General Information
You need two apps on your phone: “My Disney Experience”, and “Magic Guide for Disney World”.
My Disney Experience: This is how you book and manage park and dining reservations. You absolutely must have park reservations!! Plan ahead with this. Don’t cancel one day’s plans and try to book something else unless you know there is park availability for that day. You might lose the only reservations you have. If I have to cancel and reschedule plans, I first make sure the day/park I want is available. Then I cancel the plans I don’t want and I quickly grab new reservations. Remember that Disney is a fantastic company. If you lose your reservations in this process, I’m pretty sure you can call and have someone help you. I’m just not positive they can re-book you, so be careful.
Magic Guide: This app tells you the ride wait times. Priceless. You need to know the wait times before hiking clear across to Splash Mountain before finding out it’s closed. This will also have park maps, even though they’re hard to read. Park hours are here as well. Note: I don’t believe this is an actual Disney-owned app. I’ve had one time in the history of using this app where the park hours for one day were incorrect.
If you want to be in the park at actual park opening, plan to get to the parking lot 30 minutes before opening. For Magic Kingdom, get there an hour before. You might want to look into details of early opening, too. Sometimes the park will open earlier for resort guests (people willing to spend hundreds of dollars on a single bedroom with no privacy), so it might be confusing to see some people going through early while others are held back. Prior to COVID, parks did allow guests into the parks early, although rides did not open until their posted opening times.
Disney will not close their lines until park closing time. For example, if Seven Dwarfs Mine Train has a 90 minute wait, and if the park closes at 8:00 pm, you can get in line until 7:59 pm. It’s fine to be in the park in a line after closing. This is a strategy we take advantage of when there’s not enough hours in the day to do everything. We just wait until closing to get in the park’s longest line for the day, and we get to stay in the park until well after closing. Then we’re not wasting precious park time standing in line. This also works incredibly well on hot days, because I’d much rather stand in a long line at night than in the hot sun! However, I don’t want to tell you absolutes about anything because you never know when a rule will change. Just stop by the ride earlier in the day and confirm with a cast member (Disney employee) that you can get in line 1 minute before park closing. Keep in mind that you MUST get in line BEFORE closing. I worked Haunted Mansion, and I was not allowed to let even one guest get in line just one minute after closing, even if their family/friends were already in line. Known exceptions: Animal Kingdom Kilimanjaro Safaris often closes early! Epcot food booths also can close early.
This is an important topic. Every Disney park has ONE Starbucks location, with almost a full Starbucks menu and real Starbucks employees (Sea World just has Starbucks beans that are used, not their actual drinks). This is where you need to get your coffee. All of the other coffee stands in the parks are Joffrey’s Coffee. Don’t be tempted by these, unless you are happy with weak, hotel-quality coffee. I’ve been desperate enough a few times to get Joffrey’s, and I usually regret it. But if you must, maybe get it with an extra shot? I just hike back to the Starbucks because I like my $5 to taste good.
This is usually a perk! If you or someone in your party has a medical reason to not stand in a line, then stop by Guest Relations just inside any Disney Park. They’ll link your party together by scanning everyone’s park tickets, and they’ll explain how things will work. Yes, you’ll still need to wait to go on Flight of Passage, but it won’t be in the normal line queue. Disney will take care of you and make sure you enjoy your visit!
I’ve learned this many, many, many times with fun vacations with kids: Don’t get them excited for anything. Tell them what you hope to do, but there’s almost no guarantees. Space Mountain might unexpectedly close for the one day you have a reservation. You might get a flat tire on your way to the park. Mistakes might be made with reservations, etc. Tell them you’re going to do your best to do ___, but you can’t guarantee anything. High expectations usually make for a disappointing vacation. Expect less, so when your expectations are exceeded (and they will be!), then you’ll have a much better and memorable time!
- Young kiddos:
- Safety: I’ve felt safer with wandering young kids at Disney parks than I’ve ever felt at the mall. Each park has only ONE exit, and you can bet there are security guards there watching for kids that might not be with their parent. Three tips: First, explain to your kids that you would never, under any circumstance, leave the park without them. Second, tell them how to find a cast member (i.e., at a ride or store, always with a name tag) if they get lost. Third, put your cell phone number somewhere on them, even by sharpie on their leg or arm, or a tag taped to the bottom inside of their shoe, and show them where it is. Tell them if they go to an employee, then they need to show the employee the phone number. That is the fastest way to get reunited with your kid ever. If they don’t have a phone number, lost kiddos are taken to a “Lost Parents” room in the park, where they color and watch Disney movies and hang out with a really nice cast member until you figure out they are missing and find the room, which takes you a while. If your kid has your phone number and knows how to find an employee, you’ll be able to relax a LOT more. I also teach my kids to stay exactly where they last saw me for about 10 minutes before getting a cast member. Most kids get lost because they are looking at something while the parents are doing the wandering off.
- Just relax. If you’re bringing young kids that aren’t used to the intensity that Disney offers in rides and shows, be careful with forcing them onto roller coasters or into scary experiences. I worked at the Haunted Mansion, and I watched countless parents drag screaming children through the ride. Did the kids come off saying they were glad that they were brave? Nope. Practically never, actually. Check into “Child Switch Passes” (you can ask cast members how this would work for each ride and if they are available, but this is a system that was designed for scared kiddos). Take them on rides that you know they’re ready for, and plan to come back when they are ready to try the ones they missed.
- Infants: Disney World parks have Baby Care Centers in each park. Most of these centers have high chairs, microwaves for warming baby food and bottles, and private nursing rooms. I’m not sure how COVID has affected these services, though. I lived at these centers when I had babies, and it was so nice to go to a quiet space, in air conditioning, and getting treated like royalty by a nice woman in an apron.
If you purchased Park Hopper tickets, go to the Disney website to find the current rules on that. Rules were different during the 2 trips we made this year. However, my favorite hopping is done between Hollywood Studios and Epcot because of the new Skyliner. You can also take the Friendship Boat between Hollywood Studios and Epcot which is a nice tour of the resorts, although time consuming. I would never try to Park Hop with Magic Kingdom because of the Ferry/Monorail time, or Animal Kingdom, because it’s more isolated. Those parks are not easy to get to or from another park. We almost always go between Epcot and Hollywood, though. Hollywood has the fun rides, Epcot has the food and later park closing (usually).
We bring a light waterproof jacket, cell phone, filling snacks (trail mix, sandwiches from Publix deli, protein bars), and maybe a stick of sunscreen. That’s it. I don’t carry water bottles because I prefer cups of ice water from the parks, and I really don’t like carrying things. The parks have condiments, napkins, and utensils. Stores have pain killers at the cash register. Each kid carries their own things, and they each have a small shoulder bag or backpack. The lighter you pack, the more relaxed you’ll be. Although if you have a stroller, go ahead and bring everything you own because the stroller will carry it! Haha!