Next time we'll do Tom Sawyer Island, Swiss Family Robinson tree, rocketships, watch the electrical parade, and do the Buzz Lightyear ride. They are expanding FantasyLand with a new Beast's castle & village, a Be Our Guest restaurant, Little Mermaid ride etc. We have a lot to look forward to going back in 2013.

Here is our itinerary (children 5 and 4):

1. Get there at rope drop
2. Go straight to Buzz lightyear (do it about 3 times in a row - our kids love it)
3. race track
4. tea cups
5. Winnie the pooh (dh gets fp for peter pan)
6. small world or dumbo while depending on peter pan
7. break/ice cream/lunch or peter pan
8. Head over to tom sawyer island
9. big thunder mountain - depending on the line, either one time or get a FP for later. usually we just do it twice so we dont' have to backtrack
10 - pirates of the caribbean (Fb or wait in line)
11. Jungle tour
12 - go back to pirates
13 - parade time - we usually stay in that area for it - we find a spot - dh gets pineapple ice cream or we see country jumboree

At this point, we're done with our favorites - the kids then meet their characters. we do some shopping, dinner, wait in line for mickey/princesses. we either revisit some of the rides or go to people's movers, mickey's philharmonic, things we haven't done.

We're very flexible with the itinerary. Sometimes the kids don't want tea cups or we don't want to wait 30-40 min for dumbo. We just go with it. Have fun!

The park was open until 1 am when we were there a week ago. Just after the fireworks, huge crowds stream out of the park en masse and there wait/crush for the main ferry and even longer for the monorail. Resort launches may have been shorter wait?
The Contemporary really is right next door, I can see why people like the convenient location.
We were happy with our condo at the Liki Tiki Resort, down on Route 192. The name sounds awful but they had a pool with waterslides, spray fountains, a zero entry pool and a separate baby pool, a beach snack bar with pizza, chicken, frozen drinks, pedalboats, surrey bikes, basketball and tennis courts, a sandy playground, and two other pool complexes with hot tubs. Great value and nice interior.

We have always stayed at the Bay Lake Villas or Contemporary so we load up the stroller and walk right in the gates when they open. We head right out to Fantasyland and ride the popular rides while everyone else is getting into the park. Of course if Snow White or one of the characters is scheduled for a meet and greet on Main Street we stop for that if we are early in line. Do make reservations for a character breakfast. We enjoy the one at the Contemporary. When the park gets crowded go back for a swim and a nap and go back in the afternoon. The Disney map makes it easy.

We arrived around noon and stayed until after the fireworks, even with the castle dinner we were able to go on every ride that our 5 and 3 year olds could handle - except we skipped the rockets, which is just like the magic caropets and dumbo. Pirates of the Caribbean was a bit scary for them (dark, skeletons, stormy lightning, town burning)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it were me, I'd rather do another Disney park than Legoland. Go to AK or do 2 days at MK. Legoland isn't quite worth it yet to visit. Esp. since you are staying at SOG, why drive any further than you have to.

Legoland Florida doesn't open until sometime in May.

I have friends that went in February, so it's definitely open.

Anonymous wrote:If it were me, I'd rather do another Disney park than Legoland. Go to AK or do 2 days at MK. Legoland isn't quite worth it yet to visit. Esp. since you are staying at SOG, why drive any further than you have to.

Legoland Florida doesn't open until sometime in May.

Anonymous wrote:We are going for the first time in 2 weeks with our 3 and 5 year olds, and we have used the Unofficial Guide and touringplans.com to plan. Touringplans.com has specific itineraries for families with small children (minimizes backtracking, walking, etc). You can also create your own touring plan by choosing the things you want to do/see (e.g., choosing only the attractions your 3 year old is tall enough for or would be interested in), choosing your arrival and departure times, plugging in your dining reservations and times, and it will optimize an itinerary for you. Our general plan is to be at the park at rope drop, stay through lunch, then go back to the room for naps/pool time, then head back in the evenings for dinner.

This is what we plan to do as well. We are not marathon theme parkers. I don't expect to do everything. I just want to arrive early and do as much as we can before lunch.

Anonymous wrote:If it were me, I'd rather do another Disney park than Legoland. Go to AK or do 2 days at MK. Legoland isn't quite worth it yet to visit. Esp. since you are staying at SOG, why drive any further than you have to.

I'm the OP. We are not staying at the SOG. There is another poster who is responding to the questions.

3yo DS is obsessed with legos.

Agree - head to Dumbo & Great Goofini, then double back to the carousel or swing over to Tomorrowland.

BTW the lines at the Magic Kingdom to buy one-day tickets were really short, almost non-existent. We paid a small service fee to get them at our hotel desk, but we really didn't have to. The service desk lady even said as much, but we didn't want to wait in any more lines than necessary.
Lines for the rides were about 20 minutes, or usually half of whatever the posted time said. We didn't need fast passes because we were only doing the kiddie rides, but the line at the race cars was really long and HOT. The average ride lasts only 1 minute and 30 seconds! There is a lot of waiting.

p.s. I agree, head straight for Fantasy land and the Dumbo ride. The unofficial guide can explain WHY Dumbo should be first.

1. Get the Unofficial Guide, the current one. It is absolutely worth it and is updated annually. Updates are necessary. For example, Mickey's toon town in gone. There were building something in its place when we were there last year. I cannot tell you if its been completed.

2. allears.net and other sites offer discount tickets. The Unoffical Guide will help you find the best places. I don't recall.

3. Get there BEFORE they open. Even if you are staying off property, getting there before for the opening offers two things: great access to rides and a show before going in.

4. If you are off property, go at opening to your chosen park on a day that does not have Extra Magic Hours for the peopel staying on property. We have been on property and off at peak season, and going to a park from off property on a day without extra magic hours is just as good as going from on property on a day when there is extra magic hours.

5. If you have a little girl and can't get into the castle for a meal with Cinderella, try to go to dinner with her at the Grand Floridian. It is a good option and doesn't cost you time in the park or a park admission. We went on the day we arrived and didn't go to a park that day. It was perfect.

6. I agree with a little one, skip Animal Kingdom. The only reason to go the Epcot is if you can get to the princess lunch or if Pixie Hollow is still there. They moved the fairies to Epcot when they closed Toontown. I do not know if they are still at Epcot.

7. Don't get a Park Hopper unless you need to hop. We got it and only hopped one day. It's hard to hop with the little ones.

8. Don't get the meal plan for feeding the three year old unless it's free. It offers way too much food for a young one that age.

9. The nightime show at Hollywood Studios is fantastic. Only go if you must see HS, though. The rest of the park isn't great for the little ones. It's a great late start day, although you might miss the Toy Story ride because it runs out of fast passes quickly. You could always wait in the line, but that's hard for the little ones. The Toy Story ride at MK is just as good and much easier to access.

Good luck, enjoy, and get the Unofficial Guide and the waiting line apps. They will save your sanity.

Sun lotion, hats, walking shoes, daypack with change of clothes and space for trinkets. It was HOT last week (91 degrees.)

We did Sunday night & Monday night at a kid friendly off site resort, got a 2 BR condo plus a fun pool for under $120/night. The rest of our week, we headed to a Florida beach hotel.
Monday morning, breakfast in our room, got our one-day Magic Kingdom passes at the hotel service desk ($87-93 pp). Parked at Magic Kingdom for $14, took the tram, spent the day, carried exhausted kids home on the ferry to the parking lot.
We planned our trip around late afternoon dinner reservations at the Cinderella castle, so we had a goal, an air conditioned break, and a pretty big meal that counted as lunch and dinner.
We didn't do the other parks. Our 3 year old was too little to ride on the bigger, scary rides or enjoy the science displays and is still kind of scared of large animals (nix Animal Kingdom.) Maybe next time!
Plan to stay until the 10 pm fireworks, it is spectacular. We found the Magic Carpet ride in Adventureland was a nice night time ride with a great view of the park, the kids wanted to ride it again and again.
Another goal might be to hit the Yacht Club/Boardwalk area for dinner/ice cream before the 9 pm fireworks at Epcot. That way you can watch the fireworks over the water even if you don't go inside that park.