I leave in under two weeks (eek!) for Disney World. We are staying on the Disney Property- so we are not renting a car.
Any advice on what to (and not to do) with the kiddos? Game plan for the parks?
We are planning on going to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood studios, and Animal Kingdom. We are skipping Epcot this trip.
We arrive on a Thursday evening and leave Tuesday Morning.
We have several character meals (and sci-fi drive in) is already booked (thanks for the prior advice on that!) so which days begin or end at which parks is sort of dictated by those (though we have park hopper tickets, so we can go wherever).
Also, has anyone done the not-so-scary halloween party in the past? Anything I should know that would be helpful?
I'm normally the crazy researcher mom. Honestly, I only printed our info the other night and haven't planned much of anything yet. SO not like me.
We just went and July and had a blast. This site: www.touringplans.com helped us a lot. It tells you which days to go to certain parks or avoid certain parks. You can also customized a "touring plan" which we did and it was great. We didn't wait in line for any ride more than 15 minutes and it was super crowded when we went!
I can't remember which resort you are staying at. I know that when you stay at the ones right across from magic kingdom you can take the boat over to the park, which is what we did. It was nice and pretty fast.
If your boys like characters, have an autograph book and a fat pen ready (some characters need a fat pen to write because of costumes). Elizabeth loved getting their autographs.
You can also check and see on line what days are expected to be the busiest at each park according to dates. That might help you plan better, but in October it still won't be as bad.
We had lots of fun and Elizabeth enjoyed the character meals the most. We had reservations for most of them, but a couple of times it did work out to just walk up and get seated for a character meal. I know Liberty Tavern was one of them that we got lucky and were able to eat lunch there without a reservation.
The kiddie rides do get busy later in the morning but in late afternoon they tend to become a little less busy again. Honestly, we found that one of the best things to do was just see how Elizabeth was doing and take our cues from that. We did not do some of the things we thought we would, but we still had a blast.
Elizabeth didn't care for the parade at magic kingdom but really liked the one at Animal kingdom. They tend to be really loud and she is noise sensitive. The philharmonic movie is good, but it is 3 d and scared the crap out of her, which for many kids, it's just fine. Once again it was loud.
Her favorite ride is the tea cups, peter pan, goofy's barnstorm, and dumbo. She liked snow white but it was a little scary.
If you have park hoppers you can go to Epcot shall you change your mind.
As far as a plan. I scoured all the Disney websites before we went and had notes. Now they have the Disney App for most phones so if you have a smart phone might get that downloaded.
Magic Kingdom is always the favorite with my group!
The parade at Hollywood Studios was always our favorite.
Make sure you watch Spectromagic parade and fireworks at least one night at the Magic Kingdom. I know it is the last thing you will want to do be out late after a long day with kids but it is so great!
Just enjoy! Disney is a vacation that is not relaxing at all but it is so much fun for all involved. And my big boys still talk about the two times we went non-stop!
One little tip that I just discovered last year in to rent a locker in the park. It's $10 a day for a big one and you can go in and out all day.
When you buy stuff you can throw it in and if you need to take jackets for the night you can keep them in there during the day and you don't have to lug them around. It probably doesn't get cold there at night right now but at Disneyland we take a whole change of clothes for night.
since you are staying inside buy a souvenier mug in the hotel the first day you're in. then you can just go anytime and get coke, coffe or cocoa without cost.
use the extra magic hours...
the halloween party is great if they are not scare about the customes. people do get overboard with that.
I have found Tour Guide Mike to be VERY thorough and helpful, or at least I think his touring plans will be. I also have been to Touring Plans and that seems good too.
We heard so many wonderful things, we're going to MNNSHP. I picked up the fabric for costumes today!!
I've also made tons of new Disney shirts for everyone. So much fun!!
