Overwhelmed with planning - first time, need help

[Klayfish]

You will probably find the weather in October is similar to that in May. Both can/will be pretty hot (unless you're talking the very end of October, which is still rather warm). Yes, the special event you're talking about is probably Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP). It's a separate ticketed event. Never gone, so I can't tell you about it, I don't think it's worth the money. For those, MK will usually close around 6pm.

Only you can decide if now and October are too close together. It probably would depend on how much you like/love WDW. If you do a one week trip now and have never been before, you will barely scratch the surface of what WDW has to offer. So your trip in October can be 100% different with all new things. And the one after that, and the one after that. We have gone many times over the past years and still to this day find new things to do. When we have annual passes, we will go for Thanksgiving and come right back a month later for Christmas. We look forward to it every time. This is the first summer since 2014 that we are not going and everyone is very sad about it...the kids mention it often.

You really can't compare WDW to a small local park, even Six Flags. WDW truly is a small city, think of it that way. Imagine a city where every single building is something you want to spend time in exploring. It will take weeks or months to see EVERYTHING.

 

[thor369]

Thanks for the (MNSSHP) info, and just to put some of my perspective in the decision making. This all started with our co-worker saying that we can use mariotts F&F rate, when searching, we saw rates were pretty decent and went all in.
When pricing it out, it will still cost us $4000 for the trip for 5 days. But the reason for beginning of October is, since it one of the kids Birthday, we wanted to take him there for it. Either way, unless we go there we wont know, if we want to come back.

When comparing to a vacation in Cancun for 7 nights, its pretty close to the price of Disney, plus in WDW there is so much to do for kids vs. a resort in mexico.

We have never done cruises and that's another topic, but we are also interested in the Disney or other cruise where kids can have fun and we can relax a little.

 

[Klayfish]

WDW can be as expensive as you want it to be. There are also ways to save money if you want...stay offsite, bring food in, etc...

 

[Kleese]

I would wait till early October because it will be a little cooler. Also I would not waste my money on a park hopper especially with two kids. Things in Disney take so very long to do because it is so big! I had a gap of 10 years between trips and just went back last year I had completely forgot how long it takes to get around. I thought we would go back to the resort after lunch take a swim and then go back for dinner . Needless to say we swam 1 time and only because my husband put his foot down and cancelled half a day at the park so we could bring our little girl to the pool poor baby. My best advice make the first day you come in a resort day to rest and plan everything but make sure you don’t hold to tight to that plan the day of. Be able to change. Like I often moved out fast passes on my Disney experience app the day of because we ran late because of buses or lunch. Definitely bring a phone charger with u to the park because you will need it. Between pictures and my Disney experience it seems to eat a charge faster then I’ve seen. There are several places to sit with a coffee or popcorn and charge your phone. I would definitely explore the app way before your trip so you can run it like the back of ur hand. It can be so useful ordering food or telling u how much of a wait there is a head. Don’t expect to go do everything you want to do on one visit. Write down the must and the I would like to go on rides and plan accordingly. There is a list on the forum that tells you the most popular rides and which ones would be better use of your fast passes. I will try to copy a link for u later. I would say that if you want to spend money on a resort then go ahead but your first time why not try a value. Honestly if u don’t plan a resort day you will really not spend anytime there. The last trip we stayed at the animal kingdom resort and we unfortunately didn’t spend anytime there except when hubby said that we were going to take Alexandra swimming. We sat on the balcony once looks at the animals waiting for the airport bus to bring us to our flight. So much money wasted but live and learn. I would love to go back it was so beautiful but we would have many resort days planned. We went on Halloween and went to the party in MK big mistake. We should have stayed at the resort as they had so many things planned. The party was to crowded and we could have saved so much money and had a great time. We are going back in 15 days for my daughters birthday. We decided not to do a party as she enjoys and we enjoy Disney more then hosting other people. She will be 3 and no longer free but no matter she doesn’t need anymore toys and spending quality time as a family is the best thing you can give them. If you have any questions just let us know we all can talk for days about Disney ( as you can see) lmao

 

[Kleese]

https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpass-frequently-asked-questions.3491680/

This is the page I was talking about.

 

[Anthony Vito]

I wanted to read through all of these then reply and try not to repeat too much of what was said, but then I got interrupted with work, now if I don't kick in my two cents, I probably won't, so sorry if I repeat some things others have said. With that caveat, I will try to just pass along our experiences with similarly aged children.

We first went in early September 2016 when our kids were 4 and 28 months. We stayed 6 nights at Caribbean, and we had Park Hopper because the promotion at the time required it. While we were a bit exhausted at the end, we still felt 6 nights was not really enough (will get more into the length issue later). Our next trip was the week before Labor Day in 2017 and we did 9 nights at Polynesian - had Park Hoppers (kids were 5 and almost 3 1/2). Our most recent trip with the kids was last late April/early May 2018 (son was 5 yrs 8 mos, daughter turned 4 while there). We stayed 8 nights - 1 night at Pop, 7 nights at Wilderness Lodge. Park Hoppers once again. Our next trip will be this August for 9 nights - 1 night at Pop and 8 nights at Yacht Club.

So, first off, when planning your days, I would highly recommend planning a mid-day return to your room to get the kids to nap. We have done it where one day they napped in the strollers, but otherwise we've done a nap break almost every other day we've been there. Even last year when our son had stopped napping for some time. With the heat and the excitement and everything else, naps were still pretty necessary. Plus, it allowed us to go a little bit later than we would otherwise, staying for fireworks, etc. On a normal night, they get to bed between 8 and 9, so we just did not want to try to push them late when we knew they'd be that much more tired from a day in the parks/pool. We still planning on setting aside nap time for this upcoming trip when our son will be turning 7 and our daughter will be almost 5 1/2. (Honestly, sometimes I'm quite ready to take a nap.)

As far as the number of days, my wife and I feel like this also goes towards how you plan your days. Each trip, even when we've felt like we've had enough with the kids and all and meltdowns (there are always a couple), craziness, etc., we still never feel like we've had quite enough time and never get nearly as much done as we wanted. We also usually just try to have a limited goal each day - we set three FastPasses in the morning, get those done, then anything else before naps is a bonus. With the wrangling the kids, walking, transportation, etc., always plan that you will accomplish less rather than more. We've always liked to also plan the mornings a bit more, than leave more flexibility in the afternoons/evening to change plans (unless we have a dinner reservation) or have more pool time, etc. This is changing a little more this upcoming trip as the kids are getting a bit older, but I'm a little worried about that.

If you can afford it (and the tickets get much cheaper to add on days once you get past 4-5 days - it's the hotel and food that becomes the added expense), try for as much time as you can to allow for more time to not be rushed to get things done. During our Polynesian trip, our son suddenly got a stomach bug and vomited all over the floor of a gift shop in Hollywood Studios the morning of our last full day. It killed that day essentially for us as he was sick the rest of the day. Because we had a longer stay, we at least did not feel like we were cheated out a significant chunk of our trip. Also, the extra time allows flexibility for the time that a kid has a meltdown and allows you to pivot and say, let's just head back to the room and chill for a bit. If you're going to essentially lose your only day at one of the parks because of that, you're more likely to try to push through it when you know you'd rather just cut your losses for a few hours (we've all been there - another key thing to remember).

I need to cut this short (feel free to PM me for more of how things went), but as far as strollers, we've stuck with them - would rather have them as an option than deal with a kid too tired to walk any more. We also did a regular stroller (Britax B Agile) and an umbrella stroller.

You mentioned a ticket for your daughter - not sure if it was pointed out, but you do not need a ticket for her as long as she's under 3. Also, if you really are looking to go twice this year, look long and hard at the Annual Passes. You'd likely save money on tickets, plus you get the Memory Maker included so that will save you $180 each trip, and you also would get discounts on sit-down dining, merchandise, and some hotel room deals.