1st Visit in 10 years.

[Todd L]

Hello all. Im so glad I found this forum. Its helping me make plans for my upcoming trip to wdw.
We'll be there nov. 29th- Dec 6th.
Staying at POFQ.
My wife and I have 2 kids ages 3 and 14.
My in laws are going with us and Bringing my 18 year old niece.
I had a few questions I hope someone will help me with.
Do any of you think it would be okay to allow my Daugter(14) to go out with my 18 year old niece for some fun without us hanging around?
I thought maybe id cut her loose for a night or two and let them head over to Downtown disney:shrug:
My niece is a great kid and my daughter is a wonderful trustworthy kid.
Does anyone have any advice on keeping a group this large and diverse happy? Any help is much appreciated. See ya. Todd

 

[sweetpee_1993]

I'm so excited for you to go back and enjoy our favoritest place with your family!

I think the new T-Rex restaurant is owned/operated by the Landry's company as is the Rainforest Cafe restaurants on property as well as the Yak and Yeti in AK. I don't know if T-Rex will use the dining plan credits for your meal when you go. Last year we went on the dining plan to the Yak & Yeti not long after they opened and they were not set up to take the dining plan credits. I would hate for you to be surprised by that.

For a group I suggest just staying open to breaking into smaller groups from time to time. It's impossible to get a larger group to all agree on everything 100% of the time. Plus, it makes for some special memories when you have a special little moment sometimes.

Have fun and say hi to Mickey for us, too. :wave:

 

[smk]

My most important tip....relax and see what you can this trip and go back, often. There is no way you can see it all on one trip, I have a least 20 trips in the past thirty years and I have yet to see it all. I love WDW ( Magic Kingdom is my all time favorite place in WDW).

About the girls heading off alone, I let my teens go off by themselves and I was not worried. Set time limits (reasonable) and arm them with "stay together" and call and check in with you all, I feel they will be fine.

Have fun! Make memories! :wave:

 

[Crazy4WDW1]

Oh, I'm so excited for you! You are going to have such an amazing time. My only advice is the same as the previous poster. Take your time! Enjoy the little things each park has to offer. All the background music, the smells, etc. are worth taking the time to enjoy. Take lots and lots of pictures as well! If you haven't already done so, get your self a nice digital camera. Make sure to put your name and cell phone number on your camera!! :wave:

 

[Todd L]

Great stuff.

The list is just mindblowing thank you so much. I printed it and we all read thru it together over dinner last night . we are gonna take it with us and use it as a bit of a guide/checklist to see how man of the things we can spot.

I Just got a really nice Digital camera and Video camera for my wife in The past few months. My Daughter has a Nice little digital too.
Im hoping to take a ton of pictures and maybe get a good one for our family xmas card too.

Does anyone know if Disney can help me order Photo xmas cards while im there?

I would have to imagine that they will either process an order for me directly or provide me with a place where i can get internet access so I can go online and order from snapfish.

One more thing. I am a Star wars nut and my 3 year old son is following in my footsteps. Do any of you know if there is an age cutoff to be chossen for Jedi training? Im not 100% sure he would go for it But he does spend alot of time walking around with a light saber and "Using the force"

I picked up 2 books Birnbaum, and The everything family guide to the WDW resort. Both are pretty cool but i prefer the Birnbaums.

 

[disneydiva72]

Just tell them to stay out of the parking lot, its not devoid of crime there.


Disney is going to seem so different to you, when I look back at my pics from 10 years ago its amazing how much has changed!!


Where from LI are you? I am also from the Island in the North. lol

 

[RiversideBunny]

I Just got a really nice Digital camera and Video camera for my wife in The past few months. My Daughter has a Nice little digital too.
Im hoping to take a ton of pictures and maybe get a good one for our family xmas card too.
...

Take good memory cards and enough batteries with you when you go. Those are not cheap at WDW.

 

[DisneyWall-E]

You can also let them enjoy the evening extra magic hours by themselves too. On some nights one of the parks will be open up to 3 hours late. You can just let them go off by themselves and then they can catch a ride back to the resort by themselves.

 

[Todd L]

hELLO

 

[DisneyMarg]

While I agree with other posters about time apart from each other, if you haven't discussed this with the in-laws you should. Members of our family had a less-than-stellar vacation experience a couple of years ago in Hawaii when one party thought everyone should do what they wanted and meet up occasionally and another party thought they should do everything together. The "togetherness" party had paid for the accomodations and felt entitled to drive the show because of that. The "do your own thing" party had still paid for their flights, food, etc, and taken time off work for their only vacation that year, so they felt entitled to do what they wanted when they wanted to. It wasn't pretty.

If I understood correctly, your group isn't that big - the 4 in your family, and your in-laws and niece. That's just 7 people - not too many to hang together. And in-laws tend to want to stick with the "kids". If you don't live in the same town they are probably looking as forward to being with their daughter as they are going to Disney. You don't want to hurt their feelings by implying that you don't want them around.

We have been to Disney with various extended family members, and this has worked for us... I'm one of those "touring plan" people, and I usually have a pretty clear plan for each morning through early afternoon (which I've put together with requests and feedback from my immediate family). Then I tell the extended family what we are doing that morning and that we would love for others to join us, but no hard feelings if they don't. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't.

As to your other question, somehow I'd feel more comfortable letting them roam around the parks than Downtown Disney, but that is probably OK too. How do you feel about your daughter hanging out at the mall? It's sort of the same thing.