Very New Newbie- Please advise!!

[kenzieq]

Hey all! I am so excited about our upcoming trip to WDW in late April or Early May. As I am researching my different options, I am very overwhelmed by all of it! I am going to order a few books on the matter, any suggestions? Also, here's some info: It will be my husband and myself and my two children, a dd (7) and ds (6). This will be our first trip ever to WDW and we haven't told the children yet because they wouldn't sleep for the next 3 months, lol!

I think our best money saving option will be to stay at fort wilderness. We love to camp and can either tent camp or borrow my fil's camper. Is fort wilderness awesome? What are some things we can expect to do there? What parks would you recommend we go to? How long should we stay? What would be highlights for a 6 and 7 year old? I would like to stay at least 5 days. I definitely want to cook at the campsite as much as I can to save money. I would rather spend the money at the parks! I thank you in advance for the great advice I know I am going to get and I know I will have more questions!

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Well HOWDY there and WELCOME our "very new Nrwbie" !
It is way so cool ,,ya'llz first time ever !! WAY COOL !

Lets get start'd, now remember, everything I'm tell'n you is in SECRET and only my opinion, so don't tell anyone,(cept your family)

Yes The Fort ia ABSOLUTELY AWESOME !! Not like any campground you'veever been at.

If It were me, I'd use FIL's camper for the forst time, I think it would just make life a little easier til ya'll get to experience the Fort and figure out how everything at the Fort works.

How long to stay ? As long as ya'll can afford $. If you were to stay two weeks, you still couldnt cover all of Disney, theres just sooo much there ! (and you will go back)

Parks ? Ya need to do all of them. Now mind you, if you did one park a day, for four days inna row, IT WILL WEAR YA'LL OUT ! BUT it will be fun.
If you dont' do all 4 parks (for me) I would do
1. Magic Kingdon
2. Animal Kingdom
3. Epcot
4. Hollywood Studios

Highlights for the children would be the parks. But at the Fort, you can watch the fireworks at the MK when they close, from the Marina beach. And every night at 9:45 PM if you go to the Marina beach/lake you can watch the nightly Light Boat Parade come by.

I love to fish at the Fort, and the Fishing is good, BUT for your first time to Disney I'd say to wait til another trip to fish,,ya'll are really gonna be busy your first trip.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Let me add a little more.
The Fort is very large,,if your children/ya'll have bikes, bring them. You can also rent bikes there.
If you don't mind dropp'n some $$, renting a golf cart is lots of fun too.
Also,,BRING YOUR SWIMM SUITS ! What we like to do is hit the parks early, take a mid day break and go swim'n in heated heated pool and relax, then back to the parks in the evening. There is a new pool at the Fort with a slide, LOTS of fun !

Bring a camera !! We'll all need to see your pictures to prove to us you were there,

 

[Judy in Texas]

I would take the arrival day to get settled and poke around The Fort. Maybe go to Downtown Disney to Earl of Sandwich for a quick supper. It's a fun area to get in the Disney spirit and you don't have to use a park ticket for just a couple hours. Make sure your kids know up front what their spending limit is. Lots of shops there to tempt them to spend the whole trip's budget the first day.

Be at MK rope drop the first morning. This is usually 9:00 AM so be there and through Security no later than 8:45. There is a nice show welcoming you to MK. The WDW mayor plus singer/dancers start the show and then the major characters arrive by train. It is a great way to start the trip.

Check out the nightly Fort movie schedule. Bring s'more fixin's from home or buy them there. I've also heard of people roasting hot dogs over the fire. Chip and Dale take time to meet all the kids. Good photo op.

Trip length? One day at each park minimum plus time to enjoy all The Fort has to offer. Nice pools, arts/crafts, visit the horse barns, watch the fireworks and electric boat parade from the beach...

You'll have a great time.

 

[retired and happy]

Don't wait too long to make reservations. There may still be some schools with spring breaks that late and things could get difficult regarding getting the type campsite you want. I agree with using the camper. What type is it...popup, trailer, other? You can bring whatever food you want to cook, have your own space to relax in, etc. Where will you be coming from?

The Fort is also a place to come down from the excitement of the parks, and there is a lot to do there. If you want to drop a few buck, you might want to consider either the BackYard BBQ or the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review, both at the Fort and both serving a hefty helping of BBQ and all the trimmings. The BYBBQ under a large pavilion also offer singing and dancing, rope tricks, and meet the characters. The HDDR indoors offers a stage show with audience interaction. Both are very popular and require reservations. Archery lessons, horseback and pony riding, Segway Tours, carriage rides, boat rentals....all extra cost, but also popular.

I'm not sure you need any books on WDW, but dig around here and see what others have done or plan on doing. You can get a DVD from Disney about planning your trip which may prove helpful. Check the main Disney site if you haven't already received an offer in the mail.

And as Frank said, if you don't get everything done, don't worry...You'll be back. Welcome to DisBoards and have a great time.

 

[Shan-man]

I am going to order a few books on the matter, any suggestions?

My favorite is the Passporter. It is a very thorough guide book and a vacation planner in one. I find it very helpful to go through and flag the rides, restaurants and sights I want to take in so that I can develop a plan... and you will NEED a plan for a first visit, especially with little ones. I also highly recommend doing research on the DIS (parent site of these boards) at WDWInfo.com and AllEarsNet.Com, both are exceptional sources of info.

Is fort wilderness awesome? What are some things we can expect to do there? What parks would you recommend we go to? How long should we stay?

Yes, the Fort is awesome! I would rather stay at the Fort than the Grand Floridian for the same money! How's that for a testimonial? Others have done a good job of mentioning some of the great activities at the Fort, but I'll throw in another vote for the Campfire Sing-a-Long, Hoop-Dee-Doo, the pool and looping (i.e. golf cart touring). How long should you stay? Honestly, as long as you can. If you intend to sample all four theme parks and return home refreshed (as opposed to exhausted) I would suggest 8 days minimum. If you hope to experience pretty much all that the parks have to offer, I'd say 12 days is more like it. Ideally, I'd plan an off day after every park day, and I'd plan 2 days each for MK and Epcot and 1 day each for AK and DHS given your family's ages. I like to add 2-3 days before and after the parks also to get settled in and relax... obviously I could happily spend 3-4 weeks at the Fort!

What would be highlights for a 6 and 7 year old?

Almost everything at MK. If they are into animals, then almost everything at AK, if not then Dinoland, Tough to be a Bug, Festival of the Lion King, Nemo - the Musical. At DHS the two stunt shows and Toy Story Mania are the best bets. At Epcot Soarin, Nemo and Maelstrom are the main rides for your kid's ages. But, the Kim Possible adventure and plentiful character meet and greets at Epcot will also keep them busy. I would add that the character meets at Epcot and AK are considerably shorter lines than at the MK, so I'd try to save that for those parks.

I definitely want to cook at the campsite as much as I can to save money.

Cooking at the campsite will certainly be a trade-off. You will be saving money, but spending time. On a short trip, spending the money on food to have more time in the parks may be a better choice. On a longer trip, burning time on transportation to get home, fix a meal, clean up, and get back to the parks hours later may be worth it. It all becomes a balancing act. I hope the advice from our un-balanced Fort Fiends helps you to find the right balance for you!

 

[indimom3]

Your kids will love the Fort! We try to do the campfire as many nights as possible, and watch the outdoor movies. They will love the new pool, and just exploring the campground. Rent a boat for a few hours if you have a free day.
We stay at the cabins, and always eat breakfasts and about half of our lunches/dinners in the cabin. It makes a big difference. It also helps the kids unwind, eating quietly instead of in a noisy restaurant for every meal.

 

[stitch09]

you should get the book called "Birnbaum." it is the official guide to WDW!! my family has been there 14 times and we still get Birnbaum every year- it is an excellent source!! since i've been there so many times and know a lot about WDW, feel free to ask me any questions!!

 

[kenzieq]

Wow! Thanks so much for the enthusiastic replies! I am even MORE excited now! It will be cheaper to stay at the fort vs. a value hotel. I really don't mind cooking. I will keep it simple a lot in order to save time. The camper we will be in is not a fifth wheel but has a slide out, so it's plenty spacious enough. It really isn't much difference in price whether we stay 5 nights or 7-8 nights. So we will try to stay as long as we can!
How do I go about making reservations to some of the dinner shows that you recemmended? What is the price range on some of these things? Can I take any snacks into the park with me if I carry a small backpack? What about carrying water?

I like the idea of hitting the parks early, coming back to the camper, eating and resting and then going back in the afternoon. What is the travel time to the parks from the fort using the wdw transportation? Would you add on a water park or just stick to the 4 main parks? I know I'll have other questions later!

 

[ob1quixote]

We planned out our menu in advance, keeping things simple so cooking wasnt such a huge chore. Cold cereal and fruit for breakfast, back pack snacks to tide over when in the parks, dinner about mid afternoon after a swim and then back to the park.

We did splurge here and there, ate a breakfast at Trails End and baurgers at a joint over by Tomorrowland. I would skip the Tomorrowland dinner, but thought Trails End wasnt too shabby, good rib sticking stuff.

The mornings a parks, afternoons in the pool and either back to the park [especially on extended hours} or go for a second swim, then to the campfire/movie.

Make sure to carry some cushions to the campfire movie, some of those benches are as hard as logs!

 

[Shan-man]

I don't have time at the moment to answer your new questions to the degree that I'd like so I'll defer for the moment. But I did want to clarify one thing:

I really don't mind cooking. I will keep it simple a lot in order to save time.
...
I like the idea of hitting the parks early, coming back to the camper, eating and resting and then going back in the afternoon. What is the travel time to the parks from the fort using the wdw transportation?

That was what I was talking about when I mentioned a trade-off. If you are at the MK, a trip back to the Fort for a quick lunch (chili that's been stewing in the crock pot, for instance) might only take 3 hours out of your park time by time you walk from wherever you are to the boat launch, wait for it, ride it back to the Fort, walk to the bus stop, ride to your loop, walk to your campsite, serve up lunch, eat, clean up, throw some other frozen concoction into the crock pot for dinner, and make your way back. You'll probably be looking at nearer 4 hours from other parks. There is a trade-off. Of course, you can take a picnic lunch with you to the parks, but you will have to of prepared it sometime and deal with lugging it around. Personally I'd plan for breakfasts at the camper, lunches in the parks, and 50/50 dinners at camp and at the parks. Any more than that and I fear you'll feel like you're always making provision for your vacation rather than enjoying your vacation... and nobody wants that, not even the hungry mouths. If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.

 

[PrincessMom98]

I agree with Shan-man the Passporter is a great book to start with. It also gives a kids point of view and scare factors for the rides. I also use the same websites he lists for more details like restaurant menus.
I would plan 1 full day for each park, 2 for Magic Kingdom and Epcot if you can. I always schedule in a couple down days for the pool, Downtown Disney, HoopDeDoo and just plain sleep! My kids do much better with a down day at least every 3rd day! The fort is a great place to relax and unwind. We rented a golf cart for 2 days on our last trip and my kids enjoyed riding around in it almost as much as the parks!

The HoopDeeDoo is a dinner show. It is kindof expensive. If you are on a budget you may want to save it for another trip. You can get info here. What ever you decide I am sure you will have a great time!

 

[indimom3]

You can definitely take snacks, etc, into the park. You can carry water, or just get free cups of water from any food service spot that serves fountain drinks.
The MK is about a 20 minute boat ride away, that doesn't include whatever time it takes you to get from your site down to the marina - that's going to vary depending on what loop you are in.
The buses that take you to the other parks leave from the outpost. It can take anywhere from 20-45 mins depending on how long you end up waiting for the bus. Hard to predict. If you have a car, you can just drive. Parking at the parks is free for resort guests.

 

[SandrA9810]

But getting to MK is always best by Disney transportation.


I'd suggest if you're going to do an early morning day at the parks, then plan on lunch there.
If you're going to do a late start, then eat an early lunch at your campsite and have dinner in the parks.
Then on your off days, just eat at the campsite.

2-3 days at a time is good. There's so much fun at the fort you'll be missing out if you don't spend a couple days exploring. And of course stick with as many days as possible. If you want to do 8 days or something, go for 4/5 park days. And don't count the day you check in and the day you leave, because it can take some time to do all of that. If you get there early enough, you'll have plenty of time to set up camp, and let the kids go swimming.

And BTW, it's call the "electric water pagent". It plays nightly on the water, and no matter where you are, you will be able to hear it.

Hoop De Doo is 50$ per adult, so it is a bit expensive, and the BBQ is 40-45$ per adult. I haven't done either one, but I would love to do them. You can hear it outside the building and every one walks away laughing and having fun.

trail's end is a good buffet, and lunch is dirt cheap. I eat there a couple times a year.

Another thing to consider, is getting the resort mugs. It's 13$ a mug, but gives you free soda/coffee/tea/hot chocolate while you're here.

It's your first trip, so you're gonna want to explore all the parks and stuff. But on your other trips down, you'll start to learn what works for your family, and wind up with more time in the campgrounds.

Another thing to think about is getting a 10day no expiration with WPFM option. It'll give you 10 park days, and 10 water park/disney quest/golf days as well. It's an expensive up front cost, but it'll save you money down the road when you only have to pay for a campsite.

And don't forget, you can get a AAA member discount on the campsites too. When you call to book your reservation, just ask them if there's a discount available.

 

[FWFans]

When we travel to the fort I always cook in advance and freeze it to bring on the trip. In the morning after breakfast, I take whatever I plan to heat up for dinner out of the freezer. We take snacks and/or sandwiches into the park for lunch. (The sandwiches are made by others while breakfast is being fixed or cleaned up in order to save time).
We have done the Hoop de doo in the past. The food is all you can eat and includes drinks, wine or beer. However I find it to be expensive so we don't do it everytime we go to the fort.
We are returning to the fort in November. We are planning to spend more time at the fort this Thanksgiving compared to last year.
Have a wonderful trip with your family !!!!

 

[MadFF]

When we went in 2008, it was the first time for our kids (11 and 13 at the time), and wife and I hadn't been there in close to 30 years.

My wife said she did NOT want to spend the whole week cooking, so we went with the Dining plan that is lunch and dinner with a snack. It worked great for us - a simple, quick breakfast in the camper (cereal or bagels), and then lunch and dinner whereever in the parks. When we go again, we will probably eat more at the camper to save money, but for our first trip we splurged.

A "must do" is a meal at Cinderella's Castle. You have to get a reservation (most likely months in advance). Wife, daughter, and sister had dinner one night there, and they said it was absolutely amazing - and of course they had their picture taken with Cinderella.

Hoop-de-do-Review is a lot of fun, I recommend that also.

Plan on being flexible. The kids may get worn out in the middle of the day - go ahead and return to the Fort to relax. Plan on getting to the parks and some rides, but try to avoid being too rigid with a schedule. You are there to have fun, not run a military operation.

We got a Disney World trip planning book that was one year old - it was 75% less than a "new" one.

Have fun!

 

[kenzieq]

Well, I went to books-a-million yesterday and got the Birnbaum book, it was the best choice there. I have enjoyed reading it! I knew Disney was huge, but man, we are going to be wore out, lol! Has anyone ever tent camped at the fort? We love to camp and I am wondering how 7-8 days would be in a tent? Bringing my fil's camper may not be a possibility, we don't know yet. Also my dad has a golf cart that we could bring with us if we tent camp. What are your thoughts on this?

Have any of you ever done the dining plan? Or have any of you ever bought maybe a 7 day ticket pass with the no expiration date? I'm wondering if this would be cheaper in the long run, if we plan on returning? Would you add water parks too? We are major water park fans and this would be awesome to do as well? I know if we had the no expiration dates, we would eventually come back I really want to get this hashed out so that I can start making reservations. I think we will do some kind of character dining, probably with princesses. My dd is 7 and I am going to get her hair done in the princess style but I will bring a princess dress from home We are going to tell the kids soon, they've been picking up on some of my conversation with dh so I won't be able to keep it from them forever!

 

[SandrA9810]

dining plan is great, but not cheap. Don't forget you still have to add gratuity to your sit down meal. And the castle is two credits, the norway one is only one credit. Or if it's only cindy you want to see then go to the dinner at 1900 park fare.

Tent camping is definatly doable. I love staying a week or more at a time. Just so i can enjoy my accomplishment of setting up camp. Just bring a comfy bed. A lot of people use the tall inflatables, i make mine out of a 3" foam with several blankets on top. Almost as good as home.

I set up a mini fridge on the table for milk and snacks. I'd put an extra milk crate or something if you plan on leaving a crock pot out, don't want the critters getting to it. Unless the lid locks on.

If your gonna go with 7 days, might as well get ten days for a few more bucks. You can definatly get two trips out of it.
If you like water parks, then go for it. But there's already so much for a new comer to experience. That i'd skip it for the first couple of trips. Once you come to relax, then go for it. If you do go for it, and you use up all your theme park days, the WPFM option doesn't expire till you use them up. So for this trip you could go for WPFM with No-E. Then on your third or so trip, you'll have to buy new park tickets, but you'll still probably have a few water park days left over.

 

[CSHaydt]

I also highly recommend the PassPorters book...i love it and i'm an event planner and always plan trips out well in advance (note things don't always go to plan) but it's always good to have one.

This will also be our first time trip with our 4 year old son and at Fort Wilderness. My husband and i were there 10 years ago.

We have the dining plan and are planning on doing breakfast at the camper and lunch and dinners out with snacks and dinner options at the camper in case we need them. We are planning are doing the parks most of the day and then back to relax/swim and then in the evening either do activities at FW or head back to a park (we are going for 7 days with 2 days built in for total downtime)

I have a question - Since we are pulling our pop-up and will disconnect our van. Is it easier to drive back to whatever evening park we want to go to? We have the AAA parking pass and were wondering if its quicker to just drive to Epcot, Downtown Disney, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom in the evening instead of trying to get on the DW transportation with the masses?

Thanks

 

[MadFF]

I have a question - Since we are pulling our pop-up and will disconnect our van. Is it easier to drive back to whatever evening park we want to go to? We have the AAA parking pass and were wondering if its quicker to just drive to Epcot, Downtown Disney, Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom in the evening instead of trying to get on the DW transportation with the masses?

Thanks

I think that "all depends". When we went in mid-October, the Disney transportation was great. One thing to remember... since we were there for a whole week, I didn't force the family to get up early every day. Many times we didn't get to the parks until almost 10AM. I think most days we simply missed the early morning "rope drop" rush. Also, from what I understand, we went during one of the least crowded seasons at Disney.

We did drive ourselves to Typhoon Lagoon. That worked out well for us.

It was nice, after a busy day at the parks, just to hop on a bus and be driven back to our campsite. I also finagled a couple "routes" at Disney World that "required" us to take a few Monorail rides... the comes from growing up with a Dad who is a big railfan. Make sure to ask if you can sit up front with the Monorail operator!

And of course, taking the boats to the Magic Kingdom just can't be beat!