Please share your Disney tips.....

oldie+newbie

We booked today for May 6-13th. We were debating between Feb and May and ended up choosing May. We are staying off property at a timeshare of the inlaws about 5-10 mins away. We are driving and will only be taking our then 5 y/o and leaving the 1.5 y/o at home with the inlaws. Please share all your tips....I have read to hit MK towards the end of the week due to crowds, but thats about all that has really stuck out in my mind. We are planning on doing all 4 parks plus Seaworld.

Turkey Lurkey

Make sure to get the park hopper so you can hit Epcot everyday for the frozen magarita stand in Mexico:)

joy143dh

tourguidemike.com is a terrific resource - worth every cent.  We are going in Feb and I signed up for TGM today to create our agenda based on the least crowded days that is on his site.  He also has great tips on where to go for the parades and fireworks.

Make your dining reservations 180 (edited) days in advance.  

Do a character meal in lieu of standing in long lines at the parks for pictures with the characters.

We love staying off property at Vistana.  We typically do the parks 1st thing in the morning, stay for lunch and then head back to the condo for the afternoon - rest/pool/snack - then we will have a quiet dinner or go out for a fun night.   If we do a late night, we'll sleep in and do a park in the afternoon the next day.

Don't rent a stroller.  I HATE the strollers and there is always a SEA of strollers that all look alike.  Bring your own umbrella and put something on it that stands out to you.

Have fun! Joy

Turkey Lurkey

Ditto bringing your own stroller. And get a rain cover for it.

tammy79

Saving this for later, we will be staying at the Vistana in June. 

Muffins_Mom

Lurker here...

I'd look at www.touringplans.com for information. They have an app for iPhone and Droid that shows wait times, has a chat board, etc. The people who run the site also publish a book called "Unofficial Guide to Walt DIsney World," which may be helpful if you'd rather have a book.

I've found that Tourguide Mike just isn't as good as it used to be because its not updated with new information very often. For example, he doesn't have "Toy Story Mania!" on any plan and its been open for a couple of years. With that being said, the forums can be helpful.

You'd actually want to make dining reservations at 180 days or you'll be less likely to get some of the more popular restaurants ate the more popular times. For example, I'm about 75 days out and I can't get a reservation for LeCellier te whole week I'm there.

Also, taking breaks is a LIFESAVER. Even if your child is in a stroller all day, WDW is exhausting. Tired cranky kids are pretty much hellish on vacation.

Hope this helps.

omurray

SFL

UGAbride

We did rent a stroller, from www.orlandostrollerrentals.com, and it was *fantastic*.  We got a City Mini double for the boys, and brought our own City Mini single for the baby.  They will drop off and pick up from wherever you stay, and the rates are FAR better than renting through the park.  They put a sign on the back with your name, and I think it's the best stroller on the market. 

I used www.touringplans.com and it was sooo worth it, as well as the book Unofficial Guide to Disney World with Kids that it is affiliated with, and all the iPhone apps (for current wait times, park hours, parade times, restaurant menus, etc). 

We did parks every morning from opening till early afternoon, then back for some swimming, then we'd do dinner and we had the Halloween Party one night that we were there (awesome!).  Definitely no park hopper for us, it would have been too much with 3 kids under the age of 5.  However, with just one child, it might work much easier! 

We loved Downtown Disney, we ate at T-Rex which was super cool for the kiddos, and the food was SO MUCH better than the food in the park restaurants.  We were on the free dining plan which was nice, but I was so glad to have non-park food by the time we ate at T-Rex on our last night in town.  We all love breakfast food, so we did several character breakfast buffets, and it was a wonderful start to our days. 

 

Littlejen22

Book meals 180 days in advance, they changed it from 90 days and if you wait you will not get what you want.

MelandJeff

sfl

rebs

sfl

mgfit1

this website was really helpful:  www.wdwinfo.com

I have our itinerary in my supermom blog I believe.  We were able to plan our route in advance and avoid lines pretty much all day.  If you have a smart phone there are phone apps that tell you how long the lines are for various attractions/rides.  That was helpful too.  I also bought a bunch of Disney stuff in advance and brought it with me.  I decorated the room after DS fell alseep and he thought Mickey came while he was sleeping. I even had a Mickey T-shirt (Walmart for $5) wrapped up as a gift in a MM bag with a note from Mickey.  He loved it.  I also got him character PJ's and had those as a gift.  I brought snacks with me too and a few juice boxes.  It was just easier.  You can bring a small cooler in with you.