Sooo its time. We are ramping up vacation options. And yes the 7 yo & 9 yo are actually in agreement regards to where the Family should go...
And much to our chagrin..Its not Montana to hang with cousins in the back country at a great mountain house....Nope. Its not to NM to enjoy great food and awesome geography and more family..nope..No national seashore and great whites...nope.

Its to the Magic Kingdom.

Our visit will be centered on the Magic Kingdom and Harry Potterville..With maybe a trip to Star Wars town..
So what I'm in need of, is advice on what or maybe where really, in your experience are the better, best spots to stay with 7/9 yo girls.
cost seems to be fixed around $8k for a Feb school vacation thing.


To cut to the chase; Likes are no BS, traveling with kids is BS enough.. We like good food, kids like kids food.

As we have been looking a bit, we see some pool side options(?) like this, and the themes, like at the polynesian..
For getting around the tram/monorail is on the radar and water taxi...Cool! and an AIR gondola.?!
We know we will need to swap hotels or travel to the other side for better, quicker access to parks.


But holy crow, there is a lot going on down this rabbit hole..!

Any itineraries your able to share that you enjoyed would be great.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bigmule,

1968.

Disneyland.

The "Cups and Saucers" was no longer the "thing". It was closed off and in a state of aging in the sun, but my little sister and I snuck in and sat in one of the cups. It had a small round "table" in the cup, and you could spin the cup around the table, so we did until we turned green...

The Peter Pan and Cap'n Hook thing was a big deal, with a "ride in a ship" into a darkened room that looked like you were in the sky above parted clouds.

Also the "Island" with tree houses and such, the castle walk through, rode the monorail, went in the "submarine" ride.

Some of the "E ticket" rides were hour or more wait times, so we skipped them.

Overall, it was a great experience.

Did not ever take our kids to either Disney, military overseas, and then my sole proprietor company prevented it.

I have a good friend that takes his family at least once a year, and sometimes twice.

"My" story does not help, but I hope you have a great time!

And I am sure you will get a lot of good advice.

You'll figure out hotels and such with minimal work. The real work is in scheduling your fast passes. Download the App and get online to schedule your allotted passes. You'll get 3 per ticket. After you use your 3rd, get back on the app and see if there are additional available. You'll spend hours on this alone. Do this ASAP. This will cut your wait times to 30-45mins, as opposed to 90+ for rides without.

You can get lost down this rabbit hole, and there's some redundancies in the videos, but there's some good information and tips and tricks to be found. A lot of it is centered around food, but you'll see hotel reviews and things to be aware of.

https://www.youtube.com/channe...WedLQdHpZqhgTLdB9Yyg

I visited Disney as a kid in the 70's and was blown away. We did not have a lot of money, so we did not stay on property.

Fast forward to the 90's, my In-laws moved to Orlando. My wife and I stayed at her parents (10 minutes from Disney). We had a great time, but with no children.

Late 90's early early mid 2000's. We have two children who are now Disney age. My wife informs me we are going to Disney and staying on property. Bullshit, we can stay off-site for so much less. She is not going to change her mind and tells me I can go and be miserable, or go an enjoy it, but we are going and we are staying on property. Now we did not stay at the upper end, I believe we stayed at the Music and Sports resorts.

All it took was one trip. We returned another 3 times with our children.

Not sure if it still the same, but Disney "gets it". Not sure what they feed their employees, or how they are promoted, but EVERY single employee we encountered had a GREAT attitude and could not have been more helpful.

in the morning, you get up and walk out your front door, to a bus that will take you everywhere.

I was a Disney skeptic who drank the koolaid.

We did not find the lines hateful, we typically visited May- August.

There was reasonably priced food, and the portions we generous.

Again, my experience is a little dated, but we LOVED going to Disney.

YMMV.

My recommendation is to go before spring break in late February or early March. Smaller lines, more merciful weather.

Disney World or Disney Land?

Kids age 7 and 9
No bs
Budget of 8k
Stay in the park on the monorail. DO NOT even look at new gondola.
Disney food is Disney food, aka kid food.
E mail me if you want more info.
Book flights now.

My advise is to split your adventure between Disney and Universal, which my kids favorite.

As for places to stay, get on the computer and find a nice place to stay at discounted prices. Mystic Dunes was where we stayed, but now called Diamond Resorts. You can get great rates for condos that people aren't using.

DO NOT get sucked into ownership like we did! One of our worst decisions ever!

This is a massive topic. Right off the bat, as much as like the Poly, it’s very overpriced. How many total, 4? I really like the Swan/Dolphin resorts in the Epcot area, but they are Marriott properties with 90% of the Disney resort benefits. You can walk/boat to Epcot and Hollywood studios, and bus to MK and AK. If you prefer the Disney theming experience, look at Boardwalk and/or Beach Club/Yacht Club.

Have you ever thought about a Disney Cruise.
Depending on when you go in February it may be within your budget.
Plenty for the kids and adults to do on the ship and the ports they visit.

I hope to avoid this.

.

To be clear, my comments are for Disneyland in CA not Disney World in FL...I'm not sure by your post which one you're going to. Ya know ~ if you really want to surprise the wife, pull up the website for Disney Paris or Disney Tokyo and ask her to help you plan that trip! ha ha

I understand you are going in February. That is when CA middle & high schools start having one day trips for their seniors who are moving up to High School or graduating.

President's Day, there are a lot of kids in the park because they are out of school for the day and Parents know Disney has their own Police to keep the kids safer than being left alone and possibly burning down their own home. lol

Spring Break is usually in March/April so no worries there.

IF this will be a one time trip, by all means stay at a Disney Hotel and do the breakfast with characters, get into the parks an hour early, enjoy the Disney Hotel themes.

Looking to save money by not staying at a Disneyland hotel ~ consider Eden Roc Inn & Suites in Anaheim (corner of W. Katella Ave & S. West St.). Family Suites run about $125 a night.

Eden Roc is a clean, cost-effective place with a 10 min walk to Disneyland. A 10 minute walk does not sound like much until you are carrying a 7 & 9 year old who are completely passed out from spending the day at Disneyland!

www.EdenRocAnaheim.com

You may need to call Eden Roc (714-663-8700) to ask about their 2 room suite. They have been completely remodeled since my last stay. The family suites look different in their website pics. They may not have 2 bedrooms suite anymore, I'm not sure. No dining on site, but several places are nearby including a Tiffy's Family Restaurant next door.

About a 5 minute drive South from the Hotel, is Carolina's Italian Restaurant at the corner of S. West St. & Chapman Ave. ~ Carolina's is absolutely the best Italian restaurant in California!

Regardless to where you stay, go to Carolina's on the first night. For quality and selection, they will be much better than any other place you eat during your trip.

www.CarolinasItalianRestaurant.com/dine-in-menu

If you enjoy beer, they have a huge beer selection probably more than a 100 brands from around the world.

Other places in Anaheim for the girls...

in Buena Park is Medieval Times. Let your girls dress up like Princesses and enjoy dinner while watching knights on horseback fight in a joust.

www.MedievalTimes.com

In North San Diego is Legoland if your girls enjoy the toy they will love the park.
www.Legoland.com/California

In San Diego is Sea World if your girls love sea life and would like to see whales, dolphins, sea otters, sharks, and more up close...
www.Seaworld.com/San-Diego

In February the Grey Whales are off the coast, but it is hit & miss as to what you will see that day.

Hogwarts and Harry Potter is at universal Studios. Universal is divided into 2 amusement and one water parks. To access both parks and ride the Hogwarts train you will need the park to park pass.

One park opens at 7 if you stay on property the other opens at 9 for everyone.

Download the universal app and you can get an idea of wait times for the various rides. Guaranteed the Harry Potter themed rides have long waits. There is an express pass that jumps you in the line but it isn't cheap. We were there 2 weeks ago. Rained everyday at least a little and pure for an hour once. The lines for everything else were not too bad. One park closed early for Halloween horror nights. The other park closed 3 hours early for an event which sucked. We stayed on property for about 170 a night.


We packed snacks and tried to avoid buying park food.

Check height requirements for the rides you want to do. My 7 year old was deviated she couldn't ride the big coasters 52 inches was the height on the one she wanted.

You might consider a day at Kennedy Space Center much more laid back than the parks and still awesome to see.

DFB Guide on Youtube is what you want to start listening to.

Dear Lord!
We went last November the week after Thanksgiving.
Our boys were 1, 3, and 5
The week after Thanksgiving we were told was the slowest week they see. HA, yeah right it was ridiculous.
You may have read my thread last year about how I damn near had to introduce some dude to the pavement on Main Street Magic Kingdom during the fireworks.

7 and 9 will likely be a good age. 1, 3, and 5 are not. We stayed on property as 2 of the 3 still needed naps.
Food is silly expensive.
Get the photo pass thing it is worth it.
Fastpass is nice but you need to be on top of it and ours got screwed up on numerous occasions. The fingerprint thing is a complete pain in the ass with multiple kids as they can only be linked to one adult and when we entered in the morning never really knew who would be taking the 2. Ack for naps.

We did Magic and Animal Kingdom as it was much better suited for our age kids.

Whatever you do DO NOT stay at the All Stars property, they are awful.
We stayed there once because my wife ran in a Disney Marathon and the room was $75 a night.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs with the boys and it was very nice. They do not have luggage carts “because they get stolen”
We were there for a week with 5 people it would have cost me like $100 as a reasonable tip for the bell boy to carry all our crap.
I found a clean linen cart and loaded our stuff up in that sucker.
I got a few funny looks but no one said anything.

Good Luck, you’ll be in my prayers!

Gatorland ... and bring lots of hot dogs

No BS.

Stay on one of Disney's properties. The All Star resorts are cheaper and you need to bus everywhere. The Polynesian is quite expensive, but you are within walking distance of the transportation hub. Monorail to Magic Kingdom and Epcot, bus to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. I preferred the Poly over the All Star resorts if you have the money. By staying on property you can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours.

Food is not an issue for children and adults. Prices vary on the place you eat. If you grab lunch in the park, prices are a little high, but portions are large. If you make reservations for the restaurants the pricing varies on the place. LeCellier in Canada, Epcot has some of the best filet minion you will ever have, but I believe it was $80. Though I didn't leave there hungry either. The character meals are the same. Make your reservations as soon as you can. Also, plan your park visits with your meal reservations. If you plan on eating at The Brown Derby one day, make your park visit at Hollywood Studios that day.

Plan your Fast Passes and get them as soon as you can. Try to book them in one way of travel. We zig tagged all around the park the first time and it was very tiring. The second time we planned them in order and was much better.

Park Hopper passes are not needed. However, when Epcot has the food and wine festival, you can jump there to eat.

If you plan your trip yourself look for ticket deals online. We bought 4 days and got the 5th free. We found cheap flights from Philly to Orlando for $160 each.

We did not do the meal plan either time, but that is up to you. We actually spent less on food than if we would have gone with the plan and ate what we wanted. You can also order groceries from Amazon and they will deliver to your resort. Sometimes right to your room.

Most of all. Enjoy your vacation!

My stepdaughter was living down there right outside the property for the past year and the GF and I got season passes so when we visited her we could come and go to MK, Epcot, etc. at will. A few observations:

Epcot is not what it used to be, they are working hard to refurbish it but many of the rides break frequently, the whole place seems very dated and old, there were construction fences and fabric covered chainlink fences seemingly everywhere. It really ruined the effect of that "Magic" and Epcot has always been my favorite. I felt they should at least let folks know all this work was going on.

Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios were all fun. The Star Wars land really isn't. You'll see things that take you right back to the movies but by and large it feels like a mash up of every sci-fi space movie you ever saw, which is cool but I thought it could have been much more authentic. For example, you'll stare at the millennium falcon and thinks it's really cool but the actual ride has almost nothing to do with any Star Wars movie you every saw. It reminded me more of the Last Starfighter movie, LOL. Still, worth checking out though.

Disney Springs has really become a destination unto itself. I enjoyed our evenings there and looked forwards to the meals we ate there more than any meals in the actual parks. So many of the restaurants are great, you really can't pick a bad one. I'd make plans to dine there more often than in the parks. This is my best advice.

As for the people, somebody mentioned "what do they feed them" and I remember that too. They were always so accommodating and friendly. They just wanted you to have an amazing experience. I didn't feel that same warmth and eagerness to please like I used to. I think like Nordstrom changing their return policy, a lot of people got wise to how accommodating Disney cast members were and killed it for everyone. To me the whole thing feels much more commercial these day and gosh darn it was crowded. I mean it was ALWAYS crowded.

So YMMV but all this is from probably 8-10 visits in the past year alone, many covering multiple parks back to back several days in a row as well as running between parks, taking busses, trams, boats and parking our own car and spending entire days in the parks. I was determined to get our moneys worth out of those passes and we did.

Disneyland in the 60's. We went every other year. Part of the bi-annual trip to see grandparents.
Hated the small world music, ran over and over in my head.
Liked the submarine. Liked Pirates of the Caribbean.
My cousin loved corn dogs.
E Tickets were the best.
Yep the teacups were a standard ride with grandma.

Probably not what you were asking.