7 and 9 are good ages. Every time we go and see people with infants and toddlers we roll our eyes. It is wasted at this age. And expensive for a hard time on the parents. If you are stroller age, stay away.

Stay on property. It makes everything better. It is very nice to start earlier than the regular tickets (on property gets an earlier opening). Go till lunchtime then go back to the hotel, eat, swim, nap, whatever. Then go back to park and enjoy a few more hours and the fireworks. Which are the best fireworks around. The music and the story and the fireworks are an experience all unto itself.

Food is meh. Unless you spend a bunch and eat at the expensive places. Then it is better but really really pricey. Meal plans aren't a very good deal for the most part. Do the math and figure it out. You can bring food I believe so you could save money there. Buy the all you can drink cup (only good at hotel) its worth it. Soda, tea, coffee.

Offseason is the way to go. Fastpass rocks. 3 times a day per ticket. We went last month and no fastpass took more than 15 minutes. Look at the app and figure out the rides that you really want. Don't waste it on Its a small world, lol.

I like Disney. They rape you on price but it is clean, safe, and fun.

Our first trip with the girls was at 3 and 5. Unlike Black, I had a great time with great memories of it.

A place to lurk: disboards.com. Lots of insider tricks.

Dreams Unlimited is a good travel agent to go through to arrange everything. Great service and planning.

Last trip was about 3 years ago (10 and 13). Kids are not really into rollercoasters, so Universal wasn’t that interesting except for Potter. Diagon Alley was well done. The train wasssss... well, disappointing to me. I do enjoy the Harry Potter settings, maybe I expected too much.

For Disney, we stayed at Grand Floridian, with a room that overlooked the lake. Fireworks every night and we could see the lake parade. See the monorail in the morning, as well as the castle. Wife loved it. It’s within your budget, by and large, but shop it around. Friends love Swan and Dolphin, Boardwalk looks cool but I’ve never tried.

Dining plan is good for splurge, no-thought, and character meals. But not cheap. Gotta roll numbers to see what works for you. If using the agent, ask questions. They get paid by Disney, but are vested in you being happy. You can bring snacks, and plan meals. Some places require reservations. The “drive-in” in Hollywood Studios was kinda fun. Boma in the basement of the Animal Kingdom resort is tasty buffet. Kids do well there. Get the blue martini.

If the girls are seriously into the princess thing, the princess breakfast at the castle in the morning was a hit. If they aren’t that into it, skip.

If they are into the character meet/greets, the old autograph book is cheap entertainment, though really popular ones will have a line. Gaston is quite entertaining, and usually outside so you don’t have to be in line to just watch.

As for Star Wars... friends have a daughter who is a cast member, and is senior enough to be a ride tester. The word back is that Galaxy’s Edge lives up to the hype. It’ll probably be crowded. There are lots of cool details all around the park. Some things, like the build your own lightsaber experience, can get pricey ($200). The build your own R2 droid is $300, though it has some RFID built in and reacts to the park environment. Personally, both of those are a bit high for me for what they are. But the Milennium Falcon ride is supposed to be the bees knees.

My favorite park is Epcot. The food is usually pretty decent to good at the various countries and they hire staff from those countries which lends a good bit of authenticity. I like the Taiko drums in Japan. Epcot shows it’s age in places, and could stand a refresh, but I still like it. More laid back, in my opinion. While Animal Kingdom didn’t explode in popularity, I think it’s a good park. Catch the Lion King show.

If you’re gonna be there long enough, try for closing fireworks at each park. It’s a different show. I recommend the Epcot show from the Rose and Crown with a brew in hand.

As for service, I think Disney does pretty well with it. The bands are great. Opens room door, pays for snacks or trinkets (which they will deliver to an on property room), users as fast passes...it’s all tied together. If the kids get separated from you, a cast member can scan the band (or find someone who can) and know who to contact. Get the phone apps, they will tell you semi-real time what the lines are like in any park, as well as other info.

And yes, stay away from the All Star.

quote:

Originally posted by SIGfourme:
Disney food is Disney food, aka kid food.

This was once true. No longer.

Did this a couple of times 10-15 years ago or so when our girls were about the same age. First trip was a total cluster. Then I read all the books and found the Unofficial Guides to be indispensable. I ran the second trip like a military operation. Followed the Unofficial Guide’s itineraries to the letter. Went off without a hitch - not much waiting, saw/rode everything they were interested in. Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by Tgrshrk99:
... Then I read all the books and found the Unofficial Guides to be indispensable. I ran the second trip like a military operation. Followed the Unofficial Guide’s itineraries to the letter. Went off without a hitch - not much waiting, saw/rode everything they were interested in. Good luck!

THIS EXACTLY!

You can spend countless hours/days/weeks/months watching YouTube videos and hanging out on Disney forums, but if you want to keep it simple...

Buy a copy of the Unofficial Guide now and start studying it. Download their "Lines" app (WDW Lines or DLR Lines, depending on whether you're in FL or CA) and use it while you're there.

Follow their advice and touring plans as though Walt himself gave them to Mickey, etched in stone tablets, who brought them down from the Matterhorn and educated the masses.

That's all you need and it will save you LOTS of wasted time and money.

Pro Tip - if you're going to WDW, order your magic bands and get them set up ahead of time.

You'll be fine.

-Rob

Just understand that Orlando in the Summer is like hell, only less enjoyable. It is hot and usually without any breeze. As others have said, stay on property, that way you can get up early, do a few hours at the park, then hang at the pool until later in the afternoon or evening then hit the park again.

Also, Disney food is, well, not good and expensive. But the parks are normally great and it will be a fun trip

quote:

Originally posted by Black92LX:
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.

Food is silly expensive.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs with the boys and it was very nice. They do not have luggage carts “because they get stolen”

Good Luck, you’ll be in my prayers!

We were there the same time (black Friday through following Thursday). We stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort. Our child was 12. All of us hated it, and wish we had never booked the trip. Disney let's 50% more people into their parks than they should, and tells people tough luck if they get pissed waiting in line for 3 hours for a single ride.

We will never go back to another Disney property.

Budget $40 for low end, $55 for mid range, and $70 for high end food, per day, per person over 16. Sebastian's bistro at Caribbean Beach was our best meal/ value, and was still $140 for 2 drinks, a dessert, three entree's, and tip.

I will disagree. The Galaxy's Edge Park was cool. Very Star Wars like. The actual ride though sucked. Sucked huge. It is based on the Millennium Falcon. 6 people ver “ride”. 2 are pilots then the other 4 are gunners or some such. Problem is that means only 2 out of 6 people get an unobstructed view or actually do anything. Plus the ride itself is wildly underwhelming. Disney has gone huge into the “simulator” style rides. This one sucks. On the other hand you can fly a banshee in Avatar land. Same simulator type ride but executed wonderfully. You truly get the sensation of riding the beast and actually flying. Very cool. Best ride in all the parks.

Disney just can’t stop themselves from fucking up everything SW’s. A new ride centered around the resistance is opening soon. It better be really good because feedback from the millennium falcon ride isn’t very good.

quote:

Originally posted by Southflorida-law:
Just understand that Orlando in the Summer is like hell, only less enjoyable. It is hot and usually without any breeze. As others have said, stay on property, that way you can get up early, do a few hours at the park, then hang at the pool until later in the afternoon or evening then hit the park again.

Also, Disney food is, well, not good and expensive. But the parks are normally great and it will be a fun trip

We went last September. It was 97 degrees with a humidity level of 93 percent everyday. You walk out the door in the morning and immediately start sweating. Profusely. I don't know how people live there.

quote:

Originally posted by bobtheelf:
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

Bob many thanks this will be helpful.

At all. Looks like I got some reading to do.

Thank you Hive.

My wife (so by default, me) is probably the biggest Disney nut out there. We own two timeshares. One at the Polynesian Resort and one a Copper Creek.

How many days are you staying? How many park days? How many days of rest?

Staying on property is the way to go. We're going to take a day off from Disney and take a bus or shuttle to Universal, as well as rent a car for a couple of days to go to Cape Canaveral and other places within a day's drive.

We usually go for about 10 days and we do alternate a day at the park and a day of rest. We've stayed at The Polynesian, The Caribbean Beach Resort, Saratoga Springs and Arts of Animation. We'll be staying at Copper Creek sometime this fall and will be going back in June or July for a short 5-day trip for a church conference in Orlando.

DO NOT stay at the POP Century resort! That's the cheapest resort and the most uncomfortable. Arts of Animation was a good bargain for what you get.

If you can afford the Caribbean Beach resort, I recommend that one. It was a relaxing resort. The Polynesian has the best view of the castle, which is a big deal for my wife and other Disney moms. I am not fond of the room sizes at the Polynesian and the beds are uncomfortable.

By far, the best bang for the buck for room and comfort was Saratoga Springs. It's a bargain because it's one of the oldest resorts on property. Our points went a lot farther. We got a separate bedroom with a king size bed and a jacuzzi/hot tub. Our son slept on a sofa bed and we had a kitchenette and a washer/dryer in the room. We just had to buy detergent. The other resorts had a separate pay-to-use laundry area.

There are grocery services that will deliver groceries to your room if you want to save money and have instant oatmeal, bread, PB&J, OJ, milk, juice, breakfast sausage, bacon, eggos, etc... in your room for breakfast or a mid-day meal. It's easier for you to get to each resort if you're staying on property. You can either take a bus, boat, or monorail, depending on the resort and location.

For dining, visit https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/ and select your park. You can view EVERY dining option with pricing. I seem to remember the food a Pinocchio Village Haus was pretty good.

It's all about the seven P's (Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance). Plan WAAAAYYY ahead! If you stay on property, you can reserve your fast passes 60 days in advance (30 days if you don't stay on property but only have tickets). You can make dining reservations six months in advance, if I remember correctly.

If you're going to Magic Kingdom and are staying on property, See if you can get in for the magic morning, then ride The Seven Dwarf's Mine Ride. You should be able to ride it maybe three times before the park opens. The skip straight to Peter Pan and jump on it before the absurd wait time begins. By 10am, it's usually over an hour. As I look at the app right now, it's 9:15am there and the wait for Peter Pan is 30 minutes, 35 minutes for the mine ride.

Use your fast pass for haunted mansion later in the day but get there before the line gets too long and use another fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain. You should get three fast passes per person per day.

So, for Magic Kingdom, prioritize:
-Seven Dwarf's mine ride (wait time's at 40 minutes now)
-Big Thunder Mountain
-Peter Pan's Flight
-Pirate's of the Caribbean
-Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin

Use the "My Disney Experience" app to track ride wait times, use GPS to navigate the park and see fast pass schedule.
Good sit-down features to relax with:
-The Jungle cruise
-Mickey's Philharmagic 3D show
-Monster's Inc laugh floor
-Parade (maybe 2pm)
Fill the rest of the time with rides that have low wait times on the app.

If you stay on property, you can link your reservation to the "My Disney Experience" app and you can order food at some quick service places. If you click the link I posted above, you'll see the name of the restaurant. Look for restaurants that say "Counter Service, Mobile Orders," like Pinocchio's Village Haus (fantasyland) or Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe (frontierland). You can order your food ahead of time but they won't process your order until you find a table.

When you find an empty table, click "Im Here" and they'll process your order and let you know when your order is ready for pickup. This prevents you from getting food at the counter, then wandering around, looking for a table.

I also recommend eating lunch at 10:30 to 11am at the latest, before the lunch rush starts. Get on rides while everyone else is fighting over food and table space. Same for dinner, or make a reservation. Leave the park early if you got there for the Magic Morning. It's also a good idea to visit a different park that doesn't have a Magic Morning on a day that Magic Kingdom has a Magic Morning as it will be emptier that day.

If you stay on property and buy merchandise, you have three options. You can have it sent to your resort and you can pick it up ant the resort lobby the next day, you can have it shipped to your home, or you can carry it with you. I prefer to have merchandise shipped to the resort lobby and we just stop buying stuff 2 days before our trip ends. This prevents us from having to carry stuff around the park all day long.

Pace yourself. If the kids are burnt out, go back to the hotel when the kids are burnt out. You won't have to deal with the exit crowd. If one kid wants to stay and one wants to call it a day, split up and let one parent stay with the hyper kid and one parent go back to the room with the wiped out kid.

We did Disney's dining plan for two years but after running the numbers, we realized it was more expensive and we ate more but didn't use all the snacks we were allotted. We now have a separate budget.

How to save 5% with Target.
Use Target's Red Card (works just like your debit card and comes straight out of your checking) and purchase a Disney gift card at 5% discount. My wife purchases $100 in Disney gift cards every payday for $95. The gift cards can be used to pay for food, merchandise and resort stays. So she probably has about $2,500 in Disney gift cards right now that she paid $2,350 for.

Buy airline tickets NOW!

Let me know what other parks you'll be visiting.

Tony.

You waited for the right age. We did it when they were 8/8/15 (Disney) and 10/10/17 (Universal).

Stayed off park at a nearby hotel and did 3 days each time. It allows you to have dinner somewhere beside the cafeteria tasting food offered at the park.

Taking kids that are <5 to either park is like pissing into the wind - all you may get out of it is photos, they'll never remember it and it will truly be a waste of money and lots of frustration.

If I never go to either again, it'll be too soon. I'd much prefer a couple days in Coco Beach, seeing Kennedy Space Center, and chilling out that the rat race that is the Disney / Universal Machine.

We were there for 2 days at Universal and 2 days at Magic Kingdom Labor Day week and it was a good time.

You will need GOOD comfortable shoes as you will walk...and walk...and walk. I had some newer Saucony running shoes that turned out were terrible and my feet were killing me halfway through Day 1. Switched to a pair of Crocs that (thankfully) I had brought and I had zero problems for the next 3 days.

The Hagrid's Motorbike ride at Universal was COOL AS HELL. It would be worth the usual 2+ hour wait (we had a Executive pass that my FIL's college friend who is a VP at Universal gave us and went right on...twice!).

We loved Mama Della's Ristorante at the Universal Portofino Bay resort. I'm not shitting you, the spaghetti and meatballs were the best I've ever eaten in my entire 46 years alive.

Mama Della's

Get the Disney app and Fast Passes for sure.

You can also save on staying at a DVC resort by renting someone’s timeshare from the owners.

https://dvcrequest.com/

If we can’t use our points in time, we can rent or sell our points to non-DVC individuals before we lose them.

Basically, you pay a DVC member to use their points to make reservations under your name during the dates you request. This is cheaper than booking a room through Disney directly.

You can get a great deal at various resorts.

Tony.

My 14 y/o daughter and I just recently went to WDW. Thanks to my 28 y/o daughter planning it for us, the trip went off great. What we did:

1) we got the after hours passes. Lets you get in at 7pm, park closes at 9 or 10, they kick everyone with regular tickets out, but they stay open for the after hours folks for another 2 or 3 hours. No (or very short) lines, I think all the rides were still available, and complimentary mickey bars (fudge covered ice cream sticks), sodas/water, and popcorn all night. Literally can make yourself sick on them, they'll keep dishin' em out.

2) we stayed at the Disney Swan, which was less $ (to offset the cost of the after hours passes), slept in each morning while the masses were getting up early, and laid around poolside during the noon/afternoon hours. Nobody to fight for lounge chairs, only 5 or 6 kids in the pool, etc.

3) we scheduled dinner on the grounds of whatever park we were going to, usually for 7:15pm, so as soon as we were admitted at the front gate, we went straight to our reserved dinner (Yak and Yeti at Animal Kingdom, Prime Time Cafe at Hollywood Studios, etc).

4) we set our itinerary to ride the "gentle" rides immediately after dinner, with them getting progressively more strenuous/puky as the evening went on. No sense in paying for dinner then puking it all up.

5) we ended up scheduling Epcot for the next to last day, since no after hours passes were available for Epcot for some reason (dunno if it was our timing or they don't offer them for Epcot??).

6) last day was an open day that we ended up relaxing and wasting, but we had left a spot to go to Universal if she was feeling it. She wasn't (yaay).

Have fun and enjoy, and pace yourself.