Hello Disney friends! Tonight I’ll be sharing some of my most used Disney Insider tips and tricks with you and many of these will also answer some of your questions that you have written in to me with. I love it when I am out places or even at work and people come up to me and ask me questions about Disney World. Just today a co-worked was telling me that she is taking her two grand kids to Disney World next week and she was almost terrified by it! So I sat her down and started going through all of my tips to help out. By the end of our talk, she had 3 pages full of notes and she was feeling much better about her upcoming trip. She looked at me and said, “You need to write a book and share these amazing tips with the world!” Well many people have already beat me to that, but I CAN write them all down here on my blog, so let’s get started!
Insider Tip #1 – Use Disney’s Magical Express!
If you are planning on flying into the Orlando International Airport to get your Walt Disney World vacation started, then you absolutely MUST call ahead and save your seats on Disney’s Magical Express Bus. These busses truly are magical in that they will put your baggage on the bus for you, you will enter a luxury bus with some very comfortable seats on them, you will get to watch a great video all about your upcoming stay at the Disney World Resort, then you will be dropped right off in front of your resort hotel, and then your bags will be taken directly to your room for you. What could be any easier than that? Nothing, that’s what! If you have no need to rent a car, then please take this absolutely FREE bus trip to your hotels front steps and enjoy a great video or enjoy a 45 minute nap before you hit the parks! You’ll thank me for this the first time you use it. Disney will even mail you luggage tags to put on your bags as well. It is truly carefree for you saves you rental car fee and having to drive everywhere you go and pay for parking as well.
Insider Tip #2 – Character Meals – Should I Or Shouldn’t I?
The short answer here is Yes and No. Let me explain. If, like my co-worker, you will be traveling with younger kids, then here is my tip for you. You most definitely must do ONE Character Breakfast at Chef Mickeys in the Contemporary Resort. Why? To begin with, you will end up taking a Monorail to get there and younger kids absolutely LOVE riding on the “highway in the sky” Monorails. They get to look out the windows and see that they are up so high in the air above everyone else and it makes them feel like super heroes. The monorail actually goes right through the Contemporary Resort so you will get to watch the Monorails come and go as you eat, and they is cool for younger kids as well. Next, Chef Mickeys breakfast is by far the cheapest Character Meal you will get. Looking to save money and still see characters right at your table? Then Chef Mickeys is your ticket. Next, Chef Mickeys has the largest choice of food items for breakfast for the entire family. The little ones can get the Mickey waffles they love, and Mom and Dad can get a made to order omelette with just about fillings that you like. They have cereals, bacon, eggs, all types of fruits, hams, french toast, basically if you have had it for breakfast, it is available here on the buffet. Finally, you are guaranteed to see each and every character at your table before you leave. You will see Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip and Dale and Pluto. They come to your table and pose for pictures with everyone at the table, and sometimes they have time for autographs. The only thing you have to watch is that sometimes the little ones get so wound up about the characters that they fail to eat much, and you will be paying a higher price for this breakfast so you have to be dilligent in reminding them to eat when the characters aren’t there.
If you have slightly older kids, then the magic of the character meals are mostly lost on them. Now at 45 I still love to do character meals. Like Peter Pan, I’ll never grow up and will always love posing with Mickey for a new photo, but older kids just see it as a waste of time that they could be using to ride the rides in parks. So for these parents I would tell you to save your money.
You can ask around to see if you have a particular character that you would like to have a meal with because different characters show up at different restaurants. Some can be down right impossible to find, such as Rapunzel.
Insider Tip #3 – You Will Get Wet
Splash Mountain is my favorite ride in the Magic Kingdom (sorry Haunted Mansion!). There is a sign outside the ride. It is kind of a little sign and most people walk right by it without reading it. Here is the sign:
It should say, “You WILL Get Wet”, because for the most part, your going to get wet to some degree. This can be off putting to a lot of people I have found, especially at certain times of the day. To begin, if someone in your party does not like to get wet, they have the option of sitting in the waiting area just outside of the rides entrance where they can sit peacefully and stay 100% dry. You can also buy a rain poncho for them and have them put it on before they even get on the ride. Why before? Most of the time when you start to get into your log for the ride, you will find the seats are soaking wet because the last group got soaking wet and dripped all over the seats. So put that poncho on immediately and you will not get wet.
Finally, not only will you get wet, but I also find that many people forget they are holding cameras or camcorders and let me tell you, if you get them wet, they can totally stop working. I do not even recommend trying to put a plastic bag over them. Simply do not take them on any water ride. It is just too easy for water to work its way into the inner working of your electronics. This includes iPhones that you have in your jeans or shorts pockets so watch those as well.
Insider Tip #4 – FastPasses – Get Them Early and Often
FastPasses can be a huge time saver for your family, but you have to be quick for the more popular attractions and shows. Let’s take what is the most popular ride in all of Disney World these days, Toy Story Midway Mania at Hollywood Studios. Many days my family has had to get up by 7am so that we could have a quick breakfast, get on the DIsney Bus, and head over to Hollywood Studios so that we could be one of the first groups in the door. That way my son can run ahead to Toy Story Mania and get our FastPasses. This is because on a normal day, ALL of the FastPasses are usually gone by 11:00 or 12:00 noon! Yes ALL of the FastPasses for the ENTIRE DAY are gone by then. So if you do not get there early, you can be one of the many unhappy faces waiting in the 2 hour lines to ride the ride! Your best bet with FastPasses is to plan out your days as much as you can and the minute you are allowed to get your next set of FastPasses, you are then ready to get your next set. It is best to try to mix it up with popular rides, and not so popular rides so that you can always be riding something during the day. You will find that without FastPasses, you will spend the greater portions of your days waiting in long lines in the hot Florida sun. FastPasses are your friend and you should use them whenever you can.
Ok that’s it for today. There is a LOT of information here for you take in today, and that is purposefully so because I will not be able to do a post for tomorrow, so feel free to come back tomorrow and read any of the other great posts that are currently on the blog, and as always please feel free to leave comments or feedback for me. Have an amazing weekend, and I’ll see ya back here on Sunday for some fresh, new content about Disney!
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