Learn me: Disney World.

We (myself, wife, 7 year old daughter, 6 year old son) are heading to the land of the Mouse September 12-16 this year. The wife has been a few times, the most recent being close to 10 years ago. I have never been there. The package and flight have already been purchased. Sadly a trip to GRM HQ is not in the cards since I was only able to finagle 3 days off, without pay since I don't have any vacation time yet.

Does anyone who has been there recently have any advice/recommendations?

Anyone in the immediate area feel like a meet & greet?

Off or on property accommodations? As much as the cost difference, on property is worth it.

Off all the parks, I would do Magic Kingdom for 2 days (duh.) and Epcot. The other parks are OK, but after visiting them, we cruised them in nothing flat. Don't forget to at least visit Downtown Disney and/or Universal.

Downtown Disney is a nice place to walk around; I have been there a few times since moving to Orlando last year. Free parking an no entry fee. Universal's city walk is also also free to get in, but sometimes requires to pay for parking if you're not a Florida resident, and it's not as extensive or kid-friendly. I think that the Magic Kingdom fireworks go off at 9 pm; you'll need to get there early.

Whatever you do, ride Soaring and Test-Track at Epcot.

@ Ranger50:

We're staying on property, at Coronado Springs.

We've been several times with our kids. Let the them decide what they want to do. Don't get too wrapped up in trying to see everything. Staying on the property is the right move. Get to the Magic Kingdom for the opening one morning, the show is well worth it. Lose yourself to the Disney experience. Yup it's commercial and plastic and fake but it's Disney and the kids will love it.

Downtown Disney is under heavy construction right now. Unless you NEED to go to the Lego store, I'd avoid the area.

MK has been running test runs on the new Snow White roller coaster. The last I heard, it was in soft opening. By the time you get there, it will be fully open.

EPCOT is my favorite park, with most of the modern cool rides. Captain EO is back, and Test Track and Mission Space are fun rides. World Showcase is only fun for those that don't mind Americanized versions of other countries.

HS has Rockin' Rollercoaster, Tower of Terror, Star Tours (newly refurbished and ride mechanism updated - worth it for the trip alone, ride it several times as it's different each time), and the fun to watch Lights, Action, Motorcars show, full of Opel Corsas.

AK has a fun Dinoland area that's got an old school cat-and-mouse coaster, and the ONLY ride at any of the parks that legitimately scares my wife, Dinosaur (or something like that). They also have Expedition Everest, which I refuse to ride, One of the coolest safari rides you'll see in the states, and a fairly cool conservation center where they show stuff like live animal surgeries.

My wife and I had season passes last year, but couldn't financially swing them this year. Once we're able to afford them, we'll get them back. For what it's worth, I had told my wife that I'd never want to go back to a Disney park after being there so often, but now it's me that wants to go to the parks.

My wife recently did an article on MouseLand. Let me see if I can find it...

Good stuff, thanks for the info!

Here it is:

Mrs SVreX's Disney article

It's mostly about discounts, saving, and links, but maybe it will help you.

Thanks, SVreX!!

We just went over spring break. Since you're staying on property I would recommend that you do the meal plan. The quick service meal plan is plenty of food. It gets you 2 meals and a snack each day and a mug to keep that is refillable at any resort (not the parks though).

I also recommend the Memory Maker photo plan. Sign up ahead of time and when you hit the photographers posted all over the parks as well as the meet and greets with the characters they post your photos to your account and you can download them all. We had 150 pictures in 2 days that way. Otherwise we had 2 pictures of all 4 of us together on our own camera when someone offered to take a pic for us.

We were told we "just had to do a character dining" by some people. Overrated. Especially if you do the photo and meal plans, you don't need an expensive meal to just have a couple of characters come by the table while you eat.

The fast pass is now done ahead of time on your account. We used the 3 each day for rides and then spent the rest of the time getting the pictures with all the characters, which seemed to have shorter lines.

We also went back to the resort for a while in the evening and went back in to Magic Kingdom late. You can hit a lot of stuff with no wait right before closing time.

Your kids are at great ages. Ours are 9 and 5. Bring autograph books for the kids to have the characters sign. They sell the books there but sometimes you can find Disney ones at the dollar store.

If you are flying into Orlando, get the free shuttle from the airport to your resort and use the fabulous bus system on-property. You'll never need a rental car unless you're wanting to go somewhere else.

If you get your wristbands shipped to you ahead of time I think you can pick colors. We waited until we got there and got gray ones, which are still cool. Actually they are awesome. They are the room key, meal plan payment, photo plan link and fast pass.

TLNXTYM wrote: Actually they are awesome. They are the room key, meal plan payment, photo plan link and fast pass.

And personal tracking device, and background checker, and pedophile locator, and up-sell log, and photo tagger, and data collector for selling you next year's package, and...

I went a few years ago for a 4 day stay. The meal plan is a very good value, so is staying in a Disney owned hotel.

IMO Epcot is not that great except for soaring and test track. The movie studio themed park (MGM?) Was only good for the Toy Story ride and car stunt show, but those two alone will be worth it to the kids.

We didn't spend much time in the Animal Kingdom park, and I think that was a mistake. If I had it to do over, I'd plan a full day in Animal Kingdom at the expense of time in Epcot. Also, you could easily spend 2 days in the Magic Kingdom and not get board.

I've also been to Universal Orlando. I wouldn't leave Disney to go there. I might to go to Sea World though, but that is because Shamu is my one and only true friend.

We've watched a few planning DVD's and Animal Kingdom is definitely at the top of my list but, I agree with the suggestions of letting the kids call the shots, as far as where they want to go and who/what they want to see.

Disney Ultra-Planner (aka 'the wife') checking in (I swear he only started this thread to get me back on here )

We are going during free dining, and, since we're staying at a Moderate-level resort, that means we have the 'regular' Dining Plan, which includes one table service, one quick service and one snack per day.

I feel differently about Character meals, it's a lot of bang for your buck when you consider that you don't have to spend time standing in lines for those characters and you get to see characters that don't appear in the parks (like Eeyore and Lilo). It's also a way to get into the parks before they open to enjoy the view without a lot of other people in the way (we have 2 meals set up this way).

Also, we're flying and not renting a car, so no Universal this trip. We'll save that for when we have more time and the kids are a bit older.

Thanks for the input and keep it coming. I have a deep love for the Mouse, and would make this an annual pilgrimage if I could

Arrive early. It has been a few years for us (more than 10). The best advice we got was to arrive when/before the park opens. Yes, it sucks. You're on vacation and getting up at the crack o dawn but it is worth it. Since you are on resort, take advantage of the early entry days. Then, based on the age of your children, leave around noon and go back to the resort and eat, nap, swim, or all three. Mom and dad will need the nap too. Then, head back late afternoon when a lot of visitors are dog tired and leaving. You on the other hand are rested and have missed the hot and busy part of the day. It is a lot of bus time, but the transportation system is very good.

I had a boss that went every year for about 15 years. Yes, every year. His advice was to always take the left line, most people go right. Marginal success on that one.

Did I mention arrive early?

Stayed on grounds, rode their buses everywhere. That was lazy wonderfulness. Exploited the heck out of the magic hours in the morning and evening. Figure out what things you must do (character meals, dining, etc and get those reserved early. Preferably the very first morning possible. Online works, but I found phone works a little better. Shows at the parks really affects the crowds. When everyone has gone into to see whatever, the lines for rides are much shorter. Dress for the heat.

Went once. Wallet still hasn't forgiven me.

God, there's been a billion of these threads lol- I still love em. I'm a disney whore... I love all the secrety stuff. If you can, take the time to search out some of the lesser known stuff about the parks- your kids will LOVE being able to lord secret Disney knowledge over their friends, and you get cool behind the scenes info.

There are other threads with good advice on here you can search for but I'll repeat mine because "post whore".

Find the bar in your hotel and familiarize yourself with the staff (by handing them $).

After a day of hustling about, standing in line for mediocre rides, other people's offspring, hot sun and creepy berkeleyers dressed up in stuffed animal costumes... when you walk back into the hotel it's nice to hear "Would you like a dry martini brought to the pool, Mr (your name here)?"

It wasn't my bag at all. Even if you want to kill yourself on day two... your kids will probably really like it. Fake smiles and chin up!

Wayslow wrote: We've been several times with our kids. Let the them decide what they want to do. Don't get too wrapped up in trying to see everything. Staying on the property is the right move. Get to the Magic Kingdom for the opening one morning, the show is well worth it. Lose yourself to the Disney experience. Yup it's commercial and plastic and fake but it's Disney and the kids will love it.

I agree with all of the above, except the staying on the property part. Lots of people do it...obviously...and love it. Personally, for my family, we'd never stay on property. I can get a 4 bedroom townhouse that's 10 minutes away for a heck of a lot less than I'd pay to be cramped into a "value resort" hotel room. We've gone several times and always rent a house. But again, that's just our own taste.

As for what to do, frankly do what your kids want and enjoy the visit. There is SO much to do there, you won't see it all. Not gonna happen. The Magic Kingdom is the classic Disney spot, you'll want to spend a lot of time there. But it's all good. For your first trip, my strong recommendation is to enjoy and get a feel for the place. If you decide to go back, then you can start working on planning things and going to the spots you missed.

Only piece of advice I have is this. Wear comfortable shoes that can get wet. Disney is big...no wait...monumentally huge. You'll do a ton of walking. Realize it will take you a long time to get from one place to another, or back to your hotel room.

Each to their own as far as adults liking it. Personally, I love it. My wife and I are kicking around the idea of purchasing a rental property in the area.

Have fun!!!

I've been to the land that Walt built well over 50 times. Started going when I was 3, want to go back because it's been a few years. The thing with Disney that has ALWAYS gotten me is the attention to detail in everything they do. It's almost overwhelming. I haven't used a map to find myself around in 20 years, but I still find something new everytime I go.

In all the years I have been, I still find it funny the number of people that try to follow a rigid schedule. The best words of advice I can offer: Go with the flow. You WILL NOT see everything. Period. I've been going for 35 years and still find new stuff. So once you realize that, and relax and enjoy the moment, you're golden.

We have already been talking about taking our upcoming little one to see the world of the mouse. Heck I even suggested to the wife we just start stashing away starting now then we could do it up big.

I'm pretty sure Coronado Springs was where we stayed a couple years ago. Nice enough, and the buses make getting around very convenient. I agree with Bobzilla on the details thing. It's almost impossible to find a single weed or a leaf out of place, not just in the immediate park, but virtually everywhere. The job the grounds crews do is truly remarkable. Customer service is quite excellent, but as you might expect, nothing is cheap. Just take a wad of cash and enjoy yourself!

If you're into fishing, take one of the Disney charters and do some largemouth bass fishing. Our captain was a fantastic retired LEO who was very personable, and he knew how to find the fish. We all caught several nice ones!