Disney/Florida - Saint Michael,MN

A Bug's Life show inside the Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom is a MUST.

I agree with another poster, that when we go down, we rarely leave Disney World property and still have plenty to do. I remember going to Cape Canavral as a kid.

Enjoy! It is one of my favorite spots even as an adult.

B.,

First, I agree with you skipping Universal. It is a fun park, but most of the rides are thrill rides and to be honest, even before my son, it was too much for me in one day!

As for food, the Magic Kingdom has some really great quick service restaurants to eat at. I know people with small ones enjoy the Crystal Palace because of the character dining, but we have always just done quick service there because it is more convenient (we are headed there for my 22nd time this year, so we have things pretty figured out). My favorite places at Magic Kingdom are: Columbia Harbour House, Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Cafe, and The Pinnochio Village Haus. They offer basic American food (burgers, pizza, chicken, salads, etc.) and are always open (some of the restaurants that you see on the website are not open year round...we found that out the hard way.)

Animal Kingdom also has some great quick service meals. We did a character breakfast there, but were not terribly impressed with the food, so we won't be going back. I have heard that the sit-down Yak and Yeti is amazing if you like Asian food, but have never done the sit-down version there. As for quick service, we like: Yak & Yeti Local Foods and Flame Tree Barbecue the best. Animal Kingdom is insanely hot (there never seems to be a breeze) and it closes early, so my guess is that you will probably do lunch there.

Hollywood Studios has fairly good and fun restaurants all around. The 50's Prime Time Cafe and Sci-Fi are excellent. Of the two, I would go for Sci-Fi though because you get to eat your meal in an old "car" and watch old movies on a screen. The food is fairly decent, but the atmosphere is too fun! We have also eaten at the Hollywood and Vine, but again, won't be going back. Most of the food at Disney is quite good, and this one was just sub-par. As for quick service, our favorites were: Studios Catering Co., Backlot Express, and ABC Commissary.

Epcot is BY FAR the BEST place to eat! If I had my druthers, we would eat every meal at Epcot! Our family's absolute favorite is Le Cellier steakhouse in Canada. Book this early, because it is impossible to get into if you don't book it right at the 180 day mark. Other favorites are France, Japan (it's hibachi style), Mexico, Morocco, and the Coral Reef Restaurant (the food isn't as good there, but you are basically sitting in an aquarium, which helps make up for it). As for quick service, we LOVE the Sunshine Season Food Fair. It is quick and has everything from burgers to asian!

Okay, for non-Disney things. Medieval Times is SO cool, so good choice there. Our family prefers gulf coast beaches (they are generally nicer and they are warmer and calmer). I don't know that it would be worth driving to the space shuttle. We did it one time, and we weren't terribly impressed, but you know your family. If you like that kind of thing, then it may be worth the trip. Hope this helps, and have fun!

The restaurant at Disney Hollywood Studios, with the big movie screen is called Sci-fi cafe, definitely a must. Make sure to make reservation in advance if you want to eat in a car. Another good one at downtown Disney is the Earl of Sandwich. Ohana at the Polynesian resort is good but another one you will need reservations for. It is an all you can eat place. If you bought the meal plan I think that it is a two sit down ticket for one meal. If you want to do a dinner show, I would recommend the Hop Dee Doo Revue. A really great website, which allows you to view the menus and gives more insight to each restaurant is allears.net.
One of my son’s favorite rides were buzz lightyear, and the pirates at Magic kingdom.
He also really enjoyed lights, camera, action at Hollywood Studios.
There is so much to see and do that you will not get bored with Disney.

You are going to have so much fun!! We have four kiddos and absolutely love Disney. Try not to squeeze every single thing in, though -- you will drive yourself nuts. :)

When we go to Orlando, we actually only do Disney World for the week and still aren't able to see everything. So, you really have to pick and choose.

Magic Kingdom of course is a MUST. Animal Kingdom is not my personal favorite... It's a neat park, but not like Magic Kingdom or Epcot.

The dining option is fabulous. The best thing to do is to call ahead and make reservations at the particular place you want to eat. This will require some planning on your part to figure out which park you'll go to on which day. But the reservation specialist can give you all kinds of great advice on which restaurants are the best and most popular.

Last year when we went, we ate at one restaurant in particular at Hollywood Studios. I can't remember the exact name, but it had a huge movie screen at the front of the room and everyone sat in 'cars' as their table. It was a like a huge drive in movie / restaurant. It was very cool -- our kids loved it.

It sounds like you are going to see a lot when you're there. Like I said, try to pick and choose... We usually take one day in the middle of our stay to just stay at the hotel and play in the pool. If you don't take a break, you and your family will be EXHAUSTED.

Have a blast and enjoy every moment!! :)

~ Ann

Wow, that is a lot to pack into one vacation. :)
First, I would go to your local book store and purchase a few of the Disney books. There are some great books that will give you the "low down" on the restaurants, rides, etc...
You will definitely want to make your dining reservations ASAP as the good times do book quite fast. You may already be a bit late, so I would work on that first. You will have to call Disney Dining (the book will have that number) and make your reservations.
Magic Kingdom is nice, but it has a lot of the "little kid" stuff. I have a 7 year old son, and we only spend one day at MK.
Animal Kingdom is your smallest park and is, of course, very animal related. It has a lot of neat shows and some great rides for a 7 year old.
My favorite is Hollywood Studios and I think your son will probabaly love that park the best. They have some cool "boy" rides, shows, etc... Including stuff/characters from Cars, action shows, etc...
With Epcot hosting the Star Wars celebration, I'm sure that will be fun and crowded. Epcot is HUGE- it is essentially two parks in one. The front part has all the rides (very cool ones) and the back part is all about the different coutries. Very cool.
I recommend making a plan for each day at the parks and taking advantage of the "fast passes"- the books should tell you which rides will offer the fast passes.
Universal Studios, Sea World, the beaches, etc... are not that close to DisneyWorld. I'm assuming you will be renting a car?
DisneyWorld is a little city in and of itself. If you are staying on site (at Disney World) you will not need your car as there is an internal transportation system.
Finally, be prepared to deal with crowds. There will be lines to stand in, things will take probably longer to do than you think.
Best wishes,
R.

We are also going to WDW in July and I have been doing a ton of research. Since you have the dinning plan, it dpends on which dining plan you have. If you have the deluxe plan where you get three sit down meals a day, you should decide what kind of meals you want. We are doing all the character meals and then on my birthday, we are doing the resturants that I want. You need to do the Advance reservations because some are hard to get into.
As for Universal, I agree, skip it. There are some great websites out there that can help. One is www.touringguides.com. This website goes along with the unofficial guide to WDW. Also http://allears.net/index.html. This is probably the best I have found. I hope this helps.

Go to the Disney website and identify each park's hours for each day you are there. If you're staying on Disney property, you can take advantage of the Extra Magic Hours - you get to go in early some mornings and stay later some nights than other guests who are not staying in a Disney hotel. Also, verify which nights EPCOT and Magic Kingdom will be having their fireworks shows and at what times. See each one at least once.

If you're on the dining plan, there are some tricks to saving. Signature dining and some character dining require 2 table services per person - but no worry. You can manipulate your quick service and snacks to accomodate; plus you can share plates at regular table service so you can splurge on the signature dining. Some of our favorite places were LeCellier (In Canada at EPCOT - make reservations ASAP), Tutto Italia Ristorante (In Italy @ EPCOT), 50's Prime Time Cafe (food was so-so but the atmosphere was a blast).

Don't forget pin trading. If your guys are into Star Wars then those would be their hot collectibles. Buy your pins from someone on EBay - you can get them at about $1 each (maybe less) and then trade them for Star Wars character pins with the cast members in the parks and resorts. Since your son is 7, keep an eye out for cast members wearing green lanyards as they can only trade with kids 12 and under. My kids loved doing the pin trading and picking out their own personal souveniers. Plus, I picked up a few when they weren't looking as stocking stuffers at Christmas. Pins in the shops start at about $3.50 so you can save money by buying a random set and then trading for what you want.

I loved the Christmas shop at Downtown Disney and picked up personalized ornaments for my kids - I think they may have some with a Star Wars theme. Their artists personalize them right in the store and can have them ready and sent to your hotel room or will mail them to your house. My kids LOVED the t-shirt store (next to the Christmas store) where they designed their own t-shirts.

Also, check out the forum on the website for tips from seasoned travelers.

Have fun!

Take a deep breath and calm down lol. You are only there a week. You won't have time for all of the above. I know our first trip I had a Florida travel guide and told my husband we are doing ....xyz. he laughed at me. Yes all of those are withing driving distance but do you want to spend the whole trip driving. I would if you have paid for a week at Disney spend your week doing that this time around. the only extra I would add in is the space shuttle. I would skip sea world and universal and medieval times. (the medieval times are all around the country now lol)
Places we love to eat at disney
Sci Fi theater (you eat in cars parked like an old out door theater)
50's prime time cafe (tv's at almost every table showing old I love Lucy reruns and food is good)
lunch at the pizza planet (think toy story here pizza and snacks)
Breakfast at least one day at animal kingdoms character breakfast

all the hotels in the all star resorts have a food court you can grab and go
we did this most days.
things not to miss
Magic Kingdom-go on the train around the park lol its my kids favorite and you can get on and off where ever you would like great thunder mountain, splash mountain space mountain, presidents hall of fame, we love adventure land and fantasy land. Pirates of the Caribbean my favorite is just wandering up and down main street and don't miss the parade (there are 2 each day one at 3 and one at dark
Epcot, do the worlds thing, and the living earth and seas they have fireworks some nights and lazer light show on the big golf ball thing we always eat at germany which has a great show going on and the food is good (they have both german and some kid friend stuff like nuggets etc)

disney studios- great movie ride is always our first thing, the back stage tour is good, there was a play are called a bugs life last time we were there. although they may have morphed it into something else by now lol

animal kingdom- roller coaster way in the back can't remember the name lol but its great. the character breakfast is good, the tree of life and the dinosaur exhibit

typhoon lagoon waterpark is our fav for that. spend a day just down time and do this if you have time it is a great stress reliever.

a fun evening side excursion that we do at least once while we are there is to go to Old Town. Its a tourist trap but my kids love it. Its set up like an old fashioned town main street. it is a couple blocks long. shopping, stuff to do. there is usually some sort of live free entertainment going on. there are restraunts, and rides (you have to pay for tickets for the rides) photo ops. we always get our souvenirs here as they have a shop that has the 3 t'shirts for $10 things and pencils post cards etc pretty cheap.

Hope you have a wonderful trip. We are doing universal next trip to see the harry potter thing. But won't be doing disney then as they are separate corporations we decided not to try and do both entities on one trip.

That is an extremely ambitious plan for 8 days in the dead heat of Orlando summer (extremely hot that time of year).

You would need to be extremely fit and/or determined to hit the main attractions just within Disney during that time.

I love the following book - you have plenty of time to read/digest it - will be the best $$$ and time you spend planning: "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" http://www.touringplans.com (click on "the book" in the top right hand corner).

I just came back from 4 days with my husband and all we did was Epcot and Hollywood Studies - had a great time thanks to the book. Have been many times with my kids too, also utilizing that book (helps with the lines).

Good luck and have a wonderful time. It will be even better if you plan it out and allow time for swimming and rest. You spend a great deal of $$$ to go to Disney - why be miserable and exhausted?