Disney World Advice

[eltororider]

Hi guys. My sister is a die hard Disney fan so she asked to go to Disney World/Disney Cruise for a college graduation present. I happen to be very excited about the trip as well because I haven't been to Disney World since 2001. With that said, I'm probably going to be the one giving my family advice as to what we should do when in order to get the most out of this vacation. Basically we have 4 days at Disney World from May 19-22. We're taking the Disney Cruise the last 3 days. I haven't been to Disney World in over a decade and my sister went about 4 years ago so I'm basically asking for any advice on what you guys would do if you were in my situation. I should tell you guys that I'm the youngest person going on this trip at 19 by that time, my sister is 22 and our parents will going together. We have dining reservations at the Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom and a 50s Cafe Restaurant in Hollywood Studios although we want to see Fantasmic and might switch to that dining plan for that night. We are leaving the first and last nights open for dining options. I have a few questions I would like you guys to answer because these are my main dilemnas.

 

1. Would you go to more than 1 park a day and make visits on different days to Magic Kingdom and/or Epcot with only 4 days or try to go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot at least for a full day? There are at least 5 parks we'd like to go to in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach.

 

2. I personally would like to go to an outside Disney park in Seaworld, Universal or Busch Gardens Tampa. I just went to Universal 2 years ago and we have limited time plus we are on a budget with this vacation (1st time staying in a non-monorail hotel) so I'm asking which park would you try to go to with cost being a factor if any of them? I love roller coasters and so does my sister but my parents aren't big fans of it but don't mind waiting around for us. Like I said, the extra cost is really the biggest factor.

 

3. My mom is concerned we will be tired to do anything the first night so we don't have anything booked. I believe we have a 6 am flight so it's understandable. What's your advice for that day in particular?

 

4. This is probably the most important question. In May, do you guys think it would be better to go to the parks with Extra Magic Hours or avoid them? Here's the list of Magic Hours for each day I will be there:

 

May 19- Magic Kingdom at night

May 20- Animal Kingdom in morning

May 21- Epcot in morning

May 22- Hollywood Studios in morning

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

[larrygator]

1 - Are you sure your parents are going to be consulting you, it is your sister's graduation present?

2 - If so, it would be helpful to know the tastes in rides for all your family members.

3 - Will the four of you be staying together at all times at each park, or do you split up and meet at certain times.

 

Four days might seem like a lot of time at the 4 Disney parks for an 19 year old, but your parents might move at a slower pace and if your sister is a big Disney fan she might have no desire to leave the property.

Edited December 6, 2012 by larrygator

[eltororider]

1 - Are you sure your parents are going to be consulting you, it is your sister's graduation present?

2 - If so, it would be helpful to know the tastes in rides for all your family members.

3 - Will the four of you be staying together at all times at each park, or do you split up and meet at certain times.

 

Four days might seem like a lot of time at the 4 Disney parks for an 19 year old, but your parents might move at a slower pace and if your sister is a big Disney fan she might have no desire to leave the property.

 

1. Yea they'll consult me because they want me to be happy on vacation too. Me and my mom have made all the dining plans so far and I'm pretty sure my sister doesn't like to plan like me and my mom do so we basically talk out a plan and make sure my sister wants to do what we plan.

 

2. My sister and I love roller coasters but we can appreciate the calmer rides too. We'll go on almost anything. My parents are a little more laid back.

 

3. I'm not sure if we'll split up because we can't afford to bring friends so there's not much we can do seperately. If anything it would just be me and my sister seperating from my parents but I'm not sure if we'll do that.

 

Also my sister was dying to go to Seaworld 2 years ago when we went to Universal and she loves Harry Potter so she'd go back to Universal again. She also loves coasters like me so I think she would be open to Busch Gardens Tampa although I think that's the biggest reach of the 3 but cost is probably the biggest issue so I'd have to convince my parents to spend the extra money if my sister wanted to do any of those.

[jray21]

Hi guys. My sister is a die hard Disney fan so she asked to go to Disney World/Disney Cruise for a college graduation present. I happen to be very excited about the trip as well because I haven't been to Disney World since 2001. With that said, I'm probably going to be the one giving my family advice as to what we should do when in order to get the most out of this vacation. Basically we have 4 days at Disney World from May 19-22. We're taking the Disney Cruise the last 3 days. I haven't been to Disney World in over a decade and my sister went about 4 years ago so I'm basically asking for any advice on what you guys would do if you were in my situation. I should tell you guys that I'm the youngest person going on this trip at 19 by that time, my sister is 22 and our parents will going together. We have dining reservations at the Be Our Guest Restaurant at Magic Kingdom and a 50s Cafe Restaurant in Hollywood Studios although we want to see Fantasmic and might switch to that dining plan for that night. We are leaving the first and last nights open for dining options. I have a few questions I would like you guys to answer because these are my main dilemnas.

 

1. Would you go to more than 1 park a day and make visits on different days to Magic Kingdom and/or Epcot with only 4 days or try to go to Magic Kingdom and Epcot at least for a full day? There are at least 5 parks we'd like to go to in Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom and Blizzard Beach.

 

2. I personally would like to go to an outside Disney park in Seaworld, Universal or Busch Gardens Tampa. I just went to Universal 2 years ago and we have limited time plus we are on a budget with this vacation (1st time staying in a non-monorail hotel) so I'm asking which park would you try to go to with cost being a factor if any of them? I love roller coasters and so does my sister but my parents aren't big fans of it but don't mind waiting around for us. Like I said, the extra cost is really the biggest factor.

 

3. My mom is concerned we will be tired to do anything the first night so we don't have anything booked. I believe we have a 6 am flight so it's understandable. What's your advice for that day in particular?

 

4. This is probably the most important question. In May, do you guys think it would be better to go to the parks with Extra Magic Hours or avoid them? Here's the list of Magic Hours for each day I will be there:

 

May 19- Magic Kingdom at night

May 20- Animal Kingdom in morning

May 21- Epcot in morning

May 22- Hollywood Studios in morning

 

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Amy and I love the Disney parks so we could easily spend all 4 days there. It really depends on you guys though. If you like Disney, then do all 4 there. Especially with cost being a factor, that may be the best option as adding a day or two to a Disney ticket is so much cheaper than adding another day at another chain. However, if you live near another Busch Gardens or Sea World park, you may splurge and get a season pass for their chains. I would definitely recommend more than one park a day. May does get busy, but it's nice to take a break and go to another park either way. Animal Kingdom and DHS are generally parks you visit just for a few hours, and they tend to close the earliest. You could hit those in the morning, then head to the other parks in the evening.

 

As for Extra Magic Hours, it really depends. Sometimes they are super packed during EMH's, and sometimes they are dead. Will you be staying in a Disney Hotel? I tend to do them just because we paid for it, so we might as well use it. The morning ones are usually really good, as long as you get there before opening. During the morning EMH's, we would just stay for an additional 2-3 hours, and then go to another park. If you are staying off property (no EMH), than I would visit the park that just had EMH the previous night. I usually found it to be pretty dead in the morning at a park that just had EMH the night before.

 

What time do you arrive the first day, and where are you flying from? Depending on the time change and length of flight, you might be able to do some park stuff, or just hang out at Downtown Disney.

[Kyle Coleman]

If you do find that you have an extra day I would recomend a day trip down to busch gardens. Excellent combination of a world class zoo with some of the best coasters in florida. There is also a free shuttle that runs down there from seaworld.

[eltororider]

If you do find that you have an extra day I would recomend a day trip down to busch gardens. Excellent combination of a world class zoo with some of the best coasters in florida. There is also a free shuttle that runs down there from seaworld.

 

I did not know there was free shuttle service from Sea World to Busch Gardens. If that's the case I can make that a great selling point to my family. Unfortunately, we only have 4 days at Disney World and that's set in stone. We can use 1 of the 4 days to go to Busch Gardens or Sea World but we won't be getting a 5th day.

 

As for jray, we are staying at a Disney hotel. As for our flight I believe we get there around 8-8:30 am and we're flying from Newark. We're just concerned about being too tired to stay out too long at night the first day but we can get a lot done during the day.