Roasting Smores Before a Movie on the Beach

1. Park tickets are expensive. Even with Disney’s new ticket pricing model, you can still save some cash if you spend a couple of days on the outside of those turnstyles.
2. Park touring can be tiring! Lots of people find that, especially on their first Disney trip, they aren’t 100% ready for how much energy it takes to tour the parks (having that much fun can be exhausting!). As a result, they return home wiped out and find they need a vacation after their vacation! A great way to avoid this is to work in one or two days that you spend relaxing at the pool, hanging out in your hotel, or doing other Disney World activities that might not be quite so intense as a day in the parks.

So building in a couple of “days off” from the parks is a great idea (especially if you’re visiting for a week or more). Luckily, Disney has lots of on-property options for how to fill those days (and some of them are even low-cost or free)!

Ideas for High- and Low-Energy Activities
Just in case you don’t feel like doing any more research, here are a few ideas of how you can fill those off-days, depending on your energy level! (General cost is noted with a $$$=over $50 per person; $$=over $20 per person; $=up to $20 per person; FREE)

High Energy
If you have lots of energy and are prepared to go-go-go all the time, these suggestions are for you! This is probably best if you are adults traveling without kids, or if your kids are a bit older and wouldn’t benefit from napping or down time at the hotel on your “off-days.”

• ($$$-$$) Try a Disney World backstage tour. While most of these DO take place in a theme park, the experience is completely different. You can learn about how the parks and their attractions are conceived, built, and run. Even if it’s your first trip to Disney World, any Disney fan will enjoy trying these out. Prices range from less than $20 to over $70 per person. Discounts are available, just ask about them when you call 407-WDW-TOUR to book.
• ($) Consider renting bikes and riding around the grounds and surrounding areas at one of Disney’s Resort hotels. Our favorite place to rent bikes is Disney’s Wilderness Lodge resort, where there’s a great nature trail. You can even rent surrey bikes! Rent bikes at resort marinas; cost is usually about $9 per hour or $18 per day for an individual bike.
• ($$$) Learn to surf like a pro at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon! Guests 8 yrs old and up can sign up for surfing lessons that take place at Typhoon Lagoon before the park opens to visitors. Call 407-WDW-PLAY for more information on this opportunity. Cost is $150 per person.

Low Energy
If the early mornings and late nights are starting to wear on you and your family a bit, consider laying low for a day or two and sticking with some lower-energy activities. These might be best for families with little kids, people with mobility limitations, or just those of us who like to really take some time to relax while on vacation.

• ($$$) Head out for a little bass fishing. Most Disney World lakes offer private catch and release bass fishing boat tours. These depart several times per day, but, of course, the best fishing is in the morning. Call 407-939-BASS; cost is about $260 and includes an experienced guide, rod and reel, tackle, bait, beverages, and a one-year BASS membership.
• ($) Play a round of Miniature Golf. With four courses on property, you’re sure to find one you enjoy!
• (FREE) Spend the evening at Chip and Dale’s Campfire Sing-a-long and Movie at Fort Wilderness resort. This is one of the ONLY times you’ll see Disney characters without paying for a meal or to get into a park. The free perk is a fun opportunity that few folks know about. You can’t make reservations; just show up at Fort Wilderness around 6:30pm in the Winter months (7:30pm in the Summer) and ask for directions to the campfire. This is best for people with little kids (the sing-a-long is definitely kid-focused and the movies on the big outdoor screen are all rated G), but adults can enjoy it too. Buy the “s’mores kit” and roast marshmallows over the campfire; it’ll bring back memories. Additionally, several other resorts (including Contemporary Resort, Wilderness Lodge, Grand Floridian, Yacht and Beach Club Resorts, and All-Star Movies) now offer free “movies on the beach” many nights of the week.

Other Websites With Good Ideas for Activities Outside the Parks
There are definitely more options out there after these! Some great resources for researching these activities are the following websites and pages:

• WDWforGrownups’ Other Activities page offers dozens of links about activities outside the parks. These are categorized into easily navigable sections. Our favorite section is Leisure and Recreation, which includes links for golf, boating, arcades, horseback riding, bike rental, mini golf, archery, and more. While the website is geared toward adults, these links apply to families and those with children.

• AllEarsNet.com’s Beyond the Theme Parks page offers a comprehensive run-down of options, including some interesting writing and reviews done about Disney World activities by guest writers

Hopefully this helps as you round out your plans for your Disney trip! Remember, touring those theme parks can be tiring; consider taking a few days off during your trip. You may not even have enough energy for the activities above; don’t forget that it’s NEVER frowned upon to spend the day in a hammock or lounging by the pool. Those are the best free activities around!

Sign Posting Wait Time for Tower of Terrow

I know you hate the idea of “scheduling” your vacation; so do I. But just doing a small amount of planning can help you save time and money in Disney World. Just think: by creating a touring plan, you can easily save yourself countless hours of standing in lines waiting for 4-minute rides!

Touring plans can be brief or extremely detailed. It all depends on what you want and with whom you’re traveling. You can create them yourself, ask a travel agent for help, or engage the service of several companies who can customize touring plans for you.

What’s a touring plan look like?
Touring plans are usually just step-by-step itineraries, crafted to take advantage of the times when rides, parades, and events are least popular with other guests. Here’s a sample touring plan from TouringPlans.com, which is the website for one of the best Disney World guidebooks on the market: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World.

Animal Kingdom Touring Plan (c)TouringPlans.com

While this is a less-detailed touring plan for a day at the Animal Kingdom, you can easily create more detailed touring plans or broader touring plans, based on how scheduled you’d like your vacation to be. For more examples of touring plans, fill out the checkboxes on this page and submit to see samples that fit your criteria (be sure to check the “free plans” box).

We recommend that if you’re traveling with a lot of people, or with several little kids, you make a more detailed touring plan. This will allow you to schedule around naptimes for the little ones, and around what will likely be large meal times for a group or family.

How do I make one myself?
Making a touring plan yourself may take a little research and ambition, but it’s absolutely possible. In fact, we recommend doing a few touring plan drafts so that you get a better idea of the geography of the theme parks and which rides are the most popular.

For that research:

• Look through a guidebook or two (our favorite is the one we mentioned before: The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World) to figure out which rides, restaurants, and attractions might be best for your family/group.
• Study some Theme Park Maps to get a better understanding of where rides and restaurants are located.
• Figure out what the most popular attractions are in each Theme Park. These are usually the ones to visit early in the morning, before the lines get long. We believe these are:
  • Magic Kingdom: Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Peter Pan’s Flight, Winnie the Pooh, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Haunted Mansion
  • Epcot: Soarin’, Test Track, Mission: Space
  • Disney’s Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania, Rock-n-Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, American Idol Experience, Fantasmic (the night time show)
  • Animal Kingdom: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safairs, Kali River Rapids, Dinosaur, and the stage shows–Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo, the Musical.

  Figure out which of these rides on top on your list; they’re the ones you want to head to first in your touring plan.

• Visit TouringPlans.com, where there are more sample touring plans as well as some great mini-guides to each theme park.

Now, take a shot at writing up a broad touring plan for one of the theme parks you’d like to visit. Just list the rides and attractions you don’t want to miss, schedule the most popular ones in the morning, and schedule the rest according to importance and geographic location. Don’t forget to add in time and restaurant choice for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

Once you have this broad overview, consider if the fastpass service can help you save time. With this service, you can avoid waiting in longer lines by “reserving” your ride time in advance. Here’s a primer on how fastpass works, and which attractions offer fastpass. If you’re going at a particularly busy time (look here to determine the busiest times of the year to visit WDW), you will likely want to use fastpass for most of the more popular attractions.

Finally, if you’ll be staying at a Walt Disney World Resort Hotel, consider which parks are offering Extra Magic Hours on the days you’ll be in Disney World. While this shouldn’t change your touring plan significantly (you’ll probably want to visit the same attractions is about the same order), it could lengthen your day and/or offer you the opportunity to avoid even more crowds.

How do I ask my travel agent about these?
If the research and development above seems a bit too intensive for your first trip, consider working with a travel agent to book your hotel, flight, and other reservations. If you work with a Disney-trained, specialist travel agent (called “Disney Vacation Specialists”), s/he should be able to develop touring plans for you, or help you to develop your own.

Can’t I just throw money at it?
Of course you can.

• TouringPlans.com has a subscription service where you can access their detailed touring plans (a WIDE variety of specific touring plans), theme park “cheat sheets,” and research articles on Walt Disney World for $8.95 per year. Subscribe here.
• Ridemax is a relatively new piece of software that will generate touring plans for you. For ~$20/3 months and ~$30/year subscriptions, the investment might be worth the time-savings for a lot of folks. We haven’t used the software, but SoloFriendly.com reviews the service here.
• Tour Guide Mike (TGM), a service created by a former Walt Disney World VIP tour guide, offers an online vacation planning system for $21.95. This can be used for only one vacation; if you wish to renew for another vacation, the price could be discounted.

So, as you can see, there are several options to help you plan the best possible Disney World vacation. While this may seem stressful in and of itself, the most important tips to keep in mind are these:

• Visit the most popular rides in the early morning
• Schedule some down time in the afternoon for napping and relaxing
• Choose up to four main attractions in each park that are must-sees; after that, relax and go with the flow. Nobody can do EVERYTHING in Disney World. Remember, this is your vacation!

Relax. Have fun. And feel free to send me your touring plans for feedback!

Wilderness Lodge Transport to Magic Kingdom

1. How to get to Orlando
2. How to get to your Hotel
3. How to get around WDW

Let’s take them one at a time:

HOW TO GET TO ORLANDO
There are plenty of options available to you for your trip to Orlando–many different roads lead to Disney World! The biggest considerations here are timing and cost.

Car
If you’re lucky enough to be within what you consider driving distance, congrats! Driving to Walt Disney World gives you access to a car throughout your stay, which we find to be very useful. A car in Disney World is a great time-saver when staying on-property, and is virtually a must if you’re staying off-property (i.e. outside of the complimentary Disney World transporatation system) or are planning to visit other Orlando and Florida attractions while on your vacation.

Driving is a good choice if your home base is near by, or if you’re planning on making your Disney World trip into a larger “road trip,” visiting other attractions along the way. If cost is a consideration in your decision, use the AAA Fuel Cost Calculator to determine whether driving is the best option for you.

Autotrain
Amtrak connections can get you to Orlando from just about anywhere, but the autotrain is a fun experience to take if you can!

The train runs from Lorton, VA, to Sanford, FL (close to Orlando), and you have the option to bring your car to Orlando as cargo, so you’ll have that convenience when you’re vacationing.

Cost on the autotrain is high–about $250 per adult for a ticket, and car cargo prices beginning at $380+. You’d be hard-pressed to find flights that are more expensive, so the autotrain should be reserved for folks who can’t fly, larger families, or train-lovers who see this as an experience in itself!

Airplane
There are always good deals to the Orlando International Airport. Some of our favorite sites, like kayak.com gathers flight information and prices from hundreds of sites on the internet to give you a composite view of the availability. Other great spots for low-cost flights are Travelzoo and, for last minute trips, LastMinute.com.

Airlines that we always find are inexpensive to Orlando? Southwest and Airtran.

HOW TO GET TO YOUR HOTEL
This section is most important for those choosing air travel. If you’ve driven or taken the autotrain, you already have your car!

There are several options for airport transfer:

Rental Car
We’re big fans of the rental car, because we like the ease of having a car on property. We find getting around Disney World to be very easy by car, and it gives us the flexibility to make choices and plans more spontaneously as Disney Transportation often takes some planning and time budgeting.

Rental car discounts are plentiful in Orlando, and many rental car agencies are located right at the airport–no shuttle busses necessary. Our favorite site for rental car discounts in Orlando is, once again, Mousesavers.com’s rental car discounts page. It’s kept up to date, which is extremely important when discounts have specific deadlines and timelines.

We’ve had very good luck at Orlando International Airport with rental car companies National, Budget, Alamo, and Avis. National offers its Emerald Aisle perk (don’t stop at the rental car desk, just book online, pick your car, and go!) for free.

The most accessible rental car locations within Disney World are at the Car Care Center (Alamo and National), located next to the Magic Kingdom (Car Care Center Drive (407) 824-3470); and at the Dolphin Hotel, near Epcot (1500 Epcot Resort Boulevard (407) 934-4000). These are useful if you don’t want to book a car for your whole stay, but need to use one for a day trip or a conference. Shuttle service is available to and from the Car Care Center location–just book at least an hour in advance.

Disney’s Magical Express
If you’re staying at a Disney World hotel, Disney’s Magical Express Airport Transfer Service might be the perfect option for you! It’s a free service (that’s right; I said free!) offered by Disney World that transports you and your luggage, via coach bus, to your hotel from Orlando MCO airport. The greatest part is, you check your luggage in your departure city and it ends up in your hotel room later that day; you don’t even have to collect it at the airport! Also, the bus schedules to pick you up at your hotel about 3 hours prior to your flight home.

The pros to this service are that it’s free, and that you don’t have to deal with getting your luggage from the airport to your hotel room. The cons are that you occasionally must wait for the bus to depart the airport, and you might have to wait while the bus makes several stops before arriving at your hotel. Also, your luggage often doesn’t arrive until several hours after you do, so you need to bring any necessities in your carry-on bag.

Limo, Town Car, Shuttle, or Taxi
The final option for getting from the airport to your hotel is the “pay-your-way” option. There are many limousine and town car services operating in Orlando and specializing in airport transfers. There are also always taxis waiting for fares outside of the airport. And your hotel might have an airport shuttle that you can book. Additionally, Mears Transportation offers busses to and from Orlando International Airport (these are the same people with whom Disney contracts to provide Magical Express Transportation).

These options can be pricy–taxis will cost over $75, one way, with tip; town cars are around $130 plus tip round trip; and limos go up from there. Mears busses are the least expensive at $33 round trip per person (again, the service is free–via Disney’s Magical Express–if you’re staying at a Disney resort hotel). Some other companies I’ve personally used are Tiffany Towncars and Quicksilver Tours.

HOW TO GET AROUND WALT DISNEY WORLD
Finally, you need to determine how you’ll traverse the 42+ square miles that make up Walt Disney World Resort Property.

Using Disney Transportation vs. Renting a Car
Disney offers complimentary resort transportation throughout the Disney World resort to any Disney World resort guest or ticket-holder. Transportation is via busses, boats, and monorail, and runs to and from all hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and Disney destinations like Downtown Disney and Disney’s Boardwalk.

The web of options is wide and covers everything you might need. However, getting from here to there could take one or two bus, monorail, or boat transfers, which means you need to budget about one to two hours for travel time each time you move throughout the property. When you’re on a short vacation and have limited time, or if you have little ones who need to get back to the hotel for a nap before a melt-down, this type of wait might be unacceptable.

I have traveled to Disney World both with and without a rental car and have found that renting a car offers me much more flexibility on my vacation. However, if you’re on a budget trip, sticking with Disney transportation is a more than satisfactory way to get around property. In fact, we find it really fun and interesting to meet other Disney fans on busses, chat with the knowledgeable captains on Disney transport boats, and ride the monorail around the resort loop just for fun!

Whether you choose to rent a car or not, the transportation wizard put together by Our Laughing Place travel is a great resource. Simply choose your starting point and destination, and the wizard will show you your Disney Transportation route choices along with estimated travel times. It’s a truly great resource!

Also, if you’re still stuck, here’s an article debating the merits of renting a car vs. using Disney Transportation from All Ears Net.

Hopefully this has helped you come to conclusions on another few of those critical decisions involved in planning a Disney trip. For a quick-reference, here’s Disney World’s Transportation FAQ page.

Morocco's Tangerine Cafe

• Making Advanced Dining Reservations
• Disney Dining Plans
• Tables in Wonderland Dining Discount Card
• Other Dining Discounts
• Character Meals

MAKING ADVANCED DINING RESERVATIONS
There are lots of dining options inside and outside of WDW property. If you want to try Disney restaurants, it makes sense to make reservations–even if you’re traveling during a slow season.

Making reservations (which Disney currently calls “Advanced Dining Reservations,” or ADRs) is quick and easy. Simply call 407-WDW-DINE, answer a few voice-activated questions, and you’ll be transferred to a dining agent who will book your meals for you.

You can also book online, using the Disney World Website. Simply click on this link, find the restaurant that interests you, and click the booking button.

At this time, you may make a dining reservation at most Disney restaurants up to 180 days in advance of your meal there. If you are staying at a Disney Resort during your time in Orlando, you may call 180 days in advance of your arrival date and make dining reservations for up to 10 days.

I’ll refer you again to Mousesavers, as they have a fantastic and in-depth page about advanced dining reservations. Some restaurants and dining experiences, like the Polynesian Resort Luau and Fort Wilderness’ Hoop Dee Doo Revue, allow a longer pre-booking period. We suggest you use the PS Calculator–this stands for “priority seating” calculator, as Advanced Dining Reservations were previously referred to as priority seating arrangements. This calculator will determine the dates you should call for your reservations based on your arrival date.

DISNEY DINING PLANS
Once you’re familiar with the Disney World dining reservation procedure, be sure to read here about Disney’s Dining Plans. These are plans you can add onto a vacation package (and only a vacation package–you cannot book a dining plan with a room-only reservation), essentially pre-paying for your meals. Plans usually include a set number of pre-paid snacks and full meals, which you may use according to your timeline throughout your stay. This usually presents a cost savings for most guests.

At this time, Disney offers the following plans:

• Quick-Service Dining Plan
• Regular Dining Plan
• Deluxe Dining Plan
• Premium Package with Dining
• Platinum Package with Dining

For more in-depth information about the Disney Dining Plans and to compare one plan against another, visit the AllEarsNet Disney World Packages page

TABLES IN WONDERLAND DISCOUNT CARD
The Tables in Wonderland Card (formerly referred to as the Disney Dining Experience) is an annual membership available to Florida residents or Disney World annual/season passholders for $100 and $75 respectively.

The membership allows cardholders to recieve 20% off food and beverages (including alcohol) at most Disney World restaurants and lounges. Cardholders are also entitled to free valet parking at resorts if they are dining there.

For more information about how to order the Tables in Wonderland card, call (407) 566-5858 (Monday – Friday, 9 am – 6 pm EST).

OTHER DINING DISCOUNTS
Disney World offers other dining discounts to other membership groups as well, including annual passholders, Disney Vacation Club members, Florida residents, AAA members, and others. Mousesavers.com has the most detailed information on their dining memberships page.

Also, due to the tourist industry in Orlando, many restaurants in the Orlando area have signed onto discount and coupon programs. This might be the best way to save some cash on your Disney trip–or just enjoy a night away from the Mouse.

CHARACTER MEALS
Whether you’re young or not-so-young, it can be fun to “dine with the characters!” You can have breakfast with Mickey, dinner with the Fairy Godmother, or even lunch with Donald! There are many more experiences to be had–check out the Disney Information Station’s list of character dining experiences.

Check here for ride wait times!

Disney currently has a ticket system called “Magic Your Way.” Much like Burger King’s famous tagline, this ticket system has been created so that you can customize the tickets “your way.”

The system begins with a basic “base” ticket. This ticket allows the ticketholder to gain entrance to one Disney World park, for one day. You can then pay more to build individual “options” onto this base ticket. We’ll discuss those more in the section on ticket type.

NUMBER OF DAYS
How many days will you need to gain admittance to the parks? Consider:

• How many days will you be in the Orlando area?
• Do you want to go to a park on the day you arrive and/or the day you leave Orlando?
• Do you want to visit the WDW parks every single day you’re in Orlando, or will you be taking days to visit other theme parks in the area (Universal, Sea World, etc.)?

Once you’ve got this narrowed down, it should be clear how many days you’ll plan to go through the entry gates at a Disney World theme park during your vacation.

TICKET TYPE
Magic Your Way Tickets and Options:
The Magic Your Way ticket system offers three different “add-ons” with which to customize your ticket. Disney does the ticketing system this way in order to be sure you don’t have to pay for anything you don’t want!

Here are the add-ons you can consider purchasing to customize your base ticket:

• Park Hopper Option: “Park Hopping” is a term Disney uses for going to more than one park in one day. For example, if you wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon, that would be considered “hopping” between two parks.

  Adding the Park Hopper Option on your ticket means that you can “hop” between the four Disney World theme parks as often as you’d like throughout your stay at Disney World.

• No Expiration Option: If you don’t purchase the no-expiration option, your Disney World ticket–and all the days you’ve paid for–will expire 14 days after you first use the ticket. This means that if you purchase a 7-day ticket and only go to the parks for one day, the remaining 6 days you’ve paid for will expire 14 days after the day you visited the park the first time. Unfortunate, but true.

  Should you purchase the no-expiration option, however, those 6 unused days can be used anytime you want–even years from now. It seems like a good deal, but it’s a better deal make a really good estimate of how many days you want to spend in the parks and save the cash on the no-expiration option!

• Water Park Fun and More Option: This option gets you free admission to Disney World’s two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park (basically a giant arcade), Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course for your stay.

Other Ticket Types:
While most visitors to Disney World choose to purchase Magic Your Way tickets, there are a few other ticket types that might be right for you:

• Annual Passes: An annual pass is just that–a ticket that gets you into the Disney World theme parks every day for a year. These can be pricy ($469 at the moment), but if you’re planning to take more than one trip to Disney World, be in the parks (with park hopping) for more than 12 days, or want to take advantage of several of the annual passholder discounts and perks, it might make sense to consider purchasing an annual pass. Here’s a breakdown to determine if an annual pass might be right for you.

  Remember that even if you only go to Disney World once a year, if you schedule your trips 51 weeks apart, you can still use your annual pass for both trips. For example, if you go on vacation the second week of May 2009, simply schedule your next vacation for the first week in May 2010 and you don’t have to purchase tickets again as your annual pass will still be valid!

  NOTE: Disney World also offers what they call a “Premium Annual Pass.” This costs about $150 more than the Annual Pass, but allows unlimited entry to the DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive Theme Park, the two Disney Water Parks, and Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course.

• Florida Resident and Seasonal Passes: If you are a Florida Resident, you could have the option to purchase seasonal annual passes and other discounted tickets. Check this Florida Resident page on the Disney website for more information.

PRICE:
“The longer you stay, the less you pay, per day.”
You’ll hear Disney advertising its tickets by saying, “The longer you stay, the less you pay, per day.” This means that Disney’s Magic Your Way ticket system is priced in a tiered system–you’ll pay $75 for the first day in a park, $74.50 for your second day, $70.67 for the third day, and so on. By the time you get to ten days, you’re paying only $23.70 for that tenth day in the parks. This is simply a marketing effort to get you to visit Disney World for more days than you might have originally planned (“Hey! Why not stay an extra day? It only costs $23 bucks!”), but it’s a good one!

Here’s the breakdown for an adult ticket to give you an idea of how the system works:
COST TOTAL COST
1 Day Ticket: $75.00 $75.00

2 Day Ticket: $74.50 $149.00

3 Day Ticket: $70.67 $212.00

4 Day Ticket: $54.75 $219.00

5 Day Ticket: $44.40 $222.00

6 Day Ticket: $37.50 $225.00

7 Day Ticket: $32.57 $228.00

8 Day Ticket: $28.88 $231.00

9 Day Ticket: $26.00 $234.00

10 Day Ticket: $23.70 $237.00

The Park Hopper, No Expiration, and Water Parks and More options work the same way; the more days you’re staying, the cheaper they’ll be per day.

Discounted Tickets: Although most retailers are NOT authorized to sell discounted Disney tickets, there are a few–like Undercover Tourist, Maple Leaf Tickets, and AAA–that are out there.

My trusted, pretty much unbiased source for legally discounted Walt Disney World tickets is this Discounted tickets in a nutshell page on Mousesavers.com. Another great link to find discounted tickets is this Associated Content page.

Just as an FYI: Here is Mousesavers’ discount tickets page in full. This is a LOT of info (which is why I gave you the “nutshell” page above), but can be very informative if you have the time to read it.

That’s pretty much the skinny on ticket-purchasing! If you have questions or comments, please let me know.

Yes--you CAN relax in Disney World...

Accommodations in Orlando run from small hotel rooms to giant, multi-bedroom mansions for rent. Disney World runs over 20 resort hotels on their property; rooms range from standard, 4-person hotel rooms to 3-bedroom grand villas. There are also hundreds of hotels, villas, vacation homes, and condos for rent outside of Disney World proper.

Before you panic, take a moment to think about:

• Who you’re traveling with: Does anyone have special transportation, emotional, or physical needs?
• What you’ll be doing on your vacation: Are you visiting only Disney parks, or will you be hitting other attractions in Orlando?
• How important it is for you to be “at Disney:” Some folks don’t mind at all whether they’re staying at a Disney hotel or not. Others consider it a wasted trip if they can’t stay in Disney World.
• How much you’re willing to spend and what level of comfort you need for your group size: The closer you stay to Disney World property, the more it will cost you to stay in a nice hotel or villa/vacation home.

To Help You Decide

For those considering staying on site, there are some great resources for selecting your Disney resort. These Unofficial fan pages for these resorts can be a huge benefit for those trying to make a decisions and get an idea of what staying on property might be like. Here are some favorites:

Animal Kingdom Lodge

Caribbean Beach

Contemporary Resort

Pop Century

Wilderness Lodge

Now that you’ve given those things some thought, here are some major decisions to make regarding your vacation accommodations.

1. DO I WANT TO STAY ON PROPERTY OR OFF PROPERTY?:Should you stay on-property at a Disney Resort, or off-property at a (likely cheaper) hotel? Guests who stay on-property have access to Disney World’s resort benefits, like free transportation from the airport and throughout the Disney World property, package delivery from any store on property directly to your resort, Extra Magic Hours, and Disney Dining Plans. Guests who stay off-property can save hundreds of dollars, and likely still stay in a luxurious hotel or multi-bedroom villa, which provides free park transportation, near Disney World.
2. CAN I TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANY DISCOUNTS: Disney World often offers discounts and savings plans for its hotels and restaurants. Some of these are well-publicized. Some require you to be a bit more “in the know.” My favorite site to learn about discounts is Mousesavers.com. Here are a few of the more common discounts for which to stay on the look out:
   • Room Only Discounts: If you choose to stay in one of Disney World’s “on-property” hotels, there are often “room only” discounts, meaning that you’re getting a discount on a room booked separately from other trip components as opposed to booking a room as part of a larger package. “Room only” discounts can include:
     • AAA, which are between 10%-15% off and available to all AAA members (you may have to show your card when you check in to verify the discount)
     • Room Only discount codes for the general public (that means everyone!)
     • Annual and Seasonal Passholder room only discounts, which are reserved for those with an Annual or Seasonal pass to Disney World

     .

   • Vacation Package Discounts: Vacation package discounts are a percentage off of a Disney World Vacation package, which includes hotel, theme park tickets, and possibly transportation and airfare. Some great places to find good vacation package deals are through a Disney-certified travel agent, websites offering updated information on vacation package discounts, and the official Disney World special offers page.

Once you answer those two questions, you should have more of an idea of what you need in your vacation accommodations. At this point, you can either delve right into the process of choosing an Orlando hotel/vacation home, or contact a travel agent to help you identify the correct fit.

Epcot's Spaceship Earth

“When to go to Disney World” is an important question, affected by both personal and external factors. Personal things, like when your kids have school breaks, when you can take vacation from work, and how your finances fluctuate greatly impacts when you can head out to WDW. While I can’t help with any of that, I CAN help you to consider the external factors:

WEATHER: Weather in Orlando fluctuates between 50 and 95 degrees farenheit, with humid, HOT summers and pleasant, cool winters. The Atlantic Ocean’s hurricane season is in effect from about June through November each year, though Orlando is far enough inland that it escapes most landfalls. Hurricanes bring heavy rains and winds, however, and have caused many Orlando vacationers to cancel; consider travel insurance when booking trips during August, September, and October.

That said, the best times of year to visit WDW weather-wise are Autumn, Winter, and Spring. Personally, I enjoy weather that’s warm enough that I can go for a swim, but not so sweltering that I’m sweating all day. That kind of weather happens most often in October and April/May.

CROWDS: No doubt about it, Disney World can get crowded! Many of us have horrible memories of visiting the Magic Kingdom during the summer or Spring Break, standing in two-hour lines in the hot sun, pretty much bored out of our minds. The rest of us live in fear of having that experience.

Well, guess what! There are ways to avoid crowds–or at least lessen their impact on your vacation–at Disney World. One of my favorite tools to avoid crowds is touringplans.com’s Crowd Blog, but there are two main strategies to follow that will really put you ahead of the game:

• Avoid School Breaks: This will be tough if you have kids or if you don’t want to take your kids out of school for your vacation. However, if this isn’t the case for you, visiting while USA public schools are in session is the number one way to avoid crowds at Disney World. Basically, NO=Summer, Spring Break, and Christmas; YES=Autumn, January-February, and May. Here’s a great (and SIMPLE) list of the most and least crowded times at Walt Disney World.
• Avoid USA Holidays: The parks fill up during three-day weekends, so try to avoid the major ones: Martin Luther King day in January, President’s Day in February, Memorial Day in May, 4th of July, Labor Day in September, Columbus Day in October, Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving in November, and Christmas in December. Here’s another great list of USA Holidays for several years out.

SPECIAL AND SEASONAL EVENTS: Disney World is no stranger to a celebration and is known for its seasonal events. Here are a few of my favorites to help you as you consider when to visit:

• Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival: This is a fantastic seasonal event, which runs from late September through mid-November. International foods and wines have the spotlight as Epcot’s World Showcase is transformed into a wonderland of new tastes, sights, and sounds. It’s lots of fun, and can be enjoyed by any Epcot visitor. You can also purchase tickets to special Food and Wine Festival events, wine pairing dinners, and show dinners with famous chefs!
• Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival: Epcot is again transformed, but this time by flowers! If you’re an avid gardner–or just love looking and floral landscaping–try to visit during the Flower and Garden Festival.
• Christmas in Disney World: From Thanksgiving to the New Year, Disney World is decked out in holiday finery, and guests can experience some of the most exciting events of the year. From Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, to the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, to Epcot’s Holidays Around the World, Disney World is definitely the place for Christmas cheer. Just remember that Christmas is a crowded time; you can enjoy all of the holiday festivities with fewer crowds by visiting in late November or early December.
• LOTS MORE!: Besides all of that, you can also visit during these exciting events: Star Wars weekends in the Spring (coincides with the Flower and Garden Festival), Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party offered select nights in the fall (coincides with Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival), and the Disney World Marathon in January.

Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland!

Disney World is huge—it’s over 42 square miles of theme parks, resorts, restaurants, shopping, race car tracks, campsites, blah, blah, blah. Seriously. Big. And that’s intimidating when you’ve saved up for years to take this trip and want it to be the best trip it can be!

So think of it like you would a foreign city; you want to visit Paris, but you have to figure out your way around. The first thing you do is learn a few French language terms to make your trip easier, right? Same thing with Disney World. Although they’re regular old English words, they mean something particular at WDW.

Here are a few of the terms you’ll need to know to get the most out of your trip. We’ll use these throughout the Blog, as well.

• Theme Park: This refers to Disney World’s four main parks, Magic Kingdom (MK), Epcot, Disney’s Hollywood Studios (this was formerly the Disney-MGM Studios; it will be abbreviated as DHS), and Animal Kingdom (AK).
• Water Park: Disney World has 2 huge water-based parks, similar to Wet n Wild and others around the country. These are Typhoon Lagoon (TL) and Blizzard Beach (BB).
• Cast Member: This is Disney’s name for their employees. Walt Disney envisioned his theme parks as giant stage shows, so everyone who works there is a “cast member” working either “onstage,” or “backstage.”
• Backstage: Any area of Disney World that isn’t freely available to people who don’t work for the Disney Company—e.g., any area beyond a “Cast Members Only” door.
• Advanced Dining Reservation (ADR): These used to be called “priority seating arrangements,” or “PSs”, and they’re the core of Disney World’s restaurant reservations system. Having an ADR will ensure that you’re seated at the next available table for your party size once you check in at a table service (i.e. sit-down) restaurant podium. Most of the time and at most table service restaurants, Walt Disney World Advanced Dining Reservations can be booked 90 days prior to the date you’ll actually be dining.
• Fastpass: Imagine that you’ve just joined the end of a 60 minute wait line for Splash Mountain. Now imagine you ask the person in front of you to hold your place in line for those 60 minutes while you go ride other rides and eat some lunch—and that person says yes! That’s how Disney’s Fastpass System works.

  Go to a Fastpass ticket machine in front of any Fastpass ride, get a ticket, and go have fun elsewhere in the park. Return to the ride during the window shown on your Fastpass ticket, show your ticket to the Cast Member running the “Fastpass Return” line, and ride with little to no wait!

• Downtown Disney (DTD): This is the shopping and nightlife district in Disney World. It does NOT require a ticket for entry.
• Character Meal: This is a “sit-down” or “table service” meal where Disney characters make their way around the restaurant to visit with guests, sign autographs, take pictures, etc.
• Resort: Disney World’s full name is “Walt Disney World Resort,” but usually, when we talke about “resorts,” we’re talking about the 23 hotels on Disney World property.
• On- and Off-Property: On-property refers to anything within the 42 square miles owned by Disney World. Off-Property refers to anything outside the gates of Disney World, e.g. greater Orlando and Kissimmee, etc.
• Magical Express: Magical Express is Disney’s free Coach Bus transportation from the airport to your Disney hotel. This is available to anyone staying in a Disney World Resort hotel, and can save you the cost of renting a car, paying for a taxi, booking a shuttlebus, or getting a car service. Disney World is about 30 miles from the Orlando International Airport.
• Extra Magic Hour (EMH): Extra Magic Hours are also a perk for people staying in Disney Resort hotels on-property. On most days of the week–based on Disney’s schedule–resort guests are able to spend an extra hour in the morning or three hours in the evening at select parks. E.g., “on Wednesday, Magic Kingdom has a morning EMH and Epcot has evening EMH,” means that on that day, Magic Kingdom will be open to resort guests only for an hour before regular park opening, and Epcot will be open to resort guests only for three hours past regular park closing.
• Table Service Dining: “Sit down” meal, where you’re seated at a table and waited on.
• Counter Service Dining: A fast food-type meal, where you order your food at a counter and sit in a large seating area to eat.
• Park Touring: This refers to how you spend your day in a theme park. E.g., if people want to fit in a lot of rides in a short period of time, they’ll develop a “touring plan” to be sure to get to the rides when they have the shortest wait times. They’ll also work into their “touring plan” when to get a fastpass for certain rides so that they can experience rides with shorter waits while waiting for their fastpass return time to come up for a more popular ride.
• Wait Time: Most Disney World rides have lines, and therefore, Disney has posted large signs displaying the projected wait time from the end of the line, to when you’d be boarding the ride. Once in a while, a cast member at the end of the line will hand a red, plastic card to a guest getting in line and request that the guest hand the card to the cast member at the front of the line. The time it takes the guest to get to the front of the line and hand over the card becomes the new “wait time” on the sign at the front of the ride.


Trams will take you from parking lots to theme parks!

• Monorail: Disney’s elevated train transportation system. This connects Epcot with the Transportation and Ticket Center. It also connects the Transportation and Ticket Center with Magic Kingdom, and the Grand Floridian, Contemporary, and Polynesian Resorts.
• Disney Transportation:Disney transportation is Disney World’s free transportation system throughout the Disney World resort. It’s comprised of busses, monorails, trams, and boats that takes all ticket holders and resort guests anywhere they want to go on property…for free!
• Illuminations: Epcot’s nightly fireworks show.
• Wishes: Magic Kingdom’s nightly fireworks show.
• Fantasmic: Disney Hollywood Studios’ nightly (though soon to be twice weekly) water and pyrotechnics show.

So there are a few of the words and phrases that will help with your planning. I’m sure there are more that we’ll stumble upon as we go through the blog, but…whew…that’s enough for now!

He'll See Ya Real Soon!

Welcome to Disney World Basics! I loooove Disney World, and have vacationed there countless times as a kid and over 20 times as an adult. I’ve spent a lot of time “initiating” my friends and family into the huge, exciting, and sometimes downright confusing world of vacationing in Disney World, and I’ve learned through that process how to give people the exact information necessary—no more, no less—to help them have a great time in Disney World, and I can’t wait to help you, too!

So here we are, and here we go! The goal of Disney World Basics is to share with you the most basic information you need to know to enjoy your vacation in Disney World, and also to introduce you to some easy-to-use tips and tricks to make your vacation even better. I’m hoping to make this QUICK and EASY for you, so I’ll also point you in the right direction to find all the best Disney sites on the web, in case you want to learn more or join some of the great Disney social networks out there.

Here’s some trip planning basics we’re going to touch on in the Disney World Basics blog:

1. How to “speak Disney World:” a Disney dictionary of language
2. How to choose the best time to visit Walt Disney World
3. How to decide where to stay in Disney World or Orlando
4. How to decide what theme park tickets to buy in Disney World (there’s a LOT of choices!) and from whom you should buy them
5. How to decide what and where to eat in Disney World and Orlando
6. How to decide on transportation options to and in Disney World and Orlando
7. How to create a “Touring Plan,” or figure out what theme parks to visit and when
8. How to decide what other activities (the stuff BESIDES the parks) to do in Disney World

Hopefully this will cover the beginning basics, and we’ll move on after that! There’s so much to learn, see, and do at Disney World, and it’s changing every day!