My husband and I are planning a trip to Disney World in early December with our 2 year old. We have already booked our rooms and will be purchasing our tickets before hand. Also, we will be driving so we do not have any flight reservations to make. I felt like there was a lot of planning to be made for our first major family vacation, but I am just not thinking very clearly about it all right now. Is there any planning advice that we could use? Thanks!
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If its this December and you want dining reservations....do it very soon. They fill up quickly.
Definitely make your meal reservations. You are going at an off time so you should be OK but you still want to make sure that you can eat at the places that you would like.
We went during the off-season in September & only made reservations for the major dinners. This is my only regret, because it left me scrambling to find reservations at the last minute (we had a free dining plan). Definitely best to eat on site, but the problem is you have to know which park you want to go to ahead of time, and this is somewhat weather-dependent.
I strongly suggest getting Park Hopper tickets AND the dinning plan. If you use the Table Service for your dinner, it will MORE than pay for itself. Tips are not covered, but that's okay. It still pays for itself.
If you are staying on property (Disney hotel), they will want a credit card to put on file. Your room key gets you access and payability for most anything in the park, hotel, and property eateries.
Even if you don't do the dining plan, you don't have to stay on property to do the dining plan, then you will still need reservations to just about any meal in any of the sit down eateries. We had reservations one night 7p, realized we couldn't make it at 630p, called to try and find something in the hotel we were at and were told the next sitting was at 10p. We ended up ordering pizza. Which btw, most pizza places will deliver to the lobby of the hotels. Even Disney ones.
With A baby I would just take a park a day. Make your reservations now. Even now you will not get what you want. Usually reservations have to be made at least four months in advance. Go to Allears.net. All info you will ever need about Disneyworld and all restaurants and menus.
You do not have to leave a credit card if you do not want to. It allows you to use your key card for charging. If not, just use cash or credit card.
Take a stroller and a small cooler with an ice pack. Ask for a small refrigerator in the room (possibly a small fee) and make sure it has a working freezer section for ice. Take some silverware. Take food with you to the parks because 2 year olds don't love 3 restaurants a day which will often have waits. Take yogurt in the cooler as well as drinks and fruit, whatever snacks you want. Take a small cutting board to cut up fruit or cheese, whatever he eats, plus a knife and a small bottle of dish detergent, a small sponge, some baggies or snack containers. Ask for an extra couple of hand towels to use as a dish towel and a drainer.
Tie a really bright ribbon - something really garish or fluorescent or patterned - on your stroller handles and on the cooler handle so no one takes it by mistake - you'll be leaving it at the entrance to each ride or restaurant and picking it up afterwards. You can buy something really distinctive at any fabric store - they'll sell it by the half yard so it will cost you $2! It's worth it!
Plan on leaving the park and coming back to the hotel for a nap and some down time. Remember that your child will not enjoy or even be allowed on certain rides, so really plan ahead and scale back your expectations. Sometimes kids are scared of the characters too, so don't force that issue. Also ask about noises - for example, the Jungle Cruise has some fake gunfire and some roaring animals that can startle little kids. Remember that kids are often fascinated by the strangest stuff - like the guy emptying the trash cans or the stuff in the hotel lobby, rather than the Disney stuff.
Get a set of cheapy address labels (from the insert in the newspaper that also has the coupons) and order a set with your name, address and whatever cell phone number you will use on the trip. Or skip the address and put 2 cell phone numbers. Stick a label on the stroller, the cooler, the diaper bag, your phone, your child's favorite toys, the sippy cup, the travel umbrella, and anything else that's important. You'd be surprised what drops out of the stroller or the diaper bag. Also take something that your child can play with while waiting in lines - it gets pretty boring even though the lines generally move. I'd buy a couple of new things that are really fascinating! Figure out a way to tuck it away before you get to the front of the line though.
Most of the guide books we used when we went there said to enter the park and then head for the back. Everyone goes to the first few attractions in the morning and heads toward the back as the day wears on. If you do the opposite, you will have fewer crowds and also be near the exit later in the day when you are tired of walking and your kid is cranky!
Wear comfortable sneakers with good support. Skip the sandals except for around the hotel. Your feet will thank you.
