As all frequent WDW visitors know, a lot goes in to planning a trip to Disney! A lot that first timers may not know; things such as extra magic hours (EMH), when to go where, what resort is right for them, or even about free dining... yes, I said FREE. Here's a few tips and tricks when planning a trip to WDW. Whether it be a day trip or a week long vacation, you could make use out of most of these!
1. Early bird really does get the worm
I'm serious about this one. For any trip to the parks, the earlier you get there the better. The lines will be significantly shorter the first couple hours than they will be later on in the day.
2. Don't waste your fastpasses!
You will not believe how many times I hear about people's trips to Disney and they had a few bad experiences that often go back to scheduling fastpasses for the right thing. There's rides/attractions at every park that one shouldn't waste a fastpass on. For example, at Magic Kingdom, there is no need to use a fastpass for It's a Small World or Ariel's
Undersea Adventure. They are just two rides that don't get high wait times like Peter Pan's Flight, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or Haunted Mansion.
3. Know when to book your fastpasses
This is another big one that guests often don't realize. If you are staying ON Disney property for your vacation, you can book your fastpasses starting at 60 DAYS OUT. Yes, 60. It may seem silly to them that far ahead of time, but if you want to get the big rides and the rides that you want, then this is a must! Even for Annual Passholders myself, we can book up to 30 days out and I take advantage of that if I know when I'm going to the parks (a little harder to plan fastpasses when you can just go whenever you want.)
4. Choose the best resort for YOUR family
Every family plans a different kind of Disney vacation. As for my family, we are GO GO GO and we go from park opening to close every day of our trip; whereas some families like to chill and have down time/nap time in the middle of the day. Since we are in the park all day everyday, we don't spend loads on our resorts. Disney has "tiers" to their resorts: Value, Moderate, Deluxe, Deluxe Villas. In order from least expensive to most. We almost always stay in a value resort because they are cheapest. We don't see the point in spending gobs of money for the fanciest resort when we're not really there to use all of it's amenities. Of course, we'd love to stay at every single one eventually to cross them off the bucket lists. ;) BUT if your family wouldn't spend all day everyday in the parks and would like to take advantage of the wonderful things the resorts have to offer, the go for it! There's many different resorts to choose from, so just try to choose the best fit for your family!
5. Plan out what park you're going to which day in advance
Don't wait until the morning of your first day arguing about what park to go to first, plan ahead!!! We typically look at a crowd calendar to figure out which days to go where. We'll figure out which park has the estimated lowest crowds for that day and then pick it, sometimes two because we ALWAYS use park hoppers! (I'll get to that).
Crowd calendar: http://www.easywdw.com/easy/crowd-calendars/
6. Extra magic hours!
If you're staying on Disney property, one of the biggest added bonuses is getting EMH! What is this? It's when a specific park will open early or stay open late JUST for people staying in a Disney resort. Take full advantage of these, especially when they're at night! This is when you'll get really low crowds and more time to do what you want.
7. Know when to take your Disney vacation
If you're planning your first WDW vacation and want to get in everything you possibly can, then you need to know to NOT go during busy times. When are busy times? Around most holidays (especially Christmas/New Years and the 4th of July). Summer is also a really bad time to go because 1) it's HOT and 2) everyone is on summer vacation so in turn... EVERYONE will be there! The month of September is one of the best times to go (that's when my family goes typically). The weather has cooled off a little bit, the crowds are very low because most kids have started school around that time, and our biggest draw is FREE DINING!
8. FREE Dining!
Yes, it really is free! Free food. What's better than free food? My family takes advantage of this every single trip not only to save a significant amount of money, but to also be able to try as many different and new Disney restaurants as we can for nothing! To be eligible for free dining, you must be staying at one of the select Disney resorts, have valid park admission, and it must be during their free dining dates. With our free dining plan we get 1 snack, 1 quick service, and 1 table service per day. Quick service many people compare to fast food, although it's actually better than that, and table service is equivalent to a sit down restaurant. For your snacks you can use them for just about anything from a bottle of water to a Mickey Bar to a famous Dole Whip! If you're planning your next Disney vacation anytime soon, I HIGHLY recommend looking into FREE dining!
9. Park hoppers and why you should have them
Having the park hopper option added to your park tickets is a fantastic thing. This will allow you to gain admission into more than one park for the same day! With this, if you wanted to spend the morning at Epcot but want to go to Magic Kingdom later to see Wishes, you can! Why is a park hopper necessary? In my opinion... Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom can both easily be half day parks with the right planning; so why not kill two birds with one stone and get two parks done in one day? As for us, we typically have dinner reservations in Epcot a lot of nights, but we obviously don't want to spend every day of our park at Epcot. The park hopper option is a great addition for you especially if you're planning on having dinner reservations in a certain park.
10. Remember to have fun!
Need I say more?
More to come soon! Hope you found this helpful. :) If you take frequent Disney vacations, what are some of your Disney trip traditions?
See ya real soon!
"All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." -Walt Disney
