Please Help! Last Minute Trip Planning!

[TinkPink]

So my husband calls me this morning and says that he wants to leave FRIDAY for Orlando and that we are going to drive there. He has to visit a customer, but we can spend 2 or 3 days at WDW while we are in town.



So now I have to learn all I can about WDW in just a couple days. We have never been there. I lived in So Cal until I was 25, I am a seasoned Disneyland AP holder and former CM.

It will be me and my husband, a four year old and an infant.

So, now that you know a little background, the questions begin-

We will only have 2, maybe 3 days to spend. Given the ages of our children, which parks would be the best to attend?

Should we do the park hopper option? Do those tickets apply to all parks? Would it be worth it considering we have never been there and could easily enjoy an entire day at one park? And also, are there parks we would really need to see or enjoy with 2 small kids? And, seeing that I have spent countless days at Disneyland, is it worth it to go to the Magic Kingdom when we have such limited time or should we spend those precious few days at parks that are different from Disneyland?


Money is limited, this isn't a planned trip at all. So I need to do things as CHEAPLY as I can. Any and all insider info is appreciated. So far I have only checked out the WDW website. And I am finding it a bit overwhelming.


Most likely we will be spending Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week in the parks. What will crowds be like?


It looks like we are staying at the Seralago Hotel. I am sure it isn't the nicest place, but it is really cheap although decent looking and looks like a convenient location. Has anyone stayed there? It won't be scary will it?


I know I will have a million more questions, I have only had an hour to think about this. Any and all help and advice from all you WDW pros is hugely appreciated!

[mikeland]

WOW! A last minute WDW indeed.

My recommendations are that since you're going with small kids and this will be your first time, that you not try to see it all. Since you're already a Disneyland vet, I would suggest Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and the Disney Studios. Take your time and enjoy.

I would not get the hopper option. It's more money and you can stay as much time as you can in each park. Traveling from park to park takes a lot of time (about 30 minutes to an hour) and I wouldn't recommend it.

I would also take some time and visit the resort hotels if you have the time (and energy). They really are amazing, especially my favorites, the Wilderness Lodge, The Contemporary and the Grand Floridian.

I've never stayed at Seralago, but you can read some reviews of it here.

[justjohn]

Ok, I did two days at the parks earlier this month and I can say its hard and you won't feel like you saw everything.

Do Animal Kingdom for sure. This has got to be one of the most beautiful parks Disney has. We would have spent more time if we didn't have to go to MGM. Everything I read said it was a half day park, but we could have spent the whole day just walking around and looking at everything. EE is amazing and the Safari is too.

I was completely disappointed by Epcot. To me its about as good as DCA. It has a couple of rides and then is basically a huge shopping mall. The Mission:Space and test track rides were cool, but that is about it.

MGM seems to be a half day park too. ToT is almost worth the added expense though.

Magic Kingdom was really interesting because of the differences between it and DL. We would probably have spent more time there even though the rides are similar.

If we had 2 days, I would go to AK and MK. Third day would add in MGM and fourth day would add in Epcot.

We stayed at Pop Century. Its a nice basic hotel with clean rooms at a good price. There is a food court there that has reasonably priced food. The quality is easily better than anything that DL offers.

There is a bus system that will take you to any of the parks that is pretty convenient to use. While you may have to wait for a bus, it will save you the parking and you won't have to drive at all.

[Disney Magic]

Originally Posted by TinkPink

It looks like we are staying at the Seralago Hotel. I am sure it isn't the nicest place, but it is really cheap although decent looking and looks like a convenient location. Has anyone stayed there? It won't be scary will it?

I stayed at the Seralago Hotel before and you are right, it isn't the nicest place. But it is also not the worst around. Pictures of it look better than the actual hotel but it is easily accesible, located just off property on 192. Lots of cheaper dining alternatives nearby. We didn't have a problem with cleanliness or safety issues but for the money it was an just an okay place to stay, though I probably won't stay there again. I am sure the POP Century or All-Star offer a better value.

We stayed there once a few year back when it was a Holiday Inn (I believe) and then again after it became the Seralago, and the was a overall decline in maintence and service of the property. Basically it seems like and old hotel that was in need of remodeling and the chain that owned them wouldn't sink the necessary money into it, so it is now like a roadside motel.

[TinkPink]

Great. Seralago sounds fabulous. It is only 50 bucks a night though, so I wasn't expecting much.

So would it maybe be a good idea to buy a regular park ticket to say AK and MK and then maybe a one day park hopper to a couple parks that are half day parks?

Are all the park tickets the same price? What does a regular park ticket cost right now?

See- I know nothing!

[dsnylndmom]

With Ethan's age in mind and knowing you'll have the baby I would say go for Animal Kingdom and MK. Since your time will be limited not only by the number of days that you're there but by the kids's ages. If you get a chance to do one character meal, I'm sure Ethan would love it go for one of the ones in the park so you don't lose time traveling. We LOVE Liberty Tree Tavern in MK.

You'll have a great time I'm sure and I'm so excited for you!!!!

[justjohn]

One thing I notice earlier this month is that once you get off property areound dinner time, it was a pain to get to eat anywhere. One night it took us a half an hour to get a sandwch at subway. We relied on the food court for meals at pop century.

When I was looking into park hoppers, it was the same for a single day and a park hopper as a two day park hopper. The website will have pricing with all of the options that are available.

[Parisi]

ok, I know you said Money is limited, but I would actually suggest getting Park hopper passes with no expiration... the reason I say this is because if you decide to come back for a real vacation you have the tickets already, and since they never expire, if you dont come back for like 10yrs, they are still good, and you purchased them for a good price.

Also, try to make a reservation with a character breakfast. I like the one at Chef Mickeys in the contemporary, but I am sure there are others. the kids will love it.

The parks might be reasonable, since its a low time of year. Since you are a DL vet, then yeah I would hit up Animal Kingdom, the Disney Studios, and Epcot. If you find that you have the time, and did buy the park hopper passes, then hit up MK.

Have Fun...

[mikeland]

Here is a website with ticket prices. Note that you can't buy the hopper option on just one day. It's all or nothing.

[Disney Magic]

All the park tickets cost the same, but the more days you buy the better the value. I believe a One-Day One park ticket currently is $71. There are so many different combinations of tickets available, I recommend checking out WDW website to see what options suit you best.

[Disney Magic]

Originally Posted by mikeland

Note that you can't buy the hopper option on just one day. It's all or nothing.

Actually one day hoppers are available now. They never used to be though.

[TinkPink]

The one day hoppers are super expensive, I just looked.

[Disney Magic]

yes, one day hoppers are expensive and may not worth doing one day passes at all. Since you are not sure about your 3rd day get at least a 2 day hopper and if you have the 3rd day spend it on exploring the rest of WDW, at one of the water parks or doing some of the other recreation activies WDW offers. There are lots of dining options at the hotels, Downtown Disney the Boardwalk too.

[Xharryb]

Considering how young your kids are, I'm thinking you don't need to bother with the park hopping. Alone you could push yourself to see as much as possible, but with the kids you'll want to take things a little slower. If you have extra time at the end of the day you can always spend it doing something else like walking around DTD or playing a game of minigolf or something. Just pick the things that seem to be of the most interest to you and your family and enjoy them.

[justjohn]

Since you also are going to be there a couple of days only, staying on property will give you early entry into the parks (depends on the day). In some cases, like AK, this will give you more time to do things. From what I hear, early entry for AK is great because the animals are really active.