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

[alkemyst]

It's best to hit the disney site mentioned above and others like allears and intercot....

Here is a list of periods vs traffic:

MOST CROWDED TIME OF THE YEAR
Christmas through New Year's

EXTREMELY CROWDED
Easter Week (Before and After)

REALLY CROWDED
Fourth of July Week

CROWDED
Spring Break (first week of March until mid April)
Memorial Day Weekend
Summer Break (second week of June until second week of August)
President's Day until the end of February

A GOOD TIME TO GO
End of April
Early February
Labor Day Weekend
First two weeks of December

THE NEXT BEST TIME TO VISIT
Beginning of October until Thanksgiving
Week before Christmas

BEST TIME TO VISIT
January
September

What days are historically the busiest at the Parks?
Walt Disney World parks tend to be the busiest on the following days:

Magic Kingdom: Monday, Saturday & Sunday
Epcot: Wednesday & Friday
Disney-MGM Studios: Tuesday, Wednesday & Saturday
Animal Kingdom: Monday, Tuesday & Friday

We go in October every year for a week and crowds are minor. This year we didn't get a chance until right after Christmas. We only did Epcot and SeaWorld.

It was crowded but we saw everything we wanted too. We skipped Misson Space as my wife and niece didn't care for it. By the end of the day it had a 3 hour wait.

With Epcot crowds tend to increase A LOT right around 3-4 and the rest of the night as many come there for food and drinking until closing. Animal Kingdom is best first thing in the morning. Most of the parks are a lot less crowded prior to 11am.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
5 nights assuming 4 days in the parks will be pushing it for just Disney even though the crowds are extremely low in Feb.

You could do Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and MGM pretty easily though with a day in each (animal kingdom should take less than a day which can be used to catch more of epcot or MK).

I personally like Sea World a lot, even with passes to disney we get additional passes to seaworld.

Universal / Islands of Adventure are good for pretty much thrill rides.

I think you'd be better served narrowing your range down a bit as kids under 12 tend to get pooped out on only a partial day.

Unless I missed something, he said he was planning to go in March, right before Easter.

Whether or not Animal Kingdom can be done in less than a full day depends on whether you want to do everything or not. Even with kids that may not be old enough for rides like Expedition Everest and Dinosaur, I wouldn't want the adults to miss those rides. If you wanted to do all the rides and shows at AK, you'd need at least a full day.

Same goes with all the other parks. One day may be "enough" for some people, but that doesn't mean you can do all the attractions in one day. Of course, trying to do "everything" is a bad idea anyway.

I agree that Sea World is a great park. The only reason I'd suggest maybe skipping it is because there's plenty to do at Disney to keep you busy for the whole time and Sea World would mean spending extra money. Like I said, the difference between a 3 day and 5 day Disney pass is only a couple dollars, while a day at Sea World is a lot more.

As far as going the week before Easter, all I can do is give my opinion.
It can be done if you know how to do it.
But, for a family who has never been to Disney, I'd say there is about a 99% chance that they will come back from the trip complaining about how Disney World sucks and how they spent their entire vacation standing in lines. Lines to check into the hotel, lines to take the bus to the parks, lines to get into the park, lines to get food, and lines to get on the rides.

OP,
If there's any possible way you can go at a different time, I would highly suggest it. I think you'll have a much more enjoyable vacation. Even a week earlier would make a big difference. You'd still have moderate spring break crowds, but it would be much better than the week before or after Easter.

 

[KhoiFather]

Man that sucks its the busiest time during Easter time. The I'm going is the week my daughter has off on spring break from school too!

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Man that sucks its the busiest time during Easter time. The I'm going is the week my daughter has off on spring break from school too!

We went near Easter last year. Universal was packed... but we were saved by the express pass. A nice benefit of staying at the universal resort hotels.. or you have to spend another $50 per ticket.

Some lines were upto 1.5 hours long and I think only on two occasions we had to wait more than the advertised 15 minutes. That bad part was that the express line a lot of times went right by the regular line. The ones in the regular line could cut you with their stares. Granted you could only use it once per ride but there was enough to see that it worked out well.

If you go that furing that time its doable... just get the fast pass (or whatever disney calls it). And Seaworld is a good break. Lots of walking still... but lots of time to just sit and watch the shows. My kids loved it. Oh and one more thing... it was cool temps down there on the day we went to Seaworld... do not sit in the front rows of the Shamu show if its under 70 degrees.

 

[DT4K]

Hey, I understand that. I've got 4 kids in school. We've taken them out of school before, but I know some people aren't comfortable with that. We haven't found it to be much of an issue with our younger kids, but with our oldest now in middle school, I dont' think we'll do it again. So we're now limited to school breaks.

If you decide to go ahead and brave the crowds, here are a couple of tips:

Get up early and be at the parks 30 minutes before they open. Lines will be shortest in the first two hours of each day. Use that first couple of hours to hit the most popular rides, then use FastPass as much as possible to avoid lines for the rest of the day.

If you like to have meals at sit-down restaurants in the parks, make reservations as soon as possible. With the crowds that will be there, most of the restaurants will not be accepting anyone without a reservation.

Make a plan for which days you will visit each park. Check out the park hours here and avoid the parks that have Extra Magic Hours. Each park will be busiest on the days that it has Extra Magic Hours. For instance, go to Magic Kingdom on March 17th or 19th and go to Hollywood Studios on the 18th or 20th.

Buy the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, read their tips, and use one of their touring plans for each park. You don't have to synchronize your watches and act like a drill instructor, but if you at least try to follow their touring plans, you'll minimize the amount of time you wait in lines.

Go to www.disboards.com and search the forums for "Easter". You should find lots of tips for surviving the crowds.

Relax, take in the atmosphere, and don't stress about seeing everything.

 

[DT4K]

If you want to stay on-site at one of the Disney resorts, it looks like your cheapest option is one of the moderate resorts for about $200 per night. Disney has 3 levels of resorts. Value, Moderate, and Deluxe. During some times of year, with a AAA discount, you can get the values for like $79/night or the mods for about $120/night. But it looks like the values are all sold out for that time period and the mods are at their peak season rate of $199. This is one of the few times of year that a AAA discount is probably not available.

So if you want to look at off-site hotels, there are quite a few to choose from. The mousesavers site has some info on recommended off-site hotels, or you could just look around and check out tripadvisor to see if a place looks decent. We've stayed at the Fairfield in Marriott Village(they have 3 hotels in the area) and that was decent. It was about 3 minutes drive to WDW property.

 

[KhoiFather]

Wow, I really appreciate all of your help. I didn't think it was going to be this insane but knowing ahead of time what to expect should make everything easier.

 

[Chryso]

If you are only staying 5 nights I would recommend just doing Disneyworld and forget about Seaworld and Universal.
We stayed 10 nights at Disney in September and did only Disneyworld and could have stayed longer. You know Disneyworld is actually 4 parks, right?

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
Wow, I really appreciate all of your help. I didn't think it was going to be this insane but knowing ahead of time what to expect should make everything easier.

Yep. Unfortunately, school breaks are the busiest, most expensive time to go. We enjoy staying on-site at the Disney resorts, but not at those prices. With a short amount of time, you'll pretty much only be using your room to sleep and shower anyway, so staying off-site will be fine. I'd just try to find someplace close, so you're not wasting too much time driving through Orlando traffic.

Seriously, if you have any other questions, just pm me. I've taken the family to Disney World 4 times in the past 3 years and because of my obsessive personality, I spent many hours on Disney forums planning each of those trips. So if you a have a question, I can probably answer it.

Oh yeah, and go to Mousesavers and sign up for the monthly newsletter. It usually has a link in it for a little bit bigger discount on Disney tickets from Underground Tourist.

 

[KhoiFather]

Does this sound like a good deal?

Gonna be staying at the Seralago Hotel and Suites

Package: 4 Day Land and Sea Package
**This package price includes 5 nights at the Seralago Hotel & Suites for 2 adult(s) and 2 child(ren), age(s) age 1 , age 6 . Plus the tickets listed below.
includes:
* Admission- Sea World, Orlando
* Walt Disney World? 3-Day Magic Your Way Ticket with Park Hopper? Option

This package allows you to visit SeaWorld for 1 day and 3 Days at Disney World. The Disney World ticket is the park hopper which allows you to visit all 4 major Disney World Parks and hop from park to park in each day.
Surcharge ($10 if staying 1 or 2 nights): $0.00
Subtotal: $1,298.16
Sales Tax: $112.66
Delivery Fee: $10.00
Grand Total: $1,420.82

 

[DT4K]

Looks like it's pretty close to what you'd pay if you bought everything separately.

5 nights at Seralago (3/16-3/21) on Expedia - $500
3 day(or 4 or 5 day, it's the same price) park hoppers - $746
1 day SeaWorld tickets - $196
All of those include taxes.

I've heard mixed reviews about the Seralago. Maybe check out tripadvisor.

Some people like to be able to go to more than one Disney park on the same day. Personally, we've found it to be too much work and too much wasted travel time, especially with kids. Epcot and Hollywood Studios are the only parks that are remotely close to each other, and even with them, you'd want to take a bus or a boat from one to the other. The other reason I wouldn't recommend park hopping, especially during Easter week, is that the afternoons are going to be so crowded. So you would probably be better off staying in one park. That way, you could get FastPasses in the morning and use them in the afternoon, when the lines are long.

If you get base tickets (1 park per day), they would be $617 instead of $746.

There are 4 Disney parks (not counting the water parks), and you're planning 3 days. Are you thinking you'd try to do 2 parks in the same day or were you thinking of skipping one of the Disney parks? If so, which one?

 

[KhoiFather]

I'm thinking about just going to Animal Kingdom one day, Magical Park one day and Downtown Disney one day then go to Seaworld on our last day.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
My kids are 1 and 6. Hmmm, maybe we'll just stay at Disneyworld for like 4 days to try to get as much as I can and go to Seaworld for a day. Does that sound alright?

SeaWorld is awesome for a day trip. There are 'lots of shows you can sit down at and relax.
DisneyWorld is going to be stressful for a 1 and a 6 year old no matter how good natured they are. I've seen may adults even lose it over the long lines, the heat, and the crowds.

I wouldn't want to take kids that young to DisneyWorld.

I agree, skip Universal Studios for now if you are set on DisneyWorld and SeaWorld.

we took our 1 year old and 4 year old daughters to disney in december and they absolutely loved it. well, the 1 year old just liked being out and about with her older sister. but the 4 year old loved getting dressed in her princess outfits and taking pictures and getting autographs with all the princesses and all the characters at the sit down meals and the different places where the characters hang out. we got them both autographs books where we put their pictures so they can look back on it. the 4 year old still talks about how much fun it was and how much she wants to go back.

imo, 4 is the ideal starting age. not that younger than that will not have a good time, but starting at 4 i think they will enjoy and remember the time you spend there.

keep in mind that this was all predicated most likely on the fact that we went in the first week in december which typically is not very crowded at all. so the lines were not long (though we did fastpass almost exlusively) and the weather was great.

i should also mention that during the period between thanksgiving and christmas there is something called the holiday spectacular or something where you can buy a special ticket and after 7 pm the park is closed to everyone without this ticket. so we were able to ride almost all the major rides without any lines at all. i even had to tell my 4 year old after the 5th time on the teacup ride "ok, daddy is feeling sick. let's go find another ride." even the 1 year old loved riding on the carousel over and over. some of the rides available during this holiday thing: dumbo, small world, carousel, teacup ride, the grand prix car thing with the rail in the middle, peter pan, winnie the pooh. the 1 year old loved small world and almost climbed out of the boat (which is why we had to stop riding that one).

EDIT: grammar

EDIT2: for the record, we went for 2.5 days in december. we had a double stroller so the kids wouldn't have to walk if they didn't want to (and for storage of all our stuff). we did the meal plan and made reservations for about 5 character meals (cinderella dinner at hotel(prime rib!); princess breakfast at cinderella's castle; dinner with belle and princesses at epcot/norway; lunch with winnie the pooh and friends at crystal palace(more prime rib!); revolutionary dinner with goofy and friends). you have to make the reservations 6 months prior and they fill up FAST. the 1 year old took naps in the stroller mid-afternoon so she could make the late evening pushes. we stayed at a hotel on the monorail line so travel was very convenient.

pm me if you have any specific questions about our trip

 

[Drekce]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
I'm thinking about just going to Animal Kingdom one day, Magical Park one day and Downtown Disney one day then go to Seaworld on our last day.

If you are doing that then why buy a 3 day park hopper ticket? Downtown Disney is free, so you won't be using one of your tickets.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: DT4K

Originally posted by: alkemyst
5 nights assuming 4 days in the parks will be pushing it for just Disney even though the crowds are extremely low in Feb.

You could do Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and MGM pretty easily though with a day in each (animal kingdom should take less than a day which can be used to catch more of epcot or MK).

I personally like Sea World a lot, even with passes to disney we get additional passes to seaworld.

Universal / Islands of Adventure are good for pretty much thrill rides.

I think you'd be better served narrowing your range down a bit as kids under 12 tend to get pooped out on only a partial day.

Unless I missed something, he said he was planning to go in March, right before Easter.

Whether or not Animal Kingdom can be done in less than a full day depends on whether you want to do everything or not. Even with kids that may not be old enough for rides like Expedition Everest and Dinosaur, I wouldn't want the adults to miss those rides. If you wanted to do all the rides and shows at AK, you'd need at least a full day.

Same goes with all the other parks. One day may be "enough" for some people, but that doesn't mean you can do all the attractions in one day. Of course, trying to do "everything" is a bad idea anyway.

I agree that Sea World is a great park. The only reason I'd suggest maybe skipping it is because there's plenty to do at Disney to keep you busy for the whole time and Sea World would mean spending extra money. Like I said, the difference between a 3 day and 5 day Disney pass is only a couple dollars, while a day at Sea World is a lot more.

As far as going the week before Easter, all I can do is give my opinion.
It can be done if you know how to do it.
But, for a family who has never been to Disney, I'd say there is about a 99% chance that they will come back from the trip complaining about how Disney World sucks and how they spent their entire vacation standing in lines. Lines to check into the hotel, lines to take the bus to the parks, lines to get into the park, lines to get food, and lines to get on the rides.

OP,
If there's any possible way you can go at a different time, I would highly suggest it. I think you'll have a much more enjoyable vacation. Even a week earlier would make a big difference. You'd still have moderate spring break crowds, but it would be much better than the week before or after Easter.

I was refering to even if he went now in the lower crowds it would be pushing it, I later posted more about that time of year.

I go to Disney a lot and unless it's peak time, you can see all of animal kingdom in less than a day. This can change with extended time at the 'science museum' and petting zoo as well as longer viewings of animals. We do it leisurely in October and usually head over to Epcot around 2-4pm.

I am thinking you are trying to help by regurgitating disney website info, but I am not sure if you really know the parks that well.

Easter is a crappy time to go though...at least it's not as hot as summer. For parents of school kids they are often forced into these times (which are the reasons they are the busiest).

Saturday crowds are almost always higher as many local kids frequent all the parks as well.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Drekce

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
I'm thinking about just going to Animal Kingdom one day, Magical Park one day and Downtown Disney one day then go to Seaworld on our last day.

If you are doing that then why buy a 3 day park hopper ticket? Downtown Disney is free, so you won't be using one of your tickets.

Not many people realize they do Disney your way now. For the longest time the 3 day was the shortest pass with park hopping you could get.

Now you can buy 1-10 days (and I am sure they can do more) and addon hopper, water park and no expiration options.

 

[KhoiFather]

I didn't realize Disney Downtown was just a bunch of places to stay. I'll be going to Disney Studio MGM, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. What are the main attractions in each park to go to?

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: alkemyst
I was refering to even if he went now in the lower crowds it would be pushing it, I later posted more about that time of year.

I go to Disney a lot and unless it's peak time, you can see all of animal kingdom in less than a day. This can change with extended time at the 'science museum' and petting zoo as well as longer viewings of animals. We do it leisurely in October and usually head over to Epcot around 2-4pm.

I am thinking you are trying to help by regurgitating disney website info, but I am not sure if you really know the parks that well.

Easter is a crappy time to go though...at least it's not as hot as summer. For parents of school kids they are often forced into these times (which are the reasons they are the busiest).

Saturday crowds are almost always higher as many local kids frequent all the parks as well.

I must have missed your comments on the dates.
I'm sure there are plenty of people who have been to the parks more than I have. I'm not trying to have a contest against anyone, but I'm not just regurgitating information. We've gone to Disney World 4 times in the past 3 years. Our shortest trip was for 6 nights and the longest was 14 nights. I've spent 4 full days in AK, 7 at MGM (Hollywood Studios), 8 at Epcot, and 10 at Magic Kingdom. I've been to Typhoon Lagoon, Blizzard Beach, Downtown Disney (including Disney Quest), Sea World, and both Univeral parks. We've stayed at Pop Century, All Star Movies, Port Orleans Riverside (multiple times), and Royal Pacific (Universal).
Again, I'm not trying to argue with anyone or prove that I'm super cool. I'm just pointing out that I'm not just repeating information. I've spent quite a bit of time at the places I'm talking about.

As far as Animal Kingdom, each time we've visited, we've spent the entire day from open until close (9am - 6pm usually) and we haven't had time to do everything. You could do all the rides, but if you want to see all the shows and watch the parade, it's going to be very tough. The scheduling of the shows, plus the fact that they are time consuming, makes it impossible to do everything. I'm not saying that 1 day isn't enough. Just that you can't expect to do everything. Not unless you move very fast, time everything perfectly, and skip meal and bathroom breaks. 🙂

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: KhoiFather
I didn't realize Disney Downtown was just a bunch of places to stay. I'll be going to Disney Studio MGM, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. What are the main attractions in each park to go to?

The "Downtown Disney" hotels aren't technically in Downtown Disney, but they are either across the street or a block or two away.
Downtown Disney is mostly shopping and dining. That's also where Cirque's La Nouba show is. There's also Disney Quest, which is basically a giant (like 4 levels) arcade with a few cool Virtual Reality type games. Disney Quest does cost extra though. If you had extra days, I'd say Downtown Disney is worth a visit just to walk around and check out some of the shops, but with limited time, I'd skip it.

Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom are good choices. Whether to go to to MGM Studios or Epcot for the third day is more of a toss-up. It just depends on your family. People say Epcot is boring for kids, but ours really enjoyed it. At Epcot, your 6 yr old would enjoy Turtle Talk w/ Crush, Soarin, Nemo, Test Track, Mission:Space (the less intense green side), Honey I Shrunk the Kids, Journey into Imagination, and some of the "science" stuff in Innoventions.

At MGM Studios, there are fewer rides and more show type attractions. The two big rides are Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. You have to ride Rock N Roller, even though the 6 yr old probably won't be tall enough. Tower of Terror depends on the child. It's a bit scary. Some kids that age love it and others are terrified by it.
For shows, the Playhouse Disney Live is good for the little ones. Voyage of the Little Mermaid is good, and Beauty and the Beast is great. If they like action and explosions, the Indiana Jones stunt show and Lights, Motors, Action are good. Star Tours is getting old, but it's still a lot of fun and not too scary for a 6 yr old. The Muppet movie is fun. The Great Movie Ride is pretty cool, but probably won't excite the kids too much. The Backlot Tour is interesting, but it's a long ride and not all that impressive, so I'd probably skip it if you need to pick something to skip. Fantasmic is the night time show at MGM. It's one of my favorites.

 

[DT4K]

OP, do you know about the baby swap?
It's great if you are traveling with kids that aren't big enough for some of the rides. The way it works is you go to the employee at the entrance to the line for a ride and ask them for a baby swap pass. They'll give you a ticket (Rider Switch Pass or something like that). Then one of the adults waits with the 1 yr old while the other adult waits in line and rides. When they are done, the other adult can then use the pass to go through the FastPass line (even if you don't have a FastPass). They can bring up to 2 other people with them. So you can both take a turn riding with your 6 yr old without having to wait in a long line twice. For rides that the 6 yr old isn't big enough for, both of the adults can still ride without waiting in a long line twice.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: DT4K

As far as Animal Kingdom, each time we've visited, we've spent the entire day from open until close (9am - 6pm usually) and we haven't had time to do everything. You could do all the rides, but if you want to see all the shows and watch the parade, it's going to be very tough. The scheduling of the shows, plus the fact that they are time consuming, makes it impossible to do everything. I'm not saying that 1 day isn't enough. Just that you can't expect to do everything. Not unless you move very fast, time everything perfectly, and skip meal and bathroom breaks. 🙂

not true on off-peak days...


To the OP Downtown Disney is not just lodging...Nombra/Cirque De Solei is there, Disney Quest and ton of shopping/niteclubs.

To see what to do you'd be best served going to one of the links provided already...many have suggested itineraries.

www.disney.com, www.seaworld.com, etc will provide maps and show times.

 

[DT4K]

Originally posted by: alkemyst

Originally posted by: DT4K

As far as Animal Kingdom, each time we've visited, we've spent the entire day from open until close (9am - 6pm usually) and we haven't had time to do everything. You could do all the rides, but if you want to see all the shows and watch the parade, it's going to be very tough. The scheduling of the shows, plus the fact that they are time consuming, makes it impossible to do everything. I'm not saying that 1 day isn't enough. Just that you can't expect to do everything. Not unless you move very fast, time everything perfectly, and skip meal and bathroom breaks. 🙂

not true on off-peak days....

I've been there on off-peak days and I still disagree. I'd be interested to see a schedule that would fit in every attraction and a lunch break between 9am and 6pm.

 

[KhoiFather]

Woooohoooooooo! Can't wait to go! I just made reservations for a few places for dinner. We'll probably just pack some stuff to eat for lunch. So what are the main stuff I should definitely visit in each park?

 

[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.

 

[DT4K]

Did you end up going with the Seralago?
Which parks are you planning for each day?
Where did you make reservations?

Just curious, 🙂