Ok so hopefully you could tell from my posts that we had a GREAT GREAT GREAT vacation. I can not recommend enough taking the trip to Florida for the experience. We have been to DisneyLand several times but something about DisneyWorld just was different. There are pros and cons with both and hopefully each of you can visit both sometime in your life.
Here is my list of musts if you make it there:
1)
You must stay on Disney property. I can not believe how many people that lived in Orlando were staying at our hotel or other properties because of the convinence. The transportation system is wonderful and from where we stayed every park was no more than a 10 min. ride. With the exception of 2 times, all of our waits for a bus were less than 5 minutes. The properties range from very in-expensive to very expensive... we stayed moderate. The location was great (close to downtown Disney with bus or boat ride right there). The price was right (about $140 a night for a room with 2 beds) and it had 2 food courts and a full restaurant all within the 2 hotels that were basically connected.
2)
You must do the Disney food plan. Now what we actually paid for this is under a little debate... but I know it was under $30 a day for Rick and I and $10 a day for the kids. This is their basic plan which includes 1 quick serve meal (which is a food court where you go up and order like fast food), 1 sit down meal and 1 snack. A quick serve meal for a kid would be an entree, 2 sides and a drink. For an adult it was an entree, 1 side and a drink. In the parks you can find a place to use your meal card every where you turn. And with a little pre-planning, the sit down meals are easy but reservations are usually needed. Once we scooped things out a little we found the good quick serves vs the just ok ones. And which the exception of the restauran in Hollywood Studios where we did the character dine, the full restaurants all have great menus with fabulous service. It was almost like being on a cruise where if you want things on the menu tweaked, they have no problem doing that. It is all about YOU. The grautity is not part of this plan so with all of our meals there was a $15-$20 tip we were still responsible for. They give you a bill with it all worked up showing you different tipping options, how do you not tip the highest when you have wondeful service! The basic plan was more than enough food for my family, in fact we didn't use all the meals we had. Some higher end restaurants may take 2 meals BUT just for an idea, a $35 steak dinner was on our plan.
3)
Pay for a cab to hit a grocery store. The food plan is fanastic but when we would get back from the parks or even while we were in the parks, it was nice to have some snacks and extra water. We paid $18 for a cab ride, spent $75 on grocerys (fresh fruit, a case of water, Amp for Rick since we couldn't find Rockstar) and every bit of that was gone when we left. Our hotel had a store but an Amp was $4.25 each!!! Our 1 snack a day we used for an ice cream or something like. Worked out perfect.
4)
If you know someone that works for Disney call them! My parents were so lucky that their friends that work for Disney were in town and were able to get together with them. Disney has awesome perks for their employees which includes free park passes and they can take people with them. In fact, one of the nights Rick and I went out to dinner our bartender was arranging for other co-workers to meet him at the park the following weekend to get a big group of his family in for free. I guess there is a limit on how many people each one can take in so he needed a few friends for help. They also get unbelievable discounts in the stores and special parking and special passes. So if you know someone...CALL THEM.
5)
If you drink soda, buy the $15 cup! So I didn't catch on to this until too late but they have a mug that was about $15... well it was free re-fills. I think eachone is only good for the area you are in, like the one at our hotel was only good for our hotel but it would still be worth it if you drink soda or coffee. Blizzard Beach had one also that was like $10.
6)
Make a schedule but don't try to do it all in one day. If you want to sleep in, sleep in! The parks have extended hours where each day one park opens an hour early and another one stays open late. Get their schedule and plan around those extra hours. If you have little ones that need naps, got back to the hotel in the middle of the day and let them rest. There is plenty to do at the hotels around the pools, ect. But if you are enjoying an area at a particular park, don't rush just enjoy.
7)
Enjoy every minute of it, take lots of pictures and be prepared to watch your kids light up more times then you have ever probably seen them before. It goes so fast and if you blink you miss something. Don't stress when your kids don't listen or mis-behave because if you pause look around you see that it is going on every where! How can you expect perfect children, you are in the Magic Kingdom but come on, not that much magic can happen. Just go with the flow and do what you can. What you don't get to see just gives you a reason to come back, right!
So there you have it. I'm sure there are a million more things that could be added to this list. I hope all of you can have a Disney experience because really, ther eis nothing like it :-)
