First trip to Disney World for a Disneyland Family [6 people]

[josephbandrews]

What happens at the end of the day? Is it not larger than I think it is at the end of the day?

Funny cause every time we go to DLR we try to figure out if they made the castle smaller, but people keep saying I just got bigger. Weird.

[sjhanksaz]

Anyone know what kind of crowds touring plans is expecting Oct 3 - 9th this year.

[mkraemer]

What happens at the end of the day? Is it not larger than I think it is at the end of the day?

Oddly, my experience is that at the end of the day, WDW seems *MUCH* larger, and every place is a looooong way to go...

[danyoung]

Especially the parking lot!

[Greg in TN]

Oddly, my experience is that at the end of the day, WDW seems *MUCH* larger, and every place is a looooong way to go...

... On the other hand, at the end of the day when EVERYONE in the Magic Kingdom is trying to leave at the same time down Main Street USA after Wishes, it certainly feels a whole lot smaller than it did earlier in the day when everybody was spread out throughout the whole park ... I can see that ...

[Teddi]

SJ(OP),

We just got back from our first WDW trip. We had a *great* time. Loved it, and can't wait to go back.

The only disappointment was ... MK just doesn't hold a candle to DL even with a bigger and prettier castle.

For ME and my family, we were not just interested in "parks only". For me, given the larger size (so much more walking) and the longer times it takes to get everywhere, I really am glad that for us, a huge part of the vacation experience was the RESORTS and non-park activities. WDW and DLR are not the same. The DLR parks are in some ways "more bang for your walking buck" than the WDW parks which have less operating hours and less attractions at each park and yet, more spead out and takes longer to get to.

We LOVED the Cabins at Ft Wilderness. Even with one bathroom, you might want to keep it on the "to be considered" list. Now I had three kids two of whom are only 8 and are small girls BUT we did not feel cramped. For me, having walking space and not sitting on each other was a big factor in where we picked to stay. We also did a 2 BR villa at AKL Kidani and we loved the amenities and the villas itself (location not so much). The ASMU and Art of Animation suites would probably be too small.

One more option is Beach Club Deluxe rooms- have two queen beds and them a sofa sleeper. I think location-wise the BEST option is to stay onsite. I would not go to WDW and stay offsite. The Deluxe and Villa resorts I would think would leave everyone very very happy with any choice you went with. The best locations would be the EPCOT area hotels (beach, yacht, boardwalk) or the MK area (grand, poly, wilderness, contemporary and even Ft Wilderness).

I think for my family, as DLR vets, we looked forward more to what was different about the overall experiences (resorts, restaurants, EPCOT, AK, etc) than the "same things" at DLR.

I think we went at the perfect time of year. I had never been to FL before (none of us had). The first full day we were there it was 82 and 1000% humidity. It was awful. I know from just that one day that 95 and 100045757% humidity would be hell. I heard a few unsolicited stories about guests passing out and I could very much understand why. I do not think I will ever go to FL except in "winter". If you know humid and do it well, or if your family tolerates heat fine, it may not bother you but we're CA wimps and I'm SO very glad we did not do the late Sept time I orginally had planned. I don't know about how busy it would be during that time in Oct, but late jan/early Feb was very very slow- longest wait we had was actually for Malestrom at 17 minutes.

[sjhanksaz]

SJ(OP),

We just got back from our first WDW trip. We had a *great* time. Loved it, and can't wait to go back.

The only disappointment was ... MK just doesn't hold a candle to DL even with a bigger and prettier castle.

For ME and my family, we were not just interested in "parks only". For me, given the larger size (so much more walking) and the longer times it takes to get everywhere, I really am glad that for us, a huge part of the vacation experience was the RESORTS and non-park activities. WDW and DLR are not the same. The DLR parks are in some ways "more bang for your walking buck" than the WDW parks which have less operating hours and less attractions at each park and yet, more spead out and takes longer to get to.

We LOVED the Cabins at Ft Wilderness. Even with one bathroom, you might want to keep it on the "to be considered" list. Now I had three kids two of whom are only 8 and are small girls BUT we did not feel cramped. For me, having walking space and not sitting on each other was a big factor in where we picked to stay. We also did a 2 BR villa at AKL Kidani and we loved the amenities and the villas itself (location not so much). The ASMU and Art of Animation suites would probably be too small.

One more option is Beach Club Deluxe rooms- have two queen beds and them a sofa sleeper. I think location-wise the BEST option is to stay onsite. I would not go to WDW and stay offsite. The Deluxe and Villa resorts I would think would leave everyone very very happy with any choice you went with. The best locations would be the EPCOT area hotels (beach, yacht, boardwalk) or the MK area (grand, poly, wilderness, contemporary and even Ft Wilderness).

I think for my family, as DLR vets, we looked forward more to what was different about the overall experiences (resorts, restaurants, EPCOT, AK, etc) than the "same things" at DLR.

I think we went at the perfect time of year. I had never been to FL before (none of us had). The first full day we were there it was 82 and 1000% humidity. It was awful. I know from just that one day that 95 and 100045757% humidity would be hell. I heard a few unsolicited stories about guests passing out and I could very much understand why. I do not think I will ever go to FL except in "winter". If you know humid and do it well, or if your family tolerates heat fine, it may not bother you but we're CA wimps and I'm SO very glad we did not do the late Sept time I orginally had planned. I don't know about how busy it would be during that time in Oct, but late jan/early Feb was very very slow- longest wait we had was actually for Malestrom at 17 minutes.

Great stuff

Due to school schedules and such it is either Spring break or Fall Break for us. We opted for fall break in October because of less crowds than the spring one.

We live in AZ and are used to a dry heat but 110 is pretty common. A couple of summers ago we did Bush Gardens in VA in July. It was about 93 degrees and pretty humid. We actually did really well. So hoping that October is not so bad.

We have chosen the Art of Anim for our stay. We usually cram into one hotel room so this will be a pretty large spot for us and we really wanted two bathrooms.

So you did not do the park hopper? We have opted for it for a few reasons and hope it pays off.

Did you do a dinning package? If so which one

[Teddi]

So you did not do the park hopper? We have opted for it for a few reasons and hope it pays off.

Did you do a dinning package? If so which one

We had the option to park hop, but we did not do it a single time. If your family is the kind where people can really get UP and just getting GOING in the morning and can handle longer park hours, it would work better especially if you pick the easier to from parks (EPCOT to DHS or MK to EPCOT). Some WDW park vets seem to have no issues wtih hopping (one man and his 10 year old son said they actually did three parks in one day). Eh, not my cup of tea seeing as how spoiled I am by "hopping" at DLR. BUT it could help you squeeze more things in (for instance, shows that are only during the day at say AK or DHS) but leave rides or always open attractions for night at MK or EPCOT.

One day my sister and her BF hopped (from AK which we left at around 6PM) to DHS (only to find not a lot still open).

We did the regular Dining Plan. I very much loved it and would want to do it again. It may or may not be a "money saver" (there's a really good excel spreadsheet I can link you to if you want to run the $'s) but I personally liked it (I like to have as much of a trip paid ahead of time). We hemmed on doing the Deluxe but I agree with others who feel it would be "too much food". The regular DDP worked really well for us. There was almost a sit down meal every day (we paid two meals out of pocket, one of which really wasn't necessary in hindsite) and we also did Cinderella's Royal Table and Hoop Dee Doo Revue(loved it). It's nice if you split into groups or say if you have teens who may go off by themselves that they can have their meals/snacks covered.

I think Art of Animation is also a good pick, it's probably the only "value" that I'm keeping on the lists of places to keep in mind for a future trip.

[danyoung]

So you did not do the park hopper? We have opted for it for a few reasons and hope it pays off.

There's one huge reason why I would always have a park hopper (I have an annual pass, which by definition includes park hopping). All of the WDW parks don't close at the same time. So if you visit DAK or a day where it closes at 6pm, you then have to fill the evening. Without a park hopper, that would mean either a hotel or Downtown Disney. With a PH, you can just go to another park that stays open later, and for instance enjoy dinner and fireworks in Epcot or the Magic Kingdom. Nothing like being locked out of the parks cuz you have the wrong ticket!

[sjhanksaz]

We had the option to park hop, but we did not do it a single time. If your family is the kind where people can really get UP and just getting GOING in the morning and can handle longer park hours, it would work better especially if you pick the easier to from parks (EPCOT to DHS or MK to EPCOT). Some WDW park vets seem to have no issues wtih hopping (one man and his 10 year old son said they actually did three parks in one day). Eh, not my cup of tea seeing as how spoiled I am by "hopping" at DLR. BUT it could help you squeeze more things in (for instance, shows that are only during the day at say AK or DHS) but leave rides or always open attractions for night at MK or EPCOT.

One day my sister and her BF hopped (from AK which we left at around 6PM) to DHS (only to find not a lot still open).

We did the regular Dining Plan. I very much loved it and would want to do it again. It may or may not be a "money saver" (there's a really good excel spreadsheet I can link you to if you want to run the $'s) but I personally liked it (I like to have as much of a trip paid ahead of time). We hemmed on doing the Deluxe but I agree with others who feel it would be "too much food". The regular DDP worked really well for us. There was almost a sit down meal every day (we paid two meals out of pocket, one of which really wasn't necessary in hindsite) and we also did Cinderella's Royal Table and Hoop Dee Doo Revue(loved it). It's nice if you split into groups or say if you have teens who may go off by themselves that they can have their meals/snacks covered.

I think Art of Animation is also a good pick, it's probably the only "value" that I'm keeping on the lists of places to keep in mind for a future trip.

Thanks - we have also opted for that dining package. We reviewed many of the food choices and found that we could eat well, not just pizza and burgers over and over. We also will pay for one Character Breakfast and possibly a nice dinner somewhere if we feel like it.

We are going to do the hoppers but will spend at least one full day in each park. Then we will have two days to go back and hit favorites. This also gives us the option to go to another park in the evening if something like Animal kingdom closes early. We will be there on a Sat and Sunday so we are planning on hitting parks like Animal Kingdom and Epcot those days. Primarily for shows and such with a possible park jump to catch Fantasmic or like night show when parks close early. Then we could hit rides we missed due to lines on one of the other 2 days we have set aside for going back to our favs.

At Disneyland we typically didn't park hop back and forth all day. Usually in Disneyland for two days and then 3/4 of a day at DCA with the other 1/4 back at DL. That may all change now that Carsland is open......

[3Princesses1Prince]

Next time I would do park hoppers because we like to go back to the room mid day anyways. Now we are not required to go back to the same park. We also stayed at the Beach Club villas so being able to head into Epcot for just a meal would've been nice.

[HTanner]

We love Wilderness Lodge and you can get adjoining rooms there, which makes it very nice, especially with the kids. They also have fridges and microwaves in each room. They are fairly close to some resorts and the bus ride isn't so bad to the outerlying ones.

[sjhanksaz]

Thanks for all the info

What kind of crowds / line wait times can we expect in early October?

[tappenfeat]

Great! It's not bad and the weather is gorgeous. Around Columbus Day is when the crowds peak a little, but it's still lovely and the Halloween Decorations are really cool.

[sjhanksaz]

Just reserved a mini van for a week for a total of 370 smackers in October.

Seems like a pretty good price after looking for quite a while. Will keep an eye out for better deals as things get closer.

[GusMan]

Considering that minivans come at a premium price at times, that really is not too bad.

[sjhanksaz]

Considering that minivans come at a premium price at times, that really is not too bad.

I thought so too. Travelocity and many other sites were quoting vans 200-300 more.