I know many of you have been to WDW before with your kids. We are taking our 3 and 5 yr olds in a month! We are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort on the WDW property. We are only going to be in Orlando for 4 days and plan to go to the parks for 2 days.

If anyone has any tips or suggestions for going there or what to see, please share!

By Trina~moderator on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 02:09 pm:

YEAH! We just went this past November. When are you going? I hope hurricane season won't be an issue. I highly recommend reading The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger. It was the most helpful book!

By Marg on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 02:36 pm:

OH have so much fun We bought all tickets ahead of time

By Tunnia on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 02:45 pm:

Have fun! We had decided to go to WDW October 2005 (we haven't been since 1992), but we may change it to April to avoid hurricane season.

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 03:28 pm:

We are going October 13th. I hope the Hurricanes are done by then! We actually just got our tickets in the mail today!!

Trina, i did get that book from the library a while back, i think I will just go to the store and buy it though. It did have some great tips!

By Eve on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 03:40 pm:

How fun! You should be all set weather wise. Normally September is the worst. Hurricane season, I believe, goes into November, but it's normally fine by October. Maybe you could take out trip insurance? I'm sure you won't need it and you'll be all set!

By Melanie on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 03:52 pm:

Oh, how fun!! We went when our kids were 7, 5 and almost 2. It was a blast! I would also suggest you check out www.passporter.com. They have the most awesome guide book and the site has a fantastic message board, filled with Disney fanatics. I got some great tips from there! Happy planning!

By Trisa on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 03:53 pm:

Go to disboards.com
Its a great info site where you can even post
any questions you have. You will have a blast!

By Rayanne on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 05:06 pm:

Have fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Buy tickets in advance. If you have AAA, go through them, it's cheaper.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 06:57 pm:

Definitely take advantage of Fast pass. DH and I went in November. Get Fast pass tickets to the most popular attractions, then you can go ride something else and come back to the *busy* ride and pretty much get right on it.

Also, online you can check the park hours for each Disney park. If you want a sit-down meal, you can check the restaurants for each park. I don't remember if you can make reservations online, but even if you don't, as soon as you arrive at the park in the mornings, go to guest relations and make a reservation in the sit-down restaurant you have chosen IF you want a sit-down meal.

Backpacks, water, light snacks, caps, sun screen, COMFY walking shoes and of course, A CAMERA!

By Sunny on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 07:06 pm:

Have fun! We've been twice and are currently planning another vacation for August 2005.

One of the best ways to meet the characters is a character meal. We like the character breakfast at Chef Mickey's. If you just plan to do the parks two of the four days, then Magic Kingdom is a must. You gotta get a picture of the castle! LOL

By Bellajoe on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 - 08:27 pm:

Hey, thanks for the list Karen! I totally forgot, i need to get a visor or something for my dd and me. The guys have their baseball hats. My dh is a "i don't want to carry ANYTHING around the park" kind of guy. I'm trying to make him realize that if we don't carry water bottles, we will be paying mega bucks for drinks at the park. And ds and I are ALWAYS thirsty. Plus we do need to carry the camera.

Sunny,
We are definitely going to Magic Kingdom, I believe taht is the best park for my kids and their ages. We will definitely catch the Magic Kingdoms nighttime parade. And i think our other park of choice is Epcot center.

By Imamommyx4 on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 - 01:10 am:

Backpack and stroller. You can hook the backpack on the back of an umbrella stroller. And there is stroller parking at every attraction. It was just too much for our 3 yr dd last Easter to have to be carried or walk all the time. And too much for us for that matter. The backpack kept everything together and the stroller took care of the backpack.

"The Official Guide to DW" by Birnbaum and the "Unofficial Guide to DW" mentioned above go together well. Look at both to get the whole picture.

The 2 places my daughter like the best were SeaWorld and Disney's Animal Kingdom. The pace wasn't so hard and she LOVES animals of all kinds.

If you do go to SeaWorld, you get get and print your on tickets on-line a little cheaper. I think they were about $5 less getting them on-line. You have to do it about a week before you go.

Also, try to make reservations for any dinners really early. We started trying to make reservations for Cinderella's Castle about 3 weeks before we went and was told that we were about a month too late but to keep tryng which was to no avail. But I did luck into being seated the day we arrived but that's another story and I'm probably not capable of making it a short one.

By Kaye on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 - 05:36 am:

Also make sure you pack an extra set of shoes. there is a good likely hood that you will end up with wet shoes from a ride or the rain or both! I also second the stroller, I might rent one at the park and that way you can get a big double one!

By Bellajoe on Wednesday, September 15, 2004 - 07:40 am:

Yes, i am planning on renting a double stroller for them. My 3 yr old was exhausted after walking a few hours at Cedar Point a few months ago, so i know he will be really exhausted if he walked around WDW. I think a stroller will end up helping all our moods stay happy!

I'm off to buy the Unofficial Guide today!