The Disney World Thread
woody_74
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I am going to a conference in July and I will be staying at the Marriott World Center and my question is my Dad is going with me I wonder which park we should hit on Monday? I can't decide if we should go to Universal, Epcot, or just where. Any suggestions on where to go. We just want to have a relaxing day hanging out together.
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The new Harry Potter expansion will be open in July. Read that as: park filled to capacity. I'd probably go to one of the Disney parks like Epcot and enjoy a beverage or two.
Yeah, universal will be nuts. Epcot absorbs crowds better than any park and is the most "grown up"'of them all, for the most part. I'd go with Epcot.
woody_74
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Thanks that is what I was looking for. I'm 30 and my dad is 54 so Epcot sounds like our best bet.
Anyone have experience with the Sheraton Vistana Villages on I-drive just south of WDW?
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Yup. Stayed there a bit ago. While it was not for me, I am sure some will find it just fine. I find many Sheraton properties hit or miss and the Starwood vacation ownership is great in some spots and okay in others. Maybe my expectations were too high, but in Orlando in a sea of incredible properties, this was expected to be top notch. Instead I got quite average.
Gianna1025
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Taking Gianna there this September for her 5th birthday! I haven't read this whole thread but I read that Downtown Disney is opening a food truck park in September. Pretty excited for it. Staying at the Marriott Grande Dunes I think. Part of the Marriott timeshare properties.
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They sure are. GG and I were there for dinner with golf4life and Mrs golf4life and they were doing construction. They had the descriptions of the trucks and a few other things about it right in the middle of downtown Disney.
Gianna1025
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I think it will be decent. Im a big fan of Downtown Disney for what they offer and this will be no different. When we go for multiple days or nights, we typically spend 2 evenings at Downtown Disney at the restaurants. When the Food Truck area opens, one of those will be there.
FWIW, its a bit easier on us, because we like to stay in Downtown Disney.
The wife and I are wanting to take our boys to Disney sometime in the future. My oldest is 4 and the youngest is just a couple months old. We were thinking about just waiting until the boys were 8 and 4 but honestly, I don't want to wait that long lol we've started our research and plan on going next fall. Any tips/recommendations for first timers?
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CAA_Beat
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You could find a sitter leave the kids at home, and go on a scouting trip with the wife. You would of course being doing it for the kids benefit
Honestly can't give any advice for going with kids as my fiancé and I have only gone by ourselves.
But one thing I might suggest plan your trip, then pause and replan it with one more day. Every year we have gone we always wish we had "one more day" to stay.
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THIS. When you see people/families going ballistic in the parks its usually because they try to do everything in one swoop and little kids just aren't going to have that. They love the resort pool just as much as they do the parks, its all about balance and not trying to see it all.
This makes a lot of sense. And we would be looking at going for 4 or 5 days so there's no real need to cram too much into one day. But it makes sense that this would get overlooked
I don't guess we have a Disneyland thread, but we decided to mix things up and fly out west to visit the place it all started next August. Going to rent a one bedroom dvc at the grand Californian for three days at the end, just have to find a nearby place for a few days before that with a suite for the boy. Going to do five park days. He's nuts for Cars. Neither of us have been west of mid-Texas. If anyone has Disneyland tips I'd love to hear them - in a PM if it would upset this thread.
The Grand Californian is amazing. We have a DVC membership there. Make sure to take advantage of the private access to California Adventure and you can get World of Color Fastpasses an hour before opening.
My two boys have just turned 6 and 4. We took them for the first time a bit over two years ago when they were almost 4 and almost 2. That trip, we did 4 day passes and spent 2 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 at Animal Kingdom, and 1 at Hollywood Studios. We skipped Epcot because there didn't seem to be a ton there for young kids. Our kids are early risers, and we were staying at an offsite condo, so we would be at the park at rope drop, and would leave for the day at 2-4 PM at which point they had had enough. We also scheduled an extra day in the middle of the park visits to do something else (we ended up at Cocoa Beach). You can get a lot accomplished at the parks if you plan ahead so that you know what rides to hit first, but honestly at those ages, our kids enjoyed the various character interactions more than the rides.
We took them back to Magic Kingdom for one day a little over a month ago and it was a very different day already where they mainly wanted to do rides and made it from rope drop to maybe 5 PM before being ready to pass out.
We plan on going back in a few years (maybe 9 and 7) and staying on site and doing the full experience again, and figure it will be a completely different trip as far as interests are concerned.
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World of Color is ridiculous. I think it's better than any of the night time Disney World shows, minus special event fireworks. They kinda bring it for those..
We started taking our little guy around 18 months (I know others start earlier, that's just how it worked out of us or we would have gladly gone sooner). As it was he LOVED the Winnie the Pooh characters. Like over the moon. We did a breakfast at 1900 Park Fare and pooh and Tigger were so amazing with him. He's been a huge fan ever since. He was a little unsure about a lot of things but he's a little timid natured and after a few days he loosened up and got used to the big and flashy and loud and was having a great time. He's three now and has been back a few times and each gets better and more fun. Nothing better than seeing the magic through a child's eyes.
We tried staying onsite but it was too hard with him napping and going to bed early for us to sit in the dark quietly trying not to wake him. We did an offsite three bedroom condo last trip and it was great. Would nap a couple hours after lunch then go back again until early dinner. He had a room to himself and we didn't have to tiptoe around in the dark. And cheaper than onsite rooms. Florida sun vacation homes is who we used.
Speedliner
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The Disney World Thread
Your youngest isn't going to get much out of it. Likely won't even remember it, but 4 is a great age for a first visit.
As others mentioned the families that are unhappy are usually the ones trying to get through the parks on a schedule, where the variability of little ones breaks their plans and causes stress on all. If you are flexible and don't over plan your day it will be fine. It's okay to split up too. One of us would stay with the oldest and the other would take the stroller for a walk or back to the hotel.
Little ones will want to be in The Magic Kingdom most often so you are best served by one of the hotels in that area with monorail access. Exception is the Wilderness Lodge which I think is the most enjoyable for kids. Access to MK and monorail is by boat or bus, but the boats are great fun.
Second choice for little kids would be the Contemporary. Kids love the monorail running through the hotel and you can walk to MK. My wife would often take the stroller for a walk along the lake and sometimes back to the hotel. Contemporary is very convenient.
Third choice would be the new Art of Animation resort. Access to MK is not as convenient but kids will love it.
Last suggestion if budget permits is to stay in a DVC facility if possible. Staying in a suite instead of hotel room makes a big difference - especially with a little one that needs to nap, or doesn't sleep well with distractions. A tired toddler and tired parents will ruin your trip, so much depends on your little one's sleep habits. Contemporary has Bay Lake Tower, Wilderness Lodge has the WL Villas, and Grand Floridian has new ones - don't recall name. BLT has suites with a view of MK, you can watch fireworks from your room, or the lounge on top of the building. You can imagine how cool that is to kids. Suites are expensive, but another, less expensive way to get them is to rent points from a DVC member.
Biggest recommendation is to give kid's sleep and overall convenience top priority. Tired kids, cranky kids, tired parents with worn nerves are the only things that will ruin your trip. Otherwise you can't go wrong.
Your youngest isn't going to get much out of it. Likely won't even remember it, but 4 is a great age for a first visit.
As others mentioned the families that are unhappy are usually the ones trying to get through the parks on a schedule, where the variability of little ones breaks their plans and causes stress on all. If you are flexible and don't over plan your day it will be fine. It's okay to split up too. One of us would stay with the oldest and the other would take the stroller for a walk or back to the hotel.
Little ones will want to be in The Magic Kingdom most often so you are best served by one of the hotels in that area with monorail access. Exception is the Wilderness Lodge which I think is the most enjoyable for kids. Access to MK and monorail is by boat or bus, but the boats are great fun.
Second choice for little kids would be the Contemporary. Kids love the monorail running through the hotel and you can walk to MK. My wife would often take the stroller for a walk along the lake and sometimes back to the hotel. Contemporary is very convenient.
Third choice would be the new Art of Animation resort. Access to MK is not as convenient but kids will love it.
Last suggestion if budget permits is to stay in a DVC facility if possible. Staying in a suite instead of hotel room makes a big difference - especially with a little one that needs to nap, or doesn't sleep well with distractions. A tired toddler and tired parents will ruin your trip, so much depends on your little one's sleep habits. Contemporary has Bay Lake Tower, Wilderness Lodge has the WL Villas, and Grand Floridian has new ones - don't recall name. BLT has suites with a view of MK, you can watch fireworks from your room, or the lounge on top of the building. You can imagine how cool that is to kids. Suites are expensive, but another, less expensive way to get them is to rent points from a DVC member.
Biggest recommendation is to give kid's sleep and overall convenience top priority. Tired kids, cranky kids, tired parents with worn nerves are the only things that will ruin your trip. Otherwise you can't go wrong.
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Erky
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It was amazing, but it seemed like they were trying to cram every animated feature in, and it just sort of kept going. It has some amazing moments, though. Still totally worth it.
Waiting for the day they get rid of Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios and change it to a World of Color variant.