The missus and I are taking our 7 year old to Disney World April 2-7. Any other VC'ers in the area looking for a night without Cinderella? PM Me.

I'm just going to miss you. I'll be there the 10th through the 12th.

That's a hike for 2 nights. You in FL on business otherwise?

Yep. Believe me, I don't go to the home of Mickey otherwise.

tell you what, i absolutely hated that place. maybe i will think differently when i have kids.

Well, I have kids... and I love it!!!.
We're going back this summer. Can't wait!!!

We used to live about 15 mins from the rat's CA residence 3 yrs ago, and that was perfect. Our daughter was ages 2-5 during our time there, and we'd pop in for a few hours 1 or 2 Sunday's/month. Jump onto a few rides, walk off the prior nights' dinner, and home by 2pm. Now its a huge dedication of time and I'm among the thousands of captives in the park for a few days. Kids DO love it though, and their expressions make it pretty worthwhile. Until I see the bill later next month.

Are you staying on property? Only way to go IMO...especially with the kids in tow. Disney is one class operation.

I don't know if I mentioned it in detail, but we stayed onsite at WDW earlier this month. "We" means Carol and her widower twin brother, each of whom has three children, and me.

We stayed at the Polynesian, which the kids loved due to their pool and water slide (that runs through a mock volcano). I'd stay here again based on convenience (the tram and lake boat to the Magic Kingdom both stop here), the pool, and the view of the fireworks at night. I would NOT stay here based on the actual facility, as it's horrendously overpriced and lacking in comforts or expected 21st-century conveniences.

*IF* I go again -- and after seven days helping to herd six young kids around the different theme parks one definitely can't assume that I'll do this again -- I'd probably skip the meal plan that we had and, for that matter, most of the meals that we had.

We had the all-inclusive plan, which gave us breakfast, lunch, dinner, and at least two snacks/day/person. What a hassle! Not only did we feel obligated to actually USE all these meals, we found that stopping to get a "snack" -- like an ice cream or a soda -- was a momumental pain it the butt. Try going to the stand to get NINE ice creams, and having to swipe your card & sign a receipt FOR EACH ONE. It would take a total of about 20 minutes to do this otherwise-simple transaction.

Not to mention the dull food that we had at the Polynesian Luau and in Epcot (the buffet at Norway, about the only venue we could get an early reservation that night due to our party's size).

We wound up not bringing -- or buying -- a single bottle of wine to any of our dinners that we had all week . We reserved THAT bit of refuge for the quiet comfort of our adjoined rooms, after the kids were conked out.

Sorry we missed you, D&R. I hope you have all the fun -- and more relaxation -- than we had during our trip.

We're staying at the Yacht and Beach Club, apparently closer to Epcot than Cinderella. Relatively new property was a must. Haven't inquired yet if anyplace permits BYO other than Shula's, as long as they don't stock the bottle you bring, (but so far they've failed twice to email the wine list as requested.)
We've made dinner reservations thus far at Shula's, Artist Point and Palio, and are open to your comments if you've got any first hand experience.

We've purchased dinner and breakfast vouchers for the attendees, and only have 2 group meals during our 5 days, so it'll be much closer to a real vacation than hosting a group of award winners (the reason for our trip). And since our 15 year old is staying at home with friends b/c he doesn't want to miss his lacrosse games, we don't have to fight about keeping both him and our 7YO entertained on different sides of the park.

I'm really looking forward to this. I had to put that in writing so I can match it against my post-trip thoughts!! As with all, time will tell.