*edit*- PPF, you beat me to it! I took so long to write this!
Nala wrote:I'm leaving in four and a half months and I'm getting excited. What rides would you suggest are a "not miss" and do I need a FastPass in September. Is the food expensive and what about drinks (soft drinks, water or coffee)?
First off, you should call Disney and ask about the Free Dining plan. They may or may not be doing it when you come, but you might as well ask- you can call 407-WDW-DINE.
The food is more expensive then the dollar menu at McDonald's, but if you get normal counter service meals, it's not too expensive, especially for theme park food. I guess an average, non-kids' meal price would be $10 including a drink- sometimes you'll pay less and sometimes you'll pay more. Sit-down restaurants (where you have a server) are more expensive than non-sit-down restaurants. Certain (like Victoria & Albert's) are rediculously expensive, but the majority of them should have items in the $7-$15 range, plus drink, dessert, appetizer, tip, etc.
There are plenty of carts all around the parks that have ice cream, drinks, and snacks ranging from chips to pretzels to popcorn to churros to spiced nuts to pastries...
For sit-down restaurants, make reservations. Look on
www.disneyworld.com and look at the various restaurants. When and if you call 407-WDW-DINE, the cast member can assist you with choosing restaurants, and
you should make priority seating reservations. Those are extremely important. I believe you can make reservatons 180 days in advance at maximum. You don't need reservations for counter-service restaurants, but for sit-down restaurants, you should have them. They're not normal reservations- if you have a 4pm reservation, you could be seated prior to 4 or after 4- it just pretty much means that you're guaranteed a table with little wait.
www.mousesavers.com,
www.mickeynews.com, and
www.laughingplace.com may have some resources that will help you learn about the parks and they have special tips and things, as well as notices on rides that will be refurbished (i.e., closed) during your trip.
As far as FastPass advice, you really don't need to use FastPasses for Honey, I Shunk the Audience at Epcot, Voyage of the Little Mermaid at Hollywood Studios, and Mickey's Philharmagic at Magic Kingdom.
Dumbo the Flying Elephant has less of a wait first thing in the morning and maybe at the end of the night- it pretty much always has at least a 30 minute wait. The other similar rides (Aladdin's Flying Carpets, Triceratop Spin, & Astro Oribter) have similar lines.
I recommend the parades, but if you don't care about the parades, those are prime times to go on popular attractions.
If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, and if you're a AAA Auto Club member, you may want to call them or go to your local AAA office and ask about discounts, both buying your tickets and with anything else- even if you have purchased your tickets, if you're a AAA member, you may want to call and ask if you get any hotel or other discounts at WDW.
As far as rides not to miss, I'd say go on everything you can, but if someone had limited time, here's what I'd suggest
to miss:
Magic Kingdom: Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland Shootin' Arcade, Storytime with Belle, Cinderella's Golden Carousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Pooh's Playful Spot (unless you have really little kids), Mad Tea Party, Toontown, Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, Astro Orbiter, Stitch's Great Escape, Liberty Square Riverboat, The Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
Epcot: Innoventions, Circle of Life, Germany Pavilion, Italy Pavilion, Japan Pavilion, Morocco Pavilion (but you can meet Aladdin & friends here), United Kingdom Pavilion (but you can meet a few characters here).
Hollywood Studios: Lights, Motor, Action Stunt Show; Honey I Shunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, Sounds Dangerous, The American Film Institute Showcase, ATAS Hall of Fame Plaza.
Animal Kingdom: Rafiki's Planet Watch (it's cool, just time-consuming), The Boneyard, Fossil Fun Games, TriceraTop Spin, Cretaceous Trail.
