Disneyworld do's and do nots!!!!!
 

Alrighty guys, looking for some professional help!

Committed to going to Disneyworld during Mardi Gras with the wife and two boys. We will be staying offsite. Any advice on the do's and don't of Disneyworld?

How many on here are going during Mardi Gras?

Thanks in advance!

RC

Went last year for Maris gras. It was great.
Use the fast passes, always have one on you. As soon as you can get another one pick a ride and get another pass.
Get the app on your phone that has the wait times on all the rides. It's helpful.
We stayed at the animal kingdom lodge, it is really nice being able to catch the shuttles and boats to go to the parks.



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I am going on February 1st. It will be my first time. Thanks for starting the thread! I believe we are staying at the movies resort.

good shoes and a back pack, and good shoes.

DO bring lots of money..........

DON'T let the kids know you have it on you!

Disneyworld do's and do nots!!!!!
 

Granola bars and snacks, few bottles of water in back pack
Don't want to have to stand in line every time someone wants a snack or drink

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If you don't mind planning ahead then check out RideMax.com...well worth the $20. You tell it which rides you want to ride and it tells you best order to minimize your wait times. I was skeptical but it really is accurate. Also gives some good tips about what days to visit which parks. Stay out of the parks that have extended hours as those are the busiest days thus longer lines. The day right after a park has extended hours is the best day to visit. I have stayed on site and off. I prefer off because if you get up early you can drive right to the front gate and don't have to wait in bus, boat, and tram lines. Also, gives you some down time from the Disney experience which can be pretty intense. Have fun.

Its going to be awesome for the kids.

The best advice I can give is to take a few days off before going back to work. You need a vacation after taking a Disney vacation

X2

great thread! we are goin March 9th through 14th.

My wife is after to me to go (I don't want to)

I told her the only way I'll go is for Mardi Gras, she loves Mardi Gras so she is torn.

I'm going for Mardi Gras as well. I have continuing education course there so we are taking the kids. If your kids are small enough for a stroller, bring one. You can bring a small ice chest into the parks, save a lot on drinks. This is where the stroller comes in handy, you can put the ice chest in it. Also, bring snacks with you.

We've been 4 times. I like staying on the park. Fast pass is the way to go. I don't try to over think it. I like to just go with it and enjoy the experience but that is just me.

I would get the meal plan, it's worth it (we get the one that give everyone one snack, one quick service, and one table service every day) ... Also too, they just started testing new smart bracelets that keep all park tickets, dining plans, fast pass, etc. and you put everything on it before you ever set foot at the park .. We volunteered to use them because the were testing them, if y'all can I would use them too, it made things really easy

meal plan was good for us also, last day the kids were trying to use the rest of the snacks that were left. We had the same plan as cowpoke.

and fish
 

X2 and plan a one day guided trip to mosquito lagoon while you're there.

I agree, dont get caught up in chasing the big rides. Get a fast pass and go sit down and watch a couple of the little shows and attractions with the kids.. in between rides.

We will be there March 1-6. Staying at Animal Kingdom. This will be our first time there as well.

Been many a year since we visited the mouse. Don't know if they still have it.but when you stayed on property they opened different parks one hour early on different days of the week. We had the park hopper pass and could come and go to any park area at any time . we would go to the park we were going to do tomorrow the night before and just do a walk through. See what rides we wanted to ride then when the gates opened 1 hour early the next day we went straight to those rides.

March 1st-8th, We're staying at The pop century resort. I'm ready to get out this office !

We stayed at pop century last November .. It wasn't bad, only thing was the A/C in our room sucked

I have been twice. Do not think I would go if I had to stay off site. We stay at resort and get the meal deal, hopper package and this works great with kids.

If you call them direct you can usually get a better price than by booking on line. I would put together my package online then call them and see what they can do for a better price. They will ask you a budget of course whatever you give them they will up it a little. If you say 2500 they will bump you to 3k. So whatever you want to do start a little under that on the budget. When you do get the package they will give you a referance number. tell them you need to think about it then call back tell them its alittle more than what you wanted to spend. See if they can upgrade your room or meal plan or tickets. start off with the cheapest plan then get them to upgrade that. I stayed at wilderness lodge last yr for 6 days with passes for every day and meal plan for just under 2k. Original price was 3400 when I looked online. The other thing about staying on the resort is you dont have to pay parking everyday, fight the traffice, and you get early and late days at the parks.

Figure a case of water for each person for the trip. you dont want to run out of water. your meal plan will more than cover you for food and snaks. the great thing about putting the package together is you know what you have spent and there arent any suprises when your wife or kids want to dine somewhere and the cheapest item on the menu us 14 bucks for a cheese burger plain no drink.

the number I called was 407-824-2222 they will direct you to reservations and packages.

Don't - post on salty cajun while you're their, ASR will blast you for at least 1 full year.


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great stuff! thanks

Great info guys, i really appreciate it. We are committed to a house we are renting on a golf course (DADDY gets a day too) with another couple and their kids.

We will definately get the fast pass and inquire about the meal tickets. Keep the advice coming! It ougth to be a Louisiana party over there begining of March!

Don't buy bottled water in the parks. Bring a bottle in with you and when it's empty, go to any of the drink stations and ask for a cup of ice water. As a rule, Disney does not charge for a cup of ice water. You can then pour it into you empty bottle and go on your way.

I just received a card in the mail yesterday offering a free dining plan if you stay in on site. If you call in, ask them about that. We did that last year and it saved us a chunk on a family of four. If you do get the dining plan, make your restaurant reservations now.

Been many times.

Mardis Gras is usually not crowded and most La. people as we are the only ones that the kids are out of school.

This site has TONS of info and can answer any questions. http://www.disboards.com/

Forgot about this one.

Have discount codes and other stuff

http://www.mousesavers.com/

FYI, I don't think you can get the meal plan unless you stay at a disney property. We stayed at the Shades of Green military family resort on the property but brcause it was not owned by Disney, we were unable to participate in the meal plan. Also, we've stayed offsite, and I will never do it again. There are too many incentives to stay on site and it is so convenient to be one bus ride away from your room. We had young children so the ability to run back to the room was priceless. Most importantly, HAVE FUN AND DONT LET THE PACE STRESS YOU OUT!!!!

dang! im stuck staying on the outside at The Fountains (my granddad has a time share so hes letting us use his credits) Any tips for how to make staying on the outside less trouble?

We are going in July!

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You get more fast pass if you stay on site also

If you rent a car try to get one with SunPass . . . toll roads will kill you. Watch where you buy tickets; there are tons of counterfeit or invalid tickets around. Keep your wits about you. There have been about 15 armed robberies at hotels in the past two months.

Have fun!

We went about 4 or 5 years ago, did so much walking I was just about crippled for 3 months.lol If you haven't made reservations yet, you may want to check out Dvc rentals or something like it. There are several sites like this. Its basically renting a room at the big resorts from a timeshare holder for a fraction of the cost that you would book through Disney. The timeshare holder has so much time allotted at their place and if they don't use it, they lose it. So instead of losing it, they will put it up for people to rent at a much lower cost. What you do is pay for points, and depending on what time of the year and which resort you stay at, depends on how many points you need. We wanted to stay at the Beach club resort which was around several thousand dollars for the week, just for the room. I think we needed about 84 points for the 6 nights in September. I paid 13 dollars per point. We got six nights in a studio suite at the Beach club for about 1090.00 Very fancy place right next to epcot. Brother in law did the same thing for a room in the animal kingdom resort.

We are staying at silver lake resorts.

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We did the bracelet thing and they came in the mail a couple weeks ago. How exactly do you acquire fast passes? Right at the ride?

The entrance to the ride will have separate ticket dispensers. You put your ticket or bracket up to scanner and it dispenses the fast pass. Most of the time you can have one fast pass in your possession at a time. Unless the ride time for the pass is several hours away.


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If you have the new bracelets. You can book you fast passes online.

With bracelets you can get 3 at a time.

X2 .. If you need more info, we just used the bracelets and my wife set everything up .. I can get some questions answered for you .. We had great luck with the bracelets

Actually now you can go online to Disney's website and schedule them before you get to the park. I booked through a travel agent and he told me. Our band are not in yet and my wife has schedules some fast passes. The New system is called fastpass +. I think you click on the My Disney experience link and you go from there. I hope this helps

Did you find that having to schedule the fast passes ahead of time put you too much on a schedule?

No I didn't find it bad, it did have us on somewhat of a schedule but my wife did a good job setting them up so it wasn't a hassle

Plus, if you need to change your fast pass times you can change them at any time, so if we wanted to go do something else when our fast pass times were we just changed out fast pass till later and went on with our day .. Or sometimes we would get to a ride we had a fast pass for and there would be no line so we would change our fast pass time till later when we thought there would be a line and just ride it a few times

As long as you don't use them, you can change the fast pass times to a more convenient time, even if it's past the time that the fast pass is for

I believe the wife scheduled a few already. Just curious when we get there if it is still online to add more, at the ride, or both?

Both

Stay on property, it is well worth it. We stayed off property the first time. Traffic at closing is terrible. All of the places on property are nice and they are running some deals right now. Check out their website.

There is now a new rule on fast pass you can only get 3 a day with the new arm band for people who stay at Disney resorts I think there is a sight to register for off site fast pass I would do some research co worker just came back and said that's the new upgrade