If you must know, Forum Patrol, it's because my advice on this isn't a one-size-fits-all. I prefer to have a back and forth conversation when helping someone plan a Disney trip. Email is more conducive to that. Don't worry about it, Swoly.
Christmas/Easter/Thanksgiving are a nightmare. Those are the busiest times. You can manage in the summer time. October is premium time to visit, imo. But even that is more crowded now than it used to be in years past.
My wife and I took our son for our first family vacation (he's 6) to Disney a month ago. She had been when she was a kid but I had never been. And yeah the amount of info out there is absolutely insane. I think first you have to decide how long you wanna spend there. I wanted us to do a lot of things in Florida that we only spent a day at Magic Kingdom, then one day at Universal, half day at Kennedy SC and the rest of the time at the beach. So because of that we stayed at the beach and drove into Orlando on our park days. That saved a hell of a lot on our hotel. Our beachfront, ocean-view hotel room was equivalent in price to the lowest priced Disney hotel. But there is a tradeoff cause you get more perks at the resorts, like magic hours, meal plan discounts, free shuttle, etc. *If you wanna go to multiple parks over multiple days, get the park hopper. *If you are staying on-site, definitely go back to your hotel room during lunch and get some rest. *USE FASTPASS and plan out your day. We only did Magic Kingdom and we only had one day, but we totally conquered that park. It can be done. We got there about 20 minutes before it opened and saw the opening ceremony (which I admit was pretty magical). And because the park had just opened we were able to pull a fastpass for one popular ride and get on the standy line for another (and waited only 15 min). That set us up nicely for the whole day as we were able to do less popular things while waiting for our return time for the fastpass. The fastpasses allowed us to to get on a ride w/in 5 minutes, and right after I walked to get another fastpass while the wife and boy rested. At lunch, they found a table in the shade (because everyone else was in line to get food), while I pulled another fastpass. And you can even make reservations for restaurants beforehand, which we did at Universal. It worked perfectly. Those rides at Disney, imo, are NOT worth it to wait an hour or more, so plan ahead. You don't have to have everything mapped out, but know your initial plan of attack. Honestly though, I wasn't that impressed with Disney, at least Magic Kingdom. Peter Pan was cool and Big Thunder (didn't do Splash or Space cause she was pregnant and he wasn't quite tall enough for Space), and my favorite attraction was probably the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor and Stitch's Escape. But Universal was sooo much more fun. The boy seemed to liked Universal more as well, but he did love Peter Pan but also Despicable Me just as much and he though Simpsons was hysterical. But you have to have kids big enough. He could do some of the rides but not all, and she couldn't do much there since she was pregnant. So we're definitely going back one day when both boys are tall enough. HP and the Forbidden Journey was probably the best theme park ride I've ever been on and Spiderman and Despicable ME were pretty damn close too. And of course they have traditional coasters as well. Next time we visit though we are definitely gonna stay on-site a few days and then head to the beaches. Cause that was a lot of driving back and forth. And if you do happen to venture outside of Orlando, be prepared for tolls.
heh, yeah Pun...sorry I was being very facetious. Orlando was just as hot and steamy as Houston when we went during the summer..and it was busier than anything I have ever experienced. Thats why I am such a fan of the FastPass(I think Easy Pass was at Universal, which is a kickass place for older kids and adults, whereas Disney is obviously aimed at the younger kids.) As usual with Disney things, just listen to everything Max says...he is the man when it comes to this.
Also I didn't bother buying a guide or anything. You can print out maps to the parks online and all the info you need is out there...one site I found very helpful was http://www.mousesavers.com/ Oh and another thing that helped was getting an APP on my phone that listed wait times and fast pass times for all the rides. That really helped throughout the day. I used one called Disney Expedition (forand it worked great.
I'm not the Forum Patrol, I simply ask what I think is a fair question. And, we could decide, after you post the suggestion or recommendation, if it fits us and not all. Thanks for your response. I still believe you should answer here, regardless.
Hey, good timing for me as well as I'm taking my 9 yr old son (just us two) July 29-Aug 4. Here's a good site I found.... http://touringplans.com/ It has crowd projections and recommends which parks to visit and avoid each day. You can also go in and make customized touring plans for each day. You select what time you'll get to the park, what attractions and shows you want to see, what break(s) you want to take, etc... and it will optimize a whole day of how to attack the park to et the most out of the day and not wait so much... it even tells you what and when to get a Fast Pass. It is a subscription but seems very worth it and they have an iPhone app that I THINK you can see your touring plans you've created on to have at each park as well as up to the minute wait times. When I bought my package, I didn't get the dining plan but, the more and more I read about stuff, I wish I had. I wonder if I can add it to my plan now before my trip. Definitely get the Magic Express which gets your luggage off the plane and takes it straight to your room and does the same in reverse when you leave. Also, found this site as well if you're staying on a resort hotel and won't have any transportation (rental car, etc). https://www.gardengrocer.com/ You can order your groceries and they will deliver them to your hotel. You can set it up ahead of time and have your groceries already there when you check in.
I have heard that it is best to go the last week of school or the first week of school as parents won't be going on vacations then. They will either be planning to go or have fisnihed up their vacations before school starts back up.
Depends on the park. Mondays are tons preferable to any weekend day, because Florida residents come to the parks on those days. Avoid Sundays in the Magic Kingdom is the most universal rule I can think of when talking about which days of the week to visit.
Very neat linky, I wish they had that when I went. Thats one of the reasons I really liked the timeshare condo place, the condos had kitchens that we could use to make something to eat when we got in from the parks or before we left. Went to the grocery store around the corner and got what we needed to cut down on the costs of eating out.
considering Fast Pass is free, I agree wholeheartedly! and I would also co-sign bringing in food from outside to save a little dough. even if you pack one meal for your whole family for the day, you can make it into a mid day picnic at the park...
I use TouringPlans too when I plan my particular vacations....good app for your phone as well while you're in the park. Most accurate wait time app is My Disney Experience though...wait times for every attraction published there directly by Disney...and you can make dining reservations using it as well.
That's actually the month I am looking at scheduling. I've been looking at the 14th through the 18th.
Also look into the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World phone app. It has all of the plans that FranchiseBlade mentioned and even has wait times for lines for most of the rides. My family of 7 went for a week a couple years ago and were finished with everything that we wanted to ride by noon every day. As for the time to go, October is perfect!
Parks open at 9... you rode everything that you wanted to ride by noon...? You mean in 3 hours? 'Dafuq'? You only rode two rides or something? Explain.
Went to a different park each day and rode anywhere from 5-8 rides in, yes, 3 hours. Bear in mind that we've been many times in the past having lived in Orlando for a year and planned out what we wanted to do before we got to the park and followed the Unofficial Guide to Disney World app's instructions.
