DIsney Vacation

I mentioned in an earlier post here that we went to Disney and I was hoping to impart some wisdom onto those who are thinking of going.  Some is based on mistakes we made, things we learned while there, and some is based on different blogs we read before going.

1) Disney is currently transitioning into using Fast Pass+ bands instead of the credit card looking passes.  I'm not sure how the fast pass system works with those, but the new system only allows 3 fast passes.  The only way to get more is to book the fast passes early for what you really want to ride that has the most wait time and book them early in the day.  Once you have used all 3 fast passes, you have unlimited numbers of fast passes that you can book, but you have to book them 1 at a time.  It took us half of our week before we figured it out.

          a) While we enjoyed the FastPass+ system, we weren't able to use it to it's maximum potential.  We booked a fast pass for some rides that usually have short wait times.  For rides with short wait times, a fast pass isn't necessarily needed.  For instance, at Magic Kingdom, Peter Pan's Flight will have a wait time over 1 hour most of the day, but if you go early, there's very little wait time.

         b) Book early.  We didn't book our fast passes very early, but if you have kids that want to ride Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, or see Anna and Elsa without a 2-3 hour wait, you will want to get a fast pass early or there won't be any left.

2) When planning out what you want to ride, you have to consider the weather.  Some of the rides shut down while it's raining and will remain closed for a while after the rain.  In the summer there is almost always an afternoon rain around 2:00.  Some of the indoor rides will be available during the rain, or it might be a good time to pop in to one of the many shows available, we did our shopping for souvenirs during one of the rains.

3)  We had heard that the portions were large and thought we would be saving some money by not having to buy a meal for everyone.  The portions weren't as big as we thought, but I'm sure it was still cheaper than getting a dining plan.  If you are going in September or October, I would plan on getting a  Dining plan and making reservations early, but assume they will offer free dining plans for those staying onsite.

          a) You can start booking reservations 180 days before your arrival date.  Take advantage of it.

4)  Character dining- we ate at 1 character dining restaurant and our kids loved it.  I would guess it's cheaper to eat at a character restaurant for breakfast instead of lunch or dinner.  We ate at Akershus in the World Showcase at Epcot.  This is great for girls.  We saw at least 5 or 6 princesses all during breakfast, it was interactive, and the girls got signatures for all of them.  The price you pay is not having to wait in line for each princess.  One meal you read about that is very popular is The Crystal Palace.  We wanted to eat there, but had some communication problems and didn't get a reservation.  We had a group of 8 eating, so it's a little harder to get reservations for larger groups, so that's why you book EARLY.

           a) One of the new restaurants in the Magic Kingdom is Be Our Guest.  A few characters come out during dinner if you book it for dinner reservations, but if you want to save a few bucks, go during lunch.  It's a quick service restaurant during lunch and it's very pretty inside.  We saw a blog that said go at 10:45 to get in line because it opens at 11:00.  This couldn't be more true.  We got there at 10:45, they were handing out menus so we would know what we wanted to eat when we got to the front to order and we were the last ones to be allowed in line until the line got shorter.  There were people who were turned away. We were told that it could be up to a 2 hour wait from where we got in line.  As the line progressed, more people came behind us to get in line. We ended up waiting less than an hour.

There's oh so much more, but it will have to wait for a later date.