disney vacation

RenegadeT

RenegadeT

no shirt,no shoes,no dice
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Mar 24, 2005
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Heading out to disney-orlando end of this month, with the 3 kids (ages 5,4 and 4). Any tips/tricks what to do, where to go, things to avoid? I've never been, and I think its been 25 years since wife has. We've made reservations off-site, should have full kitchen, http://mystic-dunes-resort.com/. We'll be driving our minivan. Plan on getting a Disney park-hopper pass, and also spending at least one day at SeaWorld.
 
do some checking on the :gay: schedule. They invade the park for a week every year in their red shirts. No big deal till your child asks why those two guys are kissing. BTW, disney does not publicly support or acknowledge it, so you won't find it on their schedule.
 
The wife an I went a few years back, We went to the epcot center, I would not suggest it if you have kids with you, Its just more adult friendly than kid friendly. I just know that if I were to go now with my 6 and 3 I wouldn't go to it. The Animal Kingdom one is really nice, I think thats what its called.
 
x2 epcot more suited for kids ~10+ don't forget about the Movie action adventure park place (forgot the name) that's got stuff for all ages.
 
mgm is great and animal kingdom is awesome i went about 2 or 3 yrs ago and still had a blast make sure you take the kids in the big tree in the middle of the park of animal kingdom its a interactive movie and make sure you do the fast pass thing it puts you at the front of the line of rides
 
Just went this past summer with our kids, 9, 7 and almost 2.

First and FOREMOST TIP! Make use of the Speed Pass or whatever they call it. At the entrance to each ride they have machines that you can get a ticket to come back at a certain time to walk right on to the ride. Go to the busiest ride first. i.e. Space Mountain or whatever your poison is. and get the pass. you can only get a pass for one ride at a time (per person).

I found Epcot pretty much sucked to be honest. And if you go to Magic Kingdom, When the Parades are going on is the best time to hit the rides. Everyone goes to watch the parades and the rides are EMPTY! We hit Haunted house and Splash Mountain 3 times each while the evening parade was going on.
 
I went for my first time the week after Thanksgiving. I got the park hopper pass but never actually switched from one park to another. Disneys hollywood studios (old mgm) has a ton of stuff/rides to do, when you get there get a map and you can kinda plan your way around to catch some of the shows. Make sure to see the car stunt show, and the kids will probably like the indiana jones show. The 3d movies are good also. If there is something that you want to buy at the parks they will more than likely have it at downtown disney for a couple bucks less. The Lego store is awesome! Also the house of blues has happy hour from like 2-5 :D
 
avoid the "its a small world" ride. you'll have nightmares about that one.
 
GotWood said:
do some checking on the :gay: schedule. They invade the park for a week every year in their red shirts. No big deal till your child asks why those two guys are kissing. BTW, disney does not publicly support or acknowledge it, so you won't find it on their schedule.
Click to expand...
http://www.gaydays.com/
We got there on the last day so most were cleared out by then.
burrellsjeep said:
The Animal Kingdom one is really nice, I think thats what its called.
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Yeah animal kingdom is the best park there IMO.They have a killer safari ride.
wrangler00 said:
mgm is great and animal kingdom is awesome i went about 2 or 3 yrs ago and still had a blast make sure you take the kids in the big tree in the middle of the park of animal kingdom its a interactive movie and make sure you do the fast pass thing it puts you at the front of the line of rides
Click to expand...
Yeah the tree of life is way cool
mbalbritton said:
Just went this past summer with our kids, 9, 7 and almost 2.
First and FOREMOST TIP! Make use of the Speed Pass or whatever they call it. At the entrance to each ride they have machines that you can get a ticket to come back at a certain time to walk right on to the ride. Go to the busiest ride first. i.e. Space Mountain or whatever your poison is. and get the pass. you can only get a pass for one ride at a time (per person).
Click to expand...
With kids of your's ages they will want to ride Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studio's and it's always packed out. We got there at 11 A.M. ish and they had already given out all the fast passes for the day(we waited in line for over two hours),so you might want to get a pass for it 1st.Other than the admission price they are somewhat reasonable on pricing,well as much as a amusement park can be.We always ate a big breakfast at the condo and then came out to the cars and ate out of the cooler for lunch and then ate out for dinner.
 
Something else,My wife found on the net where you could plan the trip based on what you want to see and then they sent you a map with those rides/attractions outlined on it on it.The website had a description of what each park/attrraction was.
I think it was Disneyworld trip planner or something like that.
 
DON"T go i took my kids 5 years ago and they hated it they stayed in the pool the hole week just spend your money on your rig and take wife out to dinner
 
mbalbritton said:
First and FOREMOST TIP! Make use of the Speed Pass or whatever they call it.
Click to expand...

Ditto... We ID'd the rides we really wanted to ride, got the Fast-Pass (most were 1-1.5 hours out), and then got in the regular lines. We rode the ride and almost immediately got in the Fast lane and rode it again back to back.

My biggest tip... *IF* you don't already a stroller/buggy that'll hold ALL of them, make plans to rent one because they'll be worn slap out by noon... your back will thank you for NOT having to drag/carry them all! The Disney strollers are kinda heavy, but beefy enough my wife & I took turns riding in/pushing it when Josh was on a sugar buzz & walking under his own power! :lol:

Also, if your kids are big "drinkers" (constantly thirsty + the heat) pony up for the "All day" drink containers... just 1 if they'll share. A lesser evil than paying $3.50/Dixie Cup size drink every time the holler...
 
We went last January.
First tip AT THEIR AGE DO NOT TAKE THE KIDS ON STITCH'S BIG ADVENTURE at Magic Kingdom. It seriously traumatize my daughter....a year later when anyone asks about Disney she trembles annd cries because of that one ride. It is funny scary to older kids, but at 4 she was terrified. When she screamed Daddy save me, I ripped the harness/hold down arm apart and picked her up. you have been warned.

We bought a meal package and stayed on campus, which is not an option for you at this point. But I highly recommend it.

Epcot is good only for dinner meals, IMHO.

Magic Kingdom is an all day deal as is Animal Kingdom, those 2 are the highlights IMHO.
the Killamaja (sp?) Safari at AK is not to be missed.
 
Thanks for the tips, we're getting pretty stoked for this trip.
Looks like Gay Days is in the summer, we should be good there.
We've been watching some videos from the Disney site. Kids already requested Animal Kingdom safari and the Toy Story ride, as mentioned in previous posts. Also the Stunt show at the movie park seemed like it will be a big hit. We're thinking about skipping Epcot. Maybe 2 days at Magic Kingdom, one at Animal Kingdom, one at the movie park, one at Seaworld, one downtown and hit the Lego land.
We have a double stroller still leftover, probably try and borrow a neighbors jogging stroller for the 5 year old. He's 45" tall, the twins are just under 40", I've been meaning to gauge which rides they'll be able to fit on.
One thing we're wondering is how to deal with an odd number of kids...there's 3 of them, only 2 of us.
 
RenegadeT said:
Thanks for the tips, we're getting pretty stoked for this trip.
Looks like Gay Days is in the summer, we should be good there.
We've been watching some videos from the Disney site. Kids already requested Animal Kingdom safari and the Toy Story ride, as mentioned in previous posts. Also the Stunt show at the movie park seemed like it will be a big hit. We're thinking about skipping Epcot. Maybe 2 days at Magic Kingdom, one at Animal Kingdom, one at the movie park, one at Seaworld, one downtown and hit the Lego land.
We have a double stroller still leftover, probably try and borrow a neighbors jogging stroller for the 5 year old. He's 45" tall, the twins are just under 40", I've been meaning to gauge which rides they'll be able to fit on.
One thing we're wondering is how to deal with an odd number of kids...there's 3 of them, only 2 of us.
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Leave one at home............:lol:


Sounds like a fun trip, Skiping Epcot is a good idea, Good luck, We have two sons, sorry not much help.
 
I was given this advice. I have not tried it, so I don't know how it works. As others have said, Epcot is not good for youngsters. But, that is the park you want to be in if your kids want to meet the Disney characters. The characters are at Epcot, but most of the folks at Epcot are older and not that interested in meeting the characters. At magic kingdom, those lines can be 2 hours long.

Oh, and it rains everyday at 4:00 pm. Have an umbrella.
 
@rockcity
Last trip was pretty cool, I shouldve posted here what I learned. I think we got a 2-day sea world pass for the price of one day, then 5 day disney pass, and hit one park each day...sea world, Hollywood studios, magic kingdom, animal kingdom, magic kingdom, sea world, Hollywood studios. We bought the tix at the beginning of the week, and had an extra day. That worked out ok because there was a major snowstorm here, everyone said NC Was closed, so we just stayed in the sunshine state for an extra day.

Sea world- despite what the website says, you can bring your own food in. We (adults) too keen on going back for a second day, bu the kids were. I broke off for a few hours and rode the roller coasters solo.
Animal kingdom- bring ponchos for the river Rapids ride. You never know who's gonna get wet on that ride. I stayed dry, wife got drenched.
Our kids loved the toy story rides at both magic kingdom and Hollywood, so our second day we Bee-lined directly to them first thing in the morning. No significant lines, even grabbed fast passes at Hollywood for later.

I can't stress how much he strollers helped. Our 5 yr old barely fit and I'm sure he looked dumb in the stroller, but we passed numerous other families with kids having meltdowns, etc. wife just told me there was a lot of unhappiness there at Disney lol.

We're heading back in February, kids are now 8, 8, and 10. Got one daredevil girl @52" tall gonna ride whatever roller coasters they'll let us on. The 2 boys aren't interested in thrill rides. Planning on 4 disney days (Epcot, magic kingdom, animal kingdom, and Hollywood studios) then 2 days at universal, in no particular order. Kids are way onto Harry potter, so universal is a must see. Any advice here?
We are gonna drive down on a Saturday, stay one night in a hotel, then hit universal, and meet up with the sister inlaw and family at their timeshare Sunday evening.
 
Ive been 3 times now.
Mouse savers is a great website

Also here is a weird "pro tip" at MK be there before it opens and go left.

Youc an hit shit 203 timex with no line, everyone goes right or straight past the castle.
 
Ron said:
Also here is a weird "pro tip" at MK be there before it opens and go left.
Click to expand...

I wonder if it's the opposite in Euro Disney.
Seriously though, this works which surprised me. As often as I'd seen it online before we went, I figured everyone knew and it wouldn't still be true.
 
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