WellDisney World Insider Tips

Yikes! No stroller! I've not been to a Disney park with small children but I can tell you from taking small children places that you will absolutely need a stroller. Otherwise you will be carrying those little ones,

Maybe you plan to rent a stroller?

Yes, bring small snacks. I have a medium sized back pack that works for all our families needs. Pack paper cups to fill up at water fountains and split beverages up for your kids. Much less heavy that toting actual liquid. I also pack bandaids, extra socks, baseball hats if they aren't already on (sunburned scalp is NO fun!), sunglasses, and ligher shoes for each kid, such as flip flops or crocs. Have them wear their tennis shoes and socks, but it's always nice to have a switch for hot, tired, or wet feet if needed.

Get to the park entrance about 45 minutes before park opening. This is a good time to lather everyone up with sunscreen. You will see a cute little opening song/dance at Magic Kingdom complete with confetti and all. And your waits will be the shortest ever that first hour after park opening. Then when it gets busy, use Fast Pass to save time waiting in line. Expect it WLL be busy. Expect you will NOT see everything. Pick 2-3 must do's and consider anything else you get to a bonus. If you arrive at opening and are still in the parks touring past 2:30, that's about the max my small kids could handle with the heat and crowds, and it was pushing it with my 4 year old her first year.

With the ages of your kids, you'd be very brave to attempt more than one park per day. Epcot itself is hard to cover in one day. You might want to rethink trying to do Epcot and Universal both in one day, if I understood your post. At least start the day out in your first choice and keep it flexible as to how much more your family can handle. Keep in mind that arriving late day in the second park will put you in heavy crowds and longer waits.

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I'll try to answer your questions. We LOVE Disney! You definitely need to bring snacks and drinks into the park. My plan is to bring a very small (lunch size) cooler with a small frozen "blue ice" in it. I have 2 sippy cups (one for each girl - ages 2 and 5) filled with milk (these are the insulated cups). I also like to wash grapes and maybe put them in there. I also like the little bottles of apple juice that have the character sippy things on top. These don't have to remain cold until opened, don't spill and can be refilled with water and ice. We also carry the insulated thermos's with the characters on them - one for each girl with ice and water in them. I may or may not carry water for me and my husband. We can also drink from their water bottles and these can be refilled with ice and water at almost any park restaurant. I carry lots of individual packs of snacks: goldfish, PB crackers, fruit snacks, cereal, etc and just take in a few each day.

A backpack and I would say a stroller for each child are a MUST. You can rent strollers there but won't have them for the tiring walk back to catch the bus at night. You're going to want a way to keep from carrying them everywhere. I plan to have strollers until my kids are much older! If you want suggestions on what I put in my backpack, let me know and I'll give you more info!
What kind of food do you like and do you want character dining? We love character dining...but it's often pricey and you may not be able to get reservations this close to your visit....but I've gotten lucky many times! :-)
Are you visiting all the parks? Are your children "into" princesses? That will help decide on the must sees for parades!
Lines can be bad...but the best advice is to get there before the park opens to avoid them!
Which hotel are you staying at? IF you aren't on property, you probably won't be able to use the Disney buses, but many other disney partners also have their own buses. You can us the monorail.
Weather will probably be warm. Check it at weather.com. If you can give me more info...I can give you more suggestions! Are you flying or driving? We always drive so that we can take everything we need for the girls.
My best tip is to get strollers! If flying, you can even buy them at walmart when you get there....you will definitely appreciate them during the day and especially later in the evening! Have fun and let me know if you want more info!

AAA offers a great booklet on Disney World. It has all of the tips, hints and clues to having a successful and extraordinarily fun trip. Their theme parks are not small, don't underestimate the possible need for a stroller. This isn't your usual walking. Heck there were times I wished I had a stroller for me and I've been to Disney 4 or 5 times.

Plan on visiting a park a day this way you don't have to trouble yourself with traveling between parks. Have that travel between parks settled before you get there. It just makes sense and makes less fuss while vacationing.

The thing I love most about Disney is the lines. There is always some kind of activity or sights to see or things to read while on line. I really like that. Your kids are really young and may not truly enjoy Epcot as much as older children or adults. You may want to skip this park and stick to Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios because they have more for your little ones interests.

Get that book from AAA and you should be covered on all fronts. I wouldn't do Disney without it and yes they do sell it for a higher fee to non AAA members perhaps you can find it offered on EBay.

You need to eat at AKERSHUS(NORWAY at EPCOT).
If you can't a reservation by phone, then you should arrive at an odd hour(4pm) and ask if they can squeeze you in. Almost all the princesses will be there and it is cheaper than the castle.

I really think you should buy a stroller.

You can bring snacks and such, they'll check your bags when you go into the park.
Best places to eat will be a hard one you'll be hard pressed to get into character dinners or the better restaurants. You might want to call now to make reservations to see when they can get you in. When we went we made our reservations 3 months in advance and were still eating really early (around 4) or really late (around 8). We loved the Garden Grille for characters and dinner in Epcot. It's family style and you get as much food as you want. You can also try to get spots the day of since there may be cancellations, but there is no consequence for people who don't show up for the reservation so they don't always cancel and just don't show up.
I wasn't impressed with the parade at Animal Kingdom, but Magic Kingdom is a must. When you get there to a park, go to guest relations to get a parade schedule for the parks. It will be INSANE to see the parade or fireworks at MK, there are so many people. I highly recommend finding another place in the park besides main street to watch the parade because people will push and jostle you. I was very stressed out with my 3 year old because people just didn't care if you were standing there and I was so anxious about him getting lost. That was probably just me being crazy because I don't like crowds like that, but just be aware.
There are buses to get between parks, they're pretty convenient.
Lines will likely be bad, but take full advantage of the fastpass for the popular rides, they will SAVE you. Also, what we did when we went is we got to the park early then headed to the opposite end of the park where there were no people. We got in to see Mickey and Minnie with barely any line by doing this in Magic Kingdom.
Weather will likely be nice, bring a couple pair of shorts just in case, but be prepared for it to get cold because it does get chilly at night so bring a sweater or jacket.
I know it's been said, but your kids will get tired. It's exhausting for adults. However they do have stroller rentals there if you need to use one. My son refused to ride in the stroller even when we had one, but there was occasion for him to be tired out and want a ride. Have fun, I'm jealous and can't wait until our next trip to disney.

I also have a 5 1/2 & a 3 1/2 and you will need a stroller otherwise they just get too tired and you don't want them to fall asleep early. We went this past Sat and it got chilly (57) so bring warm clothes for the evening. Make sure you use your fast pass as soon as you get in the park because sometimes they run out. You can also visit the mom's panel from disney site:
http://disneyworldforum.disney.go.com/

Yes you can bring food and drinks into the parks, I would suggest a small cooler with wheels or a backpack.

There are so many restaurants and they all have good food. If you want to see princesses go to Akershus in the Norway section of Epcot, Pooh bear and friends are at the Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom. There are other places to see the characters in the different parks, be sure to grab a map and it will have the locations and times of character meet and greet and parades.

The monorail only goes between the Magic Kingdom and Epcot and three resorts, but they have regular busses between the parks as well. Check where you are staying and see if they offer shuttles to the different parks as well.

March weather is iffy, bring shorts and tees to be cool and at least one pair of long pants and a jacket( be sure to pack of buy sunscreen). Most of the time it is in the high 70's and 60’s at night, but it has been hotter than usual lately.

As for the lines that is hard to tell. There are a lot of South Americans that come this time of year since it is summer there and it has been busy around here lately.

Do not under estimate the size of the parks and/or your kids having to walk all day in the heat. All the parks rent strollers (single and double). They are also handy for carrying your stuff and the stroller parking areas have attendants.

If you are staying on International Drive or Rte. 192 they have the Lynx busses that run on both roads.

Have fun and enjoy.

A stroller will be your best friend....

We were there in 2008 and we asked the security guard about bringing in food and water. Absolutely okay, as long as you are not dragging a refrigerator and a hibachi. We were there in summer and froze the water (accidently), which felt great in the backpack. Take a couple of closed bottles and refill them at water fountains. There is a Walmart nearby, though I couldn't tell you how to get there. Great place to buy water and snacks, and I hear the souvenirs are cheaper there, too.

My daughter was five at the time and absolutely loved, loved, loved Epcot. But she is a nerd like her parents. Not interested in the characters, but we couldn't get her off Living with the Land. She even did the behind the scenes tour and loved, loved, loved it. Epcot also has "Soarin," "Test Track" and "Mission: Space" which are not to be missed and are worthy of a FastPass.

We didn't take a stroller, either. Her dad carried her on his shoulders when she got too tired. She, too, opened parks and closed them. She did fall asleep at Animal Kingdom on the way out (she ducked and never came back up), but that was our fifth day there and we had been on the go go go including a Space Shuttle Launch.

Consider sharing meals. For example, we go the DD chicken tenders, hubby and I got a Caesar salad. We put the chicken tenders she didn't eat into our salad and had a feast. Another time we ordered one taco meal; hubby and I split the tacos, then he made himself a taco salad at the fixings bar. Your kids could split a meal (unless they are big eaters), and you and hubby could share. Our downfall were the soft pretzels and the strawberry ice bars.

Find out if your hotel has a laundramat. That way you can take half the clothes, and get a 90 minute break while you wait for your laundry. Consider going to a park early in the morning,going back to the hotel for lunch, nap and/or swim, then returning to an open park after dinner for the fireworks and parade. I was there in 1984 and saw so many cranky parents dragging out overtired toddlers; my sister and I were as fresh as daisies because we took a siesta.

Another tricky thing to do: one parent stands in line for something like the Dumbo ride while the other parent does something else with the kids. As you get closer to the front, the kids can get in line with you. It's not really cutting, because the kids are riding with you. It is not as obvious with one child, though

I know your kids are troopers but...... rent a stroller!!! It's my highest recommendation!! You're spending a boatload of money to go to Disney - you don't want to head home early from the parks. We went my kids we 6 and 4 and we rented the double stroller. Best. Money. Spent. BOTH of my kids fell asleep in it at one point or another (and the rest of us kept moving!) And my kids stopped napping at age 2 1/5. We also were a family with no stroller by that point. It wasn't needed in day to day living. BUT, Disney is just plain exhausting. OK. I'll shut up about it. I'd love to hear how it goes. If your kids can do that many days at Disney w/o a stroller I will be thoroughly impressed (and maybe annoyed that my own kids are such wimps!)

Anyway, parade not to miss? The one at Magic Kingdom at night! Soooo awesome. And the fireworks there are a MUST as well. They actually gave me chills, they were that good.

Enjoy!!!!

Yes, you can take in small snacks and bottled water. I don't know about a water bottle, if that makes sense. Bottled water that the security people can see is just water is acceptable.

Be prepared to go through the security check, some are more thorough than others. I was always the one with the back pack so my hubby and kids would just wait for me.

We always stayed on property, but I'm not sure about moving from one park to the other.

Have fun!!

When my husband and I went we used this book as a guide http://touringplans.com/unofficial-guide and found it to be very helpful. Maybe see if your local library has it, we bought it and it was definitely worth it.