Anonymous wrote:OP here again. We work full-time and will be taking the week of spring break off because the school is closed. The only times we would be able to go are during the summer, spring break or christmas break. I guess we will be screwed as far as the overcrowding. I appreciate all the links and will be doing some more research. If I can't pull it off for spring break, I will try for the summer where we can have a longer vacation.

Try for summer and book now. Dining can be booked 180 days in advance and many of the popular restaurants do book up that far in advance. You could g this spring break and have a fine time, but getting to do some of the meals and character dining might be hit or miss, require many many repeat calls to disney dining and might end up in disappointment not getting what you want.

Book a summer trip ASAP and book dining ASAP (you can always cancel if you change plans, better to have reservations than not IMO.) in the summer you can also do the water parks so consider an extra day for that in your plans as kids seem to love them.

a little off topic but wanted to share stats on spring break crowds

http://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/08/14/disney-world-crowds-spring-break-2014/

I'd say 4-5 days? 3-4 days at some parks and a day to chill at the resort or go do a wildlife tour.
Depends on what you like to do. We did a long week in Florida but we wanted to save money and spend some time at the beach as well. So we did a trip where we only spent two nights in Orlando, one full day at the Magic Kingdom with a Cinderella castle dinner was plenty of $$ for us, nearly $200 apiece for one day. The kids were 3 and 5, I feel like we can wait another year of two to do the parks with "big kid" rides. Next time we might do 3 days and do Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood. For many of the giant waterslides and rollercoasters they are still too little.

We stayed at Liki Tiki, which has a great waterslide pool for kids that age and is running a deal right now, we liked that they have full townhouse-type units with full kitchen, extra bedroom, washer dryer etc. Once the kids get older their smaller waterslides might seem tame but they were perfect for ages 4 and 6.
We spent the balance of our trip at Amelia Island (check out the Omni there, it is nice, they have a kid camp and sometimes they have an inflatable slip-n-slide at the beach!)
I would also look at the Hilton or Wyndham Bonnet Creek, and the Disney Beach Club or Yacht Club villas, again because of the pools.
One thing that is nice about Orlando is that you can find good deals on nice resorts with pools and gardens where you could easily kill a whole day. Similar resorts in other parts of Florida will cost a good deal more i.e. Hyatt Coconut Plantation, Marco island Marriott etc.

Anonymous wrote:Not the OP, but is it worth it just to go for a long weekend trip? DD isn't a Disney princess type of kid but based on conversations in other threads, we sometimes wonder if we should take her to Disney at some point just to check the block on this experience.

She doesn't eat, sleep and breathe Cinderella so I don't think we would need days and days. Is a day or two enough to get a sense of the fun of Magic Kingdom?

You need 4 days, minimum. 1 for each park.

If you plan on going over a week that is a slow time, that's plenty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here--thank you everyone for the helpful advice. I didn't realize Disney had so many different parks. I just assumed it would be one thing. We are planning on going during spring break.

This spring break???

You might be a little late to the game if you are just starting to plan now...

OP needs to cancel this trip and go somewhere pleasant with a beach for spring break. She needs to buy a book about Disney World, like the Unofficial Guide or Frommers or Passporter, and then plan her trip with more than 8 weeks lead time. Otherwise, it's going to suck and she's going to come back hating Disney.

Why on earth would anyone go to Disney over spring break? It's a completely miserable experience.

I love Disney, but we don't go over Christmas, New Year's, Easter, Spring Break or 4th of July. Never. If those were the only times I could go, we wouldn't go.

Listen, I am a go with the flow vacationer. Oh, whatever, we'll get up late and relax and hang out and whatever happens happens.

EXCEPT AT DISNEY. Unless you don't mind wasting hundreds and possible thousands of dollars, do not go to Disney unprepared. Most importantly, do not go at Spring break unprepared.

Yes, you can go and still have fun, but you will be spending top dollar and spending A LOT of your time in lines, or once sick of the lines, spending a lot of time in the hotel pool just to get away from it all. You could fly to Florida and hang out at any pool for far, far less than you will spend on Disney.

Crowds bug me. A lot. So understand that is where my advice is coming from. Get online and get researching. Decide what matters to you and plan, plan plan. I really recommend a subscription service like Tourguide Mike.

Not the OP, but is it worth it just to go for a long weekend trip? DD isn't a Disney princess type of kid but based on conversations in other threads, we sometimes wonder if we should take her to Disney at some point just to check the block on this experience.

She doesn't eat, sleep and breathe Cinderella so I don't think we would need days and days. Is a day or two enough to get a sense of the fun of Magic Kingdom?

Anonymous wrote:OP here again. We work full-time and will be taking the week of spring break off because the school is closed. The only times we would be able to go are during the summer, spring break or christmas break. I guess we will be screwed as far as the overcrowding. I appreciate all the links and will be doing some more research. If I can't pull it off for spring break, I will try for the summer where we can have a longer vacation.

OP, I would suggest mid or late August. It will be hot. But the crowds are SLIGHTLY better than Spring break and Winter break. Some of the resort prices go down in August (usually the Deluxe resorts), so that is another plus. Spring break and Winter break will have "full" pricing in effect.

Another reason I am suggesting you wait until August - or even next year - is to fully do the research on the parks and the options. Definitely sign up at the WDW website for their email list for announcements on promotions/reduced rates. Figure out if your kids will even want to go to a particular park. Some people have recommended Park Hoppers, others are saying don't get them. You'll have to figure out what makes sense (and cents) for your family. Park Hoppers are not cheap, but CAN work to the benefit of some people.

A lot of people stay on site to get the Extra Magic Hours benefits. I do recommend staying on site, but don't recommend going to those EMH parks during the day. Pick another (non EMH) park and go to that park (or parks) due to lesser crowds.

An average day of WDW includes 5 miles of walking. Be prepared for your patience (with your kids, the other tourists, and even your spouse) to be fully exercised...

I don't recommend the Water parks. I heard they are fun... but really don't think the water parks are the point of going to WDW.

This thread made me curious. I just did a search for on property options the week of April 12th- 19th. There appears to be availability at most of the on site hotels. Similarly, I did a quick character dining search and found plenty of availability. OP- if you want to go I think you will be fine.

In terms of where to stay- I personally like on site, you can save a ton on money offsite. Assuming you are flying down, you can take magical express from the airport and they deliver you right to your hotel- no need for a rental car. Our family enjoys this, others hate the trapped feeling.

Stay on property at one of the ones that does not require a bus.

It is the only way to do Disneyworld.

We just got back too. Older kids, insane crowds. Totally overrated. 2 days max at MK is my recommendation. Skip Epcot, you basically pay to shop.

We just got back. We did the park hopper tickets but really didn't hop. We stayed off-site at a SIGNIFICANT discount and paid for parking for flexibility. As far as FP+ was concerned, we got there first thing (did not go to the parks with the EMH's on those days) and reserved our 3 rides. After that we tried to hit up the other biggies we knew we wanted.

We had a 10 yo and 5 yo. By 2 each day, they were basically finished and just wanted to head back to the pool. We had the car there and were more than happy to accommodate! We did make lunch reservations at the parks and enjoyed those. Dinner was usually at the pool or Downtown Disney (which, again, wasn't that far to get to from our off-site place).

There is really no need to overspend or go crazy at WDW. Just do your own thing and plan to your level. The crazy moms running through the gates to tackle the first FP+ assistant they saw were just ludicrous.

If you absolutely want to go, I'm sure you can still find a room. However, you've missed the boat on discounts for those rooms, it will be very hard to get restaurant/character meal reservations at convenient times/places, and you should get your room and tickets pronto to start booking FP+. Doing Disney as a first-timer during a high crowd season is also going to be rough, but if you enjoy researching this kind of thing you still have plenty of time to read up on touring strategies, figure out what your kids will enjoy most, etc.
(Or there's the "money fixes everything" solution, where you don't care how much you pay for your room and book a vip tour guide so you can skip lines. Not an option for me, but I'm sure it is for some on DCUM!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We just got back on Tuesday. Took my just-turned 7 year-old and just-turned 5 year-old. We did Hollywood Studios from 4-10pm the first night, the next two days at Magic Kingdom (10-6 the first day, 10 - 5 the second day, left to go to dinner at a resort, then back for fireworks and rides until 10:30pm) then Animal Kingdom day 4 from 10-2:30.

I could have used another few hours in AK but we had a flight to catch, and good thing, since the 5 year-old started her meltdown at 2pm on day 4 at AK. I was surprised she lasted that long with the late nights (usually in bed by 8) and all the walking around and excitement. I think four days was plenty. The only exception would be if you were going in the spring/summer and you could leave the parks early to go hang out at your pool each day.

Do not get the Hopper. It will be a waste of your money.

I don't know who in your family is going, but we stayed in the Art of Animation. It is the newest resort, and really wonderful. HUGE pool, plus two (or three?) other pools. The little mermaid standard rooms are small, but the suites there (either Cars, Lion King or Finding Nemo themed) are really nice with mini-kitchenettes, a murphy bed, pull-out couch and separate queen bedroom. We slept six. I would highly recommend those suites. We stayed in a Cars suite and it was awesome.

Do not stay at the All-Star or Pop resorts since the busses go to ALL the resorts to drop off and pick up. Busses go from Art of Animation directly to (and from) each park so you don't have to stop and pick-up (or drop off) others. Huge bonus.

We found getting to parks at 10 was fine.

Yes, but PP you were there at a very low crowd time. OP wants to go during a very high crowd time. It will be a completely different experience.

yes, good point. The longest we had to wait for a ride was 20 minutes. We walked right on to most rides.