Disney world Florida

[Aliciafaith]

I have just booked our very first trip to Disney world Florida (yay!), we are only going for 8 days (7 days in the Disney park not universal)

What would your ideal itinerary be? I have no idea where to even start! & also what are your do no miss'es?

Also any food recommendations would be great too!

We are also booking mickeys not so scary Halloween

It's just me and my 10 year old son I don’t think either of us will be interested enough in character meets that we have to line up for

Thanks so much

We went in May and had a fab time! I used this website to plan which day to visit which park based on predicted crowd levels. I found this website to be the most accurate

queue-times.com/parks

Ooo thank you that'll be helpful!

Been a long time since I went but Epcot had good food options, we went in there at 6pm when other parks were closed as they opened later, as I said long time ago!

Are you staying on site? October half term will be busy, but make the most of early entries, and always be at the parks before opening time - they usually open a few minutes before the posted time. There’s a long way between the parking lots and the park gates so make the most of your jet lag by getting there super early.

Consider a character breakfast at the Grand Floridian, if you like Winnie the Pooh and Alice in Wonderland. If you book the latest sitting you can have a couple of hours in the Magic Kingdom, hop on the Monorail to GF for what will feel like lunch, see the characters, eat lots, and then go back to the park or on to Epcot.

And also try https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/index.php. They know everything on there.

Enjoy!

Oh yes - Epcot food and wine festival will probably be on. Great fun.

Unfortunately not staying on site! :(

But thank you x

We are going to Orlando soon, these are some places that we really want to try
Buttercrust Pizza
Yellow Dog Eats
Tori Tori
Tacos N Grill
Swine & Sons
Take a look at places to eat in Orlando on YouTube

We went recently.

If you can then do the lightning lane, saves so much time on queuing
Don't bother park hopping during the day it takes HOURS
Buy your tourist tat gifts to take home in Walmart not in Disney
Don't miss the fireworks or parade at Magic Kingdom
DH says that Star Wars was the do not miss.
I liked the Ratatouille ride, and the Avatar flight of passage.
Oddly really liked looking at the greenhouses as well.
Animal kingdom was our favorite park.
Magic Kingdom least favorite.
Loved the Hollywood studio's India jones stunt show.
Epcot was a mixed bag, but the best place to eat as they have food from around the world.

We stayed outside the park, cooked at home a lot as I have fussy children. Also made the most of the water parks which my kids LOVED.

If you want a day off park, go to the Kennedy Space Centre. It was a highlight of our trip.

Have fun.

Thank you! That's some really helpful info.
Luckily I don’t think either of us feel like we have to try to do everything so hopefully get a while to spend in the water parks as DS will love those! Did you leave park for dinner time then? I think DS will want to try some typical American food places (such as cheesecake factory etc)

Thank you for this! I need to start putting together a list I think too

A week is lovely, I assume you will have a week long park hopper ticket?

Do go to Magic Kingdom on the first day. The entrance, main street and castle is a thing. you know you are at Disney when you've done that!

Do not miss list depends on your interests and time / money!

For me it was the Star Wars and Pandora areas. Just amazing.

Shows are great too (the Lion King one, the end of the day at Hollywood studios, Indiana Jones).

Ironically not the rides necessarily! More 'Disney unique' ones not to miss are Rise of the Resistance, Tough to be a Bug. Guardians of the Galaxy. Tron, Mickey and Mini runaway railway and ratatoulle.

The insides of places can be amazing too. The Beauty and Beast restaurant (dark room) was great. Also the Mexico pavillion in Epcot was amazing.

The Cars thing in Hollywood studios was great to get air con and how they did the McQueen was very clever. Also the meet Belle workshop in Magic Kingdom amazed me, not so much meeting Belle, but the wardrobe and Lumiere were alive!

Characters do walk around so you see them without specific meet and greets. Enjoy the atmosphere, don't get too hung up on charging around everywhere.

Download the park app so you get start to get a feel for things and where they are relative to each other.

Yes, but my kids are a bit younger than yours. We were in the queue at opening (as the kids generally wake at 5.30 anyway) by 6-7 they had had more than enough so we left for dinner. And we took packed lunch in with us and a ton of snacks.

Just went back a couple of evenings for fireworks, we could see those and the drone display from our accommodation so adults watched from the balcony once the kids were asleep!

Definitely get the parks app that tells you the wait time for the rides, so you can work out where’s best to head, or even if a ride is down.

Where are you staying and are you driving?