Tips, tricks, lessons learned.

[Victor Kelly]

Ok, with the dining plan, FP+ and the hundreds of other variables out there bouncing off one another, I wanted to get a few things out there.

1. FP+ You can change it when you get there, yes. Guest services, hotel conceirge and FP+ kiosks are available. Please note that once you use or expire your remaining FP, there can be a lag before you can get another one. FP+ kiosks are far and few between in some parks.

2. Make index cards that have your daily ADRs and Reservation number on them as well as all your FP+ times. It saves time and battery power looking on your mobile at Disney's website which can be very slow at times.

3. Check in for your ADR a few minutes early if you can. We were usually seated early due to us doing this. Sometimes we were 20 minutes early, and were still seated early.

4. When at a character meal ask the server or person seating you when the characters will be to your table and subtract 10 minutes. If they are in the area when you walk in and are being seated, DO NOT get up and go anywhere or to the buffet. They will be back, but it takes them time to make a circuit.

5. Leave plenty of time to get to your ADR if using Disney transportation. Our jaunt to Trails End from Magic Kingdom took almost and hour by boat. That includes waiting for it to get to the dock, load, and reach the next dock. We made it 5 minutes late, but our reservations were held for us.

6. To maximize your time with FP+, go do other attractions right when your FP window starts. By doing this, we did not rush around, we usually got to our FP within that hour block but were able to do other things. So getting on POTC right at the start of your block time, then hitting your FP at SDMT will actually save you time and let you do more.

FP+ requires strategy like point 6 above. But We also hit and ADR while a FP+ was scheduled to begin at the end of the ADR, then hi a minor attraction, do photopass pics, people watch or walk to the FP+ UNTIL the FP block was within 15 minutes of expiration or less. By doing this, you increase the time you have to do other things.


Everyone add into this for the newer people.

 

[LAKid53]

1. Book FastPass+ as soon as you can (60 day for Disney resort guests and 30 day for non_Disney resort guests). You can book 3 FP's in advance and then once that block is used that day, you can schedule more from the MDE app on your phone or at the FP+ kiosks.

2. Buy your own neon necklaces at Wal-Mart before going to Fantasmic! The Glow-with-show items are at premium Disney prices. This is a cheap alternative... plus your child can share with other kids around them. Spread the magic.

3. If you can fit it in your park bag, bring Crocs/sandals, change of socks and a large freezer bag to store items. This way, if (and when) it rains you can change out your shoes and socks so you can keep going in the rain and have a nice dry pair of socks and shoes to continue the day.

4. Speaking of rain... buy an extra $1 poncho at the dollar store to use if you have a stroller. Cheap alternative to keeping your stuff dry as it sits in the rain.

5. If you do plan to buy items in the parks and you are a Disney resort guest, take advantage of the park-to-resort merchandise delivery. The park will have your stuff delivered to your resort, and is available the next day by 3 PM. That way you don't have to carry it around the park and risk it being lost or stolen.

6. If traveling with children and wearing a MagicBand, write their first name and your cell number inside with a Sharpie. Let them know that it is there in case of emergency and then give them a designated meeting place to go if they are lost.

5. Or you can have it available for pickup at Town Hall if you are in the Magic Kingdom if you shopped earlier in the day.

I would add renting a locker, especially at the MK. Costs $12 for all day and you get $5 back when you return your key. Locker is plenty big, so you can store cameras, extra bottles of water, a blanket to sit on if you are viewing Wishes from the Rose Garden, extra ears, etc. Just make sure you return your key before they close in the evening.

 

[Redhawk]

It annoys me that locker rental is so high, even with getting $5 back. However, we go to the parks in February when you might wear shorts during the day but need jeans, a coat, scarf, and gloves at night, especially with EMH that go as late as 2 a.m. For us the lockers are often a necessity so we pay the price.

 

[Victor Kelly]

All excellent tips. However, we have allotted 90 minutes to get to our ADR, especially if we are eating at DTD, and still have to run through Market Place to get to our restaurant on time. We stayed at Saratoga Springs - which is a 5 minute ride to DTD (would have walked if the Concierge desk had given us proper directions to the walkway along the River or if SS had the walkway on the maps around the resort) - the "Your on your way to Downtown Disney" spiel doesn't even finish before you are pulling into the bus depot at Market Place - allotted just 45 minutes and arrived at our restaurant 15 minutes late. And we when got to our stop in the resort, folks there said they'd been waiting 10-15 minutes for a DTD bus. Which is a 5 minute ride, once you leave the resort, to DTD. Two CMs showed up, we told them we've been waiting for a bus for nearly 30 minutes, to which we got the pat "traffic problems" response (come on, people, 5 minutes from the resort to DTD, really?).

I put all our ADRs & FP+ selections on my Google calendar, since the app is slow and glitch (just love the "data cannot load" error message while standing in the Magic Kingdom). Along with other notes. Especially if we need to pick up merchandise we've purchased in the parks at our resort. Almost forgot to collect something we bought once.

We make our FP+ selections for late morning - starting around 10:30 - so that we don't have to rush to a park from breakfast. And for those parks that have tiered selections, we make a FP+ selection for a ride we don't want (EPCOT is the prime example) for as early in the morning as possible so we can get that 4th selection as soon as possible. We also show up to ride close to the end of the hour, so we don't have to wait around for our next window, since we have a tendency to shop while waiting for the next FP+. Also arrange them strategically around the park. Going to eat lunch at BOG? Then our 3rd FP is usually in Fantasyland since we like a late lunch. And we make sure to ride RnR or ToT BEFORE we eat. If we are visiting two parks in one day - Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for example, we make our FP+ selections for the park we will visit in the PM, usually starting around 3:00PM to coincide with dinner at that park.

A very sound strategy. We did the buy it, then get it at the resort, but it took two days, which is no big deal at the beginning of a trip. If it had been towards the end, we would have done park pickup at the end of the day.

Lockers: a ripoff anywhere you go, but if you need them at least they are there.

 

[Disney Stine]

A tip that I will always use when visiting the World is to be conscious about the price of what I'm ordering. For most items that are served in a souvenir cup you can actually purchase cheaper by asking them to NOT give you the cup. For example: LeFou's Brew is an insane $10! If you get it without the cheap plastic mug, it's $4.50 (which is listed in small print on the bottom of the menu, so always keep a look out). This works with some alcoholic drinks too. The Welsh Dragon at Rose and Crown Pub is $10.50 with the souvenir cup, without the cup it's $7 (good thing to keep in mind when drinking around the world!).

 

[unkadug]

Learn Portuguese.

LOL ...that way you can tell certain tour groups what you think of their behavoir?

 

[stevehousse]

LOL ...that way you can tell certain tour groups what you think of their behavoir?

That's what Google Translate is for!

 

[jcrosby4]

Ok, with the dining plan, FP+ and the hundreds of other variables out there bouncing off one another, I wanted to get a few things out there.

1. FP+ You can change it when you get there, yes. Guest services, hotel conceirge and FP+ kiosks are available. Please note that once you use or expire your remaining FP, there can be a lag before you can get another one. FP+ kiosks are far and few between in some parks.

2. Make index cards that have your daily ADRs and Reservation number on them as well as all your FP+ times. It saves time and battery power looking on your mobile at Disney's website which can be very slow at times.

3. Check in for your ADR a few minutes early if you can. We were usually seated early due to us doing this. Sometimes we were 20 minutes early, and were still seated early.

4. When at a character meal ask the server or person seating you when the characters will be to your table and subtract 10 minutes. If they are in the area when you walk in and are being seated, DO NOT get up and go anywhere or to the buffet. They will be back, but it takes them time to make a circuit.

5. Leave plenty of time to get to your ADR if using Disney transportation. Our jaunt to Trails End from Magic Kingdom took almost and hour by boat. That includes waiting for it to get to the dock, load, and reach the next dock. We made it 5 minutes late, but our reservations were held for us.

6. To maximize your time with FP+, go do other attractions right when your FP window starts. By doing this, we did not rush around, we usually got to our FP within that hour block but were able to do other things. So getting on POTC right at the start of your block time, then hitting your FP at SDMT will actually save you time and let you do more.

FP+ requires strategy like point 6 above. But We also hit and ADR while a FP+ was scheduled to begin at the end of the ADR, then hi a minor attraction, do photopass pics, people watch or walk to the FP+ UNTIL the FP block was within 15 minutes of expiration or less. By doing this, you increase the time you have to do other things.


Everyone add into this for the newer people.

When going to MK, we show up first thing and knock out the kids' favorite rides up front. We ALWAYS get 2 to 3 trips on 1 or even 2 rides before the crowds start backing things up -- Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain are an obvious example. This allows us to free up our FP+ for use on rides like Space Mountain or Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, which always have 45 minute to 1 hour waits.

 

[BigHero4]

IF you plan to bring your own stroller balloons to have the Disney resort inflate with helium, bring generic balloons only! Why? We were told by the manager at AS Sports that they couldn't put helium into the Disney balloons that we brought with us because they were licensed merch not from the parks, but if they were generic balloons he could do it... what??!! What ever. We ended up buying the $12 Mickey balloon at MK and giving it to another family before we left.

 

[HeyCosmicChild]

Can

Learn Portuguese.

you expand upon this one?

 

[unkadug]

Can

you expand upon this one?

The tour groups from Brazil speak Portuguese. They act like they cannot understand English(which most of them can). If you speak Portuguese there is no mistaking that you understand what they are saying and they will definitely understand when you tell them go back to the back of the line and don't cut in front of me.