Best Disney Tips And Tricks – Our family just got back from a surprise trip to Disney World after fall break! Britain and I surprised the kids! They had no idea!! You can check out the scavenger hunt we did here! The kids had a blast! You guys had great suggestions and tricks before we left! So I decided to put everything I learned into one post! I hope you find it useful!
I can’t tell you how much this has helped!! This was a first time trip for Lucy, but it was the first time for our entire family to stay at Disney for a planned trip! Amber was the biggest help getting started with the mouse! She planned every detail of our trip – including our hotel booking, fast passes, and dining reservations! For the first time, I didn’t know what to do! Amber made it so easy for us! You can also email Amber – [email protected]!
Best Disney Tips And Tricks
You can book Fastpasses up to 60 days before your trip! And I would highly recommend doing it! Especially if you have young children, fast passes are a great way to avoid long lines and make the most of your trip! Three can be booked at once! Once it is used up on the day of your visit, you can even book more if they are available! It was great for us to have it and it helped make the day better!
Our Best Tips For Your First Time At Disney World
If you familiarize yourself with the My Disney Experience app before you leave, it will really help make your trip easier! In the app, you’ll see all your Fast Pass reservations, dinner reservations, park maps, and more! The park map was very helpful to me! I was not familiar with the parks! The app knew where we were on the park map, and gave us directions on how to get to our next destination! You can also reserve more fast passes, change reservations if needed, and check wait times on all rides! It was incredibly helpful!
If you can afford it, staying at a resort connected to the monorail (Polynesian, Contemporary, or Grand Floridian) makes for easy access to the parks! It also helps you avoid many lines! The monorail has access to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot! You can also stay at a resort attached to the Skyliner that has access to Epcot and Hollywood Studios! If you stay at a Disney resort, you also have access to a bus to take you to the parks. No matter where you live, I’ll give myself an hour of travel time! Plan ahead on the bus or monorail and have time to get through security and get to your destination!
Again, if you are able to meal plan, it makes things much easier and easier! Our family does 2 meals and 2 snacks a day for each person! A meal at a sit-down restaurant can be close to $200 PLUS tip for four people! The meal plan came with a refillable cup for each of us that could be filled with soft drinks, tea or coffee! Snack credits can also be used for bottled water! Most of the restaurants we went to had characters too! It was the perfect time for photos and autographs!
The food is great! We distribute quick service meals most days! We will order two breakfasts and share! Then we will have dinner later that day. Then the two of us would order lunch and share it! Then for dinner, we will each eat our own food. This was a way to stretch the meal plans to help it work better for our family without spending a lot of extra money!
Best Disney World Splurges
Ok, I know…it sounds silly! But Disney only has paper rocks, and those things drive me (and Lucy!) bonkers! I wish I had brought a metal or silicone straw to put in my refillable cup for everyday use!
You never know when it will start to rain! But don’t let that ruin your plans for the day!! I bought this 8 pack of ponchos (4 adult, 4 child), and it was perfect! They also work for any water rides you do! The kids and I wore them for Splash Mountain! It’s also a good idea to pack some flip-flops in your bag too! If it starts to rain or you’re water riding, you can change into them to keep your other shoes dry! It was the day we left, and we still had punches left! I was able to give these to people going to the parks that day because as you can imagine, Disney ponchos are expensive!
We were lucky enough to be at Disney when Mickey’s Scariest Halloween Parade was on! Yes, it is an extra charge, but it was a fun experience with WAY less people in the park than a normal day! Our family dressed up (as most families did) and headed to the Magic Kingdom for a night of fun! The rides were all open and the wait times were short! Most rides had a 5-10 minute wait time! The parade is really great too! The British reserved seats for us for almost an hour so we could see everything better! I took Henry and Lucy for a few rides before the parade started! You can shop our clothes here!
Did you know you can buy a Disney gift card from Target?! And if you use your Target card, you can save 5%! This is a great way to pay for your entire trip! If your trip costs $5000, buy $5000 in Disney gift cards and save $250! It may not seem like much, but it’s a great way to save!
Best Days To Visit Disney World Parks (crowd Calendar Guide)
11. Give your kids a gift card to let them take home a gift!
We gave each child a $30 gift card to buy a little souvenir to take home!! There were so many options around the park! Henry chose a Star Wars hat, and Lucy chose a Little Mermaid set! They loved doing it!
While you can use your snack credit to purchase water bottles, I recommend taking a refillable water bottle with a lid to the parks each day! We bought two of these and filled them with ice and water before we left!
I bought two pairs of shoes for each man on our trip! We rocked the shoes we would wear every other day! I knew how uncomfortable it would be for us to try to walk around with the pieces! I bought these shoes for myself and a pair of Birkenstock sandals! They were perfect!
Unique Things To Do At Walt Disney World
I bought each of the kids autograph books and sharpie retractable pens ahead of time for them to get the characters’ signatures! We can also have pictures of them with book characters! The kids loved getting autographs!
Another fun tip that many of you suggested was to buy a lanyard and lots of pins ahead of time! This is what my kids loved the most! They wear their linens and cottons all day long! Many cast members also have pins, and you can trade them! It was really exciting!
I used my phone quite a bit on our trip! From fast passes to checking wait times to taking park maps and photos, my phone got a workout! I brought a portable charger with me, and it was a lifesaver! I needed to take it once a day! But if you need to do more than that, Disney even has kiosks in the parks! For $30, you can buy a portable charger! You can charge it yourself or exchange it for a fully charged charger for just $3!
There are workers in vests in every park and almost every character! It is worth the money, in my opinion, to distribute to the memory maker! A photographer takes your photos, scans your Magic Band, and the photos are almost immediately available for you to download in the My Disney Experience app! We were able to get lots of great family and personality photos!
Best Of The Blog {tips, Tricks And Reviews Of Disney Destinations}
There are many things to carry in the parks – water bottles, sunglasses, bandaids, ponchos, autograph books, shoulder sleeve tops, etc. A big bag is a must! I brought my favorite Stella and Dot backpack, and it was perfect! Multiple pockets and compartments, adjustable straps, and water resistance! It was perfect for parks!
If there is one thing you would do a little more…. Waiting! Lines can be long, transfers from one place to another can take a while! I played with the kids in line to keep them from waiting! We played “I’m a detective”, “I’m thinking about the number between ____ and ____”, anything to keep up
