Need advice on first time trip.

[pegah2os]

We are in the process of planning our first trip to Disney in February 2004. We already have our reservations at Pop Century and we're going to drive down to save money.

The problem I'm having is that my DH got upset with me a few weeks ago because he felt that I was planning every minute of our trip. I tried to explain to him that there are things that you have to make reservations for ahead of time and that I wasn't planning everything. But he said he dosn't want to go there and have to follow a schedule he just wants to get up in the morning and decide what we want to do. Is that a good idea?

So I'm trying to figure some things out without actually planning anything. I know there are certain days that are better to visit certain parks in the busier times but do we need to worry about that in February?

Any help or advice anyone can give me will be greatly appreciated!

 

[Duchie]

How about a compromise? You could plan the mornings and leave the afternoons open (or vice versa). Or you could plan out certain days, and then leave a couple of "free" days. These are great, because you may decide there are things you want to see again, and it's a perfect time to do them.

 

[roserae]

Whew! I think if you don't plan anything you will miss out on a lot that Disney has to offer. It is just too big to not at least have an idea of what you are going to do that day. My dh is a big planner and I worried when he was planning for our trip last February. I also "didn't want to be on a schedule" But it worked out great. He made a general plan for us to follow. We pretty much knew what park we would be going to each day and made PS at whatever restaurants we wanted to eat at in those parks. We figured out which attractions we didn't want to miss and made sure we had time for them and planned tentative things for the afternoon or evening if they differed from our daytime plans. Lots of either/or type of plans.

In doing this you are able to make sure you don't miss anything...Downtown Disney, Pleasure Island, the water parks, mini golf...whatever it is you want to do. Without at least SOME planning you may end up wasting a lot of time and not making the most of your vacation.

 

[Memaw2Wm]

I think you need at least a general plan. I make a daily intinery that shows what park(s) we be in and any PS ressies, etc.

But I don't plan exactly what attractions we're going to do when, but I do know which ones we want to hit ... so my itinery would look like this:

Sunday, August 24:
9:00am Magic Kingdom
9:45am Family Magic Tour, Tour Garden (next to City Hall)
1:00pm Crystal Palace (reservation#)
Haircuts @ barbershop

Monday, August 25
8:00am Animal Kingdom
8:30am Donald's Breakfastosaurus (reservation#)

4:00pm MGM
6:00pm Pizza Planet dinner

Tuesday, August 26
10:00am Typhoon Lagoon
5:50pm Chef Mickey's (reservation #)
8:15pm Spectromagic Parade
10:00pm FITS fireworks

Then on the back of my itinery I have a copy of the parks operating hours for each day of our stay. I make several copies of the itinery just in case I lose one (or more).

 

[BevS97]

my plan is about as specific as Memaw2Wm, I also like to add in a few days towards the end which are labeled either 'redo Favorites' or 'Kids choice' or 'Mum and Dad's choice' something like that, so we can go back and do something that we have missed, or redo something that we really enjoyed

I couldn't go with a plan that said

8am Space Mountain
8:30 Tea Cup Ride

etc etc

but I don't like no plan at all

Bev

 

[conNH]

Ive been to Disney with out kids and with kids and the thing I learned was w/ kids (at least small ones) if you plan to much your in for disapointment and a melt down!!!!! You can do meal reservations ahead but I would just do everything else as you go along!!
Sure you might not get to see everything but Ive been to WDW seven times and I still havent seen everything! Youve never been so its all going to be great! Just take your time and enjoy. Depending on the age of your child/children there might be some suggestions for attractions that they might enjoy more than others thats a good way to deside what to do or not to do in the parks.

 

[Nette]

We've been 5 times and not seen everything. Its impossible to see everything in a week (or 2 or in our case 5 weeks (total)).

Our first trip we had NO plan. We never even made it to AK.

Generally now, we plan 2 or 3 meals w/ PSs and just wing it the rest of the time. This is the most relaxing way we have found to do it. While we're there, we will kind of plan a couple of days out, but those plans are always subject to our whims.

It's funny, cuz we usually do try to do some planning before the trip (like what park on what day, where we think we want to eat, etc) but we put very little of it down in "permanent ink" (meaning we dont actually make all the PSs or print out an itinerary... and almost ALWAYS the original pre-trip plan gets thrown out. Planning is fun (and a good way to kill time) but it rarely pans out for us.

JMHO.

 

[deb305]

On our last trip,Jan '03 we planned one priority seating a day, usually a breakfast, and that usually dictated what park we would be in. We had DS 12months, and DD 4.5yrs with us. Unless you are going around Presidents day, Feb is a slow month. On the less popular priority seatings you can book that day. We were able to do a few walkins and got seated right away.
On park days, we each got to pick one ride/attraction that was a must see. Those were the only things we scheduled.
In your favor are the light crowds. When we went MK (on a Sunday even) we were able to eat at Cindy's at 8 am, and on rides by 8:30. By 11:00 we had done every Fantasyland ride!

There is something said for going slow. With DS I spent a lot of time waiting for DH to take DD on rides. It gave me time to walk around the parks and really see them through DS's eyes. The street acts that we usually based by were fantastic, gardens were beautiful, etc. There is nothing that says the whole trip has to be scheduled, nor is it so bad to have a few priority seatings.

One thing, the first time we went to WDW for a few of the PS we felt we had to go back to hotel and "change for dinner". Now we appear as we are, and we still enjoy the PS without wasting prep time. Of course you don't want to show up as you are for the better restaraunts, (Ca. Grill, etc)

Have fun

 

[pegah2os]

Thank you for all the help! I think I'm going to talk to my husband about at least figuring out what day we want to go to what park. At least that way we won't be getting up in the morning and be trying to figure out what we want to do.
We are going to have our DS who will be 6 and is autistic so I know there will have to be alot of flexibility in whatever plans we make.
I'm just so excited about going that I can't help reading about everything and talking about it. I think that's why he thought I was planning everything.
We're going to be there from Feb 3-9 so hopefully the crowds won't be too bad. I've heard that's a good time to go so hopefully the weather will be good to drive down.

Thanks again!!!

 

[EthansMom]

I pretty much do my planning like Memaw. But I also make a list of which rides/shows I would like to do in each park, with asterisks next to the truly important ones -- that way I don't inadvertently miss something I really wanted to do.

Also, as our next trip is with our 2 year-old, I do plan an afternoon nap every day outside of the park. Actually, I took a nap most every afternoon on our last trip without our son!

If you're going in Feb sometime before President's weekend, you probably won't have many crowds. We went the third week of Jan three years ago and had no crowds -- 'course there was cold snap and it was 32 degrees in Florida, but we had driven down from MD and had our coats, hats, gloves -- had a great time!

Since, you're staying on-property, it might be wise to start each day at whichever park has Early Entry -- try to get there when they first open for Early Entry and then be willing to "Hop" on to another park around lunch time if the Early Entry park is getting busy. If getting up and out early doesn't work, then you may want to avoid the Early Entry park as it gets and stays busiest for the day. Check out www.wdwig.com for early entry info and lots of other useful stuff.

Try not to overplan your meals. Pick a few of the nicer restaurants that you really want to try and get PS's for just them and leave the rest open -- there really are plenty of places to eat, you'll never go hungry. (For our upcoming trip, I only have two PS's.)

Also, check over on the Disabilities board, if you haven't already -- there is a card you can get from Guest Services in the park that will permit your autistic child (and family, I'm assuming) to wait in an alternate area for some rides. I don't know what other benefit there may be, but it may be something worth looking into.

Best of Luck,

EthansMom

 

[HitchhikingGhost]

Tell your husband to wake up and be happy he has you. If he thinks he is going to get up each morning and "wing it", you will have wasted a lot of time and money on a grand trip to nowheresville.
You must have some general plan without sweating out each minute. . . I agree with BevS97, you get into that kind of anal scheduling and it's a disaster waiting to happen.
And leave room for flexibility. So many families stress themselves out so bad upon arrival, feeling they need to "get the most bang for the buck" that they end up raving lunatics before the trip is over. Who needs that??? The trip should remain enjoyable throughout. Remember, if you don't get to something this time, there's always next time.

Have a great trip!

 

[susy]

Since I grew up in FL, I have been to WDW too many times to remember and even I haven't done it all. Not even close! We took our son (5) last year six times and we had a blast every time!

When are you going in Feb? The beginning of Feb is better. It is still value season and towards the end you have to deal with President's week (think:mobbed) and peak rates


The weather can be very iffy, so keep up with Accuweather.com before your trip.

With our son we find it best to divide the day into two parts. We eat breakfast in our room or go to the food court. Usually one of us goes to the food court and brings back the breakfast. All Stars has the Mickey waffles , so I am assuming that PC will also. We go to a park at opening (arrive 30 minutes before) and do our favorite attractions. Have an early lunch (the earlier, the less crowds you will encounter at the restaurants)-11:30 works for us.
Then we leave or hang around a bit more, then leave. You will feel silly doing this at first, but TRUST ME. This is THE WAY to avoid meltdowns. Once you get back to your resort, go swimming (if it's warm enough) or just let your son have some down time in the room. Bring some of his toys from home and they have great channels with kids shows going all day on TV. Our son even naps!
It's important to have some down time because Disney is VERY STIMULATING!!!! We usually head back to the parks around 4 or so. Epcot is open late every night and our son just loves this park at night. He is more content with the slower paced attractions, the musical fountains that light up and the lit sidewalks. We usually eat a sit-down dinner. The Garden Grill at Epcot is one of our favorites and it has Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale. After dinner, he just sits in the stroller and we walk around the World Showcase.

If your son is an early riser, you may want to take advantage of Extra Magic Hour. If you want to take it easy and not push it, a lot of people swear by the "day after" strategy. You go to the park that had EMH the day before. The schedule for EMH is:

Mk- sun, thurs
Ak- fri, mom
MGM- tues, sat
epcot-wed


If Spectromagic is only showing one night during your stay , then go to MK that night, just for that. An early dinner at the Crystal Palace beforehand would be really nice. Does your son like Pooh?

You will need to rent a stroller for him. It's just too much walking over the course of several days.

Tell your husband that planning is essential. You are spending a lot of money. According to the researchers of the Unofficial Guide:
"When it comes to Walt Disney World... you either need a good plan or a frontal lobotomy".

 

[crisi]

You've gotten great advice.

Here is what I would do (and have done):

Decide what style of tourer you are (probably not commando). Disney is supposed to be set up so that you will be able to do at least eight things in a day (but that may be aggressive and commando).

Lets say you want an easy style:

Decide what park(s) on what day (remember, you can park hop with a park hopper ticket - very useful if you do an EE morning in the MK or do AK in the morning and go back to the room for a nap). And decide three to eight things that you want to do on that day in those locations. (Eight is agressive. Three would be light touring - and it depends on what you want to do as well - if you want to play golf, thats your whole day).

For instance Day One of our next trip

MK EE morning:
Peter Pan's Flight (my kids favorite from last trip)
Haunted Mansion (Grandma and my son want to do this)

Dinner at Marrakesh in Epcot at 6:00 pm - PS #xxxxxxxxx

We will get a lot more than this done. We'll probably get most of Fantasyland in during EE, then get Buzz, HM, and maybe the Jungle Cruise and Pirates done before leaving MK for the day - and may get two pavillions in FW done before dinner. We will be flexible enough to ride Dumbo first thing (even though it isn't on the list) if the line is still short. And because I'm traveling with my mother in law (who is NOT a planner), I'll try not to be formal and try to do the "invisible guide" thing - letting her try things as they catch her fancy - but trying to put her in the path of the parade if I think its worth seeing so it does catch her fancy. As well as not going out of my way to point out the attractions I'm not excited about spending time on.

That night, sit down and review the rest of the trip. Got Pirates done so we can check that off from Day Four when we were returning to the MK. Ditto The Land. Usually, by the end of the trip we are revisiting favorites and have gotten in all the musts.

Now, the next piece of advice. Don't share this with your husband. If you can get him to make a list of what he (or your kids) want to do so you have a must do list (including any reservations he wants), but if he isn't interested, you go through the guidebood and be ready to be the "invisible guide."

The final piece of advice. If he gets there and is a real sourpuss on plans - throw them out the window and wing it. You'll at least be better prepared in knowing that you don't need to rush to get to "Its a Small World" and that your morning hours are better spent getting to the more popular attractions. You can (and many people often do) have planned to spend Tuesday at AK and then decide you'd rather do MGM - and it won't ruin your vacation unless you let it. Crowds are never such that you are going to do that much better at one park on a given day than another (with the possible exception of very particular days and EE days at the MK - where you are fine for EE, but you do want to plan to be out of there around lunchtime.)

 

[T*nkerBelle]

What does it mean when you talk about EE days at Magic Kingdom, etc...? Thanks.

 

[crisi]

EE is early entry. Each day one of the parks will open an hour earlier to on site guests only. The parks, except Future World in Epcot, normally open at 9:00. They open at 8:00 for Early Entry:

Sunday: MK
Monday: AK
Tuesday: MGM
Wed: Epcot
Thur: MK
Fri: AK
Sat: MGM

A lot of people feel this is a great perk - if you can haul yourself to the park by 8:00am, you can usually get a ton of things done before the crowds get too thick. There are some other stragegies as well - if you do an EE day, plan on leaving that park for a different park around lunchtime. Or do the park that had EE the day before.

Not all rides are open on an EE morning - only the most popular. Its particularly useful at the MK, where most of Fantasyland is open and you can get your kids through some of the slow loading rides quickly. If your kids are like mine - they don't sleep in normally, and have everyone awake at 5:30 at Disney (or Christmas morning) getting to EE isn't difficult.

 

[conNH]

It now has a new name.. Im not sure why they changed it but its called...something Magical Hour... something like ?

 

[crazymomof4]

Originally posted by pegah2os


The problem I'm having is that my DH got upset with me a few weeks ago because he felt that I was planning every minute of our trip. I tried to explain to him that there are things that you have to make reservations for ahead of time and that I wasn't planning everything. But he said he dosn't want to go there and have to follow a schedule he just wants to get up in the morning and decide what we want to do. Is that a good idea?

Oh Boy! This sounds EXACTLY like myself and my DH!!!
I egg him on, though, by saying things like, "How many potty breaks do you think we will need in one day? and "Is 20 mins. enough time for lunch?"
Seriously......in spite of his heckling I proceeded with my research and would tell him about the things I was learning like avoiding the crowds of EE days at the designated parks (we are staying off-site), tips on how to use FastPass efficiently, etc. These are things that I would not have known w/o reading about them. And he eventually agreed that it would be helpful to know about these types of things. It has been 9 yrs since our last trip and I felt I needed to update my Disney knowledge. I kept stressing to him that my research/planning was to allow us all to get the most out of our trip and NOT to be a Disney Commando with a strict, unchangeable schedule! I also needed to re-learn the layout of the parks. I reminded him about those Disney newbies we used to laugh at on our previous trips (you know, the ones who stop in the middle of a pathway to stare endlessly at the guide map, having no idea where to go next or how to get there.) I told him that I don't want to be one of THEM! After a few months, I won him over and now he even occassionaly sits next to me and reads along while I'm on the Boards.

 

[helenm29]

Well.....we've been to DW a few times and have seen a lot so we pretty much know what we want to do. On the other hand, you are right about making reservations ahead of time! so many of the "extra" things like the Fireworks Cruise, dinner at particular restaurants etc. need to be made 90 days ahead of time or your chances get REALLY slim! I love the hoop-dee-doo-review and you need to make reservations ahead of time for that one most of the time. You CAN however try and get reservations when you get to DW - there are cancellations ALL the time! the cast memeners at your hotel will help you with that. HAVE FUN! Helen