Walt Disney World Resort

[Flufferlie]

Okay so I am going to talk to my mom about forgetting the first week in June.
Tis the Gay days.
And my mom loves my dad in red, so how unbelievably pissed would he be if he were to be wearing red on those days???
Words cannot explain it.
I shudder to think actually.
We might just try May or late-early July/August. Even if it is hot as hades. 

[Dori]

Okay so I am going to talk to my mom about forgetting the first week in June.
Tis the Gay days.
And my mom loves my dad in red, so how unbelievably pissed would he be if he were to be wearing red on those days???
Words cannot explain it.
I shudder to think actually.
We might just try May or late-early July/August. Even if it is hot as hades. 

Where are your parents from and how old are they?  If they are not used to walking a lot, especially in high humidity and heat, you may need to rethink the months you go. 

[Flufferlie]

They are in their mid-40s. My Parents are pretty used to it. We used to have season passes to our theme park in Charlotte (Carowinds) and we would go weekly March-August.
NC probably isn't quite as humid to FL, but its similar. We have similar temps as well in August.
My mom's job is a in a camp during the summer. She isn't scared of the heat.
I mean it would be inconvenient, but we have also lived in Georgia, so we aren't strangers to this weather.
The heat isn't scary for me either, I have spent most of my summer in some horse stables, and helped a friend muck out the stalls.
I am a good friend if I do say so...

We pretty much have no choice but the summer months due to School/work schedules. If we could do Christmas thats where we would love to be because they love the decorations.
But their anniversary is in the summer, and thats when we are all free for it.

[Flufferlie]

Now that I think about it more, and I have found some more tips, I believe August shouldn't be terrible.
Since most people can only go around this time of year, people have learned their ways around it.
(I have also found out that the week before "Gay Days" and the week after, return to normal within the parks. this is the lightest time of the summer as many are still in school.)

http://www.dadsguidetowdw.com/the-week-after-gay-days-at-disney-world.html

jtyangel, if you're a slave to school schedules too, then this might benefit you as well.
Things I have read so far:

* Get in the parks early. (when it Opens) Know what you want to do first/whats most important to you. Use your Fast Pass.
(i.e doing the safari in Animal kingdom EARLY in the morning. Animals are eating and closer to the path & its not as hot.)
* When it starts getting hot, get to your air-conditioned rides, then eat lunch.
* After lunch, go shopping, or back to your hotel for nap time/pool time.
*Then as it cools off ride more rides, eat dinner and take advantage of extra magic hours.
*Bring lots of Water. A lot. And then bring some more.

[Wineslob]

I've been once during the week of Thanksgiving. The weather was fab! I like Bush Gardens more, free beer and all......

[Scoobie]

NHSparky and I took the kids (6 and 12) to Disney this past July. We stayed for 10 days at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. Beautiful place. Absolutely beautiful. We splurged on this vacation, as the kids had never been there, and I wanted to give them the WOW vacation. No one was disappointed. While extremely hot in July, there were enough pools/waterparks to combat the heat quite nicely.

My first suggestion is to check out Priceline for vacation packages. Had we gotten our reservations through the Disney website, we would have payed $2K more. Priceline was great, had all the package options (including the meal plan, which we didn't get this time, but will if we ever go again...definitely would have saved us some $$ while there), and again, saved us a buttload of money.


I'm sure Sparky will be along shortly to give you more pointers...he was the planner of most things, and he did a superb job. I was just there to have fun.

[NHSparky]

Yeah, having done WDW twice now, it's a lot more family-friendly when you take advantage of the stuff they have to offer (airport shuttles--complimentary!) and so on.

I would agree with Scoobs that doing the dining plan is a better way to go overall, in that it gives you a little more choice than a more "budgeted" plan.  IIRC, some of the plans are good with places at Downtown Disney, which if you're a family of four even at someplace like Rainforest Cafe can run a couple hundred, easy.  I think the biggest reason we did go with it this time around is because it was in fact a lot of money up front, and had we spent any time off-property (we didn't) that would have been wasted money for that day(s).

We stayed at AKL, and the animals were good and fun to watch, the pool was fine for the kids, and welcome after a hot day in the parks.  Boma was the buffet, which was alright, but some of the stuff the kids didn't care for as some of the stuff was a little exotic for their tastes.  We were there for 10 days but only did tickets for 6 with the Water Park and More option--IMO, you do NOT, repeat NOT, need the Park Hopper.  Even then, and spending a day at each of the water parks (Typhoon Lagoon was the more family friendly) we were totally wiped out by the end of the trip.  I would typically be the pack mule and bring about 8-10 bottles of water, camera, sunscreen, sunglasses, etc.  You can make arrangements to rent a car at most of the resorts, but honestly, there isn't a whole lot of need.  We did ONE night's dinner off-property, and the taxi to/from only ran us $30.  There are also plenty of markets, etc., where you could stock up on consumables like water, sunscreen, etc., that are WAY expensive at the resorts (think $15 for a case of bottled water--we went through at least 2-3.  Sunscreen that I got 2 for $11 at WalMart go for $13-15 at the resorts.  And so it goes.)

Magic Kingdom will take (typically) two days.  EPCOT will take one or two, depending if you want to hit the back part (not many rides, mostly food, exhibits, etc.) (However, I was at EPCOT during the Food and Wine Festival in November and it was pretty impressive there.)  Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios can each be covered in a day.

Yeah, before we went we considered going somewhere off-property for a day...BWAAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!!  Silly fools!

[Texacon]

IMO, you do NOT, repeat NOT, need the Park Hopper. 

I don't know.  We've used the Park Hopper option every time we've been and while there was a trip or two we didn't use it we used it more often than not.  It was nice to go to one park during the day and if it was too crowded just jump over to another to see how it was.  Another thing Park Hopper helps with is if you want to do one park during the day but have a show in the evening you want to see at another park.

We typically didn't like to get bogged down and being able to jump parks actually helped alleviate that to a degree at times.

KC

[NHSparky]

I don't know.  We've used the Park Hopper option every time we've been and while there was a trip or two we didn't use it we used it more often than not.  It was nice to go to one park during the day and if it was too crowded just jump over to another to see how it was.  Another thing Park Hopper helps with is if you want to do one park during the day but have a show in the evening you want to see at another park.

We typically didn't like to get bogged down and being able to jump parks actually helped alleviate that to a degree at times.

KC

I think if you plan it carefully enough you don't need to do it.  IMO, it's just not worth the extra cost.  Would rather spend the money on the Water Parks and More option, given the choice between one or the other.

And yeah, if we ever go down there again anytime soon, there's also camping there.  Certainly worth looking into.

[Texacon]

I think if you plan it carefully enough you don't need to do it.  IMO, it's just not worth the extra cost.  Would rather spend the money on the Water Parks and More option, given the choice between one or the other.

And yeah, if we ever go down there again anytime soon, there's also camping there.  Certainly worth looking into.

The last 3 times we've been down there have all been in November/December so ... no water park options!  LOL

We really enjoy the holiday atmosphere especially when it's all decorated for Christmas.  Nothing like walking into Wilderness Lodge and seeing that 60' Christmas tree!

We were down last November right after Thanksgiving taking kind of a last family vacation kind of thing.

KC

[Mr Mannn]

Cars Land. New Disney attraction. 3 rides.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpeDeaQrJVo[/youtube]
Toy Story Playland. also new to me.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJj36RL0WAU[/youtube]

[Mr Mannn]

Flying Disney Dragon comes out at night in New Fantasy Land Walt Disney World.
Breathes fire too!
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yqve5mPRK0c[/youtube]

[Mr Mannn]

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2013/09/disneyland_axes_entitlement_policy_for_disabled_visitors.html
Disneyland axes 'entitlement policy' for disabled visitors

--snip--
Consider a morality tale from America's most iconic amusement park -- Disneyland and Walt Disney World. For years, the family-oriented theme park in Anaheim, California, has allowed visitors claiming to have "disabilities" to jump to the front of long lines. It was a noble policy with good intentions, yet consider what happened to it. Over the years, large numbers of park visitors jumped on the disability bandwagon -- even though they had no real disabilities. This included families who hired "disabled tour guides" so that they could cut to the front of long lines.

Recently, Disneyland decided to crack down on the entitlement program because -- surprise, surprise -- it was riddled with abuse and scammers.

As NBC Southern California reports:

    People with disabilities will no longer go straight to the front of lines at Disneyland and Walt Disney World under a policy change park officials say is a response to growing abuse of the system.

    Under the change, visitors with special needs will be issued tickets with a return time and a shorter wait similar to the FastPass system that's offered to everyone.

--snip--

[jtyangel]

Oh, on the times ... Because of people like Jty who are slaves to school schedules, the first couple of weeks of school are the best times we've found.

KC

That's only cause I have a teen and high schools get their noses bent out of joint if they have too many absences. Id pull the other two out of school for a week in a heartbeat. I got the autsie guy too which usually is like a free fast pass:p but it's the throng of people just getting to and from in the park that drives me nuts. We had babies still the last time we went and I kid you not that we could not push the stroller without a body nearby during spring break. I vowed then never again on spring break or around any holiday.

[Texacon]

That's only cause I have a teen and high schools get their noses bent out of joint if they have too many absences. Id pull the other two out of school for a week in a heartbeat. I got the autsie guy too which usually is like a free fast pass:p but it's the throng of people just getting to and from in the park that drives me nuts. We had babies still the last time we went and I kid you not that we could not push the stroller without a body nearby during spring break. I vowed then never again on spring break or around any holiday.

Yeah, we didn't want to take the kids when they were small so we waited until they were old enough to ride everything.  After that we took them like 4 years in a row.

KC

[JohnnyReb]

The last time I was at Disney world I was using the camper in their camp ground. Went in on Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving day and the day after(Friday) was great, small crowd and no waiting in lines. Saturday the crowd was back, still a good day. The weather was the best I ever had there, not to hot, not to cold and no rain.

I was there in July once when they first opened up. The heat was terrible and then it poured rain and the heat/humidity got worse. No overhead air conditioning in the waiting lines back then. I guess the air conditioning at 6 flags over Texas and Georgia had made me soft.