Plan your days at Disney

First thing you will hear from anyone that has ever been to Disneyworld is "You will not see everything in just one trip to Disneyworld".  There is some truth to that, but not entirely true for those who love to plan every detail.  The key to planning a day for your family to maximize the enjoyment of the parks is to be flexible.  Do not expect your plan will go off without a hitch or delay.  It is necessary to plan ahead and have 2 plans on hand for every park.  I would suggest 4 plans for Magic Kingdom and I will explain why later in this post.

First order of business is to decide which park you will visit on each day.  The Disneyworld website (www.disneyworld.com) will give you a calendar up to a year ahead of time with park hours and extra magic hours for each of the 4 major parks as well as the two water parks.  If you are staying in a resort hotel on Disney property (which also includes Shades of Green military only hotel) you are entitled to the benefit of Extra Magic Hours.  Many plan their days around these hours, but not always the best choice to maximize your planned day.  The exception would be Animal Kingdom in the morning.  It can be a long wait to get on the Kilimanjaro Safari so using the extra magic hours on the Animal Kingdom morning is a good idea.  Animal Kingdom also has the shortest park hours, so the earlier you can get in the better chance you have to see everything in that park.

Most days I plan outside of the Extra Magic hours to avoid following the crowd.  There are many websites out there that will give you the park attendance averages for each day and line wait times.  I personally use www.touringplans.com to get a feel for crowd levels.  I don't mean to avoid the Extra Magic Hours at all, especially evening hours.  We like to hit a less crowded park in the morning to maximize our rides with shorter wait times, then after lunch, transition to the park with the extra evening hours to get as much time in the fun as possible.  This is the major benefit to the Park Hopper Option and helps you get the most of your Disney experience.  When hopping parks, it is always a good idea to plan a late quick service lunch to get the most out of your morning.  With that being said, make sure you obtain a later Dinner Reservation at your evening park choice since you will not be hungry if you eat the late lunch.  I will post more detail to each park plan following this post.  Please feel free to share your experiences because the more ideas the better.

Good Luck Mickey Fans!

Scared of the Weather?

Hello Disney Fans,
One of the great things about Walt Disneyworld is that no matter the weather, it is always a good time.  If you have never been, this will be good information for you.  If you have been, this should sound familiar to you.  The majority of the lines for attractions are under cover.  Your only issue with extreme heat and rain is going from one line to the next.  If you use a park map, you can plan both a sunny day and a rainy day route.  If you are exptecting rain, have your route visit attractions that are close to one another so as to minimize your time in the elements.  Avoid a visit to Animal Kingdom on rainy days, as everything is very spread out and will keep you in the rain much longer.

Regardless of whether or not you are expecting rain, it is always a good idea to carry small ponchos from a local dollar store.  They are easy to carry and can also come in handy when going on certain water rides.  With proper planning, everyday is sunny at Disneyworld.  Feel free to share your stories with us and your secrets for a dry time in the parks.

Dinsey Dinning Plan

This was the first year we used the Disney Dinning Plan, and we will never go without it again... Each lunch recipt totaled about 63-65 per day for my family of 4.  The Dinner reciepts totaled anywhere from 150-180 each day as well.  And I cannot forget the approximate $20 per day for the snack.  That would have been $250 per day.  We had never come close to spending that much money in years past, but then again, we had never eaten as well as we did either.  This program is amazing and really made the trip very memorable for us.  Some say the plan makes your day in disney rushed.  That is based on poor planning in my opinion.  We were only rushed once and that was my own fault for trying to travel from one side of disney to the other in less than an hour.  Food was amazing, wait staff was spectacular and looked forward to every night as an adventure.  These are my kids actually enjoying eachothers company at Le Chefs De France in Epcot.

Disney World Vacation Planning Forum

Hello Disney Fans,
This Blog is designed to help you enjoy the magic of Disney World.  I hope to offer advise to make your trip the best ever.  I also hope to use this as a way to have others share their experiences to offer a variety of options and opinions.  I want everyone to feel free to share their stories, questions, and concerns with me in this forum and with a little luck, I hope to help you enjoy the time of your life.