A Guide: Getting Ready for Disney World

So I’ve been to Disney World several times. Like many many times. And in the beginning I couldn’t figure out why I felt so overwhelmed in the beginning. Was it because it is so different than Disneyland? That so much has changed since the last time I went? Because I’ve never been to Disney World with kids? Maybe all the above. Or maybe there wasn’t something out there that literally breaks it down for you so you know exactly what to do before your trip even starts :)

I watched the videos, I read the blogs, I followed the instagram accounts. I did it all, but there was so much information, I couldn’t compile it all. I needed like a go to reference.

So I am going to try and make it for you. Here are the things you should do before going to Disney.

1.Decide when you’re going and for how long

2.look for disney deals that may apply

3. choose a hotel

4. Find a Disney travel agent if you’re planning to use one

5. Pick your dining spots and make reservations 60 days before your trip

6. Read up on Genie+ and Standby Skipper if you want to do that too

So lets do this, I am going to show you how to do all six of these.

Decide When to Go and for How Long

We decided to go for four nights and honestly, that was the perfect amount of time for us. We were tired by the end and felt like we really had a chance to see so many amazing things at the Disney Parks. For the first visit, some people only want to do two parks, some people go for longer and do multiple rest days, some people park hop every day. You know your family best and what they can handle/enjoy so decide based on making this a happy experience for all!

We wanted to go in January because January is known as an “off peak” month. So is May, part of August, September and part of November. Obviously most people go when schools are out, but if you can swing going during an off time, that will definitely give you lower crowds and make it a little less crazy each day. However, if you can only go during a break, I am going to recommend spring break. Everyone has the same summer break and winter break generally so the crowds will be much much higher then. But for spring break, they’re all a little different so it might not be as bad.

Look for disney deals

Disney is always running promotions and it might not work out for when you want to go, but definitely check the site periodically. If you’re using an agent, ask them to notify you of any and it’s a great way to save money when going to Disney.

Choose a Hotel

Would you ever guess there were so many options for hotels in Disney World? There’s levels of pricing, there are different areas, there are “Disney Neighbors.” There are a lot to choose from! So we stayed at the Polynesian Hotel which is a deluxe hotel on the monorail.

There are four different categories of hotels at Disney: value, moderate, deluxe hotel and deluxe villa. And then there are a few hotels that are owned by a hotel company like The Swan and Dolphin (Marriott) and the Four Seasons Orlando that both get the same perks as Disney hotels.

If you stay on property, you get early entry into the parks (some get later hours), themed rooms and hotel, photographers on site at some for your memory maker, free transportation/ free parking if you drive to a park from the hotel, great pools and activities throughout the day for kids and some have character meals. In addition to that, there are hotels called “Good Neighbor Hotels” and you can’t get all of the Disney perks by staying at one of these but they will help you with transportation and Disney planning.

Location also might play a factor for you when choosing a hotel. There are Magic Kingdom area resorts that have access to the monorail and can easily get to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot via the monorail. To get to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom you have to take a bus. In the Epcot and Hollywood Studio area, resorts either can go by boat, walk to these parks, or take the skyliner. And then take a bus to both the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. And then there are some resorts in various places across Disney World that are bus only. It is all free transportation and I think things generally run quickly and smoothly. Some of the resorts that people have mentioned that they love are: Polynesian, Grand Floridian, The Contemporary, Beach Club, Art of Animation, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans, Pop Century, Saratoga Springs, Animal Kingdom Lodge, Wilderness Lodge and Riviera.

Overall our stay at the Polynesian was okay. I thought maybe for the cost, the service would have been better. We had several hiccups with them, but the convenience factor was great. Especially when Josh and I split up with the kids and we could just take the monorail to the parks. I also loved that you could watch the fireworks at night and it was nice to have quite a few food options at the hotel. I think we might try something different next time, but hoping we’re in the minority of what we experienced.

Find a Disney Travel Agent

We’ve used a Disney travel agent for our trips to Disneyland and Disney World. She helped with booking dining reservations early in the morning, sending breakdowns and individualized tips for our trip and what rides to do and calling places when we needed assistance. It is actually really hard to get in touch with someone on the phone in the Disney resorts but your agent can get in touch with someone for you. We used Erin Weinrich and she was super helpful! You don’t have to use one if you like to plan everything yourself, but its no cost to use one if you decide to!

Pick your dining spots and reserve 60 days before your trip

There are tons of restaurant options! Character dining, quick service, Disney Springs, and reserved dining across Disney World. We decided to do three Character meals based on the characters the girls are into right now. The first day we arrived, we went to Chef Mickey’s for dinner at the Contemporary. It is a buffet and the girls really loved it, had so many options! You get to meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Donald there. There are some other ones with classic characters around Disney World: Cape May, Tusker House and Garden Grill to name a few. The next day when we went to Magic Kingdom, we had lunch with several princesses at Cinderella’s Royal Table. You have to pay ahead for this and it’s a bit on the fancier side for Disney, but it was an amazing experience and the food was really good! I also really liked having a character lunch so we could still get to the park early in the morning for rides. Some of the princesses alternate so make sure to check which princesses will be there if you decide to go. The third meal we did was the Disney Jr breakfast at Hollywood Studios at Hollywood and Vine. It is your classic breakfast buffet and you get to meet Doc McStuffins, Vampirina, Fancy Nancy and Roadster Goofy. If your child is into these characters, it is a must. They come up and dance with you in addition to signing autographs and taking photos. It was a really special interaction for our oldest, Emilia, who is obsessed with Doc McStuffins.

I did want to mention to make sure to not only check the menu before booking, but to also check the character list. For example, the Disney Jr characters only do breakfast at Hollywood and Vine where the classic Disney classic characters do lunch there. Some other character meals that I heard are really awesome are: Akershus, ‘Ohana and Topolino’s. I also went to Tusker House character meal before I had kids and it is really great too!

And lastly, Disney World also has a dining plan. If it works in your favor, it can help you save money. However if you don’t make it to the select options you have to use that day, you kind of lose it. We were worried about feeling so tied to it, so we decided not to do it this time.

Research Genie+ and Standby Skipper

Remember when you could just go to the line get your fast pass and then you would just return at your time? So easy, so simple, that’s it. Well, Disney decided it would be fun to make things a little more interesting and introduced the world to Genie+ a few years ago. Basically it’s an added on feature in the Disney app that helps you skip the line on rides that have longer waits. Not every ride has genie + and actually, it works with some character meet and greets too! I think the one rule with it that I don’t like is you have to get up early every day in order to make your selection. It can be stressful trying to get “the ride.” At 7 AM you can make your selection of your first ride (but make sure you purchased before 7 AM so you can be ready, ugh) and then hopefully you get a time that works.

So I will give you an example. Let’s say I want to go on Space Mountain and that is my top choice for the morning. I select it at 7 am. Let’s say I get it for 8 am because I can get early entry. Well, even if I ride that that ride early, I can’t actually select the next ride I want on genie + until two hours after the park opens. And then, after that, you can select a new genie+ ride after you finish the ride or if two hours past. Whatever comes up first. Confused yet?

I made a mistake and didn’t watch videos before and I should have. I highly recommend doing that. Well, I then realized Standby Skipper existed and if you’re okay with then paying a little more, this bot will do all the work for you. And it can get you more rides than genie+ would. What you can do is anytime between midnight and 7 am, you can tell Standby Skipper what rides you want. You can say anytime, morning, afternoon or evening. What is really great about this app is it books it all for you. You tell it what you want to do in the morning and then you don’t have to rebook or check your genie app the rest of the day. It also gets you into rides when genie+ often says, there is no more genie+ available for the rest of the day (yea, that happens too, crazy!) I also felt like it did a really good job “stacking” my rides where I did them all back to back and I don’t feel like genie could do that.

I did want to mention, if you decide not to do Standby Skipper and you get a time you don’t like on genie+, you can push the time back to a time that works better for you. If you decide to do Standby Skipper, I thought it was only an app until I realized it had a whole website with tutorial videos and a Facebook group that is incredibly helpful and gives you great strategies for making the most out of your day.

And then lastly, in addition to all of this, there is something called individual lightening lane. Some rides are so popular that they are “an additional purchase” to bypass the queue. These also sell out pretty early on and I want to say only resort guests can purchase these at 7 AM and the rest of the park guests can get their lightening lane spot once the park opens. So you do have an advantage with that. I don’t even remember how I snagged the Guardians of Galaxy lightening lane. I think it was a lower crowd at Epcot that day and I noticed it was available on a whim. Standby Skipper can’t book these so this is something you have to book on your own. And if you’re doing genie + and lightening lane at the park that day (and not SS), the best strategy would be for you and your partner to do this at the same time. You do the genie+ selection at 7 am and your partner do the lightening lane at 7 am. As I mentioned, this is a lot. I loved everything about Disney except for this. I feel like they made something that wasn’t complicated, super complicated and it does have a learning curve. Just watch a few videos and do your research beforehand, it will definitely help!

And now… get ready for the next blog post: You’ve made it to Disney, now what?