Hellobee Boards

-What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay? We are staying in a suite at The Wilderness Lodge. I had a really hard time choosing where to stay! I had originally wanted to be on the monorail but the suites at the Polynesian have a weird set up (two queens in the bedroom instead of one King) and it was so much more expensive than anything else. And I felt like The Grand Floridian and the Contemporary weren't as fun themed for the kids. Wilderness Lodge is a 15 minute boat ride to MK and they have some beautifully redone suites called Copper Creek so we went for that.

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper? We did the park hopper. We made some choices along the way that may be a waste of money, but allow us flexibility on our trip and that's worth the up charge to me. I think we might not even end up utilizing the park hopper feature and will spend one day in each park, but oh well.

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip? We are definitely doing the memory maker. The advance price is $149 which in the grand scheme of a Disney trip is nothing. It gets so many pics with fun features like animation, or pics on the rides that it was well worth it to me. We strongly considered doing the VIP Classic Tour as well, but our Disney planner felt that at the time we are going, the included rides are unlikely to have long lines anyway, so it just wasn't worth trying to cramp it into our already packed schedule.

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range? We haven't been before so I don't know what we'll like... but the ones I'm most excited about are Cinderella's table, Chef Mickey's and The Luau Dinner Show at the Polynesian.

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks? I suck at this. We spent an insane amount of money for this trip because I don't have the time or desire to search for budget hacks. Whoops, sorry bank account.

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers? We are doing the Fantasmic show at Hollywood Studios which I've heard is amazing. And I'm really excited about the Frozen Sing Along at HS too.

-How do you plan to deal with nap time? Our 5 year old will power through, we are praying the 2 year old stroller naps, but he can power through too if he absolutely refuses. We made all of our dinner reservations for around 5:30 so we can get back to the room at a decent hour for early bed if needed.

Adding one of the things we are most excited about! For our last night there we hired a babysitter (a local friend of a friend) to come sit with the kids after we put them to bed while my husband and I go back to MK for extra magic hours to ride all the rides we know our kids will be too scared of. I can't wait!

Planning our first trip, end of November. Super excited! DD1 will be 5, and DD2 will be 2.5.

-What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay? We are deciding between polynesian (DH fav and our desire to be on the monorail) and the Art of Animation for the reasonably priced suites. But now I am going to check out the one you mentioned @Truth Bombs:

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper? we will do a hopper. It may end up being a waste of money but we want the flexibility!

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip? We're going to do the meal plan. We also plan to provide our fam with a list of "experiences" they can gift our girls as Christmas is right around the corner and lord knows they have enough STUFF.

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range? Honestly I dont remember much! I know we will do the Luau because we always loved it!

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks? I've heard good things about the grocery delivery seervice!

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers?

-How do you plan to deal with nap time? DD1 will likely not NEED a nap. DD2 we will bring the comfiest stroller so she can nap on the fly as needed.

We plan to take one with DS1 as a special big-boy trip when DS2 is a few months old and I can comfortably leave him with grandma for a few days. So probably somewhere in Sept/October/Nov.

Related but not - I’m dying to go to Disney World with my son but he always sees commercials for the Disney Cruise and tells me he wants to go on the “Disney boat”. Has anyone done this and can compare to Disney world? Obviously it’s different, but I mean in terms of how a 4yo would enjoy it. Kinda thinking the cruise would be easier/less stressful and he’d still see characters and have plenty to do. And its what he asks for. But I sort of have my heart set on WDW.

Ooooo I forgot to add another add on we're doing. We got our 5 year old an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique for right before our dinner at Cinderella's table. She's gonna freak out!

A little bit different, but we are planning to go for one night of the Halloween party in late September. We will be on a (non Disney) cruise out of Port Canaveral, and our plan is to get off the boat and drive to Orlando, get to the park when they start letting the evening passes in, around 4:00 or so. It's just one night, so I doubt we'll get to do everything we'd like. My daughter will have just turned 3, so I figure this will be a good preview for a longer trip in the future. And the night we'll be there will also be my 40th birthday!

We're going with my brother's family, which includes my 5 year old nephew and 2 year old niece, and my parents, who have all been in the last few years, so we'll probably follow their lead on most things. I haven't been to Disney World since I was 8 or 9 in the late 80s, and my husband and daughter have never been.

We're staying off park at a condo resort where my brother has stayed before. I think we'll visit Disney Springs on Saturday and come home either Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. Even though it will be such a short time there, I'm really excited!

My favourite topic, Disney World!! We are down to T-28 days until our next trip....can't wait !! This will be DD2's (2.5) first trip... up until now we've left her home with her grandparents. She is SO excited and I can't wait to see her experience everything! DD1 is 4.5 and this will be her 3rd trip....she has a need for speed and loves all the thrill rides, which susprrises me

What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay?

We've stayed both on site and off ... I prefer on, Dh prefers off for the extra space but he agrees that with kids on site is the way to go. So for the foreseeable future we will be on site. We love Caribbean Beach (feels so relaxing) but with the renos it is having we are trying something new this year. We are renting DVC points and doing a split stay between Animal Kingdom Lodge and Beach Club. The price renting points was comparative to the moderates which is amazing.

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper?

We don't do hoppers with kids... I find it easier just to pick a park and stick with it. That being said, staying at Beach Club I kind of wish I had hoppers since epcot is just a 5 minute walk away. But it would have been $200 US more for the 4 of us so we passed.

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip?

I love the dining plan... I don't think it's a must have but it is sooo convenient and it is awesome not to come home to a huge bill. Dh loves that he can get steak every meal and I don't cringe

We are doing Disney After Hours this year as a date night while my parents keep the kids at the hotel. It looks so amazing ... get to stay in MK for 3 hours after it closes and ride whatever you want with no waits. They only sell I think 1000 tickets so you have the whole park to yourself. And all you can eat mickey bars 🤗 I'll report back if I think it is worth it, but everyone who has been gives it rave reviews.

I also would have looked at Early Morning Magic at MK but my youngest isn't tall enough for 7 Dwarves so wouldn't have been as worth it. Next year !

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range?

Quick Service - Pinocchio House (MK), Be Our Guest breakfast - MK (book a pre park opening reservation and you can ride mine train before the park opens!)

Table Service - Sci-Fi Diner (HS), Ohana (Poly), Sanaa (AKL) Biergarten (Epcot)

Signature - Tiffins (AK), Le Cellier (EP)

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks?

You can get a cup of free water from any where they sell quick service rather than buy a 3$ water bottle in the park. Rent DVC points to stay at deluxe hotels for cheaper. Bring glow sticks from home so they don't want the $25 light up mickey during the fireworks

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers?

My Dd's favourites are Mine Train (MK) Under the Sea (MK), Dumbo (MK) , Enchanted Tales wiYh Belle (MK), Toy Story Mania (HS) , Turtle Talk (Epcot), frozen (epcot), lion king (AK), Boneyard (AK). Plus a million more things ... there's so much to do!

Her favourite restaurants are those with a show (Biergarten, Raglan Road, Hoop De Doo). I love them too because they keep her entertained

-How do you plan to deal with nap time?

Usually she stroller naps. I always think we will go back to the hotel mid day but it is a lot of work to deal with the transportation sometimes. So generally we go early and leave in the afternoon, or only go to the park in the afternoon and stay for the evening. Now, though, that we can walk this year to two parks from our hotel I can see us doing mid day breaks more.

Oh - and you can join a Facebook memory maker share group to split the cost with people who are there same time as you. Instead of paying $160 you can split with other families and pay like $30. We didn't have to do it this year because we are going with 20 family members (lol) so we split it the cost together. But I have done it in the past and it was a very smooth progress.

We just went last week with our 4 yo DD and 11 mos DS.. this sight and these posts helped me plan so much!!

Our trip was awesome and so smooth!! Planning and planning and planning really helped!!

-What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay? we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge, we bought DVC points and it was AMAZING!! I love, love, loved the resort and want to be back there right now.

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper? We did only 1 park a day, I have no idea how people park hop! UNLESS you plan to go in the morning and go back to resort for lunch/nap and then go back to a park. I decided against doing that. I decided to go to parks early, stay through lunch and then plan to be back to resort for normal bedtimes. This worked well for us.

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip? We did the deluxe meal plan and I LOVED it. We got every reservation we wanted and it was nice to have a nice sit down lunch to break up the park craziness. I dont' think we'd do the deluxe next time but maybe the one TS and one QS plan. DD being 4 LOVED the character meals but this depends on the kid.....

memory maker was GREAT!! we used it a LOT and loved it

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range?
Yak and Yeti (animal kingdom)
Sanaa (AKL, get the bread service)
Liberty tree tavern (MK)
Boma (breakfast)
Ohana breakfast (Polynesian)
Akershus breakfast
Cinderella's round table
BOG breakfast (but DO NOT PLAN TO meet belle or beast)

I'd skip 1900 park fair at the grand Floridian (so so buffet), I'd also skip tusker house in animal kingdom and I'd skip garden grill in epcot

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks? pack snacks, take your own stroller

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers?
As stated above DD loved character meals and character meet and greets so we were loaded with them. We met all the princesses (even met Cinderella like 6 times!!).. we met mickey and Minnie and gang multiple times.

So if you're looking for princess/character intensive I'd def recommend:
akershus breakfast
Cinderella's round table
Hollywood and vine (either mickey and gang or Sophia)
ohana

DD loved enchanted tales with belle, the 7 dwarves train, ariels grotto, all the shows at Hollywood studios (under the sea/beauty and the beast live), the safari and gorilla trail at animal kingdom were big hits.... and the lion king festival was ok. DD also loved the swiss family robinson tree and make sure you see the parades in MK. The festival of fantasy parade was DD's favorite but she also liked the move it shake it parade as well as the show/skit put on at Cinderella's castle. and of course frozen ever after!!

-How do you plan to deal with nap time? I made DS nap on the fly. He napped each day at least once in the carrier or during a show

and another cool tip that we did this time was we booked reservations at the California grill for 730 and got to watch the fireworks from there. they are on the 15th floor of the contemporary and pipe in the music and dim the lights for the show. they even have a viewing deck but it was too cold when we were there.

@Truth Bombs: Everything you are saying is what I want. Can you just send me your detailed itinerary so I can copy it? haha kidding...kind of

Bippity Boppity right before Cinderellas table sounds amazing. My daughter is going to die and go to heaven so many times on this trip...

Okay, for those that have gone recently...what is the best character meal with non-princesses? We have one princess meal scheduled but I'd like one with the other guys (Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, etc).

Rookie question - do you guys plan all of this on your own or do you have someone do it for you? It just seems so overwhelming! That’s why we haven’t done it yet. I get intimidated when I think about all of the options and choices and this special character meal and that special show and blah blah blah.
I’ve been there 3 times (twice as an adult) and each time someone else planned it because they were pros. And being all adults it was pretty easy (we didn’t do character dinners for example. We just did a fast pass and went around a different park each day).

@mediagirl: I like Tusker House (get the rivers of light package and you get reserved seating for the night time show). Other character meals I like are Garden Grill in Epcot and Cape May Cafe (breakfast) at Beach Club. Cape May is probably our favourite - but mickey isn't there (just Minnie, Donald and Goofy).

Chef Mickey's is your best place to see all five characters. It's a really fun atmosphere. But the dinner food has just been so so the last few times we went. Maybe breakfast would be better.

@Charm54: @Ajsmommy: thanks! That's great info.

@SweetiePie: we haven't been to Disney in 15 years so I'm using a travel agent. She's been fantastic and I haven't had to do a lot of work!

@SweetiePie: I can't compare Disney World but I've been on a Disney cruise and to Disneyland and I found the cruise to be way less stressful. LO definitely loved Disneyland (and we're planning a trip back there this summer), but the cruise was so much easier. And I imagine Disney World is even crazier than Disneyland. If you are in it for the characters then I think the cruise is the way to go (though Disney World will have more of a variety of characters). If you are in it for the rides, then obviously not the cruise lol. My LO gets scared easily on rides so really the only ones she wanted to do were teacups, dumbo, small world, etc. She much prefers meeting characters. And we went to Disneyland during what was supposed to be an "off peak" time and STILL had to wait 30 minutes just to meet Rapunzel. A lot of the cruise character meet and greets are ticketed with an assigned time....way better. We're already planning another cruise!

We are headed to Disney this December with my entire family and I'm so excited to see all the decorations and everything! My parents are DVC members so they are getting us all rooms at Copper Creek at Wilderness Lodge. This is our family's 3rd trip since our oldest was born in 2015.

-What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay?
I'm going to sound like a total snob but I won't stay off property Seems silly but I just enjoy all the benefits of staying on property like transportation and such. For my husband and I we really enjoy Port Orleans French Quarter. We stayed there with our son when he was two and it worked well then as well. Now that we have three kids I think we will always try to rent vacation club points (like from Dave's Vacation Club rentals) and get a studio or one bedroom DVC room. Renting points is usually a similar price to a moderate resort but you get a kitchen and multiple rooms. We've stayed at Animal Kingdom in a two bedroom which was awesome for the kiddo waking up to all the animals outside but it's kind of far from the parks. I think something on the monorail line or Wilderness lodge will be our new requests while the kiddos are young.

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper? I like park hopper for the simple fact that sometimes restaurant reservations are hard to come by and I may want to have breakfast one place and dinner in another. I also like that if one park seem extremely busy we can try another one on the same day.

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip?
Don't get the dining plan ever. It's just not worth the money. I know some people love it but you can save so much just getting meals on your own.

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range?
Magic Kingdom:
Quick service: Pacos Bills and Columbia Harbour House
Sit down: Crystal Palace (breakfast) and Liberty Tree Tavern

Epcot:
Quick Service: Sunshine Seasons and Boulangerie Patisserie les Halles
Sit down: San Angel Inn and Rose and Crown

Animal Kingdom
Quick Service: Flame Tree BBQ
Sit down: Yak & Yeti and Tusker House
(Haven't been sine Pandora opened)

Hollywood Studios
Quick Service: ABC Commissary
Sit down: 50s prime time cafe and Hollywood and Vine (breakfast)

Elsewhere:
Ohana (Polynesian), Raglan Road (Disney Springs), Beaches and Cream (Beach Club), Trader Sam's Grog Grotto (Polynesian)

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks?
Like I said above, try to book a DVC room through a point rental place. You will get a nice room with a kitchen and can make a few meals in room to save some cash. Also there are several grocery delivery place in Orlando, or pack snacks to take in parks. Every quick service restaurant in the parks will give you water if you ask for it. Carry water bottles with you an fill them throughout the day so you don't have to pay for it.

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers?
Our two year old loved our breakfast at Hollywood and Vine last year, all Disney Junior Characters. He liked It's a Small World, Toy Story Mania, Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Frozen Ever After, Kilimanjaro Safari. He also liked anything with music. There was a DJ at Disney Springs one night and we stayed there for a bit and he had a dance party with some other kids.

-How do you plan to deal with nap time?
We usually nap in park in the stroller or carrier, occasionally we will go back to the hotel if it's not far. We went once when he was one and once when he was two. At one he napped easily in the park in the stroller or tula. At two he was too excited to sleep in park but would pass out in the car on the way to another park or the hotel so we would just sit in the car for a little recharge.

@SeptMomma12: For the two year old definitely try to get Frozen Ever After at Epcot. I've heard the new Pandora ride is uh-maze-ing so try to get FP for that for those that are big enough to ride (I think your 5 year old may be able to ride it) one of you can ride with him and then do rider swap with the little. The safari is a must do and usually a good one to FP. Toy story mania is also very busy so FP is nice for that but the queue is very interesting too. At magic kingdom so many recommend Peter Pan for a FP but my two year old found it boring. He really liked It's a Small World and Winnie the Pooh. Don't use a pass for Dumbo, they have a great play area inside that you get a pager and play until it's almost time to ride, so it's actually a fun wait.

@Truth Bombs: I'm a finance gal like you...I started building a ridiculous excel spreadsheet today...it made me strangely so much more excited!