1st*toright
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2017
I'm a newbie - planning our first family trip, so this is based on what I think will happen - it may be totally off base, but its the best I've got now.
We are staying at the Poly- seemed like the best fit for us. We will be there for 5 nights- me, DH and our 2 kids, ages 4 and 14.
I am planning rope drop or PPO ADRs for 3 days of our 6 day trip. The other non-travel days we will hang at the resort for the day and go to a park or Disney springs in the evening. We tend to be up early in general, and I think the afternoon crowds won't be popular with some of the family, so we will tour in the AM, then head back to the hotel for the afternoon, going back in the evening if we feel like it. My little one is sweet all day and a terror after 7pm, so we will likely split up and each take a kid if the teen wants to stay in the parks later on some of the nights.
I am planning to do DDXDP for this trip. We are more likely to do TS than QS in general. I'm planning 2 ADRs most days - lots of character meals! If we have a PPO breakfast, dinner is planned fairly early, otherwise we are doing a late breakfast or early lunch, then dinner at a "normal" dinner time. So we will be eating 2 meals a day and filling in with snacks where we need to. Pretty much every non-character meal we will be splitting meals - an app and an entree will feed two of us for sure and I'm ok with just not getting dessert or trying to pick something we could bring along with us to snack on later, at least at lunch. The way I have it planned, we can do a couple of signature meals and eat for 6 days on 5 days worth of credits. I ran the numbers, and while we could definitely make different choices and eat for much less, the DDXDP will save us at least a couple of hundred dollars over paying out of pocket for the same meal itinerary, even after I consider tips and drinks. Not sure I would do the same on a return trip, but I think my LO will love the characters, and I would rather be eating and staying cool while waiting to meet them than standing in lines! Also, having one Disney child in the mix changes the economics of the DDXDP a lot - if we were all adults I don't think it would work out as well.
My kids don't know about the trip yet, but my older one said something about how cool it would be to eat inside the castle (she is going on a school trip to WDW this summer a few weeks after our family trip - very helpful so that I can sound her out about my planning ideas without tipping my hand about the family trip!) So I'm glad I scored a CRT reservation. I think Garden Grill will be popular with the little one - a big fan of Chip & Dale.
We are staying at the Poly- seemed like the best fit for us. We will be there for 5 nights- me, DH and our 2 kids, ages 4 and 14.
I am planning rope drop or PPO ADRs for 3 days of our 6 day trip. The other non-travel days we will hang at the resort for the day and go to a park or Disney springs in the evening. We tend to be up early in general, and I think the afternoon crowds won't be popular with some of the family, so we will tour in the AM, then head back to the hotel for the afternoon, going back in the evening if we feel like it. My little one is sweet all day and a terror after 7pm, so we will likely split up and each take a kid if the teen wants to stay in the parks later on some of the nights.
I am planning to do DDXDP for this trip. We are more likely to do TS than QS in general. I'm planning 2 ADRs most days - lots of character meals! If we have a PPO breakfast, dinner is planned fairly early, otherwise we are doing a late breakfast or early lunch, then dinner at a "normal" dinner time. So we will be eating 2 meals a day and filling in with snacks where we need to. Pretty much every non-character meal we will be splitting meals - an app and an entree will feed two of us for sure and I'm ok with just not getting dessert or trying to pick something we could bring along with us to snack on later, at least at lunch. The way I have it planned, we can do a couple of signature meals and eat for 6 days on 5 days worth of credits. I ran the numbers, and while we could definitely make different choices and eat for much less, the DDXDP will save us at least a couple of hundred dollars over paying out of pocket for the same meal itinerary, even after I consider tips and drinks. Not sure I would do the same on a return trip, but I think my LO will love the characters, and I would rather be eating and staying cool while waiting to meet them than standing in lines! Also, having one Disney child in the mix changes the economics of the DDXDP a lot - if we were all adults I don't think it would work out as well.
My kids don't know about the trip yet, but my older one said something about how cool it would be to eat inside the castle (she is going on a school trip to WDW this summer a few weeks after our family trip - very helpful so that I can sound her out about my planning ideas without tipping my hand about the family trip!) So I'm glad I scored a CRT reservation. I think Garden Grill will be popular with the little one - a big fan of Chip & Dale.