The Disney World Guide
Just returned from our first family trip to Disney World and while I can’t claim to be a Disney expert I do know that there can be a steep learning curve in planning for such a trip. I read a lot of online articles, books and talked with friends and family members and made quite a few calls to the Disney team…despite all this I still learned quite a few tips while we were there and wanted to share them here. Read on for my TAKE on planning for a trip to Disney World with small children.
How Old Should My Kids Be? - Our kids are 8, 5 and 2.5 the youngest according to Disney is still considered an infant and therefore, we did not have to buy her park passes. This, along with the fact that some of my family would be in town for a conference and would be able to provide some help with the kids was a huge draw for us. Despite being 2.5 our youngest is actually quite tall so she could still go on many rides, loved interacting with the characters and thankfully, took a nap in her stroller every day. However, if you are traveling with multiple kids and don’t have the benefit of extra hands I would probably have waited until she was potty trained and at least a year older. The 8 and 5 year old were at pretty fun ages to experience Disney with and I think they will remember it! We brought our own stroller (our fave) but rentals are available in all the parks. It was very convenient to have one as even the big kids wanted to sit down sometimes too. Many families also attached their name and phone number to their strollers kind of like a luggage tag to aid in recognition. There are ample dedicated stroller parking spots all around the parks but don’t be surprised if it’s not always where you left it as Disney Cast Members occasionally rearrange to create more space!
What Time Of Year To Travel? - This of course, is a personal choice for everyone. The winter is an obvious choice those of us who live in parts of the world where the temperature can dip below zero and the sun is rarely seen. I don’t love really hot and humid weather so late January/early Feb was the perfect time of year for me. The kids were rarely sweaty running around the parks and while it was cooler in the morning and evenings we had some days tip 80+ degrees making it warm enough to spend some time at the hotel pool. This is a slower time in the parks too (still crowded but much better than peak season) but this may also mean that the parks are using this time to refurbish some rides. For example, Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom), Test Track (Epcot) and Kali River Rapids (Animal Kingdom) were all closed while we were there but there was still so much to do! My only other recommendation would be to plan your vacation at least 7 months in advance ( I think we started 9 months before) to have your pick of accommodations and dining etc…
Stay On Property - The amount of land Walt Disney World owns is quite expansive around the parks and staying on property certainly helps to make the experience more magical for the kids. There are a variety of hotel locations, amenities and pricing options both by those run by Disney and some run by Marriott and the Four Seasons. Plan according to your budget and proximity to the parks in which you think you will spend the most time in. We stayed at the Grand Floridian which was perfect based on it’s proximity to the Magic Kingdom and the Monorail. The staff or Cast Members as they are called are extremely helpful and efficient at all the hotels and are more than willing to hand out 1st Visit buttons to the kids or coloring books etc…anything to make a child smile. I also want to caution that some hotels have been upgraded more recently than others so while you may be spending a fortune it most likely is not going to be the nicest resort you’ve ever stayed at but the location will be worth the premium.
Airport Transportation - We flew to Orlando and from the airport as we were staying on property took Mickey’s Magical Express. This is a complimentary charter bus offered to resort guests. I was hesitant to take this at first but it was really convenient and regardless of how you travel to the parks from the airport, travel time is always approximately 45 minutes - 1 hour. The bus has televisions playing cartoons and promotions for the parks so my kids were thoroughly entertained. If you secure your seats on Disney’s Magical Express in advance they will send you luggage tags and handlers will grab your bags and send them directly to your resort from the airport. Not dealing with checked luggage in the airport is a major win for this family of five…unfortunately, I did not plan that far in advance but we were able to bring our luggage to the bus and transport to our hotel, just fine.
Transportation between Parks - There isn’t really a need for a car within the Disney property as there are a plethora of complimentary Disney transportation offerings: Monorail, Bus, Skyliner, Boat etc… Do plan for extra time when traveling between parks as there are times when things will run smoothly and there will be times when you wait for a bus for thirty minutes. Depending on where you stay your preferred method of travel will change based on your destination and don’t hesitate to ask a Cast Member. For example: if we wanted to go from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom the preferred method is the Monorail on the way there and a boat on the way home. Too bad we didn’t learn about the boat being faster route on the way home until the last day…we could have avoided a few late nights on the Monorail. The point being…just ask when you arrive! Some parks like Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios required us to a take a bus that runs continuously to and from your resort with travel times updated in the Disney World app regularly. For the most part the buses ran smoothly and were very clean but if you are trying to get to Hollywood Studios before it opens in order to get a Star Wars boarding pass or are running late for a fast pass time at Animal Kingdom my advice would be to order a Lyft. We did this a number of times especially when we were tight on time or the kids were exhausted and it was worth it!
Magic Bands - The Magic Bands are linked to your ticket purchase and will offer you entry into all the parks. Complimentary bands (basic color only) are available if you are staying in a Disney property and are mailed to your home about a month before your trip begins. If you’d like to receive your bands earlier than 30 days out (as I did to include in our Christmas surprise) you can opt to purchase one of the custom designs and the bands will be sent within a week. The designs vary greatly by week and only a select few are offered on the Disney site at at time but many additional designs are available in the parks. We opted to buy character bands for the kids and selected the basic options for ourselves. All of the bands can be adjusted to fit a child’s wrist and couldn’t be easier to use. At check in you may opt to tie a credit card to the band for incidentals and can use it all over the parks to pay for food and merchandise.
Opt for Park Hopper Tickets - I knew we would want to hit up all four of the parks and I also wanted the most flexibility so we went with the Park Hopper option and 3/5 days hit up two parks i.e. one in the morning and one in the evening. Originally, I was only going to purchase 4 days of park tickets but adding a 5th day was a no-brainer as the fee was incredibly nominal and it would allow us more flexibility especially as we had an evening flight on our last day. Basically, I knew I was going to be super intense about trying to get to everything on our wish list and adding the 5th day would help me relax…making it all the more enjoyable for my family. There are also other ticketed events that may be available during your stay either in the early morning and/or evening hours. For an additional fee you can ride all the rides with lower wait times and the ticket price usually includes some food/beverage options. If your kids are a bit older than mine and they love to ride ALL the rides I think this is a great option - and will highly consider it for our next visit. VIP experiences are also offered based on availability and while more costly they do afford you to make the most of limited time at the parks.
Fast Pass Tips - With your park ticket you’re allotted 3 fast passes per day. These are split into two tiers as in some rides are tier a and you can book one of those rides and some are tier b and you can book two of them. Once ALL fast passes have been used in a day you have the option to book an additional pass (even in a different park if you have a Park Hopper ticket). Fast passes can be booked 60 days in advance for resort guests and 30 days in advance for non resort guests. The passes become available as of 7am EST and if you are booking these yourself - be sure to be online as some passes go fast! Before booking, I recommend looking up park hours for your stay and making a list of rides/experiences that you would like to have in each park and reference when booking the passes. I booked all passes before we let the kids know about the trip but if they had been a part of the planning this book would have been a key factor in their ride prioritization. A good tip is to book your passes as close together as possible either in the morning or afternoon/evening. The rule of thumb being that maybe you think wait times will be shorter in the morning so you hold off until the afternoon for fast passes or if your passes are in the morning maybe you think that you’ll be able to add a fourth pass. We were able to book a fourth pass a few times but never got into the top tier rides when doing this. I also had a lot of issues with the Disney World app when trying to secure a fourth pass.…it honestly, only worked once for me and the other times I had to resort to my laptop which I didn’t always have access to. If this happens there are Fast Pass kiosks throughout the parks or the Guest Experience reps are located at stands with blue umbrellas in all the parks. I should have visited the Guest Experience team and shared about my app issue…perhaps I would have gotten that illusive Slinky Dog fast pass after all!
Fast Passes can always be changed or cancelled…I changed an entire day’s plans while were in Orlando to accommodate spending more time at Hollywood Studios and was pleasantly surprised at availability. Thankfully, the changes were worth it as we ended securing boarding passes for Rise of the Resistance that day!
Extra Magic Hours vs. Rope Drop - If you are staying at a Disney property you will be able to take advantage of Extra Magic Hours which means that one of the four parks either will open early or stay open late each day. In theory, this sounds like a great benefit but there are a lot of Disney hotels and only part of the parks will be open during this time, which actually means that the park will be quite crowded at this time. For example, when Magic Kingdom opens an hour early they may only have Fantasyland open. Additionally, those guests who have not purchased a Park Hopper ticket but are staying on property will often take advantage of the early morning Magic Hours making the park even more crowded. I’m not saying don’t take advantage of them just trying to set expectations.
Aside from the Magic Hours taking advantage of Rope Drop is a strategy that insiders will recommend. We did this both at Magic Kingdom and at Hollywood Studios but it will work at any park. For example, if Magic Kingdom opens at 9am, you can enter the through the gates and hang out on Main Street 20-30 minutes before or even 10 minutes before. At park opening there will be an announcement (fireworks at Cinderella’s Castle in Magic Kingdom) and you can make your way to your rides of choice. Generally, if you want to be a bit more aggressive to avoid those long lines you can even stand in front of the street that leads to Fantasyland, Tomorrowland etc…and the Cast Members will literally drop a rope and you can quickly head to your rides of choice. Best to do this for rides that you do not have Fast Passes for and when we did this in Magic Kingdom we quickly got on a few rides that were on our wish list.
Dining Reservations + Other Food Tips - This is a big topic so before we talk dining you should know that Disney does offer a variety of Dining plans but we did not opt for one. I truly didn’t do a ton of cost analysis here rather the decision was made based on feedback from prior guests. For most restaurants aside from the quick service venues, reservations can be made 180 days prior to your trip (and for the duration of your trip) if you are staying at a Disney property. I highly recommend securing these the first day they become available as they go fast and I found it easiest to book these via my laptop. 6 months prior to our trip I booked one sit down meal per day thinking that would be about the max my kids could handle. These were primarily dinner reservations in Epcot aside from a character dining breakfast at our hotel. For all other meals I figured my kids and their limited palette would be more than pleased with the quick service kids meals and I wasn’t necessarily going to Disney for their fine dining so this would suffice for the adults too. Note that alcohol is not available in all the parks unless you are at a sit down restaurant.
In hindisght, I stand by the one sit down meal a day for my family…even if that was often a struggle at night I think the grown ups appreciated a chance to sit and eat something other than chicken nuggets. When making these reservations you kind of need to plan for what parks you think you will be in on those specific days and if you don’t know where you will be securing a reservation at your hotel is always another option. One day we had brunch at our hotel with characters and it allowed us to sleep in and not rush out the door which was a welcome change.
Important to note that reservations can be cancelled up to 48 hours in advance to avoid a fee and within 24 hours I’ve heard they will waive fees if you have a sick child. Most guests at the parks are families with children and kids are unpredictable so plans will need to change. I was pleasantly surprised that many restaurant reservations did open up and I was able book two more via the app once we arrived just be wary that they may not be at the most child friendly times.
For those times that we ate at quick service restaurant…using the Mobile Order service through the app was 100% the way to go. You can look at the all the quick service menus on the app, decide which restaurant to use and place your order while you’re waiting in a ride line. Then once, you arrive at the restaurant you can update your order to say that you’re there and your order will be prepared in a matter of minutes. This service ran smoothly for us and is a life saver when you have hangry kids and an even hangrier husband!
You can bring in food to the parks (literally saw families with Amazon Fresh orders come direct to their hotels) and we brought in snacks everyday along with refillable water bottles. We should have packed water bottles for the adults as you can fill up the bottles at all restaurants but at least we were halfway prepared. The kids weren’t totally deprived of Disney snacks either…they did get ice cream, Mickey Mouse pretzels, lollipops and popcorn! We all love popcorn and the popcorn at the parks is delicious! Plus they sell buckets with $2 refills for the duration of your stay so it might just be the most cost effective thing you can purchase at the parks. It’s safe to say that we can all lay off the popcorn for a while. Just know that while the food can be pricey there are ways to mitigate some of the costs.
Buy the Memory Maker Photo Pass - If you cherish photos as I do this purchase will be worth the price and is less expensive if purchased in advance. In all the parks there are photographers that are situated in key locations and it’s easy enough to get a family photo taken with a Disney character or in front of Cinderella’s Castle or the Millennium Falcon by waiting in a short line. The photos are good quality and Disney photographers then associate your photos with your Magic Band and the photos will appear in the MyDisney Experience app. If you opt to pay for the Memory Maker all the photos are available for you to download within 30 days. Along with my own photos I aim to use the photos in the app to make a Disney World photo album for the kids - it might be the only album I’ve ever made for them! It’s important to note that you can have photos taken without the Memory Maker photo pass and they will also be available to download if purchased individually.
Wardrobe Thoughts - The weather was all over the place for us when we were there. Mostly sunny but we had rain one day and some mornings and evenings were quite chilly whereas, the afternoons were pleasantly warm. So if I have any consistent wardrobe advice it would be to wear layers, clothes with pockets as you will want easy access to your phone and comfortable shoes. If traveling in the winter the girls and I wore these Dudley Stephens fleeces (mine/girls/toddler) along with a classic jean jacket which was the perfect amount of warmth for us provided we could strip down to our t-shirt when the sun was high! For our rainy day we ended up buying ponchos at the park but in hindsight, it would have been better for some of us to bring our own raincoats and to order a handful of ponchos online. The poncho is actually a great option at the parks because if you’re carrying a backpack or purse it will be covered and if you have a stroller you can drape the poncho over the stroller to limit some of the water it will accumulate while you’re on a ride. At night despite the fact that the parks are well lit, it still gets pretty dark and some families brought glow stick necklaces which I thought to be a brilliant idea. Also when packing don’t be shy about bringing some Mickey gear - everyone’s doing it! You can read more about what we packed here. Not mentioned but very important is the fact that the resorts all have laundry services available for a fee…I did two loads while we were there and our clothes would have never survived if I hadn’t brought an OxiClean gel stick.
Disney Characters - One of my favorite things as a kid was collecting autographs from all of the Disney characters. So on our first morning we made sure to grab autograph books and pens before we got on the monorail. Characters don’t often just roam around the parks but there are many meet-and-greets available and if you’re kids are into the characters there are numerous Character Dining options available (Cinderella’s Castle was quite the experience!). Each character is more than willing to take photos and sign autographs (if their costume allows) and my favorite part is that each signature is different. You can purchase autograph books online before you arrive or I even saw some people using a blank photo mat to collect signatures (with colored clickable Sharpies) that they will later frame with a photo from their trip.
Things I Would Do Differently - Thankfully, not much it was a really fun trip but it was exhausting. So if we had, had more time…maybe one more day I would have planned a day to enjoy our resort and just hang out at the pool or take advantage of the activities they offer like an outdoor movie night. Ideally, this day of relaxation would have been smack dab in the middle of the trip instead we just took a couple of afternoons to do this and it was all a bit rushed.
If you’ve made it this far…thank you for reading my novel. I’m sure I’ve already forgotten a handful of things but there is just so much one can know about their first trip to Disney World. Hopefully these tips make the planning a little easier and the trip all the more enjoyable. If you’re ready to start your planning your trip head to DisneyWorld.com and make sure to check out the MyDisneyExperience section of the website and download the app. Cast Members are incredibly helpful over the phone too just be wary of the wait times and if doing this all yourself isn’t your thing there are plenty of travel agents associated with Disney that can assist for limited fees (if any). My kids and I are already counting down the days (maybe years) until our next visit!
A compilation fo Katestake.com Disney Posts:
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