WDW Newbie.....HELP!

[disneydementia]

My daughter and I will be visiting WDW May 29 through June 4 for the first time. I grew up in Southern California so we usually go to Disneyland every year. I know DLR so well that my family calls me the General Patton of DL! I am freaking out about coming to WDW. I feel like I'm visiting a foreign country! I've read the Birnbaum guide and I'm planning ahead as much as possible. Questions....is the dining plan worth it, what are the best days to visit the water parks, is it best to avoid EMH parks due to extra crowds?????????????? Any and all advice would be appreciated.

[faline]

Welcome to Intercot!

First....deep breath! It will be fine! Disney World is larger than Disneyland but there are many similarities and you will quickly feel right at home!

Birnbaum's is a good start for basic information. You'll find lots of information here on Intercot. Check out the Info Central tab at the top of the page. It will bring you to loads of information on all sorts of topics.

You will be a Disney World during a span of time when crowds are beginning to increase and you will find it to be very hot and humid during your stay.

Whether you find the dining plan worth it or not depends a lot on how you like to dine and which of the dining plans you opt for. Remember, when you get a package with a dining plan, you're paying rack rate for your room. Many folks like knowing their dining is paid for in advance. Others feel that the dining plan provides too much food for their dining style and/or locks them into being in restaurants at times when they'd rather be enjoying the attractions. In many ways, the worth of the dining plan is a personal decision. We've been with, and without, the dining plan. However, we've only gotten the dining plan when it was part of a Disney offered promotion and was offered for "free".

In a one-week trip, I'm not sure I'd try to fit in both of the water parks as you'll find there's much to do in Disney's four parks. Typically, weekdays find the waterparks less crowded than weekends. I haven't gone to a water park in quite some time but have found it works well to arrive at park opening and then leave in the early afternoon as crowds continue to get heavier.

There are different thoughts on Extra Magic Hours. Many folks advise taking advantage of the morning hour. We've found that, particularly when parks are busy, you can cover quite a lot of ground in the early morning hour. However, we've generally always had the option to park hop so can leave that park for another if we find that extra magic hour has attracted too many other guests. We've not really taken advantage of the evening extra magic hours but many have reported that these are quite crowded. Crowds can be increased if those who don't have park hopper passes choose the extra magic hours park to take advantage of the extra hours.

Make a plan for each park and hit your must-do attractions. With the time you have left, you can do the attractions you missed up front.

Use fast pass. This is a great time saver particularly when parks are busy.

Drink lots of water. It will be very hot and humid!

Plan a mid-day break back at your resort and return to the parks in the evening. We often make our table service meal in the early afternoon and then head to our resort to swim and rest, returning in the evening and having only a snack or appetizer for our evening "meal".

Ask lots of questions! The folks here love to share their knowledge!

[cajundisneyfreak]

I think the dining plan is worth it.The basic plan includes one counter service,one table service,& a snack each day per person.If you like to dine at a nice sit down restaurant than this plan is for you.But it does take time away from the parks.I'd say at least an hour or more.So,If you are pressed for time then you might prefer the quick service plan.You get two counter service meals,two snacks,and a refillable resort mug per person per day.It's really personal preference.As to the water parks,during the week is less crowded than the weekends.To answer your last question about extra magic hours,I prefer to do the evening hours.The parks are open an extra 3 hours at night.We did that this past Feb.At 2:00am we were literally the only people on Main St.at the Magic Kingdom.It was awesome! They were open till 3:00am but we couldn't make it cause it was too cold.Hope this helps out.If you have any more questions,feel free to ask.I have been to WDW so many times that I have lost count.lol Hope you and your daughter have a magical trip.

[forever a child]

How old is your daughter? I would allow her to be a part of the planning process. We usually choose top 3-5 Must Do's in each park like rides, shows or parades and then work the rest of the day around those priority choices.

We have never done the DDP so I can't answer that question but we are planning 3 TS restaurants for our upcoming trip and the rest either in our room (breakfast) or CS meals. I don't like my whole vacation scheduled around the ADR's. But I would definitely take advantage of a couple of Character Dinning meals if your DD is into that.

Have FUN planning it together. My DD and I are always talking about what we do or don't want to do and what choices we have. So it should be fun for the two of you and don't get overwhelmed, it's a vacation after all!

[badkitty]

So glad you have joined us! This is a great place to get your questions answered.

In regards to EMH, I would advise that if you choose not to do EMHs then to avoid that park with the EMHs. The morning EMHs fills the park early and the evening EMHs brings a large crowd at night. The evening EMHs do thin out as the night goes on but the lines for the popular rides during the first hour or so can be a nightmare.

[Morpheous]

Well, I definitely know where you are comming from. I also having lived pretty close to Disneyland used to go there quite often. I hadn't been to Disney World before 2005. Its definitely a lot to take in at first, with so many different things to do.

Magic Kingdom is A LOT like Disneyland so you could always start there, you'd instantly have a sense of familiarity.

We've gone with and without the dining plan. They give you a great deal of food, we eat at more TS restaurants on the plan then we would with out. But, as a previous poster said it tends to result in planning your trip around ADRs. I think its a good value, since we budget our food higher then the cost per-day of the dining plan. Though when we aren't using the dining plan we tend to penny pinch and never come anywhere close to our food budget.

I haven't done Extra Magic Hours in the morning since the late 90s at Disneyland. I however love the Evening Extra Magic Hours at WDW. I've never really noticed the crowds being too particularly worse then normal with Evening EMH. We've always been able to ride everything we wanted during Evening EMH as well, though we've only gone in Early may and mid august.

I'm sure your first trip to Disney World will be great it definitely was for me. Especially when riding the Monorail out to Epcot and seeing Space Ship Earth for the first time! Won't ever forget that!

[bruin1344]

My daughter and I will be visiting WDW May 29 through June 4 for the first time. I grew up in Southern California so we usually go to Disneyland every year. I know DLR so well that my family calls me the General Patton of DL! I am freaking out about coming to WDW. I feel like I'm visiting a foreign country! I've read the Birnbaum guide and I'm planning ahead as much as possible. Questions....is the dining plan worth it, what are the best days to visit the water parks, is it best to avoid EMH parks due to extra crowds?????????????? Any and all advice would be appreciated.

Dining Plan is worthwhile. You save money if you eat table service and counter service once day. There are so many great restaurants and its nice to sit down and relax at a restaurant once a day. You'll never be hungry on the plan.

Avoid the EMH AM parks unless you utilize it before the parks open to the general public.

Only take advantage of EMH PM at MK. There are enough attractions open and it stays open late enough that the crowds die down. Epcot and DHS get too crowded

[Jennifer_and_Chris]

you have found a great bunch of Disney-or-Busters here!

Since you've got alot of questions, I suggest to go to the specific board category and post each of your questions. You'll get tons of responses for each question. For the questions you listed already, I'd go to the Dining and Theme Park boards. Also check out the Restaurant menus (and photos don't hurt!) in Info Central. Planning (especially planning where to dine) can be the funnest part!

As for some other guides that may help, the Unofficial guide to WDW continues to be one of our favorites. Also the allearsnet and touringplans websites can also help with crowd patterns by the day!

If we do EMH, we usually do them at MK or EP. However, we did EMH for AK on our last trip and it was ONE OF THE BEST EVENINGS for us in the World. We were virtually the only ones there. It was fantastic.

Don't be afraid to post on any board on here! We love to answer!

[Tink#64]

Glad you're here! This is the perfect place for all your WDW Q's & A's! I can definitely remember planning our first trip to WDW & how overwhelming that felt! At least you have Disney experience & you'll acclimate much faster than I did! lol

I'll try to briefly tell you how I plan, if you ask specific q's on here, you'll get tons of great info. Your new friends on Intercot are the best and they have so much experience & are excited to share it with you!

I plan using the calendar & around EMH's, they aren't for us (we can't burn the candle at both ends!)

I plan a park for each day to start the morning & be able to experience the lower crowd volumn in each park!

We always do 2 mornings (park opening) at MK, 1 morning at Epcot Fw, & one evening at Epcot WS. An entire day at DHS and morning at AK. We almost always take that break & return to our resort for some pool time & enjoy one meal from the food court out by the pool. (Lesser expensive meal having the refillable mugs for our drinks & we get to leisurely enjoy it by the pool!)

We usually hop to a different park for the evening events & always fit in each nighttime event at least once! (IllumiNations at Epcot is our fav!)

I look at the restaurants menu's to plan our meals & schedule adr's! This will also help you to determine if you'd like to add on a meal package & if so, which one. We never have, our DS's now count as adults, althought they don't really eat like such & WDW portions are very generous, so lot's of times we share! We aren't big eaters & we never spend what I budget for food. I've had friends do the various dining plans & they loved it! This is a decision you'll have to study & make for yourself.

WDW has so many choices & that's the fantastic part, there's something there for everyone!

Happy Planning!