Quick Trip to Disney January 24-27

[Binkandabee]

DH and I are taking the girls to Disneyworld January 24-27. It's just a weekend, but it's what fits in our budget right now. My girls (10 and 5) so deserve this trip as they've missed out on a lot this past year with all of my surgeries. I think they're both at an age where they will remember this once in a lifetime trip...I'm SO excited to give them this opportunity!

So, all I've done thus far is get the plane tickets. Any tips for a short stay? I'm pretty overwhelmed at all of the info out there, so thought I'd see if any of the mamas here have done just a Disney highlight trip before. I've only been to Disney twice (one day at Magic Kingdom both times) and we stayed with my Dad who was in Bradenton.

[brittone2]

DH and I are taking the girls to Disneyworld January 24-27. It's just a weekend, but it's what fits in our budget right now. My girls (10 and 5) so deserve this trip as they've missed out on a lot this past year with all of my surgeries. I think they're both at an age where they will remember this once in a lifetime trip...I'm SO excited to give them this opportunity!

So, all I've done thus far is get the plane tickets. Any tips for a short stay? I'm pretty overwhelmed at all of the info out there, so thought I'd see if any of the mamas here have done just a Disney highlight trip before. I've only been to Disney twice (one day at Magic Kingdom both times) and we stayed with my Dad who was in Bradenton.

Have you priced out things using Stay, Play, Dine? I think that will be going on during your stay.

You could price out rooms with S,P,D to see what works with your budget. There are also room only discounts during that time I think. Different tiers (deluxe, mod, value) have different % off with the RO discount, so compare those to the S,P,D offer. The highest % discounts using the room only discounts are for the deluxe rooms. Certain levels of rooms are excluded, etc.

I don't know what others would recommend but for a short stay I would probably prioritize convenience if I could swing the budget, so maybe look at the monorail resorts or the ones walkable from Epcot.

eta: here are the S,P,D details. 3 night minimum but you have that, right? https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers/stay-play-dine-offer/details/ I guess related to weighing your options, the other thing to consider is whether you want to deal with ADRs and table service for a shorter trip or not. You could weigh out doing a RO discount and OOP dining, vs. a possible discount with S,P,D, but possibly spending more time in restaurants. I would think about whether you'll enjoy taking breaks and having TS or whether you'd rather cover as much of the parks as possible and leave yourselves flexible and just pay OOP, eat QS, snacks, maybe one or two ADRs.

[megs4413]

are you looking for where to stay?

if you can only swing a short trip, i'd opt for park-hopper passes. Spend one day at MK. Spend another day combo-ing AK and DHS. Spend one day at EPCOT (with the chance of heading back to MK if EPCOT turns out not to be your thing.) Leave another day as a flex day. (i hope i'm interpreting your dates correctly)

if you have partial days on arrival/departure, that will change strategy. If you can utilize FP+ that will help. Plan, plan, plan your touring strategy! Realize that you will not see/do everything. Prioritize what you MUST see/do. For example, the BBB seems like a must do sometimes, but you can easily "fast track" the experience by bringing along a princess dress up, doing your DDs' nails/hair fancy ahead of time and then hitting up the front desk at BBB for a sprinkle of pixie dust from the magic wand. no cost and no wait. Plan to do only one sit down meal a day and make it count--go for characters so you don't spend time waiting in line at the parks to meet the must-meets!

I'm sure we can come up with other suggestions...tell us more about your trip!

[maybeebaby08]

I just got back from a trip. My biggest regret was not getting Park Hoppers, best discovery was Pirates League. $39.95 for DD1 to be turned into a mermaid, and I loved the atmosphere/ whole experience. DD1 loves roller coasters & meeting the Princesses, so that took up a lot of our time. I think knowing what your girls will like and planning around that is key. We stayed at Bonnet Creek and loved it, we actually want to go back and do less Disney more resort time. We didn't do a lot of dining in the Parks we weren't very impressed with the meals we did have there. We did Crystal Palace breakfast and loved it. Loved the character interaction and being in the Park early for empty Main St pictures. Get a Touring App, I thought they were really helpful and pretty accurate.

[maybeebaby08]

Also wanted to say, I planned for months and realized in the end we did a 1/4 of what I planned/hoped for, but we had an amazing time and I loved every minute of it. I very much wanted to do as much as possible but quickly realized it was magic for DD1 to meet Rapunzel 3 times instead of riding a ride, so we did that. If ask your girls what is most important and start your day with that and go from there. Being there for rope drop is when you can get the most done too.

[hillview]

that is a GREAT time of year to go!

[acmom]

Also wanted to say, I planned for months and realized in the end we did a 1/4 of what I planned/hoped for, but we had an amazing time and I loved every minute of it. I very much wanted to do as much as possible but quickly realized it was magic for DD1 to meet Rapunzel 3 times instead of riding a ride, so we did that. If ask your girls what is most important and start your day with that and go from there. Being there for rope drop is when you can get the most done too.

I would totally agree with this! Prioritize what your kids really want to do, have a general plan but don't get bogged down by not being able to see everything or not sticking exactly to the plan. I feel like a planned a lot in advance but then when it came to the actual trip, just tried to relax and enjoy.

I would also agree that getting there at rope drop was very helpful for us as my kids are early risers and we could get so much done when we first got there.

[klwa]

Check out the free crowd calendar at easywdw:
http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/01-january-2014-crowd-calendar/

That should give you a good idea of where will be less crowded. However, as PP said, that's a great time of year, so I wouldn't worry too much if you want to hit MK & it says it's the worst park. :)

If you want to eat sit down/character meals while there, you may want to see what reservations you can get: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/ Just doing a quick look,. it looks like there's still plenty to choose from during your stay. :)

[Binkandabee]

Thanks for the suggestions! This is a surprise Christmas gift for my girls, so I'm trying to plan as best I can for what I think they'd enjoy the most.

Here's what we've done so far. We booked at the Wilderness Lodge for our stay and have 2 one-day tickets to whichever park we want to go to each day (not park hoppers). My thought was to just stick with Magic Kingdom both days so we can see as much as possible there, but I'm not 100% committed to that. I do want to do a character meal both days and was thinking Crystal Palace and Cinderella. Those are both Magic Kingdom. If we do those, we have to stay at Magic Kingdom both days, right, without park hoppers?

My oldest DD is 10 and my youngest is 5...and they are vastly different. Think tomboy and princess. Do you think the 10 year old would prefer to do something other than Magic Kingdom? I've been there twice as an adult (prior to kids) and I had an amazing time. Hard for me to imagine a 10 year old wouldn't love it as well, but maybe there's something she'd like more? I don't want to turn this into a trip just for DD#2 who is princess obsessed, kwim? Maybe not do Crystal Palace and do a different character meal....if we can?

I'm SO incredibly excited to surprise them with this trip. They have absolutely no idea. After the year we've had as a family....I want to treat them to something extra special. Think this should do the trick!

[Binkandabee]

I will definitely do the princess dress up beforehand. DD#2 will LOVE getting a sprinkle of pixie dust. That's awesome that there's no cost to do that. I had no idea!

[klwa]

My oldest DD is 10 and my youngest is 5...and they are vastly different. Think tomboy and princess. Do you think the 10 year old would prefer to do something other than Magic Kingdom? I've been there twice as an adult (prior to kids) and I had an amazing time. Hard for me to imagine a 10 year old wouldn't love it as well, but maybe there's something she'd like more? I don't want to turn this into a trip just for DD#2 who is princess obsessed, kwim? Maybe not do Crystal Palace and do a different character meal....if we can?

Crystal Palace & Cinderella are very different character meals & should work for your two. CP has the Pooh characters rather than princesses. The only other thing you may want to consider instead of CP is the Ohana breakfast with Lilo & Stitch. It's at the Polynesian, so no park tickets needed to get in. You could do it before heading to the park one day OR on your last day before leaving.

[westwoodmom04]

Thanks for the suggestions! This is a surprise Christmas gift for my girls, so I'm trying to plan as best I can for what I think they'd enjoy the most.

Here's what we've done so far. We booked at the Wilderness Lodge for our stay and have 2 one-day tickets to whichever park we want to go to each day (not park hoppers). My thought was to just stick with Magic Kingdom both days so we can see as much as possible there, but I'm not 100% committed to that. I do want to do a character meal both days and was thinking Crystal Palace and Cinderella. Those are both Magic Kingdom. If we do those, we have to stay at Magic Kingdom both days, right, without park hoppers?

My oldest DD is 10 and my youngest is 5...and they are vastly different. Think tomboy and princess. Do you think the 10 year old would prefer to do something other than Magic Kingdom? I've been there twice as an adult (prior to kids) and I had an amazing time. Hard for me to imagine a 10 year old wouldn't love it as well, but maybe there's something she'd like more? I don't want to turn this into a trip just for DD#2 who is princess obsessed, kwim? Maybe not do Crystal Palace and do a different character meal....if we can?

I'm SO incredibly excited to surprise them with this trip. They have absolutely no idea. After the year we've had as a family....I want to treat them to something extra special. Think this should do the trick!

The magic kingdom is really best for very young kids, no remotely scary rides. My 9 yr old dd is crazy about thrill rides and didn't love MK even as a 6 year old. You'll want to see it but one day is probably plenty. AK and HS have some more thrill rides (but still plenty for the young child) so I would throw that into the mix. I think you can add park hopper pretty easily to your tickets and that would really help a lot given your short stay. Older kid might really enjoy Epcot as well.

[egoldber]

Well, FWIW, my experience is very different from the above. My older DD likes "thrill" rides, but the ones at the MK (Space Mountain, etc.) are just her speed. If your DD is used to much faster coasters at a place like Cedar Point, then she may be underwhelmed.

And I also disagree on the no remotely scary rides. It really just depends on your kid. My younger DD is petrified even walking by the Haunted Mansion! She's even a little scared of parts of the Winnie the Pooh ride, the Mickey 3D movie, etc. Many rides/attractions at WDW are in the dark and this sets a lot of kids off.

Do you already have reservations for Cinderella? If not, it may be already sold out. I think that both Cinderella and CP skew young. In addition to Ohana, you could consider the meals at the Grand Floridian. The breakfast there has Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger. My last experience there had terrific character interaction. There is also a dinner there with Cinderella, Prince Charming, a couple mice, Fairy Godmother and perhaps a villain or two? Again, great character iteraction and botht these meals skew older.

Something else your girls might enjoy is the Wonderland Tea Party which is also at the Grand Floridian.

You can read about all 3 of these here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/grand-floridian-resort-and-spa/1900-park-fare/

There is also a "Pirate Adventure Cruise" that leaves from the GF dock.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/events-tours/pirate-adventure-cruises/

[klwa]

Do you already have reservations for Cinderella? If not, it may be already sold out. I think that both Cinderella and CP skew young. In addition to Ohana, you could consider the meals at the Grand Floridian. The breakfast there has Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, Pooh and Tigger. My last experience there had terrific character interaction. There is also a dinner there with Cinderella, Prince Charming, a couple mice, Fairy Godmother and perhaps a villain or two? Again, great character iteraction and botht these meals skew older.

As Beth said, you need to go ahead & schedule those meals if you want them. It looks liek there are still some openings for Cindy's during your stay, but you want to go ahead & book so you know you have it.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/

[jam224]

Another character meal option is Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort.