[PirateMatt]

Hi everyone. My wife, 5 yr old daughter and I are taking our first trip to DW at the end of May. 3 days in the parks and then a 4 day cruise. We know DL well but have never been to DW. After reading through strategies and secrets I am realizing I don't know much. I'd really appreciate any opinions of what we shouldn't miss. Is there anything like Flag Family (we are not statying at WL) or unknown restaurants or other secrets that we should try to do?
We are staying at POR. Good choice? We are mostly concerned about how far we will be from the transportaion. What building should we request? Should we plan to take the boat every morning or find the bus?
We plan to be in the parks as soon as the gates open and since our time is so limited we are going to take two days at MK but I'm not sure how to spend the third. My daughter is a disney movie fanatic so I was thinking Hollywood for the last day. What rides/shows should we not miss?
We have some meals planned already too:
1st night - Chef Mickeys
2nd night-Crystal Palace
3rd night-Cinderella's Royal Table
We could not get a reservation at the place that will get you good seats for Fantasmic unfortunately. Is there a good place to watch the show without having to stake out your spot for hours?
Well, what am I missing? Shows, rides, story time type things?
Thanks everyone!
The pic is at DL when we took our then 2 year old daughter~

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[Winkster]

Hi Mkerner - and welcome to TD!

So - where to start???

POR - as far as I'm concerned is the ONLY resort at WDW (sorry everyone else!). Fantastic resort, subtle theming with such charm that makes for a really relaxing stay.

I'm sure you'll love POR. Having said that, you may find your 5 year old would prefer the style of the value resorts but then you need to look after yourselves too!

POR is a huge resort but has easy access to bus stops from pretty much any building. Busses are frequent enough and stop at several points around the resort. Your only problem may be getting a seat at peak periods when the bus has made several stops before yours.

For ease of access to the main areas though (the lobby area, gift store, food court and so on), I'd suggest aiming for a room in Building 14 on the Alligator Bayou side or in Oak Manor on the Magnolia Bend side.

Whilst I love the boat from POR, it only goes to Downtown Disney so you won't want to be getting the boat every day as you'll then need to walk across DTD to the bus station and then wait for another bus to the parks - which is pointless when the busses go direct to the parks from POR.

As for the parks and what rides you shouldn't miss - well at MK, it's the usual culprits! For a 5 year old, look to do pretty much everything in Fantasyland (not sure how the refurb will affect you - check the official WDW site calendar for closures and refurbs). Then it's just a case of as much of everything else that you can squeeze in without overdoing it and leaving yourselves too exhausted to enjoy your vacation.

I think your park choices are about right but have you considered getting a park hopper and spending half a day in AK and then moving to MK after lunch? I'm not a huge AK fan but at least you'll get chance to do the safari and other big attractions there (not sure how your daughter would feel about Everest!).

We go in May and generally find the crowds are sufficently low to get most things done in a day and a half (though we always go back far more than that!).

Again, at DHS, if your daughter isn't into (or isn't able to do) the big rides (ToT, RnR etc) then, other than TSM (which can be done on fastpass), you probably won't need a whole day in the Studios so maybe consider a park hop there too - or even taking a break to do some shopping at DTD or swimming at POR.

Maybe even consider spending a morning at a water park (EMH is a great opportunity to do the slides before general admission starts and you then get a more relaxing morning) and then move to DHS for lunch and the afternoon/evening.

I'd probably go for:
Day 1 - MK all day
Day 2 - AK (morning), DHS (afternoon and evening)
Day 3 - Typhoon Lagoon (morning), MK (afternoon and evening)

[Curious Alice]

Great answer, Winkster!

As far as rides that shouldn't be missed:


Epcot:
Be sure to take your 5-year-old on Nemo and Friends. After the ride, walk through the aquarium. The upper floor has great viewing areas. Find out when they do the dolphin demonstration. It's amazing. Also take her to Turtle Talk with Crush. There are areas around Epcot called Kidcot, that has activities aimed at children. Club Cool lets you sample sodas from around the world. It will be hot in May, so this is a good thing to know.

In the World Showcase, get a "passport" that she can take to every country, where it gets stamped and she can get other goodies. She might like the boat ride inside Mexico.


Disney Hollywood Studios:
First thing to do is get Fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. They go quickly, so make this your first stop. There are several shows that your daughter would like. Beauty and the Beast, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Playhouse Live. (I haven't been to any of them.) There's a fun playground called Honey I Shrunk the Kids.

I've seen kids on The Great Movie Ride. There are a couple parts that might be scary: the Alien section and the gun battle scene. But I really have never seen children get too scared.

And definitely don't miss MuppetVision 3D. The best rides in the park are Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster. But these are NOT for small children.


Animal Kingdom:
Don't miss the Festival of the Lion King or Kilimanjaro Safari. There's a show called Finding Nemo: The Musical. The playground is called Boneyard and is in the dinosaur area. If she likes to look at animals, walk the two trails (Pangani and Maharajah). There's a bird show called Flights of Wonder. And take the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch, where there's a petting zoo.

Depending on how brave she is, you could go on Dinosaur. I've seen small children on it, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it for her. It's very bumpy and the dinosaurs are scary and realistic. The dinosaurs jump out at you, it's loud, dark, and there are lots of flashing lights.


General:
Most of the rides have "child swap," in which one parent stays with the child while the other goes on the ride, then the parents switch places without having to wait in line again. That way, you can experience rides like Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

Hope this helps!

[Sofia's Dad]

Disney trip with a 5 year old daughter will be great. We stayed at POR when my daughter was 5. Never did the cruise but I always hear its great. Being your there for three days don't try to see and do everything. I cannot comment on your restaurants for diner. I have been there for breakfast except the Royal Table for lunch. All are good choices if they are anything like there earlier meals. First make sure you have a autograph book. She will need it for the character meals. Its alot of fun taking pictures while they sign the book. POR has a nice show for the family at night, I think its around 8 PM but don't hold me to it.
I found Hollywood studios to be great for kids as far as shows go. Curious Alice already mentioned them.
Epcot My daughter at 5 loved Honey I strunk the Audience. Nemo and friends was great also. Have lunch at Mexico. But the best restaurant is Le Celliers. See the light show at epcot. Find a good spot. Near France and Italy is nice. A nice coffee, pastry and a good seat.
MK is just that a MK for kids. Just about everywhere is good. You judge the rides. See the electric parade. After that the fireworks. AK the Safari and a Bugs life are great for a 5 year old. As a book to buy before your trip is the Unofficial Guide to Disney World. It really has some good ideas and a map for those with small children. Like which to see first and when to go. I highly recommend the book. It also has a section on the Cruise which I have not read. I got mine at Borders.
Have a great vacation. Tell us about it when you return. You will have a great time. Welcome to the Forum.

[TheGoofy1]

Welcome aboard!!!
And yes, Winkster nailed it. And of course since you mentioned POR I knew Winky would chime in. LOL, should change the name to "Luvin me some POR".
MK should be the first thing on the list and I agree that AK should be next followed by DHS.
The only sad thing is it's only 3 days but hey, take what you can get, right?
Have a great time!!

[liltink07]

haha i agree...i knew winkster would chime in! and he was spot on!

i want to second what Curious Alice said about DHS. there are a lot of great shows for little ones there! The voyage of the little mermaid, beauty and the beast, playhouse disney, muppets...there all great for kids, especially girls! fantasmic is fun as well, but could be a little scary for a 5 year old. Also, there is a playground in DHS based on honey i shruck the kids. the playground is all giant everyday objects turned into a playground (batteries, film etc.), which is really fun for kids. also, get FPs for toy story mania!!! its one of my favorite rides but it is everyone else's as well!

personally, i dont reccomend dinosaur for a 5 year old. it still scares me, so idk about a 5 yr old.

i also reccomend the child swap, that way you can go on the adult friendly rides as well!

[Curious Alice]

Oh my, I just re-read my answer and found a really bad typo.

I left out the word "not" when referring to small children going on ToT and RNRC. Oops! I meant to say that those rides are NOT for small children. (I fixed it in my original post.)

[PirateMatt]

Thanks all!! (I changed my name to PirateMatt) this is all great info. I can't wait! only 44 days!

[GrumpyCOdad]

POR is a great resort! We absolutely loved it!! We drove so we di dnot need the WDW transportation, but did use it a few times. We did take the boat ride to DTD, which was fun. It rained on us while we were on it though.

If your daughter likes the shows, then don't miss Festival of the Lion King at AK or the Little Mermaid Show and Beauty and the Beast as well over at DS. Spectromagic at MK is a MUST!!! I hope you have a great time...wait, of course you will!!!!

[PirateMatt]

Hey gang. So it's getting close. We are counting down the "sleeps" with my daughter and there are only 10 more!! My wife has been getting on travelocity and reading bad reviews about POR, old rooms and long walks unless you get a room by a bus stop etc. Should we try to switch? All in all it's just a room but reading about hair in the drains and dusty, musty sheets doesn't sound too good.
Also she read that we need to get to a parade spot at MK at least an hour before the parades. Is that right? At Disneyland we can just about walk up as it's starting. Anyway I wanted to go over a run down of what I have so far and get some input from the experts.
Day 1 Thursday:
Magic Kingdom8am-9am Magic Hours3:00 A Dream Come True Parade5:50 Crystal Palace Dinner9:00 Spectomagic Parade10:00 Disney Wishes Fireworks
Any FP ideas?

Friday and Saturday are harder to figure out. I figure that DHS will probably take a whole day considering all the shows. Does anyone know where to find a show schedule??
It's Star Wars weekend so Saturday DHS will have more people and longer lines but it has Magic Hours in the morning from 8-9am. Friday will have less people and Fantasmic but no Magic Hours.
The other day we will split up half the day at AK and half at Epcott. Epcott has Magic Hours at night from 9pm-12am on Friday.
We have dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table Friday night so wherever we are we need to go back to MK for dinner.
Does this sound like a good plan?

Chime in if you can. Thanks all!!
Matt

[Winkster]

Ok - firstly, do not change POR. Our only criticism is that, after a week or so, dust began to build up on the surfaces. WDW housekeepers don't seem to move ANY personal posessions so if you put anything on the shelf, it gets dusty after a week or so. Mildly annoying but it takes less than 5 seconds to dust a shelf with an old towel so we just did it ourselves.

We've stayed at POR at least 5 times and have NEVER had a problem with any of the bedding. It's always been spotlessly clean.

As far as decor goes, it's in keeping with the hotel theming. You're not going to get cutting edge, minimalist rooms in a turn of the century bayou hotel. The rooms can be a little dark but we've always found them just fine. I've stayed in better but I've also stayed in far, far worse!

It is a big resort so walks to the main pool/food court/guest services etc can be a little longer but it's hardly a hike (we're talking maybe a 5 or 6 minute stroll here - not a 20 minute march). The grounds are beautiful though so for me, walking around the resort is a pleasure. I often just go for a walk around the resort anyway - I love the size of the resort. Most blocks are pretty close to a bus stop (again, we're only talking a few minutes walk at worst) although you won't need to get a bus around the resort itself - it's not that big. It's not as if people expect not to walk at WDW anyway!

Next - parades.

Many people do get there an hour before and stake out a place on the sidewalk which they then guard with their lives. We don't make a thing of watching the parades but usually stumble across at least one or two on our trip. The main routes are always very busy in terms of people watching so don't expect a spot right at the front. We generally walk down to the turning circle at the bottom of Main Street and watch from there where there is normally no crowds at all (we're usually just leaving as the 3pm parade is on so our timing us just right!).

Next - Fast pass.

This really depends on what you want to do. Just make good use of fast pass. Remember, once your return window arrives, you can get another FP without riding the ride you're already waiting on. For example - if you have a FP return between 10 and 11am on Splash Mountain, at 10am, get another FP for a different ride before riding Splash. That way, you're not wasting any time.

Check the park maps for all FP rides. Splash, Space and Thunder Mountain are all FP, as is the Jungle Cruise, Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear and Mickey's Philharmagic.

Finally - show times.

Hopefully this might help...

http://www.studioscentral.com/daily-...dule-and-times

[Kylie'smom]

I haven't stayed at POR in a long time (since it was Dixie Landings)however we didn't have any problems. As far as being intimidated by the size - don't be. As Winkster said the grounds are so beautiful you won't mind a short walk, relax and enjoy Disney's attention to detail (look down at the sidewalks - they have leaf prints!).

I would definately get a FP for Peter Pan first if you want to ride it, we didn't on our last trip and the lines were too long to wiat.

I would do Epcot on the night that you have CRT, you can take the monorail to the MK, it's a fun way to get there!

[Curious Alice]

I stayed at POR in March and it was great. The room was clean, the grounds are beautiful.

Depending on the room, there can be a bit of a walk, but it's a very pretty place to walk. Don't let that dissuade you from staying there. It is very easily the nicest of the moderate resorts.

Plus you get the ferry that takes you from the resort to DTD, which is a great perk.

Winkster mentioned Fastpasses. Here are a few things I learned regarding Fastpasses:

The lines for Peter Pan's Flight and Winnie the Pooh are brutal. Definitely get Fastpasses for those rides, even if it says 20 minutes.

Buzz Lightyear's line moves pretty fast, so even if you see some people lined up outside, it's not that bad of a wait.

Space Mountain has games in part of the queue, so if the line is 30 minutes or less, I think you'll be okay without a Fastpass.

Soarin' has a very boring queue. Toy Story Mania and Splash Mountain have very claustrophobic queues, so I highly recommend Fastpasses for all of these rides.

The Seas with Nemo's line moves fairly quickly.

Test Track is another definite Fastpass ride. It's really noisy, and starts to drive me crazy after a while. And it moves very slowly.

I think if Tower of Terror is 20 minutes or less, you can skip the Fastpass. But do get a Fastpass for Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.

[PirateMatt]

My goodness you guys rock! Thanks a ton. I know it's crazy and I'm so sorry Wink because you have been so great but we got an offer to upgrade to AK with savannah room for 400- so we took it. At 100 a day I just couldn't say no. I know I stink but what the heck.
So here'e the plan so far and Friday is the only day I'm worried about since we are splitting it up.

Thursday
MK all day with Crystal Palace Dinner.

Friday
AK first until after the 3:45 parade. We'll see Lion King, Nemo, Safari and do the rapids and maybe the dinos. I'm just worried it won't take until 3:45 although we will be able to stretch it.
After that at 5:20 back to MK for dinner at CRT.
After that Epcot to finish the night with Soarin, Nemo, Honey I shrunk, and whatever else we can before 9pm Fireworks. I'm worried that we won't have enough time here and we will miss Fantasmic too since it's over at DHS. The magic hours at Epcot this night go until midnight but I doubt we'll make it that late.
Saturday
DHS most of the day. Maybe we'll head back to MK that night for fireworks and a few rides. I think the Star Wars stuff will be pretty cool and with Magic Hours for an hour at 8am we should be fine with TSM at least.

Should I switch Friday and Sat? I might be starting to obsess a bit. :-)

PirateMatt~ Arg!

[Winkster]

Originally Posted by PirateMatt

I'm so sorry Wink because you have been so great but we got an offer to upgrade to AK with savannah room for 400- so we took it. At 100 a day I just couldn't say no. I know I stink but what the heck.

LOL - You got a savannah room and you're apologising??? Sounds a great upgrade. Your early morning wake-up is going to be amazing!

My only suggestion is that your Friday seems a lot of running around with AK in the morning, MK in the afternoon and Epcot in the evening. With all that park-hopping you may find you;re too tired to even last until the 9pm EMH starts in Epcot!

Why not start at AK on the Thursday? Ok, you miss EMH at MK but that's only an hour so it's no great loss as long as you use fast pass when you do go.

You get a more leaisurely day at AM and then, after the parade, you can hop to MK for your Crystal Palace dinner and spend the evening there.

On Friday, start at MK again and stay there all day, leaving after CRT, then head over to Epcot for EMH.

That leaves you Saturday free to enjoy the Star Wars weekend at DHS and, if it gets too busy, you can always hop back to Epcot via the boat from the International Gateway.

Just a thought!