Free trip to Disney.....feeling daunted

[bigbutsrus1]

My in laws have decided they want to take us and kids to Disney in a couple of years time. My DH went when he was a child and his family have wonderful memories. They can't wait but me on the other hand is filled with dread ! I am very grateful and it is a lovely opportunity for the kids..... But all I keep reading is about planning and booking rides and meals etc. this doesn't sound like a relaxing fun thing to me! Think they are planning to stay in villa nearby, so does that mean you can buy a ticket to Disney and just mooch about? If you don't book a table does it mean you won't be able to eat?!? Also we won't be paying for
the actual holiday but will
have to take spending and
food money. I would imagine
we would eat out at lunch
time and maybe the odd
evening? Will it cost an arm
and a leg to eat out? God I sound like a whinge bag I just can't believe how much money this holiday will cost (and if it were us choosing.... Where else we could go)! Please tell me it isn't all long ques and screaming kids? And will I need Vallium

Calm down. It's not all long queues and screaming kids, honestly.

Well, there will be some long queues. But they're very well-managed and not usually too bad. Fastpass is your friend here.

We've been three times and never once planned our day. we've picked a park (or a particular ride/attraction) and just gone. And mooched. The ticket you get as a UK resident enables you to pop from park to park as often as you like. So you can do a ride in Epcot, decide the queues are too long for the other one you want to do and nip off to Magic Kingdom instead.

We normally do a park in the morning, have lunch somewhere there (after all stomach churning rides have been accomplished ), then head off to a waterpark for the afternoon. Or back to the villa for a nap, if we want to go to the fireworks in the evening.

Food can be pricey in the parks, but the portions are vast, so you can do sharesies if you want. Snacky foods are reasonably priced. The only times you may want to book a table are for special things, like the meet a princess things (I've got two boys, so we never did those!). You can book online too.

I was a bit apprehensive the first time I went, but it's actually our favourite holiday atm as it caters so well for all our holiday needs. Seriously- you'll love it.

Thank you! It just sounds so complicated sometimes. I am more of a camping/back packer so as you can imagine it is a bit of a change!

It can be as easy or as complicated as you want. There is absolutely no need to book meals in advance unless there is a particular place that you want to eat in the parks (as some get booked up very quickly). But if you're happy to eat anywhere then you will ALWAYS find somewhere that you eat. Planning rides in advance can make the experience better because then you don't have to queue as much but, again, there is no need to do this at all if you're willing to queue. You can only pre-book 3 rides a day anyway. Talk to us nearer the time though and we'll tell you how to book them in advance if you want to - it's dead easy.

I plan every single thing in Orlando because (a) I love the planning (b) I'm rather anal about fitting every single thing in so time is limited. But you can easily go without having done any planning at all if you're not bothered about squeezing everything in.

Eating out in the parks can be a bitr pricey (certainly not extortionate though, for the most part) but outside the parks in Floriday you can eat very cheaply indeed.

Try not to stress. It will be fun!
We've been to Disney Florida and Disney California several times.
I've never prebooked anything, other than one time we were there for halloween so I prebooked tickets to go to the halloween evening event.

Unless you want to eat in the expensive restaurants or have a particular place you want to see/eat at then there's plenty of fast food and snack places everywhere. You can also bring your own food so if you have a villa taking some food and drinks with you will help save money.

For us it is all about the rides. I recommend the guidebook 'The unofficial guide to walt disney world' by Bob Sehlinger and Len Testa.
It is useful in terms of planning your day and how to beat the worst of the queues and comes with useful lists of what rides to do in what order to beat the queues but also has different options for if you want thrill rides, have young dc etc.
They also have an app which lets you see how busy the parks are and how long the queues are.

As well as the rides there are also lots of shows, parades, and meet and greet things to do. So if your dc/you are into that then knowing what's available and what you need to book or where to go can be helpful.

If you prefer just to wander about at will and aren't bothered about getting autographs and meeting princesses, or eating at a specific time, then you can do that too.

Fast pass is your friend so do read up and take advantage of that.

And make sure they know if it is special visit (your first time, someones birthday etc) and get a badge and wear it - not sure if they only do that if you are staying in a disney hotel though. The cast memebers may dish you out with extra fast passes if you are wearing your badges.

You can get the badges wherever you're staying, gillybean - there's a cart that dishes them out for free by City Hall in MK.

If you are going to eat out and not on Disney property, then coupons are your friend! Less than a week before you go, sign up to as many restaurants in Orlando as you can, using a throw away email address. You will get discount vouchers galore, and also ensure someone has a "birthday" during your holiday too!
Check thedibb.co.uk forums, esp the food and drink one. It might take a bit of wading through the Disney eateries but I think there is a sticky of restaurants, and which are better than others.

There are ways for Disney to be relaxing and stress free. I'm guessing this will all be your in-law's decisions but we did it like this and loved it (I am usually a super relaxing do nothing beach holiday fan):
We went to a park or waterpark for the morning, came back for lunch at our hotel (found eating in the park difficult as tbh it is crowded.. this was 9 years ago now though), we then spent the afternoons relaxing by the pool and headed back to the parks at 4ish. We then went on one or two rides and went to dinner. You have to book dinner but that isn't too much faff. There are some very good quality restuarants. We then sometimes went to some sort of show or fireworks after dinner.
There is loads to do at disney beyond theme park type rides. Epcot is fairly cultural/interesting, the studios is quite arty, animal kingdom is like going on safari (well kind of!). It is pretty spectacular and far from going on an extended trip to thorpe park. If you have been to Disney Paris then don't expect just a bigger version of that, Florida is very different and much more varied.
Fastpass is where if you pass a ride you want to go on but the queues are long you get a ticket from a machine which lets you come back later and skip the queues. It isn't as much faff as it sounds.
We did a fortnight so that it wasn't so rushed, we weren't frantically running about trying to fit everything in and didn't feel guilty relaxing in the afternoons.

It will be good - I promise!

We took the kids a couple of years ago and despite hating theme parks with a vengeance , I think we would all agree it was the best holiday we've ever had.

We went in December, before Christmas and the weather was perfect. I bought a really good guide book and we decided which parks we'd like to hit depending on which one had a longer opening time that day. The app is fantastic, gives you all the wait times. Apart from that we didn't plan, as there's so much to do/look at, loads of food and ice cream stalls. If you're driving in every day just factor that time in, as some of the car parks are enormous.

Only thing I'd say is if you are only going once don't bother until your kids are old enough to enjoy it. Ours were 10 and 8 and I'd say that was spot on.