Helpful Tips To Have A Great Disney Vacation!

Have you thought about planning a Disney vacation but got overwhelmed?  I’ve got some tips to help you have the best vacation and make the most out of your Disney trip!

When Joel’s sister approached us about going on a family vacation to Disney, we were hesitant. We don’t have any kids and didn’t know if we’d get much out of it.  After only a little hesitation, we decided to go for it. We both love Disney movies and the last time we had been was in the 80’s. Both being around the age of 4 when our parents took us, we don’t have any memories so we decided to go make our own!

Time of Year

First thing I would mention is the time of year. We are from Ohio and don’t really enjoy the heat so we thought late September would be a good time to go. Wrong! LOL It was still about 95* every day. If you are one who loves the heat, obviously that time of year is still a good option for you (but take sunblock!).  We didn’t do enough research of temperatures during certain times of the year, we kind of just assumed what the weather would be like. Don’t do that. 🙂

Next, if you have certain rides that you absolutely have to ride on, plan ahead! You get three fast passes per day (which are booked online ahead of time). Keep in mind that if they are on opposite sides of the park, you’ll need time to get there as well as enjoy the attractions between the two. Do not book one right after the other. You won’t be able to see all the things in between and you’ll feel like you missed a ton. If you have to jet off to another ride after that, you will miss even more. So, what you want to do is… Book one fast pass in the morning (if you book one at the time the park opens, you can get in before everyone else and don’t have to fight the crowd as much), book another in the afternoon (unless it’s close to the other ride), and then book another in the evening.  Book them in a pattern that makes sense and you won’t have to back track around the park. This will allow you to ride the ones that you want to as well as check out as many of the attractions around the park as you’d like without having to be rushed from one ride to the next.

Staying at a Disney Resort

Normally I’m one to try and find ways to save money, so when the family suggested staying at a Disney property I was thinking about how I could convince them otherwise. 🙂 Being the only one who was thinking we should stay somewhere else, I was grossly outnumbered. LOL  The family decided on the Art of Animation Resort. The whole property was themed around Disney movies including Little Mermaid, Lion King, Finding Nemo, Cars and more! It really enhanced our experience.  There were two pools, one with Finding Nemo characters and the other with Little Mermaid characters. There were tons of statues featuring characters and prominent things from each other featured movies on this property! Even as an adult, I really enjoyed checking out all the themed areas at the resort. I felt like a kid again. Hopefully the photos do it justice. 🙂 Here’s a link to my post with all the photos of the resort.

There are several benefits of staying on a Disney property! Right out of the gate, we had a free shuttle from the airport to our resort. It was a nice Disney charter bus that took us right to the front door of our resort. There are also free shuttles to each Disney park multiple times every day, so all you have to do is wait in line. This made it very convenient! We didn’t have to rent a car, figure out directions to and from the parks, find parking spots at the parks, etc. Another nice thing about that was that if part of our group wanted to stay a little longer at the park, we could just take two different shuttles.

At each of the Disney resorts, there is a restaurant so it’s very convenient, especially if you opt to get the dining plan.  It was very easy to get meals and snacks at our resort, but on the dining plan you can eat at any of the Disney properties, so if you want to explore it’ll give you tons of options! We heard the restaurant at the hotel at Animal Kingdom has a beautiful setting where you can usually see animals, but sadly, we forgot to check it out.

Enjoy the water

If you’re from any of the inland states with very little water around, I do recommend going to the beach one day. As mentioned in my 9 money saving tips email, we used one day to enjoy St. Pete’s Beach. We had heard it was a beautiful area with crisp white sand and clean, cool blue water. It was an awesome day of relaxation right in the middle of a crazy, fun filled vacation.

Keepsake Photos

If you’re like me, you love to have photos from your family vacations. I usually take a camera every time we go on a trip and even though I took my camera to the parks with us, we still opted to get the Memory Makers photo package.  Why? With this package you get tons of souvenir photos, all the ride photos, plus photos of the whole group (and they are good photos- not from a passer by who snapped a quick photo of you). Normally I would have said no to this option, but someone else in our group paid for it. We had our accounts linked so we only need to purchase one package for the whole family. I’m so glad we got it! I love the photos they created, plus we were also given free professional photos of things at the park too. This was a nice addition to the keepsake photobook I made afterwards.

To Eat or Not To Eat

Not really knowing what we were in for, based on the recommendation of our travel agent we opted for the dining plan. We chose the option with sit down meals, quick service meals, and snacks.  Knowing what we know now, I probably would have changed to just quick service meals and snacks or a couple different reasons. One was because each meal at the sit down places includes a drink, a meal and appetizer and dessert… for every person! When you’re out in the heat all day, most people don’t want to eat that much. Joel and I don’t drink pop and usually just drink water. Sometimes we felt like we didn’t get our money’s worth out of those “fancier” meals.  Another reason is that many of the sit down meals take over an hour from the time you arrive to the time you leave, taking up valuable park time. The quick service meal places are much faster. And last, there are so many quick service meal places, you’ll find one in whatever area of the park you’re in… with many good options! I was surprised at how nice the quick service places were! If you opt not to use the dining plan option, you can just make purchases as you go throughout the day. You can also bring drinks and snacks along. I carried a water bottle with me almost every day and refilled it at drinking fountains. This was very beneficial during the super hot parts of the day, especially when Bella, who was 7 at the time, was very hot and thirsty. We didn’t have to stop for drinks on our way to our rides/shows since I had nice cold water with me.

Souvenirs

One unique thing about the Disney parks is the souvenir pin trading you can participate in with the Disney cast members. You can purchase Disney pins in any of the gift shops. They come in sets with a lanyard to pin them to or you can buy just a set of pins if you already have a lanyard. You’ll see cast members (Disney employees) throughout the park with pins as well. If you see one you like, you can trade one of yours for one of theirs. Just walk up and ask.  If you’d like to get started by picking up a lanyard before the trip, check out these ones. If you want to get some inexpensive pins to get you started, here’s a great deal on an assorted starter pack. Get these before your trip and trade while you’re in the park! You’ll save a ton and come home with a unique one-of-a-kind souvenir. This is especially a big money saver if you have kids you’ll be taking! A set of only 4 or 5 pins can run approx $30.

Another great way to save money on souvenirs is check out the local shops off site. At Disney, you can potentially spend an arm and a leg on one souvenir. When we did our beach day, I noticed during our Wal Mart run, there was an entire section of souvenir items with a Disney theme. Had we been looking for souvenirs, we would have saved a bundle! If you have a chance, be sure to check it out.

My sister in law even picked up Mickey/Minnie Mouse ears before our trip as a surprise for the girls for our trip. There are so many on several websites, but if you’d like to decorate your own (bride/groom, sports team, hobbies, floral, etc) check out this set.

While there were ups and downs to having the entire family on vacation and doing almost everything together, we would do it again (with some changes lol). Overall, we had a great time and have a lot of fun memories to reminisce about as a family.

I’d love to hear your thoughts and tips, leave a comment below…