Hellobee Boards

@Truth Bombs: @Mrs D: a Touring Plans subscription is well worth the $ for crazy planners like myself... you can make personalized plans where you plunk in what you want to do, and it gives you the expected wait times for each ride at that particular time and day. Its a rabbit hole, I warn you! When we are actually at Disney I tend to go with the flow and not follow them exactly but I love playing around with the touring plans before we go

@Lahela017: Lol! My comments were the same as yours! And I think we are from the same state, so we must be drinking the same pineapple punch!

Did anyone use the Mobile pay ahead for certain restaurants? I plan to use that a lot this time around.

One other budgeting tip I forgot. If you want to stay at a deluxe resort, definitely look into renting DVC points versus directly through Disney. You can get the same room (or a villa) for much cheaper.

This is really kid-dependent, but both of my kids LOVED all the rides. They were 2 and 4 when we went. There was not a ride that they didn't love (that they were tall enough to ride). My older LO was just barely 40 inches, so she was able to ride 7 dwarves mine train, Big Thunder Mountain, and all the other bigger rides except Space Mountain and the roller coaster at AK (I'm blanking now). She even rode Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom and loved it. My 2 year old rode everything she was tall enough to ride, including the rides that have small drops and she loved all of those (Frozen, Pirates of the Carribean). They both even loved Haunted Mansion).

I'd read in previous threads that a lot of parents were focusing more on character meals, meet and greats, and shows with toddlers/preschoolers, so I wasn't sure what to expect. But we focused on rides, and that ended up being a good decision for our family because the kids were thrilled. With fastpasses, we were often able to ride popular rides twice (once at rope drop and then right after with a fast pass).

I honestly think we hit every single ride in every park that they were tall enough to ride. The only character meal we did was breakfast at CRT. The rest we did quick service or we had dinner or breakfast in our hotel (we got a 2 bedroom suite at Boardwalk with a full kitchen + kitchenette), so we stocked up on easy stuff like breakfast bars, croissants, granola bars, cereal, yogurt, string cheese for fast breakfast in our suite before heading out. We were often home for their dinner (we stayed in the park during our 2 year olds nap and she had a short stroller nap), so we ordered pizza, made pasta, made a frozen chicken enchilada thing, etc.

We had DHs parents with us, so they watched the kids while we went back to the parks twice, and we stayed in twice while they went back to the parks for fireworks.

We just did 1 park a day to minimize transport time. Since my kids are most into princesses, and we saw so many at the CRT breakfast, we only did a fastpass for Fairytale Hall (to see Tiana and Rapunzel) and a fastpass to see Mickey, plus they met Sophia the 1st at HS---those were all the character interactions they had and they were good with that. I think that outside of the princesses, they preferred the rides and attractions to longer sit down meals.

We got lucky with a low-attendance week (most of our days were 4s on the crowd scale of 1-10), and we got great fastpasses, so our days went really smoothly and we rarely waited more than 10 minutes for anything.

Are you ladies planning to do any kinds of little daily gifts or treats for your kids while on site. I have so much time to plan and save that I really want to try to make this super special (which I know it will be either way).

I told DH that I kind of want to surprise the kids with the trip. Meaning, like wake them up and say "do you want to go to Mickey's house today" and leave for the airport.

We're only going to be on site for 4 days of park time...I was thinking a diff themed "gift" each day. Since we arent going until Nov I have time to DIY, bargain hunt, coupon, etc. Plus, like if I want to get them some cute clothes, I can plan back to school shopping around it...

@looch: I just saw a super cute idea on a blog... Mickey Mail with "Mouska Tasks"... example:

Give them a box of bandaids and have them cover themselves...she who can do it fastest.

I think we might do daily gifts, then also have like 1-2 tasks things for them to do also (mostly thinking morning - when we may need a few minutes of parent time).

I like the idea of incentivizing good behavior with a gift reward...

I married into a very Disney family and have picked up a lot of their knowledge base over the past few years! Counting our next trip in March, we'll have been 3.5 times in the past 12 months (the 0.5 was for a day trip not really in the same vein as a full vacation).

-What are some of your favorite on and off property places to stay?
Wilderness Lodge hands down, especially with young kids who gravitate toward MK over other parks. I've never stayed at a monorail resort (would love to try Poly sometime!), but on our last visit the security lines to board the monorail at those hotels were insane compared to the very easy boat ride from WL. Also, you don't have to collapse a stroller to board the boat -- a huge plus if your child is sleeping! If a deluxe resort isn't in your budget, I like French Quarter also. I've stayed at several different on-site properties and the only one I would absolutely never return to is All Stars. We found other people's trash and dirty towels in our room and could barely get an apology from the front desk, let alone an offer to have someone come clean our room.

-What kind of pass is best for families with kids? 1 park a day or park hopper?
Everyone will have a different answer to this. We always get park hopper so we don't feel locked into something. HS these days especially is a half day park at best. Yes, you could spend the rest of your day at the resort or Disney Springs etc. if you have single day tickets, but we know from experience that we'll usually end up back at MK or sometimes Epcot. Park hopping also makes planning meal reservations much easier for us.

-What are add ons that are worth it, and add ons you would skip?
Memory Maker, otherwise I would hardly be in any pictures! I wouldn't go all out on character meals (you're not paying top dollar for fantastic food usually), especially if you're unsure how your child will take to characters. You can always schedule one later in your trip and have time to cancel if he/she end up being terrified. Recently we've aimed for just one character meal per trip.

-What are your favorite restaurants in every price range?
Soooo many I haven't tried yet, but here are some favs:
Quick Service: Casey's, Columbia Harbor House, Sleepy Hollow, Katsura Grill, La Cava del Tequila (margaritas), Les Halles, and -- I hesitate to share this one lest it get too crowded -- Geyser Point (technically QS, but also option for table service with beautiful Bay Lake views)
Table Service: 'Ohana, San Angel Inn, Be Our Guest, Via Napoli, Artist Point, Hoop De Doo, and I hear lots of good things about Yachtsman although I've never been

-What are your favorite budget tips/tricks?
The RedCard trick that's been mentioned, but also check for any cash back deals on your regular credit card. Before our last trip we had an offer for $60 back on $400 at Home Depot so we picked up some gift cards there to earn the bonus offer. Also the free ice water -- you don't have to buy a thing, just ask for it anywhere with a soda fountain.

-What are the best attractions/rides/shows/restaurants for toddlers?
My son (he's been 3 times since turning 18 months) loves pretty much everything. Dumbo, Pooh, and Little Mermaid at MK are big hits. He's been on "bigger" rides like PotC and HM too. Don't miss talking Mickey if you're visiting before May (rumored to be closing for good after then). Laugh Floor didn't really keep his interest even though he likes Monsters Inc. Shows can be tough b/c they can run a bit long for his attention span, but we sat in the back of Festival of the Lion King so he had room to dance around. He liked Disney Jr. at HS too.

-How do you plan to deal with nap time?
He takes stroller naps, fortunately. On his first visit we had every intention of heading back to WL for naps every day, but he usually fell asleep before we could get back there so now we don't bother going out of our way. We're also fortunate that he doesn't turn into a monster if he's up past his normal bedtime, so we're not compelled to work around his sleep schedule too much.

So...let me ask you Disney experts this:

If we get the hopper pass and the meal plan (2 snacks, quick service and table service)...what else does money get spent on onsite?

I have girls, so I know about the bippity boppity boutique. But what else is there? DH kinda vomited over the cost when I priced the vacation...so I just want to make sure I build a reasonable budget...

@Charm54: Thanks! I expected tips...but wasnt sure if there were other "add ons" like the bippity bopity...bc I think that one is significant (like $60 or so). Hoping we can control souveniers by bringing little gifts for them each day - then maybe allowing one special item. We're going late november - so I was thinking we could snag a few things at the park to surprise them with on Christmas since this trip will be a LOT of their gift from us this year.

@Mrs D: not much. Just souvenirs and tips for us. Our "bill" when we left was very minimal.

@looch: Yes! Planning to do that!!!

@Mrs. Microscope: exciting!! My dd loves Epcot. Her favourites are: Turtle Talk, Nemo, Frozen,Spaceship Earth, the indoor playground @ Mission Mars exit, Living with the Land, and meeting Joy & Sadness. Their room where they meet is really cool. Besides that she loved the world showcase and watching all of the pop up shows (Chinese acrobats, Japanese drummers, French mime). She also is a thrill junkie Last year she was tall enough for Test Track, Soarin and loved them.

With an early Garden Grill reservation you will be able to sneak a ride on Soarin’ first right at, or shortly before park opening. So I would do that for sure! I love Soarin.

@Mrs. Microscope: Our two-year-old LOVES Figment (Journey into Imagination) and all the music activities after your exit the ride. It's incredibly dated, but he doesn't know that. The Nemo ride and the Seas building are also a big hit. Looking forward to taking him to Turtle Talk for the first time in a few weeks b/c I hear Hank (his #1 favorite Disney character for some reason) makes an appearance now. But really his favorite Epcot "attractions" are probably the jumping fountains outside of the Disney/Pixar shorts theater and the sidewalks in Future World that glow after dark. The pavement around the fountain look like stars, but off to the side by Innoventions West there are some that create colorful patterns.

He's seen Inside Out and while I don't think he fully gets the concept behind the movie, I also think he's too young to be scarred by Bing Bong.

If your kids will nap in the stroller, that can also be a good time for the adults to eat/drink around the world! We did this at Flower & Garden last spring which has a similar booth setup to Food & Wine. Might be harder trying to time naps with two kids though. Have fun!

Woohoo!!!! It worked!!! DH is notorious for having the strongest opinions about the dumbest crap. Or just completely illogical opinions.

Enter our trip to Disney. Every other trip we have taken as a family he is insistent that we have separate rooms, so we can sleep separate for the kids and the family as a whole can get good sleep. Naturally DH wanted to stay at the Polynesian - in a standard hotel room (non suite) because that is where his family always stayed.

So for the last two weeks I have been sending him links, articles, etc on the resort choices at Disney. Last night my plan to overwhelm him with info into submission worked. I said that I wanted to talk about resort options after the kids go to bed so I could get it booked...he caved. Admitted it was too much detail and he'd be happier if I just picked! Woohoo!!!

@Mrs D: nice! where are you going to stay??

For those of you that are Disney experts. If you had 3 days for park visits, which parks would you hit? I am thinking Epcot, MK and MK OR Epcot, MK and Hollywood Studios.

Thoughts?

@Anagram: we are going BEFORE the new Toy Story Land opens, unfortunately. Now that you mention it, my travel agent did say that HS has a lot closed right now... And we are not Star Wars crazy.

I'm not sure about high crowd times. We are going the week of June 10th so...early summer.