Disney World is a one of a kind destination, and will end up being a one of a kind vacation if you chose to go. All in all, my trip there was a huge success despite all the short comings. And in all honesty, it was a huge success because of all the research Lisa and I did ahead of time.
We both consulted many websites, and Lisa actually read a few books on her Kindle, one of which kind of ‘ruins’ Disney’s mystique, and we learned a ton of stuff. Sure much of the things contradicted themselves, but after the trip was through, we realized how much we actually missed, because of our poor planning.
 |
| Note how bad CJ feels in this pic. |
That’s right, despite reading several books, and checking all sorts of stuff online, we couldn’t plan enough. So, in this post, I’m breaking down the things we should have done before our trip to Disney World, and all the things we learned how to do better after the fact.
First and foremost, be somewhere near in shape. I saw an estimate that you will walk 9 miles a day at whatever Disney Park you go to. Honestly, I fully believe that’s an understatement. When I worked at a factory, I would put on some pedometers to check how far I walked, and each day it came up to 7 miles. Disney World, I can tell you, we walked a ton further. Lisa and I both developed blisters on day one.
Stay at the park, but read the reviews of the hotels before you go. And when you read those reviews, understand that some of them are made by people just being trolls. But honestly, its not about being closer to the parks, its about extra hours, and not having to worry about transportation. Also, there are extra lines for what they call “Fast Pass.” Show up at a ride you want to go on, there is a clock above the line saying how long the wait is. If that’s too long for you, head over to the Fast Pass machine, swipe your card, get a ticket. The ticket will show a time a bit later that you can show up, hand in that ticket, and be able to board the ride in 10 minutes or less. (I saw some fast pass lines get up to 30 minutes, but it was rare). And they are only available to people who stay at the hotels. Read more about the extra hours down below.
One of the most contested things about Disney World is the Dining Plans. Lisa had been a few times before, and knew how expensive it was to eat at the parks, so we decided to go with the plan. This freed us up to want to eat at the really expensive places, or do something different. Honestly, it was a great decision, but watch out on some places, as the Brown Derby takes 2 points per person....
Make reservations for the places you want to eat. Seems simple enough, but seriously, do it way before hand. There are some seriously awesome restaurants, and if you don’t have reservations, you will be sorry. Research the restaurants you want to go to, because every one of them has a theme. And some have characters that will stop by your table for photo ops. Some of the most memorable parts of the entire trip happened at the character restaurants, from Lisa getting kissed by piglet and me getting kissed by Eeyore, to Cinderella asking Lisa about her custom designed Nikes.
Probably the saddest part of the vacation, was realizing that some of the information was out of date when we researched. The Hidden Mickey stuff and other websites have tons of little tidbits about hidden things, but when we got there, we quickly realized that some of the things no longer exist. When we were standing in the Muppet 3D line, we couldn’t find the ‘ticket stands’ where one had a key under the mat, we’d seen pictures, and we just had to decide it was gone. The store where you go to wake up Tinkerbell in the morning has been closed and turned into a princess clothing store.
Another thing to note, is the photo stuff. There will be trained and licensed Disney photographers everywhere. They'll give you a Photo Pass and then they'll take pics of you with their cameras and you can go buy them later. We ended up taking a little point and shoot camera we got from a Black Friday line a while back. It was 12mp and waterproof. We discovered very quickly that those Disney Photographers have no problems shooting you with your own camera for free, though they'll do a better job of making you pose if you use their service. I ended up with 500 pictures, 100 of which I'm posting to Facebook for family and friends.
What we did first, when we started planning the trip, after we knew what dates we were going, was we looked up the Extra Magic Hours. This helped us decide what park we were hitting on what day, because we wanted to catch those extra hours. They are only available to the people who stay at the Disney Resorts, and its truly wonderful to walk around the deserted parks and be able to ride or do anything you want to without lines....
In summary, our biggest mistake was not being fit enough for the trip. Our biggest triumph was using the heck out of the Dining Plan, making reservations way in advance, and knowing where we were going to eat. If you are planning a trip to Disney, do a bit of research, dig deeper and find the neat little things that will make your trip a bit more interesting. If its your first time, you will still be wholly overwhelmed, but at least you’ll be able to keep your head about you as you navigate the crowds.
