Hello Mickey Mouse, here we come!

We are making our first ever trip to Disney World and I would love any helpful hints or advise on what to do while we’re there. I want to make sure we don’t miss any “must sees” while we are there.

We are staying at the Caribbean Beach resort on Disney property and we have the unlimited passes to all of the attractions while we are there and transportation is included as well. I have heard mixed reviews on the bus system. We are staying for 3days/4 nights. I would love some feedback on the best places to eat with kids and which rides to head for first. We are going in the middle of the week at the beginning of June so I am hoping that the crowds won’t be overwhelming.

The kiddies are 11 and 5 and they are VERY excited about the trip!

You should go for a character breakfast. Goofy’s kitchen is great. You and your kids will get to interact with a bunch of different disney characters. This beats waiting in line for a 5 second picture in the parks.

Hm. When I was 7, I remember going to Mickey’s house the most. And once we got up so early that we were the only people on the monorail, so they let us ride with the conducter…

This was also 13 years ago, though.

Take LOTS of pictures. Scrapbook, scrapbook!

Don’t overlook Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. The kids will love it – and you will, too.

The busses do a good job of moving people around, though you have to plan in advance (and during busy times, you may not be able to get a seat on the first one that comes by).

Skip Epcot, mostly. Except for the Chinese, Italian & Japanese pavilions, it’s a bore. And I used to work there, & have been back within a year.

Disney MGM is much better!

I wish I’d given the new Animal park a try.

Most Important–go on the Pirates Of The Carribean at least 3 times! :smiley:

If you can possibly do so, do not bring a bag with you to the parks. There is now a bag check befor you enter and you get all excited only to stand in a long security line. But if you do not have a ‘bag’ you don’t have to go through the line. Just wear one of those ‘photographer’s vests’ with tons of pockets.
Mrs. Z and I were there in April.

If you are going to Animal Kingdom get there early and go straight for the Sarfi ride. The animals will be the most active/visible first thing in the AM.

Tom Sawyer Island offers the kids a chance to run and jump and climb around rather than wait in line. Take them there if they get restless.

Practically all the characters were out at ‘stations’ with pretty short lines to get a photo.

Fast Pass

I have mixed feelings about FastPass. Lets say you want to ride Big Thunder Mountain and it’s ten am If you use FP you insert your park pass in a machine and a litttle ticket comes out with a time on it. Maybe it says 12:30. Now between the hour of 12:30 to 1:30 you can go to Big Thunder Mountain and walk right up and get on. It works there because this ride actually has two lines. But there are some rides at the park that really only have one line and FP on those rides means you HAVE TO HAVE A FASTPASS TO RIDE THAT RIDE! You want to ride Winnie the Pooh? YOU MUST GET A FASTPASS! Same for Buzz Lightyear. Without fastpass your wait at those rides would be about 2 hours because people with fastpass just cut in front of you. Of course when you get on one of these with FP and walk by all these misrable people glaring at you, well, thats not really a fun expierence either.

The FP does mean that you have to go to a certain ride at a certain time so that can screw up your enjoyment of the day as well.

Epcot is lame. I’m sorry but I just don’t like it. Honey I shrunk the audience is cool but skip the ‘edutainment’ and got to the nations. The food in Italy was really good.

I think MGM Studios is poorly laid out. You constantly end up going from one end to the other. The Tower of Terror is simply a great big foot that comes out and kicks your bum. (at least thats what it did to me.)

You might want to see if you can get into the Hoop-de-doo revue. It is a seperate dinner show. The kids would love it, and I swear to god that the woman in the yellow dress is, in fact, a robot.

Dumbo has really long lines so you may want to hit that first or skip a parade and ride it during that.

I like the park bus. Of course I’m from NYC and ride public transportation everyday. But don’t be afraid to go back to your hotel during the day for a nap or a swim break and then go back to the park at night.

Remember, you are there to have fun. This is a quest for fun! ect. ect.

Ummmm, I’ve got some bad news for you.

Your childhood is gone.

That’s not true - I waited on line for Buzz Lightyear when I went a few weeks ago - there are definitely separate lines for the regular and fast pass lanes.

Susan

Print out the list from:

http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/WDW/

and have fun spotting the hidden mickeys…

(Rival) Theme park worker and Disney passholder checking in. Some tips from both sides of the name badge. Forgive me if this sounds unusually harsh, but it’s been a tough time lately, having finished Spring Break, several weeks of Mardi Gras, Senior Grad Night, and 90+ degree heat. Unfortunately, this combination brings out the worst in some (NOT ALL!) of the guests, and I have seen some really nasty episodes that could have been avoided.

  1. Drink water and pee a lot. It’s been ungodly hot, and people forget to drink. I’ve called health services a lot for folks on the verge of passing out.

  2. Wear sunscreen. Sunburns hurt, and also cause sympathy pains in folks around you. Reapply often, especially after the water rides.

  3. Hats and sunglasses are always a good idea.

  4. Wear your new shoes for a couple weeks BEFORE your vacation, not put them on for the first time when you get them. Blisters hurt like a sunnuvagun.

  5. Take as little as possible into the park. The security check lines can be VERY long before you even get to the turnstiles, and every purse, fanny pack, diaper bag, backpack, rolling suitcase, camera bag, etc is given a cursory check before you enter. Some of the parks MIGHT have a “no bag bypass” line open, depending on the staffing. And don’t do as I saw one woman recently, having a hissy meltdown fit because she “paid $50 to get in the parks (like everyone else, I may add) and was sick of standing in line” and was determined to walk through the bypass line because the other line was too long. Well, they took her to a nice air-conditioned room, and then she had a nice air-conditioned squad car ride to the “33rd Street Hilton” (local jail), because threatening Disney security and an Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy is a very bad thing.

  6. In light of the end of #5, take a break from the parks. Keep your ticket, get your hand stamped, go to the hotel for a swim, take a nap in the afternoon, shop at Downtown Disney, do something indoors to get out the the heat (or the rain - we’ll be starting that soon). Espcailly if the kids get tired. Cranky kids ain’t no fun for anyone.

Sometimes, splitting up the family is best. Mom take one kid around the park, dad take the other kid and meet up somewhere (NOT in front of the Castle (MK), Tree of Life (AK), the Ball (EPCOT) or the Hat (MGM) - these areas get very congested.

Invest in walkie-talkies. Lots of folks use these to keep in touch around the parks.

Know what the kids are wearing, in case you all get separated. All the parks have an excellent BOLO system via radios. But know what the kid is wearing that day. It makes it so much easier.

  1. Bus service tends to be very crowded, especailly from the lower priced resorts (yours). The stops also tend to be further away from the main entrance to each park. Buses run about every 20 minutes to half-hour, depending on the route and number of stops on the route. And check to make sure you want to go there - buses do not connect the water parks and the theme parks, and the theme parks to Downtown Disney are one way (no direct return trip - you’d spend about an hour on a crowded bus). Check the bus schedules carefully.

Outerloop monorail connects the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and Magic Kingdom directly, while the inner loop monorail connect the TTC, Contemporary, Magic Kingdom, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian (in that order). About 10-15 minutes round trip. (Trust me, it’s a pain when you get inside MK, then remember something you left in the car.)

Direct monorail service to TTC and EPCOT. About 20 minutes or so.

Ask the greeter about riding in the front, don’t just run up there. You will be directed to a special bench or gate. Plant yer butt on the bench or stand there - they will call for you for loadin. Watch everyone else get jealous. Some interesting photos, especially when the Great Blue Heron fails to clear the track. :eek:

Boat service between Disney-MGM, Swan/Dolphin, Yacht & Beach Club, Boardwalk Resort, and World Showcase of EPCOT. Figure about half-hour one-way trip, or so, depending on how many people and how long of a stop.

Ferry service between TTC and MK. Kinda fun, boat gets a littlt lurchy sometimes, and sometimes the characters are out water skiing.

  1. FastPass (FP) does NOT mean you get right onto the ride when your time arrives. You will be directed to a separate line that bypasses MOST of the main line. You will still have to wait in line, but will be directed onto the attraction faster than standing in the “standby” (regular) line.

Only so many FPs are given out during the day. These go very quickly. It’s no longer surprising to head for “The Many Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh” at 11 am, and receive a FP timed for 8:45 pm to 9:45 pm. Yup, been there, done that, jaw hit the floor when I first saw that.

If the FPs are all gone for the day, yelling at the attendant will not make them magically appear. (Seen this. Not pretty.)

Check if there is a “single rider line” available (notably TesTrack at EPCOT and Spiderman at Universal Studios**. Sometimes, if you don’t mind splitting up your party, especially if you’ve all ridden before. Besides, it sends the cars out with a better balanced weight, and actually more people can get through the line faster.

  1. If you can, buy film, sunscreen, water bottles, sunglasses, etc. BEFORE you get into the parks. Target, Wal*Mart, and KMart are far less expensive outside the park.

  2. Mid-June begins summer seaon, but there are still some very long lines. Not as long as Easter/Christmas/high Summer, but it can still be pretty stressful.

  3. In general, if the younger child is not tall enough for an attraction, please do not yell at or threaten the attendant. Really, s/he is only doing her/his job. Don’t try to slip a bunch of insoles into the shoes or buy them taller sneakers - it’s not just the height factor. Having a kid slip out of or slide through a safety harness is a verybad thing: the ride manufacturer or designers have gone through a lot to make sure safety is paramount, and the attendant is there to make sure the safety features are followed. There are plenty of attractions to enjoy.

In short: Eat. Drink. Slather. Pee. Relax.
NEXT UP: Rides and attractions.

**NOT a Disney park, but just FYI.

MouseSavers

The above site gives all kinds of ways to save money. Generally, don’t go for the hotel/park package as it is almost always cheaper to book a la carte. If you didn’t use a discount code for your hotel, get one off of this site (they are published in magazines and newspapers and are NOT cheating) and call the reservation line back. I got a rate for a 1 bdrm villa at Old Key West for 40% less than the lowest advertised rate and 60% off the rack rate using a discount code. If you’ve already booked, call back and ask for a discount code. Their cancellation policy is usually pretty generous.

It is also advisable to get a 4 day Park Hopper pass vs. getting an “unlimited” pass. Park Hoppers allow you unlimited access to all the parks in one day (be sure to get your hand stamped if you plan to re-enter the same park on the same day) PLUS they don’t ever expire. So if you don’t use your pass for some reason (e.g. your kids get sick or a hurricane is approaching) you can use it next year or 10 years from now. The unlimited pass expires when you leave. If you get a ParkHopper plus you will get access to the water parks. These don’t expire either.

We drove to all the parks from our on-site hotel. The buses came every 1/2 hour, which is a looooong time if you have kids. We had no problems driving to the parks. If you stay on-site, you get free parking. The rental car rates are very attractive in Orlando and I thought it was well worth it to have mobililty. Plus you can save a lot of money by eating off site.

One of the best things we did was to book a fireworks cruise. These are manned pontoon boats that you book through Central Reservations. You board at the Boardwalk Hotel or the Grand Floridian dock about a half hour before dusk. The driver gives you a nice tour as you cruise to Epcot. You pull in under a bridge right before the fireworks start and you get a front row view of the fireworks. Then you cruise back to the Boardwalk and miss all the crowds. These cruises book up early. Since it is cost prohibitive to go with just 4 or 5 people, I used these boards to invite other people along with me. We all met up at the Boardwalk and split the cost by 3. You can also use the boards to join a cruise someone else has booked. Pete Werner

I enjoyed Epcot, as did my kids, ages 9 and 7. It is educational, but most of the attractions are indoors, so it’s good to go on a really hot day.

We used the FastPasses and got to go on every major attraction with no wait. Great sytem. You can only get a FP every 2 hours or after your window has begun. Say it’s 8am when we arrived. If you stay on-site you get early admittance, so plan to head to one of the major attractions (Ride #1) before the big crowds get there. On your way to that ride, go to another FP ride (Ride #2) and get a FP. Let’s say it says 9am. Go to Ride #1 and ride. If you still have a lot of time, go to a minor attraction until your FP window starts. Once the window opens (9am), go to ANOTHER FP ride (Ride #3) and get another FP before getting on Ride #2.

We used this system all day and never had to wait for a major attraction. If the return time is beyond 2 hours, remember that you can get another FP after the 2 hours are up. So no matter what the time on Ride #2, at 10am you can get another FP.

Gosh, this is turning into a novel. Have fun!

Yes but at the end they merge into one spot and the regular line people stand there while the fastpass people wait. The regular line wasn’t moving at all when we were there. The posted wait time was 2 hours. Did you use FastPass or did you wait in line?

I stayed at the Carribean Beach Resort the last time I went to Disney. The bus service is very reliable, but be sure to keep a schedule on you. The resort itself is full of fun. Each village has their own pool and lake. You can jet-ski and participate in other water sports on the lake. The main pool has a waterfall and a slide which will be fun for the kids. There’s a poolside full bar which will be fun for the adults. There are also several restaurants there that are very good and moderately priced. They do have some fastfood restaurants within the resort for late night dining. The staff is very courteous and prepared to help you in every aspect of your visit. Have fun!

Thank you! It makes me feel much more comfortable hearing from people who have “been there & done that” so to speak! How exactly do the Fast Passes work? Do you pay for it at the beginning of the day or do you simply get them at the rides? We have the Park Hopper passes which include access to the water parks but I wasn’t planning on going to them since there is so much else to do. We have been checking out the attractions & the maps & it looks like we are going to spend most of our time at the Magic Kingdom and MGM with a brief stop at Epcot for Honey, I shrunk the audience and a morning visit to the Animal Kingdom for the safari tour. We are going to try out the Disney transport to start but we have a rental car as backup. Do you have to make reservations for the Disney restaurants?

I have another question… what is the best thing to do when it rains? Is it better to wait it out at the park or head back to to the hotel?

Everyone is entitled to get Fast Passes. You take your admission ticket which has a bar code on it and insert it into FP machines at various kiosks throughout the park. The machine will then spit out a FastPass ticket for that ride, along with a window of time that you can return to the ride and bypass the long line.

So say you enter the park at 9:00. You go to Space Mountain and see that it has a line. Instead of waiting, insert your admission ticket at the Fast Pass kiosk (only major rides have FastPasses, btw) and take the FP ticket. (Note: You have to have a FP for every member in your party, so it’s best if one person keeps all the tickets and does the honors.) Anyway, the FP will give a window of time (e.g. 10:00-10:20am) for you to return to the ride. From 9-10am, you can mosey around and ride other rides. Anywhere from 10-10:20am, you return to the ride and enter the separate FP entrance. You bypass 90% of the line and hop on the ride.

There are some rules. One is that once your window expires, your ticket is no good. Another is that you can only get one FP at a time. In other words, you can’t go to all the kiosks and get FP’s for all the major rides as soon as you get there. However, once your window opens up (in this example, 10:00am) you may get another FP even if you haven’t surrendered your first FP yet. Also, if your return time is beyond two hours, you can get another FP once two hours has passed (if your FP said to return at noon, for instance, you could get another at 11am).

Important: Don’t lose your admission ticket. It is your pass to your FastPasses. Also, it’s good to check to ask another person ahead of you what the return time is so you can decide whether you want to get one. Some rides “sell out” early and you may not even be planning to stick around til 7pm. So it’s silly to waste your FP privilege on this ride.

As far as reservations at the Disney restaurants go, you only need them if you plan on going to a character breakfast/lunch or if you plan on going to a very popular restaurant (e.g. the one that you sit in a car at Epcot, whose name escapes me) or if you plan on sitting outside on the balcony of one of the restaurants that overlook the lake during the fireworks at Epcot.

Showers are commonplace in Florida during the summer months. They’ll have one a day generally. But they don’t last long so just put a poncho on (they sell them everywhere for ~$7) and wait it out.

The first is a wealth of information. The second you can ask all sorts of questions.

I agree on Character Breakfast, you’ll want a “Priority Seating” for this. Which is why you want to hit the www.wdwig.com and get terms like FastPass and Priority Seating defined for you. By the way, I disagree with PunditLisa on only needing reservations (Priority Seating) at popular places. Our last trip (Early Feburary, less crowded than Early June) it was difficult to find sit down without them. But over three days on your first trip, I wouldn’t bother with sit down anyway.

Get an early start. Be there at opening every day.

MGM has the most and best thrill rides. For the most part, Disney is not a thrill park.

My not misses:

Magic Kingdom in general. Love the Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain.

Animal Kingdom: The Lion King show (you need to see this) and the Safari ride.

Epcot: Illuminations (the nightly fireworks, light, laser show)

MGM: Not my favorite park, but I do like Star Tours.

Oh, and you won’t be there long enough. This is your “flavor” trip. If you like it, you’ll need to go back for a full week. You’ll start wondering how you can fit a trip in a year - if you only eat beans, can you cut your grocery bill down to the annual trip stage? You aren’t going to believe how big this place is or how much there is to do. Things happen that right now, you don’t even imagine happening - twenty four to ten year olds taking a “pirate cruise” to look for treasure, little girls booking tea with Alice and the White Rabbit, people racing around the lagoon in little boats, great restaurants, 99 holes of golf.

(We’ve stayed at the CBR and have liked the transportation.

If you want to eat at Cinderella’s Castle during the fire works you may be in time if you make a reservation now. You can make them now long befor you go.

The place at MGM where you sit in cars is a neat place to eat. It is basically a drive in movie theatre. There is a huge screen that is playing 50’s sci-fi previews and kids find it really cool. But the name escapes me.

When you stay at the park you get a card key for your room. (like a credit card) This is also your park pass. So you will have to carry it around and everyone has their own card. They will ask you if you want to basically turn it into a credit card when you check in. You give them your credit card and the info is coded directly onto your room card. I have no idea what advantage this offers you as you can easily carry your own credit card to the park and charge your meals and stuff.

How tall is your 5 year old. IIRC the stick of doom is 42 inches and maybe 44 inches at a few rides. That is the height requirement and I would really hate to have the job to walk around with this thing and measure kids and then tell them they can’t ride. The look on kids faces as the stick of doom approaches is kind of heart breaking.

The last time I was at WDW especially the Magic Kingdom was really crowded so we had to wait quite a lot…while I agree EPCOT isn’t that spectacular, it’s kind of relaxing to just be able to walk around without being jostled the whole time. (But I used to work there, too, and I’m always feeling a little nostalgic there)

Now on to the tips:

Magic Kingdom

My favourite ride is Splash Mountain…best on a hot day when you want to get wet. Also gets you in a good mood because you’ll be singing Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah all day long while you wait in lines.

Haunted Mansion is good, too, because the line is outside and you don’t have to wait inside a stuffy attraction for too long. I’m a little bit wary of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride because of that. Seen too many kids get cranky inside. But hey, it’s a classic.

If you’re not too keen on parades you might want to try the more popular rides during parade time. Or just choose one parade you’ll see one day (they’re all rather similar) and skip the others. I’d also recommend the Electrical Light Parade.

EPCOT

Rides to miss (!!!) are: Spaceship Earth and the Norwegian Water Ride. Spaceship Earth looks spectacular from the outside but is boring as heck (if there’s NO line at all, maybe do it but otherwise nononono). And the Norwegian ride is just not worth the wait.

I’d do the Honey I shrunk the audience and then saunter through the countries, sample some food etc. It’s mostly grossly overpriced, though. The best value for money as far as I remember is the buffet at the Norwegian Pavilion. Restaurants to definitely miss are the Italian one and the French one.

I always really enjoy the Living Seas as well, but then I really like dolphins and manatees.

MGM

My favourite here is the Tower of Terror. Might be a bit scary for little kids, though. Just like the Aerosmith Rollercoaster. Both rides tend to be emptier just before closing time.

Don’t do the Great Movie Ride, too long of a wait for really nothing.

I always did the Animation Tour, just because I think, well, that’s the whole point of Disney and I like being given information about upcoming movies. Maybe not for smaller kids.

Animal Kingdom

Definitely the Safari Ride.

Also the Bug’s Life Movie (maybe a little bit scary)

And I was happy as a little kid when I won a whack-o-saurus at the amusement park thingy. But that’s just me maybe.
Eating around Disney

If you want a quick snack and haven’t packed anything, the Fruit Stands usually are your best bet. There’s one at EPCOT right next to Germany, one at MGM on the road that leads to the Tower of Terror and one at Magic Kingdom on Liberty Square.

I’d also recommend the Vegetarian Chili / Clam Chowder at the Harbour House (I think)…the one opposite of Haunted Mansion anyway.

You’ll definitely need reservations for any sitdown restaurants. (It can’t hurt to make some anyway.)

For the character breakfast, ask your kids what characters they prefer and choose accordingly (not all characters will be at all breakfasts). Kids usually like the one at the Contemporary Resort where they get to sing songs and wave their napkins over their head.

That’s just what I remember off the top of my head…

Oh, one more thing: The best food I’ve had in a long time over there was not at Disney but at a restaurant called Bahama Breeze. There’s actually two, one at I-Drive, one at Lake Buenavista. They serve Caribbean type food…weird but an experience. It’s always really crowded, though, so call ahead and plan on a bit of a wait time.