My Best WDW Hints

[fantasia73]

I just got back from a great trip to Disney! The trip was almost perfect. I only had one blunder in which I ended up walking around MGM looking for my car in the pouring rain for 45 minutes. Here’s my list of helpful hints!!!


1. Fast Pass – We visited Disneyworld during one of the busier times of year (8/17-8/25). Fast Pass made it possible to ride everything that we wanted to ride with a minimal wait. It was amazing to us how many people waited in the regular lines for rides that had a Fast Pass system. Fast Pass also made it possible for us to really enjoy the parks. We could grab a Fast Pass and then spend our waiting time enjoying the scenery, taking pictures, or having a snack. We never felt rushed and we never felt like we were missing out on anything.

2. Arrive Early – Most people do not want to get up early on their vacations (which usually I agree with), so the best touring times are early in the morning. We found that people tended to arrive at the park an hour or two after the official opening of the park. At the Animal Kingdom, this was especially important. By around 11AM on our Animal Kingdom day, the crowds were huge, lines were long, and the pathways around the park were jammed up. We had arrived at the parks opening and were able to ride everything at least once without waiting in lines. I get a kick out of leaving the park on an empty tram while thousands of people are just getting there.

3. Make Dinner Priority Seatings – If you are interested in having a decent meal on your trip, make sure that you make reservations plenty of time in advance. I can’t tell you the number of people who would show up at a full service restaurant right at meal time, be told that there was a 2 hour wait for a table, and then storm off. Food is VERY important to me, so I wanted to make sure that I’m not stuck eating burgers every night. You’ve got to plan ahead!!

4. The Boardwalk – Spend some time walking around and shopping on the Boardwalk. It’s very relaxing to be there around dinnertime and to be able to stroll, hear live music, and see the gorgeous surroundings. If money were no object, I would stay here every time! The Flying Fish is THE BEST restaurant in Disneyworld (IMHO), so make a priorty seating if you can.

5. WALK LIKE YOU DRIVE – My biggest pet peeve of the whole trip was the way people would plow you over as they went from attraction to attraction. I was run over by strollers, wheelchairs, and all kinds of rude people. No one stopped to say excuse me or apologized for running me over. If people would follow the rules of the road as they walked (stay to the right, no tailgating, . . .), we’d all benefit. We even game up with a song about it (“If you walked like you drove, you wouldn’t run me over. If you walked like you drove, you wouldn’t piss me off . . .”). Yes, I am a music teacher.

6. Take A Nap – Because we arrived at the park so early, we were able to rest at the hotel for a couple of hours before beginning our nighttime activities. I would have the adrenaline rushing through my body after the morning, but as soon as my head hit the pillow, I magically fell asleep.

7. Fantasmic Dinner Package – Disney offers this great service. You eat at either the Brown Derby or Momma Melrose’s and you get a VIP pass to get into Fantasmic. Fantasmic is an incedible, not to be missed show that fills up its arena at least an hour before the show starts. The VIP pass lets you save time by having a reserved section to sit in and by giving you seats right near the exit for a quick getaway. We were planning on eating at the Brown Derby anyway, so it worked out well. (Side note: I was fortunate enough to be sitting behind the VP of Atlantic Records. My personality was so charming that he gave me his business card and sent me a huge box of CDs.)

8. Meet New People - I met so many nice people on this trip. Waiting for illuminations, I was talking with a man from England and it was so interesting to here his perspective of the United States. I met that cool Atlantic Records guy just by joking with him. We even had an interesting coversation with an in cognito Rosie O’Donnell who was buying a Sprite from a vendor in the Animal Kingdom, just like us common folk. I said something like “That Dinosaur ride is the best ride that I’ve ever been on.” She says “ It’s the scariest ride that I’ve ever been on in my whole life.” I was thinking to myself that she sounded like Rosie O’Donnell. And lo and behold I turned around to find her right there behind me.

 

[Debi]

What great advice! Thanks for the helpful hints.

 

[MelindaM]

Just got back on the fifteenth, and I can't agree more with what you said. Great tips!!

 

[Maharajah Mama]

I agree with the 'walk like you drive' tip. I felt like a cow being herded around the park, only all the other cows had mad cow disease and kept running me over.....grrr.

 

[disneefamily]

Disnee Dad says.......................................... Here are some of the best tips and there are only a few.... Number one... you must stay on site. You wake up to magic and go to bed with magic,and you get to use a wonderful transportation system.They say it's 20 minutes between rides, but in 17 days there (so far) we only hit the 20 minutes twice. 75% was 10 minutes or less.......... Number two... Hit the early entries beacuse you are staying on site! Going to WDW is no time to take it easy!! You can do all of fantasyland in an hour (tip to parents with young children! if you go there for early entry)...........Number three.. PLan, PLan, Plan!!!!!!!! Know the parks you are going to, know what rides have the longest lines, do not waste your time waiting in line. Know that if you have to watch the 3:00 pm parade, watch it from the Adventureland side up at the very front. When it ends you can turn around and head to Jungle Cruise with no wait and then jump on Pirates with a very short wait!!.... Number four..... Take advantage of fastpass, especially around mealtime. Get the fastpass and go eat lunch, when you are done it is probably time to use your fastpass!!

 

[Bete]

I've been lucky enough to go 3X this year but I know now how important it is to plan in advance. You don't have to be inflexible but having a guideline will get you the most bang for your bucks. Spending time deciding what to do is way too time consuming once you are there.

I would add to the above that if you are a Disney resort guest, by all means go to e-nights (at M.K.) even though it costs extra dollars (like $12 for an adult). Remember, when you enter any park veer left, not right; it's always less crowded that way. If you are not a parade person or fireworks person, this is a great time to do the rides and shows.

You get more out of your day doing mid-day breaks for a couple of hours. I find this adds at least 2 hours to the overall day. Besides, everyone seems to be in a better mood taking a break. You can nap, swim, relax, etc. Take advantage of park-hopping priveleges if you have the right passes. Some believe in going to the early-entry park (if you are a Disney guest) as soon as it opens then taking a break and in the afternoon going to a different park which was the early-entry park from the day before because there will be less crowds. Also, if a park closes early like A.K. you can still have a nice evening park hopping to a park that stays open later. Again, these practices give you more for the same money.

Understand that sometimes you have to sacrifice a long-waiting ride or attraction to be able to see 5 or more attractions in it's place. This is not as important of a rule if you go during non-peak times. Also, try to avoid eating too much in the parks it just takes too much time. Normally, I'm not a believer in late dinners but when going to Disney this is another way of getting more hours for rides and attractions. If you do three meals in Disney a day, especially the sit-down eateries, there is no way you will see enough of the parks. Now, if the fun for you is eating at the different establishments that's fine but it kills park time.

Most of all, have fun and don't take it all too seriously. Even the best planners don't see it all. If you can take multiple trips, then you plan trip two with what you missed on trip one.

 

[fantasia73]

I disagree about the "must stay on site" tip. In my opinion, staying off site is really not that bad, especially when you're on a budget. I stayed in a suite off-site for $79 per night which included a full kitchen and breakfast. We weren't far from the "World" either. Less than a five minute drive from the Disney property. Yes, if I could afford it, I would love to stay at the Boardwalk or the Yachtclub. But . . . you can still be in the magic all day, even staying off-site. We're not into swimming pools, so we just use the hotel to sleep anyway.