Disneyworld done right

I am a big fan of the meal plans, but more importantly, MAKE RESERVATIONS. Yes, it means you have to be at certain places at certain times, but every day at lunch we walked right in and were seated. The people in line were enduring 60 -90 minute waits, and sometimes up to 2 hours. With a hungry, nap-deprived kids this is not good. We ate an outdoor drive-in theater that was indoors and an outdoor Mexican villa that was indoors. Weird right? The Crystal Palace was a good lunch spot in Disney because they had a buffet for kids only and characters roaming. Many meals book within seconds of being available (Princess Breakfast in the Castle) so call as early as you can, as in, 6 months to the day, 10 minutes before the phones open.

We always stay at the All-Star Resorts. Bus service to the park is convenient, and they have great pools and play areas. Can't beat the price either.

Oh, and don't forget that the meal plan covers Downtown Disney as well. Nice to take an evening there one night.

I'm no fan of that E36 M3 show so also take this with a grain of salt but... I've been there twice so I have a pretty good lay of the land.

Four is too young. You will hate his whining ass when it's really your fault for torturing a toddler. An older kid can ride all the rides. Wait until he is 36" tall or better and can stay on his feet for an 11hr day. Then follow everyone else's advice because the rest of mine is more like "Go to the grand caynon, grand tetons, patagonia, or anywhere but an amusement park". Some say that isn't helpful

In reply to BradLTL: Doing similar research currently. Couple questions for you on the quotes above? -What rough dates are you looking at? -How many days will you stay? -Are you looking at parkhopper passes and for how many days?

We are looking to take our 5 year old perferrably before school's out. Our rough plan includes using my Hilton points for free hotel and my airfare miles for free tickets. I travel waaay to much so this will at least make those parts cheap. trying to think thru how many days and how many parks we need to see? From recent memory the park tickets I looked at with parkhopper for 4 days were like 275 each for us?

Right. Is that parkhopper or non? You'll really want that option. Is it including waterparks and DisneyQuest, or is it just a basic ticket? Just for comparison, when we last went in 2013, we stayed for 2 weeks off property. We got park hopper and water park options. We have a family of 5 (my wife, myself and 3 kids), and we spent somewhere around $5500 or so...including airfare and rental car.

This site, and specifically the crowd calendars were the wife's favorite aids for planning our trip: http://wdwprepschool.com/big-chart-the-best-times-to-visit-disney-world-in-2015/

At Disney this week, staying at the beautiful Wyndham Bonnet Creek resort next to Epcot. Weather is ideal - mid 70's during the day and just cool enough for windbreakers at night. I'll report back if we learn anything beyond what was already covered.

Sorry, I forgot to follow-up. We did Epcot one day, Magic Kingdom another and also went to Legoland. The remaining days we hung out at the resort, which was pretty stellar. We had an enormous three bedroom, two bath suite with a full kitchen, which was fine for six adults plus cots/playpens for four young kids.

We did Epcot on a Tuesday. The park had a light crowd and it was easy to schedule ride times and meal reservations. Epcot is a pretty low key place compared to Magic Kingdom, but the fact that there were ten of us of all different ages, priorities, and ride restrictions made deciding what to do and when overly complicated. By early afternoon we had broken into groups of 3 or 4 and went our own way, which made for a better experience for everyone. We brought dollar store glow sticks, necklaces and light-up toys, so we saved a bundle once the sun went down (illuminated trinkets cost a bundle in the park).

Our day at Magic Kingdom was a mess. We went on a Friday and the park was packed. We were relying on guest passes belonging to a local season pass holder, and we sat at the gate for ages waiting to meet up with them. Once we were inside we found out that 'guests' like us couldn't schedule any fast passes, so riding any of the main attractions was out of the question until late into the evening (lines for the coasters were 1-2.5 hours at that point). Again, competing priorities led to some conflict and a lot of wondering around until we split up into groups and went our own way.

Legoland is 45 minutes SW of Disney, so a long way from Orlando. It's a small park but still expensive (we had free passes) and the rides are geared mostly on elementary to middle school age kids. The day we went it was cold (for Florida) and drizzling, so the park was nearly empty. Lines were very short and even though the park closes early, we were able to ride the coasters again and again and again for the last two hours of the day.

Lessons learned:
- The first hour that parks are open is magic--lines really haven't formed yet, the kids aren't tired and cranky yet, so arrive at the gates in time for opening and hit your favorite attractions as quickly as possible.
- It rains often in Orlando, so plan to catch stage shows or other lengthy indoor attractions around the weather forecast.
- Food in the parks is pretty expensive, so pack snacks but pack light. Food and drinks can be brought into the parks, but you have to haul what you brought around all day. A light pack of snack bars and empty sports bottles (filled as needed at water fountains) was enough to tide everyone over till dinner in the parks.
- Sit-down restaurants in the parks very pricey and the food isn't that great... but depending on the venue, the atmosphere and entertainment may make up for that, as does having a comfortable place for the whole family to sit down and relax for a while.
- Magic Kingdom is one of the most heavily attended attractions in the world. There's a ton to do, so you can't see everything in one day, and even on days of light crowds there will be significant lines. Plan ahead what your family wants to see, schedule fast passes, and keep a positive attitude about enjoying your time together even while in line, or frustration will set in and sour your experience.

Yes, arriving early before the lines get long is a good idea. However, even then you need to pick the one ride you're shooting for and jump on it. Tons of people have this same idea. So when you show up 15 minutes before the gates open, there's already a huge crowd outside waiting to get in. As they scan tickets/fingerprints (which if you get stuck behind the wrong clueless group of tourists you're berkeleyed), people literally sprint to the ride they want. The Toy Story ride in Hollywood Studios is a perfect example. It's nuts. If you don't get to the park early and sprint, you won't get on. Fast Pass is gone by 10am and the line is 2+ hours. So just plan around it.

Food is expensive, we always pack. We've had a stroller with a big carrying area which has made it nice to not have to carry it. This year, our kids are too old for strollers (though we're still considering pushing our 8 year old twins around) so we may get a wheeled cooler.

I can't be the only one who saw those prices and was trying to figure out how good a Miata I could get for that!

Only thing I can add is that as a jaded adult who dislikes theme parks and crowded spaces, I had a great one-day trip through Animal Kingdom with my niece and brother-in-law. And there is a train there too.

When we went in '98 ,my boys were 11 and 13. We stayed at the monorail hotel. My wife took the boys to a couple of kingdoms on her own ,while I was at business meetings (Yes, really!) and one round of golf. The kids didn't like the kingdoms that I remembered from watching TV years ago. My older son will still comment negatively if I start whistling "It's a Small World".
We went in November and crowds were low. A staff member told me their slackest time of year is between Thanksgiving and Christmas. If I were to go back again, that's when I'd go.Stay on site, and be prepared for the prices,too.

Another tip ,maybe. We golfed at one of the courses that is on-site, but was being leased by the military. At least it was in 1998. Active military(not sure how it applied to ex-military) could stay at that hotel for cheap. Golf was relatively cheap and the beer was priced like it was on base.I have no idea if anything like this is available today.

nderwater wrote: Plan ahead what your family wants to see, schedule fast passes, and keep a positive attitude about enjoying your time together even while in line, or frustration *will* set in and sour your experience.

This is a good point. We had fast-passes and meal reservations and early entry and used every other trick in the book to avoid lines, but at some point you can't avoid a long wait. We planned for that and picked a ride where we could sit down in the shade (and then in A/C) to wait. We had snacks and drinks ready, and had gamea to play. We got other kids from the line involved in the games and turned an hour wait into a relaxing and memorable experience.

Yea, we've got the fast pass thing going. Setting that up is a bit of a chore. Stay up until midnight, furiously click a website trying to get what you want before everyone else doing the exact same thing.

+1 What everybody has said about Fast Pass. My favorite park is Epcot. I'd be happy going to Orlando and just visiting that.

In our research Fort Wilderness Campgrounds was the most affordable place to stay for us. Keep in mind there were 6 of us and we stayed in one of the many cabins which was very very clean and you really felt like you were out in the Florida wilderness. We mostly took the ferry style boats to the Magic Kingdom but buses get you there also. Free meal plans were huge with 4 kids (youngest was 8).

Been there twice in the past 5 years doing it this way. Once I got past my own reservations about doing a trip like this for so much $$$, and seeing how much my kids and wife enjoyed it and still talk about it, both trips were indeed worth it in my opinion.

If it's still there, try the GM electric car ride at Epcot.