Besides the oft-repeated advice to has to the DIS boards, you need to figure out your families' traveling style.

I have 2 boys, and we've done both Disney World and Disneyland (a year apart). Of the six different parks, we all loved California Adventure the best. Carsland is amazing, and there were lots of rides we all liked, along with more adventure rides as well.

For both parks, we stayed off site. At DW, we drove everyday and had a 2 bed condo that was great. With the car you can come and go as needed - which was really nice at night after the fireworks, when the lines for the resort buses were really long we just walked to our car and left. And you only need to pay once each day.

But we are the type of family that likes some downtime each day, and don't need to spend sunup to sundown at the parks. So we liked being able to "get away" for a bit.

Got back about two weeks ago from 3 nights at Pop Century, 3 nights at Cabana Bay (Universal) and 7 nights at Wyndham Bonnet Creek. I had been working on the trip on and off since gifted the Bonnet Creek week from my parents, who own there. I have now gone to WDW at Christmas, Spring Break and 4th of July. I would love to go when it is not crowded, but I can't seem to swing that.

I really recommend the Unofficial Guide To Disney World. I have used it to plan all my trips, and this time, used the app (touringplans.com) too. If you pay to sign up at touringplans.com, you get a break on the book.

You need to plan way ahead for dining reservations, and we stayed on property to we could take advantage of the Fastpass+ system 60 days in advance, rather than the 30 days if you are staying off property. I had a kid that needed to see Anna and Elsa.

BTW, my recent experience tells me that if you want to do a meet and greet of a character, and that particular venue has Fastpass+ access, try to get a fastpass, because the line for the non-fastpass standbys is not fast, especially if it is short!

My greatest advice, no matter what, is go to the park as early in the day as you are allowed. If you are not staying on property, do not go to the park with extra magic hours. Park Hopper is not worth the money. By your tickets from an authorized retailer - check mousesavers for discounts on both hotel (on-site) and tix. I have a ton of other thoughts on the subject, but no time to really write.

We went in late April/early May after the spring break rush had died down but before it got into the high 90s. Stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, which was an easy bus ride and not nearly as expensive as the monorail properties. Do you have a boy or girl? We ended up with an upgrade to one of the Royal Rooms and DD went nuts over the princess-styling and fireworks displays on the headboards of the beds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We will be driving from west palm and staying 3 nights. Will the contemporary give us the most access to the parks? We are taking a 5 year old.

Not sure what you mean by access, but yes, the Contemporary gives you the most flexibility. Being able to walk back to the Contemporary from the Magic Kingdom is golden.

Most access IF you mainly care about the Magic Kingdom (which most parents of young kids do). If you are going to Epcot and the Studios a lot, then the Boardwalk area is a lot more convenient as you can walk to both of those parks, and take buses to the other two. At the Contemporary you'll be taking buses to 3 of the 4 parks (or the monorail with a connection to get to Epcot, but Disney has a lot of monorail work coming up, so I wouldn't bet on it being available at all hours depending on when you go). But for MK? Contemporary is awesome.

best blog, hands down for planning: http://www.easywdw.com/

Josh provides free crowd calendars, which helps to plan which parks to do on which dates. Also, there are a ton of picture-heavy posts on what's new, great restaurant reviews, resort reviews, etc.

I would plan to go sometime between September and February. The heat and humidity really take a toll on enjoying WDW.