Eddie,
There are lots of non roller coaster type rides at DW that are lots of fun. The Buzz Light Year ride I mentioned is a blast. Two people get in the car which moves along a track. There are two "guns" in the car that you shoot at the bad guys. As well there is a joy stick that move the car 360 degrees to help you shoot the bad buys. Took us most of the first ride to notice the joystick.
You are shown your points during the ride and at the end you find out if you made Space Cadet or Admiral.
But there are also some rides that barley move that can scare your socks off....
The Aquarium at Epcot is also very well done. We managed to visit it at 8:00ish one night. VERY few people in the place so the kids could run around and look at the fish, dolphins, turtles and sharks. Usually the place is packed and not so easy to see things. If you daughter likes animals she will like he aquariuim. It has a ride modeled after the Nemo movie(s).
Disney can be expensive but it depends on what you eat. On the trip down and back we where spending $20 for breakfast and lunch for the four of us at fast food places. At the parks we spent about the same for the same kind of food. Of course you can spend more easily. DW is setup to try to get as much money out of you as possible mainly with the clothes, toys, junk, that is all over the place. At the Magic Kingdom move as quick as possible through Main Street where most of the shops are located.
I'll get back to moving quickly in a minute...
At the resort they wanted $5 for a Bud!
NOT!
This last trip we stayed at Caribean Beach Resort. Its a half mile walk from end to end. They have a full size bus that just drives around this one resort to move people around. Because of moblity issues with the family we had to take the bus around the resort to eat. This cost alot of time especially for breakfast. Our next trip we are taking breakfast foods, there are small fridges and microwaves in the rooms, so we can fix a quick breakfast and hit the parks. You really want to do this as early as possible to avoid the crowds and the heat if it is hot out. We are also going to bring lunch food since the kids get burnt out after 4-6 hours in the park. Might as well eat back in the room than in the park. Also I'm bringing beer.
One trick to avoid the crowds is to get to the back of the Magic Kingdom ASAP. There is a train at MK at the front gate. After getting into the park, wait for the train and it will take you around the park. You can get off in Frontier Land which has some roller coaster type rides or go to the new mini park called Toon Town. Never seen this before but its made for the smaller kids. They had a blast in there. Getting on the train also avoids Main Street.
At Epcot you can take a boat across the lake which saves alot of walking. The kids had as much fun riding the train, the boats, and the busses as they did the rides.
Unfortunately at Animal Kingdom there is no way to get around but to walk. But my general crowd rule still works. If there is a fork in the path and the crowd goes left then you go right.
George also mentioned going to the Contemporary Hotel and the California Grill to watch the fireworks. Unless you eat in the restaurant you can't do this anymore. They have changed the elevators such that you can only get to the Grill from the second or third floor. There is a reservation desk right by the elevator and they have someone controlling it as well. I think they did this for two reasons, one to stop the congestion in the resteraunt as well as for security.
Security is much tighter and obvious now adays. All of my family used to live in Orlando. I grew up running around Disney. Can you tell?
In all of the time I have been there prior to the last trip this fall, I saw ONE Police officer/Security Guard. Just one. And he had popped out of a door on a side alley. I'm sure most people did not notice him. Now, there are guards and POlice at the front gate. If you have a bag, its checked prior to entering a park. I see guards in the park as well.
The resorts can be expensive to stay in. The one we just stayed was something like 13-16 points per night Sunday to Thursday night. The owners sell the points for $10-12 per night. Friday/Saturday night are more expensive. The prime holiday seasons like XMAS and New Years are expensive. There are lower priced resorts in Disney. Also there is an RV camping resort. I don't know if they have tent camping. If you have a trailor or RV that might be the way to go.
Because of the expense we had a slight mindset to try to do as much as possible, i.e., stay in the parks as long as we could and ride as much as we can. That just does nto work with small kids. Like I said, our kids had a ball riding the Disney buses, the boats, and the train. Now my oldest love the Yeti Ride, Space Mountain, the log ride and the rapids ride but they had lots of fun just moving around Disney. And they had a blast in the swiming pool at the resort. The resort had lots of pools near the building but there was one pool with "rocks", a bridge and slide(s). With heated water. But it was too far from the room so I never showed this one to the kids.
Just the regular pool was a blast for them.
My point is that dont get caught up in spending all of your time in the park unless the young one wants too. There are plenty of other things she might want to do like the pool. The resorts also have kid stuff to do and baby sitting services so mom and dad can get a break. There might be an age limit though. We got "forced" into a trip to the beach last summer that cost almost $1,000 for 3 nights. I don't like the beach. Nothing for me to do. Not much for the kids to do either. Hated it.
The thing that hit me was that if we had just gone to the Disney Resort and NEVER went to the parks, the kids would have had more fun at Disney World playing in the pools, the playgrounds, and riding the buses, etc, then they did at the beach. Heck they only where on the beach a few hours a day anyway.
This trip we did was very important though the kids did not realize it. My parents went and my dad hates DW and crowds. Surprised he made the whole trip without leaving.
But the kids got some great memories with each other, Mom and Dad, and most importantly Grandma and Papa.
And that was the point of the whole trip.
Later,
Dan
