Help!!! We are looking for a lot of ideas on what we can do and see for the week we are going to be there. We will be there from June 29 - July 5. We have not been there since our kids were very little and only went to the magic kingdom then. Our kids are now 15, 13, 10. We are also taking my mother when we go. We are staying in the Allstar Resort Music. Any ideas and short cuts welcome thanks!!!!

I am currently planning my 18th trip to Disney; we are making it a budget trip so we're staying at All Star Movies. There is so much to tell you. I don't know where to begin. Disney has certainly expanded since you have last been there. Some tips -- First, do you have a Magic Kingdom Club card? If you don't, get one. It entitles you to 10% off your tickets, resort (though if you've already booked it may be too late), certain restaurants at Disney, the World of Disney store, and any Disney store around the country. I've used it before and it helps. You can either get it through your employer if you work for a company with 500+ employees, or order one. Deb Wills' site (www.wdwig.com) has that information. Second, you will want to figure out which days are early entry days. Each day, a different park, except Animal Kingdom, opens an hour early for resort guests. My husband and I like that because we can ride the most popular attractions without any lines. Another way to look at it is other parks tend to be emptier when one park has its early entry day. Third, a few weeks before you go, check Deb Wills' site to see if there will be any e-nights when you are there. A few nights each month, the Magic Kingdom is kept open for three hours after closing for resort guests to ride the most popular rides. It costs $10 per person, but is well worth it. Also, some rides (Test Track at Epcot, Space Mountain, Safari and Countdown to Extinction at Animal Kingdom)now take "reservations" to ride. You go to a line near the ride where you receive a specific time. You then return to that ride at that time and can get one with virtually no wait. You will be at WDW at a very popular time when lines are long, so you may want to consider doing that. Another tip is to make your dining reservations in advance, since it will be a popular time there. This post is getting long, and the information is endless, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions, want more information on restaurants, what to do, etc. Have fun!

I am currently planning my 18th trip to Disney; we are making it a budget trip so we're staying at All Star Movies. There is so much to tell you. I don't know where to begin. Disney has certainly expanded since you have last been there. Some tips -- First, do you have a Magic Kingdom Club card? If you don't, get one. It entitles you to 10% off your tickets, resort (though if you've already booked it may be too late), certain restaurants at Disney, the World of Disney store, and any Disney store around the country. I've used it before and it helps. You can either get it through your employer if you work for a company with 500+ employees, or order one. Deb Wills' site (www.wdwig.com) has that information. Second, you will want to figure out which days are early entry days. Each day, a different park, except Animal Kingdom, opens an hour early for resort guests. My husband and I like that because we can ride the most popular attractions without any lines. Another way to look at it is other parks tend to be emptier when one park has its early entry day. Third, a few weeks before you go, check Deb Wills' site to see if there will be any e-nights when you are there. A few nights each month, the Magic Kingdom is kept open for three hours after closing for resort guests to ride the most popular rides. It costs $10 per person, but is well worth it. Also, some rides (Test Track at Epcot, Space Mountain, Safari and Countdown to Extinction at Animal Kingdom)now take "reservations" to ride. You go to a line near the ride where you receive a specific time. You then return to that ride at that time and can get one with virtually no wait. You will be at WDW at a very popular time when lines are long, so you may want to consider doing that. Another tip is to make your dining reservations in advance, since it will be a popular time there. This post is getting long, and the information is endless, so please feel free to email me if you have any questions, want more information on restaurants, what to do, etc. Have fun!

You are going to have a great time! Since you are staying at the Allstar Resort, I would recommend that you use the buses provided. My family went a couple of years ago and we stayed at Dixie Landings. We did not see our vehicle thoughout our stay. Taking the buses made it easier. You do not have to worry about parking and they take you right up to the front of the park. Make sure you visit Epcot it was my favorite. The parks even open an hour early on some days for the people that stay at Disney resorts. There are many things to do and for all ages. Just take your time and see it all. Hope you have a wonderful time!

We live in Orlando and have just visited the new Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. This park tops anything at Disney especially for older kids/teenagers. The park is currently having a "soft opening" but should be up and running by the time you go. Whatever you do, don't miss the Hulkcoaster. The park has a lot of thrill rides that are different from what Disney offers. Your kids would probably enjoy Disney Quest which is a five story interactive theme park (indoors). You pay $25 and can play there all day. This is located at Downtown Disney which is also where House of Blues and Planet Hollywood are located. The Rainforest Cafe is interesting to walk through but I would not waste time or money to eat there. McDonald's has better food!

Considering the time of year ,ie June the main problems you will encounter are a) the heat, it will be 90 degrees plus and b) the parks will all be very busy.
Plan ahead , buy a good guide book and see which of the parks you wish to visit.
Take your time and do not try to do tto much in one day, visit a park early in the morning after breakfast , exit around lunch-time and re-visit the same park late afternoon.
The one advantage of going in June is the parks all open till late , and they are usually a lot quieter in the evening.
Drink plenty of liquids.
e mail me on [email protected] if you have any more questions

You are not far from the moderate property we stayed at last year called the Coronado Springs. This place has by far the best food/restaurant of any of the moderates and probably of the budgets. There are stations and you can order fajitas, tacos, steak, burgers, whatever...it is all fresh, a little pricier than the standard moderated fare but plentiful and very good. Be sure to by a "souvenir" mug when you get to your hotels. They must hold about 2 cups worth, have a lid and hold both hot and cold drinks. Costs about 8.00, has the name of your property on it and you can go back to the food court and fill up as many times as you want with pops, lemonades, coffees, etc. Even if you don't buy one for all the kids, they can share or take turns using them. A good buy. When you go to Epcot, rather than entering where all the crowds enter, We ususally drive over to the Beach Club, park, walk through the property out back and you already see the Eiffel Tower. It is close and this back entrance is not crowded. The exit at the end of the day is fster this way too and the Beach Club is worth seeing. We have done this a couple of times. The Beach Club has a nice soda shop as well(at the pool). Don't bother going out of the property, we quite enjoyed driving over to the Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, etc. to eat. Everything is so well kept. We picked up some groceries, munchies at the Crossroads shopping centre just past the Downtown Disney area. There is a Macdonalds and a TGIF, pizza place, minigolf there. Kids bought their souvenirs from the hotel and the Disney Marketplace(village). They really enjoyed the Disney Village with all the different shops, it is a nice way to spend a couple hours and let them loose(the older ones). I have heard that Universal is better than MGM but as we had a pass, we went back to MGM and we really enjoyed it. My kids were 13 and 15. We went when they were younger, but this last time was much better. The park is very doable(smaller) and we liked the atmosphere. Be sure to see all the light, firework shows, parades as they are all spectacular. The Cirque de Soleil show at downtown disney, if anything like the other Cirque shows would be a good splurge. Feel free to email direct if you have any further questions. Annemarie

Hi, i would like to thank thoughs who were good enough to give us the suggestions that they did. I hope to follow alot of them. Keep sending more info. please. thanks again

Although the suggestion of using a guide book was mentioned briefly in an earlier post, I think it deserves a little more attention. I used Birnbaum's Guide to WDW (this was a couple of years ago) and read it cover to cover 6 months before our trip. It was especially helpful for activities that you can make reservations for that far in advance. Anyway, I made up our very specific itinerary for each day and each park. When I say specific, I literally mean I had written down the exact order we would go on each ride, which line to stand in, etc. My husband and my parents thought I was crazy and were even embarrassed at first to walk around with me and my list. But after a few hours into the first day when they realized we were walking right into an attraction and by the time we walked out there were long lines, they all appreciated my effort. They still made fun of my list but they saw the value.
This much planning was important for us at the time because we had two small children. With your kids being older you can afford some flexibility.
Have a great time!

It must be something in the name, because when we went to DW last June, I did the same thing -- went through Fodor's guide to Orlando/DW and made a list for each park, with the order we were going to go on the rides. It worked great! Definitely take advantage of the early openings. We were there at opening and left each park by 1:30 and still saw everything we wanted to see. Took our 15 year-old -- he had more fun at the water parks than at the theme parks. If you can, alternate your parks: One day theme park, next day water park, etc. Disney transportation was fantastic, no need for a rental. We never left the park and wished we had more than our 10 days. Stayed at the Yacht Club and can say nothing but good about it. There is so much more to DW than the MK. Your kids are at the right age to really enjoy all it has to offer. Take Amy's advice and take them to DisneyQuest. It opened the day after we left and we were really disappointed. However, with no offense intended to Amy, we LOVED the Rainforest Cafe (in Animal Kingdom, not Downtown Disney). We have also eaten at the RF in Las Vegas, and both had excellent food. Planning, planning, planning is your main key to enjoying yourself. Have a great time!