Originally posted by HarryPotterFan
Thanks!
Do you have any more tips?
I am staying offsite
Going to the parks for four days
They dont like huge thrill rides but a some thrill is fine.
The girl is 12 and boy is 10
Harry Potter Rules!!!
Any other HP fans here????????
We are Mom43, DD12 and DS10. We've been doing Disney every other year or so since 1996. The kids' favorites have changed over the years as has our touring style.
With only 4 days to do the parks, chances are that you will be taking the "commando" style approach to touring WDW. A good guidebook will help with your planning. I recommend
The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2003 by Bob Sehlinger. There are lots of great touring tips as well as very good ride descriptions. I also like the
PassPorter Walt Disney World 2003: The Unique Travel Guide, Planner, Organizer, Journal, and Keepsake! by Jennifer Watson and Dave Marx. It makes for an excellent keepsake as well as being very informative.
As far as thrill rides are concerned, I think that you will find that WDW is rather tame in comparison to most theme parks. The most thrilling, IMHO, would be Rock n Roller Coaster...it goes upside down in the dark. Most of the others are not that intense. My DD12 is afraid of precipitous drops and will not go on the Tower of Terror or Splash Mountain. She's a pretty big coward when it comes to roller coasters but she will ride RnR, Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain RR.
My best advise would be to pre-plan your touring so that you spend as little time as possible staring at a map and deciding where you will be going next but don't let it rule your day. Use FastPass when you can, it costs you nothing to use it.
Eat lunch either very early or very late in order to avoid the noon-time crowds. If the parades are not important to you, that can be the best time to ride some of the more popular rides or grab that late lunch.
Try not to park-hop too much in one day. You will spend too much time in transit by doing so. If you must park hop, you can easily get from EPCOT to the MK via monorail or you can go from the International Gateway at EPCOT via boat to MGM. AK is the most remote of all the parks and if you have a car, I would suggest that you drive from there to any other park rather than relying on Disney transportation.
Since MK will probably be closing earlier than EPCOT during your stay, I would suggest that when you are done with MK, take the monorail to EPCOT, do Future World and make sure that you catch Illuminations that night.
Another day could be spent starting in EPCOT and then taking the boat from the International Gateway to MGM, where you can finish your day by catching Fantasmic! (which you should not miss).
Start another morning very early in the AK, making sure that you see the Festival of the Lion King. From AK, take your car or a bus to whatever park you choose, keeping park closing hours in mind. The AK closes earlier than any other WDW park. In general, EPCOT will be open latest.
This would leave you with one more day to return to whatever park(s) you like. You can return to do attractions that you missed the first time thru or to enjoy favorites one more time.
You can check for park hours, parade times and other special events scheduled for your stay by clicking this link:
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wa...ore/parkhours/parkhoursindex?id=ParkHoursRoot