Questions about Disney World

I've received many questions about Disney so I decided to make a post about what I did to get ready for our trip. First, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND buying a guide book. I used The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007 and I loved it! It was a great book and they publish a new book every year so it is very current. (Wouldn't it be great to have that job? What a shame that you probably have to go to Disney at least once a year and it would be considered a business write off at tax time!!!) Next, I decided based on the book and Mary Austin's interest which character dining meals to make reservations for. You can make reservations 180 days out; if you are staying on property you can make reservations 180 days + 10 so you get somewhat of a head start on everyone else. HOWEVER, I did realize that they do not release all the tables until the 180 day mark which is pretty fair. I chose Cinderella's Royal Table since it is in the castle and she, along with Mulan, Belle and Ariel, is her fav princess. It was quite a fun thing and I do recommend it BUT there is also an alternative. At 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian the dinner is "Cinderella and friends" and has Prince Charming, the step sisters and the mice. If I was going to do 2 princess meals again I would do dinner at 1900 Park Fare and then the breakfast at Askerus which is in Norway. Since we did Cinderella's Royal Table and Askerus we got the same princesses for the most part except for the most important one - Mulan. We also did breakfast at 1900 Park Fare that was "Mary Poppins and friends". Mary Poppins was Mary Austin's first Disney princess. The child would and still will watch the entire movie mesmerized. This breakfast had Mary Poppins, Alice and the Mad Hatter (who were hysterical!!), Pooh and Tigger. The best food was at 1900 Park Fare - a buffet - along with Cinderella's Royal Table (fixed menu). Askerus was not bad - just average. We do not really eat at buffet restaurants so I do not have alot of comparison.
Once I had decided all that I then focused on where to stay. Click here to see why we chose the Contemporary. Disney has lots of resorts at all different price points and the book goes over each one along with pros and cons. Another nice thing about the book is its critiques about each ride. It has ratings on each ride for preschoolers, school age, teens and adults. This was helpful to say the least. We avoided most of the scary rides (with the exception of Pirates of the Caribbean) and were able to focus riding the rides that suited Mary Austin best.
I also recommend the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique. It was PRECIOUS and really good photo ops! There are several packages you can do and reservations are STRONGLY SUGGESTED. You can make them at the same time you make your dining reservations. We did the crown package that was middle of the line about $65 or so. There was a package that came with a dress, shoes, tiara and the likes but it was nearly $200 and we have just about every princess dress made so I opted out of it. In the end, Mae wore her outfit with Cinderella's castle embroidered on it and it was very cute.
I am not sure how long "Year of a Million Dreams" will go on as it started in 2007 but they have continued it for now. During this period people are randomly selected to do things like Fairy Godmother-in-Training, fast passes for a day, meals or the creme de la creme - spending the night in Cinderella's Castle.
We plan to go back in 2010 and in January again. The one thing we will do differently is to arrive on a Sunday and leave on Friday. The crowds were noticeably heavier on the weekend. Even so, we never waited longer than 20 minutes for a ride (using fast pass for the more popular rides). The one exception was Peter Pan's Flight. Mae begged to ride it again and there were no more fast passes being handed out so we had to wait about 30-45 minutes.