Disney

hello, i would recommend having dinner/breakfast/lunch at cinderellas castle. you have to make reservations way in advance, but if they're booked, try anyway when you get there, see if there are openings- that's what happened with us. Also storytime at the enchanted garden with bell, they ask for volunteers to help belle tell her story- both girls were able to get up there and help- it was really a great trip for them- there was soo much to do! good luck- hope you have a great time!

D. -

I am a travel agent and would love to help you out with your trip. I do recommend stayin gon site, as there are several perks that go along with it. If you stay on site, there are value resorts, moderate resorts and the deluxe resorts (on the monorail with the exception of the Wilderness Lodge). also, I would highly recommend park hopper passes, as these give you the ability to park hop - meaning that you can go to more than one park in a day or leave and come back later. To me, it is a must have if you have young children. It gives them a break in the afternoon to go swimming at your resort or just relax. I also recommend the dining plan for everyone, as it is pre-paid and you don't have to worry about it when you are there. Meals can be exchanged for character meals as well. If you would like some more information or pricing, feel free to contact me!

For cheap tickets, check the Orlando newspapers. Employees get a ton of free tickets at the first of the month and sell them for dirt cheap.

Buy one bottle of water while inside the gates- refill it as often as you can. Drinks are expensive.

They do bag checks at the gate, so take only what you truly need.

Just came back from a trip there. Our son will be 3 in April. I would suggest several things. Make sure you have reservations for dinner at least a few (if not all of the nights.) Do fast passes if needed. Stay at a Disney resort, not off site. Go during a down time. We went during the down time (last weekend in January) and it was awesome. We did everything we wanted to. The down side, it did rain a little, the temps were cooler but the upsides WAY out weighed the downs - it was still crowded and we commented many times about what it would be like at peak seasons with our little guy! Definitely do at least one or two character breakfasts. The reason I say breakfast is that it gets you into the park early so you eat early and get out to do stuff early.

Animal Kingdom's breakfast was AWESOME. Way better the Magical Kingdom (or so we thought.) Do your research on the Disney site. There is a lot of good advise. The DVD is fine but you can find most of that stuff on their site. We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge and it was lovely but there are other find places that are just as nice (and you hardly spend time at the resort.) DO NOT BRING A STROLLER! If you need one you can rent one but mostly I would suggest not getting/taking stroller at all. Which can suck because you might end up carrying your daughter a lot but on the other hand I felt sorry for the people trying to meander through the park with a stroller. It seemed more like a hassle than a helper.

Give yourself plenty of time. We were only there for two full days and two half days. We thought that was all we could handle and that our son would be done but it turns out it would have been nice to have two more full days to relax and enjoy the resort and also go back to anything we might have missed.

Finally, it is expensive. There is NO WAY around this. In all we spent about $5k there for our short stay (and our son was free to get into the parks so we did not need to pay for his ticket at all!) We were amazed at the cost for the three of us! We would definitely do the meal plan the next time we go - it seemed like hardly any locations offered it but almost every location we stopped to eat asked us if we had the meal plan. Also, if you are looking for health food, NOT the place! You can request special meals if need be (we never did.) Basically if you are going know you will end up splurging. OH one last thing I promise - get one of those Disney guide books (that gave us the best advise - stupid things that really worked like stay to the left in the park or when you get on the rides the lines are shorter, less people ect...) I cannot remember the book we bought at Borders but it was GREAT and helpful! GL!

I definitely recommend the dining plan, and definitely recommend booking your dining reservations as early as possible (you can start booking six months in advance).

We've stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter and Port Orleans Riverside and loved both. Riverside is a bit nicer, with a REALLY nice cafeteria that has things like chicken fingers, cheeseburgers, pizza, pasta (you pick the ingredients in your sauce), turkey/roast beef with mashed taters & fixin's, specialty salad where you pick the ingredients, and a super dessert area.

We ate at the following last time:

Polynesian Resort - Ohanna's - Luau dinner - loads of fun for the kids with limbo and other games. Good food, and a view of the fireworks if you eat later.

Polynesian Resort - Ohanna's - Character breakfast. Breakfast was the same food as the resort but had Lilo & Stitch, Mickey and Pluto. Pluto gets right in the kids' faces, so mine didn't like him but liked the rest.

Grand Floridian Resort - Park Fare - Character breakfast. Breakfast is a buffet and was fantastic. Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins, and the Mad Hatter were all super nice. Pooh and Tigger are fun. We'll definitely do again.

Epcot - Living Seas Coral Reef - Upscale dinner. Was fun, but wouldn't do again. The view of the aquarium is alright, and the food is good but the whole atmosphere is a little snobbish, so wasn't as fun for the kids.

Epcot - Biergarten in the German Pavilion - SUPER FUN! Polka band comes out on the hour (not sure if it's just after 5) for 15 minutes and we had a great time dancing on the floor with our girls, and the buffet is great. Huge steins of German beer for $7.

MGM - Broadway and Vine? - Character lunch with the gang from Jo Jo's Circus and Young Einsteins. Characters were really nice, and the food is really good. Lots of great sandwich fixin's and other good food, which was a nice break from the same type stuff. We ate at 11:45, I think, or whatever the first lunch reservation was and got to see all the characters and take pictures within the first 10 minutes. Plus they have really fun people who dance with the kids and sing.

Epcot - Akebaush (?) Dining Hall in the Norwegian Pavilion - Buffet and sit-down lunch with Cinderella, Mulan, Aurora, and Jasmine. Loads of fun, our girls loved it. Next time we'll have breakfast with Snow White there. :)

Next time I'll also book the Whispering Canyon Café because it's supposed to be super fun. The wait staff is kind of crazy and I guess sings a whole song if you order catsup and has stick pony races for the kids and all. They do throw your straws on the table and act a bit rude as part of the act though.

Check out allears.net for some good reviews on dining, resorts, and rides.

We bought the park hopper passes and I won't do that again for awhile (I'll just get the regular one day ones) because my kids weren't crazy interested in staying non stop at the parks - ages 3 & 6.

We also flew down then used the Magic Express bus to take us to and from the resort, and used the bus/boat/monorails to get around with no problems. Plus dropoffs right by the gates.

Hope that isn't too long, I'm sure you'll get blasted!

Have a great time! There's no vacation like a Disney Vacation!

We just went to Disney in November. We ahd so much fun. Our daughter had just turned 4 as well. There is a website called allears.net. It gives you all kinds of advice. If she is into Princesses you have to eat at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. It's inside Epcot and there at least 4 princess there while you are eating. They come around to each table and talk to your kids and take pictures with them. The food is not spectacular, but just the look on their faces is worth it. They also give you a photopass card when you take your first pictures with characters inside the gates. Keep that card and give it to the photographers at each other picture location. that was you have one card to keep up with instead of a whole handful. Also, bring your own water in a bag with you. It costs a fortune inside the gates. If you choose to refill your bottles, you may want to at the hotel. I found the water in the fountains to be a little too egg smelling. Also, if you go in the gates most people tend to move towards the right, so if you go towards the left there are fewer waits....depending on the time of day. Have a great time. If you have any other questions email me back.

Hi D.! If you go to their website you can order a dvd that gives you tips and advice. . .it also shows you all the parks so you can plan which ones might be best suited for your 4 year old. Plus, the video was fun to watch for my children and made them that much more excited. The one thing I did not like was that we went during spring break. . .NEVER AGAIN!!!:) It was so crowded that some of the rides were over an hour wait and that was too much for my 5 and 3 year old. If a ride has the fast pass. . .definitely do it because then you dont waste half your day waiting in lines!! Good luck and have a great time!

It's been several years since we have been there - but here is the advice. See if the "Land" in Epcot still offers lunch with characters. It is homestyle/countrystyle buffet and you sit at a table on a slowly revolving platform. During your meal, Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale come to visit (at no extra cost). Great photo ops!
Also, if you stay at any of the Disney properties, there is free bus service to all the other properties and the parks - stop and swim at the pool with the guitar, etc.
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