New to the parks

I just have a few general questions for an almost first time visitor of WDW. I was at WDW just once before for 3 days with my mom and sister we were all over 20 at the time so we did adult things. Now I am going back with my 3 kids ages 12-15 so, 1 adult 3 kids. We booked the value room (the music one) because I don’t expect to spend much time in the room besides sleeping.

We got the Magic your way package Plus the Quick Service Dinning. We are going for spring break March 16th thru the 23rd. I am not planning on any ADR because I will just have the kids and if I get tired of the quick meals then I will make ADR early one day.

Question 1: Anyone with experience on the Quick service? Looks like lots of places to eat. Will the meals fill up a teen age boy? Will a snack serve a breakfast and the other two meals a day work for lunch and dinner?

Question 2: I am trying to learn about the fastpath tickets and I see that there is a limit per day. How many Disney fastpath tickets can you get in a day?

Question 3: I booked just Friday and I was wondering if I will get anything via snail mail or do I get everything when I check in. What Will I get park tickets or wrist bracelets and I assume I need to carry them around all day? Should we bring a lanyard or do most people just keep them in their pockets?

Lastly, I hear planning is very helpful but there is sooo much to do and we are so new to what is available, would we be ok with planning the park we want to go to for each day and then just wing it when we get to the park or should we plan more than that? We don’t know what to expect at each park we so are not looking for one particular activity.
Thanx for all your help

Bill

Welcome to Intercot!! :mickey:

With three teenagers, you might need to plan to spend a bit more on food that what you get with two quick service meals per day - not sure a snack would suffice for breakfast - but it depends on how your kids eat.

There is not a specific limit on the number of fastpasses you can get in a day but the system is currently in the process of changing. Typically, one can get a new fastpass 2 hours after receiving the first one OR as soon as the time to ride for the first one opens up. For example, you get a fast pass for Test Track at 9:00 a.m. The return time on your fast pass is for 9:50 a.m. At 9:50 a.m., you can get a fast pass for another attraction. On the other hand, if you get a fast pass for Test Track at 9:00 a.m. and the return time if for 1:00 p.m., you can another fast pass at 11:00 a.m. even if you have not yet used your first fast pass.

Did you book airfare and Magical Express as part of your package? If not, your tickets/bracelets as well as dining information and room information will be provided when you check in.

If this is esentially your first time, I'd suggest doing a little more planning than just winging it after you get to the park. Get Birnbaum's Official Guide to Disney World - it's a pretty quick read and will give you some idea of what's available in each park. If you have a smartphone, download the "My Disney Experience" ap which will provide you with lots of information on what's available; where it is; show times, dining locations etc. It will even tell you what the wait times are for the rides.
Once each member of your traveling party has a chance to review what's available in each park, you can put together a list of must-dos for each park. You don't need a minute-by-minute plan but you don't want to find out after you get home that you missed one of the best rides in a particular park.

Hope you have a wonderful time!

I don't think I can add anything to what Linda said but I just wanted to say :welcome: to Intercot!

:welcome: to Intercot!! We're glad you're here.

The only thing I would add to Linda's comments is make sure you prioritize what's most important. You're going during a pretty busy time of the year. Doing everything at Disney during "low" crowds is impossible. You definitely can't do it with the higher crowds. So, look over things and decide what's most important and hit those for your Fastpasses first. Then you can catch other things as you're able.

Welcome!! I'm an "Intercot re-tread" - I love it here! :rocks: I'm also a teen parent - so here's my take:

(1) I agree - do get the Birnbaum book - any bookstore will have them. It will give all of you a great overview beforehand.

(2) That said, the more popular teen rides will prevail: Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Haunted Mansion and Pirates will be musts at the Magic Kingdom. At Epcot - Test Track and Soarin. At Hollywood Studios - Tower of Terror and Rock 'n Rollercoaster; although Toy Story Mania is a recent addition which has fast become a favorite. There's also Star Tours. And over at Animal Kingdom, Expedition Everest and Dinosaur rank high. Aim for fast passes when you enter the park - you'll get the hang of the timing. Some rides have single rider lines (Test Track) and may reduce your wait time, but you may be split up when you ride.

(3) Check the weather up to your travel days. A sweatshirt/sweatpants are usually good ideas.

(4) Check the park hours; one of our strategies is to head into the parks early and/or back to the park late, after crowds have thinned out.

(5) Meals - well, let's see - teens + Disney = eat anything! There will be more than enough places for burgers and pizza, but you may want to book a couple of ADR's just to change things up a bit. Chef Mickey's is an easy monorail ride away from MK, very kid-friendly, and upbeat (read: noisy and bustling), but with a huge buffet selection and a dessert bar - well, it usually works. The guide can give you an intro to alot of options including the quick service options in all the parks - or use the Disney website for a walk through of restaurants (menu included). It's always a great way to enjoy the pre-trip time by "what-iffing". Sometimes having one or two reservations gives you just a little bit of structure, and actually gets you to a place you wouldn't have otherwise seen - that's often when some of the best things happen!

(6) As for agenda - I'd go with having a list of things to see rather than a firm, scheduled agenda. Beyond the rides, just taking a spin on the monorail, or seeing another resort are fun ways to round out your time. The Boardwalk area has alot to do and see; The Wilderness Lodge is just a boat ride from MK and is awesome inside - and Downtown Disney is fun to walk through (and shop through, and eat through!). In other words - there are alot of very enjoyable experiences that are "non park".

(7) Personal favorites - Boats - for us - the Mouse Boats are an annual favorite; we love Beaches 'n Cream for burgers and for their incredible sundaes (Check out their Kitchen Sink - think the four of you could down a sundae with 20 scoops of ice cream and a whole can of whipped cream?!) - and we've recently added ESPN - great sports and great nachos!

And last but not least - definitely make sure everyone has very, very comfortable shoes. Your feet will thank you! (If all else fails - take a taxi to the closest Nike outlet!):car:

ps - look for park maps in the Birnbaum guide or on the Disney site and take a preview - it may help give you a general frame of reference of "what is where" before your visit :mickey:.

:welcome: How exciting that your trip is so close at hand! We've visited WDW during Spring Break & we were amazed that it wasn't the mad house that we expected and we were able to visit all of our desired attractions - which is pretty much everything!

I'm a huge planner, but I think knowing what your options are & then winging it by your moods & desires is preferrable to missing out on something because you weren't aware or didn't plan accordingly!

1) To me - The single most important factor in your WDW day is arriving at the parks by or before opening time! It's amazing how many of the major attractions you can experience without huge waits in the early am while others are sleeping in or having breakfast! By 11:00 am the parks are pretty crowded, longer lines, and later fastpass return times!

2) I make a spreadsheet of all the park hours, parade times, fireworks, etc, so we have all the info at hand and can make our personal choices of what exactly we want to experience!

3) I also make a plan for each park, major attractions in the early am, minor attractions following those with shows & shopping after lunch when it's crowded no matter what you do! :) But that doesn't mean that we're on a timed schedule, and lots of times we deviate from the plan (it's more of a guide so we're not standing wasting time looking at the park maps trying to decide what to do next) and lot's of times we chuck the plan & do something else!

4) Our frist trip I didn't plan for breaks! We hit "The Wall" on day 4! Now we take a break every day! We enjoy getting lunch or dinner from the food court & eating it poolside! A couple of hours of down time really recharges your batteries & let's you return to the parks for the evening refreshed!

My DS's are teens now too, and we always stay value, we eat breakfast in the room, we're not big breakfast eaters so we pack snacks in our packs & graze as we go! Our last trip was our first one that I didn't plan any ADR's! :jaw: No table service meals at all! And it was so liberating! We never ate just burgers - so many choices out there! We've done nice dinners, character meals, dinner in Cinderella Castle & such when my DS's were younger & while those are some great experiences & wonderful memories, those meals take a chunk of time! So we really enjoyed all of our meals but didn't have the big time & place commitment of the TS meals! WDW serves very generous portions, so much so that even with teens - we never go hungry! I'd rather walk away from a meal not uncomfortably full & be ready for my Dole Whip or Mickey Bar a couple of hours later! :bar:

If this is first time for your teens, another tip for planning is to go to You Tube & watch videos of the attractions! I've not looked for an attraction yet that I didn't find on there!

Sending you some :pixie: for a magical trip!

Hi. My 2 sons are grown. After 5 trips we have a pattern. There are 4 of us.
1.Breakfast at resort is cheapest out of pocket option. We get 2 or 3 adult breakfasts and buy some fruit or bread to toast if more is needed. These are shared around at the table. Aim to
BE DONE BY 7:30. Return the refillable mugs to the room and get to the park.
2. NOON break. Mostly a nap after a swim. This break of 2-4 hours does wonders for me. The boys may whine a bit, but they sleep, so I know it is needed.
3. I drag a large bag of individually wrapped snacks along. Everyone carries a bit to munch on while in line. (pockets or belly bags. THink nuts, granola bars, gummy
bears whatever does not melt.
4. Many people report walking 6-10 miles per day. I believe it. Good (not new!) shoes.
5. Unless there is a drought, it will rain. I use disposable ponchos.
:number1::beer::cloud9:

:welcome::rocks:

I can't really speak too much about the quick service dining plan, but for us I don't think that would suffice completely. If you want to eat 3 meals a day, you're going to be paying some out of pocket. We get the DDP because it's so convenient to have things paid for ahead of time, but be prepared to pay for some food because you'll be hungry after walking around the parks all day, especially without table service meals.

As for preparing, I would highly recommend having at least some sort of plan based on what your "must-dos" would be, especially since most of them are probably going to be the most popular attractions given the age of your children. We use a service called Tour Guide Mike. It's fantastic. It does cost around $20, but it is so worth it. One of the best features is that he gives ratings on expected attendance for each park for every single day of the year. This makes it very easy to choose the least crowded park for each day of your visit. It also provides great sample itineraries that ensure you get your fastpasses for the right attractions at the right times. We've used it for every single one of our trips and have never waited longer than 30 minutes for any attraction and most are under 10.

I agree with pretty much all that has been said. A couple of things I didn't see addressed:

1. There is no limit to the number of FastPasses you can have in one day. There is a limit to the number of FastPasses you can have at one time. One of the first posters explained that pretty well.

2. We've never tried to go just Quick Service, but there are so many great Quick Service restaurants, that you will be able to eat all kinds of great meals. Epcot in particular has *fantastic* Quick Service restaurants. Look here on Intercot, and on other sites (if you want to know which ones, send me a Private Message) for actual menus for each restaurant, and you can see what kinds of options there are. As for breakfast, we almost always eat in the rooms, and occasionally we'll go eat in the food court of whatever Disney Resort we're staying in.

Someone else mentioned ADRs. That stands for Advance Dining Reservations. They are required for pretty much every table service restaurant in Walt Disney World. You can book them up to 180 in advance. In some cases, if you don't book them 180 days in advance, good luck trying to get in. Le Cellier is one of those kinds of places. If you look at the menus and decide you want to try one, you can go online to the Disney Parks site and try to grab a reservation.

3. Definitely be there before the parks open. Especially if you are staying in a Disney Resort, and you can take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, when the park is open early that day. In that one extra hour, you can do/ride SO MUCH. It's totally worth it. However, the nighttime EMHs, when the park is open later, can mean that it is more crowded. Some people avoid those parks on those days (to enjoy lower crowds at the parks that aren't open late), and some people just love to go and hang out, waiting for the crowds to thin.

4. In any case, I agree with a previous poster who suggested that you take breaks. We do, and it helps a lot. After lunch we go crash, swim, whatever, at the hotel. Then we go back around 4-5, and spend the rest of the evenings in the parks. It makes it more fun, as we're not exhausted. That's not to say that we don't occasionally turn into "Park Commandos" and just spend a straight 12+ hours in the parks. We do. But not often.

5. I think that it's almost a must to plan out which parks you are going to go to on which days, using the Extra Magic Hours as a guide. And, I think, that there are some rides you need to hit early (Toy Story Mania at Hollywood Studios, Soarin' at Epcot) or you'll either wait in a long line, or miss the FastPasses. Here's something that we forgot to mention...there are only a certain number of FastPasses for each ride, each day. The really popular ones (Toy Story Mania) WILL run out. The sooner you grab those, the earlier your FastPasses will be good for. If you wait until later in the day to try to get the FastPasses, they could simply be gone.

That's it, I think. Enjoy it!

We just did mostly QS dining on our last trip (we had one dinner reservation at BOG). It was so nice not to be tied to a schedule. There are so many options that at the end of the trip I realized I'd only had one burger! My suggestion is to check out the menus ahead of time so you know some CS locations that appeal to you and the kids. If your at DTD I highly recommend Wolfgang Puck Express - no one will leave hungry!

We didn't find the snacks to be enough for breakfast. We'd typically split a couple of breakfast meals between all of us.

Enjoy!

First off WOW and THANK YOU. Lots of good information I am SOOOO glad I found this site of all you friendly and helpful people. I am one to read up on things before I jump in, especially since I will be a single parent with three tweenage kids.

I did download the My Disney Experience app for event times and maps etc. I am hoping it does not distract me from the events going on.

I did not really consider breaks until reading all these posts I was afraid to “waste” an hour travel time back and forth to the resort. But it sounds like it is a really good idea and I can have the kids swim in the resort pool or slow down in the arcade if they are not tired. Knowing a couple of my older ones they will be on their phones texting friends and posting to FB that will get them some rest.

I like the idea of breakfast as a snack or at the resort because we don’t often eat a bunch that early anyway. Azcavalier mentioned online dinner reservations? Can I do that the day of or a day or two before the meal? I suspect we will want 2-3 sit down meals but I will not know if and when until we are there and hungry from the long walks.

Can I bring a back pack along or is that not advised because of the rides? I would want to bring a few snacks and liquids at the parks.

I have asked the kids to research and pick the “Must Do” locations and they are not that into that kind of “work” and I am guessing because they have never been there and don’t really know what they would really want to do. I am going to plan some thrill rides (or you can call them long wait line rides) during the extended hours like I have read is a good idea. I wanted to confirm what I am hearing though, if it is an early open that is a good park to visit but if it is a late open it will be crowded, is that right? We did not get a “Park Hopper” option so I want to make sure we pick the right park for the right day.

LVT you return your refillable mugs to the room? Why? What do you do for liquid during the day? My kids are good with drinking water but I am thinking I want to avoid high prices for water bottles. Suggestions?

Again THANK YOU all for the information it has been so enlightening and I am sure it will help make our experience much better. Who knows we may become a return visitor every couple years. Oh and I will remember to come back here and tell you all how things went.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

Azcavalier mentioned online dinner reservations? Can I do that the day of or a day or two before the meal? I suspect we will want 2-3 sit down meals but I will not know if and when until we are there and hungry from the long walks.

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If you are flexible about where and when you eat, you can usually make same day reservations at some table service restaurant. Don't forget to consider nearby resorts. For example, if you are at the Magic Kingdom, it would be easy to have a nice lunch at Kona Cafe which is located at the Polynesian resort - just a short monorail ride away. Since you have downloaded the Disney ap, you'll find it easy to determine which restaurants have availability that day and to be able to make a dining reservation at one that is available.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

Can I bring a back pack along or is that not advised because of the rides? I would want to bring a few snacks and liquids at the parks.

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You can certainly bring a backpack along. Many folks do. Personally, I'm not fond of backpacks so tend to use a smaller type of bag. If you do have a backpack, please be aware that there will often be people standing near you. I don't know how many times I've had to put my hands up to avoid being whacked by someone's backpack when the turn suddenly in front of me and have forgotten that they have this huge thing hanging off their back!!!

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Originally Posted by Borky00

I wanted to confirm what I am hearing though, if it is an early open that is a good park to visit but if it is a late open it will be crowded, is that right? We did not get a “Park Hopper” option so I want to make sure we pick the right park for the right day.

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There are mixed thoughts on this. When the park has early extra magic hour, the extra hour plus the first couple/few hours of regular park hours tend to be a really good time to get in quite a lot of the popular rides with lower crowds. This park, however, may tend to be more crowded later in the day especially if many folks who don't have park-hoppers picked that park for the early morning advantage. For evening extra magic, you may get an uptick in crowds from folks who have park-hopper who "hop" over to the park that is staying open later. Some have recommended going to the park the day after extra magic hour for lower crowds. Personally, unless I want to take advantage of the extra magic hour (which I often do not), I tend not to pay attention to which park is open early or late and just go to the park that I want to go to for that day.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

LVT you return your refillable mugs to the room? Why? What do you do for liquid during the day? My kids are good with drinking water but I am thinking I want to avoid high prices for water bottles. Suggestions?

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Unless you're going to use your refillable mugs for water in the parks, there would be no reason to bring them with you as you can't use them for soda and other drinks outside of your resort. Will you have a car with you? If so, you can stop at a nearby grocery and pick up a case of water. A number of folks do not like the taste of Florida water. If you are unable to buy a case of water for your use, you might consider some refillable water bottles/containers with filters to filter out the Florida water taste (if you find it bothersome). Some folks add flavor (like Crystal lite) or similar to the water to mask the Florida water taste.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

[B]Oh and I will remember to come back here and tell you all how things went.

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Please do! We have a Trips Report forum where folks can report on how their trips went. Many folks, myself included, love to read others experiences at Disney World. Check out that forum if you have a chance. You may also find lots of information that is helpful to you as you plan your own trip.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

I did not really consider breaks until reading all these posts I was afraid to “waste” an hour travel time back and forth to the resort. But it sounds like it is a really good idea and I can have the kids swim in the resort pool or slow down in the arcade if they are not tired.

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Trust me, it's totally worth it. Just a couple of hours of "downtime" will make the rest of the trip much nicer. Less arguments, more fun. And the pools are awesome, anyway.

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Originally Posted by Borky00

Azcavalier mentioned online dinner reservations? Can I do that the day of or a day or two before the meal? I suspect we will want 2-3 sit down meals but I will not know if and when until we are there and hungry from the long walks.

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This is going to totally depend on where you try to eat. Some places, you simply will not be able to get into the day of, or the day before. Some places you can't get into *months* before. My wife and I will be there on May 1st. We have reservations at some restaurants already, and tried to switch them around. But we can't, because there are no times open. It's crazy, I know. But some places, like the previous poster said, you should be OK. Resort restaurants are very good, and are not nearly as busy (usually) as the restaurants in the parks. If you try to make a reservation online that day, or the day before, and you can't, try walking up a few hours ahead of time and ask. It's always possible that someone cancelled.

Your question about the extra morning magic hours - to be quite honest - I avoid them like the plague! We've tried them at MK & DHS & did not have good experiences either time! :( But a dear friend swears by the AM EMH's, but once the parks are open to day guests (those not staying on property) they hop to another park! For us this would be wasting valuable morning time - AKA lowest crowds of the day time! I enjoy all of the tour books I've read about WDW, but my favorite is the "Unofficial Guide"! It's HUGE, but it has everything you could ever need to know about WDW & the attractions! Attraction info such as do you get wet? Is it loud? Duration of attraction, target audiences, etc. There is an accompanying website called "Touring Plans", sorry I hope I can post that on here. :confused: The book & site both steer you away from the extra magic hours altogether! I paid the subscription fee - something like $5.00 with the discount from having purchased the book (used on Amazon!) We've visted WDW 7 times & this time I'm allowing this site to guide me in the best schedule for visiting attractions in each park! It's designed, after much research regarding crowd levels, etc, to minimize wait times! I'm finally ready to let go of that control if we can spend less time in lines & more time experiencing everything else! Bottom line - the computer generated plans do have you avoiding the parks with extra magic hours - both morning & evening!