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<p>Some of the hotels are guard gated and if you are not checking in, they will only give you a 3 hour pass to eat and look around. Also, the back entrance to Epcot doesn’t open until 11:00am sometimes so you need to check.</p>
<p>It was a few years ago that we were able to do this, with no problem. I don’t know if their rules/procedures have changed.</p>
<p>I echo what others have said - definitely get up and GO to the parks early in the morning. (If you can buy some bagels/cereal/milk and eat breakfast in your room, its even faster and cheapre). Come back to your hotel around lunchtime, eat, swim, nap, and head back to the parks refreshed in the evening. Also, before you go to each park, look at a map and have a PLAN. Don’t walk through the gates with your large group, stop, pull out the map and decide where to go first. You’ll never all agree and you won’t accomplish anything. I stayed with 2 teen girls for 7 days - we had done every ride we wanted to do AND both water parks within the first 4 days. We went to each park with a list of what we wanted to do, checked which lines were longest and Fast Passed those, then rode the other rides on our list until the Fast Pass time arrived. </p>
<p>Another gem - Cirque du Soleil’s show La Nouba at Downtown Disney. Did it the night we arrived. It was unbelievable. Everyone I know who has ever seen it raves about it. Whether you think you’ll like it or not, you have to go. Plus - we got the cheapest seats, they were $67. Sounds pricey until you realize that the Cirque du Soleil shows in Vegas start at $100+ for the worst seats. My girls LOVED it and said it was a great way to start the trip.</p>
<p>I think its worth the money to stay in the park. The bus service worked great for us - never more than a 10 - 15 minute wait.</p>
<p>BTW, if someone in your group needs a sign language interpreter to enjoy the shows, be sure to call Disney and schedule one at least two weeks in advance.</p>
<p>This reminded me of working at Disneyland during college. Any other CC’ers work there?</p>
<p>My sister-in-law-to-be works at Disney World now! She’s been down there since last September. I’m not sure what character she’s doing at the moment, but for much of her time there she was one of Cinderella’s stepsisters.</p>
<p>I’m from Florida originally and have been to Disney upwards of forty times. It never gets old for me, and I’d go twice a year if DH would stand it (he won’t.) My favorite times to go are right after Thanksgiving weekend…the decorations are up and the Christmas season in full swing, but it’s not crowded, and the week right before Labor Day. It’s wicked hot then but rains every afternoon, which both empties out the parks and cools things down. Not a crowded time either as lots of kids are already back in school. However, last year we went in October for the Epcot Food & Wine festival. It was excellent and I recommend it highly.</p>
<p>We generally rent a timeshare at either Vistana, Blue Tree or Cypress Pointe. You can get some very good deals. Another good website with links to discounts is <a href=“http://www.mousesavers.com%5B/url%5D”>www.mousesavers.com</a>.</p>
<p>An interesting fact, though, is that when families with young children were surveyed about what they liked most about their Disney World vacation, the kids’ #1 response was “Swimming in the hotel pool”. Yikes.</p>
<p>Advice if you have a car (we always did). Bring drinks, snacks, breakfast food and lunch fixings with you and go to a Disney hotel (some rooms have frig’s or bring a large cooler). You will make up the cost of the Disney vs. off-site hotel by eating b-fast and lunch in the room. Splurge for dinner. </p>
<p>Buy an all-park pass. Go EARLY to the park (Disney guests get in earlier than the rest, and you will do 2 hours worth of rides in that one hour), stay for 3 or 4 hours, go back to hotel, eat lunch, and chill for 3-5 hours. Then go back to a park.</p>
<p>The all-star resorts are cheapest, but if you can pay a little more do a moderate resort (Port Orleans and Coronado are my favorites). </p>
<p>Another option- we used to “switch” hotels every 2-3 nights, for a little variety. New room, new pool, new themes. One year we “saved” a little money by staying at the All Star one night, then moved over to the Beach Club. The pool at the Beach and Yacht Club is really something to behold, and you can’t get in unless you are a guest. The slide is much larger than those in the moderate hotels, so the older kids really enjoy themselves; also it’s a sandbottomed pool and themed to look like something from the Blue Lagooon. Really beautiful. If you stay at the B&Y Club, you can walk to Epcot and the Boardwalk.</p>
<p>If you really want to splurge, go for the concierge level at Grand Floridian. They serve food all day, changing the selections about every 3-4 hours, on the concierge floor. Definitely can do some serious eating; you actually could get away with not eating out at all. Even better, go to Victoria and Alberts one night (this is definitely a couples thing and you have to get advance reservations) and get the wine pairings.</p>
<p>Favorite park restaurants-</p>
<p>Coral Reef (Epcot)
San Angel Inn (Epcot)
Yachtsmans Steakhouse (Yacht Club)
Narcoosees (Grand Floridian)
Citricos (GF)
Vickie and Al’s (GF)</p>
<p>If you are at UNIVERSAL, definitely eat at Hard Rock! </p>
<p>Sorry about this Mickey, but I’m not a big fan of the Disney resort in Vero Beach. </p>
<p>The Disney cruise is supposed to be great (I’ve never done it) but warning- if you don’t want thousands of children all around, go Royal Caribbean instead.</p>
<p>We live a little over an hour from WDW and have been there more times than I care to remember. We had season’s passes every year until the kids got older. I haven’t read the whole thread, but I’ll add a few thoughts:</p>
<p>Definitely echo the “skip the mid day” comments. Hot & crowded. When the kids were little, we always stayed in resorts along the monorail (always got FL residents’ discounts). Went to the early opening park for hotel guests (different one each day), back to the room for naps, then out in the evening for the parade/fireworks/more rides. </p>
<p>Favorite character restaurant: 1900 Park Fare at Grand Floridian. Kids loved the buffet, their favorite was the strawberry soup. </p>
<p>Lunch: Wolfgang Puck’s smoked salmon pizza</p>
<p>Favorite adult restaurant: BlueZoo at the Swan (and its previous incarnation, I forget the name).</p>
<p>We did the Disney cruise long ago. I’d only recommend for pre teen and younger (they keep the kids occupied all day). </p>
<p>If you want to go to Universal, it is very worthwhile to stay at their resorts. You get a fastpass for all the popular rides. Last Christmas, we stayed at the Venice themed Portofino. Similar to the Venetian in Las Vegas, but without the glitz and gambling.</p>
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<p>Been there a few times, and I agree. They switch the theme. If I remember correctly we were there for Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, and last might have been Cinderella. My favorite food there was the bread pudding, and they make a good cup of coffee (I am fussy about my coffee).</p>
<p>We were there once when they had a “Disney Villains” theme. Fortunately the kids were old enough to be amused and not frightened.</p>