Sorry.
My daughters will be 10 and (almost) 5 in October.
I’m planning on driving from Raleigh, NC because I don’t want to subject my family to flying (and the TSA), and we can take more with us more easily. I also have a ton of (various air and hotel) points so I can rent a nicer car, and stay in hotels on the way there and back for essentially free.
I guess I’d have to worry about parking the car when I get there (do they have parking at the in-park hotels?), but otherwise I’d prefer something (like a package) that smooths the way as much as possible (hotel, park tickets, meal plan, etc), BUT while I don’t mind spending a little more, I want to know I’m getting value (if I can say that of Disney).
My oldest has been wanting to go for years, and now that my youngest is probably old enough to appreciate (and remember) it, I’d like to do it while the oldest is still young (enough) to have that same level of excitement that they seem to lose as teenagers.
plenty of parking at onsite resorts. Use their transportation because they drop you off and pick you at the front gate of each park.
Let the Disney folks take as many pictures as they want to. you will get a picture card your first picture and they will scan it every time someone takes a picture of your family and you can sort through them and by the cd later if you want to.
plenty of parking at onsite resorts. Use their transportation because they drop you off and pick you at the front gate of each park.
Let the Disney folks take as many pictures as they want to. you will get a picture card your first picture and they will scan it every time someone takes a picture of your family and you can sort through them and by the cd later if you want to.
The 5 year old might be tall enough to ride all the rides except maybe a few.
When she gets tired or you’re in a hurry after a parade or Fantasmic or something, throw her up on Dad’s shoulders instead of fooling with a stroller.
Mickeys Not-So-Scary Halloween event is WELL WORTH THE EXTRA COST. The parade is fantastic, the dress-up atmosphere is just pure FUN. If I had to pick one time to go back to DisneyWorld it would be for the Not-So-Scary Halloween event!
If the budget allows it plan now to let the girls buy their favorite Princess costumes in one of the Disney shops, to wear that night. Even the 10 yr old. The girls will never forget! My teen still has “Jasmine” tucked away in her closet, and had her photo taken with Aladdin and “Jabar” wave to her from a parade float!
Still strongly recommend staying on a Disney property (we loved Pop Century), just park the car and forget it. That convenience of no driving, no parking, no trying to make a offsite hotel shuttle schedule, and getting to use the parks an hour before anyone else, is priceless, and a family of 4 can fit in one room
AAA used to sell discounted parking passes for those who drove and had to park at a Disney park
If you have extra days, go over and stay at Loews Universal onsite hotel and try out Universal- because of the express passes for Universal onsite hotel guest we never go any other way!
Disney Packages
start here: http://www.mousesavers.com/packages.html
“A lot of people like Disney’s vacation packages because they are convenient and worry-free. However, it is important to note that the standard full-price Disney vacation packages are designed for convenience rather than savings. In most cases you will NOT automatically get a discount by purchasing a package! It is frequently cheaper to book a “room only” reservation (ideally with a discount) and then buy the package components (tickets, meals, etc) separately.
However, Disney sometimes offers special promotional package discounts, particularly in the off-season.”
2) Plan nights - switch a night where it's you and your ten year old, another one where it's your wife and your ten year old at the park - the five year old probably won't be doing so great by that point, and you're going to want to have them off park in the evening. I tend to use off-park restaurants (make reservations!) and always have a AAA card or whatnot for any discount they happen to offer.
3) Park hopping is for those who know exactly what they want to do. If you can plan out your stay to the minute, that's great, but I'd stick to one park per day tickets.
4) Disney is pretty accommodating - if you think that ‘hey, I want to go another day’, they will alter tickets and passes so long as you've bought directly from them (or a gift card.) If you bought it on eBay or from a ticket stand, you're out of luck on this. That extra day might be as little as $20, or a conversion to a park hopper of only $10 per ticket.
5) Magic Mornings are worth a mint.
We drove from Jacksonville, NC and it took us about 11 hours. Of course, it takes us forever to get to 95. We have stayed on and off park, and we GREATLY preferred on. If you are military, they have some great discounts and you can get your Hopper tickets at ITT. We went when hubby got home from Afghanistan, and when they found out, they gave us a day-long fast pass and were just wonderful. My husband has the fast pass thing down to a science. My kids are older, so we spent most of our time at Epcot and Hollywood studios. If you want to do the Toy Story arcade ride, do it on a day when you get in early if. You are on property, and do it FIRST. the fast passes for that ride vanish early. The line is crazy for it. Enjoy!!