Plan on taking a trip to FL to go to Disneyworld, Seaworld and Universal Studios.

[Chryso]

Originally posted by: DT4K
Everyone has their own favorites, but here are my personal "don't miss" attractions.

Magic Kingdom:
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Pirates of the Carribbean
Haunted Mansion
Mickey's Philharmagic
Jungle Cruise is corny, but it's a classic, I'm nostalgic and the kids like it
Winnie the Pooh and Peter Pan for the kids.
It's a Small World (painful for most adults, but the 1 yr old will probably be enthralled)

Animal Kingdom:
Expedition Everest (questionable for a 6 yr old)
Kilimanjaro Safari
Dinosaur (possibly too scary for a 6 yr old)
Festival of the Lion King
Nemo the Musical
Kali River Rapids (only if the wait is very short, otherwise not worth it)
Checking out the animals on the walking trails

Hollywood Studios (Disney/MGM):
Rock n Roller Coaster (6 yr old probably isn't tall enough)
Tower of Terror (depends on how easily spooked the kid is)
Beauty and The Beast
Star Tours
Indiana Jones stunt show
Lights, Motors, Action
Fantasmic
Playhouse Disney is one that your 1 yr old would probably enjoy, but the 6 yr old might be too cool for that.

I would add to this:
Magic Kingdom:
Go to Fantasyland first thing in the morning and get Dumbo done.
It is a carnival type ride so if you can get on it early you won't have too much line to wait in.

Animal Kingdom:
The Kilimanjaro Safari was my family's very favorite thing at AK.
Dinosaur was my least favorite ride in all of the Disney parks. It was very loud and EXTREMELY uncomfortable. Imagine driving over thousands of speedbumps in a car with no shocks while dinosaurs jump out at you. It really wasn't fun.

MGM Studio:
He covered everything.

Also, I think I would go to Epcot instead of Seaworld. As you add more days to Disney tickets they get less and less expensive per day. With small children you will probably not need the park hopper option, especially if this is a first visit, and that savings might be enough to trade for an additional day at Disney. Getting in and out of the parks in the middle of the day takes time that you could use to be resting or doing stuff in the park you are at rather than packing up and traveling to a second park.
Try to take a double stroller so the older child can ride some. They will get worn out and when they get tired and cranky then nobody has fun any more. Let the kids play and have fun doing kid things. The things they remember and enjoy the most are not going to be the big headliner rides. It will be stuff like meeting Cinderella or Winnie the Pooh.

Oh, I forgot to mention: I have a 5 and 8 year old girls that we recently took. All the 5 year old talks about is meeting Cinderella.

 

[KhoiFather]

We're definitely going to Seralago and going to Animal Kingdom on Monday, Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, Hollywood Studio on Wednesday, then Seaworld on Thursday. Woohoo!!!

 

[DT4K]

On Tuesday, the 18th, Magic Kingdom will open an hour early for on-site Disney resort guests only. That's the Extra Magic Hours I was talking about.

So even if you arrive early enough to go in right when the park opens to the general public at 8:00am, there will already be thousands of people in the park.

On Monday, the 17th, Animal Kingdom will stay open 3 hours later for on-site resort guests only. Again, the Extra Magic Hours (evening this time). That means it will probably be more crowded on that day than on the non-EMH days.

I'd really recommend you take a look at the park hours (including EMH's) HERE and plan your park days to avoid Extra Magic Hours(the orange and green on that list). They usually attract larger crowds, and because you won't be staying on-site, there's really zero benefit to going on an EMH day.

A couple of ideas:

Mon - Sea World
Tue - Animal Kingdom
Wed - Magic Kingdom
Thurs - Hollywood Studios

or
Mon - Magic Kingdom
Tue - Animal Kingdom
Wed - Sea World
Thurs - Hollywood Studios

Yes, it would a better value to skip Sea World and go to Epcot instead, because the difference between a 3 day and 4 day Disney pass is almost nothing. But Sea World is a great park and it's a little bit of a different experience from the Disney parks. If the extra $200 isn't a big deal, I think you will all enjoy Sea World just as much or more than Epcot. If you like thrill rides, make sure you ride Kraken at Sea World. For pure adrenaline, it blows the Disney rides away. And don't miss the Shamu show. My cousin used to be one of the whale trainers (and performers) there, so we got to go backstage and pet the whales. Very cool! But he transferred to the San Diego park last year.

Oh, I'm still curious where you were getting dining reservations. I've got some suggestions for each park, but as you may have already found out, the choices might be limited. Some of the most popular places get booked up pretty soon after they are available (180 days in advance).

 

[KhoiFather]

Hmmmm that definitely sounds like a good idea. I'll most likely do the second suggestion you advise so we're not stuck at Disney for three days straight. I called yesterday to make dinner reservations for Akerhus Royal Banquet on Tuesday night, then The Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, then the Garden Grill Restaurant on Thursday night. It's just mostly for the kids so they can see the characters. Got any good coupons for there? Hahha.... Thanks!

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Hmmmm that definitely sounds like a good idea. I'll most likely do the second suggestion you advise so we're not stuck at Disney for three days straight. I called yesterday to make dinner reservations for Akerhus Royal Banquet on Tuesday night, then The Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, then the Garden Grill Restaurant on Thursday night. It's just mostly for the kids so they can see the characters. Got any good coupons for there? Hahha.... Thanks!

Do a character b-fast or dinner(not character) at O'hana

Also, I didn't read your thread but are you staying on disney property?

 

[DT4K]

Akershus and Garden Grill are both inside Epcot. You need to have admission to Epcot to go to those restaurants. So if you don't have park hoppers, you won't be able to eat at those places if you went to a different park that day. And if you do have park hoppers, it still means a decent amount of travel time to get from whatever park you are in over to Epcot. Crystal Palace is in Magic Kingdom. So it would be best to eat there on the day that you are going to spend at Magic Kingdom. Breakfast and lunch are also character meals at Crystal Palace. So if they don't have any openings for dinner on the day you will be at MK, you could always try lunch. The only problem with doing breakfast is that you will be sitting and eating when the parks are their least crowded.

IMO, it's kind of a pain to spend the day in one park, then go to another park just to eat.

Is your 6 yr old a girl? Not to be sexist or anything, but most 6 yr old boys aren't into the princesses. Or at least they don't admit they are into the princesses.

If you are looking for a princess meal and decide you don't want to make an extra trip to Epcot just for the meal, the other options are Cinderellas Royal Table at Magic Kingdom (really expensive) or 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian Resort. The Grand Floridian is on the monorail loop close to Magic Kingdom.

A lot of people who have never been there, don't realize how big WDW is and how far away each park is from each other.

 

[alkemyst]

Just an FYI, crystal palace is not cinderella's castle. Also it's best for breakfast IMHO.

With kids you probably want to do your character visits on breakfast/lunch as usually I just see them sleeping through dinners.

 

[KhoiFather]

Change of plans, looks like we're gonna go from March 12th to the 18th. The tickets we're getting do have park hoppers but you do make a good point about the restaurant being in Epcot which we don't plan to go to. So we'll have 4 days to spend at Disney and 1 day at Seaworld. DT4K, think you can hook me up with a good schedule to go on those days?

You do make a good point about having to hop from park to park, so we're definitely gonna go to dinner at the park we're going to each day. So we'll go to Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom on the day we go there. I don't plan to go to Epcot so I dunno how we're gonna go to the other two restaurants. And yes, my daughter is 6 years old and my boy is 1 year old. So she'll love to see the princess. I don't want to go to no expensive restaurant either.

 

[DT4K]

Well, they're all expensive.
It's just that some are extremely expensive (like Cinderella's Royal Table).
You can find all the menus and prices at Allears.net. Plus info about which places have which characters, etc. My personal preference is to have a sit-down meal for lunch. It provides a nice break after spending a few hours doing attractions in the morning and it's a little cheaper than dinner. We usually do bagels, muffins, or something else we can grab and go in the morning, then a sit down lunch, then a counter service (quick fast-food type places in the parsk) for dinner. But not all the character meals are offered for all three meals each day.

If you are going to spend 4 days at Disney and not go to Epcot, are you thinking about going to one of the other parks twice? If so, Magic Kingdom is the obvious choice because it has the most attractions. Splitting it up into 2 days makes it a lot easier to do all the big rides in the morning when it's not quite as crowded.

Although personally, if I was allotting 4 park days for Disney, I'd go to every park at least once.

As far as the days, of course you can plan them however it makes the most sense to you. It's just my opinion that you'll be better off avoiding the Extra Magic Hours parks each day. If it were me, I'd look at the park hours that were posted, figure out a schedule that puts you in each park on a non-Extra Magic Hours day, then figure out dining reservations from there.

 

[KhoiFather]

Sweet, so it looks like we're gonna stay at the Radisson Worldgate Resort, cause it's like 30 bucks more for the nights we're staying. Plan on doing

Magic Kingdom March 13th

Hollywood Studio March 14th

Animal Kingdom March 15th

Seaworld March 16th

Magic Kingdom March 17th.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Change of plans, looks like we're gonna go from March 12th to the 18th. The tickets we're getting do have park hoppers but you do make a good point about the restaurant being in Epcot which we don't plan to go to. So we'll have 4 days to spend at Disney and 1 day at Seaworld. DT4K, think you can hook me up with a good schedule to go on those days?

You do make a good point about having to hop from park to park, so we're definitely gonna go to dinner at the park we're going to each day. So we'll go to Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom on the day we go there. I don't plan to go to Epcot so I dunno how we're gonna go to the other two restaurants. And yes, my daughter is 6 years old and my boy is 1 year old. So she'll love to see the princess. I don't want to go to no expensive restaurant either.

Khoi you NEED to get over to a regular disney focused site...you are getting a lot of information that just regurgitated and not really specific to you needs.

I like talkdisney.com. There are forums specificly for budget and traveling with kids.

Almost all of the character meals would be what most would not call economical. I don't keep track of the totals so much but I think Crystal Palace for breakfast comes out to about $60 for two adults. I know in my 5 day trips with florida passes my total spent is around $2000-2500 staying at the LaQuinta on Universal because they allow pets primarily, but is also close to things you can just walk too, as well as being clean and having a great free breakfast (with waffle machines).

We usually do the Crystal Palace breakfast at least once and at least one character dinner. Outside of that we find ourselves grabbing a turkey leg or some quick food here and there. The turkey legs kids and adults love, they are cheap (about $5-6) and fill you up. When you do the fast food route check out the places that offer a full veggie bar for your sandwiches. Pecos Bill is one in Disney by Thunder Mountain and Tusker House by Kil. Safari's in Animal Kingdom is another.

At Sea World if you like beer, you can head over to the hospitality area in the back of the park and see the horse and sample beers. They say there is a two beer limit per adult, but they are full sized beers. My wife doesn't drink so it works out.

I'd head over to those forums and get real answers by people that travelled in your same situation.

The two kids are going to slow you down A LOT...but that doesn't really take the fun out of the visit unless you make it, my parents started taking my brother and I very young...I have been to the parks at least once a year since 1974 or so when my younger brother was old enough. I still remember sitting in a stroller and it vibrating going over the bridge from the castle to Adventure land.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Change of plans, looks like we're gonna go from March 12th to the 18th. The tickets we're getting do have park hoppers but you do make a good point about the restaurant being in Epcot which we don't plan to go to. So we'll have 4 days to spend at Disney and 1 day at Seaworld. DT4K, think you can hook me up with a good schedule to go on those days?

You do make a good point about having to hop from park to park, so we're definitely gonna go to dinner at the park we're going to each day. So we'll go to Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom on the day we go there. I don't plan to go to Epcot so I dunno how we're gonna go to the other two restaurants. And yes, my daughter is 6 years old and my boy is 1 year old. So she'll love to see the princess. I don't want to go to no expensive restaurant either.

Khoi you NEED to get over to a regular disney focused site...you are getting a lot of information that just regurgitated and not really specific to you needs.

I like talkdisney.com. There are forums specificly for budget and traveling with kids.

Almost all of the character meals would be what most would not call economical. I don't keep track of the totals so much but I think Crystal Palace for breakfast comes out to about $60 for two adults. I know in my 5 day trips with florida passes my total spent is around $2000-2500 staying at the LaQuinta on Universal because they allow pets primarily, but is also close to things you can just walk too, as well as being clean and having a great free breakfast (with waffle machines).

We usually do the Crystal Palace breakfast at least once and at least one character dinner. Outside of that we find ourselves grabbing a turkey leg or some quick food here and there. The turkey legs kids and adults love, they are cheap (about $5-6) and fill you up. When you do the fast food route check out the places that offer a full veggie bar for your sandwiches. Pecos Bill is one in Disney by Thunder Mountain and Tusker House by Kil. Safari's in Animal Kingdom is another.

At Sea World if you like beer, you can head over to the hospitality area in the back of the park and see the horse and sample beers. They say there is a two beer limit per adult, but they are full sized beers. My wife doesn't drink so it works out.

I'd head over to those forums and get real answers by people that travelled in your same situation.

The two kids are going to slow you down A LOT...but that doesn't really take the fun out of the visit unless you make it, my parents started taking my brother and I very young...I have been to the parks at least once a year since 1974 or so when my younger brother was old enough. I still remember sitting in a stroller and it vibrating going over the bridge from the castle to Adventure land.

I am a member of www.wdwmagic.com

Drop on by if you want. There is a trip planning forum that is very helpful. Also, check out www.allearsnet.com for any info needs.

 

[Homerboy]

Interesting... we are going to Disney in about 3 weeks with a large group (my entire family). My immediately family consists of the 4 of us, me, my wife and 2 kids (4 and 6 years old).

The #1 thing my kids want to hit is the Nicolodean site (for Spongebob of course). My daughter wants to hit Magic Kingdom solely for the princess crap. Other than that we are completely open for suggestions. I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom as they LOVE animals and I think would really enjoy the Safari there. I hadn't thought of Sea World (we will have a rental car to so we can travel somewhat). They will not be interested at all in any rides or such (though the mono-rail my son may enjoy) nor too interested in the the disney characters and junk themselves (minus the princesses of course).

Any other recommendations out there?

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Interesting... we are going to Disney in about 3 weeks with a large group (my entire family). My immediately family consists of the 4 of us, me, my wife and 2 kids (4 and 6 years old).

The #1 thing my kids want to hit is the Nicolodean site (for Spongebob of course). My daughter wants to hit Magic Kingdom solely for the princess crap. Other than that we are completely open for suggestions. I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom as they LOVE animals and I think would really enjoy the Safari there. I hadn't thought of Sea World (we will have a rental car to so we can travel somewhat). They will not be interested at all in any rides or such (though the mono-rail my son may enjoy) nor too interested in the the disney characters and junk themselves (minus the princesses of course).

Any other recommendations out there?

They're not interested in the rides?

 

[Homerboy]

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Interesting... we are going to Disney in about 3 weeks with a large group (my entire family). My immediately family consists of the 4 of us, me, my wife and 2 kids (4 and 6 years old).

The #1 thing my kids want to hit is the Nicolodean site (for Spongebob of course). My daughter wants to hit Magic Kingdom solely for the princess crap. Other than that we are completely open for suggestions. I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom as they LOVE animals and I think would really enjoy the Safari there. I hadn't thought of Sea World (we will have a rental car to so we can travel somewhat). They will not be interested at all in any rides or such (though the mono-rail my son may enjoy) nor too interested in the the disney characters and junk themselves (minus the princesses of course).

Any other recommendations out there?

They're not interested in the rides?

At 4 and 6 I dont think so much. Honestly I'm not sure what "rides" there actually are except for the big ones. What's there for the kids?

I guess our VERY tentative game plan was Animal Kingdom and Sea World, and the Magic Kingdom and Nick another 2 days.

There is just so damned much its fairly overwhelming at this point. I don't want to miss out on anything "important" too, its quite an daunting task in my eyes thus far.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Originally posted by: PurdueRy

Originally posted by: Homerboy
Interesting... we are going to Disney in about 3 weeks with a large group (my entire family). My immediately family consists of the 4 of us, me, my wife and 2 kids (4 and 6 years old).

The #1 thing my kids want to hit is the Nicolodean site (for Spongebob of course). My daughter wants to hit Magic Kingdom solely for the princess crap. Other than that we are completely open for suggestions. I wanted to go to Animal Kingdom as they LOVE animals and I think would really enjoy the Safari there. I hadn't thought of Sea World (we will have a rental car to so we can travel somewhat). They will not be interested at all in any rides or such (though the mono-rail my son may enjoy) nor too interested in the the disney characters and junk themselves (minus the princesses of course).

Any other recommendations out there?

They're not interested in the rides?

At 4 and 6 I dont think so much. Honestly I'm not sure what "rides" there actually are except for the big ones. What's there for the kids?

I guess our VERY tentative game plan was Animal Kingdom and Sea World, and the Magic Kingdom and Nick another 2 days.

Oh man you need to look into it. You really are quite mistaken. For kids 4 and 6 off the top of my head at MK:

Peter Pan's flight
It's a small world
Carousel
Pooh
Mickey's Philharmagic
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Car.
Snow white
Goofy's barnstormer
haunted mansion(not really scary...depends on the kid)
Buzz lightyear space ranger spin
Stich's great escape
Tomorrowland transit authority
Tomorrowland speedway
Tiki room

There are more but as you can see, the rides are great for kids. Look into it. PLEASE go to www.wdwmagic.com and go to the trip planning section. There you can post any question you have and people will help you VERY quickly. Trust me, don't let this just be "another" trip. It has the potential to be VERY special for your kids and you really don't want to miss out.

 

[Homerboy]

Oh man you need to look into it. You really are quite mistaken. For kids 4 and 6 off the top of my head at MK:

Peter Pan's flight
It's a small world
Carousel
Pooh
Mickey's Philharmagic
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Car.
Snow white
Goofy's barnstormer
haunted mansion(not really scary...depends on the kid)
Buzz lightyear space ranger spin
Stich's great escape
Tomorrowland transit authority
Tomorrowland speedway
Tiki room

There are more but as you can see, the rides are great for kids. Look into it. PLEASE go to www.wdwmagic.com and go to the trip planning section. There you can post any question you have and people will help you VERY quickly. Trust me, don't let this just be "another" trip. It has the potential to be VERY special for your kids and you really don't want to miss out.

Noted and will do. What if my kids generally couldn't care about Disney characters. Are the rides still enjoyable for them? I mean they know all the Pixar characters pretty well, but not the classic Disney characters.

Hell I don't even know if my kids would enjoy "rides" they are pretty big wusses with stuff like that. Well... thats not entirely true. They can surprise me on occasion too. I would imagine most of those rides are in the Magic Kingdom? Which we do plan on visiting just for the Princess stuff itself and I think that will be the ONE location my entire family (all 30 of us ranging from 60-1yr old) can be on neutral ground. It will be the one day we're all together.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Homerboy

Oh man you need to look into it. You really are quite mistaken. For kids 4 and 6 off the top of my head at MK:

Peter Pan's flight
It's a small world
Carousel
Pooh
Mickey's Philharmagic
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Car.
Snow white
Goofy's barnstormer
haunted mansion(not really scary...depends on the kid)
Buzz lightyear space ranger spin
Stich's great escape
Tomorrowland transit authority
Tomorrowland speedway
Tiki room

There are more but as you can see, the rides are great for kids. Look into it. PLEASE go to www.wdwmagic.com and go to the trip planning section. There you can post any question you have and people will help you VERY quickly. Trust me, don't let this just be "another" trip. It has the potential to be VERY special for your kids and you really don't want to miss out.

Noted and will do. What if my kids generally couldn't care about Disney characters. Are the rides still enjoyable for them? I mean they know all the Pixar characters pretty well, but not the classic Disney characters.

Hell I don't even know if my kids would enjoy "rides" they are pretty big wusses with stuff like that. Well... thats not entirely true. They can surprise me on occasion too. I would imagine most of those rides are in the Magic Kingdom? Which we do plan on visiting just for the Princess stuff itself and I think that will be the ONE location my entire family (all 30 of us ranging from 60-1yr old) can be on neutral ground. It will be the one day we're all together.

Yes the rides are all enjoyable even if you aren't huge fans of the characters. Some, like buzz lightyear, are iteractive. None of the rides I listed are at all intense. They are slow moving rides which take you through the characters world. Mickey's Philharmagic is a 3d show starring many of the characters. If the kids don't like the characters the 3d is always fun. There are rides for the less "wussy" but I did not list them here.

Stop by wdwmagic, you'll get excellent advice there and I'll drop by to see how things are going.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
Khoi you NEED to get over to a regular disney focused site...you are getting a lot of information that just regurgitated and not really specific to you needs.

I'd head over to those forums and get real answers by people that travelled in your same situation.

I assume you're talking about me, but I'm not really sure what you mean since I've spent about 40 days at Disney World in the past 3 years with 4 kids from ages 1 to 12.

But I certainly agree that Disney specific sites have a ton of good information.

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Sweet, so it looks like we're gonna stay at the Radisson Worldgate Resort, cause it's like 30 bucks more for the nights we're staying. Plan on doing

Magic Kingdom March 13th

Hollywood Studio March 14th

Animal Kingdom March 15th

Seaworld March 16th

Magic Kingdom March 17th.

March 13th, Magic Kingdom has morning Extra Magic Hours. If it was me, I'd go to Hollywood Studios on the 13th and Magic Kingdom on the 14th. The only downside to that is that Magic Kingdom closes at 7pm on the 14th. I'm not sure, but there's probably one of the special ticket events like the Pirates and Princesses party going on that evening. But you probably won't want to stay from open until close anyway with young kids. And if you go to Magic Kingdom on the 17th, you'll get a chance to see the evening parades and fireworks on that night if you want.

Everything else looks great in my (regurgitated, inapplicable) opinion. I like the fact that you have Animal Kingdom and Sea World in the middle. There are fewer "must-do's" in AK, so if you're feeling wiped out at that point of the trip, you can always make that a shorter day. And Sea World is a bit more restful because you spend more time sitting and less time walking. Magic Kingdom is a great way to finish the trip, especially if you stay late and see Spectromagic (a very cool nighttime light parade) and the fireworks (Wishes).

Alkemyst mentioned Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. It was closed when we were there in September and it's now re-opened as a table service/buffet restaurant. For breakfast, it's a character meal and for lunch and dinner, I think it's just a regular buffet. It was one of the better counter-service restaurants that I've tried, but I haven't been there since it changed.

I'll second the recommendation for Pecos Bill's if you need a counter service meal at Magic Kingdom. They've got a good burger bar with sauteed mushrooms, onions, etc.

 

[alkemyst]

Travelling with kids the early closings are usually late enough.