OMG! Planning for Disney!

CeeCeeSugaPie · February 2015

I am totally overwhelmed. Stay at a Disney resort or stay at my SIL's time share? Meal Plan or no meal plan? Park Hopper or no Park Hopper? All I want to do is take my 4 year old to Disney. Too many choices! My brain is seriously starting to shut down.

packfan20 · February 2015

We're planning too. I wished money grew on trees.

packfan20 · February 2015

Also, stay at a Disney resort. The end.

packfan20 · February 2015

And do a park hopper.

Hoycie · February 2015

Park hopper is a must if you're going to be there a short amount of time. Otherwise, I'd spend a day in each park.

Disney hotels are great and if you stay there you get "extended park hours". if you stay in a Disney resort, the most affordable are the All-Star hotels. You won't have to worry about parking at the parks because they provide shuttles that run until 2am.

I haven't heard about the meal plans. I know you're allowed to bring food into the parks so that could be an option too since everything in disney is uber expensive.

CeeCeeSugaPie · February 2015

I was thinking about either the Port Orleans French Quarter resort or maybe the All-Star Movies resort, mostly because my son would freak out over the huge Pongo and Perdita statues.

ETA: I think we are going do 7 days there. While my SIL's time share would save money, I think the hassle of coming into and out of the park would be a pain.

Hoycie · February 2015

CeeCeeSugaPie said:

I was thinking about either the Port Orleans French Quarter resort or maybe the All-Star Movies resort, mostly because my son would freak out over the huge Pongo and Perdita statues.

French Quarter is gorgeous and definitely worth the dime, but All-star movie will probably be the cheapest part of your weekend. lol

packfan20 · February 2015

CeeCeeSugaPie said:
I was thinking about either the Port Orleans French Quarter resort or maybe the All-Star Movies resort, mostly because my son would freak out over the huge Pongo and Perdita statues.

As much as I would love to stay at the more expensive resorts, I just can't justify it. All we do is sleep and use the shower. To me, that's not worth $200+ a night. We've stayed at the All Star Sports and it was fine.

Hoycie · February 2015

packfan20 said:

I was thinking about either the Port Orleans French Quarter resort or maybe the All-Star Movies resort, mostly because my son would freak out over the huge Pongo and Perdita statues.
As much as I would love to stay at the more expensive resorts, I just can't justify it. All we do is sleep and use the shower. To me, that's not worth $200+ a night. We've stayed at the All Star Sports and it was fine.

This is normally my reasoning too. If Disney is expensive for us FL residents, I can't even imagine for everyone else.

packfan20 · February 2015

Hoycie said:

packfan20 said:

I was thinking about either the Port Orleans French Quarter resort or maybe the All-Star Movies resort, mostly because my son would freak out over the huge Pongo and Perdita statues.
As much as I would love to stay at the more expensive resorts, I just can't justify it. All we do is sleep and use the shower. To me, that's not worth $200+ a night. We've stayed at the All Star Sports and it was fine.

This is normally my reasoning too. If Disney is expensive for us FL residents, I can't even imagine for everyone else.

You really don't want to know. Hence, us going now while DD is still free.

Woodsymama33 · February 2015

The meal plan is nice but it is a ridiculous amount of food. Way more than an average person would need. I would recommend staying at a Disney resort. I've stayed at the All Stars Movies, Port Orleans - riverside and Caribbean Beach resort. All Stars was more budget friendly and still nice.

sfgiantsjo · February 2015

Costco has super affordable packages for Disney (both "world" and "land"). I'm going to start planning soon for a trip to Florida - maybe in the Fall.

josie402 · February 2015

So much fun!!! We went in November and stayed at the Art of Animation hotel. It was great!! We did a meal plan, and while it was a ton of food, it was so nice to know it was paid for and not feel like you were spending another fortune while we were there.

We did the option that had one snack, one quick service meal, and one sit-down meal per day. We took things for breakfast and ate in our room before we left for the day. We didn't do the park hopper and I'm glad we didn't, we never would have used it but I know others who love it.

Have fun planning!

myJunegirls · February 2015

Here is my thoughts (and I've been quite a few times. Twice with the girls)

I do not do a park hopper. I plan out ahead of time which parks I am doing which day- and we attack them. I don't like to waste time travelling to different parks in one day. Time is precious while there.

Stay at a disney resort. No questions. I like (for moderate) Caribbean Beach or Port Orleans. Great pools for the kids too (with slides and such)

Do the meal plan. First time I went, I was on the fence, then we decided to do it at the last minute- it was perfect! I'll never not do the meal plan again. We do the one with 1 snack, 1 quick service, and 1 table service a day. It is more than enough! (though we did buy breakfast to start each day as we are not huge breakfast eaters. So we just got a bagel or something and went on our way)

If you plan to do any character meals- they are included with the meal plan! It is a win win!

Feel free to ask me any questions! I feel like I have it down to a science now. And, I have a list of "do not miss" rides/ shows I keep for when friends go.
#yesIamaDisneynerd

CeeCeeSugaPie · February 2015

@myJunegirls

I was wondering about which dining plan to choose. DH & DS love breakfast but I can usually skip it and be fine. I wasn't sure if the 1 snack credit would be enough for breakfast or not, say for a bagel & cream cheese. DH was wanting the deluxe plan that includes 3 meals but I feel like that would be a ton of food. I don't plan on eating a huge breakfast everyday, so I am not sure if it would be worth it.

I would love to have a list of "do not miss" rides & shows. I really know so little about Disney, so I will take all the help I can get, especially from my trusted NBCers.

Jliongrrrl · February 2015

I did an adult Disney trip with some coworkers in December. It was so much fun and thankfully one of the gals that went did 95% of the planning for us. We stayed on site at the Coronado springs (which was just ok, we honestly didn't spend much time there and it was too cold for the pool) and got free dining. (If you can go when they have a dining package, go then. Free is always better! That said, if you were going to do character dining and/or eat at some of the nicer restaurants that aren't in the parks, the dining plan was totally worth it). The Dining was so much better than I thought it would be! My favorite of the week was Ohana where all of the food was great but the bread pudding dessert was to die for. (The giant pineapple full of rum made things taste even better). The one snack, one counterservice, and one sit down meal was plenty for us, I think there was only one day we actually paid for any food at any of the parks (besides adult beverages) and it was a bagel in the morning. You'll be able to carry along ample snacks for the kiddo too which is nice.

The picking us up from the airport, taking all of our luggage, and bus transportation was seamless and great. Magic bands are also fantastic! I would encourage you to buy the little clip things (they sell them cheap on amazon) or put a bandaid or something around the end part because one in our group lost their band and that was a huge pain in the rear. The extra magic hours for the resorts made the park hopper totally worth it. We would do the daytime hours at one park, have dinner at one of the resorts nicer restaurants, and go to the park that was open later after. With a 4yo in tow, I'm not sure how interested you are in opening and closing the parks. It was a very long day as an adult so perhaps you won't need the park hopper.

The fast pass thing is a bit overwhelming and you truly need to make reservations for the big things you want to do ahead of time. You can get fast passes for any characters your little one HAS to meet. The newest ride, the mine train, was cute and super fun but I cannot fathom waiting 2 hours in line for this ride that doesn't even last 3 minutes. And I don't care how much they say about how "interactive" the line is, 2 hours is a long time to wait.

There is a Disney app that will help keep track of everything and has all of your reservations/fast passes on it so you can keep everything straight.

My understanding is that Disney is flat priced, so if you're thinking about staying at a resort, go talk to a travel agent somewhere. They have all the packages /options and can answer all of your questions about fast pass and dining reservations.

packfan20 · February 2015

Here are my thoughts:

Why we always do the park hopper:
- Animal Kingdom typically closes at 5/6pm. We are not big pool people so we always head over to another park for the evening.
- Hollywood Studios is my least favorite of the parks and I know there's not much that DD would appreciate now. However, I have to do the Toy Story ride there so we will probably spend half a day there and then head to another park.
- This is DD's first time and I have a feeling she's going to glob on to one ride that she's going to want to ride over and over. I want to be able to split up our day between parks if need be.

Dining Plan:
- Did the 1 quick service/1 sit down plan with DH a few years ago. It was great. I would never sit down to eat at the full-service restaurants if we hadn't done the plan.
- We plan on doing the 2 quick service meals this time. There is no way I'm dealing with DD at a sit-down, leisurely restaurant at this point.
- I don't want to have to deal with cash or credit or how much we're spending. It's all tied to your Disney "band" and you just order what you want(what's allowed).
- You DO get a ton of food. Last time, we were buying bags of chips and pop the morning we left to use up our snack credits (however, no kids the last time wanting Mickey Ice Cream bars.

)
- We always hit the grocery store for breakfast foods - bagels, cereal, etc. Much better use of your money than to spend a meal credit for breakfast. Also, I think a "snack" has to be a single item under $4. Disney isn't cheap so you might be able to get a croissant for OR a yogurt breakfast with your snack credit and that's it. This site has a great list of restaurants and menus and what dining plan you can use: http://allears.net/dining/menu/

As far as do not miss - That would be everything in my opinion. Your son may be a bit short to ride some of the bigger rides but don't let that stop your or DH from riding.
Magic Kindgom: Ride it all. Seriously. Big Thunder Mountain is my number one favorite in all of Disney.
Epcot: Do not miss Soarin and Test Track. My favorites. And Spaceship Earth. And DS may love Journey to Imagination and the Seas with Nemo Ride
Animal Kingdom: For you, don't miss Expedition Everest and Dinosaur. The Bugs Life show (It's Tough to be a Bug) is fun too. Also, the Safari and Rafiki's PlanetWatch would be fun for DS. I love the Kali River Rapids but bring a change of clothes and rent a locker. You MAY get completely soaked.
Hollywood Studios: Toy Story. So frickin' fun. If you are thrill seekers - Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. The nightime show Fantasmic is a MUST. It is spectacular. THE. BEST.

That's all for now...

sonore32 · February 2015

EEE!! So fun

I JUST booked our disney trip for the end of May. I can't wait! I agree with staying at a Disney Resort.

For the meal plan if you are on the fence all disney restuarants have their menus with prices online. You can browse a couple and see if you think it would be cheaper or not. I've heard people say that if you would normally order a less expensive entree anyways then the dining plan isn't always the best value.

One great resource I've found is wdwprepschool.com. The lady that runs it is great and she has weekly podcasts which are very helpful.

I would also recommend a subscription to touring plans. It's cheap (like $14/yr) and you get an app with ride wait times that are more accurate than the Disney App. Disney is known for posting wait times significantly longer than what they actually are.

I'm having so much fun planning DH and I's trip! It's the best

sfgiantsjo · February 2015

I second touring plans!! I use it all the freaking time when planning Disney trips.

OMG! Planning for Disney!

Re: OMG! Planning for Disney!

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