Disney or Bust

A few thoughts on a Walt Disney World vacation…

My family recently returned from our first Disney World vacation, and the reading I completed before the trip helped in many ways. Here are a few tips I either read about, or discovered myself, that you may find of value.

Accommodations

Disney offers three levels of rooms for your use, from the basic to the very homey. Of course, this has a price. After searching into the different resorts within Disney, we had an opportunity to use a friend’s time share just a couple of miles away. It was a better deal, and the driving every day was well worth it for us. Staying onsite does have privileges, from complimentary transportation ($14 parking for those driving) to delivering your purchases to your room, it may be worth it to you. Additionally, they offer a dining plan which should save you some money as well.

Food

Speaking of food, this alone will make up a larger portion of your budget than you may expect. My family (2 adults, 1 child) could easily spend $40 for a middle of the road portioned lunch. It’s hot, and the water you will go through will cost you $2.50 each, so pack some frozen waters in a backpack for the day. Disney will allow small snacks and drinks in your backpack, so bring them with you.

For those of you with food allergies (like our daughter), Disney is fantastic. Not only do the managers in each restaurant know their stuff, they also have a menu book for your inspection which lists all allergens.

One blog I read suggested bringing some food and drink, and leaving them in a locker which is available for rent at the park. I would advise otherwise. The locker rental isn’t cheap, and the walks would be so long, you’re better off with a backpack. I used a CamelBak Mule pack which is on the medium sized side, and had room for water, snacks, and other items I’ll list below.

Lastly, Disney offers some dining experiences with characters. These vary, so read the Disney website, which is well written and informative. We invested in the Cinderella Castle breakfast with the princesses. I liked this for a few reasons. One, the breakfast offers food even little ones would enjoy, and plenty of it. Second, the characters (5 princesses) make their way in and speak to each table, sign autograph books, and give you plenty of time for pictures with your children. Upon your initial entry, you get a photo with Cinderella herself, and the pictures are delivered to your table before you leave. Last, scheduling your breakfast early (up to 180 days in advance, and believe me, it fills up fast) also allows you to enter the park early to make your reservation. Translation- a stroll down Main Street toward the castle with no crowds!

Photos

When it comes to photos, Disney has you covered. Any of their photographers can give you a Photo Pass, which looks like a credit card with a code on the back the photographer can scan. Present the pass to the photographer, they take your picture at multiple places in the parks, and then scan your code. All your pics are then available for purchase there, or within 30 days after returning home by using the website. Again, convenience has a price. As of today (July 4, 2011), each photo is $14.95! However, you can purchase a digital photo book containing all your pictures for about $150.

I took my quality digital camera, and in almost every case had a picture equal to, and in some cases better, than the photos they took for us. In almost every case, they will also take a picture for you with your camera so the whole family can be featured in your own pictures. As an extra hint, be familiar with your camera before you travel. I can’t tell you how many people I saw frustrated taking their own pictures simply because they didn’t know how to use the camera’s features.

Most people want their picture with the characters, so as you enter the park, pick up a map, and also a sheet which will give you show times for the day as well as areas where characters will be featured. You can also use the map to find an area in each park where the characters swap out during the day, meaning you can snap a pic of your family with several characters at one spot. This was awesome, and a highlight for our little one. Use this to your advantage.

Souvenirs

In addition to pictures, most people want to take home a few items to preserve the memories. If you have smaller children, one blogger suggested taking a few cheaper Disney items with you (bought on sale or eBay) to give them each day which will help with the desire to buy something.

Another suggestion for older kids, which we loved and used, was to give the child a check ledger. The ledger can start off with a small sum of money, and as the trip approaches, the child can earn more for the account by helping out around the house. We also put money given to our daughter by family members into this book. When the trip arrived, she knew how much she had to spend, and when it was gone, it was gone. It was amazing how some things didn’t look as appealing when confronted with spending her own money. It was a great lesson, and she admitted she enjoyed using it.

Another hint we used was taking two rolls of quarters and a roll of pennies with us. Every park has multiple penny machines, where for fifty cents (quarters), and a penny, you could pick a design to have crushed into the penny. We bought a book to display them (about $9 at Disney) and she had a great time looking for the machines and picking a design. At the end of the week, she had a full book and a lot of fun for about $35. These machines exist at Sea World and Universal by the way, and she brought back pennies from every place we visited.

Of course, we bought her a couple of things too, which we were able to hide and give her later that day or back home, which made the fun last the whole time. Just remember if you find something you just have to have, you might want to buy it then. Some items do not appear in every park and in every store.

Tickets and Airfare

Disney raises ticket prices every year, and this year as an example, it could be any time. Buy your tickets in advance, and buy them from Disney. They don’t expire until you start using them (you can even pay extra and they never expire), and you know they will be legitimate. I am as methodical as they come. I searched everywhere. The best you can possibly do is get them for a few dollars cheaper, and it is just not worth it to get there and find they aren’t valid.

The big debate is between standard one-park-a-day tickets and the parkhopper option. This option allows you to visit more than one park in a day, in case you want to mix and match. If you are a first-timer I highly suggest you skip this $75 add on. You are going to be tired, and you can’t possibly see everything in one park in a day, let alone everything in more than one.

My suggestion if you plan to be there a week is to buy the ticket for more days than you plan to spend in the parks. When you buy the tickets, the price goes up every day, until you reach the fourth day. After the fourth day, the increase is so small (about $15 for all three of us) that you can buy a six day for instance for just a little more. We did this, and it allowed us to go back to the Magic Kingdom one night after a shorter day spent somewhere else, and see the fireworks, parade, and ride some practically empty rides until midnight. Definitely recommended.

You also need your tickets at rides you would like to FastPass, which is a huge timesaver. In brief, some of the more popular rides offer a FastPass booth, where you insert your ticket (credit card style) into the booth, and then you receive a paper pass to return later within an hour window, bypassing the entire standby line. Let’s say a ride has a wait of 120 minutes. Obtain a FastPass for all in your party, and then return within the hour (may be an hour from now, or at the end of the day, they go fast for popular rides) and skip the standby line. In one instance, we did this and skipped a 90 minute line and waited less than 5 minutes.

Airfare varies greatly from place to place. However, if you’re within driving distance of Roanoke, Virginia, I highly recommend Allegiant Air. I was turned on to them by a friend from Florida who uses it to visit home, and it saved us a bunch. American Airlines was $1200 for the three of us when I checked in February 2011. Allegiant was $491 before taxes. We purchased the airfare and a midsize rental car through them (Alamo rentals) for the week for about $800. The only drawback is that they only fly a few days of the week and once a day. You’ll have to plan your trip around it, but the savings are obvious.

What Should I Take?

As mentioned before, light snacks and drinks are allowed when you enter the park. Well, what else should you take? Here are a few items you may find important to carry with you:

• ·         Rain ponchos (80 cents at Wal Mart, $14 at Disney. IT WILL RAIN.)
• ·         Sunscreen
• ·         Large plastic Ziploc bags. Great to house important items on water rides or during rain.
• ·         Camera, batteries, extra memory cards
• ·         Hat
• ·         Sunglasses
• ·         A few Band-Aids, pain reliever, lip balm
• ·         Autograph book for the characters, and a pen they can hold. Larger works best.
• ·         Quarters and pennies (mentioned earlier)
• ·         Backpack to hold everything
• ·         I used an iPhone app (Disney World Maps Free by VersaEdge Software) to show approximate wait times for rides around the parks. It helped me map out where to go next. It was almost always accurate. If you are traveling with two adults, of course, mobile phones are almost required items.

In closing, one of the best pieces of advice I can give you is to relax and enjoy your trip. Seriously. You will walk miles and miles, and stand in lots of lines, so focus on the reason you came there in the first place. Our planning at home made it much easier to just go with the flow while there. Be a kid and enjoy the experience- it’s the happiest place on Earth!