Disney Orlando help!

[Goose22]

Hi MNetters,

I’m hoping there are some seasoned Disney fans out there that can help.
Me, DH & two sons (4 & 1) will be going to Disney Orlando in September 2024. I realise some people think this age isn’t ideal for Disney, but it’s a great opportunity so we’re going & we would love to know how to make the most of it! We’re staying at Loews Portofino Bay hotel for a week.
which restaurants should we book? Which resorts should we visit/avoid? Any general Disney tips?
TIA!

We really liked Animal Kingdom Lodge if you have a little more to spend. Seeing the safari animals from our balcony was really fun in the evening.
Particularly as DHand I could sit there with a drink as dc went off to sleep in the room.

Thank you! Travel insurance is the one thing we’ve sorted, the rest we are a bit clueless on (can you tell!?)

Oooh this sounds excellent!

I'd save Portofino for when the kids are a little older and ready for Universal. It's fantastic though and a great choice of gift from your family. Most likely already said but HRTFT, I would recommend staying in Disney, with those ages it'll make the trip a million times easier. Have fun - it's amazing!!

You could change to a Disney hotel, the perk of that is easy transport to the Disney parks but the drawback is that you get stuck eating in the onsite restaurants and it can be pricy. We went a few months ago and stayed offsite in a place just off International Drive which had a suite with a proper kitchen and dining area which saved us money as we were able to go to Walmart and get breakfast stuff and snacks. Are you hiring a car there? Be aware that it costs $30 a day to park at the theme parks. We ate at Olive Garden and The Cheesecake Factory for dinner on a couple of nights and enjoyed them. Try to get tickets for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween Party while you're there, it's pricy but worth it.

Yacht Club/Beach Club are another option, for easy access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios. Epcot is lovely for strolling and dining and is walkable from the Boardwalk resorts - good if you do mornings in the park/pool and nap in the afternoon/early dinner. Not so easy to get to Magic Kingdom though.

There are literally thousands of pounds difference in the prices of the hotels being mentioned. I mentioned hotels closer to what you have booked, might be worth knowing your budget OP, yacht club is well located but will set you back a fair bit more than portifino bay.

Disney tickets are £££ so you’ll probably want to do the parks most/all days to maximise them. Staying on site would also be huge benefit for such a short trip - it’ll take a day or 2 to get over jet lag each way so make the most of extra magic hours if up early

Definitely don't stay at the loews Hotel, that's more geared toward universal.
Art of animation is a pretty cool hotel. We prefer the budget Disney hotels to the more expensive ones..
And the pools are really cool, teeming would probably be really cool for the 4 year old. The main pool has music playing under the water!

I recommend if you want to do the pandora area in animal Kingdom, try to be there as the sun goes down, there's lots of UV in the area and it all lights up so beautifully!

Make sure you do the evening closing events...they're so lovely!

I'd recommend starting your day early and going to park opening,
Pool or water park during the hottest hours of the day and heading into another park of the evening. It'll help you avoid some stress and tantrums!

Mickeys not so scary Halloween party- they run from Aug-oct 31st. I'd definitely recommend. We went in the Aug just gone with 1year old DS and DD, they have him a trick or treat bag, and he had the absolute best time!

Most things in magic Kingdom you'll be able to do with your youngest too...
Haunted mansion,
Aladdinds carpets,
Jungle cruise,
Pirates of the Caribbean,
Its a small world
Peter pan
Winnie the pooh.
Dumbo flying elephants,
The carousel of progress,
Buzz lightyear,
The people mover (off the top of my head!)

Also, it's off site, but if you like steak, Longhorns! I also recommend their chocolate stampede- it is FAB! Definitely a sharer though!

Also, we didn't get on with the niven 50s suncream this last trip, but banana boat spray on 100 factor was great. Especially on the little one.

Anyway you can stretch to two weeks? I think you might REALLY need it... especially with flying with two little ones!

Have you sorted your ESTAs? If not do so now, because in the event there is an issue you won’t get a visa in time for your trip.

thanks so much everyone, this has been SO helpful! I’ve read every reply & we’ll most certainly be switching to a Disney hotel. I really appreciate you all taking the time to respond x

Oooh fantastic, great to know littlelest will be able to join in! We love steak, we’ll definitely look at the restaurant you mentioned.
The Mickey party sounds great fun! Thank you for such a detailed response :)

You'll be waking up early due to the time difference for the first few days so take advantage of that to get up and out to the parks. There are grocery delivery services if you want to stock up on snacks to take out with you.

Be prepared for rain and thunderstorms at that time of year. Rain shouldn't last long and there is plenty of cover, but certain rides will close for periods if there is a risk of lightning.

For your hotel look at the Disney World maps. Pick 1 that is close to the center of transports. You want something that is easy to return to your room for naps. Hopefully you will spend little time in your room. So don't go for the flashy. Someone mentioned Caribbean Beach. September is a great time to be there.
Disney World is vast and has many different types of free inter-property transports. Even though I haven't booked vacations through them Disney has a travel service that gives excellent advice.
Twelve years from now your kids would be the proper age for Universal.

Highly recommend wilderness lodge. You can catch the boat to magic kingdom very frequent and quick. They do a lot of activities on sight for kids if you need a lazy day. You can get a bus from the airport to the hotel. Look up Dibb for lots of tips.

What characters is your son into OP?
There are some excellent character dining options around the parks and in the different Disney resorts themselves.

My eldest loves stitch, so every time we go, we have to do lilo and stitches best friends breakfast. Its a bit pricy, but it's so lovely, the kids can all get rattles and maracas and they dance around the restaurant a few times, then the characters all come to the table to sign their autograph books.
Their pineapple bread is lovely too!!
Take all the photos of the kids with the characters too! If your little one is asleep in the pram, the characters will often sort of pose around them so you can get photos of them too!

If you're looking for sweet little memories, they have a barbershop called dapper Dan's in magic Kingdom.

Get a fan for the babies pram! I highly recommend it!

Comfy shoes! You'll be doing circa 20,000 steps per day.

Don't miss the kilomanjiro safari in animal Kingdom, its fab!

YouTube is a wealth of information, PC Dev, Adam the woo, Tim Tracker are all good bets for Disney Vlogs, they cover the wider area too, but they post a lot of Disney content that was helpful when we first started visiting =)

Also, from about 7pm, maybe 7:30 crowds in the park tend to shift from rides, towards where the end of night shows will be, so if you've managed to see the shows, or don't care for them (madness!) The wait times for rides drop significantly.

@Weedoormatnomore* *
the free magical express bus is no more sadly

I think it's a paid for service run by mears now isn't it?

We're here now with our 4 year old DD.
We're at the Beach Club resort and it's ideal. It's walking distance to Epcot and buses every 20 minutes to all the other parks.

Definitely switch to a Disney hotel. Beach/Yacht club are pricey but have heard very good things about the all-stars resorts for little kids.

We are here for two weeks and even so, we probably won't bother with Universal. Our DD is too young and is more interested in meeting princesses!

I think so. Virgin Atlantic have a contract with Mears but I believe it runs out at the end of the month and they're unsure if they're renewing (had a chat with the rep about it at airport yesterday).

Not sure about the Disney side of things.

Uber is so much easier and cheaper than a bus service anyway, don't know why anyone does Mears!

That's sad it was so handy! My kids are teenagers so last couple of times it's been villas so they have separate rooms and car hire.

It will be hot so factor the heat in to your plans. When the children were small we would go to the parks in the morning and then back to the villa to play in the pool/ rest in the afternoon before dinner. It is hottest about 3pm. We didn't do as much as we could have but the children would have been so overwhelmed and exhausted if we had tried to do full days.
Have a wonderful time.

What time do the fireworks start? Are they everyday? Is it something we’d be able to see from a restaurant or is it best to stand and watch? Thank you wise mnetters!!

@Ohthatsfabulousdarling Brilliant, thank you! Will keep all this in mind.
he’s pretty taken by frozen and cars at the moment - I’m getting pretty excited for the trip now! Do we need to book restaurants far in advance? I’ve downloaded what I think is the Disney parks app.