Top 15 WDW tips

Welcome back to my blog everyone. Today I am taking part in my first ever blog hop with some great friends I’ve made over on my Disney Instagram to try and promote the
amazing writing they do over on their websites. We all decide on a topic together and then once we’ve written our post we link it to someone else’s page. Read to the
end of this article and you’ll get the link to my partner’s post – be sure to check it out!
So the topic for today’s discussion is Walt Disney World tips. Now, I live, breath and sleep Walt Disney World – I watch all the youtube videos, all the vlogs, read all
the articles and I’ve been myself for 3 two-week trips. Obviously there is so much I haven’t learnt yet but I believe I have quite a bit of knowledge already to share
with you. I hope you enjoy and would love to hear any of your own tips below.
Side note – some of these tips will mainly be applicable to travellers from the UK but anyone can benefit from them

1. Book 12 months in advance
   In our house, we often book our Disney vacation 15 months in advance. This is simply because it allows us to save, get the flights at the cheapest price (when they come out 11 months in advance) and plan all ready to book our ADRs at 6 months and fastpasses at 60 days. Booking this early means you can hopefully get all the reservations you want without a problem.
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3. Stay on site
   I hope to write a whole blog post on this in the future, but if you can afford it definitely stay on site. There are endless benefits, a few of our favourites being the
   transport, magical express, magic hours, the dining plan and most importantly you’re immersed in that disney magic 24/7. No matter what problem occurs they
   will solve it with their incredible customer service. There’s nothing quite like it.

3. Plan, plan, plan
I know this isn’t everyone’s way of doing their disney vacation but in my opinion and experience it is a must. As we live very very far from Disney World when we go on our vacation we stay for 2 weeks. In order to get everything done that we want to do in a trip that we only make once every 2 or 3 years we plan everything. Of course when you get there you don’t have to follow all of it. If we feel like doing something different one day we scrap it but the point is it’s there. We research the opening hours and magic hours, we make a list of our absolute must do rides and how much time we need in each park and every time it ensures we avoid disappointment. If you rock up on the day at 12pm in animal kingdom dying to do flight of passage and navi and go see Fantasmic in Hollywood studios the chances are slim. Planning is the way to go for WDW!

4. Book fastpasses and dining the minute they come out
You can book your Advanced Dining Reservations 6 months in advance for your holiday and your fastpasses 30 days in advance (60 if staying on WDW property). In the UK, they become available at 12pm on that day. Be ready on your computer! Reservations like Cinderella’s Royal table, California grill and Ohana go very very quickly. As for certain fastpasses like flight of passage and slinky dog, well it only takes a day for them to all be gone. WDW is a very very busy and popular place. Try your best to book fastpasses and dining reservations as soon as you can.

5. Send your merch back to your hotel!
Another perk of staying on site (and one that many people don’t know about) is you can send your merchandise from the parks back to your hotel. There’s nothing worse than having to carry around a giant lotso bear or a heavy piece of art or some mugs you might smash all day when the parks will just send it back to your hotel gift shop and you can pick it up the next day – easy!

6. Do water rides at mid day or before you leave the park
If you are planning on riding splash mountain, or kali river rapids, you will be aware that you have a chance of getting extremely wet. My advice would be to do it
at the middle of the day when the sun is at it’s highest as it’s easy to dry off or at the end of the day when your about to go home and can get changed.

7. Extra fast passes
This wasn’t something we knew about until our second trip and it really is a life saver. Make sure to book your fast passes from late morning until afternoon. In the
morning, queue times are low and you can often walk onto rides. In the afternoon, it’s very busy and you will want to skip queues. In the late afternoon/evening, once you have used those three fastpasses, you can then BOOK MORE! You can go up to a fastpass kiosk or use the my disney experience app to book another fastpass one at a time. It probably won’t have any big rides available but what’s the point in waiting 30 or even 15 minutes for a smaller ride when you can just fastpass it instead?! On our last trip, we managed to grab one for buzz lightyear space ranger spin straight after the fireworks and it meant we didn’t have to queue 45 minutes!

8. Download My Disney Experience
This is the Disney bible. It has everything. Park hours, your reservations, your photopass photos, parks merchandise, maps, wait times, it has everything.

9. Get memory maker
This can be quite expensive but it is totally worth it if you are going for a longer trip. It is included free in Disney hotel tickets and it gives you the opportunity
to have professional photos taken in hundreds of spots over the parks and you get all your family in them – not one person missing who has to be behind the camera.
There’s also the magic shots which are so much fun! Remember to ask photopass cast members if they have any!

10. If you see a piece of merchandise you like – buy it.
Merchandise is huge in WDW, the fans go crazy over it. And consequently, things can sell out extremely quickly. You’ll see it one day and possibly never again. For this reason if you see something you really love, pick it up there and then – depending on the item it’s not even guaranteed to be in the shop when you go back at the end of the day.

11. Tips fund
If you are using the disney dining plan, create a tips fund before you go. The tips aren’t included in your plan and can quickly pile up to be hundreds of dollars.
Keep it in mind and be prepared

12. Book character meals late
The best time to book a character meal is at the end of a session. For example if breakfast is from 7-11 and lunch is from 12-3 book breakfast at 11am. This is because the restaurant is much quieter and you get much more quality time with the characters. Who knows, they might even come and sit with you!

13. Go to the character warehouse
The character warehouse is basically a discount store for Disney merchandise. There are two locations in Orlando – the vineland outlets and one on international drive. There are often massive savings but be sure to arrive at 10 am when they open as the good merchandise goes quickly.

14. Go on the rides when the fireworks are on!
Once you’ve seen the fireworks a few times, make sure to go on the rides at the next showing instead. The wait times drop and you can often walk on to even the popular ones. One of the most magical experiences of our last holiday was when we walked onto big thunder mountain and rode it whilst happily ever after played and the fireworks burst into the sky.

15. Book flight of passage twice!
If you haven’t ridden flight of passage yet, you are in for a treat. It is absolutely incredible. It will take your breath away and if you’re like me you might even cry.
If you can, book it twice. Navi is a great ride but nowhere near the level of this. If you are in AK twice, use both of those tier 1 fastpasses for flight of passage.

http://www.kingdomcollectors.com/2018/11/howtowhytowhatto/

Here’s the rest of the blogs participating in the loop:

http://www.stressfreemickey.com http://www.mouseandthemagic.com
http://disneyfamvacation.com/
http://www.hdgoursliceofhappiness.com http://www.thedisneydinks.com http://www.coddiwomplerlisa.wordpress.com http://www.ohsweetdisney.com http://www.aprincessandherpirates.com http://www.paperangelsvlog.com http://www.skywaytowonderland.com/ http://www.kingdomcollectors.com http://www.laufamilytravels.com

So that is it! This is my top 15 tips for Walt Disney World. Now go on and read my friends post at