Help! Disney World-so confused

Parent Cafe
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DisneyWorld can be a whole different animal from Disneyland. Four parks, two water parks, Disney Springs… lots of options there.

At its most basic level, here’s what I suggest you take care of.

  1. You're staying at Bonnet Creek in March. So you're offsite, and can't qualify for Extra Magic Hours, the Disney Dining Plan or Disney's Magical Express.
  2. You've chosen one park passes. So decide whether you want 2 days in the Magic Kingdom or one day at one of the other parks. You know your grandson, take a look at the other parks and decide whether, say, a day at Animal Kingdom is worth the tradeoff of another day at the Magic Kingdom. There's no right or wrong answer here, it depends on your family dynamic.

If you do decide to upgrade to parkhoppers during your trip, it will cost about $40 per person, regardless of at which point in your trip you make that decision. For a 2 day trip, I’m not sure I would bother.

  1. You don't say how old your grandson is, but for some reason I'm picturing him as young. Consider a meal or two at one of the Character meals. March is coming up fast, so some of the more popular ones may be hard to get. Take a look at Cape May breakfast (in the Beach Club Resort, so it isn't dependent on a park ticket. But it's a 5 minute walk to Epcot if you do choose to go there.) Goofy, Minnie and Donald will go table to table for pictures and autographs. Or consider Mickey's Backyard BBQ at Fort Wilderness (Disney's campground, so again no park ticket needed.) You can certainly google "Disney character meals for boys" for more options. And you could do either of those on your arrival day if it's not a park day.

Food at WDW is expensive!!! Consider having some in your hotel room. We do a delivery through www.gardengrocer.com each trip: breakfast foods, 2 cases of water (5 of us in July.) and park snacks. It’s a lot easier to skip that $5 snack they’re selling if you have some goldfish in your bag.

  1. Once you've decided on parks, do your homework. I once stood at rope drop (park opening) with a woman and an 8 year old boy at the Magic Kingdom. As we chatted, she asked me about the shows and their timetable; she had no real idea of what she was walking into. (This was before Fastpass + when you had to actually go to the rides to get a Fastpass.) I spoke to her son for a minute, and steered her towards Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain. As someone staying offsite, you can book Fastpasses 30 days before your reservation begins. KNOW THAT date, and book 3 fastpasses per person per day at that time. Know that on site guests have already had access to those rides for a month, and that you may have to exercise some flexibility in getting what you want.
  2. As much as it hurts, I strongly advise you to get to the parks at Rope Drop-- that's code for half an hour before the park opens. (ESPECIALLY IF "MARCH" MEANS "EASTER WEEK." That's the busiest week of the year in WDW.) Your absolute best time for getting on and off rides quickly is in the first hour or two that the parks are open, while other people are either asleep or enjoying their Mickey Waffles.

Tell us how old your grandson is, and how fearless, and we can help come up with Fastpass suggestions.

  1. The suggestion of the Disboards is a good one. But be prepared to be overwhelmed. There's a LOT of info out there.
  2. Consider adding a photopass on to your trip. it's not cheap-- I think $159 if you order ahead of time. But for us, it's part of the price of a trip. Disney photographers are stationed throughout the parks. The first will hand you a bar code, or scan your MagicBand if you have one, and take your picture. From that point on, you can scan each time you see a photographer. Lots and lots of memories of your trip, and your whole party will be in each one. They even have trick shots-- they'll insert Stitch or Mickey or Tink into a picture for you. After your trip, you download the pictures.

8, Practice lots of walking ahead of time!!! An average day at WDW for my family means 12 miles on the pedometer.

  1. Again, depending on your grandson's age, consider getting him an autograph book. You can prebuy at Amazon for less than you'll pay in the parks. And bring along a click Sharpie-- much easier for the characters to handle.
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I second or third the suggestions of the Disboard. People on that board are as knowledgable about the intricacies of WDW as some people here are about FAFSA. ( lol). I have seen very obscure questions : E.g." What’s the best gift shop between the castle and the buzz light year ride where there’s also a fast food restaurant and a handicap accessible restroom nearby? " and boom someone will answer in minutes.

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I have to say that HImom’s comment about seniors on scooters in the parks works both ways. For several years running, we had my dad, stepmother, my family and my brother’s family together at Disney World. I believe that the last year we were there together, my dad was 88 and my stepmother was 86. They used scooters in the parks, and very definitely watched where they were going. They never ran into anyone, and never even came close. Other visitors, rushing around to get to the next attraction, often blocked them off, though. One time, my dad was just sitting still for several minutes at a point where two paths crossed, because none of the cross pedestrian traffic noticed that he was trying to cross over. Finally, another man, probably 30 years younger, asked the pedestrians to let my dad through. I never got the man’s name, but I appreciated his looking out for seniors on scooters.

Rope Drop: I admire the people who can do that. Maybe not quite as much as I admire the Dopey Challenge runners (5K, 10K, half-marathon, marathon, on back-to-back days). I have heard that it is great, and one can get in a very large number of rides with light crowds. It’s not for us, though. Know thyself (and thy grandson). We have had great experiences without making rope drop. Ever.

Going back to the hotel to swim, etc.: May be essential, depending on your grandson’s age and stamina. May also be essential, depending on the weather. We were there once in May, and it was so hot we really had to leave the parks to swim. In December or January, we have spent full days in the parks, through dinner and later events (sans Rope Drop) with no problem. I have seen 7 year-olds-doing this, but not much younger than that.

Fast Pass+: Free and worth it!

Memory Maker (a version of PhotoPass). You need to buy this three days ahead of the trip, in order for the first day to show up on it. Most of the character greetings in the park have PhotoPass photographers who will take photos of you and individual members of your group with the characters. They also take photos in front of iconic landmarks, such as Cinderella’s Castle or the Epcot Giant Golf Ball (Spaceship Earth). They will add special effects to the photos (as mentioned above) and also make videos of certain rides (Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Tower of Terror, probably others). You can download the photos yourself, or purchase a disc with all your photos + 400 generic Disney photos. I think you may be able to get PhotoPass with many of these features on a per day basis, whereas I think Memory Maker may be more cost-effective for a longer trip.

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You’re right on the Memory Maker… I keep forgetting that it’s not just photopass anymore!

And we pretty much always take a mid day break… but we are also there at rope drop, fireworks, and it’s July. There’s no way we could keep up that pace without a midday break.

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@bjkmom is spot on.

And re: Rope Drop - I’d like to add this:

“Be there 30 min beforehand” really means…You’ve already parked your car and you’re in line at the turn stiles at the park you want to enter with your tickets in hand.

What that does NOT mean is:

  • Driving onto Disney property 30 min before the park opens
  • Just getting into the parking lot 30 min before the park opens
  • Just getting out of your car 30 min before the park opens
  • Getting in line at the ticket booth 30 min before the park opens to exchange your ticket voucher for an actual ticket.

That last one only applies in certain circumstances. If you’ve purchased your tickets directly through Disney, you don’t have to go to the ticket booth. But if you purchased your tickets through a 3rd party and if the instructions say to go to the ticket booth to redeem your voucher for the actual tickets, then you have to go to the ticket booth first.

If you DO have to go to the ticket booth first, then send somebody to the ticket booth the evening beforehand.

OR if that isn’t possible given your travel schedule, then call WDW and find out what time the ticket booth opens prior to the park opening and be in line at the ticket booth when it opens. But if at all possible do the first option instead.

If your grandson is young (i.e., <5 yr old), I’d recommend something like this:
T 0 = Magic Kingdom regular park opening.
T - 30 min → Be in line at turnstiles with your tickets in hand. In some cases, your tickets will be in an email or on your phone
T - 60 min → Be in the car leaving your off site condo resort
T - 75 min → Announcement to your crew that it’s time to leave.

Why so much time?

  • little kids move slow
  • they always have squirrel moments (think that dog “Doug” from the movie “Up”)
  • you’ll have time for “Oh I forgot the ___!” or “Mama, I have to go potty right now!”
  • nobody will feel rushed
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I thought it was worth mentioning that when you are going to the Magic Kingdom from Bonnet Creek, I am pretty sure that you need to park at the TTC (Transportation and Ticket Center). From there, you can reach the Magic Kingdom in one of three ways:

  1. Take the Express Monorail to the Magic Kingdom
  2. Take the Resort Monorail, which will stop at the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian before reaching the Magic Kingdom. From there, it will continue to the Contemporary, and then return to the TTC.
  3. Take the ferry to the Magic Kingdom.

    I really like the ferry. It takes a bit longer, and there are times when the weather is bad and it doesn’t run, but in my view it is a little more “magical” than the monorail. It may also be less crowded.

From the TTC, if you take the Epcot monorail, you will wind up (unsurprisingly) at Epcot, which is fairly far from the Magic Kingdom.

When you enter the park, you should see a small stand that has maps of the park, and also a daily schedule (1 page) that gives information about the parades, fireworks shows, and other special attractions of the day. Maps are available in multiple languages. One thing to watch out for: It is sometimes quite difficult to cross the park during a parade, depending on where you are trying to go. You might want to just enjoy the parade. The fire-breathing Steampunk dragon is remarkable, if that parade is running.

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Before you decide which park for which day, check the hours. All parks do not operate on the same schedule.

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This thread is interesting. We did Disney with the help of the Unofficial Guide ten years ago. Stayed in a cheap off campus place, but made it to rope drop (don’t think it was called that then ) every day. It really helped to go in with a plan and some prep. We were able to do everything we wanted to do and had fun to boot.