The Perfect Disney Park Strategy
So you've planned your Disney trip, booked your hotel, purchased Disney tickets, and packed all the cute matching family tees. You think you're done, BUT, I am here to tell you that you need to do the most important thing: strategize!
Strategize?! What?!! Why?!
If you don't have a plan for a day in a Disney park, you're going to exhaust yourself and your kids so quickly that the magical (and expensive) trip you booked, will lose it's magic. Which is tragic. Disney is an exhausting but amazing place and it should be remembered for the memories and not the stress. There is nothing worse than having one kid throwing a fit because he wants pizza from Tomorrowland but you want a burger from Frontierland, but your Fastpass expires in 30 minutes in Fantasyland all while the other child is complaining because he's hot and can't. walk. another. step. Or when you're trying to squeeze two parks in one day but you didn't strategize the fastest way to get from one park to the other and the transportation alone takes 5 miles of walking and 1 hour of bus and hotel hopping in the Florida heat.
We took our most recent trip to Disney in February 2021. We have 2 boys- 6 years and 4 years old. We used a travel agent (first time because the COVID protocols were so confusing). We had to wear masks the. entire. trip. The weather was a high of 75 degrees with no rain and low humidity (in FLORIDA!!!). The crowds were low. All of this made the trip great, but the fact that we strategized and accomplished everything we set out to do, was why the trip was amazing. I wrote a blog explaining why Disney during COVID was the best vacation and you can read it here.
SO, here are my tips to strategizing your Disney vacation so you can have a stress-free day!
TIP #1
GET UP EARLY
Yes, you're on vacation. But you just threw down quite a bit of money at the most magical place on earth. Count each hour as a hundred bucks and you'd make sure your family was up and ready to go! Know when the park opens, plan to get there 45 minutes earlier, know where your transportation is and the pickup times, and get there 30 minutes early. Unless you get up at the butt crack of dawn, you wont be the first one there because there are always those crazies... but, sometimes the lines just to get on the bus are an hour long which gets you to the park later than planned. Example from our last trip- busses started running at 7:45 am. Park opened at 9:00 am. We arrived to the bus line at 7:20 which got to Disney gates at 8:15. Disney opened their gates at 8:30-8:45. We rode some of the most popular rides all before the crowds arrived! It was. amazing.
TIP #2
DON'T FOLLOW THE CROWD
We learned this the hard way on our first day in Magic Kingdom. We followed the mad dash to Mine Train and the line was 70 minutes long BEFORE THE PARK EVEN OPENED (because they started forming the line early). I vetoed waiting in the line for that long because I knew the other lines were going to fill up and so our schedule was messed up from there. We fortunately had another day planned at Magic Kingdom and so we took a left when the crowd turned right and OMG. We had the entire left side of the park to ourselves for 15 minutes. We rode Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates, and Haunted Mansion all within 45 minutes. That freed up our time of waiting in lines for the big rides so that we could take our time, eat more snacks, and enjoy the day! This worked for us at Hollywood Studios also because at the time we were there, the crowds dashed to Slinky Dog Dash and Star Wars land while we went to Tower of Terror and Screamin' and enjoyed those rides a few times before the lines got long. After you're done with those rides, the lines at the popular rides go down. BOOM BABY.
TIP #3
EAT EARLY & KNOW WHERE
We naturally eat early at home so this wasn't super hard. We planned to eat lunch around 11am every day while the rush of eaters arrive at 12:30-1:00. The restaurants at Disney are all pretty unique so if you know what your plan is during the day and by using the app My Disney Experience (MUST DO. MUST. JUST DOWNLOAD IT NOW), you will know what the items on the menu are at each restaurant and can plan accordingly. If you're not picky or don't have picky eaters, there will be a place to eat at every turn. But if your diet is more tricky or you want something specific, save yourself the time and feet pain to be close to the restaurant when you're ready to eat instead of across the park. AND the Disney food can be costly... so just plan to end up at a budget friendly restaurant when you're starving instead of scrambling to find the nearest burger place and eating something that isn't great.
TIP #4
USE THE APP BEFORE & DURING
The My Disney Experience App is the greatest app when visiting Disney. I'm pretty sure you NEED it for the trip. It stores your payment info, your hotel info, your ticket info, and the map to the entire Disney area (hotels, Disney Springs, parks, etc). You can scan your phone to pay, scan your phone to get into the parks, and it even has interactive stuff to use in certain lands of the parks. We used the app before because we were tracking the wait times at each park. Sounds nerdy BUT I am a nerd so.. On the Monday before we were supposed to be in MK, we looked at the wait times throughout the day in MK so we would get an idea of what our strategy should be the day of. It was helpful to know that Space Mountain wait times are lower in the afternoon, etc. Also, the app has all the menus so you can plan if you have dietary restrictions. When we went during COVID, every meal had to be ordered from the app before hand and some were scheduled so far ahead that we weren't able to get our food at a time that worked for us. Knowing this kind of information makes the day run smoothly and more enjoyable!
TIP #5
KNOW YOUR PRIORITIES
We are huge rides-people and we all have our favorite rides that are on our priorities list. We like parades, are ok waiting in a short line for characters and we all love the fireworks. COVID cancelled all of those things which was a blessing in disguise because it meant more time chilling and riding but knowing what you are willing and aren't willing to miss during your vacation is very important. If you're ok missing a parade then ride the popular rides while everyone else watches the parades! If a certain food item (which is another blog series I'm working on. Here is the MK one...;) is on your list, make sure to get it and enjoy it! It's awful when you've spent so much money and the schedule gets so overwhelming that you missed your favorite ride or favorite part of the entire trip!
TIP #6
CELEBRATE...ANYTHING!
We went to Disney in 2019 and celebrated my son's birthday 3 weeks early. We went to Disney in 2021 and celebrated my birthday (the actual day of). Grab a pin at the hotel or at the guest service and let all of their cast members congratulate you or even get free goodies ;) We got cupcakes and treats for both trips. And wear the pin the entire trip!! You'll hopefully get something from each park! The free stuff is all subject to the cast members and we didn't get something every day BUT, I blame COVID and online ordering :/ ha! They have first time pins, anniversary pins, birthday pins, wedding pins, etc!
TIP #7
SIT BACK AND ENJOY
If you've paid the bill, followed your schedule, and set your priorities, sit back, relax and soak it all in. This should be a vacation where memories are made and the simple moments are not taken for granted. If your kid conquered a fear by riding a scary ride, or going on their first ride, or met their Disney hero, or had a special snack, or had an incredible experience, then it was all worth it! And if you can accomplish all that with as little stress as possible, the WIN WIN. Sit in the garden area in front of the castle, listen to the music, grab yourself a snack and a coffee and let the kids run free in the grassy area. Trust me. It's the best moment to let sink in.
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