Help me plan our Disney Trip

[jayali]

So I finally booked our Disney vacation. We are going for 5 days in the middle of March. DS will be just shy of his third birthday. So all of you Disney experts come on and help me plan our itinerary. DS LOVES all of the Playhouse Disney stuff so I am assuming we should do MGM. What attractions should we absolutely not miss? And what should we plan in advance, like scouting out a good location for the parade.

Oh, we are staying at the Polynesian.

HELP - HELP - HELP!

TIA

[jadamom]

Get the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It's great at answering all of these questions.

[kristenk]

I'm off to bed now, so I'll probably be back tomorrow. My one piece of advice right now, though, is to sign up with www.tourguidemike.com

He's great and there are tons of message boards over there with lots of knowledgable people willing to give you advice. He has touring advice, parade locations, attraction reviews, everything! If you sign up via the banner ad at the top of the Theme Parks Attractions.... board over at www.disboards.com, you'll get $3 off. This should be a link to the DIS Theme Park board, look up at the top of the page for the banner ad: http://tinyurl.com/39avjw

The Poly is a fantastic location! I think that's where we'll stay on our next trip.

Oh, one last comment/question for you. How does your DS feel about costumed characters? We went to WDW with DD last month when she was a few week away from turning 3yo. We spent a lot of time avoiding or distracting her from characters b/c they totally freaked her out.

[Momof3Labs]

You need to go read the boards at www.disboards.com and also search here for Disney - I know that Beth has posted a ton of tips, particularly around rides, in the past.

[Alys the Cat]

If you're going to be in Orlando on March 17th and want a little break from the parks, I'd recommend the Ralph's World concert at the House of Blues in Downtown Disney. Ralph records on the Disney label, so your DS may have already seen some of his videos. He puts on an awesome show!

Here's a link to more info, if you're interested: http://www.ralphsworld.com/shows.htm

Have a great trip! The weather should be beautiful. :)

[luvmypeanut]

DL or WDW?

[bnme]

The Poly is a great location! As previous poster mentioned disboards is great, also check out allears.net.
Just some things I can think of off the top of my head:

-Do the character breakfast at the Poly. It's great.
-My 2yo loved the Lion King show at AK and now the Nemo show is sapposed to be great.
-The Playhouse Disney show is great (at MGM).
-Remember its the simple things that the little ones love. Like the squirting water fountains they can get wet in (Epcot has and also in Toon Town at Disney), getting a mickey ballon, riding dumbo 5x, etc.

If you do a search you'll find tons of stuff from mom's that have gone alot. I've only been once with kids. We're going again in Dec and I can't wait! Have fun!

[egoldber]

The first thing you need to do is get on the phone right now and make your dining reservations. Seriously. 407-WDW-DINE

After that, I would make a general plan to attack each park. The single one thing you can do to make your park experiences the least crowded and stress free is to get to each park at or just before park opening time. It makes a HUGE difference in being able to ride rides without wait times especially at the Magic Kingdom.

In the past, I posted a long list of rides for little ones. If you do an advanced search of the Lounge with Disney in the subject line you should find it.

Also, make sure to plan your touring around getting FastPasses. By using FastPasses and planning well, we never wait in line more than 10-15 minutes for any attraction.

Enjoy! We're addicted. We went in January, and heaven help us, we're going back again in May LOL!!!!!

[kimbe]

Beth can you take my DH with you next time! He is also a Disney addict! Some people go to Disney to let their kids enjoy it, I go to see DH enjoy it!!!

I have to second Beth's recommendation to make your dining reservations now! It not only gets you into the resturants you want without waiting, it also forces you to take a rest and eat! (A great place to look at resturants and their menus is www.allears.net)

Even when you are at WDW, and you decide that you want to eat somewhere, call and try to get a reservation. We've done that and have gotten reservations for 15 -30 minutes later.

My advice, take your time and enjoy it all! Don't be in a hurry and let your DS just run around awhile. If you go to the exit of Splash Mountain, where the rest rooms are, there are TONS of the little lizzards running around. Fun for all ages!! Esp. kiddos! It is also a nice quiet, shady spot for resting or having a snack or lunch. DD napped there while DH and I took turns riding Splash Mountain! Oh, speaking of which, don't forget to take advantage of the Child Swap for the big kid rides. You go to the person at the front of the line and say you want to do child swap. The cast member will give one of you a fast pass to come back and the other person goes and waits in line. (The second parent to go doesn't have to wait!)

Have fun!

[tarabenet]

Just seconding this! It will be the single most valuable tool for your trip. I also used their free on-line trip planner service and really liked it. But it is in conjunction with the book, not a replacement for it.

Also seconding a later post about www.mousesavers.com. Great ways to save money!