2014 Disney Tips

Not sure of your definition of "basic admission" but I'm guessing you went the one park per day route. If so, make sure to plan out parks/activities based on the park (for example, Wishes is at Magic Kingdom, IllumiNations is at Epcot, Fantasmic is at Hollywood studios.

You can get "advanced seating" for Fantasmic by doing the lunch/dinner package at one of 3 restaurants at Hollywood Studios. I think you can also do reserve seating for Illuminations (I know it's on Fastpass+, but not sure about "regular" Fastpass). If the boys are into pirates, there's the Pirate League (pirate makeover) at Magic Kingdom.

If you're going to be at Disney during the Epcot Flower and Garden show, you can also get a Dole Whip at the Pineapple Promenade. We love tasting all the food at the various outdoor kitchens.

Try and get character dining reservations in NOW. It may be too late, but it's still worth looking. Additionally, meals at restaurants in parks require admission to the park itself, so if you don't have park hopper tickets, you'll want to plan accordingly (ex. Crystal Palace - for Winnie the Pooh characters - is in Magic Kingdom whereas Chef Mickey's is at the Contemporary resort). I'm pretty sure Hoop ded doo Revue will be booked, but look into that for a fun dinner show at Fort Wilderness. Or maybe the dinner show at Ohana.

Have fun researching and planning, and enjoy your trip!

Go buy the book 2014 Unofficial guide to Disney World with Kids. It's TERRIFIC. Lots of important info.

To see Illuminations at DHS, Eat that the Brown Derby for lunch and you get a seat for fireworks!

You can use a day ticket to any park you want. Go to DHS. Univeral is not part of Disney.

Mousesavers.com is good too!

HAVE FUN!!

Dole Whips are super yummy, but the line is insane, so you might want to split up. It's near Pirates, Jungle Cruise, and other rides, so there's lots to do.
At Magic Kingdom, you can see the fireworks from all over the park, but you really need to be in front of the castle to see Wishes, the light/video show they project onto the front of the castle. We found a spot on the bridge to Tomorrowland where we had a great view of the parade, Wishes, and the fireworks, where the little ones could stand on the railing, and a large planted areawas between us and the crowd, so we got a mostly unobstructed view. We parked about an hour before the first parade and had no problems.
Animal Kingdom is fun, but closes early, like around 7. We only did a half-day there and used our park-hoppers to finish the day at Hollywood Studios. If you only have the 1 park per day tickets, that might be a good night to do dinner at Downtown Disney. There's an INSANE dinosaur restaurant there, T-Rex, that had decent food and was totally worth the wait. Think Rainforest Cafe, on steroids, with dinosaurs.
At Epcot, look for the boatride inside the Mayan temple in Mexico and don't miss the goofy, crazy, makes-no-sense, Maelstrom ride in Norway.

You need the unofficial guide to walt Disney world. There have been a lot of changes at Disney world in the past few months with the incorporation of FP+, and it would be too overwhelming to go into here.

Do you want to do any sit down/character meals? If so, you need to book them ahead of time. I'm not sure there would even be availability for those now.

Tickets - they are not designated to any specific park on any day. If you want to go to Magic Kingdom all days, you can. Age of your children, you will want to go to Hollywood Studios. They can sign up for Jedi Training Academy and fight Darth Vader. There's the Star Wars ride. They have Fantasmic, which is my favorite night time show. They will also most likely enjoy the cars stunt show.

Parades and fireworks - you probably need to be getting a spot an hour ahead of time.

Best piece of advice - get to the parks 30 minutes before they open (sometimes they will open the gates early). You can get a lot done in those early morning hours before the crowds really set in (and it will be really crowded with spring break).

Allears.net has everything you ever needed to know about Disney. If you plan on eating at any of the restaurants, you should try to do reservations now. Doubt you will get anything, but you can try. If you did not get the park hopper passes, you go to one park and stay. You can go in,and out of that particular park, you just cannot go to another. So plan accordingly. Are you taking kids or is it just you and hubby? If kids, how old are they.
Ages of kids make a big difference in the way you plan.