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A Magical Trip to Walt Disney World Resort

 

altFor the second time in 12 months, I was faced with the fun, yet terrifying task of planning a trip to Walt Disney World. We strategically planned a visit in 2017 before my twins turned 3 to maximize their free tickets and free character meals (details here). When my husband signed up for the 2018 Dopey Challenge as part of the Walt Disney World Marathon Weekend, I knew I would need to plan this year a bit differently. There are a few ways to prep for Disney - you can put yourself in the hands of a Disney Vacation Planner and let them take care of your hotel, meals and in-park plans (and checkbook), or you can grab a tour book and start a spreadsheet for a bit of number crunching and itinerary planning. I planned day-by-day Disney itineraries as a young girl, so scheduling our days and maximizing our savings was definitely more my speed. Having gone through the motions twice now, I have a few tips for a smooth and affordable trip.

Check out my tips for:

When to travel

Are you flexible on your travel dates? Check a few crowd calendars to identify the best weeks and days for the lowest crowds. For my 2017 trip I was completely flexible and wanted the absolute slowest days to visit. I used the subscription-based Touring Plans but you can also check out crowd calendars at Undercover Tourist, Kenny the Pirate and WDW Prep School. In 2018, my dates were fixed to the Marathon Weekend but the crowd calendars let me knew what to expect and what parks would be busiest during my vacation.

Save money with Disney Visa

My husband and I also signed up separately for a Disney Visa before our last trip and got a $200 statement credit when we spent $500 within 3 months. For both of us, that was a $400 score and we used that to pay for parking, meals and merchandise! The card has no annual fee so once we met the incentive goal, we kept them for access to cardmember discounts and exclusive experiences in the parks (including 10% select dining and shopping!). I definitely recommend this easy money! Sign up here.

How to get to Orlando 

We chose to drive the 14.5 hours from The Woodlands to Orlando. We've broken the drive up across two days and also done it in one full stretch. As my twin mom friends have advised, you can be miserable across two days or miserable for just one. We now opt for misery in just one day if possible. Alternatively, Orlando is a quick and easy direct flight from Houston. You can save even more by flying with Spirit Airlines out of IAH. A friend gave me a great tip that you can buy your tickets at the Spirit airport counter to save even more money than their online fares - just aim to pack light to avoid baggage fees!

Staying on or off-site

We have stayed both off-site and on-site - both times with our van. One benefit to flying and staying on-site is that you can leave the car seats at home and use Disney Magical Express buses for airport transit and then on-site transit (bus/boat/monorail) to get around during your stay. When staying off-site, you have $25 daily parking fees at the park. Our time savings being on-site this trip were minimal, so for future visits I'm still likely to go after the best lodging deal, be that with family, an Airbnb or an off-site hotel. I've also read that among surveyed kids, what they loved most about their Disney vacations was the hotel pool. Disney pools are heated to 82F year round and have life jackets of all sizes (so feel free to leave the Puddle Jumpers at home).

Best deals for tickets  

Once we planned our dates, the next step was to buy tickets for the kids (Walt Disney World provided adult tickets for the purpose of this review). After reviewing a few options, the best deal I found came from Undercover Tourist, with a $20 statement credit we scored twice for two tickets from AmExOffers.com (this offer comes and goes and varies in credit). The last ticket we purchased with Disney gift cards. Other vendors to check are ParkSavers.com, AAA and TicketsAtWork.com.

altFastPass+

Once you have your tickets, make the most of your days at Disney by understanding the FastPass+ system. Essentially, you can reserve a one hour window to enter the queue for specific rides (up to 60 days in advance if you are staying at a WDW property or 30 days in advance if you are staying off-site). You can book three FastPasses per day in advance with no duplicate rides or park changes. Once you have used all three you can sign up online, via mobile app or at an in-park FastPass+ kiosk for an additional FastPass (and when that's used up you can repeat). FastPasses are invaluable for some of the busier rides - you simply scan your MagicBand or ticket and by-pass the majority of the line. On our 2018 visit we experienced long FastPass lines to check in for Seven Dwarves Mine Train and Space Mountain, but speedier lines in the remainder of the queue. When Seven Dwarves has a 240 min. anticipated wait for regular folks, we were on the ride in about 20 minutes.

altDaily plans 

To help plan our 7 day trip in 2017, I bought an annual subscription to TouringPlans.com (now $14.95). The site lets you create optimized daily plans by park, factoring in historical data to provide estimated wait times to help plan the most efficient day possible - ideally, ride the most rides with the least wait. The site suggests FastPass rides and times, lets you prioritize distance walking over wait times, speed of walking, breaks for meals, etc. Our 2017 trip was during one of the slowest weeks of the year. I printed out the plans right before the trip and our days were no more than an hour or so off plan each day (usually due to unplanned rides or character experiences we added). Fast forward to 2018 and our plan was a huge mess on one of the busiest days of the year. I was clearly overly ambitious planning a day full of rides and was constantly updating the plan in park on my phone but the wait times never seemed to match. In the end we threw caution to the wind and let our FastPasses be our guide. We planned to do a lot more rides than we actually got to ride and fortunately my kids didn't have their hearts desperately set on any specific rides. This allowed us to avoid meltdowns when we zipped right past the huge waits at Peter Pan's Flight or It's A Small World. Flexibility is key. Keep your expectations low. In 2017 our goal was to make it from the park opening to one ride after lunch - anything beyond that was icing on the cake. In 2018 we had hoped to make it until the 9pm fireworks but around dinnertime it became apparent that our day was over.  If you know ahead of time that your daughter just has to meet a princess, maybe consider a character meal where the princesses come to you instead of waiting in line at a character experience. If Seven Dwarves Mine Train is at the top of your list, try to hit it as early as possible.

DVC tour

I knew based on crowd calendars that we would be visiting Magic Kingdom during one of the busiest times of the year. On our 2017 trip, every single day we were in the park by the time it opened and maximized smaller ride lines without wasting FastPasses (also known as "rope drop"). Due to race timing in 2018, I knew we wouldn't be able to rope drop and would be in the park a bit later. I had previous read in the MommyPoints blog about FastPass and gift card incentives for meeting with Disney Vacation Club and knew these extra FastPasses would be a great way to maximize our one day in the park. I called DVC prior to our arrival (877-382-7834) and scheduled an appointment for the morning of our park day. We were staying with a friend at a DVC property and coincidentally there was a DVC office right outside of our hotel. After a brief walk we were quickly accommodated with juice, snacks and iPads for our kids. We were very upfront with our salesman that this was our one day in the park, we were not really interested in DVC membership and were purely visiting for the incentives. He sent us on our way in under 10 minutes with 3 extra FastPasses per person and a $100 Disney gift card. Your results may vary - the tour is supposed to last 60-90 minutes and incentives may vary (we asked when we scheduled the appointment specifically for the ones we had read about). Without these extra FastPasses, our day surely would have been full of a lot more crowds and lines. It was well worth the time.

altRider Switch  

Learning the ins and outs of Rider Switch is also a great way to maximize time at Disney for your favorite rides. I have one kid nearly 48 and two that are under 40", which makes a big difference at Disney for some of the popular thrill attractions that have height restrictions. For example, my oldest son and I rode Space Mountain while my husband took the twins to Tomorrowland Speedway. On both rides the adult asked for a Rider Switch pass which is essentially a FastPass back into the ride for up to 3 people (the website says only 2 people but on our 2018 visit all tickets were printed for 3). This allowed my husband to quickly ride Space Mountain (even without my oldest son who was too scared to ride again) and then my oldest son could ride Tomorrowland Speedway through the FastPass line. Rider Switch is only offered on select rides, but these are generally the rides your kids will LOVE and want to repeat.

altDining on the cheap

If you're not on a Disney Dining Plan, one of the easiest ways to save money on a Disney trip is to bring your own food into the park - and no need to sneak it in as outside food is allowed per their policy. We packed a lunch with drinks and plenty of snacks for our day in the park. Unlike our 2017 visit where we intentionally sat down and ate lunch, our 2018 visit was so busy and the park was so congested that we had more of a rolling lunch... a PB&J in line for one ride, and orange in line for another... you get the picture. There are also very few line tantrums that can't be squashed with a little snack. Packing your own food can also be a huge time saver - walk up lines for fast food in the park were nearly as bad as the lines for the rides on our visit. We would have easily lost a good deal of time with cranky kids had we chosen to eat in the park. In 2017 we had a reservation for Be Our Guest at the Beast's Castle and still had quite a bit of waiting to get inside. A fun experience with delicious food, but it ate a big chunk of our day. On both trips we've splurged on character meals at Chef Mickey at the Contemporary Resort and 'Ohana at the Polynesian Resort. These hotel restaurants are outside of the parks and feature kid-friendly buffets with 4-5 roaming characters ('Ohana is Lilo & Stitch themed with Mickey and Pluto, Chef Mickey features the Fab 5). Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Norway inside Epcot has a wonderful princess meal that my kids (especially my boys, go figure?) adored.

altOur favorite free find 

My kids are waaaay into the Cars movies and on our first visit I was a bit disappointed that there aren't any attractions or experiences in the parks for Cars fans (although there are TONS at Disneyland in California). This led me to discover the awesome Art of Animation Resort, which has incredible public spaces open to non-guests for exploring. If you need an afternoon void of lines and rides (or maybe your schedule just has a rest day), the public spaces at this resort are great for kids to burn off energy and run around somewhat freely. Explore Radiator Springs with all of your favorite life-sized cars from the first movie, a wonderful Finding Nemo playground, a Lion King-themed elephant graveyard and a Little Mermaid area with gigantic treasures and character statues. We played for a few hours and then finished with an ice cream in their food court.
 
We loved Walt Disney World and I am a big fan going while your kids are young - of NOT waiting until your kids are "old enough" to remember the trip. My kids were 2, 2 and 4 on our first visit and the "pixie dust" was everywhere - the trip was full of magical memories for my husband and I to treasure. Now at 3, 3 and 5, my oldest son is growing out of the magic surrounding his favorite characters and I imagine it won't be too long before he's officially over hugging Mickey. That said, I am loving my kids growing taller and getting more adventurous with their ride choices. My 3 year olds LOVE roller coasters and had the most fun on Big Thunder Railroad, Seven Dwarves Mine Train and The Barnstormer. I'm already thinking of our next trip!

Books I loved for planning my Disney trip (affiliate links):

My family also enjoying watch the promotional video from Disney found here.

 
 

I was provided two complimentary tickets to Walt Disney World for this review. View our full FTC Disclosure Statement here.