Hello again everyone and welcome back to a brand new post! We just returned from an impromptu visit to Walt Disney World. It was a trip filled with magical memories! We’ve picked up a few more latests tips for your next vacation in Disney World. So let’s dive right in!
#1 Get There Early
Given that FastPass+ is not returning and Lightening Lane access will be an added cost, you may want to optimize your time and budget by getting to the parks early. Now, Disney World has a calendar of posted times for each theme park. However, we experienced park openings happening up to an hour before the scheduled time! For instance, guests were allowed in Epcot starting at 10:00 AM instead of the posted 11:00 AM!! Getting to the park early allowed for standard parking up front and time to wander the park without many guests. Additionally, some popular attractions began operating early as well. We rode Frozen Ever After twice with little to no wait!
#2 MagicBands are the Way to Go
Recently, Disney released MagicMobile which basically turns your smartphone into your park ticket and Disney World Resort Hotel room key. In theory, this sounds very convenient especially considering MagicBands are no longer complimentary. Although MagicMobile allowed us initial access to our Resort room without a visit to the Front Desk, it was a pain to continually open the app, select the room key, and hold it up to the room door. The app just kept crashing and wouldn’t load! So it ended up being a lengthy process to open our room door. Thus, we ended up just buying everyone MagicBands instead. These beauties are the epitome of convenience (and they are very fashionable!).
#3 Know the App
If you don’t already have the My Disney Experience App downloaded onto your smartphone, do it now! Guests pretty much use this app for everything from accessing tickets, to checking attraction wait times, and even Mobile Ordering food. You can now also chat with a Cast Member if you have any questions or issues during your trip! This is all great, however, the app isn’t that intuitive to use and it tends to crash a lot! So, our strong advice is to become familiar with it before even getting to Disney World. Just browse around and get a feel for the layout of things. It’ll certainly save you time and frustration while on vacation!
#4 Get Those Park Pass Reservations
A HUGE thing to note is that Disney World Theme Park guests need both a park ticket (or Annual Pass) and a reservation in the Park Pass system. If you do not have both of these, you will get turned away at the front gates! Interestingly, the Park Pass system is not in the My Disney Experience App, however, you can click on a link in the app that will redirect you to a web browser. From there you will have to make Park Pass Reservations for each day you wish to visit a theme park. During slower times, pretty much every park will be available and you may not need to make a reservation too far in advance. However, during busy times (like the 50th Anniversary beginning Oct 1, 2021), you’ll want to make sure you lock in those reservations for each day of your trip!
#5 When to Extend a Ticket
The last of our latest tips for your next visit to Disney World has to do with tickets and timing! During this latest trip, we decided to extend our visit by 1 day. Thus, we wanted to add a day onto our already purchased Park Hopper tickets. If you’re familiar with Disney World Theme Park tickets, you may have noticed that the more days you add, the cheaper the ticket for each day becomes (see picture below). For instance, a 1-day ticket is $109 USD. However, if you purchase a 5-day ticket, it works out to $89 USD per day. That’s a $20 savings per day! So, if you want to add a day, in order to get the cheaper rate, you must go to Guest Relations with at least 1 day left on your already existing ticket. If you use up all the days on your ticket and then go to add to it, you’ll have to purchase a brand new ticket at the non-discounted rate! So timing is everything to your wallet!
I hope these latest tips for a vacation in Disney World help you with your planning!
Until next time… Cheers!!!