Help! WDW trip planning

[disneylover]

Hi! I just got off the phone with my husband who surprised me by saying he was trying to plan a WDW trip for us! I cannot beleive it (he's not the biggest Disney fan). Anyways, I have some questions for those of you who have gone before: When is the best time of year to go(weather wise)? If you have stayed at a Disney resort hotel, which would you recommend? And lastly, how many days should we plan to go, if we want to expereience all the parks? Also, any other info would be greatly appreciated! Thank you-I am so excited!:biggrin:

[Wendy Darling]

Depending on what kind of weather you want when you go, and the crowds...in my personal experiense, I would go in late summer, early fall, or some where around there...I remember that when I go the weather is unpredictable...I remember that we were at U studios and it was really hot, then right as we were heading towards the parking garage, it started pouring down rain...took us by suprise...espesially since it was still hot out as it rained. back to subject, what kind of weather at such stuff do you want while there?

[Zip~a~dee~doo~dah]

Try to avoid hurricane season. You'll need at least a week to see all the awsome stuff. Disney-MGM takes a day to see, EPCOT either 1 or 1 and a half. Animal Kingdom is probably 1 day, but I'm not sure. Magic Kingdom takes two days I believe.


I've been to WDW before.

[disneylover]

Yep, I am trying to avoid hurricane season (by the way, when is hurricane season?). I know it will most likely be pretty warm most of the year, and I'm fine with that-I like the heat. I just don't want to have to worry about hurricanes with traveling and being at the parks and such. Thanks for the info! Anything a must see/do?

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Hurricane season is June-Oct/Nov so if you go at all in the summer, you're pretty much taking your chances. I got hit by a Tropical Storm just a couple weeks ago, but it was no big deal.

Do NOT stay at a resort that has only bus access to the theme parks. At the end of the night those lines were HORRIBLE and those buses were crammed like New York's never seen. Make sure you stay at Contemporary, Polynesian, or Grand FL if you can as these all have monorail access to TTC & Magic Kingdom. Buses from TTC to parks are usually emptier and have shorter lines than buses from the value resorts. At least, that's what I saw when I was there 2 weeks ago. It'll be more expensive but it's for sure worth it.

Also Disney's Magical Express is definetly worth looking into.

-- Peoplemover "WDW's a nice place but DLR is better! :cool: " Matt

[disneylover]

Thanks Matt! I really appreciate all the help. One question though, and it might be a stupid one, but what is TTC? I will look into those hotels, I have seen the Grand FL on TV and it looked really nice. I am looking into seeing what WDW is like, but I know that nothing can ever compare to DL, at least in my eyes:biggrin:

[PeoplemoverMatt]

Grand Floridian is so nice it was shocking to me. I walked in there in my collared Who Wants to Be a Millionaire polo & nice shorts and I felt underdressed, seriously. It's also mucho expensive, so unless you really want to shell out the bucks for a very elegant stay, then try the Contemporary or Polynesian. I also had the chance to walk through the Polynesian and it looked like a nice place to stay. Looked comfortable but not Grand FL jaw-dropping glitsy.

I realized I never suggested a length of stay for you, so I shall do so now. I'm a creature of unorthodox thinking most of the time, so an unorthodox visit is what I will suggest to you. In order to fully experience the WDW Resort, please try to realize how daunting of a task this is, I would suggest no less than 6 days, especially if kids are involved here. I walked my tail off in the 3 days I went, including a Tuesday where I walked the entire grounds of all 4 major theme parks. I know no adult, much less a kid, is going to look kindly on that kind of torrid pace. Now here comes the unorthodox part, try not to make these 6 days 6 consecutive days. Take a break in between, somewhere :smile: . I had the luxury of staying at my uncle's house so I went on a Sunday, Tuesday & Thursday. Believe me, those off-days made a world of difference. If you're staying on property, maybe take a day or two and check out your hotel, Universal's free-access CityWalk down the road, or the other malls n' stuff in the area. You'll be kinda far from a beach, so I wouldn't count on that one. Then, head back into the park frenzy rested and with a game plan for the coming days.

If you're going in the summer, it's going to be hot. Unless the kids are really huge Disney park fans, they will pay more attention to that and want to swim or eat ice cream somewhere instead of riding those glamorious E-ticket's you've been drooling over. If you allow enough overall visit time, then you can afford those breaks, and not feel like you're wasting cash by the second.

If you're going to do this, do this right. Don't kid yourself into thinking you can see everything in 2 days. You can't see everything properly in 4 days! There is literally that much to see and do there. The place is MASSIVE, I can't stress that enough. Makes Disneyland look like a school playground in size by comparison. That's one of the reasons I like Disneyland better. All the great attractions and shows without having felt like I've circumnavigated the globe. :smile:

Animal Kingdom only takes the better part of an afternoon, so no real big worries there. Once you've ridden Kilimanjaro Safaris, you've basically covered it. Although I would suggest Primeval Whirl as that was a surprisingly good coaster. Think Mulholland Madness with the spinning of Roger Rabbit. :wink: Be sure to at least take a walk around the park to make sure you see everything. Attractions-wise I say the best park is Epcot. Not so much Disneyana with Peter Pan & Cinderella and all them, but good innovative more or less thrilling rides all with extremely wonderful themeing. And then there's the World Showcase that surrounds a lake whose area is larger than the entire DCA park, (I told you this place was huge!) which is nice to walk through and see American Adventure show.

That's really all I have for now, shocking to me that this is still as fresh in my mind as it is. If you need pricing info or any other info feel free to contact me and I'll help ya however I can. :cool: .

-- Peoplemover "I easily covered 30 miles on foot in 3 days...totally not exaggerating!" Matt

[disneylover]

WOW!!!! Thanks Matt! I really, really appreciate you taking the time to give me all that important info! I think that is a great suggestion to take a break a couple of days in between. Give the old feet a rest. I did not realize the Grand FL was so glamorous, guess I'll be checking into the other 2 you suggested. I have dreamed about going to WDW since I was a little kid, yet I have no idea what to expect from it. I'm basically clueless, which is odd because I feel so at home at DL. I knew it was HUGE, but a lake bigger then DCA, wow, I was not expecting anything like that. Thanks for the heads up.

Primeval Whirl sounds really fun! I'm looking forward to that one. My husband had to go to FL for business, and wanted me to come out to go to WDW, but only for 2 days. I passed because I knew there was no way we could do everything, and I personally do not like to be rushed. I mean, you are on vacation after all, I want to relax too!

When I figure out more of the specifics I will probably have some more questions. Hopefully we will go in late summer or early fall, but I am not holding my breath. My husband is famous for suggesting to do something I really want to do, getting my hopes all up, and then not following through with it. I thought it was a good sign that he wanted the advice from everyone on this site. ;) I know we have a free flight to FL to from our credit card, so that's a plus too!

Thanks again PMM!

[disneyfanears]

You should go in the middle of September because the hotels on Disney property are cheeper and the parks are less crowed because kids like me have to go to school.

[disneylover]

Ok, after looking into WDW a little more, I have another question. Does the monorail go to all of the theme parks? I wan to try and avoid congested buses like PMM mentioned, so I am looking into Polynesian or Contemporary resorts because of the monorail, but I'm curious how far the monorail goes. Thanks-I feel so overwhelmed looking at the map of WDW!:icon_excl

[PeoplemoverMatt]

WDW has 3 major monorail routes and they all converge on the TTC - Transportation and Ticket Center. The 3 are the WDW Resort monorail, WDW Express Monorail and the Epcot line, all part of the WDW Monorail System. Express Monorail will only stop at the TTC & Magic Kingdom. Resort Monorail will stop at TTC, Magic Kingdom, Contemporary, Polynesian and Grand Floridian Resorts. Epcot line runs from TTC to Epcot. This does mean if you're staying @ Polynesian, Contemporary, or Grand FL, you must change monorails at the TTC to get to Epcot. It also means that Magic Kingdom and Epcot are the only parks available via monorail.

MGM Studios & Animal Kingdom are accessible only by bus or your own personal car. What you can do is ride monorail to TTC and pick up the bus from there to either MGM or Animal Kingdom. Once you're ready to leave either one, then pick up the bus going to TTC. Or, you could pick up the bus that goes to Epcot and ride the monorail from Epcot to TTC. Either way, you can avoid those crowded sardine-like buses going to the value resorts.

Unfortunately the monorails from TTC to the Resorts are going to be crowded at night w/ the closing of Magic Kingdom, can't really help ya on that one. However, the lines do go quickly as there are many monorail trains on the route during the busy time. You'll wait 20mins max despite how bad it actually looks. Good to hear you're looking into the Contemp & Polynesian, you'll have some good fun there! :cool:

Also...one thing I don't think I mentioned. WDW Resort guests are eligible for "Extra Magic Hours." What that is is every day one of the 4 parks opens an hour early and stays open 1-3hrs past posted closing time and ONLY resort guests are eligible to stay and experience the park's attractions. This won't mean you'll be able to ride everything w/ 5min lines like last summer's Wake Up & Scream @ DCA's Tower. There are plenty of Resort guests to keep those stand-by lines at a healthy length, but it does mean you can extend your park going hours into the night. To me that means I can take a break in the afternoon for a while knowing that time will be made up later that night. :smile:
WDW's official website does a good job of showing what parks have EMH on what days. Once you're there, any information kiosk in the entire complex should have that information.

-- Peoplemover "I should apply to be Disney Travel consultant of some form, no? :wink: " Matt

[disneylover]

-- Peoplemover "I should apply to be Disney Travel consultant of some form, no? :wink: " Matt


For sure! You just gave me a ton of information that I could not find anywhere on the WDW website (although I must admit I did not look for very long) I'm surprised at how un-detailed their maps are. Very tiny on the web. Its difficult to get a grasp of the whole transportation thing. I was wondering if there would be a central ticket area of some sort. I feel much better now about the whole transportation issue! I really appreciate all of your help! Wow, that extra magic hours sounds fantastic! Thanks for the heads up- now back to planning. I'm sure I'll have more questions before long! Thanks again PMM!!!!:p