My Top Disney Tips!

Happy Hump Day! As some of you may have noticed from my instagram, I was at Disney World this past weekend and it was every bit as magical as it looks in my photos. I feel so blessed to live only 45 minutes away from Disney and hope one day I can work there and be a part of the magic! For today’s post I wanted to give you a few of my best tips for visiting the parks. It is always really great to do spontaneous things, but Disney World is not the place to “wing it”. Planning is key.

1. First off, look at a map! Find the park you are going to be visiting and make sure to look at the layout so you are familiar with where things are. This is also super helpful when picking fast pass selections. You can read more about Fast Pass + here but I will give you the gist. They are basically passes you can reserve for certain times to skip the long lines at attractions. 

2. That brings me to number two which would be make fast pass selections in advance! After you have bought your tickets to the parks,  you can make your selections up to 30 days ahead of time. You can make three Fast Pass selections before hand per person and then after you have used them all up you can make more from the kiosks located in the parks one at a time. So make sure that your first three are at the very beginning of your visit. You don’t want your third fast pass to be at 8 at night because you won’t be able to make more until after that one. Scheduling is key.

(How cute is my sister. She loves to make me sick on the tea cups!)

3. Don’t spend too much time walking! The parks are VERY large and if you don’t establish who in your party wants to do what and have a somewhat scheduled day, you will spend more time walking around then actually doing anything. Study they map and circle what everyone wants to do and then go in order around the park.

4. Use the Mobil Disney Parks App! This is a life saver! You can pin point where characters are within the parks, and look up wait times for rides. This is super helpful because if you are at a kiosk and getting another fast pass, you can search on your phone which rides have the longest or shortest wait times. If one of the rides you want to ride only has a 15 minute wait time, go ride it now and get a fast pass for a later time for a ride that has a 120 minute wait time. You get it??

(Nails here.)

 5. When it comes to food, it’s to each their own. Certain Disney Parks have REALLY great restaurants that are worth of your time and money. For example Epcot you can eat your way around the world and it is totally worth your time. That is almost what you are supposed to do! However, at Magic Kingdom, unless you have reservations at the REALLY nice and REAALLLYY expensive Be Our Guest Restaurant or the Cinderella Castle Restaurant, then don’t worry about food. Everything else is pretty much the same so don’t spend too much time walking around looking for somewhere to eat. As far as snacks go, I love the Mickey Ice Cream on a Stick, or Mickey Pretzel! Salty and Sweet! There are also plenty of sweet shops on Main Street that are sure to fill your cravings, not to mention Main St Popcorn smells AMAZING!

6. Shopping Shopping Shopping…  There are certain times that the shops on Main Street are more crowded than others. For example, if you go in the late afternoon or night time, the stores are kind of crowded because everyone is walking through the shops on their way out from the parks picking up any last minute souvenirs. There are several shops on Main Street that have everything Disney you could imagine but I would definitely recommend the Emporium which is souvenir heaven! It goes on and on like a shopping mall!

PS. The Emporium is where I got my Alex and Ani bracelet that y’all saw on Instagram!

7. And last but not least PICTURES! You get your pictures taken on all the rides and can scan them on to your magic band or admission ticket if you want it and it will automatically download to your Disney App if you are signed in. This is again super awesome because it immediately is on your phone. You DO have to pay to download the pictures from your phone or you can always go to a photo kiosk in the park to buy your photos right then and there. Now the typical Cinderella Castle picture!! This is one EVERYONE has to at least attempt to take! If you are going to take some on your phone, work your way all the way down Main Street to right in front of the castle. There will be less random strangers in your pictures. If you want one of the Disney photographers lined on Main St. to take them, make sure to also do this right when the park opens. Another little tip that no one thinks about is right before the parade starts, take a picture in front of the castle. Everyone lines the sidewalks to get a good spot for the parade and so hardly anyone is walking in front of the castle. A professional can take one picture for you on her camera and your own. It might be awkward with people lined the side walk watching you take pictures but they will turn out AMAZING!

(My T-shirt here and minnie ears here!!)

MAN that was a LOT of tips and tricks! To keep up with all my Disney pics and magical adventures follow me on Instagram here! Talk to y’all all very soon! Leave any thoughts or questions below, or email me!

jgraceblog@gmail.com

xoxo