Just a few questions.

[Connorsmummy]

On the flight (TUI) can you take a battery back to charge devises on board?

We are flying into Sandford, how bad is immigration here?

How long's the transfer from Sandford to AKL?

Am I right in thinking we should take advantage of the EMH as parks will be a bit quieter at these times?

EMH - when can we find out when they are.

Where/when can i find out park opening times.

Table service with a fussy 10 year old he will eat burgers, nuggets hot dogs etc but as he will be on the adult menu, can I pay OOP for a kids meal or just use the meal credit?

Boma or Mara for breakfast?

What are MUST DO's with 10 yr old at each of the parks?

I am so excited I think my head might explode

[waiting4disney]

Starter for 10 -

Sanford is a great airport much smaller. We took 40 mins to get through security last time and get luggage.

Park opening times are here on the Dibb or on the WDW website/MDE

If on site definitley worth taking advantage of magic hours.

You can either order off the kids menu and use a credit or pay OOP. Others will be better at advising about this.

Everything is worth doing! 😀

[itsmeGAV]

I'll answer the battery question.. yes you can take a portable battery, but as you'll be flying the 787 (dreamliner) you will have an IFE screen which has a USB port for charging

[show_the_magic]

Sanford- took us over 2 hours back in 2014. Was a lonnnnnnnnnnnng wait.

[jwkav10]

On the flight (TUI) can you take a battery back to charge devises on board?

Yes you can

We are flying into Sandford, how bad is immigration here?

We found it okay - took about half an hour which isn't horrendous but a flight did land behind us straight after so wouldn't want to have been at the back!

How long's the transfer from Sandford to AKL?

Takes about an hour - but bear in mind you'll be waiting for other guests to get onto your bus so may take 1 hour 30 mins

Am I right in thinking we should take advantage of the EMH as parks will be a bit quieter at these times?

Yes - but heres the key - as soon as it gets to midday - SWITCH PARK. You'll find that everyone flocks to the same park because of EMH but then stays in the park that day. If you go in, get your fastpasses from 9am onwards, then switch parks where it's quieter. Or even avoid EMH and go to another park on some days.

EMH - when can we find out when they are.

Where/when can i find out park opening times.

The Dibb has all of these

Table service with a fussy 10 year old he will eat burgers, nuggets hot dogs etc but as he will be on the adult menu, can I pay OOP for a kids meal or just use the meal credit?

Use a meal credit - We went last year and barely got through out Quick Service Dining Plan (so much food!) - I'd always use the Dining Plan First and then pay for any outstanding meals at the end. Unless you book any signature/table service meals of course

Boma or Mara for breakfast?

Can't answer this one as I've never been to either!

What are MUST DO's with 10 yr old at each of the parks?

This list would be an entire thread in itself. My biggest thing would be to take your time, it really isn't all about rides, theres so many parades (Festival of Fantasy), Shows (Fantasmic), and Fireworks (Happily Ever After, Illuminations. Star Wars) etc. Rides are brilliant (even for adults), so just do as much as you can without leading to exhaustion

FYI -

You'll be going back at some point, it's impossible not too after visiting

[GezzasGem]

Boma breakfast fantastic but of course totally different to The Mara - if you are staying at AKL doing both is quite usual! 😁 we save Boma breakfast for our last day and use the Mara most mornings

[itz_baseline]

Just on the power bank question (your battery). You HAVE to take this in your hand luggage. Power banks are not allowed in the suitcase that you check in to the hold. Most people don’t realise this, but they can be confiscated if you put them in your checked luggage.

Just for completeness, you can only travel with power banks that put out a certain Watt hours of power. You probably want to check with your airline what the maximum Watt hour battery they allow you to take.

[Dondy1985]

I would use Mara QS credit for breakfast or a snack credit as Boma is TS credit. I love Boma, but, would rather have dinner there, and save the other TS credits for different restaurants 😊

[electo]

hi

sanford is a small airport imigration has always been quick up there
but there is an 1 hr drive to international drive
so its swings and roundabouts

EMH are great but they can be buzzy as i found out at epcot when then the food and wine festival was on
plus all the rides may not be running

when and where EMH are are on the disney web site if that makes sence

and park opening time are there too

do everything he wants to do

[WDWfangirl]

We've once waited well over 3 hours in immigration at Sanford and were literally the very last passengers to leave the airport by a good 10/15 minutes when my husband got pulled aside for additional questioning but that was because we were the last plane of the afternoon to land and there were about 3 planes that had just landed in front of us.

Definitely don't pay OOP for anything until you run out of credits. There is so much food on the dining plan.

As for rides - I recommend watching vlogs on Youtube (we love Tim Tracker) so your child can decide what he likes and will want to do. However so as to make sure there were some surprises for our first trip I didn't let them watch the Expedition Everest ride vlog, tell them about the Frozen ride or tell my son about the fabulous miniature railway in the Germany pavilion in Epcot. Their faces when they saw them for the first time will be moments to be treasured forever.