help planning! update!

[pinkpeony08]

We are going to WDW in March.  60 day fast pass reservations are approaching so trying to figure out plans.  We are spending one day at MK, a day at Epcot, a day at Hollywood Studios and then we have one half day before driving to southern Florida for a week.  We are staying at the Polynesian using DVC rental points.  I have 2 kids who will be 7.5 and almost 5 when we go.  Neither of them are big thrill seekers, and I anticipate will scare fairly easily.  They tend to be nervous about characters- we booked Bon Voyage partially so they can see the character's face and eyes.  

They are early risers, so I anticipate we will be at the parks on the early side.  Anticipate we will spend the afternoon at the hotel pool.  

Do I need to buy tickets before I can reserve Fast Passes?  Are there refunds if for some reason we had to cancel our whole trip?  Or would I need trip insurance for that?  We have the trip insurance for the DVC points, but not sure if that covers anything else. 

Day 1- Magic Kingdom - Just the 4 of us - 4:35 reservations at Ohana.  Planned to eat breakfast in the hotel and then a quick serve lunch.  Suggestions for where?  Where to get fast passes/when/order?

Day 2 - Epcot - 9:20 Bon Voyage Breakfast - Just the 4 of us - anything we can try to get in before breakfast?  Fast pass recommendations?  Shows we should see?

Day 3 - Hollywood studios- my in laws will be joining us.  11:30 Sci-Fi Dine in lunch reservations.  Currently have Kona Cafe dinner reservations for 5:15, though not confident this is what we want to do.  My in laws are pretty "meat and potatoes" people.  We take them to our favorite restaurants here and no matter how good it is, they usually say "eh, didn't have much taste."  Fast pass and show recommendations??
  
Day 4 - half day- in laws joining us again.  Not sure if they will want to take the kids to Magic Kingdom.  Suggestions?  This will be a weekend day, so not sure how that will impact crowds.  From the crowd calendar, it looks like the busiest of the days.  

I haven't been to WDW since I was a kid, and I anticipate we won't be back for quite sometime.  

Update:
I booked fast passes and after a lot of debate, we are now going to Animal Kingdom on day 4 until after lunch.  I know we won't see everything, but we will see something at least.

Questions:
-I am going to cancel the Kona reservation we have for Day 3 - sounds like it is pretty "meh" food.  We are eating at Sci Fi cafe in the morning.  Anticipate we will be coming from the Polynesian hotel.  Suggestions?  Something quick service would be fine, at the Poly or on the monorail but probably not inside a park.
-at Animal Kingdom, where can we get a quick serve lunch that is good - I have read a lot about good food at Animal Kingdom, but my in laws are very "meat and potatoes" won't eat most of the food we eat at our house. Any suggestions of grabbing lunch that would offer a burger for him but maybe African food for my husband and I?  
-I am going to watch and see if I can bump my Ohana reservation closer to 5:30.  

[TamiTaylor]

Dec 15, 2019 20:32:28 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

We are going to WDW in March.  60 day fast pass reservations are approaching so trying to figure out plans.  We are spending one day at MK, a day at Epcot, a day at Hollywood Studios and then we have one half day before driving to southern Florida for a week.  We are staying at the Polynesian using DVC rental points.  I have 2 kids who will be 7.5 and almost 5 when we go.  Neither of them are big thrill seekers, and I anticipate will scare fairly easily.  They tend to be nervous about characters- we booked Bon Voyage partially so they can see the character's face and eyes.  

They are early risers, so I anticipate we will be at the parks on the early side.  Anticipate we will spend the afternoon at the hotel pool.  

Do I need to buy tickets before I can reserve Fast Passes?  Are there refunds if for some reason we had to cancel our whole trip?  Or would I need trip insurance for that?  We have the trip insurance for the DVC points, but not sure if that covers anything else. 

Day 1- Magic Kingdom - Just the 4 of us - 4:35 reservations at Ohana.  Planned to eat breakfast in the hotel and then a quick serve lunch.  Suggestions for where?  Where to get fast passes/when/order?

Day 2 - Epcot - 9:20 Bon Voyage Breakfast - Just the 4 of us - anything we can try to get in before breakfast?  Fast pass recommendations?  Shows we should see?

Day 3 - Hollywood studios- my in laws will be joining us.  11:30 Sci-Fi Dine in lunch reservations.  Currently have Kona Cafe dinner reservations for 5:15, though not confident this is what we want to do.  My in laws are pretty "meat and potatoes" people.  We take them to our favorite restaurants here and no matter how good it is, they usually say "eh, didn't have much taste."  Fast pass and show recommendations??
  
Day 4 - half day- in laws joining us again.  Not sure if they will want to take the kids to Magic Kingdom.  Suggestions?  This will be a weekend day, so not sure how that will impact crowds.  From the crowd calendar, it looks like the busiest of the days.  

I haven't been to WDW since I was a kid, and I anticipate we won't be back for quite sometime.  

Yes you have to buy tickets before you can book fast passes. They are not refundable by the can be moved if you need to change your date.

As for FastPasses, are there any must do rides for you guys. Like for example J loves Buzz so even though it is an easy day of FP pickup we also make a FP for it because he loves it.

I would pick my park days based on a crowd calendar and then go from there.

[pinkpeony08]

TamiTaylor

Thanks, current schedule is based on crowd calendar + parks we want to do without in laws joining us. We can use crowd calendar to pick the last day if in laws don't have strong feelings, but if I had to guess, they will want to go back to MK with the kids.

My kids haven't ever been to WDW, and I haven't been since I was 6. My husband hasn't been in many years. So I don't really have any "must do" rides?

Should I just be buying the tickets directly from WDW or it looks like it would be cheaper on undercover tourist but am I them forfeiting option to change? Normally I wouldn't be worried, but it's a lot of money, and there is a possibility of some health issues for me.

[TamiTaylor]

Dec 15, 2019 21:06:59 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

TamiTaylor

Thanks, current schedule is based on crowd calendar + parks we want to do without in laws joining us. We can use crowd calendar to pick the last day if in laws don't have strong feelings, but if I had to guess, they will want to go back to MK with the kids.

My kids haven't ever been to WDW, and I haven't been since I was 6. My husband hasn't been in many years. So I don't really have any "must do" rides?

Should I just be buying the tickets directly from WDW or it looks like it would be cheaper on undercover tourist but am I them forfeiting option to change? Normally I wouldn't be worried, but it's a lot of money, and there is a possibility of some health issues for me.

I think UT has flex date tickets, not actually sure, but if I had any doubts about being able to move dates, would by directly from Disney or a Disney TA.

How old are your kids and how tall? Do they like thrill rides or tamer ones?

[Covergirl82]

MK day - My kids love the Buzz Lightyear ride and Splash Mountain. Peter Pan is calmer ride. The 7 Dwarves Mine Train is fun, but it's a roller coaster, so may be too thrilling for your kids. For lunch I would say Cosmic Ray's or Pecos Bill's.

Epcot day - You could try and ride Soarin' before breakfast. DD and I love it, but DS doesn't like it because it feels "too high" to him. You could also do Mission Space (in the ball) and/or the Nemo ride. For FPs, Frozen is also a good ride. Living with the Land is one of our favorite rides, especially if you want to relax for 10 minutes. Your kids may not be tall enough for Test Track, but I would avoid it if your kids don't like thrill rides.  ETA:  Also - go to the water fountains by the old Figment ride/lab.

For your HS day, I would recommend 50s Prime Time for dinner instead of Kona Café (if you're willing to stay that long). It's very traditional, meat-and-potatoes kind of food. We went there when my parents came with us, and they loved it. Otherwise, you could try one of the buffets - 1900 Park Fare at GF would be close to Poly.  For FPs, definitely get Toy Story Mania.  It's a ride full of mid-way style shooting games.  It's one of our favorites.  Slinky-Dog Dash is also fun, but is a rollercoaster.  The Indiana Jones show is good, and so is the Frozen sing-along.  If your kids like the Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast movies, I would recommend those shows as well.  If you're planning to try any of the Star Wars rides, you'll want to get there early.

Have fun! We rented DVC at Poly about a year ago and loved it. Our favorite resort so far (as a family, we've also stayed at Caribbean Beach, and DH and I have stayed at Old Key West and Coronado Springs).

[jaycee]

We rented DVC at the Poly in February and my kids are almost the same ages as yours! We had a blast and hope you do too!

Your questions are quite broad so it is hard to give recommendations. Will you plan to rope drop (get there before the park opens, which is great bc you can usually fit in a few rides with little wait)? For MK, we rope dropped Frontier Land with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain and then used Fps on Haunted Mansion (not like a real haunted house! my kids and I loved it), Peter Pan and 7 Dwarves Mine Train. For our second day, we rope dropped Tomorrow Land (Buzz and Space Mountain) and used Fps on speedway, and then went back to Adventureland and did Fps for Pirates and Jungle Cruise. With that plan, we weren't criss crossing the park too much and got to see everything.

For your MK quick service, maybe try Pinnochio's Village Haus. It was quick, we liked the atmosphere and it's in a great location if you do the above plan.

Do you have the dining plan? I would suggest checking out menus for the restaurants listed above. We did not enjoy Kona Cafe at all. We had the dining plan and so I had to get an entree when I otherwise would have had one of their appetizers. We just thought it was lack luster and not great. Sci Fi is a huge meal if you are on the dining plan so maybe something smaller would be better for dinner (sandwich from Captain Cooks at Poly).

The FP system at Hollywood Studios is kind of crazy and different than MK. They are in tiers, so you can only really select one popular ride and then people usually waste other Fps on shows (I'd suggest the Muppet one for sure). For a FP here it depends on what you like, but your kids might enjoy slinky dog dash or toy story midway mania. Both are relatively mild rides (compared to the big thrill rides of Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster).

[pinkpeony08]

Dec 16, 2019 9:10:28 GMT -5 TamiTaylor said:

Dec 15, 2019 21:06:59 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

TamiTaylor

Thanks, current schedule is based on crowd calendar + parks we want to do without in laws joining us. We can use crowd calendar to pick the last day if in laws don't have strong feelings, but if I had to guess, they will want to go back to MK with the kids.

My kids haven't ever been to WDW, and I haven't been since I was 6. My husband hasn't been in many years. So I don't really have any "must do" rides?

Should I just be buying the tickets directly from WDW or it looks like it would be cheaper on undercover tourist but am I them forfeiting option to change? Normally I wouldn't be worried, but it's a lot of money, and there is a possibility of some health issues for me.

I think UT has flex date tickets, not actually sure, but if I had any doubts about being able to move dates, would by directly from Disney or a Disney TA.

How old are your kids and how tall? Do they like thrill rides or tamer ones?

I'm thinking it would give me a lot of peace of mind to just get travel insurance.  I may just go directly through Disney.  

My kids are short- my daughter was 3'10" in August.  My son 39" on his 4th birthday, he's grown but I haven't measured him.  Definitely tamer rides, though it's possible they will surprise me.  There is a little amusement park near my in laws, and they really only have any interest in the little kid rides.  I'd be surprised if they are willing to do any roller coasters, even tame ones.

[pinkpeony08]

Dec 16, 2019 9:59:28 GMT -5 jaycee said:

We rented DVC at the Poly in February and my kids are almost the same ages as yours! We had a blast and hope you do too!

Your questions are quite broad so it is hard to give recommendations. Will you plan to rope drop (get there before the park opens, which is great bc you can usually fit in a few rides with little wait)? For MK, we rope dropped Frontier Land with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain and then used Fps on Haunted Mansion (not like a real haunted house! my kids and I loved it), Peter Pan and 7 Dwarves Mine Train. For our second day, we rope dropped Tomorrow Land (Buzz and Space Mountain) and used Fps on speedway, and then went back to Adventureland and did Fps for Pirates and Jungle Cruise. With that plan, we weren't criss crossing the park too much and got to see everything.

For your MK quick service, maybe try Pinnochio's Village Haus. It was quick, we liked the atmosphere and it's in a great location if you do the above plan.

Do you have the dining plan? I would suggest checking out menus for the restaurants listed above. We did not enjoy Kona Cafe at all. We had the dining plan and so I had to get an entree when I otherwise would have had one of their appetizers. We just thought it was lack luster and not great. Sci Fi is a huge meal if you are on the dining plan so maybe something smaller would be better for dinner (sandwich from Captain Cooks at Poly).

The FP system at Hollywood Studios is kind of crazy and different than MK. They are in tiers, so you can only really select one popular ride and then people usually waste other Fps on shows (I'd suggest the Muppet one for sure). For a FP here it depends on what you like, but your kids might enjoy slinky dog dash or toy story midway mania. Both are relatively mild rides (compared to the big thrill rides of Tower of Terror and Rockin Rollercoaster).

Super helpful, thank you!  I would guess we will rope drop.  Right now the extra magic hours are in the evening at MK when we are there (BOOO bc my kids are asleep by 7:30 pm).  

No dining plan.  I don't think we will last all day at any park, so we will stick with Sci Fi for lunch, but I'll look at other ideas for dinner.  Initially I was thinking we would do one quick meal per day and one meal at a sit down restaurant.  I hadn't known what to do for dinner that night after Sci Fi lunch.  I'll look around.

What is the Haunted House like?

[nicolewi]

You are on an opposite schedule than my family, as we are all night owls. Given that you are early risers, you could try to get a reservation at Be Our Guest before the park opens to arrive early and take pictures, and get a jump start on the day. That was more of a benefit than I had anticipated when we did that.

Based on what you said about your kids, I would skip Haunted Mansion, for sure. My 8 and 10 year olds went, and they liked it but said parts were scary. I remember it being a little spooky when I was little. With your kids being so young, I just think there are other rides they would enjoy more. Are they into princesses?

Personally, I would also skip
--Pirates of the Caribbean (kind of scary-ish)
--I thought the Jungle Cruise wasn't really all that great anymore and the puns go over the little kids' heads, so it's not a must-see
--any mountain that BOTH kids aren'''''''t tall enough to do. Big Thunder is the mildest. I think Splash Mountain is fun but my 4 YO was terrified by the drops and worried about the big drop.
--Hall of Presidents (fantastic but probably not for that age)

I would FP Peter Pan and then you can do Mickey's Philharmagic (really cute) and maybe It's a Small World. FP 7 Dwarves if you are going to do it. It's a mild roller coaster but a little more intense than I was expecting. My 4 year old didn't like it, but she wasn't scarred for life or anything. I would FP the Beauty and the Beast show if they are into princesses.
I would do Buzz Lightyear--very fun.
Little Mermaid
My 4 year olds favorite ride was the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, LOL. One of those rides (just like Dumbo) where you go around a central pole, but she LOVED it.
I would definitely catch the parade in the afternoon. Also a huge hit with my little girls.
I liked the orange swirl treats at Sunshine Tree Terrace by the Swiss Robinson Treehouse even more than Dole Whip (but I loved Dole Whip, too!).
If you can make it that late, I do think the fireworks show is AMAZING.

Epcot: I would try to rope drop Soarin' if you think they would like it. It's really cool but a little scary b/c you feel like you are flying and you swoop up and down a few times
Start your FP after breakfast--maybe like 11:30?
Try to get FP Frozen
Other things I think they would like:
Spaceship Earth (FP)
Mexico Ride
Turtle Talk with Crush
The Nemo ride & seeing the big aquariums
The Land--my kids all loved the land! It's just a slow cruise and you look at plants in greenhouses but they liked it a lot.

Skip:
Test Track too scary
Don't waste time on the long movies in the World Showcase
The Figment thing is weird and dated

Not sure what they would think about Mission Space (green side). My 6 year old thought we were really going into space even though we kept telling her it was pretend.

HS:
Fast pass Toy Story Mania
Do Frozen sing-a-long
Muppets thing is supposed to be cute but we missed it
My kids loved the Indiana Jones show
We really liked Star Tours, but it's like a crazy ride on a spaceship through Star Wars scenes where you might be underwater, or swooping through mountains, etc. If scared, can just not look as you are just seated in a virtual reality type thing. So not sure if you would like that or not.
There's a lot of character stuff to do if you are interested in that.

Skip the Little Mermaid thing (pretty lame) unless someone really loves the Little Mermaid.

I would not do the dinner reservation. I'd leave it open so that you can stay later on the park if you want. We had quick service lunch at Backlot and it was good--burgers, etc.

I'd want to go back to a park the last day again, b/c I'd want to take advantage of the opportunity even if we didn't get to do a lot. With you being able to get up and go early, I think that would help a lot.

[jaycee]

Dec 16, 2019 20:37:17 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

Dec 16, 2019 9:59:28 GMT -5 jaycee said:

Super helpful, thank you!  I would guess we will rope drop.  Right now the extra magic hours are in the evening at MK when we are there (BOOO bc my kids are asleep by 7:30 pm).  

No dining plan.  I don't think we will last all day at any park, so we will stick with Sci Fi for lunch, but I'll look at other ideas for dinner.  Initially I was thinking we would do one quick meal per day and one meal at a sit down restaurant.  I hadn't known what to do for dinner that night after Sci Fi lunch.  I'll look around.

What is the Haunted House like?    

Here is a video of the Haunted Mansion ride. www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKVd-xwxgJs  My sons loved it.  I love it too.  I see the advice above to skip Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, but both of those were my sons' favorites (ages 6 and 8), so it is all a very personal preference.  So, so many of the rides can be "scary," because they are dark or have drops or go fast or whatever.

I found youtube to be very helpful when planning.  Make sure you are searching for Disney world, as Disneyland has some of the same rides but they look a little different.  Also, on youtube, you can check out DFB Guide (Disney Food Blog) and they have photos of menus, pictures of food, etc and also a tons of videos for every single ride/show/experience are on youtube.

[kittycatlove]

pinkpeony08, When we went on Haunted Mansion and Pirates when DS was 5, we explained that it was pretend and supposed to be fun scary. Now at 8, those are two of his favorite rides.

[nicolewi]

I'm the one who said to skip those. I mean, not that they are horrible, I just thought with limited time you may want to pick other things. But if you think your kids would do well with it, or for example, someone's really into pirates, go for it! You can take all this advice with a grain of salt and filter it through your family's preferences.

[kittycatlove]

Dec 17, 2019 14:48:03 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

 You can take all this advice with a grain of salt and filter it through your family's preferences.

This for sure!

No matter what you do, you will have a great time.  And since you all haven't really been there you won't really know what you might be "missing".  It's so magical to be there and do what you can.

[mccallister84]

Dec 17, 2019 17:02:04 GMT -5 kittycatlove said:

Dec 17, 2019 14:48:03 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

 You can take all this advice with a grain of salt and filter it through your family's preferences.

This for sure!

No matter what you do, you will have a great time.  And since you all haven't really been there you won't really know what you might be "missing".  It's so magical to be there and do what you can.

I think this is the most important thing to remember. We were there in October and my daughter insisted on riding the carousel. My dad started flipping because we would miss our Peter Pan fast pass. And yes, my daughter would have loved Peter Pan. But she wanted to ride the carousel so that’s what we did. She didn’t know what she was missing and I wasn’t going to drag her off a line for a ride she was excited about.

[cincodemayo]

The only thing I was going to add is I probably wouldn’t go to Epcot prior to your Bon Voyage breakfast unless you want to walk a lot. I would either move breakfast up or just go to Epcot once your done and start your FP at like 11. Frozen is fun! You can only get one of the top rides at Epcot so I would either pick FroZen or Soarin (40 inch height limit)

[was5]

[quote author="pinkpeony08" source="/post/13617599/thread"

What is the Haunted House like?[/quote]


We went last year. Two 5 year olds and an 11 year old. I road Haunted Mansion with the 5 year olds. One wanted to leave before we actually made it onto the ride. There's a pre-ride section where they give you the back story and that scared him. He kept his eyes closed during the entire ride and was mad I made him go on it. The other 5 year old was ok at first but kept his eyes closed pretty much the whole time. They both asked for reassurance that they would never have to go on it again.

They both like thrill rides so for them it was all about the creepy factor. Pirates was fine.

At MK I would FP Buzz Lightyear and Peter Pan for sure. For your 3rd I'd do the Winnie the Pooh or Little Mermaid rides. Or, FP a character meet if there's one your kids are really into.

[pinkpeony08]

bump for more questions!

[curbsideprophet]

I am confused on which meal you are asking about for Day 3.


Day 4 at Animal Kingdom- have you looked at Yak and Yeti QS? ( they also have a table service option, so just make sure you look at the correct menu)

[mslhb]

For Day 3 dinner the Poly quick service is decent but I would suggest taking the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian and eating at their quick service Gasparillas. I thought the food there was a bit better and they have a great outdoor seating area. The Contempo cafe at the Contemporary was also good. When we stayed at the Poly we loved being able to hop on the resort monorail in the evening to see the other hotels. You can also take the monorail to the GF and then there is a boat that goes straight back to the Poly. When our DD was young she thought that was really cool.

[pinkpeony08]

Jan 3, 2020 23:22:07 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

I am confused on which meal you are asking about for Day 3.


Day 4 at Animal Kingdom- have you looked at Yak and Yeti QS? ( they also have a table service option, so just make sure you look at the correct menu)

Looking for ideas for dinner on day 3.

I didn’t realize yak and yeti had qs! Thanks

[pinkpeony08]

Jan 4, 2020 8:35:45 GMT -5 mslhb said:

For Day 3 dinner the Poly quick service is decent but I would suggest taking the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian and eating at their quick service Gasparillas. I thought the food there was a bit better and they have a great outdoor seating area. The Contempo cafe at the Contemporary was also good. When we stayed at the Poly we loved being able to hop on the resort monorail in the evening to see the other hotels. You can also take the monorail to the GF and then there is a boat that goes straight back to the Poly. When our DD was young she thought that was really cool.

Super helpful, thanks! I was looking at that menu last night!

[mccallister84]

Jan 4, 2020 9:13:16 GMT -5 pinkpeony08 said:

Jan 4, 2020 8:35:45 GMT -5 mslhb said:

For Day 3 dinner the Poly quick service is decent but I would suggest taking the resort monorail to the Grand Floridian and eating at their quick service Gasparillas. I thought the food there was a bit better and they have a great outdoor seating area. The Contempo cafe at the Contemporary was also good. When we stayed at the Poly we loved being able to hop on the resort monorail in the evening to see the other hotels. You can also take the monorail to the GF and then there is a boat that goes straight back to the Poly. When our DD was young she thought that was really cool.

Super helpful, thanks! I was looking at that menu last night!

Oh see we thought the opposite. We stayed at GF and only ate at Gasparillas once but went to Poly twice for their quick service. Although Gasparillas didn’t have mobile ordering at the beginning of our trip (it did by the end) and it was kind of a cluster so maybe our opinion would have been different had we been able to mobile order like we did at Poly.

[nicolewi]

I would just leave it totally open at HS. If you are still there at dinner, you can do quick service in the park (Backlot Express?). If not, you can just get QS at your hotel. I feel like you would probably still want to be in the park, actually.

Animal Kingdom: We were going to do Flame Tree BBQ, which is supposed to be good, but we ended up just going to REstaurantosaurus or whatever it's called. I would think Flame Tree is still a good bet. But really, Our meal at Restaurantosaurus worked out great. It was burgers and fries, but they were fine, and it was super convenient to where we were at the time.

Get a Dole Whip at AK at some point at Tamu Tamu and you can have it in the back patio area that's right behind the food counter. Nice break!