[dadofthree]

Cast
Myself - 37
Wife - 34
Son - 8
Son - 5
Daughter - 1
Mom - 77

We will arrive on 12/26 early in the morning (a Saturday) and leave whenever we please on 01/02/09 the following Saturday. We have DDP and Park Hopper, and staying in the Family Suite at All-Star Music.

Our Must Do's
Expediton Everest
Splash Mountain
Soaring
Rockin Roller Coaster
Osbourne Family Lights
Candlelight Processional
2 Wishes nights
2 Illuminations Nights
and probaly some more I haven't thought of yet

Our Must Eat
Crystal Palace
Prime Time
either Fulton's or Flying Fish

Last time we went was Summer of 2007...are there any new attractions or places to eat. How would you shedule your time?

On a side note - also thinking about doing an "Aqua Tour" at Epcot and renting a cruise on New Years Eve.

Just wanting to see others' gameplan with these circumstances to get some ideas...

SIDE NOTE - this is my Mom's 1st Disney Experience - so she has to experience all the usual things for 1st timers.

[Boss Mouse]

Go to Touring plans.com to get a day by day/ park by park touring guide. This will help you map out your trip.

I have taken the Aqua Tour (snorkeling, right?) and it was awesome. I do not recommend anyone eating any of the fish from the tank now, but it was a good time. The back scene tour was interesting in and of itself. But the swim? too cool

When I go back - IN OCTOBER, I'll stop by to see if the turtles remember me. We bonded.

[dadofthree]

last time we went - the evening EMH worked well for our family. We would sleep late and hit whatever park we wanted during the day and hit the evening EMH at night and would close the parks down - this worked well for us especially at MK where they stay open soooo late.

with my mom going - she is an early to rise early to bed person...how does everyone here handle EMH

[WDW Rules]

Make sure you take your mom to COP. I think she'd enjoy that.

[mickeyspal]

Toy Story Mania in HS is a must!

[dadofthree]

ok - what is COP?

[mommyof2]

Carousel of Progress in MK--I believe!!

[jwakja]

Get ready for crowds! The water parks will be cold or very chilly. May be a good time for Deluxe dining plan and focus on eating, eating, eating!

[dadofthree]

well, to be honest, I had thought of that. This trip is costing mucho $$$$, my travel agent says it needs to be PIF by Nov. 4th but on my nerdy payoff shedule I have going it will be paid off in mid Sept. I thought of upgrading and just keep paying until the Nov.4th date. Problem is, we couldn't eat our way through the DDP last time we went. We ended up stocking up on snacks and counter-service cold cut sandwiches for the trip home. So, I was thinking the extra $$$ could go to some tours or a cruise on NYE.

But, the more I think about it - my kids could get all the character dining they handle and we would still get to have our adult dining experience.

ok - on the phone now to see the $$$ difference...

[dadofthree]

ok - difference of $766 for the whole trip....hmmmm????

[LittleMissMagic]

Originally Posted by dadofthree

last time we went - the evening EMH worked well for our family. We would sleep late and hit whatever park we wanted during the day and hit the evening EMH at night and would close the parks down - this worked well for us especially at MK where they stay open soooo late.

with my mom going - she is an early to rise early to bed person...how does everyone here handle EMH

I prefer morning EMH. We get so much more done in the extra hour in the morning than the last three hours at night.

Morning EMH seems must less crowded. I think this is because with evening EMH, everyone is already awake and at the parks and don't have a problem staying later. However, in the morning, you've gotta get your tail up early, and not as many people are willing to do that on vacation. I think morning EMH is worth getting up early for.

[LittleMissMagic]

Originally Posted by dadofthree

well, to be honest, I had thought of that. This trip is costing mucho $$$$, my travel agent says it needs to be PIF by Nov. 4th but on my nerdy payoff shedule I have going it will be paid off in mid Sept. I thought of upgrading and just keep paying until the Nov.4th date. Problem is, we couldn't eat our way through the DDP last time we went. We ended up stocking up on snacks and counter-service cold cut sandwiches for the trip home. So, I was thinking the extra $$$ could go to some tours or a cruise on NYE.

But, the more I think about it - my kids could get all the character dining they handle and we would still get to have our adult dining experience.

ok - on the phone now to see the $$$ difference...

That's quite a bit of money to spend on food (that's a lot of food!). And you wouldn't eat that much if you weren't on DDP, so really, it's not saving you any money.

I personally find DDP to be a waste on buffets. I also think it's a waste on the signature dining. If you were going to go into every restaurant and order the most expensive item on the menu, then you might be getting your money's worth.

It seems that most senior citizens don't have very large appetites. Your mother might get tired of all of the food.

You might consider doing the regular DDP and then going to a signature restaurant or buffets and spend money, rather than credits. Deluxe DDP gives you an awful lot of credits, and you have to plot out how you're going to spend them so you feel as if you're getting your money's worth. In the meantime, you're stuffing yourself with quantities food that you wouldn't normally eat, and there's the possibility that someone in your party could get sick.

[dadofthree]

it definitely is ALOT of food

I am a DDP HUGE fan. I love the thought of not spending a dime one essentials once I get there...it is stress reliever...I don't have to go through my cash stash after every meal to see if I am going to make it through the day or worry about how much available credit is left on my credit card. This is just me though.

I am not sold on deluxe yet, but i definitely will discuss it with my wife.

[WDW Rules]

Originally Posted by dadofthree

ok - what is COP?

Sorry Yes mommyof2 is right. Carousel of Progress.

[Mickeybug]

When we took my mom some of her fav's were COP & Pirates at MK, Beauty/Beast show & mid day break in Sci-Fi at HS, & she really enjoyed Spaceship Earth and all the countries at Epcot with her all time fav that she still talks about to this day is the Millinium Parade(that is no more)
We also enjoy the early EMH. When mom went if we wanted to do the late one we'd let her go back to the room and crash with the little ones while we hit the park.