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Disney World Tips and Tricks

Carowinds gold pass is great. Chick Fil A and Chickie’s & Pete’s are good food options. We are at the water park all the time in the summer, although lack of staff was an issue this year. Nice perk: You get to hang out with ChiefAce.

Went to Disney last year and got COVID - Will probably go another time in the next 5yrs and hopefully that’s it. Magic Kingdom will always be unparalleled for young kids. Disneyland (CA) would be a fun change-up but getting out there is a pain vs. driving.
 
Headed to Orlando on Friday and will do be doing 2 parks from Saturday-Monday. Any recs for which day to do a park? Currently thinking Saturday to MK and Monday to HS. Saturday will be more busy im assuming but kids excitement to hold off a day and doing back to back days might be exhausting for all, lead me to think the Saturday/Monday split is the way to go.
 
NSFWake said:
Headed to Orlando on Friday and will do be doing 2 parks from Saturday-Monday. Any recs for which day to do a park? Currently thinking Saturday to MK and Monday to HS. Saturday will be more busy im assuming but kids excitement to hold off a day and doing back to back days might be exhausting for all, lead me to think the Saturday/Monday split is the way to go.
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Spacing out days is definitely the way to go if you can. Also don't recommend trying to do open to close, especially the first day. Take a break in the afternoon, it's busiest then and the mental break really helps. Save a fast pass and ride Mine Train or Space Mountain just before the fireworks start. Be in line for Rise at 8:58, should be a half hour or less. If you're a real rollercoaster fan think about Epcot for Guardians, by far the best ride Disney has to offer.
 
JonasDeac said:
Spacing out days is definitely the way to go if you can. Also don't recommend trying to do open to close, especially the first day. Take a break in the afternoon, it's busiest then and the mental break really helps. Save a fast pass and ride Mine Train or Space Mountain just before the fireworks start. Be in line for Rise at 8:58, should be a half hour or less. If you're a real rollercoaster fan think about Epcot for Guardians, by far the best ride Disney has to offer.
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Great tips. You can't reserve the Fast Pass right? You can only choose the next one 2 hours after your first ride, is that right?

I like rides but going with a 7 and 4 yo so thinking Epcot might need to wait for them to be a bit older.
 
I got a go deacs in Animal Kingdom yesterday..

If you have small kids and are at a deluxe or moderate resort disney has access to sitters to give you a nights out. But $$$.. There also is a disney facebook group of former cast members Ear for you.. https://www.facebook.com/EarForEachOther/ You can usually find a sitter with enough disney knowledge to occupy kids at a resort (crafts, movies, pool, go ride a mono rail and resort hop) to let the adults out for a few hours.
 
I was thinking about Busch Gardens Tampa with the kids the day before the bowl game since I will likely be taking them down. Any thoughts if you have been?
 
It’s a fun park with lots of nice animal exhibits and several great roller coasters. The newest coaster, Iron Gwazi, is regarded as one of the best in the country.
 
NSFWake said:
Great tips. You can't reserve the Fast Pass right? You can only choose the next one 2 hours after your first ride, is that right?

I like rides but going with a 7 and 4 yo so thinking Epcot might need to wait for them to be a bit older.
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Fast passes are no more, now it's lightning lane via Genie+ or individual purchase. We're passholders and go often so we'll just ride something else if our first choice is too busy, but if you're really set on riding a specific ride then buying a pass can make sense. Genie+ is worth reading up on if you're thinking about it, pretty convoluted rules and you might get minimal value if it's not planned/executed right.

Also with the 4 year old make sure your take advantage of Rider Swap on the rides he/she can't/won't ride. Parent who stays out with the young one can get Lightning Lane for themself and a guest, so both parents can take the older one on the same ride. Can even work near end of night, we've gotten in line for Slinky Dog at 8:30 and they let my wife and son enter from the exit doors to get right back on after the official queue entrance closed.
 
JonasDeac said:
Fast passes are no more, now it's lightning lane via Genie+ or individual purchase. We're passholders and go often so we'll just ride something else if our first choice is too busy, but if you're really set on riding a specific ride then buying a pass can make sense. Genie+ is worth reading up on if you're thinking about it, pretty convoluted rules and you might get minimal value if it's not planned/executed right.

Also with the 4 year old make sure your take advantage of Rider Swap on the rides he/she can't/won't ride. Parent who stays out with the young one can get Lightning Lane for themself and a guest, so both parents can take the older one on the same ride. Can even work near end of night, we've gotten in line for Slinky Dog at 8:30 and they let my wife and son enter from the exit doors to get right back on after the official queue entrance closed.
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Awesome! Do all rides have that? Do you need to sign up ahead of time or do they just have a Rider Swap entrance?
 
NSFWake said:
Awesome! Do all rides have that? Do you need to sign up ahead of time or do they just have a Rider Swap entrance?
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I think rider swap is available on any ride, we've definitely used it on rides where the kids are tall enough to ride but one isn't going to (e.g. evenings when they're sleeping, afraid of the ride, random bad mood). Look for a cast member or two at or near the entrance to the ride holding a phone/tablet (they tend to be under an umbrella nearby if they're not at the entrance) and ask to set up rider swap. They scan the person staying out's Magic Band/ticket and the companion who will be riding again and assign them what is functionally identical to a Lightning Lane. To use it you just scan your band/ticket at the Lightning Lane entrance the same way you'd use a real Lightning Lane.

Pro tip - you can't hold more than one Rider Swap per person at a time, so don't have Mom & big kid ride 4 different rides and pile up rider swaps thinking Dad and the kid will go ride them all again later in the day. Second one will cancel out the previous one (without warning).
 
Just booked Loews Royal Pacific (Gimme dat Express Pass) for 2 nights at Universal in about a week.

Haven't been in years, and then it was toting around a young child. Any recs? Food, best parts of City Walk, etc.
 
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The food is pretty solid around the parks. It is what it is. Your standard burgers and fries are typical theme park fare. The Mythos restaurant in Islands of Adventure is a good sit-down theme park meal. I haven't eaten at a lot of the City Walk restaurants. The ones I've been to have been fine. Other places look pretty good. Definitely check out Voodoo Doughnuts.

The restaurants at the Royal Pacific are good. There's a nice sushi restaurant in the lobby with a huge TV where I've watched a few big college games and NFL playoff games.
 
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Also gonna be in the park when the WC final is on. 🤦‍♂️
 
PhDeac said:
The food is pretty solid around the parks. It is what it is. Your standard burgers and fries are typical theme park fare. The Mythos restaurant in Islands of Adventure is a good sit-down theme park meal. I haven't eaten at a lot of the City Walk restaurants. The ones I've been to have been fine. Other places look pretty good. Definitely check out Voodoo Doughnuts.

The restaurants at the Royal Pacific are good. There's a nice sushi restaurant in the lobby with a huge TV where I've watched a few big college games and NFL playoff games.
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Voodoo Doughnuts is a front for a child trafficking ring.
 
Will likely do Gardens the day after the bowl game. I think we are doing universal later in the week.
 
Busch Gardens will probably be packed on Christmas Eve, but it will probably be empty that week. Local schools don't get out until the 23rd.
 
PhDeac said:
The food is pretty solid around the parks. It is what it is. Your standard burgers and fries are typical theme park fare. The Mythos restaurant in Islands of Adventure is a good sit-down theme park meal. I haven't eaten at a lot of the City Walk restaurants. The ones I've been to have been fine. Other places look pretty good. Definitely check out Voodoo Doughnuts.

The restaurants at the Royal Pacific are good. There's a nice sushi restaurant in the lobby with a huge TV where I've watched a few big college games and NFL playoff games.
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IIRC you can place ahead an order on the app for Voodoo iirc and have it waiting for you at a shelf/place or something like that, skip the huge lines.

PH can probably back me up on this.
 
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