One of our favorite places to vacation as a family is at Disney World. This past winter we took our kids there for the 3rd time and had the BEST time! Read on for my 10 best Disney World tips.
Although, Disney is a beast if you want to see and do everything. First, I highly recommend using a travel advisor to book your trip because they can provide you with so much information (at no cost). Going for the 3rd time in four years as a family I knew what to expect and felt more prepared which enhanced our Disney trip. However, I still learned some new things that I thought I would share with you if you are planning on going to Disney any time soon.
10 New things and tips I learned at Disney this year
I must preference you with we are the family that stays at parks open to close, speed walks to rides, and tries to maximize our time and get on as much as possible. So most of these tips are related to that.
1.Buy as much as possible ahead. Autograph books, Disney t-shirts, the Minnie ears….all of these items are way more expensive if you purchase them at Disney. Check out other ways to save money on your trip.
2.If you are doing character meals or interacting with characters ask them yes/no questions (we asked Minnie and Daisy if they were married to Mickey and Donald) the responses were priceless! Or as them how to do something (my kids would ask the characters to show them their dance moves) – makes for some great fun!
3.If you are looking to see characters and princesses – in the my Disney experience app check the times they will be available. At Epcot we made the mistake of doing more of the rides first and then at 5:30p we were looking for the princesses in each of the worlds and come to find out they were already done for the day. When I asked a cast member she said their times are in the character portion of the app. So we had this down the 3rd time we went and got to see so many characters and princesses!
4.Have a plan. Knowing what you are doing and where you are going is key to maximizing your time at a Disney park. Check out the maps and attractions ahead of time. Get familiar with the park, hours, transportation, what you can carry in, etc. Think about what rides/attractions you for sure want to do, maybe want to do, and don’t need to do.
5.Start early in the morning. Especially if you are staying at a Disney resort, you get the perk of going into the park 30 min early. Take advantage of the short lines before it gets busy. If you are looking to get on as many attractions as possible, get there early, and skip the photos (do them later when the rides get busier).
6. If you are trying to get on as much as possible, you are on your phone a lot between checking wait times, booking genie+ and lightning lanes, virtual cues, photos, videos. Even the best phone batteries are not meant to last 16 hour days at Disney. First, put your phone into low battery/power mode. This helps to preserve your battery. Then, have along a battery operated phone charger. Note: when you go through security this (along with umbrellas) can make the alarm go off so keep them handy or out of your bag as you go through security.
7. Pack food and water. I know we are nuts, but we like to spend every minute in a park day on attractions. So we pack food and water to eat/drink while we wait in line. Disney lets you bring in most food items. This also helps keep our food costs down. If you do want to quickly eat at a park there are snack stands and quick service restaurants where you can place a mobile order and pick it up once you are ready.
8. Go to a park on a rainy or chance of rain day. This may not always work out in your schedule, but rain means less people which means more attractions for you. This year there was a good chance of rain on a day we were at Disney, so we decided to go to Hollywood Studios. It was raining in the morning and it briefly rained later in the afternoon, but we got on so many rides because lots of people don’t want to be at a park in the rain. We made sure we had water proof shoes on, our ponchos, compact umbrellas and brought along a towel to wipe seats off with and it worked great.
9. Avoid spring break, major holidays and weekends at parks. You will get on more attractions, shorter lines, and have less frustration.
10.Take advantage of ride swap. Most of the bigger attractions (that some younger children may not like) have a ride swap option. How it works is one parent goes on the ride while the other one waits with the child and then after the one parent gets off, the other one goes while the first parent waits with the child. This is much better than waiting in the line 2 full times. Some rides have a special area for ride swap, and if not ask the cast member at the ride entrance for where to go for ride swap. We used it for our younger child for Tron and it worked well.
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