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We went over Thanksgiving this past year. You do NOT need a park hopper pass if you use your time wisely. You don't even need the Extra Magic Hours either.
Go buy the NEWEST edition of the book called, "The Unofficial Guide to Disney World". They have several different "tours" for each park to use for your stay that depend on the age of your kids and how pushed you want to feel. We only had 4 days to see the parks and saw ALL of the Disney parks and rode EVERY SINGLE headliner ride at least once and most of them TWICE. With PLENTY of time to spare once we hit a certain point of the day and we were taking it easy but knew we had seen the high spots. In the book they even tell you that going to the parks w/ the Extra Magic Hours is NOT advisable as they are the MOST packed on THAT day. We avoided the parks on their EMH days and we were at the parks waiting for them to drop the ropes every morning and had it "made in the shade" by following the "tours" in the book. We typically did the "Authors Prefered Touring Plans" but intermingled in the rides from the "One Day Tour" in the order we went and did just fine.
We didn't do the dining plan either. I was able to get dinner reservations for us the week before we went at the park we were going to be at that day. Worked out perfect. We ate breakfast at the condo before we left in the mornings (the book advises this so your not wasting precious park time waiting to eat). Had snacks w/ us in our pockets (granola bars and small packets of peanuts and such) and a bottle of water. Stopped to eat lunch when it said to on the "touring plan" at whatever was nearby and sounded good.
We visited last year, and stayed off property. So we were not able to experience the extra magic hours. We didn't use our park hopper pass at all, as we stayed at whatever park we started at. This year we are staying on property, but didn't get the hopper pass, instead got the meal plan, which includes 7 sit down meals and 7 couter service meals.
Looking to make the most out of our vacation package,since we will only be able to go to one park a day, any suggestions? rest, rides, res, what to do...
We are going in May, with a 15 yr, 5yr and dh and I.
Make sure you take advantage of the fast passes. There are some rides that lines are longer than others so if you fast pass it, which means you use your room key to show that you are staying at one of the resorts, a ticket will print out with the time to come back and you can basically jump to the front of the line. Works well with children.
Also, take advantage of the resort! We are members of the Disney Vaction Club, hence DVCGAL, anyhow, we go and just stay at the resorts some years and never even go to the parks. The resorts offer a lot to do so take advantage of them while you are there. We go in May every year as well and it's a nice time to go! Not as busy or as hot but still nice weather. We usually go mid-May but this year we are going at the end of May beginning of June so we shall see how crowded that time of year is!!! Have fun!!!
Make sure you take advantage of the fast passes. There are some rides that lines are longer than others so if you fast pass it, which means you use your room key to show that you are staying at one of the resorts, a ticket will print out with the time to come back and you can basically jump to the front of the line. Works well with children.
FYI, you do NOT need a room key to a Disney Resort in order to get a Fast Pass. ANYONE can get one. You ONLY need your DISNEY PARK ticket. Not every ride has a Fast Pass option and there ARE tricks to when and how to get them and when to take advantage of the Fast Pass. It is completely covered in the book I mentioned earlier.
Avoid the "Disney Death March." Don't try to do everything, and don't run yourself ragged spending every waking minute at a theme park. Relax, slow down, and enjoy. This is especially true if Disney is likely to be a repeat vacation for you over the years.
We have a saying: When you go to visit The Mouse, you have to eat the cheese. In other words, enjoy all the kitsch and Disney stuff. Savor the Disney past as much as the newest, shiniest rides. Become part of the experience with your children.
Above all, build memories with your children. Make it so what they remember about this special trip is their time with you, not just a bunch of rides. See the world through their eyes. Feed their wonder and innocence. Enjoy the magic. I've been to Disney several times with my kids through the years, and even as young adults now, they laugh and have a ball as we visit some of the old Disney attractions that were parts of their visits as young children. It's not because the attraction is so great, it's because we remember all the fun we had there in prior years, and we build on it each time.
Thanks for the great advice, I am looking into alot of the suggestions. I purchased the book off amazon, so hopefully that will be my guide to help. I also booked our dinner reservations, I really wanted to book the coral reef it looks like it's a nice place. But these were my best options that they had left for a party of 9, (we are meeting our friends and their family from MA)
Tappan Edo
Tutta Italiano (sp)??
Liberty Tree
Crystal Palace
Tonys in MK
Hollywood n vine (lunch)
Planet hollywood (dh really wants to go there)
Avoid the "Disney Death March." Don't try to do everything, and don't run yourself ragged spending every waking minute at a theme park. Relax, slow down, and enjoy. This is especially true if Disney is likely to be a repeat vacation for you over the years.
We have a saying: When you go to visit The Mouse, you have to eat the cheese. In other words, enjoy all the kitsch and Disney stuff. Savor the Disney past as much as the newest, shiniest rides. Become part of the experience with your children.
Above all, build memories with your children. Make it so what they remember about this special trip is their time with you, not just a bunch of rides. See the world through their eyes. Feed their wonder and innocence. Enjoy the magic. I've been to Disney several times with my kids through the years, and even as young adults now, they laugh and have a ball as we visit some of the old Disney attractions that were parts of their visits as young children. It's not because the attraction is so great, it's because we remember all the fun we had there in prior years, and we build on it each time.
I know what you mean by seeing it through the childs eyes, last year was our first trip and we did not rush, missing a ton of rides. My dd was 4, and seeing her eyes as we took the ferry to Magic Kingdom, there was Cinderellas castle, they just lit up with excitment! It was a magical...
That is why we are going back this year, I hear from people how it is a different experiece every time, I just wasn't that organized last time, so I feel like we missed alot...
FYI, you do NOT need a room key to a Disney Resort in order to get a Fast Pass. ANYONE can get one. You ONLY need your DISNEY PARK ticket. Not every ride has a Fast Pass option and there ARE tricks to when and how to get them and when to take advantage of the Fast Pass. It is completely covered in the book I mentioned earlier.
Does the book tell me the tricks and how to get the fast pass? I really didn't use this option last year..
"The Unofficial Guide to Disney World" tells you everything you want to know and then some.
Fast passes are easy. Just take your tickets up to one of the kiosks outside any of the rides that allow Fast Pass, and feed them in one by one. It will spit out a Fast Pass ticket for each ticket holder, with an assigned hour window - although you can go anytime after that window. Go back at that time and use the Fast Pass Holders line.
You can't load up on Fast Passes all at once. The Fast Pass ticket will tell you when you can get your next Fast Pass at any ride.
So go to the area around a major attraction - e.g., Space Mountain - and grab a Fast Pass for that ride. Then check out the smaller attractions in that area while you wait for your Fast Pass time.
FYI, you do NOT need a room key to a Disney Resort in order to get a Fast Pass. ANYONE can get one. You ONLY need your DISNEY PARK ticket. Not every ride has a Fast Pass option and there ARE tricks to when and how to get them and when to take advantage of the Fast Pass. It is completely covered in the book I mentioned earlier.
I think you're talking about the same thing. When we went to Disney and stayed on the the resort, your room key was your park ticket. Another time when we went and stayed off resort we had an actual park ticket.
I think you're talking about the same thing. When we went to Disney and stayed on the the resort, your room key was your park ticket. Another time when we went and stayed off resort we had an actual park ticket.
When you are not staying on site at a Disney resort you can still use your Ticket for fastpass was the other posters point. It is not a service just for people with room keys cards.
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