New and feeling overwhelmed!

mrsjclarke

Earning My Ears
Joined
Jun 30, 2017
Hi guy's,

We have just booked out very first Disney holiday we are going in October 7 nights in Disney followed by a 3 night Disney Cruise.

It will be my daughters 10th birthday when we go (we are a family of 6 however the oldest daughter is not joining us) there will be my other daughter who is 12yrs and then my baby who will be 1yr

I didn't realise until after the booking that it will be all themed as halloween I'm hoping it won't be too scary.

Does anyone have any experience with the Cruise's?

There is so much to plan and organise i feel like I'm losing the will to live, its exciting but so demanding.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Jen
 
Check out the disney cruise line boards further down the page. Lots of great info on cruising with disney.
The service on disney cruise line is outstanding!
The parks are nicely decorated for fun photos at Halloween time.
Try not to stress about vacation! We go with a loose plan and go with the flow.
 
Thank you! I could not find the Cruise forum I will have another look for it now.

We have also booked to go back to Disney next year staying in the Grand Floridian. We thought that this could be a short taster of the parks so that when we go for the main holiday we will have a good feel for the parks.

Although it is very daunting all the planning I have to say I am so excited I feel like one of the kids :)
 
Thank you! I could not find the Cruise forum I will have another look for it now.

We have also booked to go back to Disney next year staying in the Grand Floridian. We thought that this could be a short taster of the parks so that when we go for the main holiday we will have a good feel for the parks.

Although it is very daunting all the planning I have to say I am so excited I feel like one of the kids :)

It can be overwhelming. However, your average theme park goer is not planning like the people on these boards and they...well most of them ;) are having fun! Plan which days you'll go to which park, most of your meals, and your FP selections at your 60 day mark. Those are the most important things...and even when you're there, if something doesn't work, you can always modify an ADR or FP.

When we started going we had our meals planned and that was IT, (before FP+). We always had so much fun we'd come back and book the next trip.

Imo, one of the biggest challenges to a newbie is really not understanding the size of WDW, where things are...how far away or close point a and b are. This makes touring less effective, leads to more walking (and there is already plenty of it), etc...

Anyway, alot of that just boils down to experience, being familiar with the parks (and resorts).

Well...in a long winded, drawn out kind of way, just trying to say...do the basics and don't stress out too much. Have fun, hope you all enjoy your trip!
 


Welcome!!!

Know that this whole process is only as intimidating as you choose to make it. Once you get beyond the basics, there are a bazillion things you CAN choose to plan--- but you can have a wonderful time without planning any of those things.

But here are the basics I WOULD suggest you look at:
1. Resort. My guess is that this is already covered.

2. Meal plan or not. Although many people here would argue otherwise, we always get the meal plan; the one time we didn't we regretted it. Know that food at WDW is expensive!! I love having it all prepaid.

3. ADRs-- Advance Dining Reservations. You'll want these if you're planning any table service meals. You have 10 and 12 year old daughters, so you'll probably want some princess meals. Here are my suggestions on that front:
- Be Our Guest dinner (In the Magic Kingdom.) Eat in the Beast's castle, then get photos with him on the way out.ADRs can be tricky to get, so get on this right away!
- 1900 Park Fare dinner. (At the Grand Floridian, on the monorail loop from the Magic Kingdom.) Cinderella and the prince dance, the stepsisters and step mom look on unhappily and bicker about who is prettiest. A total hoot. Dinner is a buffet-- something for everyone.
- Breakfast at Aukerhaus (Norway in Epcot) Five or 6 princesses go table to table for photos and autographs. We chose breakfast when the kids were young, since it was all familiar foods.
- For non-princess meals, we love Chef Mickey's (walkable from the Magic Kingdom or take the monorail)-- it's always our first dinner. Tusker House in Animal Kingdom-- we do a breakfast. The buffet is good and the characters are there.

4. Fastpasses. We tend to get to the parks when they open (Rope Drop) and tour like crazy in the morning when the parks aren't crowded. Then we plan FPs for around lunchtime.
 
Wow thank you so much guys.

It is so much to take in. We have the dining plan but unsure as so how that will work i guess we will figure it out when we are there.

Also I keep hearing about Fast Passes i Just hope i can utilise them well.

Alice, thank you for your info on the ADR's i never knew about these and they all sound right up our street! how do i book them?

This October we are staying in the Pop Century Resort followed by a disney cruise, we have booked again for next April for 2 weeks in the Floridian I was kind of hoping that this year will 7 days in the parks so that we get a feel for them when we return next year.
 
Do you have the My Disney Experience app? https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/my-disney-experience/?CMP=KNC-FY17_WDW_TRA_DOM_WDWResortOffers_MDX-MOD|BR|G|4171070.RR.AM.01.03|&keyword_id=kwd-81612744808|dc|my +disney experience app|165970637160|b|5060:3|&s_kwcid=AL!5060!3!165970637160!b!!!!my +disney experience app&ef_id=VAR1AAAAAapSd-aH:20170704141245:s Its probably the easiest thing, since all your plans can go through that one app.

If you're not in the mood to deal with all that, you can book the dining now and worry about the rest later.https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/#/reservations-accepted

Disney dining opens up 6 months before your trip, so you may not be able to get everything you want. No worries-- it gives you some things to anticipate on your next trip!

Since you're on the dining plan, you'll want to book one table service meal per day. there are a million threads on the best/worst restaurants on the dining forum. It makes so much sense to book ADRs ahead of time-- otherwise you may find your options limited to off hours.

Also, October is the Food and Wine festival. I've never been there for it, but look into it. You may love it-- or you may choose to somehow work around it.

For what it's worth, these are the ADRs we had last summer:

Chef Mickey's Fun Time Buffet Dinner at Chef Mickey's (Magic Kingdom)
Donald's Dining Safari Breakfast at Tusker House Restaurant (Animal Kingdom)
Coral Reef Restaurant Dinner(Epcot)
Cape May Cafe Dinner (walkable from Epcot--5-10 minute walk)
A Buffet with Character Breakfast at The Crystal Palace (Magic Kingdom)
Time:
8:00 am--we got into the MK before opening-- sooo cool to get pictures before the crowds
Le Cellier Steakhouse Dinner --Epcot. We love this but it counts as 2 meals on the DDP. For your first trip, I would suggest a one-meal option

Be Our Guest Dinner

We also love 1900 Park Fare, Sci Fi Diner (in Hollywood Studios). Take a look at 'Ohana (in the Polynesian, on the Magic Kingdom monorail loop) and the various restaurants in the World Showcase in Epcot... we keep meaning to get to Biergarten in particular.

-
 
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Disney Halloween decor is on the cute side, no creepy :hmghost:

Do plan at least one character meal before you head there, reservations are a must for Disney character dining, you will not be able to walk in and get a table for 6
 
Wow Thank you so much Alice!

I now have an idea of what the Dining plan means I will try and get booking! Thank you so much.

Glad to hear that Halloween will be on the cute side Daniel!
 
One Question Alice, are the restaurants near everything or do you need to get transport?

I just tried to book a the be our guest restaurant however it won't let me, we do in October 4 months time should I call them or has the time changed for how far in advance you can book?
 
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It's probably a matter of them already being booked up. I would choose an alternate, and keep trying for BOG to see whether something opens up. Worse case, you go there next trip.

Some of the restaurants are right IN the parks. (Of the ones I named: BOG & Crystal Palace are in the Magic Kingdom
Coral Reef, Aukerhaus, Le Cellier and Biergarten are in Epcot
Tusker House is in Animal Kingdom
Sci Fi is in Hollywood Studios

The rest are either walkable (Cape May, and Chef Mickeys, each less than 10 minutes walk from the theme park I listed) or you can get there via monorail.(1900 Park Fare, 'Ohana)

From the time we land at at MCO until the time we arrive back, we rely on Disney transportation the whole time-- we don't rent a car, we don't get a cab.

Disney's pretty smart as far as making it very easy to stay on Disney property the whole time-- their transportation system is great!
 
Well the newbie just found out that she is too late to book the 'be our guest' restaurant they are fully booked of the week we are in Disney in October, they told me they have started taking booking for Jan!!!

I am just hoping there will be other restaurants that we can actually get a reservation for :(

I need to be on my game for booking it in April! :)

good to hear about the transportation as we are not hiring a car on both trips, is it easy to get to harry potter world even though its not Disney? is transportation to universal still easy?
 
I can't help with Universal; I'm a tried and true Disney gal. Try starting a thread on either the transportation or the Universal boards.

As to the rest of your ADRs: Be Our Guest is one of relatively new, absolutely hot restaurants in Disney World. We always book for the last night of our stay, just so that fewer people will have had access to those dates for ADRs. Everything else I've named, and the vast majority of restaurants in general, should be much less competitive. That said, this is something I would attend to in the near future.

ADR booking windows open 180 days before your trip begins. If you want a "tough" ADR, you'll want to make them on that day. You can google and find what day is the 180 day mark for your trip.

So take a look at the restaurants, pick 7 that strike your fancy, and start booking. You can certainly change your mind if you come across something that sounds better, but you will want to have those ADRs in hand if you're on the meal plan. There are lots of great choices; the Dining forum can help you with suggestions.
 
Thank you Alice, you have been such a massive help to me. I never knew about this whole dining thing I knew I would miss something thank god for this forum!
 
You're so welcome!! We can't swing a trip this year and next year is far from certain with tuition bills. So at least I can vacation vicariously through others!
 
Something else I should have mentioned: Do you have parkhoppers?

IF not, booking a meal in a particular park pretty much means that's the park of the day. So, for example, if you book a Tusker House breakfast for Tuesday, then Tuesday is your Animal Kingdom Day.

With parkhoppers, you could book that same breakfast Tuesday, spend the morning and early afternoon at AK, then go to say, Epcot for a counter service dinner. That's pretty much how we operate, but we go over the summer when the hours are much longer than in October. (But then again, the crowds are, from what I've heard, much worse.) We book parkhoppers as part of the price of the trip, but lots and lots and lots of people simply do one park per day.

If you are considering parkhoppers, know that you can always choose them as an add-on at any point in your trip. The price won't change-- I think it's ballpark $50 per person-- regardless of how many days you have access to the parkhopper.

Bottom line: if you're not planning to get parkhoppers, make sure that your meals give you the distribution of parks that you want. (For us, that means one day at AK, one at Hollywood Studios, and the rest pretty much split between Epcot and the Magic Kingdom.) The resort meals don't bring the same restrictions, though they do tend to be much closer to one park than another.

Confused yet?
 
oh my gosh! to much information for my little brain :)

but it all makes sense...who bloody knew!! I didn't even think that where you are going to eat will be where you spend your day!

where do i get park hoppers from?

Also can i run something past you....

I now have the disney experience website with our booking for this year on it so that i can book restaurants for October but how would i book them for April next year when the time comes as my other booking is not showing on the website and the 180 day make will be on 9th October well we still won't be on the first holiday yet. Really need to make sure i get bookings for the popular restaurants :)
 
Deep breaths. You've got the basics covered-- you have a place to stay, you have park tickets (right?) and you're looking into dining. You're all set for a fabulous vacation!!!!

I'm not sure why your second booking isn't there-- I would contact the HELP people on the app and ask. Or maybe start a thread here first, asking.

As far as parkhoppers, you can upgrade now, or when you get to the parks. I'm not sure of the procedure, but I KNOW It's easy.

For dining, don't sweat the "Popular" restaurants. Take a look at what looks good for YOUR family. I've listed the ones that my family likes-- you'll find reviews on every one of them that says they're to be avoided. And the ONE restaurant I'll never return to at WDW is one that is very highly regarded. They're just other people's opinions-- no more or less valid than yours.

When your Oct date rolls around, make your best guess at ADRs. If you choose to change them after your first trip, that's easy enough to do. It's only a meal-- and Disney has sooo many wonderful choices. If you don't get your first choice, you simply move on to your second.

I apologize... I didn't mean to make you crazy with new stuff. You'll have a wonderful vacation- two of them-- and your family will be so thankful for all the hard work you're doing to ensure it. My concern was just that you choose ADRs in a variety of parks in the event that you're not planning on parkhoppers.
 
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It sounds like Park Hoppers is the way for me to go, no honestly thank you so much before i spoke to you i was just going to rock up on the day and expect to be seating i would have been very disappoint!

It is just a lot to take in, it must be all worth it though otherwise people would not return!! :)
 

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