We enjoy the park hopper tickets this time of year. It is easy to take the monorail over to Epcot from MK to enjoy the different food booths. We also enjoy eating in the restaurants at Epcot.

OP here -- Thank you, thank you for great ideas!

Bring your own water bottles, hats & sunglasses, a daypack with a change of kid clothes, princess costume from home if you have a girl. If you are going to a character meal or Cinderella Castle meal, make reservations NOW.
We did a late lunch/early dinner at the Cinderella Castle, it was a nice sit down, air conditioned break from all the walking and the food was better than what we saw at most of the other places we walked by. Plus since it was a late lunch early dinner, we didn't feel as guilty about getting an ice cream or churro or other typical theme park snack to fill our tummys in the meantime.
We told the kids we would only buy ONE souvenir at the END of the day with their own money , which saved us having to lug around a heavy Rapunzel piggy bank and other junk for hours. They ended buying one of the light-up LED balloons - there are ladies who wheel out these carts full of flashing LED stuff you can buy as soon as the sun goes down and the light show/fireworks start. $15 for a balloon.

What we did was just spend one wonderful day at Walt Disney World, and spent the rest of our trip at the beach! We picked a nice condo style hotel with a fun pool for the kids to spend two nights and didn't even open up the possibility of visiting the other parks. Kids were too young to really enjoy big scary rides.
In our case we went to Amelia Island which was nice because we were driving so we started from further north.
We have friends in Sarasota so I figure we'll be back anyhow.

Anonymous wrote:We are gearing up to go with our 4 kids, ages 8,6,4,2. We're renting a double stroller from Magic Strollers, ordering groceries to be delivered to resort, and mapping out which parks we go to on which days so we can grab a few Fast Pass reservations. All plans subject to change!

We're bringing ponchos, sun hats, sunscreen, a soft collapsible cooler for drinks and tons of snack.

Finally, we are viewing this as a TRIP, not a VACATION. (Note that our grocery order included beer for end of evening. We'll need it!)

Bring something to cover the stroller too. An extra poncho. But, our stroller got wet a few times as we did not cover it and it was no big deal. You can make your fast passes as you go except for a few rides so do not feel pressured to map out everything as it is hard to keep that schedule with lines, bathroom breaks.

Avoid the time-share sellers. They offer a free ride to the condo place and discounted Disney World tickets but if you sit and listen to their spiel, when it comes time
to get a ride back you have to pay for it yourself.

Ugh.

Give yourself a day to spend at the hotel. We were so busy at the park we only spend like 2 hours at the hotel resort's pool. Wished we had more time to unwind and let the kids enjoy the water slide and walk around the grounds a bit.l (stayed in the French Quarter which was really nice, but felt like we just used it to sleep so might as well just stayed at a holiday inn).

We are gearing up to go with our 4 kids, ages 8,6,4,2. We're renting a double stroller from Magic Strollers, ordering groceries to be delivered to resort, and mapping out which parks we go to on which days so we can grab a few Fast Pass reservations. All plans subject to change!

We're bringing ponchos, sun hats, sunscreen, a soft collapsible cooler for drinks and tons of snack.

Finally, we are viewing this as a TRIP, not a VACATION. (Note that our grocery order included beer for end of evening. We'll need it!)

Anonymous wrote:Re: strollers for a PP (not OP with older kids), there are dozens of companies in Orlando that rent strollers. Unless you're going for a very very short trip, those rentals will be cheaper than renting from Disney, and definitely more comfortable/usable. The Disney strollers are all hard plastic with no recline and very few niceties, whereas the rental companies typically have a fleet of City Minis (single and double). Some have bigger/fancier stroller models available also.
If you're staying on Disney property, rent from one of the stroller vendors approved to drop off/pick up the stroller from your hotel without your being physically present to sign for it: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/stroller-rentals/ (see "Disney Featured Providers"). I have used Orlando Stroller Rentals - no complaints. They are one of the companies with a wider selection of strollers.
If you're off-site (or don't mind having to be there at delivery and at pickup), you have more options. I particularly recommend Baby Wheels Orlando.

For a couple of days, I agree with this but you may be better off buying an umbrella stroller and leaving it there- offering it to another family when you are leaving (we did that with extra water and a few things). We brought our jogger. We had a huge duffle bag and it was no problem (but you have to be careful with the car rental size for luggage and the stroller).

Anonymous wrote:Get your kids a notebook for autographs before you go. Have sharpies with you. You do not need the $15 notebook and pen that they sell. Get glow sticks etc at dollar store so you do not have to buy their over priced ones. Take snacks and water with you.

The small ones were only $8 (they were nicer than the ones at Walmart for less). We used a regular pen and a thicker pen would have been better as it is hard for some of the characters to hold them. Agree with the glow sticks but my kid didn't care about them. If anything get one of the spinner toys that makes lights. Those were 3 times as much (we brought ours from home).

Anonymous wrote:Get your kids a notebook for autographs before you go. Have sharpies with you. You do not need the $15 notebook and pen that they sell. Get glow sticks etc at dollar store so you do not have to buy their over priced ones. Take snacks and water with you.

Yes to all of this. Some people assume Disney bans outside food to boost their own sales, but that's not at all true. Other than alcohol and glass containers, you can bring in anything you want, without any need to hide it or justify it based on health concerns.

Re: strollers for a PP (not OP with older kids), there are dozens of companies in Orlando that rent strollers. Unless you're going for a very very short trip, those rentals will be cheaper than renting from Disney, and definitely more comfortable/usable. The Disney strollers are all hard plastic with no recline and very few niceties, whereas the rental companies typically have a fleet of City Minis (single and double). Some have bigger/fancier stroller models available also.
If you're staying on Disney property, rent from one of the stroller vendors approved to drop off/pick up the stroller from your hotel without your being physically present to sign for it: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/stroller-rentals/ (see "Disney Featured Providers"). I have used Orlando Stroller Rentals - no complaints. They are one of the companies with a wider selection of strollers.
If you're off-site (or don't mind having to be there at delivery and at pickup), you have more options. I particularly recommend Baby Wheels Orlando.

Anonymous wrote:Get your kids a notebook for autographs before you go. Have sharpies with you. You do not need the $15 notebook and pen that they sell. Get glow sticks etc at dollar store so you do not have to buy their over priced ones. Take snacks and water with you.

+1 I had no idea about the autograph books, until we were in the Akershus line. So we bought a very nice very expensive one in the gift shop across the Norway way.

Lower your expectations, and let the kids decide what to do. We've been twice - once to DW and once to DL, and it's amazing what things they remember and enjoyed.

Also, we tried to all wear matching colored/themed shirts, in case we got separated. We didn't plan it originally, but then realized how helpful it was!

Get your kids a notebook for autographs before you go. Have sharpies with you. You do not need the $15 notebook and pen that they sell. Get glow sticks etc at dollar store so you do not have to buy their over priced ones. Take snacks and water with you.