We recently returned home from an amazing Disney trip! Macy had already been 3 times to Magic Kingdom, and McKenna had been twice. However, we had never ventured to any other parks or stayed on Disney property. Let me tell you, staying on Disney property and including many of the "extras" offered is well worth it.
We decided to book a trip that included 3 park tickets, a meal plan, the memory maker, and stay on property. I'm going to discuss how we made this trip seamless, and hopefully it can help you do the same if you are thinking about booking a trip.
I've had a lot of people ask me if I used a travel planner, but we didn't. I booked right on the Disney website, and it was so simple. If you aren't the kind of person that doesn't really like to plan trips and you don't really care how much control you have over your visit, then a Disney planner would be the way to go. However, I had so much fun looking into the tips and tricks, and having all of the planning control over our trip. We booked our trip for October 6-9 (Sunday to Wednesday), 3 day park tickets (no park hoppers), the memory maker (photos from rides and visits), and the Quick Service Meal Plan.
The Resort
We looked into staying at 3 different places: The Coronado, Port Orleans, and Caribbean Beach. I chose the Caribbean Beach based off of 3 things. 1. The atmosphere 2. The pool 3. gluten free food options
The resort was beautiful and really had the feel of the little villas from the Caribbean. When we booked we knew we wouldn't be in the room much, so we said we didn't care where we stayed at the resort. They had different clusters of villas with Caribbean names such as Trinidad, Jamaica, Aruba, etc. The resort is huge, and all areas were walkable, but there were times we drove places to save time. The main food sources and large pool with slides were located in the main building where the lobby was. There was a quick meal grab area, and a quick serve restaurant in that area as well. Each Caribbean location had it's own pool area and beach type area. There was another quick service dining location in Trinidad.
When you book a Disney trip and stay on grounds, everyone in the family gets a magic band. It was fun to let the kids choose their colors and very magical when they arrived a few weeks before we left. These magic bands are amazing! Your meal plan goes directly on your magic band, as well as your credit card (for purchases in needed), your fast passes for rides, and your room key.
This is the amazing part.......as soon as I got the magic bands at home, I "checked in" on the resort. When I checked in, it asked me some questions about our room choices. I basically said I don't care where I stay, and just prefer to have an early check in since I knew we were arriving before the 3 pm check in. When they have your room ready, they send you a text stating that it's ready, which Caribbean location you are in, and your room number. We got a text stating that we were staying in Aruba, with our room number. It allowed us to bypass the lobby and go directly to our room. We scanned our magic band on the door and walked right in. It was a cute little quaint Caribbean room. It reminded me and Jeremy of our honeymoon to Jamaica. It was clean, smelled great, and had lots of drawer space. Just FYI, the shower is equipped with a shampoo, conditioner, and body wash dispenser. They also provided lotion. I grabbed that lotion up and put it in my backpack to take along with us the first park day, and they replaced it with another. We loved the products!
We ate at both restaurants at Caribbean Beach, and also got some snacks from the quick meal grab area. They were all great, and did an amazing job handling Macy's gluten free diet. That was my biggest concern when I booked our trip, and that fear was quickly erased when her first meal arrived on it's own tray with an allergy stick in the top of her burger.
We would recommend the Disney buses as a means of traveling to and from the parks. Each Caribbean area has a stop right out front. The Disney app (that you link to your vacation), tells you the bus schedule, and when the next bus is coming to your designated bus stop. It helped a ton! The only downfall we found at our location was, that when returning to our resort from a park, Aruba was the last stop. However, it was the last stop in the morning too, which meant we left Aruba and went straight to the park.
The Quick Service Meal Plan and the Mobile Dining
Like I said we purchased the quick service meal plan. I did this for a few reasons. 1. We paid in advance when we paid for our trip. 2. We didn't have to carry cash or even look at the cost of meals when dining 3. It gave us that "all inclusive" feeling.
The QS meal plan allows for 2 meals a "day", and 2 snacks a "day". When I booked originally my biggest questions were: Is it worth it? What constitutes a "day"?
Yes, it is worth it. Not only for convenience, but cost-wise. If you are the type of family that shares meals and brings your own snacks, it might not be. However, our girls are too big for meal sharing and I didn't want to mess with the snacks. And let's just be honest, Mickey Bars and Dole Whips are AMAZING, we couldn't miss out on those. So this is what I figured up....the cost that Disney's figures show is that an adult day (2 meals and 2 snacks) totals about $52. I figured up that our totals were on average about $55-$60. If you are an adult, you can have an alcohol drink with your meal instead of a soda or water. Most beers cost about $10 each. For your snacks, you can choose a snack like a Mickey Bar, Dole Whip, Popcorn, etc, or you can choose a drink if you don't want food and are just thirsty. Some people use their snack credits for a quick breakfast grab (that qualifies as a snack not a meal). There is a diamond symbol next the items that qualify for a snack.
What does a "day" mean? It's actually a per "night". So if you stay 3 nights, you get 3 "days" of meals and snacks. If you stay 4 nights, you get 4 "days" of meals and snacks. We stayed 3 nights, so each person had a total of 6 meals and 6 snacks. We planned to go out to a non-quick service meal at Disney Springs 2 different nights (which means we have to pay out of pocket for those meals), so I had to rearrange our meals and snacks, and it actually worked out better.
This was our plan:
Sunday: We arrived at 1:30 p.m., so we had a late lunch at the hotel (1 meal credit), out to dinner at Disney Springs @ Raglan Road (paid out of pocket).
Monday (Magic Kingdom): Ate our own breakfast in the room, mid-morning snack (1 snack credit), lunch at QS restaurant (1 meal credit), afternoon snack (drinks) (1 snack credit), dinner at QS restaurant (1 meal credit), evening snack during firework show (1 snack credit).
Tuesday (Animal Kingdom): Ate our own breakfast in the room, QS late-lunch at resort (1 meal credit), out to dinner at Disney Springs @ The Boathouse (paid out of pocket), late-night snack (1 snack credit).
Wednesday (Hollywood Studios): Breakfast in Star Wars area (1 meal credit), mid-morning snack (1 snack credit), QS lunch (1 meal credit), and a mid-afternoon snack (1 snack credit).
It worked out perfectly, and all of the food was great! Which brings me to the Mobile Order App.......it was the best thing ever! The Mobile Order was on the Disney App that you download and connect to your vacation. Your food credits are right on the app so you can check to see how your credits are being used, and how many you have remaining. The Mobile Order section on the app allows you to order right from your phone, skip the line, and pick up your food from a special window. We would order our food while in line at a ride or waiting for a show to start, passing the phone around and letting everyone choose their meal (gluten free options were marked on the app), and then when we got close to the restaurant or arrived I would hit the button that said "I have arrived, prepare my meal". We would then find a table, get napkins, condiments, etc, and then they would text me to say that the meals were ready. We completely skipped all of the lines! It was amazing!
Fast Passes and Park Visits
I read a lot of blog posts through Pinterest on how to make the most out of the fast passes. In short, I was able to discover that there is a good time frame to schedule your fast passes, and certain rides that you shouldn't use the fast passes due to availability and cool scenery that you might miss when you go through the shorter fast pass line.
You get 3 fast passes per park/per day. So here is what I did....I scheduled the fast passes between about 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. FYI, you get a 1 hour window to use your fast pass, which gives you a a little wiggle room for fitting rides or character visits in between. Also, if you stay at a Disney resort, you get to attend "Magic Hours" which means they open the park early or close it late and only allow Disney resort guests during those times.
We arrived at each park 30 minutes prior to the Magic Hours, and then went straight to the rides that were the busiest. We did not fast pass these rides, but rather used those fast passes at other popular rides throughout the rest of the day when the park was busier. Also, if you have a young child, or like in our case a child with medical conditions, that can't ride specific rides, you can do what is called "ride swap". So you have 2 choices as to how you want to ride swap. 1. Wait in line together, and swap (1 adult/other children ride, while the others wait, and then swap). 2. The riders wait in line together, while the other 2 go do something else, and then you get to swap after they come off the ride and go through the fast pass line for the next riders. Just make sure you talk to the workers as you enter the line. Some parks make you wait at the entrance to swap and others allow you to wait together in line and swap inside. In our case, 1 of us stayed with Macy while the other two rode the ride, and then we swapped and the parent who waited then rode the ride with McKenna. McKenna loved it because she got to ride the rides twice. I found that even though Macy couldn't ride some of the big roller coasters, it was smart to get the fast passes for them because then she had a lesser time that she had to wait on us to ride those rides.
At Magic Kingdom, we went straight to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride (because it is by far the busiest), then went to many other smaller rides like Peter Pan, Under the Sea, It's a Small World, and Tomorrowland Speedway. We then fast passed Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and Space Mountain. **Once you use all 3 fast passes for the day, you can do 1 more fast pass** So after we used our three fast passes, we then did a fast pass for Buzz Lightyear. In between those fast passes we fit in snacks, lunch, dinner, a couple character visits, and then other rides like The Jungle Cruise, Barn Stormer, Big Thunder Railroad, Mad Tea Party, etc. We were even able to fit in some shows such as Carousel of Progress, The Hall of Presidents, and The Tiki Room. It was all thanks to the Magic Hours and well-spaced Fast Passes. I printed a map prior to our trip and mapped out when we would be in which area, and what we would visit while in each area. Don't forget to pencil in the parade at 2 pm, and fireworks at 9pm. Those are amazing as well! We were there a full day!!!
At Animal Kingdom, we went straight to Flights of Passage (the Avatar Ride), and then did the fast passes for Expedition Everest, Navi River Journey, and Kilimanjaro Safari. We rode all of the rides, and got it all done by about 1:30 p.m. We then spent the rest of the day swimming at our resort, and having dinner at Disney Springs.
At Hollywood Studios, we went straight to Star Wars Galaxy Edge, and rode the new Star Wars ride. We then used our fast passes for Rockin' Rollercoaster (the Aerosmith ride), Tower of Terror, and The Indiana Jones Stunt Show. We enjoyed all of the other rides and saw a few shows. We were there until about 3 p.m.
Other Thoughts
If you want this type of schedule to work, you need to make sure of a couple of things.......arrive 30 minutes prior to "magic hours", download and use the app, and make sure when it comes time to select your fast passes (60 days before your trip), that you are online right when you can select them, and be ready with a list of rides and time frames that you want to do. Also, if you get to a park and decide to ride a ride that you have a fast pass ride for later, you can go back in your app and modify that fast pass and change it to another ride. You can always modify and change rides or times.
Also, when you stay on resort, they give you a free drink mug that you can refill at anytime. We found it was pretty useful especially at the resort. We could refill with soda, lemonade, sweet tea, and water. We didn't find them as useful at the parks. After toting those around in our backpack all day at Magic Kingdom and not using them, we didn't take them to the other parks.
If you have young children and worry that they may need to go back for rest time or a nap, it is very easy if you stay at a Disney Resort. When they bus you in, you bypass the monorail and boat, and they take you right to the gate. So it makes it very easy to come and go.
There are many great restaurants at Disney Springs. When the girls were younger we went to T-Rex and The Rainforest Cafe. This time we went to Raglan Road and The Boathouse. We have loved all of these restaurants! There are so many shops (like The World of Disney) and nightlife at Disney Springs. So I highly recommend checking it out as well on your trip.
I hope I covered all of the awesome tips that I found when hunting myself, and can help you make the best out of your money and time if you decide to book this AMAZING trip!
No comments:
Post a Comment