My wife is a Disney nut. My daughter is about to turn 8 in a month, and she's been to Disney World five times. I don't have any experience with Disney Land in California, but here's what I've learned in our trips to Disney World in Florida... 1. 5 to 7 days is a good trip. You can do everything you want, and keep it to a relaxed pace. 10 days is too much. 2. If you're going to stay on Disney property, use a Disney travel agent. It doesn't cost you anything, and they take care of booking everything for you...hotel, dining reservations, etc. In order to get some dining reservations, you have to be on the phone at 5am six or eight months out from the first day of your trip. The Disney travel agent takes care of all of that for you, at no cost. 3. They almost always offer some kind of discount, whether it's a percentage off the hotel room, or free dining plan. But, you won't know if there's a discount for the time you're planning your trip, or what it is, until something like two months before you plan to go. Again, with a Disney travel agent, they will adjust your package price after the discount is announced, so you won't be locked in to a price until you know what the best deal is going to be. 4. The premium dining plan is too much food. It's an appetizer, main course, and dessert for every person in your family. Too much food. The regular dining plan can be good, and is a good deal, of course, when they offer it free. But remember, the dining plan doesn't cover tips, and some of the Disney meals can be pricey. So, you can still plan on spending two to three hundred dollars on the tips for a week trip, if you're dining out every meal. 5. Definitely go during the slower times of the year. December, but not the week of Christmas, January, February, and October are good times to go. The wait times for most rides will be 15 minutes or less those times of year. 6. Staying on Disney property is nice, in that you can take a shuttle bus to all of the parks. If you fly in to Orlando, you can even take the Disney "Magic" Bus from the airport to the hotel, and you don't have to wait for your luggage at the airport; they will deliver it to your room. 7. Paying extra for the Park-Hopper addition to your park tickets can be nice, so that you don't ever have to worry about what park you're going to. If your plans for one park change for some reason, you can go to one of the other parks. Some of the parks close early some days, at like 5pm, so you could still go have an evening at another park if you wanted to. 8. Don't be afraid to take, or rent a stroller for young kids. They have designated stroller parking areas near all of the major attractions, and no one will bother your stuff there. And you will need a stroller, unless you're up to carrying your kid for several hours every day. There's lots of walking, and the kids get tired out. 9. I don't know about gambling, but, if you go in October Epoc has the Food and Wine Festival going on, where there are kiosks all around the park with good food, and drinks. Even not during the Festival, Epoc has alcohol at various places...beer in the Germany section, a good Grey Goose Vodka slushy in France, Japanese beer, etc. There's beer and some other drinks in the Animal Kingdom park too. But no alcohol in the Magic Kingdom. 10. I think you could end up saving a good bit of money renting a place off property, and cooking and eating most of your meals there. I haven't tried that yet, as the convenience of being close to everything, and not having to cook or clean, has won out over saving money when we've gone.