A Walt Disney World Family Vacation - Reflections from a First Timers Point of View |
My wife and I had a difficult time figuring out the best time to take our two children, ages 6 and 8, on a Walt Disney World Family Vacation. We first considered Christmas break but reconsidered when we were told that was one of the busiest times to go. It's a given that the summer months are busy, as well as hot. Rightly or wrongly, we convinced ourselves that the trip would be educational enough to justify applying for three days of cultural leave the week of our school system's fall break. We left October 7 and returned a week later.
Although my wife and I had been to Magic Kingdom for a long weekend for our honeymoon over a decade earlier, this was our first Walt Disney World family vacation and we wanted to make it a trip worth remembering. Following are some reflections about the trip and perhaps some things that others might find useful as they plan their adventure.
We probably would have taken the trip a year earlier but decided
to save-up a bit more money so that we could splurge for airfare for the
family. For one thing, I love flying and wanted the children to experience an
airplane flight. The second factor was a new route that opened by
Allegiant Air
promising inexpensive flights from the TriCities, Tennessee to Orlando. Afraid
that all the seats might be taken before we could get all the trip arrangements
made, I impulsively booked the flight as soon as I could. Although the deal was
great, we had to pay a surcharge for each bag we checked as well as an $8 per
person fee each way in order to guarantee seating together. Overall, I was
still pleased with the amount of money that we saved from the best price offered
through
Expedia
.
It was a week later before a friend clued me in that Allegiant uses the Sanford airport, which is almost an hour away from Disney. While Orlando's International Airport features free shuttle service to the Walt Disney World resorts, Sanford does not. Through AAA, we rented a car (for the week) for only approximately $20 more than the price of a round-trip shuttle ticket. Though many told us that you really don't need a rental car while at Disney (which is true), it was nice to have the option to drive elsewhere. Considering the added price of the rental, I'm not sure that we saved any money. Both direct flights left and arrived on time.
An unexpected perk was a GPS navigation system, which was installed in the rental car. Although I had never used one before, it was very easy to figure out. I found the audio directions it provided extremely useful and easy to follow, which is good because I think all the roads around Disney are somewhat confusing. We quickly came to trust the system enough to trash all the printed directions that we had prepared in advance via MapQuest and AAA's rep. When my wife asked me to go to Wal-Mart to pick-up a few groceries and a backpack, it was a stress-free jaunt thanks to the navigation system, which offered to direct me to the nearest Wal-Mart and did so turn-by-turn.
We
stayed at
Disney's Wilderness Lodge during our Walt Disney World Family Vacation. The hotel was very nice. The huge wooden
support beams in the lobby were amazing. Everything was very clean and well
decorated, fitting to the wilderness theme. The room itself was adequate but
not overly spacious, though we did have a small refrigerator.
The hotel offered shuttle service to all of the parks. However, the easiest way to get to the Magic Kingdom was to board a boat from a pier at the back of the property which used the water-way to ferry guests to and from the park.
The hotel restaurants, one a quick-service counter and the other, Whispering Canyon Cafe, an all-you-can-eat featuring fun shenanigans that the children enjoyed, were both very good. The hotel was mostly booked by the time we made reservations, which resulted in an extra fee for a pool-side view, that wasn't really worth it.
Through
the AAA package, we purchased Park Hopper passes so that we could visit any
combination of Disney parks during the week of our Walt Disney World family
vacation. The parks we went to included the
Magic Kingdom,
Epcot,
Disney-MGM Studios, and
Animal Kingdom. All of the parks were fantastic, fun, and crowded.
On most family vacations, it's nice to be spontaneous, taking in attractions as the mood hits. A Walt Disney World Family Vacation pays to have a plan of attack. We spent $20 for a membership to a Walt Disney World Family Vacation planning site, Tour Guide Mike. Though Tour Guide Mike offers reviews on hotels, restaurants, and every other Walt Disney World Family Vacation-related item you can imagine, the item I found most useful was the recommended parks featuring the least number of people per day. Some parks are more likely to be visited on certain days of the week as people begin their vacation or follow the Extra Magic Hours. By visiting alternative parks, you can avoid part of the crowds.
Extra Magic Hours are additional hours that Disney offers to guests staying in their hotels, either before or after the park is open for general admission. The night of our arrival, the Magic Kingdom featured the extra hours until 2am. Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn't have considered allowing the children to stay up that late. However, by the time we made it to the hotel, it was already 10pm. We were all so anxious to do something after arriving for our Walt Disney World Family Vacation that we decided to live on the wild side. I'm glad that we did because it was the least crowded of any other time during the week, with most rides available with little wait. Unfortunately, the Extra Magic Hours throughout the remainder of the stay proved less useful (probably due to the more civil times at which they were offered). Throngs of people cramming into the parks to take advantage of the extra hours made the lines long and movement difficult.
A nice feature of the park passes is the ability to register for a Fast Pass on some of the most popular rides. Ordinarily, a line for a popular ride might have a wait-time of 45 to 60 minutes. If Fast Pass is available, you can scan your passes at one of the Fast Pass kiosks near the ride entrance. The kiosk will print out an alternative ticket with a range of time, usually beginning two hours from the time you register, that you can return. When you return with a Fast Pass, you're allowed to enter via an alternative entrance which by-passes the majority of those waiting in line. You usually have to wait two hours before you can register another Fast Pass. On very busy days, the park may shut-down Fast Pass service.
The strategy that we used to maximize our ride time was to get to the park early. We'd pick-up a park map at the entrance and survey the rides with Fast Passes available. We'd register a Fast Pass on a popular ride as soon as possible (even if the wait wasn't bad at the time). Next, we'd go to the far side of the park to enjoy those attractions and work our way back to the front of the park. As soon as we were eligible to register another Fast Pass, we'd do so, although that requires a good deal of walking from one side of the park to the other. It's worth it when you're able to walk right on a popular ride though.
Because you do a tremendous amount of walking at each of the parks, be sure to pack the most comfortable pair of shoes in your closet. Also consider the Florida sunshine when packing. Because we were going in October, we weren't exactly sure what to wear. During our trip, the temperature hovered around 90 degrees on most days. The backpack I mentioned earlier was to take with us to the park. While at Wal-Mart, I bought it, a case of bottled water, and some flavor packets. That made hot days spent in the park much nicer as we stayed hydrated; it was also much less expensive than purchasing drinks at the park counters. Finally, the backpack was a good place to store my wife's purse and our camera on water-rides.
On the day of our departure, the flight did not leave until the evening. We went to Downtown Disney after checking out of the hotel. While my wife shopped, the kids and I spent some time at DisneyQuest, which is a multi-level arcade and game center, which we all enjoyed. The entrance fee, usually $40 per person, was included with the Walt Disney World Family Vacation Park Hopper passes.
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The
AAA Magic Your Way package we selected included some night shows,
including the
IllumiNations show at Epcot and
Fantasmic at MGM Studios. Both shows were neat, although Fantasmic had more
of a feel of an actual production due to the arena seating. If our daughter had
been a bit younger, we probably would have taken advantage of the included
princess story time that was also part of the package.
One of the extras that we purchased during our Walt Disney World Family Vacation was entrance to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom. It was interesting seeing so many children (and adults) dressed in various costumes. Unfortunately, there were so many people crowded into the park that it was very tough just moving. We rode a ride or two, watched part of the villains' parade, and left.
An extra that was worth the money is the Disney Dining plan. I was skeptical at first because I have an aversion to selecting what I'm going to have for dinner six months in advance. It turned out to be a good value because we would have spent much more money purchasing from the menus. Once there, it was also nice having dinner reservations as we could play in the park until time to eat. I do recommend eating somewhat early to minimize the wait time. That's probably even more important at lunch time, which backs-up at all of the counter services. The food is generally very good, especially at the table-service areas, which we enjoyed for dinner meals. Because the Walt Disney World Family Vacation meal plan included an appetizer, entree, and dessert, we generally ate more than we would have eaten otherwise.
At each of the parks, you'll find lots of Disney photographers, each of which can provide you with a free photo card. Let the photographers snap pictures of your family and scan the same card each time. When you return home, you can access all of the photos online. You can email your Walt Disney World Family Vacation photos to friends and family for free or edit and have them saved to a CD for a fee. The nice part about the photo card is that it allows the entire family to be in the shots.
We had a great time at Disney. However, there are a few things that we'll probably do differently when we go back. We thought that there would be few crowds during October. That was not the case as our hotel was completely booked and the parks were filled with people. Although it was a great experience for the children and many parts of it were very educational, next time, we'll pick a time to go when the kids are out of school anyway and just accept the fact that it's going to be crowded.
We'll also pass on the Walt Disney World Family Vacation Park Hopper. Although it sounds good in theory to be able to mix-and-match parks on any given day, the truth is that any single park has plenty to do to keep the family entertained from opening until close.
We're also going to save some money by downgrading our hotel. For one thing, you just don't spend that much time at the hotel. We may even opt to stay outside of the Disney properties. I'm not convinced that the Walt Disney World Family Vacation Extra Magic Hours are valuable enough to warrant the extra money to stay inside the resorts.
I think I'll skip the Walt Disney World Family Vacation package deal too. Next time, I'd like to schedule a day at each of the major parks and leave a few other days unscheduled so that we can have the option of visiting other area attractions, such as Universal Studios, Sea World, and/or Kennedy Space Center.
Oh, yeah, it'd be nice to schedule time for a nap in there somewhere. If possible, plan to come back a day before returning to work/school. You'll definitely need the time to rest up from your Walt Disney World Family Vacation!
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