Introducing myself

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lolastardust's picture
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Introducing myself

Hello, my name is Lauren, I'm from Scotland, and I'm newly married to my lovely partner Bob. We have booked a delayed honeymoon in Disneyworld for the middle of September. We'll be staying in the Art of Animation resort for 10 nights. I went to Disney many times as a child/teenager, and we always stayed off of Disney property as my parents hired a car. As neither of us drive, Bob and I elected to stay on Disney property and ride the Magical Express around the parks. This is Bob's first time visiting Disney at all, and my first as an adult (and staying on site) so I'd love any tips you could give me, especially regarding how much spending money to take, and planning what to do while we're there. We don't have a dining plan and are instead planning to eat as cheaply as possible, with maybe just a couple of nice table service meals during our stay. Also, I don't eat any meat except for fish so eating will be a bit more tricky for us.

Anyway, hello to all - I'm glad I found this forum as it seems really helpful and friendly. Looking forward to getting involved in discussion over the next few months. Smile

Lauren

xxx

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Welcome to the best WDW forum around, and Congratulations on your honeymoon trip. I've heard great things about the Art of Animation. I'm looking forward to staying there myself sometime.

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lolastardust's picture
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Thank you muchly. We went for a Value hotel to allow us more spending money, but Art of Animation looks like such fun, I think we chose well. Smile

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welcome Lauren

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Hello Lauren and welcome to WDWForGrownups! Happy to have you and we will try to help you in anyway we can. If you are interested in any table service meals, I would deffinetly recommend making ADR's (Advance Dining Reservations). Now that doesn't mean you couldn't walk up and get in somewhere, but it's much better to have ADR's then not.

Now , how much money to take, we'll that's really totally up to you! Everyone spends differently, espescially in WDW! Everyone has different opinions on how expensive things are there too. For meals, the cost of the meals in Disney World are not much off from what we usually pay at home on a night out. To some people its totally outrageous and they won't pay the prices. To each their own. Check out the menus on Allears.net, they are the most up to date (usually). You can figure out prices for meals and get an average of what you might need money per day wise.

Drinks are expensive, that's all ill say about that. Souvenirs, hey all I can say is Scrappy, my DW, one trip she set the record, in the MK 15 minutes, $600 GONE , and on one thing, a painting.

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welcome Lauren. You've come to the right place for information. Everyone here is very helpful and we all have one thing in common....WE ALL LOVE DISNEY! clapping

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Welcome Lauren! We have a lot in common: I'm leaving for my Disney honeymoon in under 2 weeks and it's my first adult trip and my fiance (soon to be husband's!) first trip at all! I'm sure you'll have an awesome time...and Disney is great with special diets, especially vegetarian. I'm sure it won't be that much of a problem for you!!

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welcome Lauren. All ears is great with menu prices and this forum is great with sharing our experiences. Most places have amazing fish dishes.

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Quote:
Welcome Lauren! We have a lot in common: I'm leaving for my Disney honeymoon in under 2 weeks and it's my first adult trip and my fiance (soon to be husband's!) first trip at all! I'm sure you'll have an awesome time...and Disney is great with special diets, especially vegetarian. I'm sure it won't be that much of a problem for you!!
Aha! Excellent! You can let me know how it goes when you get back. I love that your user pic is Rapunzel and Flynn - we're obsessed with that movie and we had 'I See the Light' as our wedding music for me coming down the aisle! Laughing out loud x

lolastardust's picture
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Magic Days wrote:
welcome Lauren. All ears is great with menu prices and this forum is great with sharing our experiences. Most places have amazing fish dishes.

Yeah, had a look at All Ears and it looks like there is LOADS I will eat. I originally thought it was going to be tricky for me, as I remembered having huge difficulty on family trips to Orlando and eating a LOT of grilled cheese sandwiches, but I think that was because my family are big meat eaters and maybe didn't prioritise my dietary habits as much as we will on honeymoon. It's a big help that I eat fish, I think - there seem to be lots of good fish places Smile Thanks. x

mrhub wrote:
Hello Lauren and welcome to WDWForGrownups! Happy to have you and we will try to help you in anyway we can. If you are interested in any table service meals, I would deffinetly recommend making ADR's (Advance Dining Reservations). Now that doesn't mean you couldn't walk up and get in somewhere, but it's much better to have ADR's then not.

Now , how much money to take, we'll that's really totally up to you! Everyone spends differently, espescially in WDW! Everyone has different opinions on how expensive things are there too. For meals, the cost of the meals in Disney World are not much off from what we usually pay at home on a night out. To some people its totally outrageous and they won't pay the prices. To each their own. Check out the menus on Allears.net, they are the most up to date (usually). You can figure out prices for meals and get an average of what you might need money per day wise.

Drinks are expensive, that's all ill say about that. Souvenirs, hey all I can say is Scrappy, my DW, one trip she set the record, in the MK 15 minutes, $600 GONE , and on one thing, a painting.

Thank you! I think our plan is to make ADRs for a few table service meals - we won't be eating table service every night due to budget constraints, but that is fine. Have looked at some of the menus on All Ears and there definitely seems to be a good selection of not too expensive food that we will love. Smile

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Hello Lauren and welcome to our friendly group of Disney lovers. We are a very friendly and courteous group and happy you decided to join us and look forward to you being with us for a long time.

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Hi and welcome Lauren! Do you know what section at AoA you're hoping to stay in?

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Welcome Lauren!!

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Allie wrote:
Hi and welcome Lauren! Do you know what section at AoA you're hoping to stay in?

Hi Allie. We've just booked a Little Mermaid Standard Room. Since booking, have read some reviews saying it's a long walk from there to the cafe and buses, but this shouldn't be a huge concern for us as we do a lot of walking. Hopefully it will be okay. For budget reasons, we felt it was best to opt for a Value hotel and the rooms/food look better at AoA than the other Value resorts.

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Love Little Mermaid! muchlove Hope you come back with lots of pictures!

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Allie wrote:
Love Little Mermaid! muchlove Hope you come back with lots of pictures!

Yay! We're so excited! I've gone into hyper planning mode and it's not for another 5 months! Will definitely be taking loads of photos, as we take too many photos anyway, so in Disney, I think we'll just go nuts. Laughing out loud x

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lolastardust wrote:
Also, I don't eat any meat except for fish so eating will be a bit more tricky for us.

No worries Lauren, Disney has lot of options for vegetarians! I've heard many say that it's actually easier for them to eat out at Disney than it is at home. Check out AllEar.net Menus section http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm they have every menu from every restaurant across the property. If you look down the left hand column at that link about half way down you'll even find a list of links that talk all about eating vegetarian at Disney.

stars And Welcome! stars

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Kristen K. wrote:
lolastardust wrote:
Also, I don't eat any meat except for fish so eating will be a bit more tricky for us.

No worries Lauren, Disney has lot of options for vegetarians! I've heard many say that it's actually easier for them to eat out at Disney than it is at home. Check out AllEar.net Menus section http://allears.net/menu/menus.htm they have every menu from every restaurant across the property. If you look down the left hand column at that link about half way down you'll even find a list of links that talk all about eating vegetarian at Disney.

stars And Welcome! stars

Yep, have had a look at menus etc on AllEars, and I think you're right about there being even more options than there are at home in some places. I'm actually really excited about the food because there's such a wide selection of interesting things I can eat. Thank you! So excited to be here and have started planning my trip. I made my first ADR today at Tony's Town Square for a night with late extra magic hours. My thought was we'd have a nice meal and then go watch Wishes, then enjoy the Magic Kingdom at night. Laughing out loud x

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Hello Lauren and Welcome!!...so glad you have decided to join our lovely group!...I'm sure you and Bob will thoroughly enjoy staying on property....we have always stayed on property since we've been married (our delayed honeymoon/1st year anniversary trip was to Disney as well) and always use Disney transportation for everything. Looking forward to your posts!

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Welcome, Lauren!!

It sounds like you're already full-swing into planning a magical trip across the pond for you and the hubs!

Haven't gotten a chance to eat there yet, but it looks like the AoA restaurant has a fabulous, fresh, healthy menu! You may be able to find a lot of things you're able to eat/you'll want to eat there!

I would recommend doing a sit-down breakfast or lunch, if you're trying to cut costs; those meals are cheaper than dinner. We love eating breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park is officially open, so you can get a good, uncrowded photo in front of the Castle!

Best of luck; we're looking forward to getting to know more about you! Smile

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Nancy D wrote:
Welcome, Lauren!!

It sounds like you're already full-swing into planning a magical trip across the pond for you and the hubs!

Haven't gotten a chance to eat there yet, but it looks like the AoA restaurant has a fabulous, fresh, healthy menu! You may be able to find a lot of things you're able to eat/you'll want to eat there!

I would recommend doing a sit-down breakfast or lunch, if you're trying to cut costs; those meals are cheaper than dinner. We love eating breakfast at Crystal Palace before the park is officially open, so you can get a good, uncrowded photo in front of the Castle!

Best of luck; we're looking forward to getting to know more about you! Smile

Hi Nancy,

Based on your advice, I researched breakfast options and ended up booking Cape May Cafe for one of the mornings because it looked like a great buffet for the money and I thought it would be great to do one character meal - it's our honeymoon after all so I figured we should treat ourselves to breakfast with Minnie! Anyway, thanks a lot for the advice all. It's all coming together quite nicely at the moment. silly

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Hi Lauren and welcome! Apologies for being late to the welcoming party, but so nice to have you join us!

yay clapping yay

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JeffC wrote:
Hi Lauren and welcome! Apologies for being late to the welcoming party, but so nice to have you join us!

yay clapping yay

Thank you! I'm loving it here - so glad I found this forum. It's so great to talk to other people who love Disney as much as I do! silly mickey

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Hello I am Dani from California and have been to Disney world once in 2009 loved it so much I wanted to go for my 21st, so in 2010 I started saving the money to afford my trip. We are staying in a Finding Nemo family Suite at Art of Animation, I already have a agenda and I'm already packed. I was wondering though where some good Flat Stanly picture opportunities are. Loving this forum already and happy to find all the tips and suggestions! yay

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Disneylover21 wrote:
I was wondering though where some good Flat Stanly picture opportunities are.

Hi there Disneylover21! Welcome to our forum!

My answer is everywhere! Pictures with characters, riding on a monorail, eating tasty food, in front of the castle/tree of life/spaceship earth/hat, on a boat, on a ride, in each country.

A flatty can really get around at WDW awesome

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Welcome Disneylover21! We are also staying in AoA, in a Little Mermaid Standard Room. When are you going? silly

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I'm new to this but I wanted to get some feed back on my up coming trip in oct with my husband and two children! I have a husband who has had 5 back surgeries and problems with big crowds and a 6 year son that is autistic. I also have a daughter that will be 5 when we take our trip! So I'm doing all kinds of research to make the best of our trip with few meltdowns and no chance of the "never agains"! Does anyone have tips to make the trip smooth and enjoyable ( I have been told of the guest service pass) thank you!

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Hello Dani and welcome to our little piece of the "Magic" on the web! Had to look up Flat Stanley, never heard of him, or don't remember. Ha! Yeah in answer to your question, just like Kristen said, anywhere is a good place to take a picture.

And welcome to you too Jhaskell1213. I'm sure you have done a ton of research already, but ill throw something else out there just in case you missed it, http://allears.net/pl/dis_aut.htm , and there are a ton more sites just like it. The biggest thing everyone here would tell you I think would be "Don't try to do everything" in one trip. You can't do it, it's impossible, it will never happen! Take your time and don't rush it. Enjoy it. We see to many people having meltdowns because they try to push to into one vacation at WDW. You will not see everything in one trip.


Oh and before we take over Laurens intro thread to much, why don't you both hop over and start your own introduction threads and tell us a little more about yourselves, we love to get to know the new members!

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Lolastardust we are going June 7th-June 15th. It will be my mom, dad, and my best friend. My best friend has never been before so its going to be insanely fun!!!!

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mrhub wrote:
"Don't try to do everything" in one trip. You can't do it, it's impossible, it will never happen! Take your time and don't rush it.

Hi Jhaskell1213! Welcome! yay

I'll echo Mr. Hub, just relax and slow down. You're not going to be able to do everything and see everything, so don't even try. Map out just a handful of "must see" attractions ahead of time and focus on those, everything else is cake. mickey Be sure to schedule in some rest stops as well.