2) Research your options for large families
We have five people. Do you know that as family friendly as Disney is they have very few affordable options for larger families? The most affordable option if you have 5 is to check out the rooms with a trundle bed at Port Orleans Riverside. Otherwise you can do two separate rooms at one of the All Star resorts or check out the suites available at a few resorts. Disney needs to get on board with housing larger families — don’t y’all think?
3) Use Crowd Calendars
Especially if you are going during peak season, a crowd calendar can be your best friend. I love the ones over at Easy WDW. You can print out a monthly calendar of recommendations by day of which parks to go to. Let’s face it — kids are grouchy at any age when you have them on their feet for long periods of time. The less time you have to wait in line the better.
4) RUN for the most popular rides
You can research tons of touring plans for Walt Disney World. But my crew was NOT willing to walk from one side of the park to the other multiple times. So our “touring plan” consisted of running to the most popular rides in the park first thing that morning then just touring the rest of the park. No crossing the park multiple times. Using this strategy only works if you get to the parks BEFORE they open. Double check all park open and close times. Plan to get on the bus about an hour before the park opens. By the time you get there, get your bag checked, and wait in line to get in there will already be a huge crowd.
5) SKIP rides
Don’t be afraid to skip rides. My crew had no interest in waiting in line for an hour to ride Dumbo the flying elephant. They wanted to ride roller coasters, thrill rides, see great shows, etc. That is OKAY. You don’t have to ride every ride. We would take a vote and majority rules. We skipping Fantasy Land at Magic Kingdom almost completely. The only exception to this rule was trains and monorails. My youngest son is infatuated with anything that has wheels or tracks. We made the time to ride all trains, trams, and monorails because he LOVED them. The girls just had to tough it out for their little brother.
6) Force them into a few classics
Yes I just told you it was okay to skip some rides. But force your crew into at least a few classics. The Hall of Presidents and the Bear Jamboree was high on my list of classics. Make them go to at least a few. They will enjoy some classic Disney magic and you will too.
7) Find advice online from real people
You can find tons of advice online on discussion boards. People that have been there and can offer real world advice. One of my favorites was DISboards. You can get lost in the wealth of information on those boards.
8) Go to Downtown Disney!
We waited until the day before we left to hit Downtown Disney. BIG mistake! All parks, resorts, etc at Disney basically have the same type of food just a little different. We got so sick of the same type of food. Downtown Disney has a wealth of options that are different and GOOD! They also accept your Disney dining plan. If or when we go back again, we will be hitting up Downtown Disney regularly for our meals.
9) Check to see which rides are closed
I had no idea until I read this somewhere. There are scheduled closures of rides even during peak season. For instance, while we were there Test Track at Epcot was closed. That would have been the first ride I headed to first thing in the morning. It would have been devastating to our plan to head there just to find it closed. Check out all closures using this schedule at WDWinfo before you go.
10) Make time for the pool and for naps
This is my absolute top tip. Each day we would hit the parks early and go until after lunch. It would get soooo hot by that time and we had been on our feet for so long. We would skip out and hit the hotel pool, take a nap, relax, etc. Sometimes we would go somewhere at night, other times we would watch a movie in our room. That is okay. Remember — this is a vacation not a marathon. In fact, I had to keep reminding myself of that. Stop, enjoy yourself, and RELAX. This is your vacation!! The kids will be a lot more agreeable to getting up early and hitting the parks when it is cooler outside if you give them down time during the day. Make it easier on them and yourself — make relaxation a priority.
I hope these tips help you if you are planning a Walt Disney World vacation. These are all things that I discovered on our trip. We ended up having a ton of fun, riding great rides, seeing spectacular shows, and best of all relaxing while doing it.
~Thanks for stopping by!~
~Angie~
disboards was great when I was planning our first trip! and hopefully I’ll get to use it to plan a second trip sometime! 🙂
You are so right–don’t be afraid to skip rides. Hey if no one is interested in Stitch’s Great Escape, I’m not gonna make them do it. (Exception being Buzz Lightyear in magic kingdom. it’s my favorite. everyone gets one or two MUST DOs). 🙂
Thank you for sharing!!
The first time I went to Disney I was 15 and my family made me ride “It’s a Small World.” So annoyed lol. But I got the experience. And I’m glad, in the long run. My absolute favorite was Epcot, though. I thought they had a pretty good selection of food, too. I don’t know if we made it to Downtown Disney, though.