How do I start an interery??

[WDW2002]

Our first trip to WDW will be in Dec 2002. I have been planning since about June 2000. I know the importance of planning ahead of time but I am not sure where to begin with WDW. It is easier with DL, we would go for 3 days and each of the three of us got to have "our" day. But with 4 parks and so many "other things," I am at a loss on where to begin.

Will will be there from between 10-14 days (have ressies for 15 nights). The # of nights we actually stay depends on how many of the 14 days we need.

The players(ages reflect Dec 2002)- 30 yo mom (me), 12 YO Daughter, 9 1/2 yo Daughter, 52 yo mom/grandma (my mom).



What we plan to do (so far)
2 days Epcot (the park I am most looking forward to)
1 day MGM
1 day AK (9 1/2 LOVES animals)
2-3 days MK
1/2 day typhoon
1/2 day DQ
Cirque
Horse back riding (for 9 1/2 yo animal lover)
then of course there are the smaller things such as the monerail loops, the electric water pagent, etc.

I want to have some down time but know we will be at a major park virtually every day, even if it is just a couple of hours to see the the osborne lights, or for the christmas party (even though I am not sure on this one as of yet). I want to go at a relaxed pase but want to get a "full" experience but still feel like this is a vacation not work.

 

[pepe of ohio]

Looking good and planning is a good idea. I've always laid out my vacation for 22 years and have never regreted it. Everyone knew where we were going and had to be, but there was always rooms for changes. Our typicial vacation goes as follows.
Arrival: This first day was given to sight seeing, Downtown Disney, other resorts, groceries, tickets, resort pool etc. Never know when we would arrive so we unwind this first day and get the sight seeing and free stuff done. Second day: Weel this all depends on the order of early entrance to theme parks. I always shot for them in the am and planned my breakfast there or in my resort to cut down on unneccessary bus travel. At around 11:00 or 12:00 we always head back to the resort for a rest or for a swim. Swam at the resort or went to a water park, according to the tickets we purchased. Came back to the resort, dressed for the evening and went to another theme park different than the morning to break up the monotony. Lunch was usually at the pool and dinner was planned for along the way to the evening park. Always caught the parks festivities at least once and the ones we like over again.
The rest of the trip was planned accordingly, alternating parks each day by early entrance and a different park in the evening. After 3 days we had an off day of either shopping and swimming or swinning and golf. No matter where we stayed we always caught the Night Electrical Pageant from the Contemporary Resort boat dock and after we boated to FW and had pizzas and pitchers of beer and relaxed. Another good night spot, not crowded like PI and free is the Boardwalk, go to the ESPN Club or better yet Jellyrolls for some dueling pianos and even Atlantic Dance. All depends on the age group of you family. When we first started in 78' the kids were 7 and only one then came #2 7 years later and we modified are trips, now they are 21 and 28 and its still our favorite place but itineries changed over the years too, At Disney there is something for everyone no matter the age. When you can go, go!!!

 

[slp87]

When I begin planning our trips, I first plan my park days. I look at when each park has early entry and whether or not we want to take advantage of that. If not, we see that park on a different day. I also make a list of where we want to eat and start fitting those into my days. We try to eat sitdown meals at lunch time to save money, so we will usually do a light breakfast on those days. We were there last summer for 12 days and felt like we were able to see and do everything, and even went to IOA for 1 day. You will have a great time!!

 

[Kermit]

I start my plan by figuring out what I want to do. It looks like you have that part down.

Next, I figure out which things can only be done at certain times. For example, if you want to see Illuminations (and you should), you have to be at Epcot at night. If you're going in the slow season, you may not be able to see all of the evenings parades and fireworks every night. Since it's December, the MK may close early some nights for the Christmas Party. Since you're not going until next Dec., you should watch the schedule this Dec. The schedule will probably be very similar. (Of course, you'll compare the first Monday of this Dec. to the first Monday of next Dec. Not Dec. 1 to Dec. 1.)

Early Entry also has to be done at certain times. If you want to do some EE's, figure out what parks you want to do, and determine what days you can do EE at those parks.

The last major step is figuring out what order you would like to do things most. You may want to do MK first to get the Disney Magic. On the other hand, you may want to do Epcot first so that your girls won't want to go back to a park with more thrill rides.

After you get that stuff set in place, the other pieces seem to fall in place. Plan it so that you don't do late nights followed by early mornings and you have the most restful days spread out throughout your stays. Remember to check the official schedule for Dec when it's released to confirm that your plan will work.

 

[RachelEllen]

My mom and I are both trip planner types (she professionally, for me it's just half the fun). The one other tip I learned from her is that it's fun if a trip builds in excitement. For example, Cirque sounds like a real highlight. I wouldn't plan it for the beginning of the trip.

Rachel

 

[waltdisneyworlddreamer]

I am one of those visual people, so I have to see everything on paper, so this is how I begin. First make a chart listing each day that you will be there and divide the days into morning, afternoon and evening. I tried writing in each afternoon as a rest time to return to the hotel. Then start plugging in what goes in each slot. I always start out and end with MK so those two are pretty much set. Then begin to look at the "big things" and the "little things" and let those offset each other. If you plan something big for the evening go a little slower for the morning. After that, I start planning each meal so I can see when I should make a PS. Make sure you consider location and travel time when you do this. Don't forget to consider EE days, parades, and closing times. And remember while planning is the key to a successful WDW vacation, make sure you allow enough flexibilty for changes. Have a great trip!!!

 

[waltdisneyworlddreamer]

I also should add that after I get my days set with what I'm going to do what when, I also look at the key attractions for that park. These would be the things that I want to make sure I do that day. Of course, I'm not stuck to that schedule, I just use it as a guide. A great way to keep track of all of this info is to transfer it all to index cards when your plans are finalized. I even laminated my cards, so I wouldn't worry about getting them wet. This is where you can also put PS#'s for the day. A sample card of mine might look like:

Morning- Breakfast Tony's PS #111111111 @ 7:00 a.m.
MK- KEY ATTRACTIONS
Splash Mountain
Space Mountain
Pirates of the Caribbean

Afternoon- Return to Hotel and Relax

Evening- Dinner Prime Time Cafe #000000000 @6:30 p.m
MGM- KEY ATTRACTIONS
BackLot Tour
Tower of Terror
Indiana Jones
Great Movie Ride

Sorry this is kind of long but this really helps to get things organized!

 

[MKingdom]

We do all of our planning and ps ahead of time. (You can always make changes when you arrive or as you change your mind.) Our choice of parks is dictated by where we want to eat breakfast and dinner. We make ps at a good mix of parks and resorts. When doing this, we keep in mind the scheduled times of any parades, fireworks displays, etc., that we either want to see or that will impede our travel to the restaurant of choice. We try to coordinate the choice of restaurants with where we are for the day (or that part of the day, if we'll be in more than one park) so we don't spend unnecessary time traveling -- we'd rather be enjoying the parks. We also try to build in some traditions, i.e., our first day we always have dinner at the Biergarten in Germany. A new tradition? Upon checking in, we now stow our luggage and head straight for Blizzard Beach. My best advice is to do your homework on the parks and resorts (buy the Birnbaum guide or study the Disney Website). Have everyone in the family note some of their "must dos" re: food and events. Coordinate the park- or resort-related choices. Since you're taking an extended vacation, give yourself a break and alternate traditional park and water park/resort pool days. I make a table that includes the day and date, the park(s) and resort(s) for that day, the restaurant for each meal, the seating time, the ps confirmation number, and any "not-to-be-missed" events. I understand that your resort can now provide you with a printout of your ps selections, but I enjoy making my own chart. (We've been planning our trips like this for years. We planned the schedule for our 2001 trip in one evening.) Good luck!

 

[susy]

check out touring plans in the guide books and ask all questions that come to your mind. I have a file in my computer that I write all the answers to my questions in as soon as I get them. I you are going in early December that is the least crowded time and you should get to do all you want many times over.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

Everyone has given you some excellent advice.

One tip I'd like to add...we try to match up activities by location. For instance, we go to Animal Kingdom one morning, and then we leave late morning/very early afternoon to go to Blizzard Beach (they're near each other). If we want to eat at a monorail resort, we do MK before or after.

Also, as time goes on, keep an eye on the PS timing...how far in advance you can make a dining PS. We are fast approaching 120 days before our trip, so I know I have to make some decisions about where we want to eat because some PSs can be made then.

Happy planning!

 

[Jane E.]

For some reason I thought I remember reading that Cirque may be closed for part of December. You may want to check to make sure that they are open. I could be wrong. We went this past January and really enjoyed it. Dh didn't want to spend the money, and he seemed to enjoy it more than anyone! I've since heard him highly recommend it to his friends.

For our trip, I kept a notebook with our schedule, ps #, hotel & tour confirmation #s by date. The only thing, our first day of using our ps at Disney MGM, I forgot to bring the numbers into the theme park with us. However, I was fortunate and didn't need them. After that, each day, I wrote our ps on a stick it and put it in our backpack - just in case.

 

[MaryAnnDVC]

One more thing about Cirque. We went last year on Thanksgiving Day, the day we arrived. We arrived in Orlando at 10 AM and went to the 6 PM show. However, after I had bought the tickets (months in advance) I started to get nervous that if there were flight delays, we might miss the show. We recently missed a connecting flight coming home from California, and had to spend the night in a hotel; if that ever happened going TO Disney World (or anywhere else) I would not want to have tickets for a major event.

So...I suggest NOT doing Cirque the day you arrive.