If you're only going to take them once, I'd wait a few years until they're between 5 and 10 or so to maximize both the ability to retain memories and ability to see the experience through a child's eye. If you're going to go once when they're young and then again later, taking them at 3 or 4 might be ok.

We will be doing a two week Florida trip next year for a combination of our 5 year anniversary and my wife finally finishing school. We went through looking at all the costs and have figured for about 8,000 for the entire trip, which includes everything.

Is early June already the super busy and hot time at Disney World? I will definitely make sure go there on the weekdays.

Go during the school year if you want few crowds.

I took my family in early December last year. For a week at a Disney resort it was around 6k. That was hotel, park passes and we got the free dining plan.

They have Disney meal plans that are like $70 for adults and $25 for kids per day. If you are staying on Disney property it's pretty convenient. It's a lunch, dinner and a snack each day plus they give you a mug that you can refill at your hotel. The meals include entree, dessert and a drink.

If you figure $10-15 for lunches and $25-$40 for dinner and $5-$7 for snacks (Bottle of soda, gatorade, ice cream bar), then it's not too bad remembering that you're paying Disney prices everywhere you go. Reservations are needed typically for the dinner places but they just scan your arm band after you eat and you're good to go.

We loved the dining plan. It's super expensive at the parks. They usually ring up the total of the meal prior to applying the free dining credits. For two burger/fries/drink combos and three kids meals (smuckers sandwichs/chicken fingers and fries) it was over $80.

Unfortunately that's not an option as my wife is in her last year of school. But it's just the two of us so I am not overly concerned with crowds. We know there will be people but just hope it isn't so bad as to make it awful.

What is the fast pass or arm band situation these days for skipping lines?

You can get up to three fast passes (60 days prior to stay if on Disney property, 30 days I believe if off site). They tier the rides so you can't use all three fast passes on the best rides. The mistake I made was getting fast passes spread out throughout the day. You can't get anymore fast passes until you use the first three. Once you use all three you can get a single fast pass at a time. I would get three fast passes for the AM and then just have the Disney app on your phone and see what they have available and book on your phone after you use the first three up.

Thanks. Book what on your phone? Rides?

Yes the rides. You can book the fast passes through the My Disney Experience App.

We waited until the kids were old enough to ride everything. I hated the idea of always having a kid that would have to stand aside while the older kids rode something. Six was the perfect age as far as my kids were concerned.

We have pretty much replaced Disney with Jamaica at this point. The all inclusives in Ocho Rios are one hell of a value compared to disney these days.

I did promise my youngest we would go to Disney one more time so I'm hoping I'll be lucky enough to find one last really good deal and call it good.

That new fastpass system really ruined Disney for me.

I read an article in a finance magazine about a year ago that one of the main reasons Disney is raising their prices is for crowd control. I'm sure making the extra money helps in their decision making process.

They are losing a bunch of money on espn fwtw

When I was doing work for Disney, I was told that they market research how high they can go before losing traffic. Once they adjust their fares, the other parks follow and adjust their's upwards. Free market research, plus they can still be cheaper to compete even with a price increase.

We are going again for the 2nd straight year in October. I honestly had an incredible time and so did my son and wife even thought it was a humidity of 115 every day we were there last September. I never sweat that much in my life and I hate the heat and I still loved it.

This year, got a local travel agency deal where it's $6k for 6 nights at Beach Club, the deluxe meal plan, direct flight airfare and park tickets. It's a crazy ****ing world where I think 6k is a bargain, but compared to pricing it out myself, it was a good deal for the 3 of us.

Blame that on people abusing the Fastpass system...

I don't disagree with the point you are making......but every time I go to WDW it is filled with families where at least one of the kids is under 3 or 4.

And Disney is smart enough to have things that appeal to those kids....Bippidi-Boppidi Boutique for the little girls who want to dress like princesses.....plush toys and meet and greet with all the Disney Characters.

Most smart parents with kids under 6 don't spend all day at the Park....and that is what pools and the resorts are for. Or it's not uncommon to see one parent with the small kids at the kiddie pool while the other parent might take the older kid(s) to a Park in the afternoon. When my son was 6 and my daughter was 3 we would spend the morning at the Park....go back to the resort and relax/eat lunch and then around 3 PM I would head back to the park with my son to ride rides and see some of the fun stuff. My wife and daughter would stay at the hotel, where my daughter would play in the pool for an hour or 2 and then my wife would join my son and I at the front gate of the park we were in and we would stay from 6 until closing.

Yeah I might have to carry my son on my back going out of the park but it was nothing back then.

I won't say that it's an ideal situation, but if you want your kids to enjoy at a young age you just adjust what you do to accommodate them.

Disney makes most of their money off of the parks, so it makes sense for them to do that. Sucks, but . . . capitalism.

It's definitely worse than the old system, but it can still be gamed.

From where?

Undercovertourist has 10-day park hoppers for $528.52.

A 5-day park hopper is $449.95.

This is why we go for 2 weeks. It's just cheaper per day. We also don't stay at Disney hotels. You can get condo rentals on Epcot property (not owned by Disney) and just Uber to the parks and back for WAAAAAAAY cheaper.

Disneyland must be a far different place than Disneyland. We don't have all of the resorts and hotels in the area or in the park.

When we visit, we're at the park for at least 12 hours. Otherwise, the kids will see less than 8 attractions, as most lines are 45-60 minute waits.

My 4 year old is 43" tall so she's eligible for all of the rides but when she was three, at least half the attractions were off limits.

The Parks, the Star Wars and Marvel franchises and all the tie-ins, and their Home Entertainment divisions carry Disney.

ABC/ESPN and all their other networks are what appears to drain the well.

I think you mean WDW is far different than Disneyland....and yes it is.

Where Disneyland is pretty much "trapped"/surrounded by other entities, WDW is pretty much it's own city to some extent. (It has it's own Fire Department, Reedy Creek Fire Department)

Hotels, in some cases are no more than a 5 minute walk.....from Magic Kingdom both the Polynesian and Grand Floridian are a 2 minute monorail ride or a short boat ride, while the Contemporary is 2 minutes the other direction. Only a 5 minute bus ride gets you from the Magic Kingdom to The Wilderness Lodge.

In the case of the Boardwalk Resort or the Beach Club you can actually walk to EPCOT.

The only real resort that seems a bit far (from my experience) is the Animal Kingdom Lodge. On a good day it is only 15 minutes from any one of the Parks.

Having Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) the shopping center nearby is another thing you can do if you are all "parked" out.

Oops, yes, I meant to say Disney World must be very different from Disneyland.

abusing it? The old system was fair to everyone because everyone had the same access. Now people that just want to go for a day are left in the dust because people that planned their trip 6 months in advance already reserved the big rides. The new system sucks. It was bad enough having to reserve where you wanted to eat 6 months in advance. No you have to plan all your rides 45 days in advance too. all this did was make all the lines longer. Before there were always the old reliable rides with short lines. Now nothing has a short line.

The new fastpass system sucks ass plain and simiple

Don't know if this has changed, but the dumbest thing was only allowing you to get your day of faspass reservations at park kiosks instead of the mobile app. Sure lets just create another ****ing line so you can get in line to get in line. LMAO

Yes, the kiosks still exist but as of a few weeks ago, there was no line when we got our Fast Passes.

I don't get reception at Disneyland through Sprint and it's pretty rare if my iPhone doesn't die after 6 or 7 hours while there.

thats good. I wonder if it is improving at WDW as well. The kiosks need to be there specifically for people in your situation. I just feel it was silly to not allow people to use their phones to reserve as well. Anything to reduce lines.

There's an app (maybe it's the same one) that showed the wait times all over the park. The problem was that while it might be only 15 minutes for a ride, it would take 15 minutes to walk there and the wait time changed.

We went from the Rocket Ships in Tomorrowland all the way over to Small World because SW was only a 15 minute wait. By the time we got to Small World, we waited for 40 minutes.

The first part is false. There are still short lines, you just have to plan more. Now, you HAVE to be there at rope drop if you don't want to wait in lines. You can do basically whatever you want without a wait for the first hour, then have your first FP+ selections starting at 10 am. As soon as you scan your band in for the ride, start trying to move your other FP+ reservations up. You should be able to do that, and then you can start booking the single FP+ before noon.

There are still rides with short lines. You can find them during times when other things are going on, like parades and fireworks. And if you keep an eye on the wait times, you can watch for when they drop and head over. Anything listed at 15 min and under is basically a walk-on.

But I agree that the old system was superior.

This is now changed.

We didn't, either, but luckily, Disney upgraded their Wifi due to the reliance on the MDE app on the phones. You can get free, fast wifi anywhere on property now. It's MUCH better than it used to be.

You should come with us. You won't wait in lines for more than 10 minutes. Ever. :)

I can't go to Orlando because it's too much of a hike for the kiddies.

Plus, Disneyland is literally 30 minutes away on most days. California Adventure is pretty awesome. I can't wait until the new Star Wars Land opens in 2019!

PS: Thanks for the invite!

Bummer. Let me know if you change your mind!

I was pretty damn good at WDW touring myself but never THAT good. LMAO

I may have to visit with you sometime.

Anyone have the story on Brianfo?

It's all about planning and time of year.

He was actually kind of a douche nozzle

We always go the first week of June before the locals school year is over. Its also usually during Gay Days as well which has a tendency to keep crowds down. The first four times we went it worked great under the old fastpass system. It was still decent under the new system for our last trip but I experienced a lot of flaws I didn't like.

The old system was about as perfect as you could get and it was fair to everyone.

EDIT

The first hour of the day is absolutely critical. You can get a ton done if you hit everything in the right order.

We had an experience fairly close to this. We had some help and my wife did a lot of research.

disboards.com and wdwinfo.com are priceless

Going on rides away from the gates early, knowing which ones to use your fast pass on and switching if you choose the wrong one are the main strategies. Our average wait time was around 10 minutes.

In Orlando? Stop lying..

That's what I remember too. I thought phobia or something was looking because he sent a pm or a post about killing himself or some shit.

I was going to answer you but Silock pretty much said what I was going to....being in shorter lines takes good planning and not going when everyone else is there.

Last time I went to WDW my reception was good....didn't have really any other issues that I don't have normally. And I use Sprint.....but my wife and I also use old Mickey Mouse Walkie Talkies to communicate too..

Rep....it goes to planning and knowing the flow of the crowd that day at the park.

If you want to ride the REALLY popular rides, you are going to wait. But there is enough new things at the park over the last 3 years that if you plan well you can do what you want and not wait endlessly.

It's fun going with people who haven't been before, but you know you will have longer waits, take more time because they are seeing it for the first time and getting lost in the enjoyment.

Nowadays I enjoy going with people who have been as many times as I have....we know how to plan, where to go, when to eat and where to eat and when to leave the park for later and come back.

Enjoying Disney is a planned event.....

I will qualify this though.....when I went with my family and the kids were young we never waited in line more than a few minutes. I have a son who has Asperger's and we always got what they now call Disability Access Services.

We stopped asking for that card when my son turned 18, but we still manage to wait shorter times with good planning.

I have been many times while at conventions or business meetings and was with other conventioneers and we normally didn't wait much either, even at Soarin' and Test Track at EPCOT.

Your thinking is a little flawed in the first paragraph....

Most schools here in the SE US are out of school by the end of May because there are few, if any "snow days". If you want to get a time where you will see less crowds you need to go:

1) After Spring Break and before Memorial Day,

2) The week after Fall Break (usually mid October) up to mid November (save for Halloween

3) The 2 weeks after Thanksgiving...

Also....we have found that from Sunday to mid-Wednesday of Thanksgiving week are pretty sparse crowds. But at noon on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving all hell breaks loose.

Different people might have other view but the many times I have gone I have usually been there during one of these days and not had a bad experience.

I used to swear by that board......and they still have very great information, updates and some pretty good tips.

But the problem is, just like the old Steve Birnbaum Disney books, so many people use their tips that it's no longer a "secret".

You can get everything done with the mobile app now. I used that exclusively last September. Didn't go to a kiosk.

Yeah, when our friends come with us, we basically have to tell them that we are going to make the itinerary, and they're free to do what they want, but if they want to get everything done, they should stick with us.

That led to some conflict in the past, but only because they wanted to stick with us, but not do what we were doing. I was like "No. You can do whatever you want. I'm here doing my thing, take it or leave it."

Are you in central Florida, Silock.

LMAO

Definitely not.

What's so funny? It's tough to tell who's talking about Disneyland and who's talking about Disney World.

I do live in FL.....but not Central FL. And when I talk about Disney, I mean Disney World.

Yeah, I figured you were in Florida based on some of your earlier posts. I also know Dane is in SoCal.

Everyone else, though- I'm not too sure about.

I will say this....as a person who has visited both DL and WDW, I prefer WDW.

Disneyland has it's charm, but if you want to really enjoy a Disney trip, you go to Disney World.

Because his location clearly states "Overland Park".

:D

Ah, I'm using Tapatalk. It doesn't show that stuff.

Kinda strange that a dude from the Midwest knows so much about parks on the coasts, though. What's up with that, Silock?

Family and friends seem to think they didn't have to pay when I own something. I hope it would work out better for you lol

Disneyland is ok, but it's a fraction of what Disneyworld is. California adventures was pretty cool, though.

For family..I wouldn't care if they paid me. But friends are different.

And if I heard of any situations like Make-A-Wish i would make it available too...

But I have to find the right place to buy too

Most of the information I gathered is from when I lived in places other than FL.....

I would say the largest part of my trips have happened when I lived in either Missouri or South Carolina. We counted one day just for grins and giggles.....between family vacations and business trips I have been to Disney 50 times. Had my first trip in the late 80's when it was still just MK and EPCOT and what is now Disney Springs (once known as Downtown Disney) was nothing more than a few shops.

Disney Springs is ****ing awesome. Expensive, but awesome.

this x infinity

plan, or plan on doing something else

I like it . . . ?

It's my happy place. I have built so many family memories there over the years, with my parents, wife, friends, that just being there makes me happy. So, we go quite often.

That's fair enough.

You're probably in the top 1% of Disney knowledge for anyone who hasn't worked there or lived in central Florida.

Probably. But we're all into our hobbies. The internet certainly helps staying up on everything.

Couldn't have said it better.....most of the great memories for my children were the vacations at Myrtle Beach and Disney World.....

Currently live in Overland Park - am a Disney Vacation Club member. Been over 40 times. Am 31.

Where do you own? Thinking about buying into AKL.

Well, looks like we're going back at the end of January. Sweet!

I own at Grand Floridian. I don't like buying into AKL or Saratoga, you can PM me for my reasons if you'd like. Love AKL though! Stay there often!

Nice! Just returned from there. Stayed only 1 night on Disney property , then a week off site at a time share. Had a blast!

From your perspective is the Grand Floridian really that much better than Wilderness Lodge?

It's nice, but for my .02 I would stay at WL and AKL over staying at the Grand Floridian. Or to some extent the Treehouse Villas.