Headed to Disney World (FL) in a few weeks - Any tips?
 

Any advice, tips, etc?

I haven't been since the early 80's when I was a kid.

Got a nice house rented (4 bedroom with a hot tub and indoor heated pool). :D

Bought five day passes with the Park Hopper option. Traveling with my wife and two kids (girls ages 9 and 15).

Thanks!

DON'T eat at Angels all you can eat seafood. :gag:

disneyworld tips
 

Watch out for bird flu....

Go to Old Town in Kissimmee. They have a Friday night cruise for hotrods and sometimes car shows on Saturday. Google it.

The Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival is one of my wifes favorite things to see. It runs from March 19 to June 1. Catch the closing fireworks shows at Epcot, Magic Kingdom and Fantasmic at the Studios. To me, night time is the best time at the parks. I love the lights and the atmosphere.

Don't eat at the parks way too $$$$$$$ Find a breakfast buffet usually $11.00 per person. Have your wife carry snacks that you can get at Walmart,so you can munch during the day. And then go find another buffet for dinner.You will save so much money if you do this. And also VERY important---Avoid driving on I-4 at all costs it turns into a parking lot most of the time. Have fun.:)

Disney has lot's of people who specialize in thinking of way's of making you pull your wallet out.....LOL..... So bring cash.
The animal kingdom park is cool.
Have fun, it's a blast

Go to the parks early, like right when it opens. Stay until 2:00 or 3:00 then head back to the house for a break, swimming, relaxing, whatever, eat dinner and head back to the park and stay until it closes.

Go every few eyars with my kids. They love it!

1) Eat breakfast at the townhouse. Pack your lunches. And then call now and make reservations for the dinners! They book WAY in advance.

2) Try to get one of the dinners at a Character show. There are several at each park and they book very early on. I was once told 90 days in advance, but if you call now you may be able to get in somewhere for either an early or late dinner.

3) Call disney land and have them send you park maps. Give them to the kids during the ride down or now if you are flying. Have them mark what things they REALLY want to see. Then you can save time wondering around by keeping to a schedule of sorts. If you don't do this now, you'll waste a lot of time standing srounf trying to figure out what everyone wants to do while you are there.

4) The Park Hopper option is nice, but I have actually never used it, so I quit buying it. You can easily spend a whole day at each park and 2 at Magic Kingdom alone.

Never made it to Animal Kingdom and I have been there 3 times and each time for five days. MGM is by far my favorite. They have an Indian Jones Stunt show that will have you on the edge of your seat! It is awesome! Epicot does the best fireworks show at night it last 30 minutes or so. Have to go an hour early and find your spot to watch from. Get the kids and Mickey mouse ice cream so they are occupied and watch the show. It is awesome!

The fireworks show at Magic Kingdom is the second best. It is choreographed around a song and twinle bell. Has some lasers init as well. But like i said you could spend two full days there and not see it all. A lot of the stuff in this park are shows though, so depending on the age of your kids, this might not be all that exciting to them. My daughters at the ages of 3 through 10 loved this park. Spent a lot of time there. It's where the "It's a small world after all" floating boat ride is. After riding that, you'll never want to hear that song ever again.

Epcot is great for kids if you stay to the front of the park. Innovations has some of the coolest soon to come gadgets and inventions. There is the water park there as well with some really cool "learning" type shows. But the back of the park has a lake surrounded by building representative of each of the countries in the world. Kids get bored here, but I was fascinated. Really cool! Oh, Canada has a complete surround view show (complete 360 screen). Have to go see that one!

Can save a lot of $$$ taking in your lunch and eating breakfast in your room. Have to say that is really good advice. I spent between $50 to $100 a day there and we only ate dinner and had ice cream snacks each day. The kids also got a momento. If we had eaten lunch and breakfast too... urgh!

im going during school vacation too , bringing my 6 & 8 year olds ... see the bookstore or library for books , LOOK UP SPEED PASSES , let you not wait in lines ... Eat at Sonics .... I go just so I can eat at Sonics ....
I did the OldTown cruise nite saturday ... kinda cheesy area but nice cars , the A&W resturaunt had a bad odor .
Animal Kingdom safari tour first thing in morning while animals are awake and feeding , trust me .
Dont grab Minnie while Mickey isnt looking . Bring an autograph book for the kids ...

Bring a few of those water spray bottles with the battery operated fan attached to help cool you off or you will pay $18 for one in the park ...
Get a gps for the car ..

My family and I (wife and twin girls; 9 years old) will be going to Disney at the end of April (2008) for 9 nights/10 days. We are staying at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. This is our first time to Disney. Got the park hopper passes for 7 days and the one of their moderate meals plans for 8 days. Probably went a little overboard with the length of time for this vacation but I wanted make the most of it. We'll be flying down on Southwest Airlines.

I would also appreciate some additional comments or advice regarding Disney.

db

Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing is not far up the road in Ocala. Take a day to go there, it's a must see. The wife will like it too, even if she isn't a gearhead.

Bring lots of money and a good pair of shoes, because you are going to walk and walk and walk some more!!!:old: Hey dyingbreed I am going down to Disney the end of April, 22nd to the 5th. Taking the granddaughter down. :D We are staying at animal kindom. Maybe we will hook up.

Mazz

Get the "SPEED PASS" to get priority admission to the rides. Beats the heck out of standing in lengthy lines. Speed passes are available at each attraction and allows you to get a ticket a couple of hours ahead of time before you want to go. Come back later and walk right up to the front of the line and enjoy your ride.

If you want to try other parks you can swing by universal studios and sea world, they arent too far away.If youre into waterparks sea world just opened up a new waterpark the other day I heard it was pretty good, if you dont want to try that one you could go to disneys waterpark but it doesnt really have any big rides, another good one is wet-n-wild near disney . Like someone else said try to stay off I4 between 7am and 9 am 330-7pm in the disney area its always a little more congested no matter the time of day though. Out in Kissimmee area there are a lot of little tourist shops for a lot of the disney stuff that may be a lot cheaper than buying it at disney, plus Old town is out there and they do have a car show every saturday night.

Thanks for ALL of the great advice everyone! :beerchug:

I've written down much of it and my wife and I are sitting here discussing it.

Can someone answer a couple of questions for me?

Can we bring coolers into the park? If so, is there some place to store them, such as a large locker or whatever?

Also, do you have to pay to park? if so, any idea how much it is?

Thanks!

Typhoon Lagoon is a nice water park for the whole family..It's right on the Disney grounds...and I 2nd you visiting the car show at old town. Its a Great Atmosphere!! and a bunch of cars!!

Parking is typically $10

Disney Theme Parks
Full-size coolers, with or without wheels, are not allowed.
Coolers smaller than 24" length x 15" width x 18" height (which mirrors the large locker size) are allowed.
Coolers will be inspected for glass and alcoholic beverages which are not permitted.
I usually use a small soft sided cooler and put some subs and chips in there.

Disney Water Parks
Coolers are permitted including wheeled coolers
No wagons are allowed
No glass containers or alcoholic beverages allowed
No storage area for coolers is provided

There are extra large lockers available that are about $7. Cheaper ones are available outside the some of the parks near the bus terminal. Parking at the parks is $11 unless you are staying at a resort. Then you can use the free ground transportation. Parking is also free at the sports complex, Downtown Disney, and the water parks.

Big coolers are a no-no. They discourage you from bringing any food into the park, and they check your bags. But you can pack lunches/snacks and they will let them in. No glass containers.

lockers are available- several sizes.

I'm sure they charge to park, but I don't know how much. We always fly in and stay on Disney property.

Don't miss the "Talk to Crush" show in the "Seas" pavilion at Epcot. You ride the clamshells ride, then go to the back of the large display room after you exit the ride. Very cool for your kids. Do it several times, it's always different.
There is also a comedy game show in the west innoventions pavilion. Just funny shtick by a couple of college kids. Buy your kids a starter pin trading set. Every Disney employee will trade anything they have on their lanyard with whatever you want to trade. It'a a good way for your kids to interact with friendly Disney employees and there are pins available in employee lanyards that aren't available anywhere else. Trade early in the day for the best selection. If you just go to ride rides, you will be dissappointed because of the long waits. We never ride a ride without a Fastpass, unless the line is short. The Fastpasses will say when you can get another for another ride. Get these early, once the day's worth is given out- no more fastpasses for the day for that ride.

Don't miss Mickey's PhilharMagic in the Magic Kingdom- next to the big Merry-Go-Round behind the castle. Very cool show that never gets old.

Plan your stops so you don't have to criss-cross the park. Epcot is three times bigger than the Magic Kingdom, too big to walk all over.

Kurt

If you do plan to eat there definantly get the meal pass!!! I would also get reservations for a steak dinner at canada in epcot, the german restaurant was also good. Make your reservations as early as possible. Breakfast w/ the princess also books up quick. Everything else is just a crap shoot. Good luck and have fun!

Went last yr trying to go cheaper than usual. Three kids three adults. drove down with the camper to Fort wilderness. We brought about $200 worth of groceries with us. While down there for 10 days we left the park twice and spent $160 and $190 respectively. Our plan was to get up early make breakfast and take advantage of the early hours. Then to come back around 1 or 2 and make a decent lunch, hit the pool and relax ect. Afterwards we would go back to a park if we wanted.
So really we only maybe one meal each day that we would purchase. We had prepayed for the Mickeys backyard barbeque and had made reservations for Donalds breakfast at Animal Kingdom.
Long story short we ended up spending waay more at the park for food than we thought we would. My wife was super prepared... backpacks, snacks, waters ect. Just wasnt enough.
Next time we are going to try the meal plan, at least then youll know what you will be spending..
Ohh another thing, For us we wont go down again unless its at Fort wilderness. This is after being at Port orleans, Boardwalk, and the all star resort. I hate to say it but the absolute best time down there for the kids and i was at a stupid playground at Fort wilderness. I had made a game of timeing them around a obstacle course while the wife was relaxing at the pool.

Guy

It's a very cool museum for sure! When I went, his MOTHER was working the front desk, I couldn't believe it. Get ready for traffic jams, spending money like it's water and haveing a great time. In the end, it's worth it. David

Good comments and advice. Keep on posting!

db

This needs clarification. The Friday Night Cruise is only for 1973-1987 cars and generally has a weak turnout of boring cars, less than 100 the last couple times I attended. There's a weekly Saturday Night Cruise which is for 1972 and older vehicles, with a much larger showing, anywhere from 250-350 cars. Saturday car shows are in the daytime and are not every week. I believe there's a Thursday cruise now for motorcycles.

I went in the mid 90's with my daughter and my sister's family. There were 10 of us. We had kids ranging in age from 9 to 18. I don't know if you can still do this, but if the crowds were light you could ask to ride up front in the monorail. Everyone in the family mangaed to get a ride up front except my sister.

The other thing we did was leave the park for lunch to eat at one of the resorts.

All our kids liked going to Pleasure Island but I don't know if that has changed. They use to celebrate at Midnight like it was New Year's Eve.

The best thing is to pick the rides and exhibits you really want to see and make plans
to get there early.

Andi

You might also consider a day trip over to the east coast to the Kennedy Space Center. Not quite as much roller-coaster stuff, but lots of historical space stuff. The bus tours are great if you are into that, but it's probably not a big thrill for younger kids.

Thanks again guys.

Can someone give me suggestions on how long I should plan for each park? We have 7 day passes. How many days should I plan at each park?

Check your stay dates to see what the park hours are. The Disney web site has a calendar with that information.
Disney's Animal Kingdom is typically a one day park and it closes the earliest. A Bugs life is fun and I can just check out the Tree of Life for a long time.

Disney's Hollywood Studios you can see in a day if you rush and it is a long day. There are some rides like Rock-n-Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror that my kids enjoy multiple trips on. My favorite shows are the Muppet Vision 3D, Lights, Motors, Action stunt Show and Fantasmic.

Epcot you can see in a day to a day and a half depending on how much time you spend in the world showcase. Adults like the shops but the kids are looking for action. There are a couple of rides tucked away in the World Showcase pavilions. Maelstrom in the Norway pavilion is good. The kids like Mission: Space and Sorin' is pretty cool.
We always ride Test Track and close the night out with Illuminations.

The Magic Kingdom takes two full days if the crowds are small. There is just so much to see and do. The Kids enjoy the mountains, Space, Big Thunder and Splash. Mama and I enjoy going over to Tom Sawyers Island. There is a picnic table on top of the island in the shade. We can just sit there and chat while the kids plummet themselves silly (mine are teenagers and can run around together tied to their cell phone leashes). My favorite coaster is Goofy's Barnstormer in Toon Town. It is a simple little kiddie coaster but its a hoot. There are too many good rides and shows to even start a list. We just start in tomorrow-land and work our way around.

The water parks can be a day in themselves. Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island can be a good escape from the parks one night too.

Ultimately how much time you spend in each park depends on how much you want to see and do, how well you plan out things like FastPass and dining and how crowded the parks are.

For those staying on Disney property, take advantage of the Extra Magic hours that the parks are open exclusivly for Disney resort guests.

Enjoy and remember, you are on vacation. You have no place that you have to be. I hope that helps.