Disney World Tips (Repost)

Hi everyone, if you're reading this and thinking that we already did this, you're right. We went back to try to fix something and noticed that a few other posts were not the way that we wanted them to be. We attempted to fix them, but for some reason the fix wouldn't hold, so we're re-posting.
So, here are our Disney World Tips:

 

Transportation

If you have an early breakfast reservation, whether at a different resort than your own or at one of the Parks, check with your concierge the night before to see what time the “breakfast” bus arrives at your resort. (Around 6:20 from the All-Star resorts.) Be sure to arrive at least 15 minutes before this time—the bus may be early. 

Utilize all forms of transportation that are available. (Buses/Boat/Monorail.) Buses, boats, and monorails all give different and exciting perspectives to travel throughout the WDW Resort. Sometimes boats are much faster for getting to resorts on the water. 

There are walkways between the Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary Resort and the Polynesian Resort and the Ticket and Transportation Center. (If you are traveling to Epcot from the Polynesian Resort it may be easier to take the walkway to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then take the Epcot monorail from there instead of taking the Resort monorail all the way around to the TTC and then transferring to the Epcot monorail.

Buses for Downtown Disney (Soon to be Disney Springs) only depart from resorts, not from any of the parks. (There is also boat transportation to and from Downtown Disney and Port Orleans, both French Quarter and Riverside, and Saratoga Springs. 

Always allow at least 1 hour for transportation, especially if you have a dining reservation. This applies for travel between your resort and any of the parks, one park to another, or/and most especially your resort and another resort.

Dining

The Disney Dining Plan—USE IT. If you’re staying at a Disney resort and want to make the most of your dining options, the dining plan may be right for you. It may not necessarily save you money, but it does make things easier when choosing where and what to eat. (There will be a post dedicated to at least the deluxe dining plan.)

Try to get breakfast reservations before park openings. This makes it so that you don’t have to fight the crowds at rope drop, you can get “empty park” pictures, and after your dining experience is complete you are already inside the park and you can make it to just about any ride without a long wait time.

If you plan on “snacking around the world” instead of drinking around the world do not think that all snacks must be desserts from a quick service location. Most countries have candies or other packaged snacks that you can take back to your room for later or even take home with you. Non-alcoholic drinks are also an option. (Be careful. You don’t want to fill up on just snacks.) 

Leftovers. I know, why would you want to have leftovers while on vacation? On days when we do not have a breakfast reservation the two of us share one quick service breakfast at our resort and also share any leftovers that we have from the night before or snacks that we got to go. Most restaurants will allow you to take food that you can’t eat at that moment but do not want thrown away back to your resort with you. Just ask for a box. Also, you can get most dessert items to go. This includes in some locations gelato or milkshakes. 

Babies

Don’t hesitate to go to Disney because you have a baby. You can do A LOT with them. You can also get a lot of great baby and character pictures. 

There are baby changing stations in most of the restrooms. Both men’s and women’s rooms. 

Strollers are a back saver for parents, and for those with kids old enough to walk, a foot saver for those tiny little feet. 

 

In the Parks/General

Stay hydrated. Seriously. It can get hot during any time of year. (We’ve only been in January, February, and September.) You’re also doing A LOT of walking. Drink lots of water so that you don’t get sluggish, grumpy, or sick. (Bring your own water bottle and fill it at water fountains that can be found throughout the parks.) You can also ask for a glass of water at quick service locations. 

Plan, but don’t over plan. Having a park planned for each day as well as dining reservations as well as a few Fastpasses is great and incredibly helpful. However, I have seen posts online from various people that have their days planned down to what order they going to conquer attractions, which can also be fine, however you must also be flexible. If an attraction is down, don’t get upset, just come back later. Enjoy your vacation. Don’t make it all about keeping a schedule. 

Fastpass+ is great, but you don’t always need one. The big name rides like Toy Story Mania, Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, and Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, Peter Pan and Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, Kilimanjaro Safaris and Everest at Animal Kingdom, and Test Track and Soarin’ at Epcot get long line quickly. Once the line is long it pretty much stays long all day. However, if you get to any of the parks before rope drop and head straight to any of these attractions you are almost guaranteed to have a wait time of less than 15 minutes. Once you have finished the attraction check the standby time and see how much the wait time has jumped. It was worth the brisk walk to your first attraction. 

DO NOT RUN. You will get dirty looks from other park guests and will get told to stop and slow down by Cast Members. If you do choose to run, please listen to the Cast Members when they tell you to stop. Do not give them dirty looks and continue running. They are just doing their job and trying to keep everyone safe.

If you have small children that are not tall enough to enjoy a certain attraction, but everyone else in your party wishes to ride, use rider swap. You will be given a Rider Swap/Switch pass that looks like an old paper Fastpass. One you have enjoyed the attraction return to the adult that stayed with the child and hand them the pass. That adult and two others will be allowed through the Fastpass line after presenting the pass while the rest of your party waits with the child.

Some attractions have single rider lines. Sometimes it is advantageous to utilize these lines and other times it is not. (Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster only uses single riders when there are odd numbered parties and they need to fill a seat. This line may take as long as the standby line. The single rider line for Test Track on the other hand can cut out the time that is used to design a car while in line.) Parties of more than one rider that enter the single rider line will most likely be broken up.

Wear comfortable shoes. You are walking A LOT. At least 5 miles a day. You will get blisters and achy feet no matter what. Comfortable shoes do help though. So do Band-Aids just in case.   

Take a down day near the middle of your trip. Plan one or two meals at the most for this day and just wing the rest of it. Get up late, relax in your room, swim, go to Downtown Disney, or go to a Park in the afternoon. This is also a great day to do a special ticket event in the evening like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

Fireworks! There are great places to watch all of the night time spectaculars, and some of them are not so obvious. Since Fantasmic! is in an amphitheater any seat is a great one. For Illuminations the best seats in the house were recently taken away from the “general public”. I think these are now the Fastpass+ reserved seats. (In between the two gift shops at the entrance to World Showcase.) Now just about anywhere has a great view, but a place that we found on this past trip, but did not sit there for the show, is in the African themed section closest to Germany. And my new favorite place to watch Wishes, which we stumbled upon by accident, is just outside of Liberty Tree Tavern in Liberty Square. 

Bring plastic zip-top bags. These are great for wet or dirty clothes, transporting leftovers like bread, and keeping important things, like electronics, dry on water rides.

It rains… deal with it. Normally it doesn’t last long so you can wait it out. Bring our own poncho or umbrella so you don’t have to spend money on Disney ones. You could also just brave the rain or take to the inside and enjoy an attraction or show.

Disney is for everyone-- even couples that don’t have kids. There is plenty for adults to do. (We took three trips to WDW together before we had our son.)

Use Disney’s PhotoPass photographers. They will take photos for you on your own camera for you if you want. They will also take photos with their camera and will upload to either your My Disney Experience or an account through a PhotoPass card. You can decide later if you want to purchase prints or even Memory Maker. This way everyone can be in the photo.

There is free WIFI in most places. This includes resort rooms, lobbies, food courts, and the parks.

Hopefully these tips will help you in your trip planning as well as your park touring. If we left anything out add it in the comments.