Overwhelmed with planning - first time, need help

[thor369]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and trying to plan our first disney trip and feeling overwhelmed as there is so much information and things to consider.

We are a family of 4, with two kids 5 and 2 years old.

We are thinking of going either in early June (I know, last minute) or first week of October.

So thinking of doing a 4-5 day trip, nay longer will feel too long, is 5 day the sweet spot?
One of my friends said that they can get us the friend and family code for the dolphin and swan hotel, but not sure if that's the right hotel for us.

The ticket prices are what they are, what we want is easy and relaxing vacation, we are thinking of getting the park hopper ticket just for the fireworks etc. and flexibility or should be save a little and get the one park a day tickets.

How does one go about getting from one park to the other, I cant figure out the distance between parks and hotels. Do we have to walk a lot? can we get on the monorail or do we have to pay for it? if you stay in one hotel, can you access other hotels lobby etc?

Someone said, planning this late, wont get any fast pass rides, as they may have all been booked. how long are the waits for rides?

We really don't care about sitting down and having a dining experience, so what other food options do we have, do they have fast food stores or restaurants that are throughout the park that we can buy something find a place to sit and eat?

I see Costco has a package deal for swan not sure if that's a good deal coming out to be $4200 with flight for 5 nights.

Anything else that you experts can share would be great.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and trying to plan our first disney trip and feeling overwhelmed as there is so much information and things to consider.

We are a family of 4, with two kids 5 and 2 years old.

We are thinking of going either in early June (I know, last minute) or first week of October.

So thinking of doing a 4-5 day trip, nay longer will feel too long, is 5 day the sweet spot?
One of my friends said that they can get us the friend and family code for the dolphin and swan hotel, but not sure if that's the right hotel for us.

The ticket prices are what they are, what we want is easy and relaxing vacation, we are thinking of getting the park hopper ticket just for the fireworks etc. and flexibility or should be save a little and get the one park a day tickets.

How does one go about getting from one park to the other, I cant figure out the distance between parks and hotels. Do we have to walk a lot? can we get on the monorail or do we have to pay for it? if you stay in one hotel, can you access other hotels lobby etc?

Someone said, planning this late, wont get any fast pass rides, as they may have all been booked. how long are the waits for rides?

We really don't care about sitting down and having a dining experience, so what other food options do we have, do they have fast food stores or restaurants that are throughout the park that we can buy something find a place to sit and eat?

I see Costco has a package deal for swan not sure if that's a good deal coming out to be $4200 with flight for 5 nights.

Anything else that you experts can share would be great.

Since you want to go June 2019, it's time to make some decisions as rooms are booking up fast. I just finished 2 days worth of checking for a specific room category and was about to give up when somebody cancelled a reservation and my "bacon was saved".

I think 5 is better than 4 but wouldn't turn my nose up at 4 nights since it's not hard to visit the 4 parks in that time period as long as your expectations are reasonable. The Swan/Dolphin hotels are on Disney property so you can still access WDW free transport (also allows park to park transport) but don't think the airport to resort bus is included. Multiple day park tickets are cheaper than single days. Check sites like mousesavers or touringplan to get a better price than thru Disney's website. Decide whether park hoppers make true sense for your party since your trip will be compressed. As well some hotels, restaurants, and resorts have great views of the fireworks so if that's your main reason for for buying a park hopper think a bit more about it. Yes, you can visit other resorts but NOT use their swimming pools.

Planning late does mean you spend more time looking for Fast Passes but doesn't mean you'll never get desirable ones except maybe Avatar and Slinky Dog. You can go to the parks early for standby to get those rides or use another strategy if they are important to you. As far as ride waits are concerned it depends on how popular the ride is. I can't see the Costo deal at my zip code for the Swan so have no idea what it offers.

For what it's worth I'm in the middle of planning an early June trip and so far have booked the hotel (was able to get my 2nd fav resort), some sought after rides/fast passes, and all the Disney dining reservations I want (2; we enjoy eating at Disney Springs and there is another reservation site for it that's easier to get reservations at called opentable.com).

As table service eating isn't a priority for you, there are lots of quick service eateries available and I would suggest you ask which are other posters' favorites at the Dining forum of this site as you'll get more responses.


Since this is a new experience for you I'd suggest spending the 15 dollars to get a membership at touringplans.com. It will help you use your time well.


HTH and have fun.

 

[Sara_H]

Here are my thoughts:

Early June will be hot however, October can always be too and with Star Wars Galaxy Edge opening at the end of August, October might be very busy. As for the length, that all depends on what you like. A five day trip with 2 travel days is only a 3 day time frame in the parks. If you mean, 5 park days then I think that is a decent time but it will go by quickly.

Personally, I'm not a fan of the Swan or Dolphin but other people love them. The room will also depend on your needs. There are so many hotel options out there and everybody has an opinion. Some love Value resorts while others hate them. Only you can decide how much you want to spend.

We personally like hopper passes because then we can go wherever we want, whenever we want but other people think they are a waste of time and money. Again, only you can decide what will work best for your family.

You get from hotel to the parks and park to park via buses, boats or monorail (depending on where you stay). The All-Star resorts you will have to take a bus to each park and back the resort. However, the Polynesian you take a bus to AK or HS but can take a boat or monorail to MK or walk to TTC and ride the monorail to EP. Buses also run from park to park and the monorail goes from MK to EP (with a stop at TTC).

The fastpasses for the big rides like Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog Dash are most likely gone for June but other rides will have fastpasses available.

There are plenty of quick service restaurants at each park for you to eat it and they offer a variety of foods.

Make sure you download the MyDisneyExperience app because you will use this while on the trip to book fastpasses the day of, order food (some restaurants have mobile ordering).

Don't stress too much. Disney has a lot to offer and there is no way you can do it all and honestly, some people in my opinion try to do too much. Your kids won't know if they miss something and will have a great time no matter what.

 

[sponica]

I'm not sure if relaxing and Disney vacation go in the same sentence..but here's my two cents. On the front end, buy the single park tickets. If you want park hopping, you can upgrade when you're down there. If you go in October, definitely get hoppers to compensate for the halloween parties at MK. The Swan/Dolphin is on Disney property but you'd have to manage transportation to/from the airport if you're flying. But it does have a convenient location as you can walk/boat to 2 parks.

Simply put WDW is HUGE, I've been multiple times and there are still things I haven't done.

The up side to a first trip is that what you don't know about, you won't miss....

 

[Klayfish]

Hi everyone,

New to the forum and trying to plan our first disney trip and feeling overwhelmed as there is so much information and things to consider.

We are a family of 4, with two kids 5 and 2 years old.

We are thinking of going either in early June (I know, last minute) or first week of October.

So thinking of doing a 4-5 day trip, nay longer will feel too long, is 5 day the sweet spot?
One of my friends said that they can get us the friend and family code for the dolphin and swan hotel, but not sure if that's the right hotel for us.

The ticket prices are what they are, what we want is easy and relaxing vacation, we are thinking of getting the park hopper ticket just for the fireworks etc. and flexibility or should be save a little and get the one park a day tickets.

How does one go about getting from one park to the other, I cant figure out the distance between parks and hotels. Do we have to walk a lot? can we get on the monorail or do we have to pay for it? if you stay in one hotel, can you access other hotels lobby etc?

Someone said, planning this late, wont get any fast pass rides, as they may have all been booked. how long are the waits for rides?

We really don't care about sitting down and having a dining experience, so what other food options do we have, do they have fast food stores or restaurants that are throughout the park that we can buy something find a place to sit and eat?

I see Costco has a package deal for swan not sure if that's a good deal coming out to be $4200 with flight for 5 nights.

Anything else that you experts can share would be great.

First....take a deep breath. Relax. I know it seems overwhelming, and it can be...but only if you let it be. You can make WDW as relaxing or frantic as you want, it's entirely up to you. Some thoughts based on your questions:

The number of days is up to you. If you've never been before, 5 days honestly will barely even scratch the surface of what WDW has to offer. However, that's fine. Nothing wrong with that. Having said that, my advice is to not even try to see everything. You won't. Accept the fact that there are things you simply won't get to. Lots of them. The key is to take the time to enjoy the things you DO get to see and do. Soak them in. If WDW hooks you in, like it did for many of us, then you'll have so much to look forward to on your second trip...do things you didn't do on your first.

As for hotels, you have to look and decide what you like. We stay off property, as we like the space, accommodations and price. There are so many onsite hotels, they're all quite nice. We've been in the Dolphin/Swan many times, they're beautiful.

Getting from park to park has options. If you have a car, you can always drive. You can take WDW buses, which are all free. The monorail only goes limited places....there are three of them. One runs a circle with only two stops...the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) which is the parking lot for MK (Magic Kingdom) and MK itself. The second one runs the same loop, but stops at 3 resorts...the Poly, the Contemporary and the Grand Floridian. So if you stay at one of those three, that's how you'd get to MK. The third runs between MK and Epcot. There are more options and details, but I don't want to confuse you, so those are the very basics.

Yes, you do a lot of walking within the parks. You can walk from some parks to another, such as Epcot to Hollywood Studios, but most often don't. Truly, WDW is the size of a small city if you include the hotels, parks, water parks, Disney Springs, etc...it can take 10-15 minutes to drive from one spot to another in a car, let alone walk. So most of your walking will be done within the parks themselves. And it's a lot. Be prepared.

Yes, you can access hotel lobbies, all of them. Some of the fun at WDW is exploring different resorts. I highly encourage it. For example, even though we stay offsite, we may spend a little time at the Poly, do roast marshmallows there and watch fireworks from their beach.

Not sure who said you wouldn't get fastpass (FP+) for a June trip, but that's not correct. You definitely can. You may not get the top attractions at the time you want, but you'll get FP+. There is a FP+ FAQ on this site, I'd highly recommend reading it. If you truly learn and understand the FP+ system, you can do more attractions than you'd think. As for standby times, it can range from literally zero to 3 hours, depends on the attraction. Generally speaking, the first and last hour the parks are open have the shortest lines. If I had to ballpark an average, I'd say during the day most rides will have a 20-60 minute standby wait....but that's a VERY general ballpark. Could be more, could be less.

You will find no shortage of places to get a bite to eat. They are everywhere, in every park. They're called "quick service" (QS) here. Essentially like fast food, but with much better options. We bring our own food in...it's nice that WDW lets you do that.

Best of luck!! Don't let it overwhelm you. You can make WDW what you want. I don't agree with those who say WDW can't be relaxing, is stressful to plan, etc...it isn't if you don't want it to be.

 

[lostprincess_danie]

I see Costco has a package deal for swan not sure if that's a good deal coming out to be $4200 with flight for 5 nights.

Make sure to do comparison shopping on these types of packages. Also, read the fine print. I looked into a Costco package for our next trip and if I remember correctly some of them were non-changeable and/or non-refundable.

Also, I would recommend June even though it gives you less time to plan. You have the benefit of more park hours in summer (no parties shutting down MK early) and will avoid those Galaxy's Edge crowds.

Disney is only as stressful as you make it. Great advice from PP to accept you will not see everything, and that's okay. If your plans aren't going perfectly (or you have no plan at all) that's okay too.

 

[thor369]

Thank you for the suggestions and trying to calm me down, I had another shock yesterday when I saw the wait times for the rides, if my kids like a ride and we get a FP for it and after the ride he wants to go again, we have to possibly wait in line for 60-140 min for some rides according to the app. I don't think he or I will have the patience, in that case since we are a party of 4 and the 2 year old is not going for the ride, can we book under my wife and second kids tickets and use to for me and my older son?

Also, another shocking thing was the distance between parks and the hotels (swan and dolphin) and even art of animation to MK.

Poly, contemporary and Floridian are on MK but very expensive, I have heard about DVC points, but not sure how that works? I can't imagine taking a bus a one hour ride with two little ones from the hotel to park and back. We even lose the advantage of coming back for a nap if we are in MK and our hotel is in hollywood studio, any tips or strategies? I want to focus on MK, HS fro cars, toy story etc, and AK for the dinosaur attraction as he loves dinosaurs.

 

[wendlle]

Thank you for the suggestions and trying to calm me down, I had another shock yesterday when I saw the wait times for the rides, if my kids like a ride and we get a FP for it and after the ride he wants to go again, we have to possibly wait in line for 60-140 min for some rides according to the app. I don't think he or I will have the patience, in that case since we are a party of 4 and the 2 year old is not going for the ride, can we book under my wife and second kids tickets and use to for me and my older son?

Also, another shocking thing was the distance between parks and the hotels (swan and dolphin) and even art of animation to MK.

Poly, contemporary and Floridian are on MK but very expensive, I have heard about DVC points, but not sure how that works? I can't imagine taking a bus a one hour ride with two little ones from the hotel to park and back. We even lose the advantage of coming back for a nap if we are in MK and our hotel is in hollywood studio, any tips or strategies? I want to focus on MK, HS fro cars, toy story etc, and AK for the dinosaur attraction as he loves dinosaurs.

Seriously the parks aren't that far from the resorts. You'll spend less than 30mins on a bus to get to them. IMO the MK resorts aren't worth the money if you're going to be in the parks most of the day. We typically stay at AKL or Pop, takes 15-20 mins to get to any of the parks.

We usually rent DVC points thru DVC rental store, you've left it extremely late though and I doubt there will be any availability left, but maybe at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs, both are really nice resorts and have the most DVC availability along with AKL.

Any resort you pick will be fine.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Thank you for the suggestions and trying to calm me down, I had another shock yesterday when I saw the wait times for the rides, if my kids like a ride and we get a FP for it and after the ride he wants to go again, we have to possibly wait in line for 60-140 min for some rides according to the app. I don't think he or I will have the patience, in that case since we are a party of 4 and the 2 year old is not going for the ride, can we book under my wife and second kids tickets and use to for me and my older son?

Also, another shocking thing was the distance between parks and the hotels (swan and dolphin) and even art of animation to MK.

Poly, contemporary and Floridian are on MK but very expensive, I have heard about DVC points, but not sure how that works? I can't imagine taking a bus a one hour ride with two little ones from the hotel to park and back. We even lose the advantage of coming back for a nap if we are in MK and our hotel is in hollywood studio, any tips or strategies? I want to focus on MK, HS fro cars, toy story etc, and AK for the dinosaur attraction as he loves dinosaurs.

So you are editing down your hotel choices and have quickly learned an important fact about WDW: the more you pay for accommodations, the better the transportation options. Since the Swan and Dolphin hotels are within walking distance to Epcot and Hollywood Studio, I consider them a good bang for your buck particularly when you compare costs with the the parks closest to MK along the monorail route. As for the value and moderate hotels I've never stayed at any of them but doubt the buses take that long to get to MK either. Here's a transportation map that might help you:

https://magicguides.com/disney-world-transportation-map/

You will also find other maps on this forum to get a more accurate idea of the scale of WDW.

If you go over to the DVC forum you'll find a lot of information on points and accommodations. Not sure what availability you'll find for this June via DVC but you may get lucky. As for October....yes well like I suggested read the DVC forum.

As for rides, you should read up about Ride Swaps since it might be useful information.
Your 2 y/o will not be given a magic band (his admission is free) although he can ride on any attraction he meets the criteria for. You can borrow your wife's magic band to ride a second time but not with anyone else unless you have another FP.

 

[lostprincess_danie]

For the FP+ once you use your first three you will be able to make FP one at a time using the Disney app while in the park. That takes a bit more effort but will help reduce wait times in some rides.

We are renting from DVC rental store. It's been a good process so far. It's free for them to check what's available. So it can't hurt to ask.

We are taking our daughter who will be two, I'm pretty sure she will get a magic band. I have not ordered them but MDE is giving me the option to customize one for her. The 2-year old will not need a ticket or to scan the magic band to enter a ride queue. I think it just unlocks the hotel room door.

 

[Klayfish]

Thank you for the suggestions and trying to calm me down, I had another shock yesterday when I saw the wait times for the rides, if my kids like a ride and we get a FP for it and after the ride he wants to go again, we have to possibly wait in line for 60-140 min for some rides according to the app. I don't think he or I will have the patience, in that case since we are a party of 4 and the 2 year old is not going for the ride, can we book under my wife and second kids tickets and use to for me and my older son?

Also, another shocking thing was the distance between parks and the hotels (swan and dolphin) and even art of animation to MK.

Poly, contemporary and Floridian are on MK but very expensive, I have heard about DVC points, but not sure how that works? I can't imagine taking a bus a one hour ride with two little ones from the hotel to park and back. We even lose the advantage of coming back for a nap if we are in MK and our hotel is in hollywood studio, any tips or strategies? I want to focus on MK, HS fro cars, toy story etc, and AK for the dinosaur attraction as he loves dinosaurs.

Yes, the wait times for the most popular attractions during the middle of the day can reach 2+ hours. However, you really can avoid those rather easily. Read a lot here, ask a lot of questions. We never, and I mean literally never, wait more than 30 minutes for anything...any park, any attraction. Knowing what to ride when and how to use FP+ will allow you to avoid the long lines. You can do it.

As I mentioned before, WDW is huge. You can't understand the scope of size until you're there. There are hotels that have proximity to certain parks. As noted the Swolphin (Swan/Dolphin twins) are within walking distance of HS and Epcot, but not MK or AK. The monorail resorts are easy to get to MK (and sort of Epcot), but not HS and AK. If you'll have a car, that's another option. Plan on 30-60 minutes from the time you say "OK, we're ready to leave" until you get back to your hotel. We stay offsite and depending on the park we're in, that's about our transportation time too. Epcot to the Swolphin (from park exit to hotel entrance) is probably a 10-15 minute walk.

 

[NYCgrrl]

For the FP+ once you use your first three you will be able to make FP one at a time using the Disney app while in the park. That takes a bit more effort but will help reduce wait times in some rides.

We are renting from DVC rental store. It's been a good process so far. It's free for them to check what's available. So it can't hurt to ask.

We are taking our daughter who will be two, I'm pretty sure she will get a magic band. I have not ordered them but MDE is giving me the option to customize one for her. The 2-year old will not need a ticket or to scan the magic band to enter a ride queue. I think it just unlocks the hotel room door.

You have to pay extra to customize a MB past color. Given how often some children (paging my grand nephew and DGD's bestie!) lose their MBs I wouldn't bother spending an extra 15.00 or more.

 

[katyjeka]

We have been able to grab a friend and family rate at the Dolphin several times. We've paid as little as 89.00 per night which is actually a high family rate but cheap in terms of the location. I just recently spent 39.00 a night at a courtyard on Fisherman's Wharf in San Fran. just as a comparison. The Dolphin is worth every penny and the location is wonderful. We love the pool as it seems less busy than Disney owned properties. The ages of your kids will make for a fun trip and it is very special watching your children experience everything for the first time. I feel a little sorry for first timers today as planning a WDW vacation has become a real job. I'm not complaining as I love to plan but I admit I would feel a little overwhelmed. I always tell friends who are going for the first time to download maps and become familiar with the parks before they arrive. It sounds a little crazy but walking in the first day the last thing you want to do is stand with a map in your hand trying to figure out where to go.(or stare at a phone app)Disney is very experience but it is a very special place. Half of the magic is found in the atmosphere of the park. There really are surprises around every corner. Remember that a successful trip is not made by doing everything. Your trip will be a success as long as your family has a good time and happy memories are made.

 

[lostprincess_danie]

You have to pay extra to customize a MB past color. Given how often some children (paging my grand nephew and DGD's bestie!) lose their MBs I wouldn't bother spending an extra 15.00 or more.

Thanks for the heads up about the cost!

 

[Disneyfan754321]

Wow reading this is overwhelming, no worries
We just came back from a last min trip, as in two weeks notice. Fast passes are nice but really overrated. We always stay off site I save a lot of money that way. We like the Sheraton vistana the best. A two bedroom for 7days is like 800, has a full kitchen full resort... some weeks are more some less... no vacation club meeting as hard as they try... www.skyauction.com that link is from others on here. We order food delivery from walmart.com but there are many more. Also we usually go two days then have a non park day maybe a small attraction

 

[Jacq7414]

The two times we went with our daughter (most recently as April) we stayed at the wilderness lodge. I love it there. After a long day at Magic Kingdom, it’s nice to hop back on the boat back to the hotel.

We also do the Park Hopper as well. Both times we went back to the hotel for a midday break. So it was nice to be able to choose a different park to see. Or to just go back to magic kingdom for the fireworks. I also was able to score a late Frozen Ever After fastpass, so we did that one day when we had spent the first part of the day in magic kingdom.

 

[Jacq7414]

Fast passes are nice but really overrated.

I don’t think fast passes are overrated when you want to ride Slinky Dog or 7 Dwarfs Mine train and the wait for the ride is 70 minutes and your fast pass line is like 15. You definitely get on more rides working the fast pass system.

 

[Klayfish]

Fast passes are nice but really overrated.

Huh??? Very curious to see why you feel FP+ is overrated. They are an absolute key to getting on attractions.

We are dedicated offsite people too, I wouldn't stay onsite if it were free.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Fast passes are nice but really overrated.

I'm sorry? How so? You prefer to stand in that 140 minutes Mine Train line? Or that 280 minutes FoP line? FPs prevent this. I don't pay the money I do to stand in line beyond 30 minutes.

 

[thor369]

In the MDE app, I don’t see any option for FP+ unless a ticket is linked to it. How would I know what’s avaible before I book? Is there a way?

Since this is last minute, a few questions about June or Memorial Day, will these times be very crowded? Vs October when schools will be open?

Thinking of doing two trips one now and one in beginning of October if I can get decent hotel prices.

I and the kids don’t have patience so not sure how they will stand in line for even 20 min.

The distance between the hotels and parks with bus is it really 15-20min?