Just got back!

[Diznut]

We spent last week in "the world" and it was great! Managable lines (if you know how to navigate wisely) and the weather was amazing. I used a lot of tips from this board (ice water refill tip, dining suggestions, and snack ideas.

There is a lot of refurb going on in fantasy land and even on main street. It didn't bother us though and the park was still beautiful and fun.

I know we say it all the time on this board, but I can't stress it enough: get to the park before it opens and do the most popular attractions first. Made such a huge difference. We were there almost every day at opening and had little to no waits at all the popular attractions. And then after lunch we did the lesser popular, more mellow rides. We didn't burn out. We didn't go home in the middle of the day either. We opted to return to our hotel after dinner and were in bed early in preparation for an early rise. Our kids are almost 3 and almost 6. It worked for us.

And having gone to disney many many times before (3rd time with kids) we feel like we got this down pat now. We never got sore feet because we brought 3 pairs of comfortable shoes (crocs, teva's, and flip flops) and rotated them through out the trip. We never wore the same shoe back to back. This totally worked for us and it was our first blister free trip.

If you are strategic in your park plan, you're going to be okay. Get there early, ride the most popular rides first, and use fast pass. When your fast pass time rolls around, get another one. Even if you haven't used your first one yet. And no matter what you do - when you go to DHS (early) you MUST ride Toy story mania first. Even on a slow day, that ride had up to a 90 minute wait within an hour or 2 of opening. Insane! But I see why - the ride is awesome. If standby time is only 15-20 minutes and the fast pass return time is reasonable, wait in standby AND get a fast pass. You'll want to ride it again and when you get off after riding it the first time, you'll be glad you got a fast pass b/c the stand by time will have trippled. Just crazy.

Play House disney show was very popular too. You need to get in line early for that one which surprised me.

We've already decided to return next October (2011). Let the planning begin! Hopefully for free dining and this time no trips to the ER with a dehydrated 3 year old who got a GI bug. Ugh. I think its the swimming pools - we're skipping them next time!!

[Diznut]

Oh - and one more thing. Do your research before planning which day for which park. We avoided parks that had EMH that day and took note of the statistic of which days are busiest at which parks.
We did:
Sunday - epcot
Monday - epcot
Tuesday - MK
Wednesday - MK
Thursday - DHS
Friday - AK (missed this day b/c of sick DD)

It worked! And we didn't experience some the of the big crowds other who went last week experienced.

[Sassagoula Todd 2]

I agree, last week was just about perfect. The weather, the crowds...great trip.

We had a tough time getting our 8 & 13 vyear old boys up and ready before 10, so we did the best we could with fastpasses and patience.

I'd say most attractions were 20 min. standby or less. We did manage to do TSM with a 40 min. wait. It was worth it since it was the only new attraction since we were there last, fun.

I miss the first couple of years post 9/11. I remember most everything being walk on, as I get older I have a harder time wanting to wait for anything lol!

[Julie_Mouse]

We were there last week also!

Agree with everything said so far - it was pretty close to perfect in terms of weather and crowds. Did any of you start to run into school tour groups towards the end of the week?

[TinkerbellsMom]

We were there last week too!! We couldn't have asked for better weather!!

We definately saw an increase in school groups towards the later half of the week - especially Friday night at EPCOT. At times they took over the rides.

We thoroughly enjoyed AK's EMH evening hours as there was no one there! DH and DD rode EE 7 times in a row...they were in Disney heaven!

Wait a minute - should we be sharing this great week with others - they may decide to join us next year and make the parks busier.