1st TIME TO DISNEY!!!

[Aprilcalvin99]

Help!!!! I'm very confused on so many things! 1st of all I'm planning to go as soon as the free dining comes out and in the dates in September! I will be taking a 7 Year old boy, three-year-old boy, and a 5 month old boy! So I am wondering how exactly I should be planning my trip! I want to do the character dining I will be there for 7 nights going to the park for 5 of the days! I was planning on doing the chef Mickey at 1 One of the days that I do not go to the parks! And was going to use the pool at the resort for the dais we don't go to the park I am planning to stay at the music resort! So which rides would be great for us all to ride together and in which parks would be the best? I would have the baby in a baby Carrier! Any and all tips are welcomed

 

[DryerLintFan]

You'll fold up the stroller when you get on the bus, and if possible, I'd look for those small light strollers that are easy to fold up. Disney has many places to park a stroller. With a carrier your options may be more limited. Plus it may be a royal pain to wait in line hold a carrier being crushed with people.


Yes and no, you can skip many rides, especially those that won't be good for small ones. I prefer the easy does it approach and schedule multiple days for Magic Kingdom. You certainly can cover Hollywood studios in a day, and probably Epcot because many of the features of epcot will not appeal to little ones.

I'm going in April and I have three days scheduled for Magic Kingdom, just because I don't want to rush through everyhting. Day three will certainly have a lot of repeats but it will be the last day of our vacation, so why not.

I babywore my daughter when she was a babe, and we didn't even own a stroller. We bought one when she turned two and no longer wanted uppies, but she never really rode in it. BUT when we got to Disney, she was in it a lot! It's a lot of walking for little ones, but moreover, there were a lot of times we wanted to walk at a pace faster than a drunken snail. Like when you head from the park entrance to your first attraction, there's a LOT of distance to cover, and it's nice to be able to cover it at an adult pace.

Another benefit of having a stroller is storage of things you don't really need. We didn't cart the stroller all over the park. We parked it in one spot, did a loop of that area of the park, grabbed the stroller, then headed to the next area. In this way it was closeby if we needed it, but we didn't have to deal with it all day. What was really nice with this system is we were able to leave a bunch of bottled water and other cumbersome or heavy items in it instead of carrying them in a backpack. We kept it all in a canvas tote bag so it was quick and easy to grab the bag out of the stroller and fold the stroller up while catching a bus.

We aren't stroller people, but I HIGHLY recommend bringing a stroller.

Oh...and the DDP. In order to get it you will have to get a minimum 2 day park hopper. I know it seems appealing...and we have done it in the past bc it's nice having it all "paid for" when you go. However, pricing it out you probably won't get your monies worth. And staying at a value resort, you will only get the quick service plan so no table service restaurants are covered unless you pay to upgrade the plan.
Again if you need help feel free to message. I love helping people plan their trips especially with little ones. I had to learn by doing and scouring websites and reading blogs. It gets overwhelming very fast!!

It didn't look like anyone mentioned this yet, but your 3 year old will have to be included in the dining plan as well, but the certainly will not eat enough food to justify the cost. Depending on the percentage, and considering the waste of credits for your 3 year old, you should definitely take a look at the room discounts and then pay for food out of pocket.

We also brought a bunch of snacks with us to save money and that worked amazingly.

 

[ELG13]

Yes...with a youngster on the plan it will possibly make it completely a waste of money. With our 2 yo since he could eat off our plates I kinda saw it as my daughter counting at 2 kids bc he ate what she ate, so that made me feel better. We probably won't ever to the FDD again simply because o don't see us getting our money out of it. The last night we were in the resort store buying up snacks bc we had something like 20 snack credits left...we even bought stuff for other people. The night we arrived someone bought or kids a treat bc they were trying to use the rest of their credits up as well...it was a pay it forward thing...pretty sure it's still going on right now lol. I used to LOVE the FDD but for short trips we don't get rhe value of it. It is nice however to have it all paid for though....my husband likes it for that reason. Even when I show him how much we generally pay out of pocket he says " I'd rather pay for the dining bc it's one less thing to worry about budgeting for."
Keep in mind...you still are expected to tip at table service. You still get a bill so we still had to tip on average $50 a meal if you go off of percentages .

 

[ELG13]

And please....RENT A STROLLER OFF SITE. They are real strollers. The ones at Disney are hard plastic monstrosities. They will deliver and pick up when and where you tell.them.

 

[DryerLintFan]

On the stroller topic as well... this was a really eye opening realization for me: I think a three year old could probably do just fine getting around most of the parks, but you shouldn't be thinking of *just* the park.... the walk from your room to the bus stop at the resort can be quite substantial, and then there's the walk from the bus stop to the main gate. You could potentially have walked a half mile or more before you even enter the park. For example you'll notice how far some of the bus stops are to the main gate below....

 

[MomofPrincessGrace]

1000000000% THIS!!! We used Kingdom Strollers and it was actually VERY reasonably priced! My daughter was 6, so we no longer use a stroller at home but I knew from last time that after a few hours she starts complaining of her feet hurting so I knew I wanted a stroller. Plus, even though she doesn't nap at home, being out in the sun makes you tired, so it was nice for her to take quick naps while we were walking around. We wanted to wait until our first park day to have it, so we selected that day instead of our arrival day. Went to bell services and they told me where to find it. Had our name on it and off we went! On our last day they told us to just drop it around the corner where we picked it up from, and that was it! Couldn't have been easier! We also had the option for a few dollars to add on a cup holder, which was so nice! With Kingdom, you have the option of several different stroller models (obviously the more sleek, the more expensive) and we went with the Mini GT, one step above basic, and it was awesome! Wish we had a stroller this nice on our first trip when my daughter was 5, so much easier to maneuver than an umbrella stroller.

 

[Yano]

Consider the Ohana character meal as well
As for how much or how little you want to do. Your kids will dictate that, and I suspect that they may tire sooner then later so consider breaks during the afternoons where they can hang by the pool. Consider some fans that spray the kids as well, so they don't get overheated in the park


Use a baby carriage and not a carrier that you have to lug around, that will get old really really fast.

Totally agree,from my experience I would get one of the cheap double strokers for the the older ones cause the will get tired from walking also e separate one for the the 5month baby