Walt Disney World®

Monday, April 24, 2006

We have been back from a our Disney trip for about two weeks now. The trip was pretty awesome. We all had a good time. While I am certainly not a professional vacation planner, I have some tips if you plan to take your family to Disney.

Tip #1 - Buy a good disney vacation book

Tower of Terror family photoBuying one of these planning books that are available at all major book stores really helps you to manage some of your vacation expectations. You can get an idea of what the cuisine and cost are on different areas of the parks. You can make reservation for breakfast, lunch and dinner including character dinners for your kids(These were pretty cool). You get an idea of what parks have what rides and the height requirements for those rides; in case you are bringing small children.



Tip #2 - Book your trip in advance

Skyler and Gauge with Mike and SullyTake the time to plan out your trip and decide where you want to stay and when you plan to go. If you end up staying in a disney resort, they provide transportation to all the parks andwill event pick you from the airport (very convenient). You can save a lot of money if you reserve your travel and lodging in advance. We waited too long and it cost us about twice as much. It will save you a great deal of frustration, some serious coinage and help to ensure that you can make the use of your valuable disney time.


Tip #3 - Prepare to work

Skyler and Gauge in front of the Tower of TerrorIf you are are making a family trip to disney and want to get the most out of your stay, you will likely be trying to schedule some character meals and hit all the major attractions. This will require a little a effort on your part. You will be doing a lot of walking (sometimes running) to make it from one place to the next to catch the next showtime or event. Disney has a pretty good show schedule. If planned correctly you can just about bounce from one show to the next; hitting a few rides on the way as necessary. Wear comforatble shoes and bring your sunblock.


Tip #4 - Take advantage of the fast passes

Skyler and Tiffany holding TinkerbellThese little babies are major time savers. Basically, you just go up to the fast pass machine for a certain ride or attraction, insert you park pass and receive a voucher that will allow you to bypass the line for a given ride. There are only two little catches to the fast pass. The first is that you should pay attention to the listed fast pass time for that ride. Some rides are so busy that the ride time might be 3 hours in the future. The second catch is that you cannot get another fast pass until the time arrives for your first pass to be active. So, you can see how getting fast pass to go on a ride 3-4 hours from now might screw up the rest of your ride plans for a few hours.


Tip #4 - Relax

After all, you are on vacation. Take in the sites. Go out and eat somewhere you would't eat at home. Give yourself some downtime. It is worth taking a day to just hang out by the pool. You will appreciate it later.



Overall, the trip went well. We did not experience any major disasters. However, Skyler and Gauge decided they were gonna fight for practically the whole trip.

 

posted by: ndicenso @ 8:13 AM   0 Comments | Post a Comment