Newbie advice

I would say don't show them rides on Youtube. I know so much of the magic of the first time is some of the surprises...and the Youtube videos give that away.

If someone has Netflix, you could have them watch one of the Disney Park specials that give them a peek to get excited, but it shouldn't ruin anything. Or, if you want to show them something on Youtube, se if they have Stacy's top 7 list on there.

Or order the Disney Vacation video. I agree, I would not suggest having them watch the rides on YouTube. First, it gives away that initial reaction and magic, and second, YouTube would nto do justice and may steer them away from something they might actually like.

I think a key might be to keep it busy, but don't kill them. I know there's a desire to see and do everything, but unles you have 2 weeks planned, you can't. And be flexible to changing plans if something is too busy.

How long is the trip? If you and they are early-risers, get to the parks for rope-drop and you can hit the major rides with less wait times by 11:00 am. Then stroll around the park and hit anythign else that strikes their fancy and is not overly crowded.

My 2 cents!

Oh, and eat everything! Haha.

touring plans.

there are some cool plans there are plans that are called not touring plan plans
where it's just a loose guide on things to check out if you only have a day

For what it's worth, here's our general strategy to see the biggies:

MK: We head over to FrontierLand and do Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain RR, then Haunted Mansion. Then we head over to TomorrowLand and do Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. After that, we just start back-filling with everything else we want to see/ride, like Small World, Philharmagic, Country Bears, Pirates, Tiki Room. We rarely have long waits for any of those after we hit the biggies.

HS: Bee-line to Toy Story Mania! With everyone else! Either ride it or Fastpass it (or both). It does not take long for the queue to hit 60 minutes, and FastPasses can sell out by 10:00 am! After that we head over to Rock N Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror (and usually ride both twice). And then we start backfilling - Muppets, Star Tours, Backlot Tour, American Idol. We usually save Indiana Jones and the Stunt Spectacular for last, as they generally hold enough people that there's not a huge wait. And get a cupcake from Starring Rolls Cafe! OMG! The red velvet cheesecake cupcake is awesome!

Epcot: We head over to Soarin' right away, get a FastPass and ride it, then head over to the other side for Test Track, Mission Space. Then we back-fill with Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Spaceship Earth, Living with the Land.

AK: First stop here is Everest - we're usually lucky enough to be able to usually ride twice before the wait gets more than 15-20 minutes. Then we do Kilimanjaro Safari, It's Tough to be a Bug, and the Lion King. Then we take the Wildlife Express train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch so I can pet the animals

We'r early risers, so our general approach is to get to the park 15-30 minutes before opening. That way, we can do all our "must do's" as noted above by 11:00, which is when the parks start getting busier. By then, we make it a more leisurely day and just do whatever we see is open with minimal wait (or if we really want to do something, we just wait, since we've done everything else we wanted to do already!).

We're mixed about utilizing Extra Magic Hours - sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. But I think the key there is that we always get the park hopper option, so if it starts to get too busy, we go to another park. And typically, we leave the park after lunch, go back to the hotel for a swim and short break, and then head back out, either to the same park, or another park.

And we usually stay long enough so that we can hit each park at least twice.

Just like to third or fourth the "don't look at videos" ahead. The surprise is part of the magic!

LOL
we did all the POV vids on our tv

Before you went? I bet you read the last pages of a mystery book too!

It was a return trip so I needed a refresher lol, I think I posted in an earlier thread that I have OCD, and need to know what to expect.

On this last trip I just took, the three people with me had never been to WDW.. so I gave them a Birnbaum's guide in advance and then on the plane we discussed what THEIR must sees were. Since I've seen mostly all of it, I was ok with whatever they wanted. The only thing I took care of on my own was ADRs. I decided which parks on which day based on ADRs and EMHs but once we got to each park I said "ok, what did you want to see here?" And they told me! If I really felt like the just HAD to see something, I took them there.. (like Club Cool to try Beverly lol)
We even had our last day to revisit any park of their choose to re-do whatever they liked best.

Great approach to it, DD!

Yeah I would have to agree with DD on this one. Watching the videos ahead of time would spoil the "First moment of the Magic" I think. I love watching people come into the park sometimes. You can tell by the expression on their face it's the first time!. It's great!