Hello,I am new to this forum,my name is Nicole.My husband and I are taking our 3 kids ages 12,9 and 5 for their first trip to Disney World. We wil be there Dec. 13-19.We are really looking forward to it but it is very overwhelming and I have no idea where to start planning the parks.We are staying at the Beach Club. Any idea's or help is welcome. It will also be my 5year olds birthday on the 17th.Thanks for any idea's and suggestions. Nicole

I 've not used the itineraries, but since it is your DS b-day, make sure the CM who checks you in knows that. He will get a button that says "Happy Birthday ......". All the CMS around will wish him Happy Birthday. We took my DS for his 5th last year, and he LOVED that. You can also get a little cake for about 10 dollars at most of the TS places, and they will decorate the table. If your CM at the meal knows it is his birthday, he will get a card from any of the charachters that are there. My DS just loved all the attention!

PS Welcome...you will love MousePad, everyone is so friendly and helpful!

Hi Nicole. You are actually in my favorite stage - beginning the planning! Some quick suggestions come to mind regarding your 5-yr-old. First, Chef Mickey's is a really fun place to have a character dinner - especially celebrating a birthday. We did this for my youngest's first birthday (with my older three LOVING it too, ages 3, 5, and 7 at the time). You can order a custom cake from the restaurant and we got TONS of special Mickey time for his birthday. My 5-yr-old especially loved the dessert area there...

Another thing to do for his birthday is make sure you get a birthday button at whichever park you are at that day. It's amazing how many CM's notice this and make a special point of saying "happy b-day", etc. You can also tell your hotel's concierge about his birthday and they will arrange for a balloon and special card signed by Mickey to be delivered to your room that day. You can also arrange for a special phone call to your room from Mickey!

Another idea is the Pirate Adventure out of the Grand Floridian, although they may do one right from your hotel as well. This is a kids only adventure - no parents - for ages 4 to ?9?. My 5 and 7 yr olds had a blast on this adventure. They do a boat ride to search for treasure, get special Mickey pirate ears, lunch, and special treasure to take home. Very fun for that age!

My entire family also LOVED the character dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern in the MK. The characters are in Revolutionary War apparel and you get excellent character attention here. The more character dinners you do (the DP is a must for doing many of these) the less time you spend in lines at the parks for autographs.

Also, dinner at the Coral Reef (Epcot) was a hit with my older two. The only thing with this restaurant is that you want to wait for a table right by the aquarium, which also means you want ADR's for the first dinner time of the night - I believe it's at 4:30? That is what we did and we were still there for over two hours! They are slow and they tend to get backed up FAST, but the food was good and the kids loved the experience. Keep in mind I had a 1, 3, 5, and 7 yr old, my DH and me, and my parents, and no one got grumpy or antsy even though we were there that long.

I know getting started with planning can be overwhelming - there's so much to decide on - but hopefully once you get started it won't seem so bad. Have fun!!!

I can't help you with Tour Guide Mike (the whole 'swearing to secrecy' thing turned me off - I may not rememeber where I learned something, and I don't want to have to worry if I learned something there before I share it).

But I can recommend that you make your ADRs (Advanced Dining Reservations) as soon as you can.

If you're at all interested in the Candlelight Processional, with kids the ages of yours I'd HIGHLY recommend doing the dining package. Here's a link (http://www.mouseplanet.com/misc.php?pg=wdw_holidays2006#clp) to the MousePlanet info about all the 2006 Holiday stuff (including Candlelight) to give you an idea of what it involves.

I'm planning my first WDW trip for January, and I signed up with TGM. I like all of the info he has, and he has really helped me in planning for our trip. It can be a bit overwhelming, but you don't have to read it all at once, thank goodness.

I have used TGM's and love it just for the list of which parks are better on which days. We followed his advice during a very busy spring break and all of his info is right on the money! We hardly waited in line at all! I figure when you are spending that much money on a vacation, it is well worth it to spend $25 to get the most out of your trip...I definatley recommend it!

I tried TGM and did not care for the site. I use TouringPlans.com and love it!

Many people like TGM, but I just personally like TouringPlans.com. Check them both out and arm yourself to the hilt!

Enjoy your trip, make your ADR's, make a plan, make your ADRs, enjoy yourself. No matter what you will not be prepared for the World on your first trip. I think that is part of the joy. Did I mention to make your ADR's? You should not experience much of a problem as you are going at a low time of year.

Pick up the Unofficial Guide (DING!) and read as much as you can on all of the wonderful Sites like this one and allears.net.

Good Luck!

I am also part of TGM and I am on the fence with my decision. Like Martin, I also love TouringPlans.com. They have a lot of the same information, but it is easier to navigate and they are a lot quicker to update information.
The best feature I found with TGM was the announcement as to when I had to make my ADR's. There was a chart telling me how many days I had until I could make them, but I did not receive the promised 3 day reminder. I was so excited to be able to start this part of my trip though, I did not need reminders. You however won't have to worry about that as you can make your ADR's already.
In some ways I think TGM is worth it, but at the same time, I think there is enough info out there without having to spend the $25. The Unofficial Guide is a life saver and has the most pertinent info - in my opinion anyway.

We used TGM for our trip this past May - I am a rabid "planner" so I enjoyed reading all the info on his site (and there is a lot)! I also took info from touringplans.com and the Unofficial Guide. So if you like to read, I highly recommend both/either site. Take all the info with a grain of salt - no one can be 100% accurate in predictions. This board can also give you lots of great info!

We LOVE the Beach Club/Yacht Club area - you really can't go wrong there. Walking to/from Epcot is a great plus, and the Boardwalk area is nice, too (you can rent bikes, etc.). The boats to Epcot and MGM served us well, also. Last time we split a stay between the Poly and YC, and the YC area just seemed more relaxed to us. Hopefully the weather will cooperate and you can take advantage of Stormalong Bay - our 2 1/2 year old loved playing in the sand-bottomed shallow area. We were hoping to stay there again in January but decided to save some $$$ this trip as it was a "last minute". We just feel "at home" there.

As others have mentioned, make sure your daughter gets a birthday button! We wore them for our anniversary, and received special desserts at dinner. When we made our reservation for the hotel, we let them know it was our anniversary. We were upgraded to Concierge level upon arrival, and even received a card from Belle and Beast with champagne in our room (not that you'd want THAT for your 5-y.o.:)!)

As for dining, our little guy had a ball seeing the Pooh characters at Crystal Palace, at Magic Kingdom, and we thought the food was good, too. We went for lunch right at 11:30 and had little wait. Since you'll be staying so close to Epcot, you have a wealth of dining opportunities. We had a great dinner at Le Cellier, and also enjoyed Spoodles over at the Boardwalk.

Have fun with your planning - I have found the folks on this board so friendly, and helpful, so don't be afraid to ask questions! You'll have a great time on your trip!

Unofficial Guide/Touring Plans worked a treat for us. Oh - get to the parks before they open. I think this is the best advice we had. Wish I was planning too! Enjoy.

How do these things (sites, etc.) compare to RideMax?

I signed up for TGM as well as Touring Plans both. I would sign up again for TGM simply for his "best days/best parks" advice. There were 2 days during our 9 day trip that TGM and the Unofficial site differed significantly on which park(s) were best. We followed TGM and were happy we did. For the daily plans themselves, I used mostly touring plans-I found Mike's site to be pretty cumbersome to navigate and by that planning stage of the trip, I(a WDW newbie) simply wanted something that said "go here, go there....". The boards at TGM are pretty active as well and that can be helpful when one gets 'stuck' using his advice because sometimes truly it can be pretty confusing to figure out.

The unofficial touring plans worked like a charm-as they always have for DL-so I'm not sure the extra $ for the site(in addition to the book purchase) is worth it.

Compared to the $ spent on the WDW trip itself, paying the extra $20 for the TGM site is a drop in the bucket-and well worth it if one has the time to sit and work through the site itself.

The unofficial touring plans worked like a charm-as they always have for DL-so I'm not sure the extra $ for the site(in addition to the book purchase) is worth it.

From the UK it only costs me about £4 and is so easy to use - I'd counter it's hardly not worth it! Then again, I'm not familiar with TGM so can't criticise this site - I was put off by the site subscription cost...

I have used TGM's and love it just for the list of which parks are better on which days. We followed his advice during a very busy spring break and all of his info is right on the money! We hardly waited in line at all! I figure when you are spending that much money on a vacation, it is well worth it to spend $25 to get the most out of your trip...I definatley recommend it!

I agree with this! I also found the Unofficial Guide to be a great source of info. You could probably find a copy at your library. It might be a year or two old, but most of the information regarding lay of the land, and rides and attractions will still be relevant.

As far as TGM goes, his which day which park advice was RIGHT ON! The site is overwhelming in the amount of info, and it's a bit tricky to navigate at first. However, with time and patience, there's a lot of great stuff there.

Personally, I could never follow a "go to Splash Mountain, then go to Pirates, then go to Space Mountain, now take 30 seconds to pee" sort of plan, so I didn't use that part of TGM.

As already mentioned, eat a quick breakfast in the room, and then get your family to the parks at opening. You'll see and do more in the first 4 hours than you'll do the rest of the day.

Remember that no matter how much you plan, you'll NEVER see everything in one trip. Pick what is important to you and your family and prioitize that, don't stress, and remember to stop and smell the churros - you're on vacation.

Have Fun!!

From the UK it only costs me about £4 and is so easy to use - I'd counter it's hardly not worth it! Then again, I'm not familiar with TGM so can't criticise this site - I was put off by the site subscription cost...

Yanno Scooby-that's true. Even though I think it's $12 here, following my "drop in the bucket" comment above, it's not an overwhelming expense, is it?

Thanks to everyone who responded. I did buy the subscription to touring plans.com. I printed out the days that would be the least busy with the "happy family schedule". I just need some kind of plan on where to go at what times. I also printed out the cheat sheet incase we decide not to follow the exact schedule.