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Disney for the first time!
We're planning to take the kids to Disney. Either for Christmas or as part of the Vegas trip next Spring. Tony's parents will be getting a house in Florida for a bit during the winter, so we were half thinking about rolling that into our trip, by going to Disney first, leaving the kids with Tony's parents for a bit, flying over to Vegas without them, then going back to get them.
We will only be staying on site for 3-5 days. We will be staying with Tony's parents for the other 5 days at the house they are getting. I have many questions. And I know there are lots of boards I can read and whatever else. But I need the nitty gritty from people I can trust. My kids will be 11, 9 and 7. I know I need to do a meal with the princesses, and I need to do the autographs. We'll probably only do this once in their lives, and I want it to be extra special, but we aren't rich, and have been saving up money for this for a long time. If you've been to Disney, can you answer me these silly questions? 1) What did you spend money on that you thought was a waste or didn't use? 2) What do I NEED in terms of tickets for the parks and whatnot if we're visiting more than 1 park? 3) How much time should I allow for each park? I want to do Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios and Epcot. Is a day each enough? 4) Where do I get the autograph books for the kids? Are they special ones, or no? 5) Pin exchange, yes/no? 6) Snacks and things, should I bring a bag with a few things? Are things uber expensive in the parks? I'd rather not bring a bag if I can avoid it because I'll leave it somewhere for sure! 7) Meals - should I get a meal plan of some kind? If so, which did YOU get and what was good/bad about it? Do they have a good food selection for picky kids? LOL Please tell me anything you think would help. I don't want to weed through a pile of stuff, I just want to know straight out what I need, what I don't need so I don't waste money. This trip is going to cost us about $10,000 bucks, and I want them to have the time of their lives. Thanks if you can help!
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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Okay free dining is out right now through the end of march w/ some blackout dates for everyone and i knwo there is a diff offer out for later dates for canadians, so I'm trying tos ee if I can find it for ya. You have to pay rackrate for the room and buy your tickets as a pkg but it can save you some serious $$$.
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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another thing I wanted to add...I recommend doing breakfast meals{character} and then going around 1030 where you can have breakfast and then be there when they put the lunch stuff out....plus it usually lasts you ALL day and you won't need ot eat until dinner!{we had a small breakfast and then did lots of rides really early and eating around 1030 am was PERFECT! |
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Here is the link for free dining and the dates if these fit your trip schedule at all, it would be worth it!
http://bookwdw.reservations.disney.g...ket=fy12dineCA
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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Thank you ladies SO much!!! I would never have known about the pins, see? You guys rock!
Sara, we're not doing Animal Kingdom because Rae is DEATHLY afraid of animals of any kind. With her autism, I'm not sure she'll get over it by then, and I don't want to scare the kid, kwim? And when I say deathly afraid, I mean it. She gets hysterical if there's a picture of an elephant in a book. It's crazy. It's also on her IEP for next fall if you can believe that!
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I wouldn't do Jungle Cruise. Small World might be iffy.. there's a big elephant I know for sure. um.. let me think some more.
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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Askerhaus in Norway in Epcot.
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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She'll probably be okay w/ the "face" characters, I would guess. The furry ones might freak her out.
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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Jamie another thing to keep in mind is if you buy a park hopper, Tony or you could go with the other kids to animal kingdom and the other one could go with Rae to a different park of her choice
but if you feel like hunting around and such I highly recommend this board.....they have lots of tips and tricks stickied in the top of their forum http://www.disboards.com/ and on the laynards, I ordered my park tickets through AAA {not sure if you have that in Canada ro not} and the kids got a free laynard and pin with their tickets here is an example of a group of pins http://cgi.ebay.com/25-Lot-Disney-As...item2c5e59b6e8 but if you do the pins I woudl highly recommend lettign each one of the kdis pick out a pin there with the year on it my DD has one from every year she has been and it is really kewl to see them all! |
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and all of the characters are very sensitive to the kids that are afraid
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You guys are seriously amazing! I need to go to bed, but I'm so stinking excited.
We have been stashing money for years for this, and I'm just thrilled we're finally going to do it!
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Regarding the characters, she is scared of the furry ones, not the ones like the Princesses, that are real people.
Her school is worried about her extreme fear (I mean, a picture in a book causes her severe anxiety) and they added it to her IEP for the Fall. I am hoping they can help her, because it is so distressing to see her get so worked up and upset. I wouldn't want her Disney experience to be ruined because of it.
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Squeee! I am so excited for you!!!!
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Sara Creating for absolutely no one because I don't think I know how to scrap anymore.
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maybe Disney will cure here.....it is a Magical place for a reason
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This site has a lot of info: allearsnet.
This page has links to the menus: dining. Fastpass is a wonderful thing! I am a big fan of the Unofficial Guide. Personally I found tourguidemike to be a waste of money. |
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Ok, like Sara, I am officially obsessed with the place. Let me get through your questions...
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The big thing to remember is this: Disney is a special and magical trip for everyone, young and old. It's so easy to get bogged down in the "tips and tricks" for getting through the parks that you can easily lose sight of the magic of it all. Our first time, we were so insane about getting on rides that we missed tons of the small details that make it the amazing place it is. If things are important to you, do them, no matter what the experts say. We always read (and Sara said) about the Princess Breakfast in Epcot is so much easier to get into than the one in Cinderella's castle, but going to breakfast at Cindy's castle is important to the girls, and to me (we schedule it to be the first thing we "do" there, it's like the official start of the trip). We also waited in a lot of lines for character "meet and greets" which people always say not to do. I'll tell you though, some of the most magical moments came from seeing the girls interact with Rapunzel and Flynn (ok, and me too). What I'm saying is this: The best way to make sure your Disney trip is fantastic is to do what you and your family want, and not worry about the crazy logistics of a lot of it, kwim? |
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OMG...this is soooo true!!!! and what we did with our kids was get them each a $100 Dinsey giftcard and told them that was their money to spend on whatever they wanted and it worked out so well for us! And we also did the "we will shop on the last day " kinda deal and they really went for it and ended up getting the things they really wanted!
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Good advice here. Something I didn't see mentioned... reservations for character meals can be made 180 days in advance. Yes, six months. So if you're thinking March, you'll need to make some quick decisions because those reservations will open in the next month. If you're thinking Christmas, you may have some trouble getting what you want on the day you want it. There are several princess meals -- all day meals in the Castle at MK and Norway at Epcot, and then a princess dinner at the Grand Floridian. They're all very popular and book up quickly.
If you're thinking about doing a breakfast and you have kids that get up early, my biggest tip is to schedule your princess breakfast at 8 am on a day the park opens at 9 am. You'll get to walk into an empty park, enjoy your meal with the characters, and then be ready to hit the rides at 9 am (and be ahead of the crowd at the gate as well). Here's a great post at The Daily Digi full of Disney tips (and some from me): http://thedailydigi.com/tag/disney/
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Excuse my brain being all over the place this morning!!! ETA - while it's very pretty in Dec. I highly recommend you don't go at Christmas time. It's packed, the lines are long (even with Fast Pass) and that's not the kind of vacation you want. If you can hold out to after Jan 1st the dec are up until around Jan 10th and it's less busy. Jan, Feb, March are great times to visit!
With 5 of you going you might want to consider one of the cabins at Ft. Wilderness which is the campground on Disney property. They have one double bed and a bunk bed in the bed room and then a pull down murphy bed in the living room/kitchen area. If you are going to have a car you can pick up groceries to help with the food cost and cook a few meals yourselves. We've stayed at several resorts and the cabins over the years and the girls (and hubs and I) really liked staying at the campground. It's less crazy, you still have access to great pools, they have kid activities for all ages through out the day, and they have an awesome campfire program at night. It's something to consider b/c I think the extra cost versus a regular room weighs out when you consider the food and having some time to relax. This to me is one of the things to enjoy about Disney. You can sit on the beach at night (with a drink if you want) and watch the fireworks from Magic Kingdom while your kids play in the sand or play tetherball and just relax. Autograph books are a must. There are so many options out there depending on what you want. We go a lot so we have spiral bound notebooks with plastic covered that have solid colored pages inside. The girls like to pick a color for the character to sign. A big marker or pen (think gloved hands) is necessary. If they share one as a group of 3 kids it will be easier for the character to just sign each book then snap the pic. I think the ones in the park are over priced and that you could have a great time as a family making books before you leave. There are definitely certain days of the week to do different parks based on what time they are open, etc. and you can do that research online. MK - two days. EPCOT - 1.5 days . HS -1 day (but not a Sunday b/c that park is packed on Sundays), AK - 1 day if you plan it right. There are all sorts of strategies to the parks. I have a few rules, we never wait more than 30 minutes for a parade, we always find a place to stop a few times during the day to just rest and reflect, we find joy in little things like stopping at the shooting gallery in Adventureland in MK and doing all the Innovention booths at EPCOT (which some peole skip). You can take advantage of extra magic hours at the parks (where the park is open early or late on specific days for resort guests). That will help you stretch out what you can see. Things to consider: there are things to do outside the parks. I know you say you are only going once, but consider in your planning having some down time to visit a few different hotels. Each hotel has a kids program with activities throughout the day. It's fun (and free, and dry if it's raining) to hotel hop and let mom and day relax a bit while the kids particpate in everything from hula lessons to pool parties to Africian drumming. I think you are each going to need some kind of bag to carry the autograph books and at least a refillable water bottle for each person (with some of those little packets of mix b/c the water at Disney is yuck!). In that bag I'd have a snack. I do what I call snack of the day. Each day I have a bag of snack that is different from the day before and that's what we are having that day. No chosing, no fighting, no nonsense! Usually I make Chex Mix for one day, Pretzels for another, Goldfish crackers, 100 calorie snack bags for a real treat, etc. We also keep the "can I have that" to a minimum with a treat of the day. If they are good all day (no more than 3 strikes for being naughty, mean to each other, uncooperative, etc) then we have a set treat they can get. When they were little I'd pick the treat, now they pick at the beginning of the day. Sometimes it's a trip to the Magic Kingdom Sweet Shoppe in the late afternoon for a snack (carmel apples or krispy treats), sometimes it's a slushy, whatever it is that looks cool that's under $5 each. Then we give them a set amount of money for a souvenier and they can spend it as they want. When it's gone it's gone. (less stress for me!). One more bit of advice. In MK at the Barber Shop (on the left on Main Street right when you come in to the park) they will put girl's hair up in a bun, stripe it with colored hair paint and put on sparkles/glitter for $5 (they will trim bangs at the same time if you need it!). For boys they do color and sparkles and a Mickey head in the hair at the back of the next for $5 too. It's the best deal in the parks imho. My kids love to do it (9 and 12) and sometimes that is the treat of the day even though we get it first thing in the morning when we come in to the park. I love Disney...we live in Florida so we go there often when we have passes. Feel free to Facebook me or IM with any more questions. I could ramble on for days with ideas and ways to save money (and sanity)!
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Last edited by julifish; 08-04-2011 at 07:51 AM. |
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I can't add too much to all the great advice that's been given, but the best time of year that we've gone is the last week of January/first week of February. So not crowded, great weather, not too hot, but hot enough to swim.
Definitely get the Park Hopper - it gives you soooo much freedom. If you want to have a character meal at one park but want to finish your day out in a different park you can do that. For example, we had a princess lunch with at Akershus in Norway at Epcot but Cheyanne didnt' feel like hanging out in Epcot for the rest of the day, so we went back to MK. Then after that we decided to go see the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom - gives you lots of freedom to move around! The first time we went we got the full dining plan of 3 meals per person per day - we had several meals left over. From then on we have gotten the quick service plan, which gives you one sit down meal a day (character meals), one quick service meal a day, and one snack a day - we use all those but never feel that we need more. I bring granola bars and water bottles in a string pack that we take turns carrying on our backs, along with sunscreen, wipes, ibuprofen and excedrin (we're both prone to headaches in the heat). I also bring breakfast foods to keep in the hotel room - pop tarts, cereal that can be eaten dry, PB and bread. That way we save $$ by not eating breakfast in the World. We also strategically plan our character meals to double as a brunch or a lupper (Lunch/supper) by having them at 10-10:30 in the morning or around 3 in the afternoon. |
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Jamie - the Castle breakfast can be pricey and it does use two of the table service credits per person if you are on the dining plan. However there aren't a whole lot of face character dining options, so that might make a really special experience for you and Rae. And if you get one of the first spots, a lot of times you get to walk down Main Street with very few people around - something I just adore!
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OMG thank you guys!!!!!
We really need to do the princess breakfast at the castle, I know that is a *must do* for my girls, regardless of price. Aaron, you are so right, there are things my kids will want to do, and I will do for them, that is one of them! I was up almost all night doing research on that, so I need to process everything you guys have said, and I'm SURE I'll be back with more questions! I don't want it to be a completely over organized planned trip. I also know Rae will not want to do many rides, whereas Benjamin will want to go on the biggest ones that are there, so DH and I are going to have to do some splitting of duties I think. Thank you all so much, you are the best!!!!!!
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Jamie -
With Rae's need you may want to contact Disney once you have your dates. They will work with you to accomodate you and might be able to provide you with special passes that will allow you to do a "baby swap" at rides she doesn't want to ride. Then one of you can wait with her, the others can ride and then you switch. They want you to have a great visit and will work with you. You'll probably need a doctors note addressing your need. They may have other services they can offer. If you can't get breakfast with Cinderella in the castle there is dinner with Cinderella at the Grand Floridian which was great and a lot easier to book.
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Thanks Juli, I did a bit of reading last night at 2 am (ughhh) and there are special passes you can get to help with the wait times/accessibility on rides and some other things. I kind of feel like I'm taking advantage of her disability by doing that though, even though I know it would make for a more enjoyable experience for her.
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Hey Jamie we just went this past January so if you have any questions about the winter aspect let me know!
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Hey Jaime - I just got back from a 12 day trip there at Florida and can honestly say your family will love it. We actually stayed at a condo off of WDW with family so were not able to take advantage of the meal plans that are packaged there if you stay overnight. But we did pretty good - there is a McDonalds right outside the park that we often visited and took advantage of eating kids meals instead of adult meals for all the kids (including our teens) because in all honesty everyone just wanted to keep going and didn't want to sit down long to eat. The park also lets you take in food so we made sandwiches, brought fruit, water, sodas and everyone including the kids had a backpack with our stuff. We visited Epcot over 3 days because there was so much to see and the girls were involved in getting their passports signed at each country and then playing with the Kim Possible phones that Disney provides to excite the kids on secret missions around the place....super fun and something I highly recommend. There is an app you can use to see park hours and wait times for line called Mousewait that I love. The California one is a bit more accurate than the Florida one but it gives you an idea of where everyone might be at a ride during the day and maybe you can opt for another one and go on a popular ride later on in the evening. I could have skipped Hollywood Studios if it wasn't for my girls wanting to see Beauty and the Beast....Animal Kingdom did not hold any of the kids interest and was one of the parks we could have also skipped. Even though we have Disneyland here in CA, I have to say I loved the Magic Kingdom in FL. It was different enough for us to enjoy and we stayed until the park closed.
We also went to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure - all the kids loved the 2nd one especially because of the Harry Potter area. We spent a lot of time there and took advantage of the park's meal plan and ate all day long which made the $20.00 per person cost a real bargain for our family. As far as souvenirs - our kids would see different things at each park and often we were too tired to go back. However, if you have a great memory, Disney has a special number that you can call and they will try to locate that "special" item you found in the park and ship it to you. I know because we have a beauty and the beast mug coming to us that we saw at Disney Quest in Downtown Disney lol! Have fun....we did and are looking forward to go back but maybe this time without the other 16 members of our family lol!
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I would ask each of your kids what they would most want to do. You won't be able to do everything so it would be helpful to know ahead that one wants to meet a princess, one wants to ride a specific ride, etc. I went as an adult for almost a week and didn't get to everything I wanted to get to. I also recommend purchasing the Photopass CD -- you might want to check ahead to see if they will ship it to Canada and if the release will work. That way you can be in the pics. Plus if you tell the Photopass people you are getting the CD sometimes they will take a ton of pics -- especially when your kids are going up to meet someone, not just the posed shot.
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Last edited by scrap2day; 08-05-2011 at 08:08 PM. |
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