Okay Disney Booked, Any Advice

Here's you some links I found:

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/14960661894594035713

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/5294603344038526977

http://www.mamapedia.com/questions/2966227857447190529

Have fun!
Dawn

The attractions all depend on the age of the kids. If you want character experience meals, you need to book them before you go. We really liked the dinner with Cinderella and her step sisters, the breakfast with Mickey at Ohanna, and the breakfast with Donald at Tusker House.
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining/

We really enjoy Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. I can't say the studios park was all that interesting and the breakfast/lunch there with the Disney Jr characters is awful!

Downtown Disney we had my daughter dressed up like a princess. This was overrated! She loved the outfit, but they put make up on my 4 year old and they only have certain hair styles they do that look awful. Best bet is to buy the outfit, put it on, and have the fair godmother at the desk sprinkle her with pixie dust. Much better idea for next time!!!

Loved the night shows at MK! Well worth the stay! Would liked to have seen the one at epcot. You have to make reservations for this show and it is supposed to be spectacular!

There are photographers in the park that will take pictures for you and have special effects and signatures that are really cute. Your best bet for park photopass purchase...
1. Sign up for a Disney Chase visa card
2. Use the card to purchase your trip (6 months no interest)
3. With the points earned for your trip purchase, pre-purchase the Disney Photopass CD (unlimited photos - http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/digital-photos.htm)
4. At epcot, you get a special photo op with characters no one else sees
5. Tell all photographers you pre-ordered the CD because they will take extra photos
6. When you get home, make edits to your photos to include special effects like characters and frames
7. order CD with code from pre-purchase

By doing this, I got over 250 photos of our family for $60 that I can print anywhere.

Ok... I could go on and on. If you have specific questions, send me a message. :)

The first two days will be very busy, but after that the parks will be quiet. The winter months bring in the South American tourists, but it is not as busy as Christmas time or summer. I would bring your stroller (a double if you have one). The stroller rentals are inside the parks so if you are there late you will have very tired kiddos on the monorail (you do not have to close the strollers on the monorails).

Have fun!!

ADDED** the temperature here at that time is much cooler than summer (65 to 75 daytime). Be sure to bring at least two pairs of long pants and long sleeve shirts and a jacket. It is only southern Florida that stays hot and humid all year, it does cool off here in central and northern Florida during the winter months.

If you're children are early risers, go first thing when the park opens (check out which parks are early opening that week) and stay for lunch. Then head back to hotel for nap/swim/down time. Consider heading back to the park in the late afternoon or early evening when it's cooler, although that time of year it shouldn't be as humid. I put snacks and refillable water bottle in my purse and took any coupons I might need for lunch or souveniers.

You didn't say if you needed to be frugal or if money was no object. I had to watch our pennies. We took 10 of us for 14 days and had a wonderful time. Friends told us we spent less than half what they did.

Bring a stroller and an ice chest. We brought bottled water. We refilled the bottled water and put them in the hotel freezer. It saves a lot of money.

My family stayed in a hotel off property. We went to the local supermarkets and bought fried chicken for dinner and sometimes for lunch the next day. We bought cereal and milk for breakfest. We went to the MCD, BK, and other fast food restaurants and bought off their 99 cent menus. We bought sodas at local grocery stores and save lots of money vrs park prices.

Hope you have a lot of fun. Good luck to you and yours.

Bring your own stroller. Book any dinner reservations NOW. Consider a meal plan, makes life easier, IMO.
I'm not sure about the comment on food choices, if you're letting the kids choose, of course it isn't always going to be healthy. But there is fruit, yogurt, popcorn, water EVERYWHERE.
Go to the parks early. I know I've repeated some previous answers, just sharing. And I am jealous.
We are going Dec. 2013

Good choice on the hotel.. We've always stayed at the Polynesian. Being on the monorail line will save you time for MK.

We usually rented a stroller at the park. I know, a little added expense but it was worth it to us..

Don't miss the parade at MK at 3pm. The fireworks are great and NYE should be a blast!

Enjoy!

Get to the parks early! At least 30 minutes before "official" opening time. They often open before their "official" published time during busy seasons. The first hour in the park before massive crowds will be your most enjoyable. You can always nap/rest/swim later. My kids would tour up until about 2pm, and then it was time for a break out of the park. You're so lucky you are close enough to go back for evening fun too, if everyone is up for it.

Make dining reservations now!

We did the Disney double stroller rental when our girls were 6 and 4, and it worked great, I highly recommend it!

You are going at a busy time, and you're kids are small, so pick a few must-dos, and consider anything else a bonus. It will be impossible to see and do everything.

Buy the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, they offer very, very helpful information and details on all the rides, crowds, etc. Consider using a touring plan to minimize your time waiting in lines, and Fast Pass is your friend!

Have fun, I'm jealous!

Hi M.,
We saved a lot of money by buying cereal, milk, bread and snacks/fruit at walmart. in the mornigs we could eat at our leisure and it was much cheaper too. Have fun! ~C.~

I personally didn't like the strollers at the park. We ended up purchasing an umbrella one. My daughters were 6 and 4. My 4 year old was the one that needed the stroller, my 6 year old had no problem walking the park. I would just bring an umbrella stroller with you, much cheaper and more comfortable in my opinion.

My opinion is not to stress about seeing everything. The mornings are supposively better but we did late mornings to dinner time. It wasn't that bad. Magic Kingdom was definitely the worst and most packed. The rest of the parks were not that bad. And if you utilize fast passes you should have not much waiting time.

I also agree with bringing snacks and lots of water bottles. I froze some and left some just cold. The frozen ones would help keep the non frozen ones cold. And the kids enjoyed the snacks for when we did have to wait in lines.

Bring your own ligh weight strollers, preferably with umbrellas on top. They charge an arm and a leg for strollers there.

Bring a cooler with an arm strap (a cloth cooler is best) then hang the cooler on the back of the stroller so you don't have to carry it all day. Keep lots of water and snacks in there for the kids. The cloth coolers can be folded up in your suitcase or can be brought on the plan as a carry on bag as long as they don't contain any prohibited items. We used ice from the hotel in a freezer bag to keep everything cool.

Disneyworld has VERY unhealthy food. I even wrote them to complain about all of their bad choices.

If you have smart phone./iphone then you can download the free app Disney Mobile Magic..
You can see the wait times..
you can locate favorite character..

Bring your own stroller, and bring your own food and water! It's SO expensive to eat at Disneyland/Disney World. We went to Disneyland in July last time (over 100*), and they were charging $9/bottle for water. No joke. And they were just normal-sized bottles of water, not the big ones. So for our family of 4 to drink water, it was $36. o_O

So definitely bring your own water, and then pack a lunch and snacks. If your kids are anything like mine, they'll be too excited to eat much anyway. :) That alone will save you more than $500!