Visiting for first time, tips please.

[Gumbo4x4]

I'm personally not a fan of meal reservations, but especially not lunch. It just eats up SO much time right in the meat of the day.

 

[BMC423]

You don't have to be staying at the deluxe to use the kids clubs

Thanks for this info!!

 

[lizard1]

I'm personally not a fan of meal reservations, but especially not lunch. It just eats up SO much time right in the meat of the day.

I'm the complete opposite. I like to have a late lunch booked every day. Sure, it takes up some time, but I like that it forces us to take a break in the middle of the day (when it is the hottest). I also like that with a TS you are guaranteed to have an airconditioned place to eat your food. Also, with the amount of food that you get at a TS meal, I find that if I eat breakfast in the room and have the late lunch, that we are fine if we have one snack during the day, so it saves us some money over eating a CS for lunch and then a TS or another CS for dinner.

 

[PaulaS79]

I can only provide advice for your older DD's situation.

It is very likely her band will have their own agenda and that her band directors may not be too happy with her going off with you guys while she is under the care of the band directors. They are responsible for her and they are more than likely going to want her to stick with their group.

There is also the fact that she is probably performing at Disney at that will require practices while she is with the band that will take away from her time from you, and also the possibility that she may just want to hang with her friends for a while.

When my choir went in 2013, parents were on the trip but they were chaperons and stayed with us in our hotel and were on our schedule. Some family members of friends did come down to see us perform, and they were allowed to spend some time with my friends however my friends still had to stick with 2-3 other choir students as those were our rules for the trip.

It's definitely something to keep in mind. She may not be able to attend all these dining reservations and FP reservations with you because she is with the band and on the band's schedule.

Oh, we don't plan on seeing her at all, unless she needs more spending money of course. lol We're just scheduling at the same time so it's fair to the little ones as well.
She won't be on our dining reservations or anything. She has her own itinerary, schedule, etc..
We'll be in separate hotels as well.

 

[DopeyDame]

Thought of a couple more questions..

We haven't decided if we are going to fly or drive to Disney yet (we're in Ohio). If we do drive, I'm not worried about transportation on Disney but what about to Universal?
Do they offer some sort of service with Universal? There's nothing that Disney or Universal offer to get back and forth (they don't want you going to the other place!) There is an Orlando Lynx bus or Mears. Or a taxi.

Also curious about child care. We'll be celebrating our 17 anniversary while there and though not mandatory, it'd be nice if hubby and I could go to dinner or something by ourselves. Does anywhere offer child care and if so how does it work? Rates, etc? Most of the deluxe hotels have a kids club for kids 4 - 12 (or maybe 4-10, not positive) with evening hours. I've never used it personally but have heard good things. You do not need to be staying at that hotel to use the kids club, so you can send the kids to the one closest to where you'll be dining.

Or does anywhere do anything special for birthdays, anniversaries, etc..? Get an anniversary pin at the front desk of your hotel or at guest services. Most likely the only thing it will get you is a "Happy Anniversary!" from some cast members, but you never know - sometimes there might be some pixie dust. If you want to do something for your DH for sure (order a cake, decorations, etc.) that's possible too, but obviusly you'll have to pay.

Oh, another one.. We'll be staying at Disney but my oldest will be staying off Disney with the band. I know we'll get magic bands but how do I get her one? She doesn't need one, but you can buy her one if you'd like. As far as I know you can't buy them in advance, but I could be wrong.

Also, if I choose to get the photo pass thingy (lol) can I link it to her band as well so any pictures she has taken will be with ours? I don't want to pay $300 for two!! I'm not positive about this, hopefully someone else will chiime in. What you can do is switch MBs so that your older daughter has one of your younger daughter's bands with her and your younger daughter will be with you so you can just use someone else's MB for the photopass swipe. Of course, you'll need to make sure the FP+'s linked to the band are for whoever is actually wearing it.

ETA: Sorry! For some reason I didn't see a second page when I wrote my response. So I realize most of this has already been addressed. So ignore me and carry on!