Sun & Fun: Tips for Family Vacation in Walt Disney World
Guest Blogger Kristin Graham offers insight into how to tackle Disney World with kids including where to stay and eat and money and time saving tips in this three part blog series. This is part 1 of 3.
Kristin Graham and family at Disney World Epcot
By Guest Blogger Kristin Graham
When I was a child, I visited Disneyland once with my family when I was 9 years old. My mother saved for months and surprised us with a trip in the summer. It was the early 1980s and it cost $1,000 for five of us, including airfare, hotel, and park tickets.
Thirty years later, a Disney vacation is nearly an annual expedition for my family of four. With more than a dozen collective visits to the parks (+ three times to Disney Aulani in Hawaii) and having worked at a travel company for nearly a decade, we’ve learned a few things along the way.
Below are a few tried-and-true family-style tips as you consider a trip to the House of Mouse.
To Begin, Ask Yourself:
• How many days will you spend in Disney?
• Do you plan to rent a car?
• How much flexibility do you want for meals?
Disney is known for attending to the details (and making it easy to spend money along the way). With four major parks and multiple other activities in Disney World proper, the number of days you will be there guides key budget decisions.
Transportation
If you plan to just visit Disney and will stay at one of the onsite hotels, you don’t need a car. If you fly into Orlando, you can take the Disney Magical Express (for free) directly to your hotel. Using this service means they will also collect your bags from the airline and deliver them to your hotel making things easy for families. So you deplane and head straight to the bus. This is a beautiful thing.
Once at your hotel, you can get on a (free) bus to any of the parks, water parks, and Disney Springs – which is like an outdoor mall full of shopping and eating options.
Tip: The shuttle buses run every 15-20 minutes and there is a screen at each hotel station that gives an estimated arrival time.
If you want to have a car, it’s great to have the flexibility to eat in Orlando, buy groceries, and not depend on a bus schedule. If you stay at a Disney hotel, you don’t have to pay for parking at each theme park. You are given a pass for the dashboard and can hop onto a tram once you park that drops you off at the entrance. If you stay offsite, a one-day all-parks pass will cost $20.
Tip: It’s free to park at the Disney hotels, Disney Springs, and at both water parks.
Riding a bike down the board walk in Disney World
Where To Stay
We have stayed both offsite and onsite as we balanced our budget and allotted our time. There are lots of great offsite options that are typically more affordable. These are usually better options if you have a car or if the hotel has a shuttle or is near a bus line.
The benefit of staying onsite is time and convenience thanks to the shuttle buses and boats. For the last couple of visits, we stayed in the Beach Club and BoardWalk Inn. Both are located on a circular boardwalk area with restaurants, activities (e.g., four-person bike rentals; a sandy beach), and short walks to both Hollywood Studios and Epcot.
Tip: Staying at a Disney hotel allows you to enjoy Extra Magic Hours early entry (or later hours) certain parks on certain days. Ask the hotel about this when booking.
For more on best places to stay for families at Disney World, see Part 2 of this series: Budget Saving Tips for Accommodations in Disney World
Cronuts in Disney World
Eating Disney Style
There are endless options for meals in the hotels and the parks and a little planning will help tremendously. A lot of people use the Disney Dining Plan and swear by it. We haven’t used it, opting instead to split meals, take leftovers back to our kitchen, and stock up on groceries.
Whatever you decide, it is worth it to make reservations in advance for a few places you know you want to go. Disney is so popular that it’s hard at times to get in to eat at the times you want for the sit-down places. There are lots of grab-and-sit places so you can flex as much as needed.
Tip: You can book breakfast reservations at places inside the parks before the park is open. The reservation will be attached to your ticket so you get early entry into the park and a head start on the crowds after eating.
For more budget saving tips on eating in Disney World, see Part 3 of this series: Budget Saving Tips for Meals in Disney World.
Magic Bands make life easy and are cool!
Technology Is Your Friend
We love using the MagicBands for our trip. You can register them online before you go and they are mailed to you (just don’t forget to put them in your suitcase!). You can select the color and customize the inside with whatever names you’d like (our kids went by Z Money and B Diddy). This snap-on bracelet becomes your park ticket, Fast Pass, hotel key, debit card, and photo pass card all in one.
The My Disney Experience app is where we scheduled all of our dining reservations. You can also use it to select up to three Fast Passes per day in one park. Once you have used all three, you can then add more either at the ride or in handy kiosks in each park. My husband is obsessed with the attractions wait times feature and he uses it to guide us throughout the park.
Tip: The Fast Pass kiosks are often less crowded. Be sure to refresh the available pass list a few times as open slots get added frequently.
Family Faves – Rides:
• In Epcot: Soarin’, TestTrack, Spaceship Earth
• In Magic Kingdom: Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, The Hall of Presidents
• In Animal Kingdom: Kilimanjaro Safari, Lion King Show, Expedition Everest, DINOSAUR
• In Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Mania (so popular that there is a rumor they are building a duplicate of the ride in the same park), Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster
Tip: Try to get earlier times for your Fast Passes because you can sign up for more passes once you’ve used your pre-registered ones. There is a limit to how many are given each day so the earlier you have ‘em and use ‘em, the easier it will be to try to get more.
Extra Tips
When our kids were younger, we always had bags with us to carry the snacks, sweatshirts, and toys. Now that they’re older, we’ve pared down a lot. Each park has a No Bags line you can breeze though on security checks. (Note: There is now additional security screening area where people are selected at random for an extra metal detector step.)
Beyond the four major parks, there are two water parks called Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. We went to Blizzard Beach for the first time on our February visit and it was a great fun for the kids and was much less crowded.
If you get multi-day park tickets, you may have some free admissions to other Disney activities such as mini golf or Disney Quest (indoor game center) in the Disney Spring area.
In Epcot, each of the countries have a fun informational area where guests can learn more about that country. For example, Canada has an 18-minute 360-degree movie that shows Canadian landmarks and is narrated by comedian Martin Short. These are great multi-generational options that are great to rest weary feet or take a break from the weather.
Plan a Little, Flex a Lot
No two vacations in Disney World are the same so while advance planning will save you some money (and headaches), the best part of being there is to simply explore. From getting caught up in a parade to seeing fireworks light up the sky, magical moments will find you in-between all the plans you make – and that’s what makes it Disney.
About the Author:
After eight years as an executive at online travel giant Expedia, Kristin Graham set off this summer for a travel sabbatical with her family. Kristin has been telling stories since she borrowed a typewriter in elementary school. After 20 years writing for companies, she took a sabbatical from corporate life to travel with her husband and their two boys. You can follow Kristin’s adventures on her My Year of Life blog or on Twitter at @kristingraham.
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