On my way to Disney!

The buffet at Boma for lots of different foods to try. African cuisine. 

Try to hit the safari at animal kingdom early while the animals are active. Take the good camera that day for sure. 

Pick out out the most popular rides and get fast passes early. They've changed how those work so not sure how to do that now. 

Also, depending on if you want to watch the parades. That's a good time to get in lines while everyone is distracted. 

I'll handle this.  I worked there for 11 years (I'm not telling which years). 

@RiverDoc is right.  When you go to EPCOT, go early and on an empty stomach and hit the French pastry shop as your first stop.  Then go around the rest of the World Showcase while most people get stopped near the front of the park.  Or use Fast Passes to see the stuff with long lines.  If you are going to stay around for the night laser show, try to get to the Rose and Crown Pub in England about an hour before the show and get a seat and some beers.  A good second choice is the Mexican bar on the opposite side of the lake. 

@theyolksonyou is also correct on all of his points.  Get to Animal Kingdom early and go straight to the back to the safari ride (note: EVERYBODY knows to do this, so you really want to be there right when the park opens.  When the Florida sun comes up, it gets warm in a hurry and the animals disappear).  While at the Animal Kingdom, reward your kids with an early lunch at Rainforest Cafe.  If you get there before 11:30 you can walk right in.  This is something I have never experienced at any other Rainforest anywhere because it is limited to Animal Kingdom guests.  (For example, the last time I thought about getting a table at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney, there was a 90 minute wait to get to the podium to get your name on the list for a 2.5 hour wait...)

To see the coolest thing I have seen at Disney in years get your seat (or place to stand) for the 9:00 PM Main Street Electrical Parade along the TOMORROWLAND side of the hub in front of Cinderella's Castle.  After the parade they use the castle as a screen to show video of Disney stuff until Tinkerbell flies (from the castle toward Tomorrowland) to start the fireworks. 

IF you have a rental car, on the day you visit the Magic Kingdom, get a reservation for a character breakfast at the Contemporary Hotel.  Drive your car and park it there.  Take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.  Then when the fireworks are over (see above) when EVERYBODY gets in really long lines for the monorails, buses, and ferry boats, you can just walk to the Contemporary and drive off.  If you are relying on Disney transportation then this doesn't help. My advice in that situation is to go do one more ride after the fireworks and then exit after the lines to get out have died down.

PM me if you have other questions.

yachtsman steakhouse

@CANMAN1976 ...how old are your kids?

did you say it was your first time?

Get to the Magic Kingdom before official opening at least once.  It is worth it to be one of the first families in the park and you can get some great pics.  
I have a pic of my then 5 year old daughter in her Cinderella costume standing in front of the castle and there is not a soul near her.  Ten years later it is still one of my favorite pics.  

I also love that we got to do several rides without waiting in line that day too.  I am definitely not a morning person but it was worth it to get up early that one day.  

I'm pretty jealous! 

a few resteraunts that I love...LeCellier in Epcot (Canada), California Grill in Contemporary, and Victoria and Alberts in Grand Floridian. They are all really amazing if not a little expensive (even for Disney).
 

As dumb as it sounds trading pins is fun. Google Disney pins.
We arrived as the very first people at Epcot and were the designated "first family". We rode several of the best rides before they opened, escorted to the front of the line for 2 hours, free "go the front" passes, special seating for the laser show...
The next day was the 4th of July. We were in the first 150 there. We all had matching American flag mickey shirts. An employee made his way back to us and asked if we would like to open the park. Holding the rope we led the crowd. Again we were escorted to the front of a few rides and given passes.
it truly was a MAGICAL vacation. 

DaveRichardson said:

Damn @Foghorn ....  I needed this info years ago, but that was pre-egg for me!

@DaveRichardson, a few years ago I could have gotten you and your family up on floats in the Animal Kingdom parade.  I did that for my daughter's soccer team when they played in a tournament there.  I was everybody's favorite team parent that week. 

Chicklet said:

Pin trading is fun!  My daughter still enjoys that part of our trips and she is going on 16. We have more fun looking for hidden Mickeys and searching for cast member pins on lanyards!!  Of course the rides are fun too but we like the little things too. 

we started with the pin trading about 10 years ago and I agree it is fun. we were there last year for star wars week and everybody was freaking out over the more rare pins. my favorite pin would have to be my segway tour pin we got when we went for a tour of Epcot before it opened. Great times!

@RiverDoc we are thinking of doing our first Disney cruise next spring. I hear good things

Hi all we leave for Florida in a few days I have some questions on Disneyworld. We have 4 day passes, 4 adults and my kids 3 &6. My son can ride anything as we just did disney/ca adventure last year. So fast passes, once we reserve online are they interchangeable amongst our party? My daughter and one adult may need to skip rides the rest want to go on, may find kid ride fast passes for her. At Disney some of the basic kid rides I remember had long lines (dumbo). I see we get 3 fast passes we can reserve before day of for each person. Also plan to hit parks early since kids are up at 630 or so. So we have 4 days, plan to do safari, the Disneyworld (maybe twice)? Any other recs since my kids are so young as to which park to hit with the remainder.

@SkinnyV, make sure you download the app.  We were at Disney between Cheistmas and New Years.  We often went on a ride that had a short line that we had a fast pass scheduled.  Wife would cancel and reserve something else.  She was continuously monitoring wait times and juggling fast pass reservations.  Have fun