For those that have been to Disney with the kids..

We went a few years ago, but stayed at a condo nearby.

Today, for Brody's first Birthday, I booked a 5 day stay at The Wilderness Campgrounds in a cabin, with the park hopper passes and deluxe meal plan.

Has anyone stayed there?

Is there some type of supermarket there?

What parks are a must do for a 5 year old girl and a 1 one year old boy?

Which character meals should we do?

As far as strollers, should we bring a little umberella stroller for Ava?

For Brody, should I bring the Maclaren or the Graco QUatro Touring Stroller?

Thanks, Tara

Re: For those that have been to Disney with the kids..

I just came back from there last week!
We stayed in a cabin - it was great!
I can answer any questions that you might have

As for supermarket - they have a little convience store, but honestly, if you can I would hit a Publix or something before you get there.
Are you renting a car?

Also, look into renting a golf cart while you are there. They are expensive - $57 a day (or something like that), but SOOOOOO worth it!!

I can give you tips on what you need for the cabin and what they already supply you with

Message edited 1/24/2009 5:37:09 PM.

Re: For those that have been to Disney with the kids..

We went in December with 3 kids - 3 yrs old, 20 month old, and 6 month old.

Has anyone stayed there? We stayed in the Disney All-Star Movies resort.

Is there some type of supermarket there? There is a big walmart nearby where we bought all the food, diapers, snacks, etc. They also have a lot of Disney merchandise there (stuffed animals, shirts, souveniers).. we bought Landon a lot of stuff there.

What parks are a must do for a 5 year old girl and a 1 one year old boy?
We went to all of the Parks.
Magic Kingdom is a must.
Hollywood Studios was good for the kids also.
Ecpot is pretty boring for kids.
Animal Kingdom was alright. It wasn't as great as I expected it to be.

Which character meals should we do?
We only did one with Landon - a buffet dinner with Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore. My sister did another one - a breakfast - but I'm not sure which characters were there.

As far as strollers, should we bring a little umberella stroller for Ava?
I would, the kids were so tired by the end of the day. I know my niece (3 years old) needed one. We were out on some days for 12 hours+. hey also have strollers for rent there though.

For Brody, should I bring the Maclaren or the Graco QUatro Touring Stroller?
I don't know the difference between these - but for Landon I brought his full sized stroller. I needed something that reclined all the way (like I said we were out for loooong days) s he could nap and I needed the large basket.

Re: For those that have been to Disney with the kids..

Hi, I just saw your pix. Your DD is beautiful and looks like she really enjoyed herself.

We didn't plan on getting a car. Since we have the meal plan, I didn't plan on shopping much. Brody will still be on formula, so I wanted to buy a few jugs of bottled water- and maybe some snack.

Did you love the cabin, or was it cheesey??? My DH is a hotel snob, and I don't want to hear him complaining the entire time.

I picked it because of the extra space, separate bedroom area, dishwasher for bottles and the outdoor activities it has to offer.

Do you have any pics of the campground??

Any advice would be appreciated. It seems like there is almost too much to do. Please share where you ate and your DD"s favorite activities.

Thanks soooo much.

Tara

Re: For those that have been to Disney with the kids..

There is a convenience type store at all the resorts but they are usually very expensive and not something to rely on for things.

Most people if they don't rent a car - ship things like diapers, snacks etc to their resort. There is also something called Garden Grocer.com that is like peapod. They deliver to your hotel's bell services who can keep things cold if needed. Which is a great alternative to have cold milk in your room/cabin. Although with the deluxe meal plan you will be rolling out of the resort b.c it is SO much food.

We rented a car (minivan) so we just did a supermarket run - which is easy but you won't be able to do that if you rely on the disney transportation unless you take a taxi and I think that gets pretty expensive.

You definitely want to hit MK, AK, your 5 year old will probably enjoy HS more than your 1 year old will. DD really liked EPCOT - (she was 15 months) so I do recommend it - we would go evenings for dinner - and do a few rides and walk around. She loved spaceship earth, journey into imagination, finding nemo ride etc. Honestly you can really do all 4 major parks. Esp with a park hopper - you can do say a morning in AK or HS and go late afternoon to EPCOT or MK for some rides and dinner. This way if you aren't crazy about AK or HS you did go but you aren't wasting a whole day. If you really like it you can always go back later in the week. That is what we do. We plan 1 morning at HS, AK and MK and we usually eat dinner at EPCOT (but sometimes at other resorts) then the other days we have lists as to what days are better to rehit the parks we liked the best.

If you can get it - your DD would probably LOVE eating breakfast or lunch at the castle with the princesses - if you can't get that - I would suggest doing the princess meal at EPCOT (Akurshsus - in Norway).

Chef Mickey's is usually a staple meal for most families - they do breakfast and dinner (during really busy times they add a lunch).

There is a cinderella buffet dinner at the Grand floridian - but be careful about that one - if your children scare easily - b.c it includes the Wicked stepmother and step sisters and I hear that they really play up their wicked role.

Crystal Palace is a great one - that is VERY popular in MK - it is with Winnie the pooh and friends - we did that our last day for lunch and saw Matt Lauer, his wife, nanny and kids (they were like 4 tables over from us).

Well here is the thing - the stroller rental price skyrocketed last year - and you can buy a decent stroller for the price of the weekly rental. If you don't have a double (which I assume you don't) I would consider instead of bringing one down there - they DO sell a Kolcraft umbrella stroller in the parks and I think Downtown disney (check out this site and ask there exactly WHERE you can find them -
Disboards.com it is a site like this but all for disney and there are cast members - employees- over there on it and everyone is pretty knowledgeable over there - and there is also info on the parks, hotel, meal plans, transportation etc). The stroller I think is like $40 so not too expensive and might be MUCH easier than lugging a second stroller all the way to WDW. Also for that price if something happens to it you won't be too upset.

We used a metrolite and was SO glad we did - DD was 15 months - I would have been upset if I brought the maclaren. Honestly for disney - I think it is important to bring something with a decent basket (I brought an old DB and left nothing of value in it - diapers, change of clothes etc) and left it in the stroller (which many others did too), also have a snack tray was very important at counter service meals. We had a hard time finding high chairs at some of the places during lunch and would have had to hold DD in our lap without a tray - but since we have the metrolite we were able to feed her right on her snack tray. Also it is important to have a good sun canopy depending on when you go - and one that reclines and is comfortable for napping/sleeping. DD took her naps right in the stroller and was very comfortable. I do suggest getting some brightly colored balloon string and putting it on the handle of your stroller - b.c it is nothing like trying to find your stroller in a stroller park with like 50-100 other strollers (esp when the cast members move them around and sometimes to other locations) - it was SO much easier to spot ours with the bright string I had many moms saying to me that they wished they had done that too.

if you have other questions you can FM me I'm happy to help you in any way I can. BTW if you haven't done it yet - (not sure when you are going) but you should make your ADRs (dining reservations) ASAP (if you are in the window - I think it is 180 days but you should check on it) b.c you can't do walk ins for sit down anymore they are very hard to get.