If you are going there for a special occasion, make sure you let your travel agent know. The employees of Disney World really know how to make a special occasion even more special. If you inform the staff that your trip to Disney is for a special occasion, they will go out of their way to create an extraordinary experience for you. We traveled there for my daughter's birthday; upon reaching our hotel room, we found a special autographed photo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse. I thought my daughter was going to faint!
The Disney staff also gave her a special pin to wear around the Disney World so that everyone knew it was her birthday. Everywhere we went staff said “Happy Birthday” and they paid special attention to her. We were also able to make a special arrangement for a cake at the Cinderella's Castle. After our lunch, the princesses and the fairy godmother all came to our table to sing “Happy Birthday.” I can tell you that it's something my daughter still talks about her experience!
Plan on what you are going to see at each park prior to getting there. By picking out the top six or seven things, your family wishes to do at each park you can save time. By creating an itinerary for each park, you can also make the best use of the Fast Pass system. For example, at Epcot, your family may wish to ride Mission Mars and see the Monster's Inc Comedy Club. Since both attractions are located across from each other, pick the shortest line time and Fast Pass the other so that when you are done with one you can just walk across and see the other attraction. By piggybacking attractions, you are more likely to do and see more of the parks.
Mom's Top Ten Tips
To see many of the attractions and to do it stress free you will need to consider the following:
- Purchase a current guidebook, I highly recommend the Pass Porter series of guides. This guidebook provides maps, information about everything including age appropriateness charting for each attraction. This is particularly helpful if you have children of various ages with you. By knowing the age appropriateness for a ride, you can save yourself from screaming and frighten youngsters. The guide also contains restaurant information for almost every restaurant in a particular park. It even provides pockets for storage. I found it very helpful as a one-stop place for planning our trip.
- Once you have your walking tour planned don't forget to mark where the nearest bathrooms are located, kids get so excited with all that is happening that they sometime hold off going to the bathroom until it is almost too late. By marking the Bathrooms on a map, you can remind the kids when you are near one or run to it quickly in an emergency.
- Plan your literary with Fast Passes in mind. Remember if you have an hour wait for a ride it will give you just enough time for the bathroom and a meal so plan to eat close to the attractions.
- This one is very important for stress relief; remember to pace your activities. Schedule a rest time either at the hotel or in the park. An extra value of staying at a Disney Hotel is that they offer extended hours to their guests. It is a great advantage to have extra hours in the morning or evening if you have small children. Try to get your young children to take a nap in the afternoon and take advantage of the extended evening hours. If your kids rise early, have an early breakfast and use the extended morning hours.
- Food budgeting is very hard to do at any of the Disney Parks. If you have a limited budget, I would recommend staying at a place that has a kitchen and make your own food or purchase a Disney Food Plan, which is very inexpensive considering that you can also use it to purchase Character Meals. Character Meals are hosted by a variety of Disney Characters in different restaurants around the parks.
- This mom highly recommends that you plan at least one Character Meal. It will save you time and limit the time you spend waiting in line for autographs. When thinking about food budgeting also keep in mind that Disney sometimes has special offers that include a Disney Food Plan package as part of Disney Hotel stay.
- Pick the best to visit based upon Disney's Non-Peak times and not your schedule. I say this because waiting in lines to get on rides, attractions or meeting characters is not fun. During peak times, even Fast Passes runs out leaving people to wait for headline attractions for up to two hours. On our last trip, we went one week before school started and our longest wait time was 40 minutes. Not only will you get a better value for your budget in terms of hotel and air rates, but you will also get to see the parks in a more stress free environment.
Taking your family to Disneyland or Disney World does not have to be a break the bank vacation. Disney offers many special discounts through their website so it pays to register and become part of their mailing list. By keeping an eye out for special offers, you and your family can have a wonderful and stress free time at Disney.
