Stressing out about disney World honeymoon trip

MeganBM

Im stressing out because I keep reading these forums, about how we should be planning where we should eat, purchase a dining plan, where we want to go, etc.  We did not get the time to plan for our honeymoon, as we planned ur 1st honeymoon to be on the Costa concordia, and that did not turn out. I was only able to get time off mid -end of march, and we decided the easiest way for us to go on a honeymoon ( no passports!) is to disney.  We booked our hotel, and got our passes ( hopper passes for 3 days to disney, and one day to universal) and got our rental car.  Anyone have any suggestions on how we should split our days up at the parks? we are going to be there pretty much fron late sat- early sat.  where could we possibly go for a nice dinner ( that we wouldnt have to worry about reservtions, ( since the nice places require usually a 180 reservation ahead of time) and what are things you recommend we do?  any suggestions are a huge help. Thanks!

amymaysa

I really wouldn't stress a lot over this. Have you ever been? Do you have some parks you really want to see over others? I would say plan on spending the most time at the places you really want. You can always do morning at one and evening at another. Are you staying on property? They often have early/late hours for guests staying on property.

For dining, yes some places may be booked, but try anyway. You could always go sit down for lunch and then quick dinner.

strlzfan11

Quick question: are you staying on Disney property?  If so you'll be able to participate in extra magic hours.

Now as for spending time in the parks, because it will be crowded and you only have 3 day passes, know that you will not be able to see everything in Disney even if you do a lot of park hopping.  If I only had three days, I'd devote one entire day to Epcot, one to Magic Kingdom and maybe split the third between Animal Kingdom (AM) and Hollywood Studios (PM) on a day when HS has evening extra magic hours.

I could personally give or take the dining plan. I would probably never purchase it again, but if it were being offered as a promotion I would probbaly take it unless the room-only discount would save me more $$. At this point I probably wouldn't purchase it unless you can find enough sit-down restaurants with availability.  You REALLY have to pay attention to what is and isn't included and work it accordingly to take full advantage of the DP.

Here's a few links that will probably help. 

1) This one will give you information about the park schedule/hours/parades/extra magic hours.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/hours.htm#hm-parkhours-quicklink

2) If you're going at the end of March, this will help you determine what the crowd levels will be like.  If you actually pay to subscribe you'll be able to see dates around that, but this should at least give you an idea.

http://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar

3) Visit Disney's home page and click on the where to eat tab up top and scroll down to Make Dining Reservations (it's down for maintenance right now, otherwise I'd include it for you).  Check and see what restaurants still have availability while you're going to be there.  If you can score a reseveration at California Grill near fireworks time, book it.  Stepping out onto the observation deck to watch the show is really neat.

Maggie0829

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_honeymoon_stressing-out-about-disney-world-honeymoon-trip?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:11Discussion:9aa63cf0-bdc7-4796-b7a6-42505ddc5015Post:acf958a9-9a58-445d-a1ed-1bb146ff1dea">Stressing out about disney World honeymoon trip</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>Im stressing out because I keep reading these forums, about how we should be planning where we should eat, purchase a dining plan, where we want to go, etc.</strong>  We did not get the time to plan for our honeymoon, as we planned ur 1st honeymoon to be on the Costa concordia, and that did not turn out. I was only able to get time off mid -end of march, and we decided the easiest way for us to go on a honeymoon ( no passports!) is to disney.  We booked our hotel, and got our passes ( hopper passes for 3 days to disney, and one day to universal) and got our rental car.  Anyone have any suggestions on how we should split our days up at the parks? we are going to be there pretty much fron late sat- early sat.  where could we possibly go for a nice dinner ( that we wouldnt have to worry about reservtions, ( since the nice places require usually a 180 reservation ahead of time) and what are things you recommend we do?  any suggestions are a huge help. Thanks!
Posted by MeganBM[/QUOTE]

Do not stress out about these things.  My H and I booked our hotel room, rental car and flights to Key West.  That is it.  Once there we walked around, asked the concierge at our hotel and even talked to some locals about places to go and where to eat.  We planned nothing in advance and we absolutely loved it.  We didn't want to be stuck on a timeline.

As far as Universal, you probably only need 1 day to see it all.  For Disney, research the parks and note the things that you want to see the most and then go from there.  You have plenty of time to see everything.  Just make a list of what you want to see the most , hit those first and then just wing the rest.

With the restaurants, I would talk with the hotel concierge...they will be able to help you find a nice restaurant and they will even make a reservation for you.

Don't stress...this is suppose to be fun and perfectly timed out schedules are not fun.

jelenybeany

I would really recommend upgrading to a 2 day pass at Universal. I have a season pass and I never get bored. Especially that time of year the lines may be pretty long because so many kids are on vacation. Then you don't need to stress as much about seeing everything.

Mardi Gras will still be going on at Universal in March and that's really good. Check Universal's website as they have performers on the weekends for Mardi Gras. It's free with admission. I saw Kelly Clarkson and Boys2Men a couple of weekends ago.

Not sure if your drinkers, but the theme parks charge outrageous amounts for beers. However, at Universal most resteraunts and bars offer a happy hour that usually starts at 2 or 3 and either ends at 5 or park closing depending. You actually get great deals on draft beers and well drinks at that time. That's the only time I'll drink when I'm at Universal.

Don't stress out. Have you personally researched resteraunts at Disney that sound appealing to you? I may be in the minority here, but I don't personally care for Disney food. My aunt has worked there for 25 years. I'm 25. I used to go to Disney every Wednesday after school, and one or twice a month on the weekends. I now go about five times a year since I moved out of the state. PM me if you want more info on either because I am obsessed with both theme parks.

Also, do you and FI like roller coasters?

MeganBM

Thanks girls!  We are not staying on property- we are staying in a timeshare ( star island resort)

strlzfan11

Well if you are not staying on property, you cannot purchase the dining plan, so that is one less thing you have to worry about.

MeganBM

ah good to know.  Also, the crowd calender shows most of april, is there any way i can see mid - late march?
Thanks for your help, you've all been great!

strlzfan11

Check out this site...

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/march-2012-crowd-calendar/

daria24

If you have three days at Disney, and you have never been, I recommend: Day 1: Magic Kingdom-see the parade and fireworks this night so you can spend the night of Day 3 on any rides you want while the lines are super short. Day 2: get to Hollywood Studios first thing, the last time I was there we only spent about 3 hours and saw everything we wanted. Then head to Epcot in the afternoon/evening. I'm not a huge Epcot fan, and I don't really spend any time in the World Showcase. Day 3: head to Animal Kingdom first thing. I also can usually get through AK in about 3 hours. Then spend the rest of the day at Epcot or MK. MK is always open really late and the crowd really thins out about an hour before the first Electrical Parade. If you have a smart phone download the undercover tourist app for Disney and universal. It has the current wait times for all the rides and it was pretty accurate when I used it. It can really help you maximize your time.

Summer2011Bride

When H and I went to Disney in '07, we also stayed off property and did not make any reservations beforehand. We wanted it to be a budget, just fun trip and didn't really care about fancy restaurants anyway. We still had a lot of fun. We also did Park Hopper pass for 3 days. On day 1, we did Epcot and MK. The second day, we did MGM and Animal Kingdon and we devoted the entire last day to MK because it was our favorite. And this was in early January when the parks closed early. We were busy but fit it all in (to be fair, though, we didn't ride a TON of rides and some were under maintenance while we were there). If you plan to ride a lot of rides, you may not have time for all this. Just kind of plan as you go.

graysquirrel

I highly highly suggest reading The Unofficial Guide to Disney World. It gives detailed info on pretty much anything you could ever want to know, including best times to go on rides to avoid lines and itineraries for making the most of however many days you will be there. It will also give you the lowdown on whether or not you should get the dining plan. We didn't when we went and were just fine with it, but we didn't eat all that much in the park.

Starfish0116

I've never purchased a dining plan or picked any of my restaurants a head of time. We've never had a problem, and that's always with a big group too.

We usually visit a park during the day, and go to epcot for dinner.

My favorite parks are MGM (what are they calling it these days?) and Epcot. I like Magic Kingdom but it has the highest concentration of kids. Animal Kingdom is one I'd skip, it just doesn't do it for me. 

SomethingBeautiful08

I liked Epcot a lot, as it has got a good mix of rides and just neat things to see.  If you like rides, remember the "fast pass" system, as it is free and makes getting on some of the more popular rides a lot easier.  Also remember the "Photopass" system to get some good photo ops. Since you are off property, a trick my now FH showed me was to take a picture of the location of your car just after you park it, so you can find it when you go back. 

As for dinning, not on Disney property but we went to a place called "The Elephant Bar" which was a querky place, in a mall in Orlando, but with reasonable prices and good food. 

beverly2012

I only went for 4 days last year and got the hopper pass. I loved it because you can go to the Magic Kingdom for the day and then go to dinner in Epcot at night (which is my favorite park) or vice versa. I would definitely suggest going there at night for dinner. You can grab a drink at the countries and walk around with them, it is really romantic at night actually. We went to eat at Italy and Japan and they were both good for couples and make sure you see the fireworks show.