Hellobee Boards

Make your reservations as soon as you're able to in order to have the best shot at the high demand restaurants, six months from the day you check in. BOG is good, as @Bubblegum mentioned. 'Ohana is another very popular family-friendly option, as is Hoop-de-doo (this dinner show is easier to get into). Do your research and have a list of your preferred restaurants ready to go to make reservations and make them in the order of popularity (e.g. Cinderella's Royal Table, BOG, princess meals, 'Ohana, etc.). I'm sure someone has probably published a list online of their recommended order. Take any evening shows/events into consideration.

We've never used a dining plan, so I have no tips on that front. If the free bottled water doesn't work out (without a meal plan I've never tried), any quick service place will give you a free ice water with no purchase required. Don't pay for bottled water unless you really need the bottle.

I don't think there are any perks unique to deluxe resorts beyond better service and amenities, which is still worth it in my experience. Don't ask me how bad All Stars was! On-site benefits include being able to make your dining reservations 6 months out, Disney Magical Express from the airport, extra magic hours, free magic bands, and package delivery (i.e. send purchases made in the park straight to your hotel for free).

Buying photopass in advance is worth the money to get pics of the whole family as well as more shots with the characters than you'd get with your own camera. Stop as many photographers as you can stand. Ask for magic shots

Make your Fastpass+ reservations 60 days before arrival (thanks for the correction below, 808love!). With young kids you can ask for a rider swap and take turns going on more adult rides with your SO. Only one of you needs a fast pass if you do this - the rider swap ticket received is good for the same ride and is usually good until the end of the month in my experience. Work it right and you can essentially get double the fast passes. Once you've used all your fast passes for the day, you can make more on the app. We avoided a lot of waits that way.

Fast Pass is 60 days out from first day of check in. Plan all of the FP days in advance and be ready to book in order of priority. Dining reservations are made 180 days out. So many tips, so little time. When I was a newbie, these sites were most helpful Touring Plans, My Disney Experience app *you'll need this one for reservations at a touch, and Disney WDW Prep School.
@nanilani: loved all those rides!!! agreed, they are favorites...also would like to add Everest Expedition, Test Track for the grownups or big kids. DD loved it at age 5.
The Lion King for a grand theater like experience.
Don't forget the strollers, if you are renting--I recommend Kingdom Strollers.
Yes to early Cinderella Table reservations. Great way to kick off your visit and gets you into the park early and you can hit up all the Fantasyland rides at the get-go.

@nanilani: lol @ test track. You don't have racecar fantasies??
Oh and yes, how could I forget the Safari? We got a FP and did that twice in the morning bc that's so awesome! And the River Rapids- we all loved that ride too.... list goes on!

I like to go the extra mile when I do a Disney trip. That means I do little "Tinkerbell" surprises, like having a special bag with brand new themed pajamas, light sticks, Disney themed bath products, etc. Just stuff to make it a little extra special when you actually get there.

I also second or third the recommendation for the Photopass, the photogs have all kinds of stations where you can get the best of the best photos without people all over the place and they'll also do parent only ones, kid only, whatever you want.

@Ajsmommy: The anticipation when taking little ones is killer! We only booked three months in advance of my son's first trip, and I was opening My Disney Experience almost every day as if I expected something to change, haha. Where did you end up deciding to stay?

@Ajsmommy: Agreed-savannah with little ones is so exciting!!!

Take advantage of all your resort offers – that’s part of what you’re paying for! My LO was almost more excited with the activities at the Yacht Club than the parks the first time we went haha you should be able to find out plenty of info online about activities and then they also have like daily planner flyers once you get there that will show you everything going on at the resort that day.

I haven’t done a meal plan, so can’t give you pointers there. I’ll give you my dining recommendations below, but I don’t know how they square up/interact with meal plans.
Definitely set up a Disneyworld account ASAP if you haven’t already – you’ll manage everything through that account and it makes it sooooooooooooo easy. Download the app before your trip too so that you can make FastPas reservations in real time, dining reservations in real time, find out current wait times for rides, etc.

We were able to get lunch at Akershus just a day ahead, but it’s probably a good idea to make reservations if you have an interest in eating there. They have a cute little princess parade during mealtime and it’s right next to the Frozen ride so to me, an ideal plan to me would be to FastPass that ride for a time near to your meal reservation. Two birds, one stone.

I personally like to do Be Our Guest for lunch, because it’s just quick/casual table service (tho with better food and awesome environment). For dinner, after a longass day in the parks I want to sit and have a real plated meal and really take my time, not feel rushed at all and have a drink lol but that’s just my personal preference. Definitely book it as soon as you can.

Cinderella’s table for dinner was awesome and they serve champagne now which is doubly awesome. Definitely make reservations as soon as they open up!

LOVE Expedition Everest for adult riders! I’ve never FP that ride though; I’ve always had good luck going in the single rider line while my husband stayed with LO (and then we swapped and he went via the single rider line).

I heard that the safari is best in the morning because the animals are likely to be most active then, before it gets super hot. I have only gone in the AM and there were tons of animals out and SO CLOSE to our car. It was awesome. Just FYI, the vehicle you ride on is super loud/bumpy; my LO was too scared the first time we went on it to really enjoy it, but was fine last time as a 4 year old. If you have a LO sensitive to noise, that could be an issue (or maybe not).

Here are our rough plans. Our Fastpass window opens in a week, so I really have to finalize this stuff.

1. Saturday: We arrive early and go to Hollywood Studios for a half day. http://www.disneytouristblog.com/hollywood-studios-best-rides/
a. Toy Story Mania Ride
b. Frozen sing-along show
c. Choose between either:
i. Beauty and the Beast Show
ii. Ariel mermaid show
iii. Disney Jr. Show (Sophia the 1st, Doc McStuffins, etc)
iv. *if* we wanted to eat dinner in the park, then the kids could watch the fireworks show. Otherwise, it’s probably better they go home and sleep because we have long Disney days after
d. If in-laws wanted to babysit, there are some Star Wars themed stuff—a ride and a fireworks show at night
i. The Great Movie Ride (not for kids)
ii. Aerosmith roller coaster

2. Sunday: Epcot
a. Frozen ever after ride (Fast pass)—in Norway (If we can get Fastpass, we can do fastpass at 11:15 before lunch)
b. Ana and Elsa Meet n Greet in Norway
c. Great American Tour- In America
d. Gran Fiesta Tour—In Mexico
Lunch/nap
e. Turtle Talk with Crush
f. The Seas with Nemo and Friends
g. Illuminations Fireworks show at night (can see from Boardwalk, but can also reenter park after nap)
i. Rides LO1 and LO2 can’t do, but that are cool
1. Soarin’
2. Test Track

3. Monday: Magic Kingdom
Early Breakfast at Cinderella's castle
a. 7 Dwarves Mine train (Amara can’t ride)—Fastpass #1
b. Peter Pan—Fastpass #2
c. Enchanted tales with Belle Fastpass #3
d. Under the Sea
e. It’s a Small World
f. Pirates of the Carribean
g. Aladdin magic carpets
h. Spinning Teacups
i. Barnstormer
j. Dumbo the Flying elephant

Tuesday:

Magic Kingdom Day 2:

a. Swiss Family Robinson treehouse
b. Thunder Mountain Railroad
c. Space mountain (no kids)
a. Kids can ride people mover
d. Character meet and greets

Wednesday: Animal Kingdom

a. Safari
b. Rivers of Light--pandora
c. Pandora (kids can't ride)
d. Kali River Rapids (Lo2 can't ride)
e: Dinosaur

TBD

@Anagram: I liked EE and am not a roller coaster person. I would consider doing that twice. I don't have a desire to go on SM twice.

@Ajsmommy:
-Lunch at Sanaa (at AKL) is one of my favourite meals on property. The bread service there is soooo good

-Look into booking a dining package at AK and HS, which will give you a meal plus "extra" Fastpasses for the evening shows with priority seating. For example, if you book a Tusker House dining pkg (highly recommend character meal at Animal Kingdom, yum) - you will get a FP for Rivers of Light that evening. It's a no brainer on the dining plan since it's still just one credit.

-With young kids, Rider Swap is available on attractions with a height requirement so that both adults can ride without having to wait in line twice. We got so many "extra" fastpasses by taking advantage of that.

-we have done a Be Our Guest pre park opening breakfast a couple of years in a row now and it is awesome. The atmosphere is super, and if you can snag an 8:00ish reservation for when the park opens at 9:00, you will be done before the park officially opens and can get some extra rides in. This year we rode Mine Train 3x (which usually has crazy long lines), Peter Pan once and then met a princess all before the rope drop masses came. After that we pretty much had Fantasyland to ourselves since everyone was rushing to those other popular attractions that we had already done. Bonus is BOG breakfast is only considered a quick service meal on the dining plan.

But my one piece of advice is to go with the flow as much as possible and not stick to too rigid of a schedule - the planning is fun, but when your kid wants to ride the Peoplemover 5x in a row or meet some random obscure character , those are the moments where the magic really happens!

I'm definitely not a pro, but I wanted to tell you we really did not like our meal at Akershus. The food was so expensive, and not very good. DS's mac n cheese was $30 and he didn't even like it. Yes, it's fun with the princesses, they all come around to the table and say hi. But unless your kid is super into character meets, I'd skip it. And if you do go, be prepared that the cost of so much up close time with the princesses is a $200+ bad meal.

I really liked the Akershus Norwegian meatball with Lingonberry sauce. If you have a choice Cinderella table is better princess experience! We really enjoyed Yak and Yeti. We made reservations to have a nice sit down meal once a day and went 'Disney cheap' on the others.

I've not done any character meals (we thought DS was too young to appreciate it) and we usually do quick service or bring our own breakfast in the morning, so I don't have too much advice to offer :\

Of those on your list, I've done dinners at BOG, Ohana, and Yak & Yeti (table not quick service). Food was good at all three. BOG was crowded but they handle it well. The Beast walks through the ballroom and meets guests throughout the evening, I'm not sure if this happens during breakfast/lunch quick service hours. at Yak & Yeti, we had to wait a while to be seated despite our reservations. We did Gaston's for breakfast last time. I'm not sure there is much in the way of lunch -- it's more of a snack menu, although the ginormous cinnamon rolls would certainly fill you up if you can handle all that sugar!

I have heard people getting in some empty park time after a MK breakfast reservation like you're hoping for so that might be a good use of your time.

@Ajsmommy: Tusker House is great for any meal, the truth is that the food is a little unusual, BUT you get really up close and personal to the characters. We had breakfast there and I think it was the best meal we had (in all honesty, I don't go to Disney for the food, even at the top ones, it's not the best meal I've ever eaten).

@yoursilverlining: @Ajsmommy: I agree the food at Liberty is good and kids meals are HUGE. We actually ate dinner there (upstairs is extra seating) and it was very relaxing and empty.

@Ajsmommy: Gaston's isn't sit down is it? I think thats quick service. Honestly we've never eaten there because finding a table is really hard.

3 sit down meals a day is a lot of time spent eating. My kids were happy to snack or eat a PBJ in the stroller for one of the meals

@T.H.O.U.: No, it's not. It has a very limited menu, mostly cinnamon rolls and LeFou's Brew (frozen apple juice). I would not count it as a full lunch, but would be good for a snack.

@looch: Love the fruit and nutella waffle!