[karly05]

Hi, Ruthie - I'm going to second the recommendation of crowd calendars. A lot of us here like the ones at EasyWDW.com - Josh explains his recommendations and has tons of good info. Seems like Magic Kingdom is always busy; I would always try for the most recommended days there.

I've been going solo and always get Memory Maker. I love character meets and it's nice having extra people taking pics.

I'm also big on Park Hoppers. I don't hop every day, but it's nice having the flexibility.

Welcome! And have fun planning!

 

[Shanti]

My husband and I have never been to WDW and we are planning a trip for 2016 for ourselves and our three kids (DS 8, DD 5, DD <1yr). We are planning to stay at the Art of Animation for nine days (including arrival and departure days). We have booked a Disney Dining plan (1QS, 1TS, 1 snack credit/night), park hopper passes, and the water park pass as well. I am considering the photopass thing because it's our first trip and it seems like a good idea. Thoughts? I am in the midst of roughly planning our stay, and have broken up the days as follows:

Day 1. arrival - around 3pm (this will actually be day three of vacation as we have to drive for days one and two and three to get to WDW...) - go to Disney Springs to walk around in the evening (thinking about Wolfgang Puck Express for supper).
Day 2. Go to MK to meet all the important characters. I was thinking about dedicating our first day to meeting characters (getting fastpass+s for meeting princesses). I'm not going to say no rides on the first day at MK, but I think maybe spending a day meeting the characters would help start the trip well for the kids. We're going to HDDR for supper, then heading back to MK for Wishes (should we get fastpasses for Wishes for this day?).
Day 3. Going to MK
Day 4. Going to AK
Day 5. Going to Epcot.
Day 6. Going to HS.
Day 7. Going to MK.
Day 8 - open in the day, then going for our 10th anniversary dinner at Le Cellier (getting an in-room babysitter - has anyone used this service?)
Day 9 - probably going to MK in the day (last day) and going to Ohana for supper - then heading out to start the drive home!

So I am open to suggestions for days 8 and 9. Also looking for time at the water parks. Suggestions totally welcome!

I am not sure exactly where to put this so if there is a more appropriate forum, please tell me so I can ask where I should! Thanks everyone.

Character dining is the best way to meet many of the characters. You get to relax and eat, and instead of standing in line for them, they come to you.

You will meet most of the princesses (but not Anna & Elsa) at Cinderella's Royal Table in the Magic Kingdom, and get a special photo made with Cinderella.

You'll meet the whole Pooh gang at The Crystal Palace (in MK).

You'll meet all of Mickey's gang at Chef Mickey's (in the Contemporary Resort, walking distance from MK).

Schedule a meal at one of those, and you'll have more time for rides & entertainment in the park. There are many other good character restaurants, too- those are just the ones that give access to the highest number of characters at once.

I've been asked how I get so many Disney pics of my son with all the characters, since they rarely saw any in the parks. It's because we often do character dining. You'll need reservations, though, so make them soon if you want to go this route, especially with Cinderella's Royal Table. Also keep in mind that at many character restaurants (but not all) there is no photopass photographer, so you'll need to bring a camera or phone to take the picture.

 

[mshanson3121]

My husband and I have never been to WDW and we are planning a trip for 2016 for ourselves and our three kids (DS 8, DD 5, DD <1yr). We are planning to stay at the Art of Animation for nine days (including arrival and departure days). We have booked a Disney Dining plan (1QS, 1TS, 1 snack credit/night), park hopper passes, and the water park pass as well. I am considering the photopass thing because it's our first trip and it seems like a good idea. Thoughts? I am in the midst of roughly planning our stay, and have broken up the days as follows:

Day 1. arrival - around 3pm (this will actually be day three of vacation as we have to drive for days one and two and three to get to WDW...) - go to Disney Springs to walk around in the evening (thinking about Wolfgang Puck Express for supper).
Day 2. Go to MK to meet all the important characters. I was thinking about dedicating our first day to meeting characters (getting fastpass+s for meeting princesses). I'm not going to say no rides on the first day at MK, but I think maybe spending a day meeting the characters would help start the trip well for the kids. We're going to HDDR for supper, then heading back to MK for Wishes (should we get fastpasses for Wishes for this day?).
Day 3. Going to MK
Day 4. Going to AK
Day 5. Going to Epcot.
Day 6. Going to HS.
Day 7. Going to MK.
Day 8 - open in the day, then going for our 10th anniversary dinner at Le Cellier (getting an in-room babysitter - has anyone used this service?)
Day 9 - probably going to MK in the day (last day) and going to Ohana for supper - then heading out to start the drive home!

So I am open to suggestions for days 8 and 9. Also looking for time at the water parks. Suggestions totally welcome!

I am not sure exactly where to put this so if there is a more appropriate forum, please tell me so I can ask where I should! Thanks everyone.

When is your vacation planned for? I skimmed quickly a few other replies, and I'll echo some of their thoughts: you need some down time, especially with young children. Disney is amazing, beautiful, fun... and EXHAUSTING. It can be very overwhelming for little ones. Also, driving down is exhausting. We just did it this summer (3 days, 2 nights, almost 3000 km one way with an 8 & 5 year old), so it's very easy to reach burn out quickly if you try to do too much. Try to keep a normal bedtime as much as possible for the kids, to avoid burn out, remember to allow your little one to nap in peace. If you are going to Wishes, then make sure your next day is planned so that you can sleep in. Depending on when you're going, Wishes may not be over until 10:30ish, which means it'll be pushing midnight by the time you get out of the park, and back to your room. I myself, would mix up rides and characters each day. I would probably do something along the line of this:

Day 1: I'd skip the springs and just focus on getting unpacked, settled in etc... A character dinner somewhere though would be a nice kick start to the vacation.
Day 2: MK & HDDR. We did this same thing, and we just took the boat from MK to HDDR. Myself, however, I wouldn't do Wishes yet, for starters, it will make for a very long, very exhausting day doing the park, then HDDR then Wishes, and won't allow you much time for resting.
Day 3: MK. Do Wishes this day. Go to MK in the morning, take an afternoon break, then go back after supper for Wishes.
Day 4: Rest day. Sleep in, relax. Go to water park in the afternoon.
Day 5: Epcot
Day 6: HS
Day 7: Rest Day. You could do another water park in the afternoon, or just relax at your resort, or go visit Disney Springs.
Day 8: AK
day 9: MK.

The biggest piece advice I have, since you have to drive there/back is do not wear yourself out - because it will make for a very long, very miserable drive home (ask me how I know). Take rest days. Let the kids get to bed relatively on time. Honestly, I don't think you need Park Hoppers with the amount of time you have, but that's just me. Definitely do MemoryMaker. Also, character dinners are a great way to meet the characters without standing in line for 30-45 minutes (or longer).

 

[ruthie_]

Thank you @Shanti!

@mshanson3121 - May 2016. I am getting the message about exhaustion... I'm reading a lot about it... I'm kind of worried about the kids and trying to do too much. And I think we are travelling about the same kms to Orlando with the same ages of kids. We're breaking it up over three days to try to make it not as stressful driving. I'm afraid of the whole bedtime thing. Thanks for the recommendations about the days. I feel more restricted with "rest days" as we're travelling with a bigger group of family and they're kind of taking the lead on planning what days are where - so we are kind of along for the ride in that regard, but we can certainly shorten the days to allow for more sleeping and rest. Saturday, they leave and we stay until Sunday evening. So Sat/Sun are kind of up in the air as for the days' plans, but we have ADRs for our anniversary dinner (10th anniversary while we're in WDW) at Le Cellier and Sun at Ohana before we pull out. First night we're only travelling to Savannah so it's not a crazy long first leg for the trip back.

 

[Nancyg56]

Your family will love Disney! Our first trip back since my own kids were young was an extended family visit so that we all could enjoy our DGD's fist visit. it was wonderful.

I would reconsider the Disney Springs vidit on your forst nght. WE found that wth young ones a character meal to kick off the trip was a geat way to get into the Disney SPirit. It also is a good way to gage how the youngsters will react to characters. We like Chef Mickey's, but that restaurant gets some terrible reviews. Not our experience, but something to consider.

Be sure to plan enough resort time. Disney is overwhelmong to adults and can be extremely stressful for kids if there is no break. The character meals might seem to be a break but for the two little girls we bought in August, they were more stimulation. So much fun, but they needed a real break.

AS others have pointed out, I would spread the chaacter M & G in the parks out rather than trying to get tem all in the same day. There are characters in every park, and if the kids enjoy them, you can spend a good deal of time standing in line. My DGD was a real character junkie so we spent a few years lining up to meet all of her "friends". I would nto change a thing though. My DH and I miss that a lot now that she is a teen.

I would not plan a park opening to close day with kids. We generally would go to MK for rope drop one day, stay until the afternoon parade and then leave. The next visit was later and we would have dinner in the park (my DGD loved Crystal Palace) and then stayed for the evening shows.
We never tried to do it all every day. that would have been a nightmare for the family.

You are going with a large group, but remember that you do nto need to keep up. WHen we travel with extended family we make sure that we all know we are not bound together. WE typically breakfast together on the days we plan breakfast, meet up at lunch if that is convenient, and have our evening meals together. SOme of our group likes to nap, others swim, and I read.

 

[mshanson3121]

Thank you @Shanti!

@mshanson3121 - May 2016. I am getting the message about exhaustion... I'm reading a lot about it... I'm kind of worried about the kids and trying to do too much. And I think we are travelling about the same kms to Orlando with the same ages of kids. We're breaking it up over three days to try to make it not as stressful driving. I'm afraid of the whole bedtime thing. Thanks for the recommendations about the days. I feel more restricted with "rest days" as we're travelling with a bigger group of family and they're kind of taking the lead on planning what days are where - so we are kind of along for the ride in that regard, but we can certainly shorten the days to allow for more sleeping and rest. Saturday, they leave and we stay until Sunday evening. So Sat/Sun are kind of up in the air as for the days' plans, but we have ADRs for our anniversary dinner (10th anniversary while we're in WDW) at Le Cellier and Sun at Ohana before we pull out. First night we're only travelling to Savannah so it's not a crazy long first leg for the trip back.

I know, you want to cram it all in, but don't. We didn't plan smart, and really got worn out. Also, do you HAVE to follow their itinerary? Would they not understand if you took a rest day and hung out at the resort? What ages are their children?

 

[dkrauss]

I know, you want to cram it all in, but don't..................

This is the best quote I've read here (the others are great too ) The one mistake I see/hear most from first timers is they want to get "it all" in during this one visit.............because we may not be back . WDW is huge...........HUGE. There is no possible way to get it all in during a 6 or 7 day trip...........especially with younglings. My advise would be get a guide..........pick a "few" good attractions, dining reservations (ADR's), and rides..............and plan around those. Those are the gotta haves! From there build out and around. What you'll find is you do quite a bit beyond what you "must" do. Finally, I'm a big fan of memory maker...........its very easy to use and there's a lot that's a part of it, including ride photos and meet & greet pics.

Welcome to the DIS...........as you've said this is a great place of knowledge............these folks are the best!

Have a magical vacation too!

Doug

 

[nicolej92]

We didn't use Memory Maker, but I wished we would have! When I go back with my fiancé for my next Disney vacation, I am definitely doing it. I highly recommend, especially since you have kids!

I have never done the water parks, but we usually leave a day open to do Downtown Disney and relax by the pool (trust me, you will need it!).

Your schedule looks great, though... have fun!

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

@AtlantaDisneyDreamer

Thanks for the feedback! I was considering doing some "down time" in the water parks instead of going back to the hotel - bad idea? We were going with the Park Hopper, then the addition of the water pass wasn't much more money, so we added it on. We were also thinking about how hot it is in Florida and were thinking it might be a nice "cool" break from the parks... as we have not been to Florida before, we're not sure how hot it will be/humid it will be. Thoughts?

When are you going? I went back over the thread but must have missed that.

I have done water parks with small children and that is not my idea of down time. I have to keep an eagle eye on them and chase them all around for safety reasons. My stress levels go way up at water parks. I take my kids, but it honestly isn't much fun for me because I have to be on high-alert duty the entire time.

I saw where you asked another poster about Talking Mickey. My girls (8 and 3) LOVED him. He was their favorite meet and greet.

Good idea about not sticking together. I think that small groups at Disney are much more fun than large ones. It is too hard to please everyone.

 

[tink9702]

I'd consider meeting some of the princesses in Epcot instead of MK. Aurora, Belle in the blue dress, Mulan, Snow White & Jasmine with Aladdin all meet there. It also gives DD something to be excited about in the World Showcase. At the same time DS can be doing the Agent P stuff if you need to split up. Or get DS an ice cream cone while you wait for princesses! Tiana, Merida & Rapunzel only meet in MK.

I'd definitely set times to meet up with the larger group - sit down lunch or dinner each day and maybe the rides right after the meal? That way you have plans and everyone isn't just arguing about what they want to do. I'd also plan the must do at each park and try to hit those first thing so you can just relax/go with the flow after the first couple things of the day.

Definitely check out the FP+ thread for help with that part of the trip.

I also agree with many of the previous posters who said you might need more breaks. That doesn't necessarily mean a whole day off, maybe a 3/4 day here or there, or a long afternoon break with a return to the parks for dinner/evening.

 

[mort1331]

Let me throw in my 2 cents to a fellow Ontarian. We have been going since my oldest was 2. She is 8 and her little sister is 4. We have never had a need for the hoppers. I would say save your money, especially how our dollar is. There is so much to do at each park, especially for your first trip and having an infant, that one park a day will fill your time. I would also save on the waterpark, our experience is the pools at the resorts is great for kids your age and you can split those up and do part day at the pool, part downtown disney or a park.
We drive straight thru right now, and the wife was very pleased and suprised how well it went even on the way back, I75 all the way for us.
Your itinerary looks fine, but as some others have said, and I mentioned this to a neighbour who just went for their first time. BE FLEXABLE, after all our times there we still havent done it all. Our neighbour had 2 meals booked everyday (even when I tried to help ) well she got back and said she cancelled more than half of them since there wasnt time or they knew they wanted something else. We plan one meal a day and the rest of the time go with the flow of a minor plan.

With your infant, and even the 5yr I would always go back and nap mid day. We would tell our girls that we will nap and then have an hour swim when they wake up. That gets them going again and ready for the night. But we like getting up early for rope drop, so a nap at 1 or 2 is perfect. You have to know your kids though, no sense of pushing to a melt down.

Your 2nd day, it will be tough to get back for wishes from HDDR and that is just alot of rushing. I like the Springs the first night, but for dinner and stroll, not late and its close to the resort. The day you do AK book Tusker house for dinner, they now have the characters and the meal is great. The park maybe open later by then with the river of lights show, if not take a quick drive over to AKL and check it out, even doing the night vision goggles with the kids. If you dont eat at tuskers, then Boma is our favorite.

Have a great time.

 

[Mikie]

I think the others are all steering you to great plans. I love your meal choices for character meeting and with a big family - I traveled with extended family of 12 last fall and went many of the same places.

You said you're getting the water park passes, but I'd personally skip them. As @AtlantaDisneyDreamer said, I find them quite a lot of work with kids (at places other than WDW. I admit I've not done them at WDW because we always have 8 day trips, with #1 and #8 being mostly travel and we have an action-packed, never-tired-of-any-park trip without ever hitting the water parks)

I love @Nancyg56 suggestion of doing some early days (because everyone will be up and excited!) and some later days for evening entertainment. . . BUT my family has never accomplished it! Though we are not early risers, there's always at least part of the family too excited to go slow in the morning. We go a little after rope drop, but not "late" on those days and stay in the park as late as we can. Be especially alert to needs for food, hydration, and rest breaks on a day like that. We just can't force ourselves to fully "break" but we can't go full-tilt all day either.

Your resort is spectacularly themed, so you can easily spend partial days wandering the resort and enjoying the pool and playground for a break from park action (and some unrestricted movement for the kids. No lines! No structure!)

Have a fabulous trip!

 

[kelmcg]

Lots of great advice!! I LOVE the memory maker, I've had it on our last 2 trips and will never go without it!!

I also agree with everyone who is talking about the character meals. It will usually take 1 - 1 1/2 hours for you to see all characters at a meal, that is time that you are sitting, relaxing, and eating in an air conditioned room. Our favorite character meals are Crystal Palace, Chef Mickey's, and 1900 Park Fare. If one child doesn't want to visit with the characters they won't need to get up to see them. (Once you are seated in a restaurant you will see the path that the characters follow. If you have a child who doesn't want to get too close to the characters you can arrange it so that his/her chair is facing the characters and not in their path. This way they won't be surprised by a character coming up behind them.)

 

[ruthie_]

Thank you so much everyone - such great feedback. I had to break planning due to holidays but am back at it

Our dollar is so weak. I am hoping it pulls up before the trip... @mort1331

It is so hard because you naturally want to do as much as you can (especially as it's not cheap and as the CAD$ is $.72US...), but I am sure the naps and breaks and "chill" time will be good for the kids.

I am so excited! hahaha! I can't wait. And the kids still don't know - it's still a surprise!

 

[DogwoodDisney]

Congratulations on your upcoming trip! The planning part can be so fun too as it builds the excitement at the same time! I agree with the others who suggest re-thinking the park hoppers and water parks. I really think the pool at AoA will feel like a water park to the kids. And to me, park hoppers with little ones is tiring and just adds another layer of planning and logistics. WDW is so big and can easily feel overwhelming. I vote for keeping things as simple as possible, especially for a first visit. Down-time is a must. Don't feel like you need to "do it all" because it's not possible and it can take some of the magic away.

Look over the touring plans on touringplans.com to give you an idea of what different touring scenarios look like. You can try playing around with the custom touring plans too. However if you use one I suggest not getting too hung up about following it exactly, maybe use it as more of a guide.

Akershus and is a great option to dine with the princesses, less expensive than CRT too. You might like 1900 Park Fare too.

One last tip, arrange for a wake-up call from a character.

 

[ruthie_]

@DogwoodDisney - The wake up call would be super fun! My kids would love that. Thank you! I think we are probably going to scrap park hopper and water park passes. I think it will feel "full" from visiting the parks. We do have the dining plan (1 TS, 1 QS, 1 Sn/night of stay) - we have our ADRs already in and ready to go. Some people say it is too much food. What do you think?

 

[DogwoodDisney]

I don't think it's too much food. I've only done the dining plan once. My kids were 10, 6 and 2 and it worked just fine for us. It was free at the time, but we used up all our credits and I don't remember feeling like we had too much food. We enjoyed sitting for one meal a day. Character meals are a great use of the dining plan too. We also had breakfast in the room several times. Just had a few groceries delivered and had things like cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, fruit. It was good to have some healthier food sometimes too.

I really don't think you'll miss the park hoppers or the water parks. The kids will love the pool. Don't be surprised if they ask to leave a park to swim in the pool!