Good mail.

Hi Ali, We go about everyother year to WDW at Christmas. Someone mentioned this and it's very, very true~~don't plan on seeing it all. You never will--so why stress about it. Just plan to go back another time!!!! You will love all of the Christmas decorations. MGM will most likely not be Simon's favorite park yet there are a couple of attactions there that he would probably enjoy. We love EPCOT and so do our kids.....you are going to have a great time. If you are staying near the EPCOT resorts....be sure to go and eat at Beaches N Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club!

I know you get a lot of responses, thank you if you made it this far. Did you order the WDW video? it is free and you can request it from the Disney website. That may help simon before you go. It really helped us with our 3 yr old dd. :) she loved everything and still watches it on occasion. :)
good luck and happy holidays.

My advice is much like the others. Staying on Disney gets you in early-that is great! Take a break at noontime back at your room. The parades are great-the kids love them. Take snacks and a water bottle but travel light. A warning is that a lot of the rides start in the dark. At Epcot one of the voice-overs said get out of my forest when it started in the dark. Kev didn't really like that one. Disney knows how to move crowds efficiently. You will feel special. Epcot has a nightly laser light shows that is great. You will take a lot of pictures! Hope you have a great time.

Once you walk in the "door" to any of the parks - take the path to the left. Everyone else naturally goes to the right.

OH MY GOODNESS! I am so excited for all 3 of you. We just returned home from a fabulous Disney vacation. I'm not sure who had more fun our children or us! There is so much to do in the parks and on the property: rides, parades, shows, mini golf, swimming (you can "pool hop" if you stay on the property, bon fires at the Disney campground, pony rides, boating, rental bikes, Downtown Disney, and on and on and on. Character meals may also be a hit. You may be able to get a priority seating reservation for Chef Mickey's breakfast at the Contemporary or for Poohs Lunch at the Crystal Palace (the food is delicious there). These experieces offer a "more intimate" setting to meet the characters, take pictures, collect autographs, talk to them, etc. It may be worth a try! I am sure you will find just the perfect thing for all three of you. There is NOTHING like a little Disney Magic. Enjoy!

Oh someone posted about Figment! Figment was my favorite when i was 3, and I still love that ride in Epcot. SO many colors, he is just a great purple dinosaur!

The one thing I figured out (late) was that you could take your own food into the theme parks. Healthy snacks and water were always in the backpack so we weren't 'stung' with the prices of these same items once inside the gate. Save that for the fun meals with the characters and such.

I have only been to the Tokyo one too. I have been in love with mickey since I was a little girl. My sweetie took me to meet Mickey while we lived there (Japan). Have fun and relax! Oh and like I need to tell you this... but take LOTS of photos, LOL.

We go every year at Christmas and found that the autograph book just wasn't working for us all of the time. Last year we purchased a light colored hat at the park and brought along sharpies. Each character signed the hat and of course we took pix of "the signing" and with the character. The cool thing about the hats were...easy access, and they are still able to show off their signatures to this day by just putting on their hat to go to the store or outside to play. They seemed to enjoy it more and the stress of "hanging onto the book" was gone. If you do opt for the autograph book, make sure you put your name and address on the inside front cover. A few weeks after one of our trips, we got an envelope from Disneyland, I opened it and there was my sons book...we did not even know we had lost it... have an awesome time and their churrros are the best!

I am taking your classes in Tampa and I live in Orlando. We will actually be taking our annual Christmas at Disney trip the following weekend. 407-WDW-DINE to make meal reservations and character breakfasts. Do it now. If you make a reservation, you are not locked into it, but you have a place to eat if you need to. Animal Kingdom Lodge has an amazing African buffet, I think it is called Boma. All buffetts and resturants have "kids" food like macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. After your meal at Boma, take a walk outside. The hotel is on the savannah where a lot of the animals hang out. You can get up close without even going to Animal Kingdom!
Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party is a special ticket, but very worth it. We are going our first night there.

Best piece of advice I ever got for going to Disney: Go in the AM, come back to the hotel at noon to swim and nap, and go again around 4:30. Makes it SO much easier on the little ones!
Second best piece of advice: www.ridemax.com TOTALLY worth the money. It's been reviewed in some major magazines. Wander over to the website and see for yourself!
-Rebecca

Am loving the bags. Can't wait til she puts them up for sell. Disney is awesome. I live about 10 minutes from the CA one and I still get enthused everytime I go.

I just had to say have a wonderful time! I have never been to Disneyworld, so I have no tips to offer about that park, but I just went to Disneyland in August and can't wait to go back! It was our first real family vacation (my kids are 8 and 5) and our 10 year wedding anniversary! It was also our first time at any Disney anything! We all had such a wonderful time! I finally "got" what is so special about Disney and truly felt like a big (33 year old!) kid!!! I truly hope you all have a fantastic time!

Hooray! Disneyland (and World) at Christmas is supposed to be extra magical. I'm sure Disney does Christmas right-- with lots of extra touches. I've only been to Disney World once, so not a lot of specifics on that park-- but my husband and I love Disneyland. (Don't get to go as often now that we have kids :) but looking forward to their first experience there.)
It can be overwhelming for anybody--big or small. My advice, to echo all the above-- Stay in a Disney hotel (might get into park earlier, have better access to monorail, etc.) The best guide is Birnbaum's Walt Disney World. (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781423100515&itm=2). I work in a library, and we buy that one every year. It's the best I've seen. Have a character breakfast-- make reservations from home or in advance after you see how Simon reacts to the characters "live" in person. And naps or rest time is a must! We like going to park as soon as you can, maybe grabbing coffees and light breakfast in Downtown Disney or cafe on way in, pick a few attractions that you really want to see that day, then come back to hotel for lunch, swim, naps, down time. Head back out for dinner, maybe another ride or shops, see the fireworks, etc. Parades are great. Have heard the Beauty and the Beast show is amazing (don't know if also have at Disney World).
It's just its own crazy world and as long as you don't feel the need to see, do, experience it ALL-- it will be great. You may not get on the "big" rides this time, but there is lots of other magic!
P.S. Congrats to Chris from a worried Oregon Republican who was still glad to see "the little guy" with heart win.

did anyone mention that you can bring a doctor's note and get to the front of the line for each and every ride. (based on disability)
We use these for our kids (3 special needs kids, one of whom has autism). It's the only way to go. Waiting is bad. Skipping to front GOOD. Also being able to ride the ride again without getting off= good.
Have fun!

have a great time on your trip. you have gotten all the advice I would give, so I just wanted to say enjoy!

Vacation is good for the soul. I hope you and your family enjoy Disneyworld.
Sue

Yay for you guys...
www.disboards.com is awesome for planning
We loved the park hopper option on the tickets-it was great to spend the morning in one park, then take a break and maybe catch the fireworks show or dinner at another park.
Definately make dinner reservations if you want to eat somewhere in particular (table service meals). We loved the morroccan resturant at Epcot (and my girls were quite entertained by the belly dancer). WE had special diet needs being vegetarian so we checked out all the menus online prior to reserving ( i forget the site we used).
My girls loved the pressed penny machine-you put quarters and a penny in and the penny comes out flat with characters on it. We filled those mini m&m tubes with quarters for that purpose and the girls loved searching out the penny presses (located all over in hotels, stores etc) and getting different characters on them. YOu can buy a little souveneir album for them too.
Have a blast, dont try to do it all or you will wear out..

At Amazon.com they have a book "Fodor's Disneyland and Southern California with Kids, 8th Edition". We are going to DisneyWorld in 2007 and I got the book for that and it is great. It gives you height requirements, "scare factors" and what to expect for all the rides. It tells you what kinds of lines to expect, what food places would be enjoyed by different age groups and tips on "fast passes". I love this book! I took a bunch of post-its and marked alot of pages on tips and tricks. Get the book you won't regret it!!

Ali-
Something i did for Kaleigh when she was 3 and we went to Disney. I sent letter from the characters to her before the trip. She LOVED running to the mail prior to the trip and getting those letters. It made seeing then in person less frightful. My only advice ... plan on naps in the middle of the day ... with so much excitement ... they need a nap! HAVE FUN >>> AND SEE YOU IN FEB!