Disney World advice thread

It is, but your kiddos ( ) will think it's ABSOLUTELY THE MOST AMAZING THING EVER! and that's kinda cool.

As brutal as it was, we have very fond memories of our trip there. It was both kids' first plane trip, so there was that. SonOfQuant was a little turd and kind of scared by the people in character costume -- he wouldn't go near Rafiki because he said Rafiki "makes me itchy." At our hotel pool he toodled all over with his little swimmies on, his head bobbing just above the surface. Elder DaughterQuant got to sit next to Belle (I think it was) as Belle did a character reading. And on the flight out, at night, we looked over and watched the fireworks show from on high.

 

If you go to Disneyland, look for the Howard Johnsons nearby, has a great water park that you can retire to in the middle of the day then go back to the park. Also look up the Disney Mousepass system that just came out this summer. Great for avoiding lines.

Disneyland is so expensive but you know what? Its the cleanest place in the world, not one piece of garbage, seriously.

 

My daughter, then 6, fucking loved Splash Mountain, and she rode it four or five times the first day we were there. We drove down in February, supposedly one of the slower times, but it seemed pretty damn packed to me. We stayed in one of the cheaper hotels at the end of the park, which was good enough for us. You could easily spend $500 a night at some of the hotels on the grounds, but there's no way we were going to do that. And, yes, think about how much money you'll need and double it.

I hated the nighttime parade of floats, and the wife and daughter were mostly just meh about it. We set up all our fast passes and restaurant reservations ahead of time. The restaurant food was, without exception, very good. The fast food stuff in the parks, not so much.

We spent three days in Disney -- at least one day too many for me -- and didn't check out any other park. Then we spent three days in Jacksonville, right on the beach, and that was much better, seeing old friends and colleagues.

I drove home straight through, about 15 hours, and was so road whipped I was shaking by the time we got in the house. We're fucking flying next time.

 

Your kids are at a perfect age for Disney--you'll be making some memories for them that will last for ages.

It's been some time since I've been there, but a couple comments for your consideration:

Would say you can stay at a hotel off park and not have it really impact your visit and save you a load of money. Have done both and either way works just fine.

Before heading into Magic Kingdom (assuming that's day one, and with 5 and 8 year olds, it will be), stop by the home equity booth to the side of the entrance and open your line of credit. (Just kidding, they don't have a lending company on premises. But they should).

My last piece of advice--enjoy the one adult ride of the trip--the drink around the world 'ride' in the countries' section of Epcot. We would always start with a beer in Canada and then work our way around to the English pub, margaritas in Mexico, etc. One of my personal favorite places is the English garden behind the pub with the replica Beatles playing--quite an enjoyable way to spend an hour of your visit.

 

Whichever park you go, start at the back, then work your way back to the entrance. That way, you're not backtracking just to get to an attraction.

Also, get a meal plan. You get a lot of food on that plan. It got to the point at the end, that we were giving meals away to others because we were so stuffed and couldn't use them all.

 

went a couple years ago, got the 3 day pass. also visited friends in Tampa and went to the Kennedy Space center. Kennedy Space center was the best, going to the beach with friends in Clearwater (even though the tide was just about up to the sidewalk) was also probably better than most of Disney.

 

I had a cousin who worked at Disney World my entire childhood, so we got free passes to all the parks. Some nights we'd just go to Epcot to eat, watch the fireworks show and leave. I don't have a kid yet, but I'll probably be willing to give an appendage for access to free Disney passes when I do and they're old enough to whine to go to Disney and I have to pay for it.

 

The Mexican restaurant at Epcot was shockingly great.

 

That's where we usually went. And when you're seven, those Mayan ruins and the starry sky are the coolest things in the world.

 

This advice doesn't equate well to Disney World because of the Fast Passes. It's nearly impossible to simply do the loop and wait for each ride. Because of the Fast Passes, you'll do a lot more walking than you would have before they were invented - often from one side of the park to the other - but you'll spend far less time standing still in line, which is a godsend when you have active children (plus it gives you more opportunities to buy food/souveinirs!).

We avoided using Fast Passes to the meet the characters. My kids and us didn't care about them. If there were short lines for them, we'd try to meet them, but we largely confined our character experiences to the meals (Beauty and the Beast dinner in Magic Kingdom is really good ... the food is fantastic and the dining room looks like the one in Beast's castle).

As DQ said, make sure you PLAN. That means signing up for your three Fast Passes and meals for each day as soon as possible - like 6 months in advance.

I've taken my family each of the past two years, even though it, too, appeared to be hell on Earth. But that was before we went. The kids made every single little annoyance and inconvenience (and the cost) absolutely worth it.

We stayed at the Grand Floridian (before the alligator attack) and at the Campsites at Fort Wilderness Resort (do NOT mix this up with Wilderness Lodge). I can't say enough about how great Fort Wilderness Campground was. We had a cabin that had a living area/kitchenette and a separate bedroom with a queen and twin bunk beds. It was great because we could put the kids to bed around 8 p.m. and enjoy the evening together without keeping the kids up. The pool is great, the amenities are accessible and transportation to and from the parks is fairly easy (short boat trips).

The Grand Floridian is on the monorail, so that made transportation super easy, but it was more expensive and it wasn't as great for kids as young as ours (probably good for your kids ages, though).

My kids hated the Hoop-de-Doo Revue, but yours might enjoy it more because they're older. Chef Mickey's breakfast at the Contemporary is really fun for the kids. We did a character breakfast in Epcot, too, in the area of Frozen, but I can't remember what it was called. The kids loved it.

Don't let anyone scare you about school vacation. We went during February vacation and it was fine. The crowds weren't terrible at all and the weather was great.

 

Oh, and Animal Kingdom is incredible. Not as many rides, but the ones they do have are really good (Everest is a fantastic roller coaster) and you spend very little time waiting in line. It probably has the best food of all the parks, too. The animals are just astounding and The Lion King show is excellent.

 

I sometimes hear that damn Hoop-de-Doo song in my head when I wake up. It will never leave. It's just sitting there, dormant, ready to haunt me every couple of months.