Disney Tips for the Traveler!

I am so lucky to meet so many people online with specialized knowledge. Someone I met a bit back that I have the pleasure of working with on MomDot, knew about my Disney vacation and sent me a great email with lots of tips and tricks from an insider recently. She is an employee at the park and told me I was more then welcome to pass this on to you all! It was such valuable information, I wanted to blog it. Thanks so much to Debbie for giving us the “inside scoop” of a Disney vacation from an employees perspective! She needs to start her own Disney blog!

Hollywood Studios – Get there before it opens and run (and I mean RUN as fast as you can) to the back to Toy Story Mania.  Otherwise, there is never a minimum of two hours to wait and the fast passes usually are gone for the day by 10am.  Buzz and Woody are also out until about 2 or 3 I think.

Try and catch Fantasmic! – it’s an amazing show – I used to be in it, so I know all the works behind the scenes and it still gives me goosebumps every time I watch it. Also, if you do go see it, get in line about 30 minutes before the show starts, and either side of the 2 center bleachers are the best seats – about mid-way or you will get a little moist from the mist screens.  Beauty and Beast is very cute too.

• They re-did Narnia – which is right next to Toy Story Mania – it’s very cool!
• If you want to see The Little Mermaid show, I recommend fast passing it or getting in line early, as is for all shows.
• Block Party bash is not that great, so if you don’t have time, don’t worry, you’re not missing much.
• Toy Story Pizza Planet has the BEST pizza and an arcade area if you just need to relax a minute.

Magic Kingdom – Tinkerbell is in the new day parade – starts at 3pm – best place to be is near the end of the parade on main street (near where you enter the park); if you get to MK before it opens and it is anyone in your party’s birthday – you might have the opportunity to ride the Welcome train with Mickey and the character.

• Best advice for MK, start in the very back of the park in ToonTown and do the character meet-n-greets (Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Princesses, etc) they are all back there, but by noon, the lines are just so long. Do Hall of Fame first which is princesses or mickey’s friends, then go over to mickey’s house. If you’re going to do character dining at all, Breakfast at Crystal Palace is my favorite and The Contemporary is my next favorite for breakfast – both are buffet style.
• If you’ve never done the Tiki Room in Adventureland, you have to see it!  It is the cutest thing ever and one of my favorite things to do there.  It’s about a 10 minute show of singing birds! You can also find Aladdin, Jasmine and or Genie in Adventureland doing meet-n-greets.
• SpectroMagic is the night-time parade – usually starts around 7:30 or 8 – that’s cool if you have time to catch.
• Monster’s Inc. Laugh Floor is now open I think – that’s a brand new attraction, so I don’t know what it’s like.

Epcot – again RUN as fast as you can to Soarin’ as soon as the park opens otherwise it is no less than a 2 hour wait.  The “Worlds” open 1 hour after the front half of the park that has the rides, so don’t worry about going to those first thing.  Soarin’, the new Nemo ride and Test Track are awesome, but also have the lines, so hit those right off the bat or grab Fast Passes as quickly as possible.  Turtle Talk with Crush is hilarious! – it’s near Nemo.

• You can catch Aurora and/or Belle and Beast in France and I think Snow White is in….Sweden maybe?
• They also do firewords (“Illuminations”) at night – very pretty, but can be a long day with all the walking!

Animal Kingdom – I didn’t work there much or visit it as it’s my least favorite park, but they have the new Everest Rollercoaster which is very fun – no loops or anything.  If you don’t have any super small kids going, do the single rider line – it’s hard to see but it is off to the right of the main line and generally the wait is MUCH shorter than the 2 hours in the main line and not everyone knows it is there because it’s hard to see.

• Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Pluto are in the back at “Camp Mickey”
• The parade is awesome – it’s at 3 I believe.
• Festival of the Lion King is one of the best shows at Disney.  Get there early!

You could probably do Epcot and Animal Kingdom in one day and then a whole day for magic kingdom and ¾ of a day for Studios with time to go to Downtown Disney for shopping! That’s how I would plan if it helps you.  If you go to Downtown Disney – the Ghiradelli shop has the BEST ice cream – brownie sundae is my favorite!

Oh and if you have a Disney Visa credit card, there is a place in Epcot that you can go get a free picture with the characters – you just have to show your card. It’s nice because there aren’t a lot of people in line and you can spend a lot of time with usually 3 characters.  The characters change on the half hour, so if more than one of you has a card, go back around and get the next group of characters too.

The following sites have coupons, discounts, and advice for Walt Disney World:

• Allearsnet.com
• Mouseplanet.com
• Touringplans.com
• Theunofficialguides.com
• Mousesavers.com (this is a good one!)

Thanks to Debbie for passing on all this great information for those planning trips down to Orlandos Disney World this year! We hope this helps someone out there, it certainly will be helping our family…NEXT WEEK!!

~Trisha