Disney experts - come in and help me plan our first trip :)

auburnbride2be

I'm trying to plan a trip in Jan. I'm working with a great travel agent, but am hoping for more opinions before I book it. Here are my main questions:

Resort - I'm leaning toward Moderate. Lots of folks tell me to go value. Port Orleans Riverside is the moderate I'm thinking about, but DD saw the Little Mermaid rooms at a Value resort and loved them.

Length of Stay - It's our first trip and my DD is 5. We are focusing in Magic Kindgom and Sea World. Do you think 3 nights will be enough or would you do 4 nights?

Meal Plan - Yes or no. We are doing a Magic your way deal which includes Quick Service meals, but our agent is saying to upgrade to the sit down meal option. It's all lumped together with tickets, so I don't know how cost breaks out.

Two must do/must see things - I'm thinking mine are Cinderella Character Meal and a parade.

Fly or Drive? I was thinking about flying if I can find a good round trip deal.

One piece of advice

 

TIA!

 

 

 

Louise06

We have been to Disney 3 times. Twice, we have stayed on property and once we rented a house. We have stayed at the Carribean Beach resort (don't recommend) and the Port Orleans French Quarter (loved it).

The French Quarter is the smallest resort on property and you can really tell. Buses were never crowded and you can quickly get to anywhere on the resort. I liked being so close to everything because we spent so much time walking at the parks. The pool is really neat and you can take a free water taxi to Downtown Disney.

We also had a fridge in our room, so we just bought cereal and milk and ate breakfast in our room. We also ordered Pizza Hut one night and had it delivered (you have to meet the delivery driver in the lobby). I found a listing online of all the places that will deliver to WDW.

We really love going down to the Boardwalk for dinner. You can see the fireworks from Epcot at the boardwalk. They also have street performers.

I would plan 2 days for MK.

We have never done the meal plan. As far as I could tell, it wouldn't save us any money.

I would stay for as many nights as you can. I hope you have a great trip!

slwprincess

Resort- Art of Animation was pretty awesome. Pretty close to a moderate IMO so if she will love Little Mermaid, I'd save some $$$ and do that. But POR also has the royal suites and those are cool too :-)

I always suggest 2 days for Magic Kingdom for your first trip. That way you don't feel so rushed. I wasn't such a fan of Sea World- felt like it was way too overpriced for everything- tickets, parking, food, etc. I'd do another Disney Park- Epcot or Animal Kingdom. Plus then transportation is included with your resort so it just makes life easier. So at least 3 full days of parks. But more is better :-)

We've never done a meal plan. I buy tickets in bulk and get room only discounts or stay with Vacation Club points so it has never been an option for us. So I'm no help.

Definitely do a character meal- I refuse to stand in line to meet characters so I'd much rather pay for character dining. Also, the Spectromagic parade and Wishes Fireworks at MK are my favorite Disney moments each visit.

Honestly, no preference on fly/drive. We've done both multiple times and both have their pros/cons. If you really want to do Sea World then you need to drive. There is no easy transport off Disney property. They want to keep you there!

Go back to the room for nap/rest time! Then go back and stay till the park closes. Nighttime is amazing at MK.

slwprincess

Oh and research at these sites:
Tipsfromthe disneydiva.com
Mousesavers.com
Allears.net

Mwalte4

We went the first week in March and through my company travel agency bought discounted 5 day passes (I think we got a free day out of it), so we went to all 4 parks and repeated MK. This allowed us to go partial days since we had a 3.5 year old and a 16 month old. We stayed at an off property resort (a gift from my in-laws) and each day we stopped at Publix and brought in sandwiches, drinks, and snacks. All of the Disney food looked friend and unhealthy, so it was nice to have fresh affordable food.

jnnfrrose6

We haven't done WDW yet with LO, but I can't wait!  I grew up going, though, and my mother just got back from a trip there with friends.

Resort - I'd look at the location over value vs. moderate.  If you aren't staying anywhere with the monorail, then you're going to have to take buses, and you'll want to make that ride as short as possible, so I'd pick the one closest to the TTA that's fits any other criteria you may have.  A pool isn't going to matter in January, but you will probably want to go back to the room for a nap mid-day, so you'll also want to make that travel a short as possible too (though I don't ever remember going back to the room to nap growing up, we just napped in the stroller).

Length of Stay - 3 nights is enough, but if you can swing 4, go for it.  I agree with PP about Sea World.  Not sure if I'd do that.  I'd probably do Animal Kingdom instead and go on their safari.

Meal Plan - We've never done a meal plan.  We make reservations for the sit down places we know we want to hit (character meals, etc...) ASAP (you can book them about 180 days out, I believe), and just wing it for the rest.  I agree about bringing your own breakfasts since you'll want to be up and moving early, and bring in snacks too to help cut down on food purchases in the park, though as far as I'm concerned, if I'm going to Disney, I'm not worrying about it at that point.

Two must do/must see things - I'd add the "Bippity Boppity Boo" salon, or whatever they call it.  They have one in Cinderella's castle and one at Downtown Disney.  I saw it for the first time when I was in my 20s and was so bummed they didn't do it when I was little!  How cute is it to get made up into a princess by a fairy godmother?!?!  Also, Belle's castle is now open and I've heard good things about the character meal there.

Fly or Drive? We always drove down growing up.  It's not a bad drive, but flying can be quicker, plus they have shuttles to the resorts if you fly (though that turned into a disaster for my parents once a couple years ago when their flight ended up majorly delayed and didn't get in until almost 1am...Disney dropped the ball on that one and didn't have buses ready to take everyone from the airport).

I agree with PP, too, about checking out the websites for other great tips.  Have fun!

K&P414

I am a travel agent, just a disclaimer  But even before I became a travel agent, I was still a mom that took my kids to Disney.  

Personally I like to get a 4 day park hopper and do Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood Studios.  

I have not stayed at Art of Animation, but some of my best friends just stayed there and enjoyed the accommodations.  They had previously stayed at a Deluxe resort and said the biggest drawback at AoA was that the staff seemed to be a little sub-par for what they'd come to expect from Disney's standards.  I know you can take feedback like that with a grain of salt, but I kind of trust her judgement on that.  

I think you would be fine at either Port Orleans Riverside or Art of Animation and would probably pick whichever one is pricing lower.

If you are going to do any character meals, I definitely recommend the Disney Plus Dining meal plan option.  And if you plan on more than 1 sit down meal per day, the Deluxe plan is going to be your best bet.  I think the meal plan comes down to personal preference.  For example, I have friends (and clients) that want to be go-go-go all the time so they like to just grab something quick and keep going.  But then I have people on the opposite end (which is more of our personal style) that like to do character meals for either breakfast and lunch and still have sit down meals for dinner every night.  

I've personally never done Sea World with Disney, so I'm not much help there.  But the Disney waterparks are great if you want to add the water park option on to your park hoppers. 

I think we are friends on fb if you want to message me any specifics!

christyhu

We just did a trip with a 3 YO and 1 YO.  We paid the extra money to stay at the Contemporary because it was on the MonoRail and it was totally worth it!  It was 10 minutes to get to and from the Magic Kingdom and was so easy!  We will definitely stay at one of the hotels on the MonoRail each time we go from now on.

The character breakfast was our favorite part.  The kids get so much attention from the different characters and they absolutely loved it!

Whatever you decide, you will have a blast.  There was nothing like seeing our kids faces each time they saw a character.

audreysmom08

Art of Animation is great!  The rooms are super cute and it's so nice having the extra bathroom and small kitchenette, which isn't offered in many Disney hotels.  The LM rooms are new within the last two years so they shouldn't have as much wear as some of the older hotels.  The pool is awesome and there is a food court option in the main building that we found helpful.   We've also stayed at the Wilderness Lodge and really loved that because we could take a small boat over to the parks.  You really feel like you're somewhere in Northern California.  

Two days at MK should give you enough time to see everything. We've been to Disney many times, but we haven't ever done the meal plan.  We usually always do a character breakfast and/or a character dinner and then just stop by a local grocery store and stock up on snacks to pack each day.  

Our girls have always loved meeting the characters more than anything else so we always make sure to get a times guide for the character meet and greets and catch anyone we won't see at our character meals. The key is to get in line about a half hour before it opens and then you'll breeze right through.  If you get in line after it opens it could be quite a wait. Make sure to bring along an autograph book or you can buy one at any of the Disney store.  We print out the pictures after our trip and put them in next to the autographs and the girls love to look through them. 

Definitely take advantage of early magic hours if they are offered any of the days you are there. Hit the most popular rides while no one is really in the park.  We were able to do Peter Pan several times back to back.  Our kids love that ride (and apparently so does everyone else because there is always a crazy line later in the day).  Oh yeah, there is also a Disney app you can download that will give you the wait time at every ride in the park. 

We have done Sea World with Disney one time and after the excitement of Disney the kids were kind of let down by SW.  So I would recommend doing that first.  If you decide to do a park hopper there is a lot of fun stuff for her age at Epcot and MGM.  We are always underwhelmed at Animal Kingdom...not much to do besides the safari ride.

Have fun!!