Disneyworld done right

Teach me...

It's not as much about being cheap as it is having a good time with the family. Some information, some questions...

We have a 4 year old boy.

He likes trains, so we would like a hotel that allows us to ride the monorail.

The whole meet the characters and character meals are things that he would enjoy.

Fast pass?

We are Costco members, they offer tickets that cheaper than through a "no charge" travel agent.

Is the meal plan worth it?

Help!?!

Meal plan- pass. Fast pass, not as important with a 4 year old, he won't want to ride a bunch of the hot rides. Take your timr, a lot of Advil, and some daddy juice for patience.

I went a few years ago when my son was 4 . IMO, staying at a Disney hotel and using the meal plan were both good moves. The one thing that I would have done differently is to stay in mid priced hotels, we stayed in a more upscale hotel, and I don't think it was worth the premium. I would also say to budget most of your park time to the magic kingdom and animal kingdom.

The Contemporary Resort is what you want to look at if you want direct access to the Monorail, since it goes right through the inside of the building. But if that's not important, the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Resort both have stops. Since they are the three original WDW resorts, they are a bit pricey, but you say that's not important, so those are your best options.

Review the meal plans. Most people are going to say yay or nay, but it depends on what you are going to do. There is I think 4 different meal plans, but seriously, that's up to you.

The wife and I stayed in the Grand Floridian for our honeymoon and loved it but for a kid I would agree with staying in the Contemporary. I thought it was cool how the monorail ran right inside the building.

Here is my advice:

Picture the money you are about to spend on this vacation. Picture it in a pile on the sidewalk. Now picture pouring gasoline over the entire pile and setting it on fire.

Now picture walking through the turnstiles at the Magic Kingdom, swiping your tickets (and thus starting the clock on their usage) and having your child immediately throw up on themselves. Sick kid, used ticket, no Disney that day.

Are you at peace with all that? Because until you are at peace with that exact scenario playing out you are not ready to take a small child to Disney.

Hear me out.

You do not want to be one of those poor bastards taking your family on a forced march through the Magic Kingdom to make sure you get your "money's worth" out of the trip. You are there to have fun with your family, not to get good ROI. You will not get to do "everything" there is to do. Make a list of "hope to do" and be happy with whatever gets checked off. Don't try and do five parks in five days. My best advice is to do one park every other day. There's plenty to do around Orlando on an "off" day that is laid back.

A lot of people take offense at my Disney advice, but I found it to be quite appropriate to my situation. Feel free to take it with a block of salt:

We waited til our boy was 5 before we did the disney thing. He was tall enough to go on all the rides then. This may be a consideration....

Personally I believe 8-10 years old are the perfect years to go to Disney. Old enough to ride all the rides and have ridden some rollercoasters previously, young enough that Magic Kingdom is still magical.

I've gone with a 12 and a 5 year old and the 12 year old had a considerably better time.

We just did Disney back in October. It was a big family trip (my 6, my parents and sister). Yes, we did the "Park-a-day" thing. As mentioned before, DON'T! Try to schedule 2-3 hours down time at your resort/hotel. You will thank me.

I would say 4 is about a minimum age. A good age for low parental stress also, as they can go on a lot but not everything.

The monorail hotels are $$$$ yet anyone can ride the monorail. Remember that! Chef Mickeys in te contemporary is a really good character experience and a good reason for another trip on the monorail from Magic Kingdom. There is also one between epcot and MK to ride if you do park hopper (we never do that).

Character meals are hit and miss. Our favorites are Chef Mickeys and Asherkus (Norway in Epcot) for breakfast.

We stayed in art of animation last time (needed a 6p room) and it was at the lower end $ wise but we were impressed with how nice it still was. Even the "cheap hotels" in Disney are nice.

My only other piece of advice is train for it. Seriously. Start walking and get good shoes and get used to them. My wife and I are both ok distance runners but the sheer amont of walking is unreal. Good stroller for the little one as well.

I stayed in the motel with a monorail going through it for a night back in the '70's when I was a young pup and still remember it. The monorail, the steam engine and the haunted house were my favorite things there at that time. Space Mountain was a new thing and I swear to this day I lost a flash cube on that ride. I never cared, even as a kid, to see people in strange costumes pretending to be cartoon characters, so that part of it was not anything special for me. I do remember drinking OJ out of a little plastic orange and that made it cooler than the OJ at home. I'm guessing one plastic orange of OJ cost more than a gallon at the grocery store.

I went back int he early 90's with my family. At the time, we really couldn't afford it and I was sorta like the guy that slefain warned you about above. I just wished I could've had my money back. We only went because we lived in Orlando at the time. We packed a cooler and went out to the parking lot to eat a picnic lunch to save money. Sounds like you will not be doing it like this, so that is good. Have fun.

The wife has decided that a monorail hotel is no longer a priority. So that changes a lot. She was looking at the art of animation hotel last night before giving up.

The boy is 41 inches tall, so he clears the minimum height for any ride I would be willing to put him on at this age.

Yea, I'm resigned to burning a pile of money. That's obviously not the goal, but it's going to happen so I'm not going to stress about it. Besides, you tend to be happier when you spend money on experiences rather than stuff.

We have done Disney a bunch of times, always staying off site and trying to find the cheapest way to get in. I have finally decided that if we do it again, I would just drink the Kool Aid and get one of the Disney packages: hotel, food, tickets. Disney knows how to do Disney better than anybody else. You'll pay for it, but the reduction in vacation aggravation is worth it.

Side note: Age 4 is too young. Nap time and crankiness will take a huge chunk out of your vacation experience.

PHeller wrote: Personally I believe 8-10 years old are the perfect years to go to Disney. Old enough to ride all the rides and have ridden some rollercoasters previously, young enough that Magic Kingdom is still magical. I've gone with a 12 and a 5 year old and the 12 year old had a considerably better time.

We did 5 days and 6 nights back in mid-September 2014 and I whole-heartedly agree about the perfect age range for the kids; ours were 7 and 8. My wife planned the trip several times over, watched crowd level patterns, sought out the best value for a hotel and dining, etc... she really rocked the planning. In the weeks leading up to the trip Friday was Disney movie night when we all watched a Disney movie of some sort (I know, shocking!) then the kids went to bed and I went to work.

We stayed at Coronado Springs and had the dining plan which worked out perfectly. It may not work so well without someone there as knowledgeable as my wife. I'd ask the kids if they were hungry then we'd decide if we wanted to use a snack credit, quick serve or sit-down dining. The tips are not included in the plan and usually come out at or above $20 for each sit-down dining meal so bring some tipping cash!

We also had some fast passes. It's awesome to be able to walk from one ride to the next. The crowds were minimal and we had an amazing time, my wife could seriously get paid to put together Disney packages and she'd love every minute of it. She had everything timed perfectly...well the wake ups were a bit early but it was worth it.

I hate hate HATE crowds. I flip the berkeley out if too many people get too close. We never had a problem.

When we go back we'll spend more time at Magic Kingdom and Epcot but less time at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. If we were rich we'd go at least two times per year.

Did the 4yr old plus mom/dad Disney trip a couple yes back and yes it can be a pain with the youngin, but it's tolerable. We stayed at the Orleans resort with a "free" meal plan. Certain times of the year, meal plans don't cost anything. It was still expensive, but still saved like $1500....

What everybody has said previously is spot on. I've done on and off property and on property, while expensive, on property is way easier on your sanity.

I'm not worried about his age. This year we did ICE at Opryland, he was full go until about 9:30 and then he said he was getting tired and was ready to go to bed. Last year he did the Mitty with no nap or complaints. Our summer beach trips rarely get naps either. I pretty sure he'll be good.

We will likely have a "down" day in the middle somewhere as well. Use it to go swimming and rest up a bit.

I have no desire to check every ride or attraction off a list. Hell, we will probably spend a lot of time just riding the train around the Magic Kingdom.

In reply to The_Jed:

Dawwwww (you know the next one is already planned, right?)

All the on-ground hotels have good transportation to anywhere. We stayed at the cheap places, Pop Century or perhaps All -Star Movies. Either way, the pool and room and such were fine and it saved us a lot of money over the fancier places. Kid loved the silly pools at where we stayed. That would be my recommendation for staying with a small child.

Family meal plan we skipped and don't regret it. Sure, we had scheduled meals. But otherwise, we ate when where and how we wanted. which considering how hot Florida is, was great as we mostly ate juice pops and the like.

Plan, but then relax and go with the flow. When the crowds go into the shows, there's virtually no line on the rides. And visa-versa. Lines really aren't bad, mostly because they aren't boring. They also tend to simply move fast and well. And, if the kid gets bored and wants to do something else, fine. For there certainly is something else to do. Always.

If the trip is mainly for the kid, let the kid do a lot of the deciding. Which in our case meant a long afternoon in the dinosaur pit. He was perfectly happy to spend hours digging up and reburying a fake dinosaur. We did take turns wandering off for our own entertainment. For this long pause wasn't anticipated by us. But, we adapted to it and he had a great time digging.

We tried going back to the room and napping once. Wasn't very good. But we did regularly stop and sit and relax throughout the parks. Not something that has hard to do either. Some cat-napping did ensue.

The bus rides back to the hotel were a plus. HUGE! Napping and snoring was a regular part of the ride. As in everyone on the busses, not just us. Followed somehow by a bit of pool time, serious sleeping, and going at it again the next morning. Staying at one of the resorts was probably the best trip decision we made.

In reply to BradLTL:

If travel time is flexible, I'd strongly advise the first two weeks of September. Crowds will be minimal, ride waits will be nonexistant (excepting headliners), it will be hot as all get out, but the heat is worth it for the low crowds. You also have an excellent chance of scoring free dining, which, if you're planning on character meals, will be a huge value. Utilizing free dining will require than you buy a 'package' through Disney, which can negate some of the savings, but for character meals, it's worth it to me.

For Fastpasses with a 4-year old, I would make sure to grab Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (it's a calm coaster and very cute), Peter Pan's Flight and Pirates (be warned, theres a blind drop in Pirates where the ride goes under the railroad that encircles the park. You'll know it's coming because everything will go pitch black) in the Magic Kingdom. For EPCOT, Soarin' is amazing and really only rideable with a FastPass unless you want to wait in line for an hour or more, Turtle Talk would be my other must grab here, the Character Spot. For HollyWood Studios, Toy Story Mania is another 'only do with a FastPass' ride, waits here can be upwards up 2 hours even in low crowds; followed by Star Tours and Great Movie Ride. Animal Kingdom is a strange beast with a kid that small, so use your FastPasses for Kilimajaro Safaris, Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo the Musical.

Schedule your FastPasses early in the day. Making them early will allow you to go to a kiosk and schedule a fourth. In EPCOT, use the fourth for Test Track and in the other parks use it for something that was a favorite previously.

Getting back to Character Meals, schedule pre-park opening breakfasts in every park that you can except Hollywood Studios. Reservations open 180 days out, and the early ones are the first to go because they come with a BIG perk: You get into the park before it opens and get pictures from the PhotoPass Photographers with a practically empty park behind you. Favorite character meals for our trip were Chrystal Palace in Magic Kingdom (a buffet with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet and Tigger, and the only place in the park to get puffed french toast, YUM), Garden Grill in EPCOT, which is only open for dinner (Mickey, Pluto and Chip 'n Dale), fun fact, a lot of the food served at GG is grown on Disney property, and it is delicious. I don't eat steak at all, I did here. In Animal Kingdom, Tusker House breakfast buffet is great (Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy, although there are rumors Goofy has been needed somewhere else in the morning). Hollywood Studios is a bit different in that my priority here is the Fantasmic Dinner Package more than a character meal. The Dinner Package doesn't cost you any more than a regular meal/single sit-down credit, but you eat at an earlier time and get reserved seating for Fantasmic, which means you don't have to be in line 2 hours before the show starts and the 'Fantasmic theatre is at capacity' announcements do not apply to you. You can walk into the theatre 15 minutes before showtime and still get an amazing seat (we were 4 rows back and had no one next to us). If Fantasmic is not something you are planning to do, then Hollywood and Vine has Disney Jr characters and good food.

We're not planning a trip for this year (even though I wish we were) so I haven't paid attention to the free dining rumors, but typically Moderate and above give you the regular dining plan which is one sit-down, one counter service and one snack/night you're there, which is a lot of food. The counter service meals are NOT split by child/adult, either, so you could maximize the value by ordering 2 adult meals and sharing with your son. Table service will cost you for each person dining, though.

Also, since he loves trains, make sure you hit the People Mover in Magic Kingdom, it's a 'train of the future' and gets an inside view of several Tomorrowland rides and some of Walt's original models for the parks, which are like little towns for a train set. There's also a huge train set in Germany in EPCOT what is mesmerizing to watch for a while.

OK, I think that's all the big points, or at least enough of a brain dump for now. Let me know if you have questions about anything :)

Forgot one very important point: PhotoPass, totally worth every penny! Especially if you plan to do pre-opening meals. You can take as many pictures as you want, and they're all included, and there are photographers everywhere including excellent ones at the character meets that will snap away as your child is overcome by meeting their favorites. Most will start snapping as your child approaches the character and won't stop until all autograph books are signed, everyone has their picture with the character and you've started to move on.

In reply to The_Jed:

Just FYI, Hollywood studios is getting a huge revamp this year. Rumors are that there will be a Star Wars land. So you should think about that.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Oh believe me, we know about the Star Wars rumors. We know them well. I may or may not have been mentally mapping the rumored layout when we were there in September (rumors broke a week or two before we left).

My family are big Disney fans, we've taken the kids several times and are going again this July. We've taken them as young as when our twins were 1 year old and our older son was 4. We've never stayed on the grounds at Disney. To me, it's money not well spent. The hotels are very nice, don't get me wrong. But we always rent a townhouse, you can get a nice one for $550-$700/week. That gives us a full 4 bedroom place, with kitchen, laundry and pool. It's a lot less expensive, has more room to spread out and also lets us bring food in so we're not forced to eat out all the time. A lot of people say "I'm on vacation, I don't want to cook or do laundry." But we make it easy. We cook/pack very simple things that take little time, we don't cook 4 course meals. And laundry is easy...just throw something in before bed and throw it in the dryer as you're getting showered and ready for the day. Plus having the rental car gives us a ton of flexibility to come and go and do all kinds of things. You can ride the monorails as often as you want, even if you're not staying in a hotel.

4 is definitely not too young for Disney. You guys will have a great time!

I forgot to mention another cool tidbit, the hotel where we stayed butted up to a huge lake and there were all sorts of aquatic creatures there. One morning the kids and I had breakfast with a little alligator that swam up within arms reach and just hung out, waiting for us to throw it some food (which we did not), I assume. It was about 3.5-4 feet long and dark green with eyes that were asking me what flavor I was.

There were also TONS of huge soft-shelled turtles and some nervous looking fish.

It was just myself and the kids that morning because shortly before departing Illinois my wife was stung in the calf by a ground wasp and after a day or so of walking around in the Florida (pronounced Flahrida ) heat it turned really red amd started hurting so she went to the E.R./prompt care, whatever you Flahridians call it, to have it checked out.

I got stung in the back while mowing, then I set their nest on fire. Aggressive little berkeleyers!

I just thought of another thing; bring comfy shoes! We probably walked 10 miles each day.

Here's what we've been quoted for prices so far... (I assume these aren't top secret)...

Check in 4/26 & check out 5/1

Grand Floridian - discounted price & free day of tickets Room & tickets - $3,331.13 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $3,831.18 Room, tickets & basic dining - $4,033.68

Polynesian - discounted price & free day of tickets Room & tickets - $2,724.73 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $3,224.78 Room, tickets & basic dining - $3,427.28

Contemporary - regular price Room & tickets - $4,025.38 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $4,525.43 Room, tickets & basic dining - $4,727.93

Check in 5/2 & check out 5/7

Grand Floridian - discounted price & free day of tickets Room & tickets - $3,355.59 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $3,855.64 Room, tickets & basic dining - $4,058.14

Polynesian - discounted price & free day of tickets Room & tickets - $2,760.57 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $3,260.62 Room, tickets & basic dining - $3,463.12

Contemporary - regular price Room & tickets - $4,060.26 Room, tickets & quick service dining - $4,560.31 Room, tickets & basic dining - $4,762.81