Our first trip...HELP!!

[jerseygirl18]

Planning our first WDW trip for myself, DH, DD (10), DS (9) and DD (5) and I feel like I'm completely in over my head! We are going for 6 nights in October, staying at the Poly. We have the deluxe dining and most reservations ironed out. I guess my biggest concern is that we are missing something or that I'm forgetting to do something. Any advice? What is a can't miss?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on what to do when? We are planning on giving each park a full day (MK 2) and probably an extra half day at Epcot.

Thanks!

 

[CleoPahd]

Have a great time! Make sure you catch the Finding Nemo show at AK...it's fantastic! I think Fantasmic at HS is also worth catching.

 

[disneyworldmom2]

Since you are staying at a Disney resort, you can take advantage of the extra magic hours. You can go online and print the schedule, I'm not sure if October is on yet or not. I would recommend that you spend the morning in the park that opens early, then go back to the hotel for a rest in the early afternoon, then go to the park with late hours for the evening. I have a spreadsheet that someone shared with me that I use to keep track of the park hours; that way I have everything in one place. I'd be happy to share it if you send me a PM with your email.

 

[SGMCO]

Since this is your 1st trip, realize that you will not get to do everything there is, but pick the top things in each park and get them done. Once you've
got the top things done relax and take it all in, if you see something that looks interesting, do it. Organize your items for the park and have it packed the night before. Pace yourself or you can get tired real quick. Print out a copy of your ADR# and put in your bag (just in
case). Drink Plenty of water, use sunscreen. Enjoy your Trip!

Don't miss:
Spectro Magic & Spash Mountain--MK
All the side shows in each country WS--Epcot
Festival of the Lion King Show & Mickey Jungle Jamming Parade & Devine--AK
Fantasmic show & Block Party Bash--DHS

 

[Disjunky]

YAY Jersey. When in october will you be going. My DW, DS (14 mo), DFil, and DMil will all b e staying at BLT. Oct 17-22. we alway take the arliest flight out so we are in park by noon. On the way home we ake a later flight so we cna park it up till about 2. Just tidbits for you to remember for the next trip. (Yes there will be more, many more). As for us, we never miss these;

MK - Pirates, Jungle cruise (old but fun), Haunted mansion, Laugh floor, Buzz light year, Winnie the pooh (little ones love it.

EPCOtT - Soarin, Test Track, World of energy, Globe, All the countries, lots to see.

AK - Everything, esp with kids. if ou time it right (ie the safari must be dne at park opening) your day will be wuick there, even with kids.

HS - Tower, Rockin roalercoaster, Indiana, Lights Action motorcars, boys will love it, Muppets, Toy story, Animation studios (great for character pics and no one ever goes in there.

Just remember to breathe. It can overwhelm you. You have a pool. Use it, go back and take breaks. The monorail is key. also, go to the boardwalk and rent a family bicycle. makes for good pics.

let us know when you'll be there. If you want food ideas id be glad to help.

 

[Rotti955]

Look at the park maps ahead of time and decide the rides you absolutely can't miss.... that way you will definitely hit them.

If you want to do a ride that is really popular (Soarin) - Fast pass it early in the morn. to make sure you get tickets. Then you can hit the ride any time that day after your fast pass ticket time.

If you have early ADR's before the park opens, get some photos on the way to the restaurant. Nobody is in the park that early and the pictures of your family in Disney without the crowds are some of the best.

You have little ones (like we do) but try to enjoy some of the activities at the Food & Wine festival in Epcot... October is my favorite time to go to Disney.

Also if you are planning on doing Halloween at night at MK... it is great. We did it a few years ago and had a great time - trick o'treating, photos with the characters in costume.... very cute.

 

[Tinkluvr25]

dont miss Mickey's Philharmagic! its amazing and great for the younger kids who have seen the classic disney movies!

 

[m3retired]

Don't miss Fantasmic--but plan extra time for getting there--and it's a little bit of a hike, so make sure little ones are rested.

 

[PrincessTiffany]

Planning our first WDW trip for myself, DH, DD (10), DS (9) and DD (5) and I feel like I'm completely in over my head! We are going for 6 nights in October, staying at the Poly. We have the deluxe dining and most reservations ironed out. I guess my biggest concern is that we are missing something or that I'm forgetting to do something. Any advice? What is a can't miss?

Also, does anyone have any recommendations on what to do when? We are planning on giving each park a full day (MK 2) and probably an extra half day at Epcot.

Thanks!

Since you have the Dining Plan I'm going to assume you have made your dining reservations. If so, then you will need to plan your park days around those ADRs to optimize your time.

Also, since you asked for advice/opinions, I would never recommend the Deluxe Plan for first time visitors, especially with younger children. It's hard to fit in everything in 5 days in Disney, let alone if you are trying to fit in multiple sit-down meals.

 

[ohanaMAMA]

woah mom! relax. you arent going into war! Its a FUN vacation. It sounds like you have a really good start. One thing you MAY want to think about. With deluxe dinning you are looking at 3,2 hour meals.That is going to take a HUGE chunk of your touring time...not to mention its a LOT LOT LOT of food. IF IT WERE ME. and my first trip. Unless your kids are major foodies or have a LOT of patience? I would consider switching to the regular dining plan.

That still gives you a sit down meal every day, a good option for lunch and 1 snack a day. Even if you eat a full breakfast everyday at your resort out of pocket, Youd still spend less than the delux plan.

 

[WildGrits]

I would suggest getting aquainted with the allears web site. She really has a great site.

Also, get a copy of Passporter or Unoffical Guide. They are really good books for beginners.

 

[PrincessMom4]

Jerseygirl18, flying or driving??

I would get ziploc bags and put your kids outfits into them.

 

[Alesia]

Are you absolutely sure about doing the deluxe dining plan? Keep in mind that you will likely be spending 5 hours a day in restaurants, not including the travel time. Also, that is a tremendous amount of food. Even the regular dining plan is too much food for many people.

 

[jerseygirl18]

Have a great time! Make sure you catch the Finding Nemo show at AK...it's fantastic! I think Fantasmic at HS is also worth catching.

Thanks!

 

[jerseygirl18]

Since this is your 1st trip, realize that you will not get to do everything there is, but pick the top things in each park and get them done. Once you've
got the top things done relax and take it all in, if you see something that looks interesting, do it. Organize your items for the park and have it packed the night before. Pace yourself or you can get tired real quick. Print out a copy of your ADR# and put in your bag (just in
case). Drink Plenty of water, use sunscreen. Enjoy your Trip!

Don't miss:
Spectro Magic & Spash Mountain--MK
All the side shows in each country WS--Epcot
Festival of the Lion King Show & Mickey Jungle Jamming Parade & Devine--AK
Fantasmic show & Block Party Bash--DHS

Thanks...that's great advice. I have to accept the fact we are only there for 6 days and it seems like even if we were there for 6 weeks we may not see everything. LOL

I guess I need to prioritize what we really want to see and go from there.

 

[jerseygirl18]

YAY Jersey. When in october will you be going. My DW, DS (14 mo), DFil, and DMil will all b e staying at BLT. Oct 17-22. we alway take the arliest flight out so we are in park by noon. On the way home we ake a later flight so we cna park it up till about 2. Just tidbits for you to remember for the next trip. (Yes there will be more, many more). As for us, we never miss these;

MK - Pirates, Jungle cruise (old but fun), Haunted mansion, Laugh floor, Buzz light year, Winnie the pooh (little ones love it.

EPCOtT - Soarin, Test Track, World of energy, Globe, All the countries, lots to see.

AK - Everything, esp with kids. if ou time it right (ie the safari must be dne at park opening) your day will be wuick there, even with kids.

HS - Tower, Rockin roalercoaster, Indiana, Lights Action motorcars, boys will love it, Muppets, Toy story, Animation studios (great for character pics and no one ever goes in there.

Just remember to breathe. It can overwhelm you. You have a pool. Use it, go back and take breaks. The monorail is key. also, go to the boardwalk and rent a family bicycle. makes for good pics.

let us know when you'll be there. If you want food ideas id be glad to help.

YAY Jersey is right! We are going from October 6th-October 12th. I didn't realize when I booked that this was a busier week (I have so much to learn!) but I'm hoping the fact we are going off the normal Sunday - Sunday will help. We are flying out of AC and got a 6:30 AM flight and we are debating forgoing ME and getting a car service so we don't waste time waiting around. I know we probably can't check in when we get to the Poly but we can at least check our bags. Then it will be a quick monorail trip to the parks. Our flight home isn't until 8:48 PM so we are really trying to maximize our days there too.

After reading posts and advice, I signed up for Tour Guide Mike's website and I'm so glad I did! He breaks the parks down by days and rates them by when they will be the least busy, taking into consideration the events in the parks. I can't recommend enough (at least for WDW newbie's like us!)

Thanks for the tips!

 

[jerseygirl18]

woah mom! relax. you arent going into war! Its a FUN vacation. It sounds like you have a really good start. One thing you MAY want to think about. With deluxe dinning you are looking at 3,2 hour meals.That is going to take a HUGE chunk of your touring time...not to mention its a LOT LOT LOT of food. IF IT WERE ME. and my first trip. Unless your kids are major foodies or have a LOT of patience? I would consider switching to the regular dining plan.

That still gives you a sit down meal every day, a good option for lunch and 1 snack a day. Even if you eat a full breakfast everyday at your resort out of pocket, Youd still spend less than the delux plan.

Thanks for the advice regarding the dining plan. I can completely appreciate where you're coming from but I think we are going to chance it. We are doing a dinner show at the Poly (2 credits), we snagged not one but 2 meals at CRT (breakfast and a late, late dinner LOL) (2 credits each), eating at Flying Fish and the DH and I are taking advantage of the Neverland Club one evening and doing Narcossee's (2 credits) so the deluxe plan was more to cover our "special" meals. We like knowing we can do this stuff and have it be at a fixed rate. Hope we don't sound like food snobs...we REALLY aren't. I LOVE to cook at home and we love to watch all the food shows...Top Chef, Next Food Network Star, etc. While our budget at home may not allow such awesome restaurants...we do enjoy living it up while on vacation. And really, is there a better place than Disney to do that? Much appreciated though!

 

[jerseygirl18]

Jerseygirl18, flying or driving??

I would get ziploc bags and put your kids outfits into them.

We are flying...

Ziploc bags for each day?

 

[jerseygirl18]

Are you absolutely sure about doing the deluxe dining plan? Keep in mind that you will likely be spending 5 hours a day in restaurants, not including the travel time. Also, that is a tremendous amount of food. Even the regular dining plan is too much food for many people.

Thanks for the advice and I hear ya loud and clear. In our case, we aren't planning on eating the 3 meals a day but needed the extra dining credits to cover special meals. And with our kiddos, the extra snack! LOL I also read that we can burn any extra snack credits left by using them for snacks that can double as souveniors/gifts for relatives at home our last day there and I love that idea.

 

[jerseygirl18]

Since you are staying at a Disney resort, you can take advantage of the extra magic hours. You can go online and print the schedule, I'm not sure if October is on yet or not. I would recommend that you spend the morning in the park that opens early, then go back to the hotel for a rest in the early afternoon, then go to the park with late hours for the evening. I have a spreadsheet that someone shared with me that I use to keep track of the park hours; that way I have everything in one place. I'd be happy to share it if you send me a PM with your email.

Thanks DISjunky...working on the ten posts so I can PM you for the spreadsheet! LOL