I know it’s so cliche’ to say “hindsight is always 20-20”, but it is oh so true!
We just returned from a 7 day trip to Disney World with our three kids (age 11, 9, and 3). And, if you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you should know that we had a wonderful trip!!
I L.O.V.E. Disney. I try really hard to convince myself that I don’t…especially Disney World…because, I mean, who in their right mind wants to save for soooo long for it to be gone in a fast-paced, crowd-crazy week of “vacation”. Well, despite my efforts to change my feelings for Disney…I do! Anyway, that’s a tangent for another day…
Throughout this trip, some by purposeful planning of our wonderful Magic of Mickey travel agent and some by happenstance, we left with several great “take-away” lessons that we plan to keep and use for any of our future Disney World trips. But instead of just saving them in a file, I thought I’d share them here, in case someone else may find them helpful as they think or plan for their own Disney trip.
But let me preface by saying that I’m not a Disney travel agent…I don’t know all things Disney…This was our first family trip to Disney since our oldest two were 4/5 (6 years ago)…and I am only discussing from our most recent experience. You know Disney often changes things…so, be sure to recheck these things before you go.
And, now that all of that is taken care of…here are my top 10 “take-away” lessons (in no particular order) from our most recent trip to Disney World:
1. USE A DISNEY TRAVEL AGENT. I cannot emphasize this enough! I’ve done it both ways…I’ve spent hours scouring the internet to try to plan our Disney World park days to perfection…using all of the mom sites on must dos/don’t dos. But this time, I fully entrusted our dear friend Todd Russell to plan our trip from start to finish. He charges nothing for his services, but they are priceless! He constantly kept a watch on our package to make sure he was getting us the absolute most for our money (and saved us hundreds by doing so!) He kept up with our countdown…he woke up at ungodly hours to get us the best fastpasses and food reservations…he gave us a daily itinerary that helped us to see how we could get the most done without running ourselves ragged. He answered a gazillion questions before and during our trip. Seriously…I’m not getting paid for this advertisement, but I will never plan for Disney without him again! I just got to sit back, relax, and pick out cute family Disney shirts 🙂 And, have I said it enough…HIS SERVICES ARE FREE TO YOU!! Okay, I’ll get off this one…but seriously…do it. And, if you want, tell him I sent you, and we’ll both get a sweet treat!
2. FAST PASS PLUS + RIDER SWAP. I already mentioned how we were able to get the best Fast Pass Plus reservations thanks to our Disney travel agent, but you seriously don’t want to do Disney without them! Especially on the newer rides. We would never have stood in line to ride Avatar (which is my all-time favorite now) without Fast Pass! We “waited” (although, it really wasn’t waiting as much as it was just walking to the actual ride destination…INside…in the cool air) maybe 15 minutes with our FP…while the standby line was never less than 110 minutes in the blazing hot sun! And that’s just one example! We did this to meet the princesses, to ride popular rides, and even to see shows! But here’s where it gets even better…if you have a child that can’t or doesn’t want to ride the ride, you get a rider swap. And, while it’s a great idea to rider swap, it’s even more awesome that Disney doesn’t make you do it back to back (because what 3 year old wants to wait that long for two cycles of a ride they can’t enjoy?) — Disney gives you a Fast Pass ticket that is good YOU PLUS TWO for that ride ANY time during that day! So, for us, we would ride Avatar (as an example) — one parent and two older kids…get a rider swap ticket for later, go do something the little one enjoyed, and then later, make our way back for the other parent AND the two older kids to get to ride again…still with little to no wait! It was amazing.
3. RIDE VOUCHERS FOR FAST PASS. So, what could possibly be more disappointing that getting to a Fast Pass ride only to see that it was closed for technical issues or weather issues?! We had this happen several times during our last trip…sometimes for technical issues…sometimes for weather. But, we quickly learned that if something like that happens during your Fast Pass reservation hour, CHECK YOUR EMAIL! Disney sends you a nice email that explains that your Fast Pass ride has been temporarily closed, and they not only offer you a new Fast Pass that is good for the entire rest of the day (should the ride reopen), but they also give you a nice long list of OTHER options you can use as a Fast Pass in place of the one that was shut down! Since, there were a few rides that we had FP reservations for that my youngest daughter couldn’t or didn’t want to ride, this was an even bigger blessing in disguise for us! One of those said rides shut down temporarily (and the older kids had already had a chance to ride it), so we were able to use those ride vouchers to visit a few characters that we just hadn’t wanted to take 60 minutes to wait in stand-by for. It was win-win for everyone! The cast members don’t always know what you are talking about if you tell them you had this option sent via email, but they offered to “let us try it” to see, and sure enough, every time it happened, our bands would recognize it as a FP, no matter what we chose from the list! The only thing is that I wish I would have known this earlier than day 3 of the parks, because, I wasn’t checking my email regularly until I found this out by chance. We would’ve had even more chances on those first 3 days when several rides were down. They DO NOT alert you via My Experience app, although that would have been handy, since everyone uses that to keep up with their reservations, etc. So, if you are in the parks, and you see a ride closed that you had a FP for, CHECK YOUR EMAIL…seriously…here’s part of what one of my emails looked like:
4. MAGIC BAND CUSTOMIZATION. Magic Bands are awesome! I love not having to carry cards around everywhere like we did before! But they are plain colors…unless you plan to spend $25-50 on average for specialty bands. UNLESS you know about Etsy! I found the cutest vinyl decals for our magic bands on Etsy for $3-7, so we decided to try them out! They were quite easy to put on, and they lasted the whole week, even in the pools, etc., without issues. We had soooo many cast members ask where we found our bands because they had never seen any like it. It was the perfect way to customize without breaking the bank! Here’s the link to my two favorites: Mermaid Glitter and Princess Glitter
5. DINING PLANS. I have told my husband again and again that you really can’t “do” Disney “carefree” without being on a dining plan! It is so nice to be able to treat the kids (and yourselves) to smoothies or slushies or any other number of deliciously satisfying snacks while in the parks (especially when it is over 100* heat index), without having to feel the hit on your bank account. The Disney dining plan is definitely the way to go! And, if you go in the fall, you may even get lucky enough to have it FREE with your resort booking. However, our big take away from our most recent family trip was that we would have rather had the quick service/snack ONLY plan. Our plan gave us snack/quick service/table service for each day. And, while the table service does allow you the character meals, it also means fancier meals (that my younger kids often didn’t care for)…reservations (which meant we had to plan our days around leaving early enough to get to the dinner destination)…and tips for a meal that in Disney “cost” $150-200 for a family of 5, which meant you basically paid for a quick service meal out of pocket each time you left a tip at a table service restaurant. If you are going for fancy…wanting lobster, steak, etc., then you probably would not want to leave out the table service meals. But if you’re like us…doing Disney on a budget…with young kids…who aren’t used to “fancy” food…trust me when I say, quick service will do you best! And the options are endless on quick service meals, too! You aren’t limited to hamburgers and fries all week! We preferred it to our fancy meals about 75% of the time! Just food for thought…
6. CHECK YOUR BILL AT CHECKOUT. So, this should go without saying, but just putting this out there due to our experience. Magic Bands are wonderfully convenient. When you need to purchase something or pay a tip, scan your band and it’ll be added to the card you have on file. It basically charges it to your room, which is less convenient for people like me who watch each transaction as it posts…because, it’s a little harder to keep up with your many receipts from your dining plan throughout the week, to compare it with your bill at the end of the stay. However, my bill was astronomical, and I knew it shouldn’t be because I had kept pretty accurate records of each spending. Come to find out, they had somehow managed to bill someone else’s complete family table service meal (same evening, later time) to mine. They took a bit to research the issue, and did credit it back, but it really had me wondering, how does this even happen?! And how many times does it happen on smaller things that we may have overlooked? So, my suggestion, faithfully keep ALL of your receipts (even though it’s frustrating), and check your bill very carefully! Mistakes can (and do) happen…
7. OPT-OUT OF MAID SERVICE. When we checked into our resort, we were offered an immediate $60 gift card if we “opted-out” of maid service. Basically, telling them they didn’t have to make our beds daily (which, honestly, I preferred, since we could keep them fixed as we wanted them). They still came through and checked daily for security reasons…they still refilled our soaps, etc….they still took out the trash. (And honestly, they still sometimes made our beds, even when we told them not to). But, hey! We got an extra $60 to spend in the gift shops! If you’re given this option, take it! What’s not to lose?
8. PURCHASE THE MAGIC DISNEY PHOTO PASS. Our travel agent told us about this early on and added it to our package, so we knew in advance that we would be able to download high resolution images from ANY of the photographs taken by the cast members, so we took full advantage of it! We got amazing pictures (and even some videos!) of roller coaster rides, character meet/greets, shows, family pictures, and so much more. Of course, we had our phones for our own photographs, but it was so nice to let them “do their thing” with their high quality cameras and not feeling regret for not bringing my own. Each time they take a picture of anyone in your group (even if you aren’t together), they scan your magic band, and it “magically” appears in your Disney My Experience account for viewing and downloading. WIN!!
9. PRE-ORDER YOUR FOOD. I know I already touched on the whole dining thing, but many of the quick service meals can now be pre-ordered at Disney! When I saw this, my first thought was, “I won’t be doing that, because I won’t know when I’ll be there.” But oh, I was so wrong! You can pre-order at any time (the night before…or even when you just walk in and find the only available table and you don’t want to lose it)…pre-order from the app, tell them “I’m here, make my food”, and wait for it to magically appear! This is a LIFE-SAVER when you have kids, especially young ones! I’m hoping this catches on and even MORE restaurants offer it soon. But you can filter the restaurants on the Disney My Experience app to show the ones that do offer it (we did this often!). Because it is just SO convenient and stress-free. And for a mom with three kids at Disney World in one of the busiest times of the year, that means THE WORLD!
10. BE FLUID…GO WITH THE FLOW. I struggled to decide what would be my final “take-away” from this trip, but this was my husband’s one main take-away, and I felt that it was a very important one…one that helped us to enjoy our trip to the fullest! Buses don’t always arrive on schedule (actually, if they are on schedule, you should count that as magical!), weather isn’t predictable, health (or how exhausted you are) isn’t always what you expect, etc. Things happen. Life happens. It’s good to have a “suggested” plan for each day, but know that it’s just that…a suggestion. Sometimes, you need to leave early and take a nap, then return later. Sometimes, it’s best to sleep in instead of getting to early magic hours rope drop. Sometimes, you need a little extra time at the resort’s amazing pool/water park area. And sometimes, you need to take a late afternoon nap as a family, so you can enjoy the cool, breezy late extra magic hours that go til 1am (because even as typical “morning people”, this ended up being our favorite time of all due to the temperatures and lesser crowds)! Just be okay with change…when you don’t stress about it, the kids don’t stress about it, and you all have way more magical fun!
Okay, I’m done. Well, not really, but I titled it the top 10, and I’m at 10 now, so I’m making myself stop for you. But, if you have questions, especially while it’s so fresh on my mind, let me know! I’m glad to share any of my “learning” with you. Maybe it’ll help in your future planning! And mine, too!! (Because I’ve already begged for a Mom/Dad only trip to Disney as an anniversary trip in the future…and he just loved that idea…haha…well, he didn’t…but he loves me, and that’s enough.)
