Trips booked for September. The process has been overwhelming and the stress will only compound the closer it gets.

I appreciate the responses and feedback!! Once in a lifetime trip for us and excited to share this with our kids. Keeping a positive attitude. Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by squad13:
Trips booked for September.

When in September?

It'll never be empty. I recall the good ole days, 10 years ago, heading down to the park on a Wednesday afternoon in February or October and everything being a 5 minute wait. I could be there for 3-4 hours with my daughter and we would do multiple princess meet and greets and ride multiple rides, pretty much walking on everything.

But, September should be less busy than August. So you already have a win.

quote:

Originally posted by squad13:
Trips booked for September. The process has been overwhelming and the stress will only compound the closer it gets.

I appreciate the responses and feedback!! Once in a lifetime trip for us and excited to share this with our kids. Keeping a positive attitude. Thank you!

Please try to not let it overwhelm you, you have time to plan.

When I worked for Disney I would see family's get over whelmed all the time. They would get frustrated trying to do everything in as little time as possible, not going to happen these days.

I would see exhausted parents along with exhausted kids, you need to try to pace yourself as much as you can, Disney vacations tend to be long days with miles of walking involved.

Your best bet is to make a plan, book as much in advance as possible without making it as tho you have to rush from one experience to the next. Set realistic expectations for what you want to accomplish and most of all, as a family have fun.

The app can be a time saver and as much as I hate to be tied to my phone there is a lot of good information posted daily on the app. The one big thing is wait times for rides and show/parade times.

This is a good website to go to if you want to do research or if you register to ask questions.
https://www.wdwinfo.com/chat.htm

You say you are coming in September. Are you coming in the beginning of the month or more toward the end of the month? Things used to slow down a little in September because the Florida Kids are back in school the end of August and the rest of the country around the beginning of September.

When my wife and I used to visit in the early 90 before we moved here. We would visit January when the parks were not busty at all. We could get up in the morning, visit a park, get all we wanted done then have dinner just about any place we wanted with no problems.
My wife and I have been Disney Vacation Members for over 25 years, it's Disney Timeshare and we have seen how things have changed over the years.

Our biggest Disney vacations now tend to be Disney cruises, for us they are a little more relaxed.

Can you be specific to what kinds of foods your kids eat? Hambrger & fries? Chicken nuggets and tater tots? Grilled cheese? PB&J sandwiches?

What will they eat for Breakfast?

quote:

When in September?

2nd week of September


Kids will eat scrambled eggs, pancakes, donuts, toast and some cereal and fruit.
Nuggets, fries and mac n cheese usually are a winner. Pizza would be the easiest. Uncrustables from Amazon might be a winner too, they can't eat my PB&J because, who the hell knows why.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:

Please try to not let it overwhelm you, you have time to plan.

When I worked for Disney I would see family's get over whelmed all the time.

This is great advice. Plan as best you can. But when you get here, be flexible. Know that something will happen, like a thunderstorm or broken ride that will put a monkey wrench in your plans. Roll with it, and know that when your family looks back on the vacation, you will not remember that one missed experience. You will remember all of the great experiences that you did have.

Just accept that you will not be able to do everything. Do what you can, enjoy it, make great memories and do not worry about the things that get missed.

Art of Animation is on Disney Property but NOT walking distance to any Theme Park. Large 7 or 8 hotels that are serviced by bus (or Skyline).
1) Determine where the bus comes into Art of Animation and walk to the 1st pick up point, (don't get stuck watching full buses drive away).
2) Plan on 1 Theme park a day. Small back pack with snacks and a change of clothes for the kids--anticipate them getting wet. Look at each park--rides/attractions, keep an eye out for parades or Character moments. Lines for rides go down when parades are scheduled. Disney has spontaneous shows/skits that happen. Fireworks typically occur in each park except Animal Kingdom. Stroller is mandatory because u are a pack mule--invest in a good umbrella type stroller.
3) Integrate Disney Transportation into the Park. Magic Kingdom--ride train around the park-gives you a short break, hop off/on. Monorail is included--plan a lunch or dinner at those hotels off Monorail(Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Polynesian). Monorail goes around the Magic Kingdom hotels or to Epcot. Hollywood Studios connects to Epcot by boat. Between World Showcase and Hollywood Studios is Disney Boardwalk/Yacht & Beach club-restaurants for dinner. Skyline runs to Caribbean Beach where you can pick up the Gondola to Epcot.
Plan on doing a lot of walking. Have a list of rides or shows in each theme park. A bus always runs back to your hotel from any park.

I recommend ordering food from a food delivery service like Amazon Fresh, Walmart, InstaCart, Whole Foods, etc to stock must-have items for your kids. Order things like their favorite snacks, bread, PBJ and the like. Order some beer or wine for you and the wife to wind down after the park. Bell services will hold the items for you.

Arts of Animation has a decent breakfast menu, which honestly is pretty standard for all the resorts. Mickey waffles, bacon, eggs, sausage, etc... Here's the menu for your resort.
https://disneyworld.disney.go....ape-of-flavors/menus

You can either eat at the cafeteria or bring the food back to the room while the wife gets the kids ready for the day. If the kids won't eat anything on the menu, make sure you order whatever cereal they will eat from the grocery delivery and feed them in the morning.

When you take the bus to the park, you'll debark and go through security. Don't pack any pocket knives or anything that wouldn't get through airport security. Don't worry about water bottles though. There's no restriction on bringing in outside water or non-alcoholic drinks. Feel free to bring your kids favorite snacks with you to the park (Cheez-its, cookies, etc...).

Once you go through security, you'll bypass the ticket counter and go to the check-in gates. That's where you'll tap your magic band which has your tickets linked and give them a fingerprint scan. From there you'll proceed into the park.

For a September day, pack sunglasses, water and sunscreen. It's also worthwhile to pack cooling towels and neck fans. Lots of people will be wearing them. It helps take the edge off the heat.
My son is wearing a neck fan in this photo...


Cooling towel...
Get that sucker wet and wrap it around your neck or drape it around your head.


Again, I highly recommend renting a stroller and put a clip-on fan on it for the kids. As already mentioned, keep a battery backup or two and charging cables capable of charging a phone 2 or 3 times.

As for sunscreen, my wife is a fan of supergoop lotion and spray. Supergoop spray sunblock works like a charm and it doesn’t stick. It’s expensive but worth it. Not to be confused with Goop by that nutcase Hollywood actress. Apply 2 or 3 times a day.

https://supergoop.com/products/unseen-sunscreen

https://supergoop.com/products...-mist-with-vitamin-c

Pack some compact travel umbrellas which will protect you from the sun and the rain.
https://www.amazon.com/SY-COMP...583520395504658&th=1

For getting stuck in a long line, we recommend packing some of these collapsable stools. I can fit two or three in a backpack. We took them to EPCOT and were stuck in a 90 minute line. We'd move, then sit while we waited. People were literally offering to buy them from us. They're also handy if you want to take a break and there's nowhere to sit. I don't recommend getting the tripod style stools. I heard that security won't let you through with them.
https://www.amazon.com/Portabl...83520396054048&psc=1

Thanks Benny and everyone else, greatly appreciate the insight.

It’s going to be a fun trip!

I can’t add much to the discussion as most everything has been said. Here’s a few things I didn’t see or might be able to elaborate on.

-Absolutely get the app, it’s a must have and will let you do everything from see wait times for rides and order food.

-You can make dining reservations 60 days before the first day of your trip. Make them that morning. Already know where you want to eat and book it if it’s available. Have alternate places to eat. You can look at the menu too. If you don’t get a reservation you really want then look on the app regularly to see if a spot opened up. I’ve been pretty successful finding openings that way.

-Take advantage of the “extra magic hours” that let you into the park early, or stay late. With small kids you might prefer the early entrance days to the staying late days. Not every park has the extra hours every day, so look and find out which do. We plan our trip to the parks around those. You’ll be amazed at how quick you can get on a few rides in that hour.

-The kiddy rides tend to have the longest lines early. That extra magic hour can save you a lot of time at the 7 dwarfs ride or Peter Pan.

-Be a kid. There are a thousand reasons to hate Disney but you are already going so when you get there just let go and be a kid. Honestly I’d give almost anything to be back there with my kids 11 years ago when we took them for the first time. 5&8 is a great time to take them too. They are old enough to understand and remember but young enough to be excited about all of it. Live in the moment. Also, if you do get a bit stressed, Magic Kingdom doesn’t sell alcohol, but the other parks do.

You’re staying at the right hotel. We tend to stay at the Swan now which is a nicer hotel, but only because I use hotel points so it’s free, and our kids are older now. When you have young kids I think the value resorts are perfect. They are going to love it as there are all kinds of things for them to see.

We stayed there for our last Disney trip with the girls. It’s a lower price tier resort and I was less than impressed with the rooms. I hope you won’t have a ton of luggage to carry and I hope your room isn’t an upper floor far from the elevator. They don’t have carts at the rooms for luggage. See if you can get one from the resort.

I just remembered that the Art of Animation has Skyliner access. Definitely use this for transportation when you can. The only parks it goes to is Epcot and Hollywood studios but we love taking it over the busses. The only thing you might not like is that it drops off in the countries section of Epcot and not in the front so you may want to take a bus there and then the skyliner back. We like it because when we finish Epcot we don’t have to walk all the way out to the front as we always finish in the country section anyway.

For a September visit, it is good to know that the afternoons are when the really intense rain and lightning storms happen. It's best to go early and to keep an eye on the weather and be open to leaving if it looks like a storm is rolling in. If a storm rolls in, the fireworks will be cancelled anyways, so you're not missing anything. You'll notice that all the structures in Disney have lightning rods on them. They're there for a reason.

Also note that you're there during peak hurricane season. Disney structures are made to withstand the hurricanes, so you'll be safe in your rooms.

Someone mentioned the dining reservations already, and yes, make them 60 days in advance. If you miss out on a reservation, you can go to https://mousewatcher.com/ and for a small fee, they will alert you if a reservation was cancelled on the date you want and an opening becomes available. When we lived in Oregon, my wife would wake up at 4am to call Disney as soon as the lines were open, 60 days before each reservation, and book a restaurant for the day she wanted.

Character Dining-
Character dining is a buffet style meal where they have Disney characters that come around and visit your family at your table. You take a pause, get a picture or signature and they move on to the next table and you go on about your business until the next character comes along. The characters are usually Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, Goofy and Pluto.

If this is your first and only time at Disney, then I do recommend one character dining meal during your trip for the kids. From what you told me, your kids would most likely do well at The Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom or Chef Mickeys at the Contemporary resort which is just outside of Magic Kingdom. Both are open for all three meals and the dinners usually have roasted or fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, prime rib, etc...

My personal favorite of all the character dining is The Hollywood and Vine in Hollywood Studios. It's my favorite because of the food (seared salmon, herb chicken, tenderloin steak, roasted pork).

My personal favorite restaurant in all the parks is the San Angel restaurant in the Mexican pavilion in EPCOT. They're braised pork and carne asada is to die for! Their carne asada is not carne asada. It's actually New York Strip steak cooked to order. That restaurant is set in a dark setting and gives you the feeling that you're eating a late dinner outside at night. And there's a tequila bar there too!

When you're out and about, and need a quick bite to eat, then you can use the phone app to view nearby restaurants and actually place orders before you get there for "quick service" meals. You figure out what you want, place an order, walk there, find a table and then hit "I'm here, make my order". The app will notify you when your food is ready for pickup and you go to the window and get your food.

Okay, I am going to bring something up because no one has mentioned it. I don't want to be a downer but at least you should be ready in case something happens. I have not only worked for Disney through several Hurricanes but experienced them as someone living here after leaving Disney. I have lived in central Florida going on 24 years now.

September is the height of Hurricane season.
Disney has in the past shut down prior to a storms arrival, they have even shut down when storms have been predicted to come this way and change direction at the last minute missing central Florida. This can affect your vacation.

Your local news may not cover projected storm paths the way they do down here.
Here is a link to someone we follow, along with the local news and the national weather service when ever storms develop in the Atlantic or the Gulf, and may threaten Florida and surrounding states. He also has a Facebook page.
https://spaghettimodels.com/

This is also Walt Disney Worlds weather update page as of right now and it includes a link to their Hurricane policy.
https://disneyworld.disney.go....tes/weather-updates/

Did you book vacation through Disney or did you use a travel agent?
Also you may want to think about travel insurance to reimburse you for thing you might lose money on if you have to cancel or reschedule your trip.

Once again I am not trying to be negative you just need to be ready just in case. Hurricanes can be unpredictable. Hurricane Ian (2022) was predicted to hit anywhere between the panhandle and the Keys according to weather people we were watching leading up to the storm. It came on shore south west of central Florida and went across the state on a north east direction just south of Disney.

As I have said I am not trying to be negative, you should be ready just in case.

quote:

Originally posted by squad13:
Politics aside...

With Disney?

I don't understand this at all. Disney hates us and wants to tear down this society and in its place, but up a perverse world. That is the word- perverse, and you guys are giving them money, making your children fans of these people who want to destroy the world.

I don't want to mess up your fun talking about how great is this evil, vicious, rapacious corporation from Hell, but honestly, I don't get this at all.

Do you love this country and think the traditional family is the glue that holds together this society? Well, Disney doesn't.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

quote:

Originally posted by squad13:
Politics aside...

With Disney?

I don't understand this at all. Disney hates us and wants to tear down this society and in its place, but up a perverse world. That is the word- perverse, and you guys are giving them money, making your children fans of these people who want to destroy the world.

I don't want to mess up your fun talking about how great is this evil, vicious, rapacious corporation from Hell, but honestly, I don't get this at all.

Do you love this country and think the traditional family is the glue that holds together this society? Well, Disney doesn't.

Disney employs a lot of people in Florida and globally. Everyone in my church is a conservative and some of the members have been Disney employees for a long time. Many of the employees at Disney are disgusted by management and the DEI cult but they still need to work. There is a conservative group of employees that have petitioned executives to stay out of politics but they have little influence.

We support what is or was good about Disney but we boycott their new garbage content. We cancelled our Disney+ subscription and I sent them a letter where I ranted about their inappropriate programming. I'll be the first to condemn D+ (or D- as we call it in our home). We won't spend a dime on any of their new content.

There really are two Disneys. There's the Disney studios and Disney parks. Disney parks doesn't make any money on woke at all and I can't say there's even one hint of woke inside the parks. Nobody has preferred pronouns on their badges or anything like that.

There is a battle inside Disney and amongst shareholders to return to the right path. Woke movies have all flopped and as a result, they're laying/laid off 7,000 employees and are cutting 5 billion in costs with 3.3 billion of that from content creation. As far as I know, none of them were theme park employees. Most were from animation, writers and DEI positions. Woke shows have been scrapped, Indiana Jones was going to be a wokefest but test screenings showed that nobody liked it. It's been plagued with delays and re-shoots and in essence, has been re-filmed a couple of times. They're going to lose bigly on that one.

Shareholders are speaking up and evicerating Iger in shareholder conference calls and calling for a return to the old Disney and purging the woke.

As far as I know, the movies that are being released right now are movies that were already in production before the changes were made. Many of us are holding on to the hope that they can turn things around and return to what it was. Time will tell if they learn, I suppose.

A lot of us see it like we see the new woke Army and Navy recruiting and promoting going on that the servicemembers have no control over. We're embarrassed at our leaders and at their woke recruitment ads, but we still support the troops and we won't turn our backs on them, despite the horrible leaders in charge.

As for the OP-
He needs help and his wife and kids won't cancel the trip based on our opinions, so I may as well help him and his family have a good time.

Just another perspective.

Respectfully,
Tony.