First time at WDW!

MissEnchanted92

Member
Original Poster
Hi All! I'm very new to this site, I love it! Me and my Husband are going to WDW Florida from the UK for our Honeymoon on the 4th June this year for 10 days, and I'm really having trouble planning! Please could I have some general tips for first timers? It is also our first time in the USA so any tips about the change would be great also! Thank you!!!
 

seahawk7

Well-Known Member
Hi All! I'm very new to this site, I love it! Me and my Husband are going to WDW Florida from the UK for our Honeymoon on the 4th June this year for 10 days, and I'm really having trouble planning! Please could I have some general tips for first timers? It is also our first time in the USA so any tips about the change would be great also! Thank you!!!
Congratulations and welcome to the forums! You will get great advice here. The only advice I can give is make reservations at romantic places like Victoria and Albert ' s and Flying Fish Cafe. Where are you staying?
 

seahawk7

Well-Known Member
We are staying at the All Star Music Resort :)
Make sure to let them know it's your honeymoon. I'm not sure what they will do besides give you a pin but it's at least nice to have the pin so CMs will recognize your celebration. I think the Jazz section is the prettiest section at that hotel. It's a little further but not much. The website Allears.net has some good, reliable pictures of the hotels. You can make a request on your reservation for the Section you like.
The Port Orleans Riverside hotel is the most romantic hotel on property IMO. However its a moderate resort but maybe you could upgrade?
Either way, I would definitely visit the Boardwalk resort which is between Hollywood Studios and Epcot and is accessible by boat or foot. It is very romantic.
 

Tinkerkelle

Well-Known Member
What a fab honeymoon. We went to Paris for 5 nights then Disneyland Paris for 4 for our honeymoon in 2001. You'll have a great time.

As a UK resident, we stick with Orlando time as soon as we get there to get in synch with the 5 hour difference - Orlando is 5 hours behind. It's hot - I love the heat - but we need a change of clothes for every day (at least), unless you use the laundry facilities. It's hot but it can rain a lot depending on the season so rain ponchos from the pound shops are a fab investment (also useful for water rides.) Rain isn't a bad thing - it can scare others away and make for lighter crowds and the heat dries you quickly when the sun comes out. Make sure you have filled in your ESTA online and print out all your travel info and any reservations you have to keep yourself right. Bring a little first aid kit with paracetamol, plasters and things like that, as well as your sun lotion, sun glasses, spare batteries etc as these all cost a premium onsite. We bought a travel adaptor that has 4 sockets from Amazon so we could charge phones and cameras at the same time. Then research and plan - WDW is amazing and we always have a fab time but I'm an obsessive planner!! :) Knowing what to expect makes everything easier.

Decide which parks you want to do on which days - the June calendar is available on the site. There are websites that will recommend which days are best to visit certain parks based on their own formulas. You could look at some of those for ideas.

Familiarise yourself with the park layout and have an idea of which attractions you want to cover and how best to do that. Use your 3 FP+ selections wisely. As a resort guest you can make 3 Fast Pass selections at 60 days out if you have a My Disney Experience account with Disney and have your resort reservation and tickets linked to your MDE account. Attractions that have high wait times throughout the day (7 Dwarves Mine Train in MK or Toy Story Mania in HS for example) are best done with FP+ as they always have the biggest wait times. Again, there are sites that will give you an idea of what FP+ to get and what kind of times you should aim for. Fast passes mean you enter the Fast Pass queue (and wait a very minimal time) rather than the normal standby queue.

I'm not a morning person and like a long lie on holiday, but Disney is the exception. You can get so much more done if you are at the parks early for opening. We go in October which is a slightly slower time and arrive at least 30 mins before opening to get through bag check and to the tapstiles. You also get to see the opening show at MK that way.

Once you've decided which parks you want to be at, you can look at restaurants. If you are looking for a sit down meal then you pretty much need an Advance Dining Reservation (ADR). Your booking time has been open for quite a while (opens 180 days in advance) so you may want to make some choices soon. Look up the menus for restaurants that catch your eye and you can book online through the Disney site.

For quick service meals we love Flametree BBQ at AK, Columbia Harbour House at MK, Sunshine Seasons at Epcot and the cupcakes at Starring Rolls in HS. Look out for the snacks throughout WDW, not just cupcakes, they are amazing. I asked for help here in compiling a list of must tries and I am determined to plough through them all! Portion sizes are big and you can save a bit of money by splitting a meal here and there. There are so many great places to eat, quick service and table service, depending on what you like and how much you want to spend.

The parks are fab - all of them - but the other resorts are too. You can't use their pools but you can have a wander round and/or eat at them. The monorail resorts are easy to get to from MK and the Boardwalk from the International Gateway exit by the UK pavilion in Epcot.

Get the honeymoon badge - it says 'Happily Ever After' - and you can get the First Visit badge too. We got chatting to a few people in lines because of badges. We wished the couple in front of us at Pirates of the Caribbean all the best because they were wearing the Happily Ever After one. We chatted the whole 20 minutes we were in the queue and it felt like only 2 minutes!

Biggest tip - get to the parks early for rope drop so that you can be through bag check and be at the turnstiles for opening to take advantage of lower early morning crowds.

Other biggest tip - Enjoy! Take time to soak up the atmosphere and have fun.
 

bebert

Well-Known Member
Congrats and I will be there with my family at the same time, maybe we will see each other:).
As others have said make sure to let them know it is your honeymoon and make sure to wear your button they should give you, it will make your trip so much fun.
To ensure you have some nice dinners, try to make your reservations now. Also, try to make your FastPass reservations now. The best thing to do is browse this site and others for the specific things you are interested in, YOU TUBE has some great videos that may help as well.
As far as rides or attractions, it really depends on what you like to do.
My favorites are Space Mtn, Splash Mtn, Big Thunder railroad, Small World, Soarin, The Land, Star Tours, Rockin Roller Coaster and Bugs life.
 

zurgandfriend

Well-Known Member
Congratulations and best wishes; my DW and I had a “Disney moon” as well, and a few years later we brought back a little souvenir we named Jake but I digress. My advice is to do some homework. Don’t just show up as you will be overwhelmed. Some basic planning will make your trip more enjoyable. Another piece of advice is to remember to rest in the afternoon. Hit the parks early but head back to your resort mid-day. Go to the pool, relax and recharge then clean up and head back out in the evening, enjoy!
 

DisneyJunkie

Well-Known Member
Congratulations, first-timer! One thing you might like to do every now and then is to just stop or sit for just a couple of minutes and enjoy your surroundings. Sometimes people get caught up in the go-go-go rush of getting from one park to another that they miss out on just enjoying where they are. You can do this too while actually being on a ride, whether it be the monorail ride into Epcot or the TTA in Tomorrowland, and even on the WDW Railroad. Something else you might enjoy is when it gets towards fireworks time at Magic Kingdom, leave the park and take the water ferry that goes from MK to Polynesian to Grand Floridian. It's a nice ride and you still get some great views of the fireworks show.
 

216bruce

Well-Known Member
My advice....Don't try and do everything there. It's an overwhelming place for first-timers, so set a casual pace and just enjoy it. Spend some time looking online at attractions and experiences and pick ones you "must" do and then just pick and choose what sounds/looks good from there. Everything there is good and worth the time.
Good, romantic places to eat- Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge, Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge
Must do's- Fireworks and Castle show at MK
Most of all, spend some time planning and making reservations now, so you can enjoy yourself there. Relax, have fun, don't stress.
 

bethymouse

Well-Known Member
Congratulations!
Just wondering.... are you sure you aren't able to upgrade to a moderate resort such as Port Orleans Riverside or even Port Orleans French Quarter. It's not too much more $$, and it's very beautiful with romantic spots such as the boat ride to Downtown Disney ( Disney Springs). ? I would definitely make a reservation at the new Boathouse restaurant in Downtown Disney ( pricey, but honeymoon worthy). Take a ride on the new boat amphicars ( 100$).
Take your time to explore.
Get a memory maker package.
Most of all.... enjoy !:joyfull:
 

SAV

Well-Known Member
Being that you are only 36 days away from your trip, you may have missed the window to get your preferred times for your dining reservations and FP+ allotments. So as it has been said, you need to go out there now and try to get them for the restaurants/attractions you are interested in. The good thing is you have 10 days for your trip. If you haven't decided on what days to visit which park, then that should be your first priority, so you can then start to plan out the ADR's & FP+'s. Easy WDW Dot Com has a free crowd calendar that I use every trip.

As you see there are many different opinions on how you "should" tour the parks. Only you know you and the Hubby and how you would like to tour the parks. Personally, we get there at opening and stay until close. Others prefer to leave the park for a while. Recently we have incorporated a non-park day into our stays.

A general rule is that the park that has "Extra Magic Hours" is usually a more crowded park. I prefer to avoid those parks, but others like to take advantage of this perk. If you have a park hopper you are able to do the EMH and get out of there before the crowds build. If you park hop, another general rule is to factor in about an hour of time to do the actual park hop. Sometimes it is quicker, other times it is longer. It just depends on when a bus shows up and the length of line to get into the second park.

There are maps of the property available on the Disneyparks website, so I would take some time to familiarize yourself with those maps so you have an idea of what to expect.

Being a first timer, I would avoid the on-line check-in option and go talk with the CM at check-in. They will be able go through your trip packet with you and be able to answer any questions you may have.

Most of all, ENJOY your trip and don't sweat the small stuff.
 

Soarin77

New Member
You've got a lot of great advice here! I would read a lot of the websites info (ex: AllEars.Net, WDWandMore.com, and WDWMagic.com). Those sites are full of great info, but I love listening to Podcasts. BeOurGuestPodcast and WDWToday are my favorites. Those helped me learn and they have weekly episodes focused on Listener Questions (many from the U.K.)

Have a Safe & Wonderful Trip! You are going to love it!
 

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
Echoing what someone said above, yeah, take your time. You've got ten days to spread things out.

While there is a lot of planning, don't be afraid to be flexible. Think of your Fast Passes and Dinner Reservations as an outline that you can build around.
 

216bruce

Well-Known Member
Oh yeah, we went 34 years ago on our honeymoon. Saw EPCOT under construction; it was that long ago. My wife still calls Downtown Disney "The Shopping Village". Took our granddaughter there last summer for her first trip. The place is truly magical if you let it be that. Suspend disbelief, be a kid and may your marriage be as great as ours has been.
 

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