The Ultimate Super Long as Complete as I can think of right now Disney World Trip Review

I am often told that I am THE Disney expert. I won't completely disagree ;) I have been 7 times, in 1986, 1988, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2004, and 2014, and the experience of going as a child, a teen, a single parent with a toddler, and as a family with older kids/teens is truly valuable to tell just about EVERYONE what they should not miss, and what they should avoid. I will say that when it comes to Disney I like what I like, and Disney is not a one size fits all vacation. There are so many ways to personalize it to fit your individual family's needs. Having said that, I will tell you some things that will be great for everyone, no matter what your individual tastes are. Ways to save time, ways to save money, and ways to add a little sparkle to your kids' experience. Welcome to Disney by Mary Anne.

180 day out Planning and dining reservations- Disney is not cheap. It takes more planing than most vacations. Many may have an idea about my fiances or how I plan and pay for vacations, but you might be surprised to know that it is not anything like what you think. Our vacation budget does not come out of our household budget or paychecks- it comes out of extra things I do like cooking fudge or making etoufee for Homestead festival, knitting dishrags, writing books, booking weddings and mowing all summer, etc. It is not super glamorous for sure, but we have priorities in our marriage where finances are concerned and things like vacations are below things like retirement, college planning, educational opportunities for the kids, paying our house off early, etc. So each vacation I have to figure out a way to pay for it outside our usual expenses. I say all of that to say this- I look for ways to have wonderful vacations for the least amount of money I have to spend!

There are specials that hit throughout the year like free dining (usually for the fall or the spring) 30% off resorts (usually late spring and early summer) and more. Watch for these! I always tend to book during the 30% off resorts time. I can take the kids the week after school gets out, save on my resort and tickets, and the crowds aren't nearly as bad as they would be later in the summer. There are pros and cons to staying in a resort- some people say the con is you could stay in a regular hotel cheaper. This is probably true, but there are value resorts at Disney that cost well under $100 a night during the 30% times and with that resort stay you get free transportation to and from the parks, and access to the Disney Dining Plan (which is a MUST for my family and I will cover why later). I recommend you narrow your dates and choose where you want to stay at LEAST 6 and a half months beforehand. Because the dining reservations open up for you 180 days before you arrive, and you want to be booked and have an idea of what park you will be in on what days to get the best reservations, like for Be Our Guest at Magic Kingdom or Le Cellier at Epcot. Now you don't have to be paid in full 6 months out, but you have to put a deposit down on your trip. I think the amount for us last year was $200. That $200 payment allowed me to make our reservations early and make sure we got to eat where wanted, and food at Disney is one of the best things about it! So put your couple hundred down, make your reservations, and pay your balance in full sometime before the 45 days before mark.

Pictured above the $64 steak at Le Cellier, which Caroline ordered since the Disney Dining Plan had it covered! Also the "Grey stuff" cupcake at Be Our Guest. Ways to save on your bottom line There are always new imaginative ways to save on your bottom line at Disney. What I did last year was buy $3,000 worth of Disney gift cards at Target. What??! Yes, yes I did. And they were in $50 cards as that was the largest denomination they had. Why you said? Because I could use those to pay my balance, which was $2,971 for 7 days in the resort, 6 days of tickets, the memory maker photo package, and a meal plan for the four of us. Buying the gift cards at target and using them to pay my balance instead of putting it directly on my credit card saved me 10%, or $300, which I used for gas there and back and a couple fast food meals as well. I applied for and received a target red debit card, which was linked to my existing checking account. Using the target red card on the purchase saved me 5%, or $150. But I also used a target pharmacy card, which I bought on ebay for about $10, to save an additional 5% on one day's purchases. So after all was said and done I had $3,000 worth of gift cards for $2,700.

It is my understanding that the pharmacy card will no longer work for gift card purchases, but people are always coming up with new ways to save money on Disney. Another option is to buy the Disney gift cards at Kroger and earn 4X or even 10X fuel points when they are running a special deal. That will save you tremendous amounts on gas for your drive, like $1 per gallon for several tanks. If you buy the same $3,000 in gift cards and earn their current rate of 2 points per dollar, that is 6 full tanks of gas (up to 35 gallons if you are travelling in 2 cars) with $1 off per gallon, so depending on the size of your vehicle that could really help out. Others buy the gift cards with their Disney visa cards, earning points there that can be used towards the trip. Even more people will buy gift cards at Sams, where they are generally 2% or so off retail prices. But for me, Target is a guaranteed way to save 5%, and I saved 10%, so I would recommend that for sure.

More ways to save OK, here we go DEEP into the "Mary Anne Parker is so cheap" files. I buy things before the trip at dollar stores, pack them in secret luggage the kids don't know to snoop in, and give this stuff to them on the trip. Gasp! I go to Dollar General and Dollar Tree, both of which have substantial stockpiles of Disney merchandise. I bought pillows for the car (Mickey and Minnie, Dollar general, $5 each), I bought them each a Minnie and mickey plush I got at Walgreens the day after Valentines (half price!) for $5. I got them Disney umbrellas on clearance at Dollar General for $4 each (and it rains in Orlando people). The lanyards pictured above I bought at Party City in Memphis for $1 each. Lanyards at Disney are $5 and up. The pins on the lanyards I bought for under $1 each, and pins run $7 and up at Disney. "But what if the pins on Ebay aren't the ones my kids will want?" They are trader pins silly! Each pin stop has a worker with a lanyard that any kid can trade a pin with. Most Disney cast members walking around also have lanyards and will trade. So if your kid has a $1 Eeyore pin they don't want you got them on ebay, they can trade it with a cast member for a $10 Cinderella pin with no problems. I spent $40 on 50 pins for my kids to split, they traded the whole time and ended up with their 25 pins that were worth retail over $450. Not a bad deal there at all! Did they know or care I just paid $40? Nope. Did they look AWESOME walking around with a neck FULL of pins all week? You bet they did.

The above pictures are Caroline and Kaiser's loot. Some of their stuff I ordered from the Disney store when they had a sale. Found sleep shirts/ pajamas at Walmart on clearance. The kids had plenty of stuff which I doled out a little bit at a time throughout the trip. Since they received things every morning, they asked for a lot less in the parks themselves. More cheap things that Kaiser really liked and Caroline didn't get into at her age were the pressed penny machines all over Disney World. I made the kids a tube (m&ms tube) full of 2 quarters and a penny, 2 quarters and a penny, all the way to the top, and then gave them empty mentos containers (because they are shaped oblong) for them to put their finished pressed pennies in. We would see a machine, and Kaiser would get out his 2 quarters and a penny, press it, then put the pressed penny into his mentos container so it didn't get lost or fall out of his bag. He bought a pressed penney book and we filled it up! I also made up coupons and gave them each a couple every day. They were simple, and were for things like "souvenir pin" or "mickey bar." The kids quite happily cashed in their coupons with me throughout the trip on things I was going to buy them anyway. But it worked well, as they would use their 2 coupons each day, instead of badgering me constantly about wanting things. It was like a brainwashing operation where the kids thought to themselves, "let's see, I have these two coupons, I need to conserve them, and they are the only things I can get today." Wink wink. I would be glad to give anyone a coupon that needs one (or ten). Another suggestion I would give is that my mother in law gave each kid a $100 Disney card of their own. They bought things but were very careful with what they got because it was "their" money. A great idea, and also saved us a chunk of change.

I also made "Tinkerbell presents" for each morning. The idea is you tell your kids if they are good in the park, no fits, no crankiness, then Tinkerbell will bring them a little gift each night while they sleep. I had a different theme for every day, and made some super cute stuff. The picture below was for Star Wars morning.

Again, these snacks I bought beforehand while grocery shopping, and an extra $10 on your grocery budget for several weeks beforehand you won't feel like having to find it all at once. I printed out the labels to make them Star Wars themed. The snacks then stayed in our room for late night munching or went into the kids' backpacks to take in the park. Saving money, and surprising the kids each morning to see what in the world Tinkerbell brought them this time. I made some cute disney themed things for our room window, and we caught people taking pictures and looking at them almost every day. I made the kids personalized autograph books that they got LOTS of compliments from characters on. Lastly, I made them each vacation journals out of a $1 book at Dollar General and a $3 roll of Disney themed Duck Tape. You might be thinking "My gosh she is crafty and did all this stuff." Well I am not so crafty, but did work on these things for several weeks beforehand to have them all done. None of them were hard to do, I can send anyone the files to print out your own (or let you know where to go online to find them) and you can have some or all of this stuff for your kids too. Or if you want me to do it for you, I guess I could make a little extra money for next year's vacation! In my experience, when the kids are overwhelmed with awesomeness from when the wake up, they don't feel the need to ask for everything they see all day long.

Now onto the actual trip itself... The Disney Dining Plan (DDP) is awesome. I enjoy the fact that my tickets, hotel AND meals and snacks are all paid for before we leave the house. I know that I won't have to worry about food costs, just souvenirs. And as you can see, I brought plenty of souveirs with us, so that wasn't going to be much of an expense either! But because I can have all meals and snacks paid for in advance and not worry about it, I LOVE the DDP. It is also varied, with many different options for different budgets. You can get a plan with just "quick service" meals, which are all like fast food selections. I usually get a plan that has a mix of half quick service and half table service, or "sit down" meals with a waitress. You can also get all sit down meals and even add ons from there. The meal plans come with a refillable cup (only works at your resort, not in the parks) which was super handy for us. Every morning and every night we filled up those mugs and didn't have to buy the kids extra drinks. I will be reviewing my favorite quick service and table service places, as that is the plan I usually get. It comes with one sit down meal (meal, drink and dessert), one fast food meal (meal, drink and dessert), and one snack a day.

Best flipping use of a snack credit in the world! Dole Whip at Magic Kingdom. I have very specific table service restaurants I want to visit each time, and these are the restaurants you need to reserve the 180 days out for a shot at having a meal at meal time!! My picks, for what they're worth, are the Garden Grill at Epcot (a character dining opportunity with autographs and photo ops which is only a one table credit DDP), Le Cellier at Epcot (the best food EVER and a 2 table credit per person DDP which is worth it to me with entrees that are over $60), and Tusker House at Animal Kingdom (another character dining buffet opportunity where I like to book around 10:45 or so, they have both breakfast AND lunch out at that time so you can get the best of both worlds for one table service meal credit a person).

Chip came to our table at garden Grill. If any of these do not appeal to you, I also highly recommend The Living Seas, a large aquarium where you eat all kinds of exotic seafood while watching sharks swim around you. The quick service options do not need and do not take reservations- you walk up to the counter and order like you would at Wendy's or McDonalds at home. My picks for quick service are Be Our Guest in Magic Kingdom- it is quick service for lunch ONLY, for supper you will have to pay a sit down credit for it so why not go for lunch? And you can fast pass it- which is super important!!! I'll cover how to do that later. We also love Cosmic Rays at Magic Kingdom- they have good bbq and for 1 quick service credit you can get the half bbq chicken plus ribs plate which is huge enough for 2 to share. At Disney Hollywood Studios, the Backlot Express has really good burgers, and you can get a famous Disney Cupcake for your dessert. We generally do not spend all day at DHS, so that is where the extra meal credit required for Le Cellier comes from. We do use our snack credits at Hollywood Studios in the morning for breakfast at Starring Rolls Cafe, which has lots of cinnamon rolls, cupcakes, coffees, etc.

At Animal kingdom, aside from Tusker House which is table service, the Restaurantosaurus is pretty darn good for quick service. This is another park where we may or may not stay all day, so sometimes we only use one credit here, or even a snack credit for a meal- don't forget turkey legs count as a SNACK people! Epcot is an all table service meal for us because the food is just too good! But on the half days where we want to come back to the resort and pool or rest, we will go and eat in a resort. My pick here for quick service at a resort is hands down Port Orleans Resort Riverside Mill food Court. They have an awesome make your own pasta station, and after several days of quick service chicken strips and burgers you are ready for a change!

This is by no means supposed to be the end of of Disney dining. I have eaten in the Castle and wasn't impressed for the 2 credits per person I had to use to do it. Having said that, the kids all LOVED eating with the princesses, especially Kaiser! They got to see Cinderella, Jasmine, Snow White, Aurora, and a couple more. So if you have a princess crazy kid (or husband) the castle is hard to beat. For me, I would rather do my table service meals at Epcot and do quick service all day at Magic Kingdom. There is just too much going on and too much awesomeness all around to sit for a couple hours, but again that is just my opinion. I must also say that I have not eaten at several other well loved places like Chef Mickey or Akershus at Epcot- these are highly regarded and much loved. Do your own research and see what appeals to you the most.

Park orders, preferences, and touring plans- Well this one is a lot easier for me than most. There is NO way ANY kid in AMERICA wants to drive 14 hours to Disney then go to Epcot the first day. You take those kids to Magic Kingdom!!! haha. Not only that, but Epcot is going to be your longest, hardest, most tiring day because of the sheer the size of the park. Put it in the middle somewhere and thank me later. This past summer we spent 6 days in parks. Our order was Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios (a little over a half day there then to Downtown Disney to watch Maleficent), Epcot, Animal Kingdom (again, a little over a half day there and it opens later than the other parks, so putting it after Epcot will let you sleep in and rest a little bit and hit the resort pool for a movie that night), Magic Kingdom, then the last day we split up- Caroline and I did DHS again for Star Wars weekends, Cy and Kaiser did Animal Kingdom again for the roller coasters, and Phil Teressa and Kyra did Magic Kingdom again. You will want 2 FULL days for Magic Kingdom. Don't drive all that way and spend all that money to scrimp on MK. One full day for Epcot, and the other two parks you can do half days and rest up for the other big days. That is my recommendation. If you have 5 day tickets, do 2 of them at MK. If you have 4 day tickets, do 2 of them at MK. This is a once in a childhood trip for many families and you don't want to mess it up. Spend two full days at Magic Kingdom at all costs.

The kids with Anna and Elsa, the hottest ticket of summer 2014, where wait times to see them were consistently over 5 hours, but we had a fastpass and walked right in bypassing the line. If staying at a resort like I recommend, you have access to early and late open times. Use them! The gates may open at 10 for everyone, but they are going to open at 8 for you. If opening at 8, get to the gate by 7:30- especially for Magic Kingdom.

The crowd at the gate will be terrible. You will question yourself. You will hate me. You will have various thoughts of panic. DON'T PANIC. Follow my lead and everything will be just fine. There is a little show outside the gates about 10 minutes to open time, then the gates will open. 99% of the people sweating with you outside are gonna hoof it for the castle. Because right behind that castle is the new fantasyland and all the princesses. RESIST THE URGE TO FOLLOW THEM AT ALL COSTS!!! Instead, when they RUN that way, you WALK left, towards adventureland, frontierland, and liberty square.

To the left are lots of super fun things. You have the Swiss family Robinson tree house. You have the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. You have the jungle cruise, two small but fun roller coasters in thunder mountain and splash mountain, and you have the Haunted Mansion. And while all those other people are waiting in line to meet one princess, you will have already been on 5 or 6 rides, I promise. You will have already enjoyed a dole whip, possibly watched the tiki room show, and definitely will have looked through a couple air conditioned gift shops. Those poor schmucks will still be in line or maybe getting into their second line. At this point your kids are laughing and smiling and saying "When do we go to the castle??" You smile back and say "after lunch". You stroll leisurely to Be Our Guest (where you made fast pass reservations) and waltz by the sign that says 90 minute wait for a table. Waltz past the people with the droopy hot kids who have done one or two things in 3 or 4 hours time and go right to your lunch without feeling bad about it. There are those who plan and conquer Disney and then there are those who are defeated. Be a planner!

Those poor hot people in the 90 minute line for Be Our Guest, who have paid $100 a ticket to get in the gate and have only done 2 things with their 3 year old twins that are now hot tired and in the midst of a meltdown are ABOUT TO LEAVE THE PARK. After lunch,the castle area is less than half capacity. But that still shouldn't bother you, as you have fast passes selected, right?? Fast Passes are magical little ways to bypass lines. They are used for rides and in rare cases restaurants like we used at Be Our Guest. At this point in time each guest is allowed 3 fast passes per park at a time. So do NOT get any fast passes for before lunch at MK as you will not need them in frontierland, adventureland or liberty square in the morning- just tour the left side and your waits will be 20 minutes or less until about lunch time. Save your fastpass selections for after lunch, for the castle area (like meet and greets with Anna and Elsa, which last summer their wait times were over 5 hours all 3 days we were at the park), for Space Mountain, and probably to use again at Splash Mountain which gets a considerable wait after lunch. You can totally conquer the park this way. Have an hour until a fastpass but not sure what to do? Meet and Greets with characters like Tiana, Gaston (my favorite), and others are everywhere, and a good use of 20-30 minutes of your time instead of waiting in a ride line. There are also good shows around the castle area like Philharmagic which we watched twice. Good show, nice rest, never more than a 10-15 minute wait to get in, and it's air conditioned! Fast pass selections may be made 60 days before the day of check in at your resort, but double check that to ensure that those times haven't changed. If you want Anna and Elsa you better be ready 60 days out to reserve your fastpass. You want to get in as early as you can to make sure to get the good stuff at the right times. Any fast pass questions message me and I will explain in much greater detail. The fireworks at Magic Kingdom are hard to beat- you want to see them there at least one night! But since you are going to MK 2 days, if the age of your kids keeps you from staying from 8am to say midnight, it's ok. Do 8 am to 5 or so the first day and go to bed! Your second magic kingdom day you can get a later start and redo the things you want to, see the things you didn't, and catch those fireworks. This is only one of like a bajillion reasons to do two days at MK. Please please don't mess that part of your vacation up.

There are several little extras at magic Kingdom to choose from. This year we did the Pirate's League at Magic Kingdom. Kaiser didn't need to go to the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique, and the girls had done it before. Kyra and Kaiser both had makeovers- Kyra as a mermaid and Kaiser as a pirate (Caroline thought she was too old for some reason) and they looked awesome. The Pirate's League is a little cheaper than the bibbity bobbity boutique, but the look is SO MUCH COOLER! The rest of the day employees were screaming when they saw Kaiser (like he was going to raid them) Cinderella made him promise he wouldn't plunder the castle, and Rapunzel told him she loved bandits like Flynn Ryder. We didn't mind the hour and a half or so it took between signing up, waiting a bit, the makeover itself and the little instructions and program afterward as we knew we would have another day at MK. Also, we did this in the morning while everyone else in the park was waiting in line at the castle. So the 6 rides I mentioned above, an awesome pirate makeover, the tiki room show, 2 gift shops, AND a Dole Whip snack were all covered before lunch. Believing me yet when I say come in the gate and go left??

If you are feeling overwhelmed so far- don't! Your first day at Magic Kingdom is the biggest part of the trip and will set the tone for the entire vacation. If you listen and tackle it correctly, all the other parks are a lot easier to navigate in the right order and not nearly as much of a risk to screw something up, have stand in line forever, and have your husband miserable. Your after lunch touring plan (or second day touring plan) of magic kingdom SHOULD include fantasyland, space mountain, and truly that's all the MUSTS for older aged kids. There are lots of kiddie rides like Small World which you should see one of the days if you have smaller kids. We enjoyed the Ariel ride, the peter pan ride is always a favorite and generally has a serious wait so it is a good use of a fastpass one day. In Liberty Square the Hall of Presidents animatronic show is always good for a rest and some history. And when you have done almost everything else, we always enjoy running around on Tom sawyer Island.

Disney Hollywood Studios, or DHS. Lucky for us, going in early June we always hit Star Wars Weekends. The kids and I are COMPLETE Star Wars geeks. Cy, not so much (what is WRONG with HIM??). So if you LOVE Star Wars plan your visit around this time. Lots of the stars are there (we saw Mark Hammill!) and activities, snacks, meet and greets, etc are all themed towards Star Wars. If you can't fit your trip in this time of year but still love Star Wars, don't worry. There are Star Wars attractions year round like Star Tours. Also we signed Kaiser up this year for Jedi Training Academy. It was Awesome!!!! And free! Again, everyone will run in the park and you should hustle LEFT. First thing! Get your kid signed up to be a Jedi, as there are limited spots available and they fill up within the first 30 minutes to an hour. Kaiser got a time, and got to fight Darth Vader on Stage! A professional photographer took pictures and gave me a card with the link to download them straight onto the photo package I already bought. It was truly the most awesome thing that day at DHS.

What else to do there you say? Well, the most popular thing at the park that consistently has the longest lines is Toy Story Mania. It is super fun, everyone likes it. You will need a fast pass for this unless you run to it as soon as the gates open as your first thing. The other two biggies at this park are the Rock'n Roller Coaster (the Aerosmith ride which is AWESOME, FAST, LOUD, and all around Caroline's favorite ride at any Disney Park), and Tower of Terror, which Cy and Kaiser swear after doing they will NEVER do it again, lol. It is a free fall elevator ride with big drops and zero gravity sensations. Yep, I love it can you tell?? Aside form the thrill rides, there are other things to fit in.

The great movie ride takes you through old hollywood and up through some more recent blockbusters too. It is relaxing, air conditioned, and fun for all ages with little to no wait time.There are several good shows, of which Muppets is my favorite. There are other shows like Indiana Jones and the Extreme Stunt Show. You CAN fill a full day here if you like, and if this is your first or ONLY trip to DHS, or if your kids are older (can you say Rock'n Roller coaster over and over and over) you may want to. But if your kids are younger, and you want to go say from open to 2, I would be sure to hit toy story, rock n roller coaster, tower of terror, Star Tours, and maybe one show of your choosing. Be sure and get snacks here with your snack credit, there are lots of awesome choices in this park.

Moving on to Animal Kingdom this is another park where I don't generally spend the full day. This is one where I would say if you have older kids it is a definite half day. Also, Animal Kingdom, since it is a home to all the animals, is a shortened day anyway, usually only open until 5 or 6. I take advantage of the two smaller parks to have some fun, but then to get out of there early and maybe hit one of the two Disney World Outlets, to go see Downtown Disney (this year we watched Maleficent at Downtown Disney one night after a shortened park day), or hit the pool at your resort. Most resorts show movies at the pool every night and that is a great day to wind down and rest some before a big day in the morning.

At Animal Kingdom the MUSTS are Kali River Rapids (you WILL get soaked), Expedition Everest (Kaiser's favorite roller coaster/ride in all the parks), and the Kilimanjaro safari. It is best to plan the safari earlier in the day, before it gets too hot and the animals want to lie down under a tree or hide in the shade. Kali is better when it is hot, so you can cool off. Expedition Everest is great any time. These are the three fast pass recommendations for this park, and as for other things to do there are several.

I already recommended character dining at Tusker House. There is also a Rainforest Cafe that has some pretty neat scenery and is included on your meal plan if character dining is not for you or if you are a little scared of the African themed Tusker House menu (hey- they have mickey waffles, you'll be fine!). I always enjoy the bugs life show inside the tree of life. There are hundreds of awesome carvings of characters in the tree, so as you go in be on the lookout. There are also several great photo opportunities all over this park- ones with the tree of life behind you, ones with the Expedition Everest behind you, no shortage of awesome backdrops.

I really like the exploration trail and the jungle trek. The festival of the lion king is like the Broadway show, and is highly rated! Just spend as much time as you want here doing other things, but bear in mind a couple things- this is the smallest park so it feels a LOT more crowded than any of the others. It's hours are also condensed, so there isn't a lot of that where some people do morning OR afternoon shifts to help with the numbers in the park. Nope, it is everyone there all day. So it is easy to get more frustrated here if lines and crowds (like for food or water) bother you. Again, I do what we want to from open til we eat lunch or a little after (usually 2 or so) then I get out of dodge, as the crowd levels there are not our cup of tea. Animal Kingdom would be a great one to combine with DHS, and go to AK open to 1:30 or 2, then DHS from 3 to 10 or 11, whatever their hours are the day you are there. Something to keep in mind if you are trying to fit in all the parks in the shortest amount of days.

EPCOT Epcot is a park I feel strongly about. I have people tell me all the time "I don't think my kids would like Epcot." They have no basis for this, and have never been but just think that. This last trip I told my mother in law the order of the day so we would be sure to hit all the countries, and asked her which one was her favorite. She said she had never really gotten to do the countries. What?? Omg. Teressa had been to Epcot several times but didn't do things in the right order etc and waited in lines and ended up missing the countries all together. I am going to tell you HOW to do Epcot so you can see it, and also tell you WHY your kids will love it (even the countries) and why your husband will like this park best of all.

Cy and the kids posing in a Norway gift shop. Epcot is huge. It really takes a plan to see MOST of it, and you will not see ALL of it. But the plan is a lot easier and less scary or desperate sounding than the MK plan. The first time I took Cy we went in at open (surprise surprise) and I hauled it straight for the golf ball. Cy said "I don't want to do this now, I want to go to the countries." I looked at him calmly and firmly and said "No." He looked shocked! haha. First of all the countries do not open for a couple hours anyway. Secondly, you do NOT want to be standing outside in line in full sun for the golf ball at 2:00 or 3:00. Trust me. You do these things in the morning- the golf ball (Spaceship Earth), Mission Space and Test Track which you WILL need fast passes for (MS and TT, not the golf ball). Club Cool is a place neraby sponsored by Coke that has tons of weird drinks from around the world. It is free to try, and you may want to hit it a couple times throughout the day to get a drink and break from the heat. There is a really good Ellen ride, Ellen's energy adventure, and basically most of the other rides in this area you cannot go wrong on.

Bear in mind that the countries will open up about 2 hours into your day, and if you are me you have both lunch and dinner reservations in that area. Let's say we have lunch reservations at the land pavilion, at Garden Grill. This is the character meet and greet I told you about earlier. It is in the same building with 2 great rides, the most popular one at Epcot (fastpass 100% necessary) Soarin'. Also Livin' with the Land, which is a farm centric informational ride that we all really enjoy. So plan to be in that area around lunch, and to do those things. After you ride soarin and another fastpass opens up (you can have 3 at a time) you are going to want to fastpass soarin again. Soarin' is a simulated hang glider ride that is slow and awesome. You fly over different areas of the country, and as you fly over orange groves in California you smell them. Awesome! Then over the rockies and again, the smell of pine forest hits you. It is such a beautiful experience and Cy's hands down favorite ride in all of Disney. Depending on what time of day you are able to get, and depending on when and where your dinner reservation is, will dictate the countries plan and what you are able to do. Epcot is HUGE. You will not be able to get from one side to the other in 10 minutes like at DHS or AK. But let's say the next soarin fastpass and supper are both 4 or 5 hours away, then you can enter the countries by walking right on past Captain Eo. If you're eating the $64 steak at Le Cellier in Canada for supper (paid for by your meal plan!), then I suggest starting your countries tour in Mexico. If you have reservations at Living Seas inside Epcot and not the Countries, then go ahead and start in Canada.There is one in and out to the countries, and they make a big loop, so either way will be fine.

There are MANY MANY character meet and greet opportunities at Epcot. And all those "I don't think my kids would enjoy the countries or Epcot" people are not there, so lines are generally not that bad. This is who you can see and get autographs for in the countries- UK has Mary Poppins, Tigger and Pooh (together), and Alice. Aladdin and Jasmine meet together in Morocco, Aurora and Belle meet (separately) in France, and Belle has the longest line in Epcot, so check her meeting times and get in line early. Snow White is in Germany. Mulan is in China and Donald Duck is in Mexico. These are some pretty good reasons to tour the countries, but also remember that there are awesome little activities in each. There is a mask to color at each stop, called KidCot. Each country has a table with markers and a person from that country that will write the child's name in their language or do some other thing similar. It is a neat activity that will keep the kids going from country to country to see what they can learn or add to their mask. The shopping in each country is great- true import items of high quality. In Japan I did "pick a pearl" with the kids. They were able to pick an oyster, have a super nice and very excited Japanese girl open their oyster, find and measure their pearl, and present it to them. Great thing to do for about $15. There are other meet and greets throughout Epcot, some that are exclusive to Disney Visa Card holders like Teressa. So we were able to get some awesome opportunities there with several characters and minimal lines.

There are also other rides/movies/activities in the countries, my favorites were always the Mexico boat ride, the Norway boat ride (which has closed because they want to put something in there that deals with Frozen, grumble grumble) and the Canada Imax film. Several other countries (USA, China, France) have films as well, and it is just up to you how many of those you want to watch. If you just want to see one, I recommend Canada. The scenery is to die for! The food in the showcase is awesome. Each country has different offerings like sake in Japan, Guinness in UK, Chambord in France (wait, I'm talking alcohol). Yes there are GREAT croissants in France and other culinary delights throughout each place. There is the most charming little pub in the UK, but I digress. I made Cy and myself drinking across the world books to get stamped while the kids were coloring their masks, but we didn't do it. Kids, time, the daunting thought of drinking one drink per country, etc. But if anyone wants one, I can send them one!

Epcot closes earlier than MK, and you will be glad it does after all that walking. Their fireworks and laser show over the lake is awesome, and you do not want to miss it. This is definitely the day that parents are carrying kids out of the park. It is long, tiring, and totally worth it. My kids will tell you they love MK the best, but Epcot is second for them and first for the adults. Now that we've covered all the parks, I would be remiss not to mention that there are several restaurants and gift shops in Downtown Disney that will take your snack credits. We had something like 7 left over the last night, and used them all at Ghiradelli! Cy and I got mochas (needed the espresso for the drive home) and then we bought 5 huge chocolate chip cookies to finish our credit out. We ate those on the way home and they were wonderful. There is the lego store (Kaiser LOVED it) and you are able to use any left over money on those Disney Cards there.

There are many other awesome things to see, do, eat, at Downtown Disney. Like I said earlier, we watched Maleficent there and Caroline set her wallet down and left it. We were home about 2 weeks when it came in the mail with no cash. A few days later she received a check from Disney for the exact amount in cash she was missing.

Disney is always a wonderful place to go, but one that really stresses people out to even think about. I hope this guide helps in some ways big and small. Then google these things: Couponing to Disney (a great resource for ways to save money before and during your trip), Kenny the Pirate (the MASTER at touring plans and meet and greets) and DISboards.com. This is the website where I got many of my digitals to print out. Always remember your kids are just little once, and if you plan the right way, when your 16 year old looks at you with complete and total awe and bliss in her eyes and asks "Mom, can I get a balloon??" You will be able to say "We all will." Hope this "little" review helps, and again please don't hesitate to ask me about anything you have questions about.