Last week, I shared this list of Disney tips… but that was before our big trip. This week I have more unsolicited advice, but this time it’s with a “been there, done that” flair!
1. Use FastPasses, and use them wisely! FastPasses are offered on Disney’s most popular attractions, and they basically allow you to get a reservation to ride a ride. When you put your park ticket into the kiosk, it prints a ticket with an hour-long time frame in which you can come back and go through the FastPass line, which is generally much shorter than the stand-by line. FastPasses are a huge time-saver. All of the parks were quite crowded when we were there last week, but thanks to the FastPass option, we didn’t stand in line for anything with a posted wait time more than 30 minutes. FastPasses are free with park admission and there’s no limit to the number of them you can get in a day, but you can only have one at a time. So, if I got a FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that had a time frame of 12:40-1:40, I’d have to wait until 12:40 before I could get a FastPass for Splash Mountain. Another tip – they rarely enforce the end time on your FastPass, so don’t worry if your time frame conflicts with a dinner reservation – you can use your FastPass after the printed time, just not before it.
2. Use the Rider Switch. The Rider Switch (also known as the Baby Swap) allows parents traveling with small children to take turns on rides without having to stand in line twice. For rides that have a minimum height requirement, one parent waits in line (or even better, uses a FastPass) while the other stays with the baby, and then when that parent exits the ride, the second parent can use a special Rider Switch pass to go through the FastPass line. The Rider Switch pass allows the second parent to bring up to three other kids with him or her, so this means the older kids totally make out – Kate got to ride every ride twice in a row! This is a great feature and one that really allowed us to get the most out of our time at the parks. To get a Rider Switch pass, just go up to the cast member who is working the FastPass entrance and ask for one – but make sure you have both parents and the baby with you, as they have to verify that you actually do have a baby with you! Once, not knowing this rule, Kate and I tried to get a Rider Switch pass for Andy to use while he was in the restroom changing Sam’s diaper. The cast member was very nice but said she had to see the baby, so make sure to keep your party together! There’s a video here that also describes the Rider Switch – look for it on page four of the videos.
3. Remember the Baby Care Centers! I mentioned these in my post last week and also in my recap of my Disney Mom Blogger trip, but I just had to mention them again after actually having the opportunity to use them. I really think they are probably the most under-utilized place in the parks! Each park has one, and they contain huge (and very clean!) padded changing tables, restrooms, high chairs, nursing rooms and play areas, and you can buy any kind of baby item you might need, from formula and baby food to medicine to clean clothes. We used the centers in both the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, and they were so nice, cool and clean. It made cleaning Sammy up so much easier than trying to do it in a regular restroom! One evening, Sam was hot, tired, and fussy, so we took him into the Baby Care Center to change his clothes. He was so happy to be out of his stroller that we decided just to let him and Kate play in there for a while – they played with toys, books and watched a little bit of “The Little Mermaid” and it was just the downtime that they both needed. It also happened to start raining while we were in there, and it was the perfect place to wait out the storm.
4. Make a stroller plan. Kate is five years old and hasn’t used a stroller in quite a while – in fact, I never bought a double stroller after Sam was born because Kate just didn’t need one by the time he arrived. However, Disney is a whole other story!! I would recommend getting a stroller for any child under the age of 10, seriously! It’s just so. much. walking. And when we do Disney, we walk fast. There’s no way Kate could have kept up with us, and it would have been miserable trying to coerce her along. I’ve mentioned before that I have a stroller problem addiction thing, so I put a lot of time into figuring out the best stroller for us to use at Disney. There are lots of options! First of all, you can rent double or single strollers from Disney. It’s not the cheapest route to take (single strollers are $15/day and double ones are $31/day, and there’s a slight discount for multiple-day rentals), but the strollers are easy to push and it’s very convenient to pick one up in the morning and drop it off in the evening. And you don’t have to lug them on the bus! But that also means that you don’t have a stroller to use to get to the bus (or car), or to get to your room once you arrive at your resort. They are also not the most comfortable strollers in the world for babies to sleep in. I would definitely go this route, despite the cost, if my kids were both three or older. So what to do if you don’t want to rent one from Disney? One option, obviously, would be to bring your own. Or, you can rent them from other places, like Orlando Stroller Rentals. This is much cheaper than renting a stroller from Disney, and the strollers I saw from this company looked brand new and were awesome strollers – many of them were the double version of the “>BOB jogger that we have, and that’s a GREAT stroller. If I had it to do over again, I would have gone that route, but as it was, before we left I got signed up for a stroller swap through the DIS Boards. Basically, one stroller is passed from family to family – and use of the stroller is free (or nearly free). Great idea, right? Well, yes, in theory. However, in practice, I have to say I probably wouldn’t go this route again. First of all, the stroller we used was dropped off at our resort five days before our arrival, and the hotel staff had an awful time finding it when we got there. In fact, they told me several times that it just wasn’t there, and we didn’t get to use it our first day. They found it without any trouble the next morning, but it was still a hassle. Secondly, a stroller (even an awesome one like the Maclaren Twin Triumph that we used) that’s passed from family to family is going to take a beating, and even though the one we used was only a few months old, it had obviously been through the war. Finally, we lucked out and the family we were to pass the stroller on to was staying at the same resort we were, but had it not worked out that way, we would have had to spend a good portion of our last day taking the stroller to another resort, and that would have sucked. Overall, the convenience of renting a new, nice stroller would have been worth the cost incurred to me.
5. If you have a baby, bring a stroller and a baby carrier. Seems like overkill and one more thing to lug around, I know (and I know that’s what my husband thought when I presented him with this great idea!), but our Ergo carrier was a life-saver during our trip. I had actually planned to use it when we waited in line for rides, but thanks to the FastPasses that wasn’t so much of an issue. The time it really came in handy was at the end of the night on the bus. Most nights, both the kids were asleep in the stroller by the time we left the parks, and getting them and the stroller onto the bus was quite the ordeal. I’d put the carrier on and put Sam in it, Andy would pick up Kate and carry her, and I’d fold up the stroller and carry it onto the bus – which wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have my hands free. Also, the carrier made it easier to contain hold him on the bus – and since there were at least a couple times that space was at such a premium that I had both kids on my lap, this was a tremendous help.
6. If you decide on the Disney Dining Plan, understand how it works before you leave home. As I mentioned last week, I’m a fan of the Disney Dining Plan, but it can be a little confusing. To get your money’s worth out of it, it’s really important to read up on it and figure out how it works before you leave, and to have a plan of how you’re going to use it. I overheard a conversation on the bus one day that nearly caused me to have a stroke – one woman asked another if she could use her table service meals at a counter service stand, because, and I quote, “We’re using none of our table service meals. None.” When the other woman responded, “I don’t know, but we used all of our counter service meals in the first two days,” Andy had to restrain me. Seriously, both of those scenarios are just such a giant waste of time and money! If you don’t have any desire to make advanced dining reservations or to plan ahead, don’t get the dining plan, it’s not worth it! Even with advanced planning, though, things change, so my other dining plan tip is to have a few options for table service meals that don’t require reservations in your back pocket – for example, we missed one table service meal, so we made up for it a couple days later by having lunch at Planet Hollywood at Downtown Disney.
7. Reconsider Extra Magic Hours. I never thought I’d hear myself say that, because after our last trip, I was a huge fan of EMHs, which are when one park opens early or closes late only for guests staying at Disney resorts. However, this time, they just didn’t work out for us. And the bad part was, I had based our entire touring plan around which parks were having them. We did have some luck with them, particularly at the Animal Kingdom, but for the most part it felt as though we were just following the crowds instead of avoiding them. So, I remembered a tip Disney Mom Panel expert Amber gave me in May – she said she tries start the day at the park that had EMHs the night before, banking on the fact that if most people stayed at that park late the night before, they’d be going somewhere different the next morning. We altered our plan to go with this theory, and it really did work. Looking back on it, it only makes sense. I had planned for us to be at the Magic Kingdom two particular nights because of EMHs… however, the EMHs were from 11 p.m. – 2 a.m., and by 10:30 both of those nights, our kids looked like this:
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8. Take breaks. Again, never thought I’d hear myself say it, but the oft-given advice about taking a break from the parks in the middle of the day was crucial for our trip. By 11 or 12 each day, it was so hot and the parks were so crowded that we were all ready to go back to the hotel to nap and/or swim. I must say that I never thought I’d be a proponent of swimming while at Disney, either (we can do that at home!), but the pools at our resort were wonderful – the water was warm and we had so much fun swimming. We also found that we had plenty of park time despite these respites – they made the early mornings and late nights much, much easier. There were also times that we were at the parks and the kids were having total meltdowns, and a break for a snack or a meal was exactly what they needed. Sometimes we did more (and had more fun) when we slowed down.
9. Be flexible. Flexible is not my middle name, and if you could see the spreadsheets I had that outlined what park we were going to visit when and in what order we were going to ride the rides, you’d know what a big deal it is for me to say this… but being flexible and willing to chuck my plans was incredibly important to our trip. One morning, I hustled everyone out of bed so that we could get to Hollywood Studios before opening time (despite Kate’s cries of “I’m too tired!” as I woke her up). We rode one ride, and she was a complete disaster. She was crying and whining and begging to go back to the hotel to nap, so that’s exactly what we did (even though it pained me, I’ve got to say). We left the park before 9 a.m., and when we got back to the hotel she slept for three hours. The rest of the day, and really the rest of the trip, was better for it.
10. Help others, and let them help you. I was really pleasantly surprised with the community feel among Disney visitors. Each time we were on a crowded bus and I was carrying Sam, someone gave up their seat for me. When we were in situations like I described earlier with sleeping kids and a stroller to deal with, people would ask us how they could help us, and we did the same for others when we could help them. It was refreshing… this was not the case on our last trip, so I’ve decided that the recession is making people nicer.
And finally, my bonus – and perhaps most important – tip… do not set a wet child down on a paper toilet seat cover, unless you want to paper mache her buns.
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That’s all I’ve got, people. For more Top Ten Tuesday tips, visit Oh Amanda!
I love that you made spreadsheets for your vacation. You’re my kind of vacationer. 🙂
Muahahhahaha LOVE the last tip. THAT is hilarious.
Glad you did this trip and not me!! Snort.
Now the rest of us have a cheat sheet!
GREAT list! I’ll be coming back to this post when we plan our first trip there with our boys….
EMHs really worked for us when we were there last August. But, we learned the hard way NOT to make that park our MAIN PARK for the day. I remember being at Hollywood Studios one day and it was SO CROWDED! We left and went to Magic Kingdom, deciding later to go back to Hollywood Stuidos. It was after we did that re realized that some people (without park hoppers) make that their ONE park for the day, which caused the congestion. After that we spent the majority of the day in one park, and then EMHs at night at a different park.
I do agree that the Baby Care Centers are AMAZING. I found out about them before we left the first time we took the kiddos (Faith was 4, Lucy was 13 months).
But I do disagree about the strollers. When we went last time Faith turned 8 and Lucy 5 while we were there. We didn’t want to bother with a stroller, and both kids did absolutely fine. In fact, I remember commenting several times about how glad I was not to have to hassle with a stroller on the trip. I think that the use of a stroller really depends on the temperament of the children you will be traveling with.
We used to go to Disney every year when I was a child, and I’ve actually lost count on how many times I’ve been. At least 20 times…so I’m a bit of a Disney know-it-all sometimes. But the post-EMH park days is something I’d never thought about! Great idea!
Another good idea is to look at your map and go counter-clockwise. Everyone seems to go clockwise, so you’re going against the crowds and miss a lot of the traffic!
Such great advice & tips! I’ll have to bookmark this one for a future trip. I didn’t take advantage of the Baby Centers & now I’m wishing I had!!!
In all seriousness – was this fun? It doesn’t sound like fun…it sounds like you have to plan for conquering Disney instead of vacationing.
You do have to plan a bit for Disney but it’s completely worth it, nearing 40 and it’s still my favorite place to go!
I never plan for Disney in this way. I have gone with small children and with someone who was disabled, and I just have an idea which park we want to go to, which rides we want to see and where we want to eat and that is it. We have NEVER had a bad time, always have done everything we have wanted to do and have had some of the best vacations of my life!
Oh, I want to digest this post word for word.
*happy Disney sigh*
And I’m flabbergasted at the woman NOT using the table service. Whaaaat?!
#10 is so true. The level of consideration for other people is amazing at Disney. I lost my smart phone at Disney in April. Someone found it and turned it in seconds before I walked into guest relations. I hate to say it but my life is on this phone! I would have been lost.
Watch your belongings!! Left our camera unattended in a bag under a lounge chair in a water park for a split second and it was stolen. I have no doubt that there are professional thieves that frequent these parks. It’s a perfect place to prey on unsuspecting and distracted tourists. Watch your stuff at all times.
I agree watch your stuff. We left a book bag unattended for maybe 5 mins and it was stolen. No one returned any thing in it. There was no money just some snacks, our jackets, car keys, and my inhaler. I thought for sure someone would at least return my inhaler, it no
#10 I’m sorry but people aren’t always so kind on the buses and they don’t always offer to help with anything. actually on an over crowded bus the driver told us to fold the stroller, and put it in the aisle, my husband holding a sleeping DS2 was given a seat by someone nice. My poor DS1 at 7 was so tired and begging to sit and no one would help out. in fact people complained about the stroller and a group of kids were told to make room for DS and the little brats refused. I told DS its ok they are nasty rotten little children and he was a good boy and he’d let them sit because he was a good boy and not Nasty and Rotten like them. I didn’t hear anymore crap from anyone after that. So lesson learned people are people no matter where you are and tigers never change their stripes.
I agree. People
I agree. People aren’t always so nice. I was 6 months pregnant when we took our 5 year old daughter to Disneyworld. There were several times I had to stand (and hold my balance!) on the bus. Only one man offered me his seat. I would have offered my seat to a pregnant woman, a parent with a child, or an elderly person in a heartbeat.
My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary there in October last year. It was amazing to go without our three children. We had the anniversary buttons and we were told a ton happy anniversary and congratulations. We got sang to by Mickey and Minnie. We got chosen several times to participate in behind the scenes activities and we smiled the whole time. We had so much fun we are going back in April without the kids. We chose to buy seaso. Passes this year because we are going three times. The other two with another family with three children and our three. And the back again in October. My husband said his favorite part was seeing the childlike.amazement I still have today. This trip we will all be flying instead of 12 hours of driving.
Can I ask what time of the year you went? We’ve been spoiled and have always gone during slower times of the year but this year is the first we are going during Spring Break. I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little nervous about crowds and wait times, but with the kids being in school now we don’t have another choice. We are for the most part avoiding the days with EMH, but the crowds still scare me!
Hi Ashli! We went in August – the trip I wrote about was in August 2010, but we also went in August 2012 as well. My husband is a teacher, so even before our kids were in school, prime low-crowd Disney times were out of the question for us. I think if you plan well and use fastpasses, you’ll be good! I also like the touring plans found at touringplans.com.
Thanks! We’ll see how it goes, and worse comes to worse we’ll just do a lot of swimming. 🙂
The best weeks are the third week in Oct. and the third week in March. These are shoulder weeks. It’s hard to predict what a park will be like at any time, but Disney puts extra cast members on during the crowded times. Your best bet is to get Fast Passes too. Get there as early as you can. But do let the children sleep if they need it! This is hard on everyone –
I live 5 mins. away from Disney, have been a teacher at the Disney school in Celebration – I have an annual pass and I go all the time. My website is disneyinaweek.blogspot.com if you are interested in some daily reports from the parks that I go to that week. I’m also a photographer. There are a lot of hints and helps also in much of the writing. Just click on the photos and they will take you to more info.
Have fun! And don’t forget the SPF 55 (yes, that strong), hats and sunglasses no matter how much the kids complain. And don’t forget you are there to have a good time, not run a race to see how much you can do in a week!
I don’t have kids but after going their for our Honeymoon this spring those are really great tips. I totally agree on the breaks one, we saw so many kids who were just wiped out at like 3pm and I felt bad cause they were missing out! We even needed to make sure we took breaks too!
Emily,
As a former Disney Cast Member, I love reading about people’s vacations to The Most Magical Place on Earth, especially when it sounds like they enjoyed themselves. Your quip about the Disney Dining Plan was spot on! I worked in a Quick Service Location- known to the guests as “Counter Service”- and SO many people didn’t understand their dining plan. I see that you did the “Disney Dining Plan” with 1 Table Service, 1 Quick Service and 1 Snack per day, and it appears you got your moneys worth. I figured I would share some of my inner knowledge with you, for your own personal use or to share with your followers.
There are several different Dining Packages to choose from. You chose the Disney Dining Plan, which, because of its name, people think is the only one available. This is NOT true. This particular plan gives you, as stated above, 1 Quick-Service, 1 Snack, and 1 Table-Service per person, per night you are there. This also includes a RESORT refillable drink mug.
The next dining plan is the Quick Service Dining Plan. This plan gives you 2 Quick-Service & 1 Snack per person, per night. This plan also includes the Resort refillable drink mug.
The third dining plan is the Deluxe Dining Plan. This plan gives you 3 Meals & 2 Snacks per person, per night, as well as the Resort refillable drink mug. I believe you can redeem you “meal” credits on this plan in any combination of Table-Service and Quick-Service you like.
There is also the Disney Premium Plan and the Disney Platinum Plan, which include access to recreation equipment, tickets and tours. You can go to the company’s website for full details on all of these dining plans.
Here is a list of some things that are commonly misunderstood about all of the Dining Plans.
1) Resort Refillable Drink Mug- This mug can not be used in the parks! You could fill it up as many times as you like at your resort’s Quick-Service Location with anything available to you.
2) You can use a Table-Service credit at a Quick-Service location, but not vice-versa (for obvious reasons). Just let the person at the register know that you want to use a Table-Service credit.
3) There is also a common misconception about “snacks.” Any item with a purple and white symbol next to it on a menu board is considered a snack- the way they determine what qualifies is by price. There are some things that you can use a snack credit for AT YOUR RESORT that DON’T qualify in the parks. For example: Allergy Caramel Popcorn. This item, last time I checked, can be purchased on snack credit at a resort, but not in the park, so people with allergies should look into this and buy their “snacks” before they leave their resort for the day. There are also some food items sold in merchandise locations that qualify as snacks.
4) You can redeem more than your allotted meals or snacks per day if you so choose. So, you can use two Table-Service credits per person one day and then use three Quick-Service credits per person the next. Also, you can use any number of credits at a time. For example, if there are 4 people on your reservation, all 4 of you do not need to eat lunch at the same location. And, if you happen to meet up with a friend, you can use one of your credits for them- no one will ever know.
5) Disney is GREAT when it comes to food allergies. It will take some extra time, since someone allergy trained needs to take your order and prepare it for you, but there are plenty of options available.
Disney is FABULOUS with special dietary needs. My sister had special restrictions & asked a waiter at Brown Derby about an item & they asked if shw wanted to talk to the CHEF! She was asked the same thing at several other places too! All were VERy helpful.
USE THE BABY CENTERS!! I too was a Disney cast member & would tell EVERY parent I ever saw about them. They are the PERFECT sensory break from all the OVER sensations of the park…..calm…quiet..CLEAN…after a break there everyone including parents are refreshed & ready to go!!
As an Orlando native and current passholder I can honestly say this is the only list of tips I have read that make sense. You sound like someone who enjoys Disney and wants to share that with your children. Some of the other sites sound like parents who are taking their children because they have to. All first timers should read this list!
Great post – I am frequent Disney vacationer and am in fact getting married there next month! I just wanted to comment that the fastpass end times now are being enforced as they ramp up for the new fastpass+ systems. Keep this in mind for your planning – many touring plans have changes to ensure you don’t miss out on using those fastpasses you ran for in the morning!
My family and our friends go to Disney almost every year (there are ten of us in total) and we have it down to a science. The youngest member of the group is now 10, all of the rest are teenagers and the oldest is 22, so the late-night extra magic hours are kind of our favorite part. Our parents love them too. We go to the parks during the day, the dads and the one boy in our group sprint to get our first fast passes of the day right when the parks open, and then we meet at whatever ride we have decided to wait in line for first. We usually end up leaving the park and going to one of the resorts or Downtown Disney for dinner and then we part ways. The kids go to the extra magic hours and the parents usually go have a few drinks. It’s awesome and we’ve been doing it since I was 14. A family vacation where you don’t have to be together ALL the time and the big kids can go do their thing so they don’t get frustrated. To this day we are all obsessed with Disney. Our next trip is in June and my bestie and I are already excitedly planning and talking about how we can’t wait to see the new fantasyland!
I have never been to Disney World but it’s on my bucket list. 🙂 I appreciated your tips and hope I remember them when it’s finally my turn to go. We currently don’t have any children but that may change by then. Thanks!
Just an FIY to anyone reading this now. Fast pass times are now strictly enforced. Also, be sure to look into the information on the new RFID system.
“It’s just so. much. walking. And when we do Disney, we walk fast. There’s no way Kate could have kept up with us, and it would have been miserable trying to coerce her along.”
It is a lot of walking, but isn’t the vacation to Disney more about the kids than the parents? Take your time, use a leisurely pace– if you’re paying a lot of money to rush around, you’re probably not enjoying the parks that much. Above, say, the age of five or six, kids have enough energy that they can handle walking all day if you take breaks, sit for 15-20 minutes every hour or two, and enjoy the view. There’s so much that Disney has designed for you to just sit and look at that missing those opportunities to relax and not rush to the next place just makes the kids crankier.
We are pretty big Disney experts and this is the exact same advice I give everyone. The only thing I would add to the EMHs is the staff told us the parks with EMHS are always the busiest but most people burn out by time the fireworks go off. So stay back and relax take a long nap and then head to the park just as everyone else is crawling out the door 🙂 The Magic Kingdom is the best because most people leave after fireworks but if the park is late then they do a 2nd Electrical Pararde and by then the park is emptied out. You can take up all the room you want and watch the parade in style then hit the rides with zero wait time.
Thank you so much for this! 🙂 I will definitely use your wisdom on my trip with my two boys. 🙂
I’ve been checking out different website for advice about our first vacation to Disney World, first let me say, thank you for ALL the valuable insight! I think this information is the best and most practical! I want to take my 7yo daughter and am interested to know your opinion about which parks to go to, if a park hopper would be a good idea and how many days are advisable? Since you’ve stayed both on and off property, as a first-timer, what do you think would be best? Also, We can be flexible with days, time of year, but $$ is a factor. I know this is a lot, my brain is on overload from ALL the websites, prices and info. Thanks so much for your expert Disney advice 🙂
Hi Vonda! Thanks for the kind words. Seven is a great age for Disney! I’d say to hit all the parks if you can, but plan to spend most of your time at the Magic Kingdom. We’ve always gotten the Hoppers and I like the flexibility of them. That said, it adds a lot of cost, depending on how many days you go. The Hopper is the same price no matter if you are staying one day or fourteen, so the per-day price goes down, if you know what I mean. I love staying on property, but some of the deals I’ve heard make staying off appealing. If I were going to look into a place off-site, I would try to find a hotel with free breakfast and a free shuttle to all the parks. I hope that helps! Have fun!
These are awesome tips. I am more laid back and not as rigid with the details so I appreciated the flexibility tips. Also.. I LMBO at your last tip, hahaha.. loved it! Thank you for a great read and a good laugh.
Thanks so much, Mandy! Happy planning!
“I had based our entire touring plan around which parks were having magic hours.” Emily, Emily, Emily (((sister shaking head)))
BTW, for anyone reading this now, fastpass is now FsatPass+ and has changed a lot. Be sure to read up!
So I know this post is old but we had planned on utilizing the EMH as 3 out of our 4 days are morning hours and we are early risers. We are going during the week so no weekends and it will be in early May. Would we be ok sticking to our plan or is that extra hour in the morning not worth it?
I think the extra hour in the morning is great as long as you’re there in time to use the whole hour – but the evening ones are tough for little ones. If you have park hoppers, I’d plan to go to the EMH in the morning and leave around lunch time when things get super crowded, and then pick another park for the afternoon.