Anyone else got a Disney Florida trip planned? Want to get excited together and share plans?

[PaintingTheFlowersRed]

We are off to DisneyWorld next year and I am already really excited about it. Anyone else? I'd love to compare notes on what you are doing to prepare. I'm starting to think about how to do a big surprise for the DC when we tell them we are going.

Anyone here got any advice on restaurant booking? DP is upset as he has discovered some of the restaurants are full booked when we go in 2 months.

Keep trying but most people book them at 180 days when they are released.

Park tickets arrived today whoop whoop.

CB - just keep trying; they may get cancellations. Though they do charge for people who don't turn up, so last minute ones on the day are less likely we found. Also try for odd timings, away frok nrmal meal times, where you can as less busy.

Nora - we had lovely weather, just a week ago. We had no rain whatsoever, and defintely no storm of any kind. The only Tornado we saw was the ride "Twister" :D

However the first time we went was in the summer (July) we did have a hurricane on our first full day. We got caught int he first bit of it heading over on our way home from the parks - the parks closed at 2pm because it was approaching. It was very very wet and very very rainy. But DH managed to drive home in it and once in the house it was fine. The houses and hotels are very protected. By the morning it was over. The parks opened just an hour later than normal and not a thing was out of place, not even any scattered leaves! On the route there though we did see telegraph poles, sign posts, trees, etc that had come down - but noone was hurt.

The weather is very well forecast and you know if anything is coming, and where - so you can get out of the way in most cases.

I'm still waiting for my book to arrive. I'm desperate to start booking meals.
In terms of planning, would you plan one day in each park? All the Disney parks together then universal etc?
What about collecting pins? Should I buy some on eBay?

Pickled where are you staying?

When we stayed on site(disney) we made use of the extra magic hours which gave us more time in the parks. I've made a spreadsheet on what park opens early or late, and we plan to avoid that park.

We normally plan to do most of a day and either take a break or go later in the day.

We're staying on international drive. I looked at lots of hotels but I wanted somewhere with good transport links to other parks. The hotel is called Renaissance and is close to Sea World. Booked a 5* because we'll want a day or two at the hotel to relax.
I hadn't thought about the park opening hours. Thanks for the tip

Pickled if you want to get the most out of the parks you need to be there before opening time!

I've always found the best thing to do is get to the park early, then leave at 1pm ish for a break/swim/sleep at your hotel (like groovee said) and go back to the parks at 6pm ish until close. That way you avoid the worst crowds and the hottest party of the day.

If you've never been before I would seriously recommend the Unofficial Guide so you can get more of an idea about how much you will be able to do each day. They have touring plans for each park which are very good.

We have never done the pins. Nor the autograph books.

We do a mix. If going for 14 nights we will have tickets that cover the whole duration for all parks. So we might do MK one day, IofA the next....etc. If the two weeks we will do each park more than once. For a fortnight we also like a day at the Space Centre or a day at the beach. We never bother with SeaWorld these days. Next time we might do a day at Busch Gardens. We usually do a half day at Typhoon Lagoon (sometimes Blizzard Beach) getting there early and leaving at lunch time - after that often go back to a park or some shopping and then out for dinner.

This time we only had a week, so 6 full days, So we did the 4 Disney and the 2 Universal parks. Mixed up though - think order in end was Hollywood Studios, Universal Studios, Magic Kingdom, Islands of Adventure, Animal Kingdom and then Epcot.

That's really helpful. Thanks.

Virgin are having some difficulty finding us a slot at Discovery Cove. They keep making provisional bookings that are then rejected. Hope they can get us a slot soon.

We don't have the extra magic hours because we're not staying on site. Know we're at a disadvantage here.

We've only had magic hours once. And didnt have them this time either. Tbh made very little difference to us

This is the first time we've stayed off site. It's going to make a difference to us as we're used to that extra time. Last time we stayed til 3am and got to ride lots of rides then had a rest day with a late breakfast and swim the next day.

Ah we never really have rest days. We tend to be in park early but not really staying til overly late - 10/11pm at most.

We've cracked... and told the kids about the holiday. Dd cried with happiness and Ds was his usual "ok" and went back to the ipad.

We're definitely having rest days or else I will burn out and be ill for weeks. We've always had rest days and it's been fine.

Eeek, we're off to the hotel today!! (T'is I, Nora )

Have the most amazing time Thea.

Ooops, that face make me look really angry!

What I meant was, I hop you have a really fabulous holiday, and I am very jealous!

Hehe thank you. I'm so giddy

Hope you have a fab time Thea xx

Thank you :) see you in 2 weeks x

Have a fab time Thea!

we've been before pre child and now we are taking her later this year. I'm not going to bother with busch gardens which was sh*t last time we went. But I hope to get in sea world, universal and disney land. If going to the animal kingdom, head straight for the safari ride and arrive early, cos queues get very long! Tower of terror is good too and of course the parade! Lots of things on International Drive so we always stay there. Ponderosa I think its called does a great breakfast buffet and there's a pirates mini golf on I Drive too.

ps the jurassic park right is rubbish!!!

ride