Disney

Our vacation is BOOKED, and I had to come on and say how excited I am!!! I have to say I always hated Disney....I grew up in Florida so we would get up and leave at 6am, get to the park by 8am and have to stay all day hot and miserable trying to cram everything in. We all had meltdowns by 8pm and then we would have to drive home. I am psyched to go and actually ENJOY ourselves, and get to spend 3 days in the parks. I wish we could stay longer, but we will be going back in 2 years and we will hopefully stay for a week next time

If anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, all are welcome!!! We have a 2 year old DS and we will be going to MK twice and AK once. Is it worth it to do the park hopper pass? What about character meals?

We are staying on property at Saratoga Springs, and I've received a lot of great tips about the resort.

Also, a HUGE shout out to Lillykat for all of the info and help with planning!!! You and JenniferEver should be Disney spokespersons

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I highly recommend the forum disboards.com
It was a life saver when I planned my 1st anniversary trip there.

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Aside from the sites I gave you - have you done dining yet? If you plan to do table service I would book is ASAP - as you are well into the 180 day window. The most popular ones might already be booked.

Depending on what characters you like check out if you want character meals:
Chef Mickeys (mickey, donald, goofy, pluto and minnie) (at the contemp - you can walk there from the MK or eat then walk to the MK)
Crystal Palace (MK) - pooh and friends.

I would recommend that you try for lunch at CP or Dinner at either location unless you want a very very early breakfast - since you don't have very many days you will probably not want to miss rope drop time at the parks when the lines will be their shortest. If you don't mind getting up very very early though - there is also Ohana's for breakfast - which is Mickey and lilo and stitch.

I don't see that you mentioned EPCOT - so I assume you aren't getting a Park hopper - but if you are - dinner in EPCOT is a good idea - there are MANY restaurant choices there.

There is also garden grill in EPCOT if you can't get a good time for Chef mickey's but still want Mickey mouse.

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we went for my son's 1st bday and many advised against park hopper but we went for it -- it worked for us because we did half days at the parks ---we would leave for an afternoon nap for about 3 hours and then go to dinner and head to either the same park or a different park at night. animal kingdom was also on our agenda and the hopper worked well for us because animal kingdom was done in a half day so after nap time, we were able to hit up another park at night (I think we did epcot or MK). do you NEED it - no. but if you are going to AK, you should consider it because that is not a full day park so you can head to epcot or MK at night for the fireworks (and epcot has some great options for dinner).

also, like you, we had planned on only AK and MK BUT thanks to the wonderful tips i got from this board, we went to epcot and were SO GLAD that we did -- it was FILLED with characters and you didn't have to wait long at all to see them (unlike at MK). My DS also really liked the pasta at the italy restaurant and the donald duck boat ride in mexico so it was a good day.
I will also say AK was great for character interaction too -- we went to camp mickey as soon as we got there and DS had a ball going from character to character (and the lines here were also very quick and short compared to MK) so definitely get your character time at these other parks if you can.

most importantly, relax and enjoy. leaving the parks for nap time was perfect for us -- it let us all take a break and recharge and my LO was NEVER in a bad mood or over tired or having a meltdown like many of the other kids at the park. We have so many wonderful memories from our trip!!! have a great time!!!

Message edited 2/14/2012 9:41:48 AM.

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Do you know if I can book the restaurants online? Or do I have to call?

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WOO HOO!

You are going to have an amazing time.

With only 3 days, you seem to know what you want, so you can skip the parkhopper. For additional dining options, you may be able to actually walk to downtown Disney from where you are at SSR.

I think for kids the character meals are SO worth it. The meals are pricey, yes, and the food isn't gourmet, BUT it guarantees your child personal time with all of those characters. The character lines for Mickey and the Princesses can get very long, here you're cool, you're enjoying a meal, and you WILL see all of the promised characters.

You DO need to make your dining ADRs ASAP. People often make them 6 months in advance, especially with the dining plan in place.

If your DC loves Princesses, I recommend CRT. Akershus is also an option, but since it's at EPCOT, you'd need parkhoppers. For Pooh, Crystal Palace is the place to be. For Mickey and friends you have a few choices. Cape May cafe is a bit off the beaten path, but Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary or the 'OHana breakfast at the Poly would be asy with your MK plans. You can also go to Tusker house on your AK day.

In terms of other dining..what do you like? Are you willing to travel more for a better or special meal?

I think ANY meal at 'Ohana is a joy for both parents and kids, and it's easy to get to. At dinner there are no characters per se, but there are lots of games and activities for the kids, and if you time it right, you can watch the fireworks from the restaurant, or after dinner from the beach at the Poly.

I know getting up early is one of your nightmares from your early trips, but it's honestly they BEST strategy. Aim to be on the bus one hour before the park is scheduled to open, especially for MK. Magic Kingdom's welcome show is NOT to be missed. The other reason, really the main reason is that you'll be able to walk on rides at park opening that will have longer lines later in the day. If your DC wants to see Rapunzel, you've gotta do it at rope drop or endure a 60 min line.

Since you're on property, you'll be able to get to the parks early, tour until it starts getting hot around noon or 1pm, go back to the resort for lunch, swim,nap, etc and come back after 4 when the park is again cooler and less crowded.

Obviously do NOT try to do everything, but decide in advance what attractions are a priority. You'll definitely want to see Wishes and the MSEP. AK doesn't have nighttime entertainment and closes early, so plan your nice dinner or an evening at DTD for your AK day.

Once you know which attractions you want to see, you should get a general sense of when to see them, like Peter Pan at rope drop, Winnie the Pooh, early or use FP, Carousel of Progress any time, etc. Once you have your list, I can help you with which ones get crowded and must be seen early, late or with FP, and which ones are crowd eaters and can be seen at a more leisurely pace.

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go on the disney website and then go to parks and travel and you will find a link to do your dining reservations online there.

Re: Disney