Disney World- 1St Time

Oh my goodness I could give you a world of information (we go every year at the beginning of May usually). First, book your dining reservations NOW. Many of the best restaurants will probably be booked solid since most people make their reservations 6 months in advance. There are plenty of good restaurants though, so if you need some suggestions, please PM me.

As for park entry, food, etc. I suggest staying on property and getting the meal plan. The meal plan makes the food prices reasonable, it is plenty of food, and allows you to pick what you really want off the menus versus getting one of the cheaper options. When you stay on property you are also eligible for extra magic hours into the parks. These are fabulous as quite frequently we are able to get most of the larger rides in before the park actually opens to the rest of the public. I also always suggest the park hopper passes if you can swing them. This allows you to go to multiple parks in the same day and helps things to be a little more laid back.

Disneyworld.com is honestly the best option, and if you go to their "customized map" section, your boys can create their own maps of the things they want to do!

You are allowed to bring water and snacks in, but water is free at any station that has a working faucet, so it isn't a necessity. And if you get the meal plan, you get one snack a day (which doesn't seem like much, but you get SO much food with this plan, we rarely eat our snacks).

If you have any O. questions, or want some of our favorite things that we do (and there are a lot of them), please feel free to PM me. Our son is 4.5, so we definitely get the young boy thing! Have fun!

go to disboards.com. It is a weath of information and everyone is so willing to help.

YAY-the first time is the absolute best! Get the Unnoficial Guide To Disny With Kids 2011. Best book on WDW in many people's opinions. I fyou read that whole book you will get every single tip you need. It also reviews all hotels and restaurants.

We love the dining plan. You can really save a lot of money and eat in their best restaurants.

I went to AAA to plan my first trip b/c I was nervous. They walk you through everything. Second trip I planned online at the Disney website. I don't think there was any savings difference really. On their website you can play around yourself to get an idea of costs. I highly suggest this.

You are going at a great time-shouldn't be crowded.

We took our son last year for his 1st birthday. It was awesome! We did a whole Disney package where we stayed at one of their value hotels which we loved. The rooms were adequate & decorated very kid friendly. They have a food package where you can eat at the hotel food court style or character dinning & even snack options! Transportation is also included from the hotel to each of the parks. Even airport transfers!

www.allearsnet.net is a great website for info!!! You can check the list of rehab closures for each park too. We at the Magic Kingdom for a day a few weeks back and Toon Town is closed till next year!! Ratings and reviews for places to eat and so much more!

Look into Character dinning to see the characters that way you aren't standing in line for hours on end to see them. We did this once and it was great!! You can make as many reservations as you want because you don't pay till you get to that meal.

You can take in water and snacks. They also have cold water fountains that you can refill your bottles if you want.

Have fun!!
S.

there's a website called mousesavers dot com t hat you must check out. It offers all kinds of tips for saving money, best meal plans, etc. It pays to buy a travel book at the bookstore. They even have one designed for the kids - with lots of pictures, places they can write a list of things they want to do, etc.

We went when our kids were just about the age of yours. We planned it months ahead and didn't tell them until 2 weeks before. We considered not telling them in advance, but realized that some of the fun is the anticipation. 2 weeks was just enough time to look forward to it at this age. We gave them gifts of Disney T-shirts from the Disney store at the mall and wrote a note that this was to wear to Disney on *insert date*. We have picture of them opening the presents, running to the calendar to figure out when we were going, etc.

This is such a perfect age for the magic. The disney website definitely is where to buy the tickets, meal plans, etc. Sometimes they offer free or deeply discounted meal plans so check out everything. The mousesavers website is excellent for planning advice - it's cheaper, per day to go more days - for us to buy one more day's access to the park (7days up to the 8th day) was about $2 per person - so why not if we could see a few more things that last morning. Realize that April will be a very busy time with Easter break - May might be the better option if you can pull the kids out of school.

Have fun!