We are taking our grandson to DisneyWorld

[jobberone]

In Orlando. We are picking him up tomorrow and likely will leave to travel there Mon. He is six. Are there any rides we should not do? Anything else not to do? Places to go? Will the holiday rush be over by then? Should we go thru a travel agent or book it ourselves? Where to stay on campus? Any coupons to take advantage of yada? Thanks.

 

[Kangaroo]

In Orlando. We are picking him up tomorrow and likely will leave to travel there Mon. He is six. Are there any rides we should not do? Anything else not to do? Places to go? Will the holiday rush be over by then? Should we go thru a travel agent or book it ourselves? Where to stay on campus? Any coupons to take advantage of yada? Thanks.

Where to stay depends on budget but I stay on resort easier on you shuttles to every park etc carry your bags to the room and so forth (we did the all stars cheaper but still nice rooms).

Some people like the meal plans when I crunched the numbers it was about the same. If you go through Disney sometimes you can get offers like going on the lake at Epcot with the pirates to watch the laser light show or fireworks.


The character dinners are expensive but great for the kids they are buffets.

Did the Mickey mouse breakfast and the Crystal Palace; book before you go get your dates and time reserved. If you book through Disney you can get that all taken care off before you arrive.

There are some roller coasters in Hollywood studios and Animal Kingdom just skip them (Rock Roll and Everest)

On rides for 6 year olds do the Toy Story ride at Hollywood studios the kids & adults love that one. If he likes play house Disney they have a live show at the park oh and stop buy and watch the Starwars show he may even be picked to join in the show.

Parts of Epcot may be boring for him and skip the shuttle one that has some G's on it such a big kid ride. The finding Nemo ride is one to do not for the ride it is only so so but the talking turtle show afterwards rocks dude and give me some fin :laugh2:.

Buy the cups at the room and get the free refill on drinks back at the Hotel dinning all day and into the evening.

The best thing to do if you stay on resort is you get extended hours access to the park that other people do not some are early and some run late. We got that scheduled and planned the day go to the one park early in the morning come back had lunch at the Hotel, swam took a nap and then go to the extended hours late night park. This maximizes your time reduces lines and gives you and the kid a break during the day and you will have a much more enjoyable day.

In other words it is so worth it to stay on resort.

 

[Idgit]

http://www.orlandoinformer.com/2012/disney-world-fastpass-top-ten-tips-tricks-secrets/

Take advantage of the fast passes. Especially #6, where you get the pass for the next ride as soon as you're inside the window for your first one. Use the time in between fast passes to do attractions that have no likes (in California, the Tree House, for example, or the Jungle Cruise), or to eat, or to rest a bit, or to shop. You'll end up spending much less time in lines.

Early morning you can hit up 3-4 rides in a row before the park fills up to the point where there are any lines at all. But you have to get in when the gates open.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

All the above info is great. Let me add my recommendation to staying on site as well. And Kangaroo is right, depending on your budget you have a good selection to choose while staying there. If you want this to be a real kid friendly experience, they have a new resort called Art Of Animation. They call it a Value resort but it is a bit more money than the other value resorts. It is their newest one and it has themes like Cars etc to immerse yourself in.

If your grandson likes animals, do the safari ride at Animal kingdom and try to do it in the morning when the animals are most active. If you have some down time, you can take in some of the restaurants at the other hotels as well and I would suggest The Boma at the Animal Kingdom lodge. Get there early and stroll around the outside veranda and see the animals that are outside the hotel rooms.

My favorite place to eat in all of Disney World though is Teppan Edo in Epcot. It is a Japanese restaurant and they have the best Filet Mignon. And they chef puts on a great show while cooking your meal in front of you. Your grandson will love it.

If you are in Magic Kingdom and are tired and need to take a break, there is a LONG ride in Tomorrow Land. I can't remember the name except the song they play constantly which is "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow" It's annoying but the place is dark and you can relax and sit for a spell while the show goes on. I napped the second time we went. LOL.

Also they just opened a new area called Fantasy Land and from I have been told it is a must see area of the park. I'm sure you will see it and you kiddo will love it.

I will warn you one thing though, if you are taking your grandson and you have never been there before and you are thinking this is just a place that kids love you are in for a shock.

I kid you not, this is my favorite place to go. I was stunned at how once you enter this place the cares of the world go away while you are there. I am a workaholic and after the first few hours there I shut down my phone for the rest of the time and didn't take a single business call. I was never so refreshed after a trip. It was tiring because you are always moving place to place but the strange thing is that as soon as you get home you start thinking you want to go back.

Oh, and don't miss out on getting a Dole Whip. One of the best refreshing treats.

Have a blast. Oh and definitely book through Disney direct and since you are going on short notice ask what specials they have for "This weekend". They may have vacant rooms and want to fill them up so they may have some incentives.

 

[proline]

I just got back from Disney World about 2 hours ago. We took our two daughers (12 and 8) for 5 days there. It was the first time there for any of us.

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside resort, which I think is considered "mid-range".

The bus service was pretty good everywhere. We never got in our car the entire time we were there.

We went with the Quick Service meal plan, but for several reasons wouldn't do that again if we went a second time. It just seemed too restrictive.

Like you, we made our plans on short notice. We used an agent. Unfortunately, the short notice meant that it was not really possible to get reservations at the majority of restaraunts where they are recommended.

Definitely sign up for a Disney PhotoCD and get a photopass when you are there. http://www.disneyphotopass.com/specialoffers/wdwphotocdlearnmore.htm

With photopass, you can walk up to any of the Disney photographers and they will take your pic, then scan your card and you will be able to download them later. We used it alot, especially for the shots of the kids with various characters.

Regarding the characters, that was a little frustrating. The animal characters (those in full costumes) are fine. When they take their break, they walk off and their replacements return in 2-3 minutes. But with the human characters (the princesses), when they take their breaks they get pretty long ones. We missed out on 5 "human" characters in a row. The lines got cut off just as we walked up. On the 6th one, we were just barely able to get in the line before they cut the line off for that shoot.

Be prepared for a ton of walking!!!! And also be prepared to be amazed at how many people can be in one place, what lengths Disney goes to to present various themes, etc. It boggles the mind to think of the money and the behind the scenes support that goes on.

Here are my thoughts on the various parks.

MAGIC KINGDOM

Best two rides - Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain.

The Barnstormer might be a good first coaster for a 6 year old.

This Fast Pass tip actually works! http://www.ridemax.com/blog/category/fastpass/

Parades get in the way constantly! They run right through the center of the park, and this can mean that to get from one side to the other you have to take a longer path.

Try to eat lunch around 11 and dinner around 5pm to avoid crowds. This applies to all of the parks. Also, get there when they open to make best use of the Fast Pass system. If you are staying at a resort, you can take advantage of Extra Magic Hours, which are basically times when the park is only open to resort guests. This is usually an hour earlier than the normal opening time, but it various by park and by day/week, so get a schedule when you get there.

ANIMAL KINGDOM

This might have been our favorite park.

Best two rides are Expedition Everest and Dinosaur!

Kilimanjaro Safaris is a must. Pangani Forest Exploration Trail was very good, too.

"It's Tough to be a Bug" was a fun show.

Camp Minnie-Mickey is a great place to knock out some pics of the characters and get their autographs.


HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

Best two rides are Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. You will definitely want Fast Passes for these. I suggest getting there as soon as the park opens and getting FP for Rock 'n Roller Coaster right away. You can then walk over to Tower of Terror and get in the standby line, early while the standby wait is minimal.

Toy Story Midway Mania! is pretty fun, as is Star Tours (Star Wars simulator ride)

Lights, Motors, Action! is a great stunt driving show! Highly recommend this!!!!

Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage, was a good show, and Fantasmic! at the end of the day was a really impressive show, too.

EPCOT

This place was frustrating. We were told the two things we absolutely had to ride were the Test Track and Soarin', so we got there when the park opened and went right to Test Track to get our Fast Passes. By the time we got to the FP distribution kiosks, the return time was 2:15pm! We went ahead and got them, but that meant that we couldn't get them for any other rides. We went over to Soarin' after that, but the line was 145 minute wait. By the time we had used our FPs on Test Track, all of the Soarin' FP had been distributed, and the line length never went down.

Turtle talk with Crush! is really funny, and cool technology, too.

My 8 y/o doesn't even like to hear the word Epcot now. Neither kid was very impressed with it. The World Showcase section is very nicely done, but kind of boring for kids IMO. The fireworks show over the lake at the end of the day was very impressive, though!


We did the parks in the above order the first 4 days. On day 5, we went to Hollywood Studios first and rode Rock 'n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror again, then took the monorail to Magic Kingdom and road Space Mountain, stood in line for a couple of characters, and did some shopping. The kids decided what they wanted to do again for day 5.

My overall impression? Honestly, I have no desire to go again. I am a ride guy, not a theme guy, so I can go to any number of amusement parks that have rides as good or better than the rides at Disney World. There is one park near me that has 8-10 really good rides, so with a couple hours of driving I can ride as many good rides as I rode in a week at DW. For much less $$$. But I did enjoy seeing the kids have a good time, so it was worth it to me to make one journey to Disney World. I think with my kids being 8 and 12, the youngest is old enough to remember it and the oldest is still young enough to get into it.

I'm certainly no Disney pro, but if you think of any questions feel free to send me a PM.

 

[zrinkill]

If he likes Star Wars sign him up for the Jedi training academy show In Hollywood studios.

My 6 year old loved it.

 

[pjtoadie]

We went to Disney this past May and really enjoyed it! We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside and wish that we would have had more time to see the whole resort. I recommend the dining plan and it was nice having all of our meals prepaid. Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom were are two favorite parks and I agree with proline in that Epcot was not all that! Turtle Talk with Crush was really cool but that's about it. Animal Kingdom was on our 4th day and we were all exhausted so when we go again we'll try to do that the first or second day. If he likes Toy Story you have to ride Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios.

 

[UKCowboysFan]

We have been to Orlando many times, and have never stayed on resort.

To be fair, most of the times we have gone have been in the off-season (October), and when we are over we try & take in Universal Studios, Busch Gardens and the water parks as well as the Disney Parks.

Because of that a car comes in very handy, from talking to friends that have stayed at Disney, getting to and from the other attractions is quite difficult. I guess if you are only intending to go to the disney parks this really doesn't matter.

We did spend a night at one of the Universal Hotels this summer, so that we could utilise the front of queue passes & early entry, and that did work very well. So I guess that the early entry & stuff you get from staying on resort at disney would be similar and well worth it.

The one thing I would recommend (especially with young children), is that you take a break from the park in the afternoon, go back to your hotel, chill out & rest before heading back to the parks later in the day.

Another thing, when you go to hollywood studios, fastpass the Toy Story ride as soon as you get in, they get taken up really quickly.

Also, if you keep the children up later, it is really good to make it to the firework shows when you can, they really are worth it.

Whatever you do, have a really great time. I'm sure the kids will love it.

 

[Shunpike]

I will be taking my kids there in February.

I read and learned a lot from Disney Boards. You might wanna check it out.

http://www.disboards.com/

 

[tiny tim]

1.Here is another Disney message board you can look at.
http://www.passporterboards.com/forums/

2. Also here is the official Walt Disney World website.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/


What park/parks will you be going to and how long will you be staying? As others have said staying at a Disney resort might be something that you want to try. Another good Disney resort that does not cost that much money is the AllStars. Also downtown disney has hotels.

One ride that I have always loved is it's a small world.

 

[Cajuncowboy]

I will be taking my kids there in February.

I read and learned a lot from Disney Boards. You might wanna check it out.

http://www.disboards.com/

I have read a lot of Disney boards and this is the equivalent, as far as Disney World is concerned, of the Zone is to Cowboy information.

Highly recommend.

 

[Seven]

You win the lottery?