While I'm thinking of it, I wanted to include a few random stream of consciousness thoughts and tips from our trip.
1. Staying at the Contemporary is the bomb. If you don't want to wait for the monorail you can walk to and from Magic Kingdom. One day Rob walked while the rest of us took the monorail and he beat us to MK by several minutes.
2. If you're on the fence about whether or not your child needs a stroller, bring it. They will be a lot less tired, have protection from the sun, and you'll have a spot to store packages.
3. Split stays blow chunks. It was the biggest pain in the butt moving from CBR to Contemporary. Disney sent 2 sets of Magic Bands and that process was convoluted. We had issues with the dining plan associated with our second resort and it was a big time waster. Just my opinion, but I would never plan to do this again. If I want to see other resorts I would go tour them at my convenience at some point during the stay.
4. Don't do the deluxe dining plan (3 TS and 2 snacks a day). We booked it due to lots of signature dining and character meals but we were all so stuffed and miserable every day. At the end of the trip we had 6 meal and 20 snack credits left. We used them to bring home souvenirs but it was just too much food.
5. Related to #4, even if you eat 3 meals a day at home you will probably only do 2 meals a day at Disney. Breakfast is usually a buffet or otherwise more food than most are used to. You won't want to eat much for lunch and by dinner you'll just be getting a little hungry. You'll be so stuffed from dinner you'll hardly want breakfast the next morning. I actually eat 5 smallish meals a day at home so I thought 2 or 3 a day would be fine and I couldn't handle the volume of food. Rob can eat more than the average person and he put on 10 pounds during our trip from all the food.
6. You will only do about 1/3 of what you hope to do if your child needs a nap. I was surprised at how little we were able to do each day before we had to get Little H settled for naptime. Really only about 3 attractions after breakfast and we were having to head back for a nap (she would not sleep in her stroller - sigh). We didn't get upset over it and know that as she gets older she'll have more endurance and be able to go more commando. If we had pushed her, it would have been a miserable trip. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking about how much money you are spending each day and want to get your money's worth, but you'll have a bunch of grouchy family members if you succumb to this. Don't do it! Let your little ones set the pace and you'll have much happier memories.
7. You will get A TON of restaurant ADRs the day prior. Keep your phone out if you are looking for something. I could not believe the volume of ADRs I saw for some hard-to-get restaurants like Akershus, Chef Mickey, 1900 Park Fare, Be Our Guest, Tusker House, etc. I also saw one for CRT a couple of days out. So don't give up hope. Just keep checking
MDE on your phone the day before when you are waiting in lines, on the monorail or whenever you have a chance. Lots of things become available as folks discover they booked too many ADRs (raising my hand), are too tired to make dinner ressies (again raising my hand), or just over booked and finalize their plans a day or two prior (guiltily raising my hand).
8. IMO memory maker was a good investment with the advance purchase price of $139. We got over 300 photos and whereas they are not the best (some of the photogs were better than others) you will have some really good shots that you cannot capture on your own. Just remember to DOWNLOAD all of your photos BEFORE THEY EXPIRE! I think you have 30 days after your trip to do so.
9. The Dole Whip is overrated.
10. No matter how young or old you are, rice krispy treats are one of the best culinary creations of all time.
11. Take a notepad along with you or something to write down notes each day. When you get home you will not remember what you did - it will all be a blur. I started with a small notepad and would jot things down a couple of times a day. After a couple of days I just started typing a word doc in the early morning, during naptime, and after we got done for the day. I captured some specific funny memories that I would have otherwise forgotten. And it helps with trip reports, too!
12. There will be some rude people on your trip. In the immortal words of Elsa... LET IT GOOOOOOO! It's easy to have these clods put a damper on your vacation when they cut in line, push in front of you to get on an elevator or whatever. Don't dwell on it. Focus on the vast majority of people who are polite and kind. Luckily there are a lot more of them in the world.
13. Check your dining plan credits with your hotel's concierge. We discovered several mistakes - including 2 restaurants billing us for my daughter who was 2 years old. Get a print-out midway through and the last day so you can use any credits towards souvenir snacks (rice crispy treats travel well!).
14. Bring an extra large collapsible bag (like a duffle bag) along for souvenirs. We had about 20 of the small plastic Disney bags full of t-shirts, gifts for people at home, and little presents for Hailey that we had nowhere to put. A big canvas bag would have been great to throw everything in for the trip home.
15. I understand why some people say don't start with MK and go to other parks after. Once we got to MK it overshadowed AK and Epcot.