Continuing our Disney theme from yesterday, both of our families have been talking about doing a Disney World trip in 2013. We have not nailed down anything yet but have started to do research, such as pinning a bunch of resources from Pinterest and ordering the planning DVD from Disney.
You can check out our Pinterest board
here.
*Image taken from disneyworld.disney.go.com
It is pretty crazy the amount of planning and thought people put into Disney trips these days! Now, Eva and I are both big planners and are pretty organized but some of the sites we have visited even seem like overkill for us. We want to get the most out of trip and for the kids to have fun but probably won't go overboard with planning down to the minute what we will be doing.
For our readers that have gone before, any suggestions for us? What is the best and economical place to stay? Which parks and rides would you recommend for a group of kids that range from age 4 1/2 (possibly 5 by the time we go) to 1? What about food, did you pack your own/recommend a certain place/s to eat?
Would love to hear feedback from you guys!
Zi
Bravo and round of applause for you TWO families planning to go together. I can't even imagine the logistics. I suppose the hardest thing is picking a time to go, other than that, just need to book double of everything. I haven't been to Disney World recently, so can't offer you any advice. I like that you'll plan but not like you want to go crazy, because I'm sure you easily could. I love your board and can't wait to use it and your experience whenever we decide to go. In the meantime, I've only got one resource pinned on Disney, but it's DisneyLAND - http://pinterest.com/pin/92534967315246394/ - I have a blog friend who just went with another family so I'll forward this post and maybe she can offer advice.
ReplyDeleteThanks for directing Kathy to our site, she gave us great advice!
Deletehi, lisa from expandng sent me :)
ReplyDeletei just came back from disney world in october and it was fantastic!! we didn't stay at the resort - we stayed in a timeshare about 20mins away from the parks in orlando. unfortunately, i'm unable to recommend a place to stay because of the timeshare we stayed in and didn't research anything else.
park tickets: tix are expensive but they have "packages". depending on what you want to do, we got the 4-day pack (not the "hopper" which grants you access to any park any time of the day) and it's basically a "buy 3 park tickets, get 1 free" kind of deal. you get access to 1 park per ticket per day with the package we got. we had 3 kids with us: two 4yr olds and one 20month old. we figured that with young kids in tow, we wouldn't be able to "hop" between parks and besides, there's SO MUCH to do at each park so we decided on doing one park a day.
best parks: for young kids, stay away from epcot -- that's more geared towards adults. magic kingdom is "the" park and has lots to do. there's a calendar that they print out because they are open late on certain days (till 10pm) and close early on the rest (7pm). the days they are open late, they have fireworks and a parade. these days are the busiest with wait times for rides 1hr or more because everyone wants to see the fireworks. fantasy land is the place for the kids (rides) and they're actually pretty good. if you have a girl and she wants to see the princesses, then head to magic kingdom...as soon as you get through the gates, head left and make a beeline for the "theater" and go inside-- there is a convoy of princesses in a single room where you would stand in line to meet them. while you're waiting in line, have someone else run to the gift shop and grab the autograph book - the characters sign the book and it makes a nice keepsake as you can shoot your own pictures (they will also take photos for you) and you can print the pics and place them in the autograph book beside the character signature. don't bother buying the giant pen for $5 (unless you want to) -- any pen will do (they'll tell you otherwise but it's a lie!).
animal kingdom - it's like a large zoo. fun for the kids. all the rides are pretty good.
disney hollywood studios - fun for both adults and kids!
food: disney doesn't care if you bring your own food. the food there is mediocre at best and super expensive BUT if you want to experience a character dining at least once (for the memories) then i say go for it (we did). we did it just the one time and the rest of the time we dragged in giant coolers on wheels packed with lunch, snacks, drinks, dinner (sandwiches etc). there are places to sit indoor and outdoor so that's what we did to save $$.
if you want character dining, BOOK ONLINE NOW. places get filled quickly but here's a trick: restaurants will reserve a block of tables for online reservations AND phone-ins... so if what you're looking for is booked online, call the restaurant directly and see if they have space. ta-da!
bring your stroller; not a wagon. the kids will be WIPED and a stroller gives them the opportunity to nap.
get to the parks EARLY. find out the opening times and get there 20mins before it opens.. lineups are crazy.
my recommendation: plan to spend the whole day at the parks and don't hit the parks one day after the other. factor in "rest" days between park visits, where you spend a whole day at a park and then the next day, do something relaxing like hang by the pool or whatever. all-day ventures at the parks with kids that age will poop them out and you don't want overtired, screaming kids at the park. this is what we did and we're so thankful that we did.. even us adults were totally wiped after a whole day of walking/pushing the stroller etc.
let me know if you have any more questions
-kathy vodkandsoda@yahoo.com
WOW Kathy, thanks for the AWESOME advice! I love your tips and insight on each park, totally what we are looking for. I was wondering which character dining did you do?
DeleteShe's great isn't she? Such practical advice!
DeleteKathy is Awesome! Thanks for the intro Lisa!
DeleteWe used to live in Florida and have been to Disney often. But I have never been with Baby C. I think I'm going to wait until she gets a little older. The food is a bit pricey, but I like Epcot because you can choose from a variety of foods from different countries. We just check around online for different resort specials. I hope you have so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Mandi! Definitely planning on having fun! =)
DeleteI second the strollers for all kids under 5. I regret not bringing one for our 5 year old, she basically took over the maclaren and either he held her 2 yr old brother in it or we had to carry him. I have tons of strategies but give us more details......skip universal for your age group...waste of $$.
ReplyDeleteWill be taking note of the stroller! Unfortunately I don't have too many details myself to give yet. We are not planning on doing universal but would just like to know which parks are the best for their age group and which rides you recommend. Would you recommend getting the park hopper option? How many days do you think is needed to fully experience everything there for the best bang for your buck? Any ticket deals you can recommend? Things like that, thanks!
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