amwosu

If you DON'T stay onsite, know which parks have early openings for onsite guests and avoid them on those days.

nonnigrace

Ryan - "They" would be RCI Timeshares - a crafty not-so-little group who love to rip-off the public with their rules and fees. They charged us an extra $150 to "switch" to Orlando - as if Wilma was our fault - and we chose not to go to the beach. When they sell you units - they tell you how wonderful that you can switch "anywhere in the world" but the real truth is - they almost never have availability when you want it AND alot of their properties are horrible - less than 2 stars. Orlando was the last place we would have chosen but now we will make the best of it.

Ryan

Thanks, sorry about your situation.

This confirms my long held view that I'd never put my vacation plans in the hands of someone else.

JJ5

Forget what you just wrote about, go with an open mind. And relax. You are going to have fun.

Geckolips

Assuming you have read about the parks ad nauseum, here are a couple of other ideas. Yesterday we drove over to Disney World from the Gulf Coast side of Florida, (Clearwater) on what I call my Free Disney Tour. Even though we are "locals",we go over several times a year and take our time enjoying the magic. We usually get a 3 day pass and go to the parks on different visits. We love Epcot's movies from the different countries, the Animal Safari at Animal Kingdom, and Mickey's Philharmonic at Magic Kingdom. But yesterday we didn't go into a park at all. (That is the beauty of your being there for a week. You will have leisure time,outside the theme parks, not rush rush rushing to see everything in a short time.) We have relatives staying on Clearwater Beach who had been to EPCOT and Magic Kingdom years ago but never to the hotels, around the property, etc. We take those who can't afford the parks over to the property and just have fun hotel hopping. Just tell the guard at the gate that you are visiting the resort, or having lunch there and there is no charge to park yourself. You can enjoy looking at the Wilderness Lodge and then take the boat over to the Contemporary. Hop on the monorail and get off at the Polynesian. Look around there and then follow the beach walk over to the Wedding Chapel. (You can take the monorail, but the walk is beautiful). We were fortunate enough to see a beautiful bride leave the Glass pumpkin carriage drawn by 6 white ponies and walk into the wedding chapel. We did not crash the wedding however.. Then we walked on around to the Grand Floridian. The men napped in the comfy couches and listened to the beautiful piano music while we girls visited the shops. Breakfast or lunch is the Grand Floridian is a lovely and not too expensive treat (9-15 dollars each) We then rode the mono-rail past the Magic Kingdom and then back to the Contemporary, where we took the boat over to Ft. Wilderess Campgrounds and back to our car at Wilderness Lodge. You can also visit the Yacht Club/Beach Club (nice places for adult atmosphere and a nice breakfast, check out POP Century, look at the shadow boxes in the registration area, walk around and look at the larger than life icons such as the Yoyos, rubix cubes, etc that cover the staircases - they are are so cool! etc. That is just one day of driving or taking the bus around to be astounded by all the imagination and variety of the Disney property. Disney bus system will take you anywhere on the property. Just stand in the designated line and notice what destination is indicated on the bus says above the front window. A day of swimming, soaking up the sun, ete. isn't a bad vacation either. Go to the Disney Market place even if you are not a shopper. LEGO LAND statues and the window boxes around the building are amazing. TAKE A COUPLE different PAIR OF SANDALS/SNEAKERS SO YOUR FEET GET A REST - DON'T WEAR THE SAME SHOES 2 DAYS IN A ROW...REALLY - IT MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE ON YOU COMFORT LEVEL!!

If you have time and a car, drive Hwy 4 West to Tampa and connect in Tampa to I 275 south. Exit onto Hwy 60 by the Tampa International Airport and cross over to Clearwater. Take Hwy 60 all the way across town to the best beach in the world. The sand is sugar fine and white, cool to walk on and the water CLEAR (get it?) and warm. You can easily get there in 2 hours, enjoy the beach and drive back to Disney.

I recommend this idea for less stress, (I use it when I travel to Europe, etc.) print out all the ideas Fodorites have given and photo copy from books the things you think you want to see. Put them in a small binder by location and then, after you see them, throw the papers away when you get back to your hotel room. Main thing is to relax, so what if you don't see it all, you might come back if you pace yourself and have a good time. We hope so. At least you won't be in a hurricane this week!

klw25

I also highly recommend the Unofficial Guide to WDW, but don't let it make you even more neurotic. The touring plans are very tightly scripted, sceduling basically every move you make, short of bathroom breaks. Actually, I think at times they do state that "now would be a good time to use the bathroom or get a drink". But the guide offers some excellent advice. Read it and use what applies to you. You won't need any other guide.

The Safari Ride at Animal Kingdom will absolutely not give him motion sickness. It's a great ride. Head there first, it's very popular. Enjoy the animal trails. See Festival of the Lion King and It's Tough to Be a Bug. Flights of Wonder is another great show. See the parade. Slowly explore the countries in World Showcase. Enjoy Illuminations. If you don't go to MGM, but you have the park hopper option on your tickets, visit the park in the evening to see Fantasmic (it's awesome).

I love Disney, as do my kids. We're heading there once again ourselves in a few weeks. But I have to agree with Nina about the people on disboards. They are obsessed. I visited it and read a few posts and considered responding to one but was so put off by how eveyone lists all their visits, where they stayed, etc., etc., that I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Fanatics!

Just relax, see everything at your own pace, and have a wonderful time.

Patrick

Wow. Are you different from me! You're stressed because you have to go relax and enjoy yourself somewhere that you haven't had time to obsess about? If my trip to anywhere were cancelled and they said they were shipping us someplace I'd never even heard of, I'd consider it an adventure. Frankly it's clear that with your attitude you're going to have a horrible time in spite of yourself.

mah1980

wow that was pretty nasty. she just seems irritated to have to go to disney b/c it's not her cup of tea. i would be too if i had my heart set on a beach vacation.

Patrick

my point was that she has her mind set that she hates Disney, so give it up. Why go if you know you'll hate a place you've never been. I personally am not psychic, so I'm not able to KNOW that I'll hate a place I've never been. Instead I would probably try to enjoy it, but clearly this poster is not interested in doing that. Isn't it possible to refuse the change?

daisy58

my hubby and I took our first DW trip this last may (we are 50 and 47 btw)
I thought, being from CA that this was going to be a grander scale of Disneyland--couldn't have been more wrong! It is unbelievable! And for those who jest about disboards.com, I could not have successfully planned it without their help! Those people are awesome, an amazing wealth of info, tips, support. One thing FOR SURE, so you aren't disappointed, MAKE YOUR PRIORITY SEATING RESERVATIONS! Really cool restaurants are Sci Fi Dinner Theater and Prime Time Cafe, both at MGM. And do not even consider staying at an off site resort..you will lose some of the experiance, not to mention transportation, and extra magic hours!
We stayed at the Yacht Club, loved it, a boat ride to MGM, boat ride or 10 minute walk to Epcot, easy bus ride to Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney, and both water parks.
Have a great (magical!) time!

amwosu

I just reread the OP, didn't see anything about hating Disney...just a stressed out obsessive planner who doesn't have time to plan. I would feel the same way without my usual prep time.

I do agree that SeaWorld is a good choice but even better is Discovery Cove for a very relaxing day. Its expensive to get in but (I think I have the numbers right) there are never more that 1,000 people in the park. And it is a more adult atmosphere, no crying babies or tired toddlers. Fun to wade with the stingrays and snorkel with fish. You can pay extra to have a dophin experience (no flames please).

MaureenB

Being about your age, I'd second the idea of spending time at EPCOT. It's got some interesting 'rides' and is a lot of fun. Magic Kingdom might be worth a visit, too, but it's obviously more for the younger set. And the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is worth it, too-- but in general we were a bit disappointed with that park.
And believe the signs at any Disney park that warn you when a ride will be rough for anyone with back, neck or heart problems. Because they really mean it! Some of those rides really jerk your neck around. If your husband gets motion sickness...
On the other hand, two of our favorites attractions are "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" and "Bugs Life". They are 3-D shows and pretty funny.
On my last visit to Orlando, my college-age daughter and I tried Universal Studios and were really disappointed. I mean the one with the movie-related 'rides'. It was really out-dated and schlocky. The Jaws ride had us laughing because it was so cheesy! And Twister-- really stupid. Definitely not worth the money to visit there. We kept walking around, seeing lots of places to buy junk food and junk trinkets, but not many rides or attractions. We thought the place definitely was second-rate to any Disney place-- not very well-kept or well-run IMHO.
If you're there for a week, maybe get the three-day pass that allows you to come and go during any day. You probably won't want to do two parks in two days in a row. I'd suggest spending a day at the pool between each park day.
It's also a good idea, I think, to hop on the free transportation system and visit the Disney hotels. They have nice restaurants and are each interesting, if you like Disney-created magic.
Relax. Have fun!

pamann1066

Hi,

I am also love to do lots of research before traveling & had less than 2 weeks to research DisneyWorld before going (husband's boss suddenly couldn't go to a conference & he got the nod). I found the Unofficial Guide very helpful, but even better were 2 websites

www.mousesavers.com
www.allearsnet.com

Both are huge sites but they have, in my opinion, the absolute best advise available on the web.

Good luck.

TerryLFred

My husband and I went to Walt Disney World for the first time (and only time so far) this past March. We are really more of the world traveler-type of people, but it was one of those things where my husband was going for business and we had one free ticket that was about to expire so off to Orlando we went.

We really had a great time at WDW! We are from southern California so grew up going to Disneyland. But WDW is really special and we had the best time.

We LOVE eating at great restaurants, and had some of the best meals there on the Disney property and in Orlando itself. We had a rental car so that made it easy for us to go to places other than just at WDW.

I also suggest going to the Kennedy Space Center. It was marvaleous.

As far as reseach, we got the Fodor's WDW travel book and one other one (don't rememer the name now) but we just got them from the library and took them with us for reference. They were both very helpful.

We got the 5 day pass and went to a different theme park each day. We enjoyed them all. Even if you're not big on rides, there are plenty of shows that are great to watch. EPCOT was really fun (and big). We went there twice to try and see it all.

Have a wonderful time. I think Disney does a wonderful job of having fun things to do for everyone of every age. Enjoy!

ufgator

I admit I'm one of those people who go all the time (I've been 6 or 7 times in the past year). We only live 2.5 hours away so we go for usually 3 nights; it's usually a last minute trip. We also travel to other places (in the past year, we've also been to Georgia twice, Penn., Virginia and Mass.), but we like Disney.

Don't worry about seeing everything because you can't on one trip. We've been so many times and still haven't done everything. We don't go to the parks everyday while we're there. There are lots of other things besides the parks, like spas, hanging out at the pools, or just exporing the different resorts.

Epcot is our favorite park. You can just walk around and hang out in the countries or ride some rides. Just pick out the things you want to do and do those. Anything else can just be extra.

My favorite restaurants are Bistro de Paris in Epcot, Le Cellier in Epcot, Flying Fish in Boardwalk and Artist Point in Wilderness Lodge.

pamann mentioned the 2 best sites.
nina gave some good tips. You can do a lot in the morning before most people arrive. Then you can come back late afternoon.

Enjoy your trip!

amwosu

ufgator mentioned Le Cellier in Epcot. It is the fine dining option in the Canada part of Epcot. We are a family of creme brulee lovers and theirs was to die for, some of the best we've ever had. The hard maple sugar on top... yum!

psycho_skidz

ok calm down well i went out with my mom and bought a book it is called 'walt disney world with kids' u may be thanking thats not the book for me but it is it is not just for tips for kids it has in it time and money-saving tips, insider's secrets,and scare factors for every ride,clear easy to read maps,full restaurant and hotel descriptions with star ratings,quick guides,dont miss list,and fav attractions by age groups,updates on Disney's FASTASS systemand unversal's express system it has helped us so if u get the book i am sure it will help you it says here it has helped over 400 familys so hope i was a help