Help - My very first time :)

[Thiago Acquaviva]

Hello guys, I'm Thiago and I'm from São Paulo, Brazil!
Since I was a little kid, my BIGGEST dream is to go to Walt Disney World.
and I truly mean it, BIGGEST OF THEM ALL, ABOVE EVERYTHING!
I grown up hearing about it, and I have some cousins that ALWAYS go to WDW every single year, but unfortunately I could never
Here in Brazil, our money is not that much valued comparing to US dolar and that what's make it most difficult for us to be able to go.
But now I'm 26, college graduated, working in 2 jobs and finally I got a chance to go!

I'm planning my trip for early november, cuz I'm gonna be on vacations and I'm going with my best friend, plus I heard about not been crowded, which I loved! haha is it true?
I grown up searching and gettin' information about WDW, and also I'm a theme park LOVER crazy insane addicted since I was a kid, so, that's make this adventure of just gathering information, to be a huge fun activity for me to do during all those years
I can say pretty much I know almost every single attraction inside WDW theme parks even without been there lol

I'm here cuz I need some help and specially some tips. I have a lot of doubts and I want my first trip outside Brazil (I freak love USA culture and also is my dream to be in the USA lol) to WDW to be as perfect as I can! *-*

Well, first let me explain what I'm planning to do and then if you guys could help me, I would be veeeery grateful


It's a 13 days trip in Orlando (11 nights).
I'm planning to get a plane from São Paulo to Orlando in november 1st, arrive november 2 in the morning and go to have lunch and go shopping before go to the hotel to rest and sleep for the 3rd (and kinda first) day.
I'm planning to stay inside WDW cuz I want to experience Disney magic in full time! But my budget is not that good (main reason is that US dolar is very expensive for us here in Brazil (U$1 dolar = R$0.40 real) so I'm planning to stay at All Star Movies resort or Art Of Animation. cuz I won't use the hotel at all lol, just for bath and sleep so.. I don't care about luxury.
Btw, about renting a car, we both don't drive so.. that's not an option lol

well, after day 2 (my arrival in Orlando) then, I planned so far:

DAY 3 (sunday)
Magic Kingdom

DAY 4 (monday)
Epcot

DAY 5 (tuesday)
Animal Kingdom

DAY 6 (wednesday)
Hollywood Studios

DAY 7 (thursday)
Shopping in premium outlet

DAY 8 (friday)
Sea World

DAY 9 (saturday)
Universal Studios

DAY 10 (sunday)
Island of Adventure

DAY 11 (monday)
Busch Gardens

DAY 12 (tuesday)
get back to a WDW park

DAY 13 (wednesday)
free day + shopping + airport and get back to Brazil

is it a good plan, guys?


My doubts are:

1) Is it best for me to buy all ticket here before I go to Orlando?
I'm planning to get 5 days WDW parks ticket combo + Universal pack combo (Universal + Islando of Adventure) + Sea World + Busch Gardens combo

2) Can we trust in WDW free transportation? What about the other non disney parks how can I do to get there?
I know staying at a disney hotel I can get free transportation for all disney parks and hotels plus DTD, but as soon as we wont rent a car cuz we dont drive, how can we do to go to the other parks and the outlets outside WDW?

3) How much (in U$) I have to plan to spend with food & drinks during a whole day? (just considering fast food all day lol)

4) There's any walmart or target store near WDW that we can reach without a car or taxi just to save some money buying cheap snacks for the hotel/day?

5) How cheap (or expensive) is to buy souvenirs from WDW? I mean plush toys, pins, figures, hats, etc.

6) About the Disney Transportation again, is it fast? is it easy to use? just taking a bus to the parks and the hotel is enough?

7) What I have to bring to the parks besides my room card key and money?

well, I think that's it.
Any help and/or tips I reall really appreciate it.

Thank you so much guys for taking your time and for your attention to help me, and I'm very grateful I discovered that website and forum cuz it's been helping me a LOT with my first time trip planning

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

first of all thank u for the compliment! haha glad to know my english is not that bad, cuz to be honest, I think the whole world should only speak english, I love that language!

LOL about the cachaça! haha I won't try that, I'm pretty sure they won't let me send it lol
I gotta buy on walmart and take it to the hotel, I think is the best way to save some money with food lol
The rest is just okay, I'm just not sure about the Art Of Animation resort, some ppl love it, some ppl don't, I'm afraid I'm doing a bad choice, what do you guys think? considering walking long distances, I don't care about that, it's okay, I just want a good value resort inside disney just to take some rest, bath and be near all WDW magic..

AoA is fine. Just bring some earplugs if noise bothers you at night. We stayed in the Mermaid section in Sept. and we're staying in Cars in April. Beds are short and firm, but not horrible.

 

[Hot Lava]

AoA is fine. Just bring some earplugs if noise bothers you at night. We stayed in the Mermaid section in Sept. and we're staying in Cars in April. Beds are short and firm, but not horrible.

No bed can be worse than the ones we had at Hotel Breakers at Cedar Point. So awful! I was not comfortable at all; if you moved the tiniest bit, it was like a boat in a hurricane. Finally, halfway through the first night, one of us got up and slept in the other bed. Thanks goodness we had the two beds and it was only the two of us! And that is their most expensive hotel. We only paid about 115 a night b/c of season and discounts. The price chart for that year (2007) showed that at high season, people paid 400+ for the same rotten room (b/c it wasn't just the beds that were bad with those rooms).

Makes you appreciate Disney. Even the worst Value resort room is a million times better!

 

[Meredith]

Well let's see merchandise can be on the pricey side pin are 8-14 if you go on disneystore.com they should havethe price of merchandise you can find in the parks. The magical express is very trustworthy I have usedit 46 times...it's great. i think your plan is great and also Welcome. if you want info about Disney world a good official website is disney.go.com. A great book is Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2013. That's all I can think of right now hope I helped.

 

[Meredith]

One last thing is I have stayed at Disney's All star movies about 14 times (I have been to disney 23 times) it is a pretty good hotel the rooms are not bad but not wonderful. Downstairs they have a breakfast lunch dinner quick service that is really good if you are just going to eat and get to the park I can see your putting alot of thought into this hope you have a great time.

 

[Thiago Acquaviva]

Well let's see merchandise can be on the pricey side pin are 8-14 if you go on disneystore.com they should havethe price of merchandise you can find in the parks. The magical express is very trustworthy I have usedit 46 times...it's great. i think your plan is great and also Welcome. if you want info about Disney world a good official website is disney.go.com. A great book is Birnbaum's Walt Disney World 2013. That's all I can think of right now hope I helped.

Heeey! thank u very very much for all those informations and help!
Glad to know it's easy to use Magical Express! I was worried about it!
Thank u very much

 

[Meredith]

Welcome, if you need any more info just ask