Follow These 8 Awesome Disney Tips Before Your Next Trip

Yeahhhh!!!! You have just hit the button and booked your first trip to Disney!!! Now what??? Strap on your seat belt and come along for the ride because the fun has just begun. Everything Pre-Disney is fun in the most sarcastic way, but if you follow each of the must know Disney tips, it will pay off and the real fun during the trip will be MAGICAL!!!

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To see the items to purchase for your next Disney trip, see the list at the end of the blog!

The thing is, in order to have a great trip that runs as smoothly as possible, there is a lot of planning that needs to happen and if you are like me, it’s going to be “this girl” that does it all!

In this blog I will discuss more about the awesome Disney tips and tricks that you can review before booking your first trip. Before I get into the good stuff, let me let you learn from my mistakes.

I was the mom who had a Disney suitcase for each kid with a matching backpack. I will be the first to say, The Disney tip here is less is more. Pack whatever you can in the adult suitcases and try to stick to backpacks for the kids. There were way too many bags to keep track of with the amount of luggage we had. Okay, now onto the good stuff!

1. Disney Hotel Room Booking

The first awesome Disney tip deals with requests when booking a hotel
room. I will say, most properties near the parks are lovely. We decided to stay on the property only because of the easy access to the monorail. With young kids and nap schedules we needed something easy, and for us convenience is everything.

We later heard that some people stay off the property and just drive or bus over to one of the resorts and then hop on the monorail. Great idea, but for us having the monorail running through the hotel was amazing. I will say although the hotel was nice, it was definitely small. You are not paying for the room with these properties, you are paying for convenience.

One of the very first things I did when I booked my hotel room was request a balcony. This would be my first tip. We had one room with two beds. What were my husband and I going to do when our three littles went to bed at 8pm every night? A balcony was a must for us. It was a way for us to grab a bottle of wine, a deck of cards and some Bluetooth speakers and hang out on the balcony without worrying about waking the kids.

2. Convenience

This brings me to my second awesome Disney tip which involves the word convenience. This is especially important when you are traveling with your kids. It is not only key, but crucial. Let me paint the picture for you how our first family trip to Disney World started out. We arrived on a beautiful day. I walked up to the front desk, checked in and then walked over to the concierge desk a short distance away and picked up our stroller. We brought everything up to the hotel room, just in time for me to go down to the lobby to pick up our groceries and alcohol 😊.

We unpacked everything in the most organized way possible because we packed some good organization systems, and then off to dinner we went. Okay, so I skipped the part where my daughter got her finger slammed in the bathroom door but you get the point 😊. She was fine and we had a first aid kit ready, so we were back to normal in no time.

We felt very relaxed at that point because this was the first glimpse at realizing that all the prior planning was already paying off. So how did this all happen?

Months prior to the trip we contacted Kingdom Strollers in Walt Disney World. They rent strollers out to you at a cost that I promise you is worth it. You can choose whichever stroller you want. We picked one that we were able to fit all three of our kids which was fantastic. It was a double B.O.B. but it came to a point in the front. This was a perfect seat for my third child. You then schedule the stroller to arrive when you expect to be at your hotel and return it to the concierge desk when you plan to checkout. It was seamless.

Another great service, which everyone by now has heard of, was Instacart. Some people may use this at home but let’s not forget it can be used to deliver to hotels as well.  One of the things on my Disney to-do list, was set up a list of groceries, including snacks, plates, silver wear, drinks, water bottles and diapers on Instacart. When I got off the airplane and on the bus to the hotel, I ordered the groceries to be delivered asap.

There are other places you can go to get groceries in Disney but we found Instacart to be a little cheaper than the others. The cart was already loaded so I just needed to press the “order” button, literally. We ordered alcohol from Amazon Prime Now because Instacart does not deliver alcohol.

When we arrived, we brought everything up including the stroller and went right back down to pick up the groceries and alcohol that were waiting for us at the front desk. Can you say, “Winning!?!”

3. Disney Hotel Room Organization

The third awesome Disney tip deals with room organization. When you are traveling with 3 kids under 5 there is a lot of STUFF. We were still on formula and diapers at that point so the baby gear alone was crazy. I will say that there were a few purchases that didn’t take up a lot of room in the suitcase that made all the difference in the world.

The first very important thing you will want to pack is a shoe organizer. I know this sounds silly but with 3 kids and my husband and me, there were a lot of shoes. Nice shoes for dinner, gym shoes, pool flip flops, sandals, clogs, etc. Each kid had like 5 pairs of shoes and the same with my husband and me… or maybe just me. He probably only had a couple pairs, but either way, that is darn close to 20 pairs of shoes. Imagine how amazing it was to have all shoes not only out of our way, but organized and hanging up. Oh, and not on the floor, 😊 CHECK!

The next great purchase we made was a set of 2 pop up hampers. They laid flat in the suitcase and they popped up in seconds. Again, the amount of clothes in that hotel room was insane so having a couple pop up hampers kept our room very orderly and took up virtually no room.

4. Disney Park Bag

The fourth awesome Disney tip has to do with your Park Bag. You will want to make sure you print off a list of things you will be packing in your “park” backpack. You will want to check the website ahead of time because there are certain things that are not allowed in the park. Of course you will have your “must haves” in the park bag, but make sure to leave some room for the extras I will mention here.

First thing’s first, bring thermoses of cold water. Not just water bottles. We packed some Thermos water bottles, one for each kid because the water stays super cold for a long period of time and it didn’t matter what the temperature was.

Another item we packed was ponchos. If you purchase them at the park, the prices are astronomical. Buy them cheap on Amazon and get a bunch. Of course they are great for when it rains but they were also really good on some of the water rides that literally soak you head to toe.

Next on the list, bubbles. Again, you can buy these at the park and they do sell some fun ones, but get some bubbles just to keep the kids occupied if you are waiting in lines. I will pat myself on the back because we only waited in lines a couple of times, but you will have to keep reading to find out how I managed that.

The other thing you will want to pack is an extra pair of shoes. Clogs are great to wear because they are comfortable and can get wet but you will want to bring gym shoes just in case.

If you plan on staying at the park until dark, purchase these light up shoes for your kids. These shoes were a hit and EVERYONE was asking me where we got them. I was able to keep a close eye on my kids, no problems, because of how obnoxious the shoes were. The kids absolutely LOVED them and they were fairly reasonable to boot!

You get what you pay for though I will say. They are not meant to last forever, but my kids feet grow so fast anyway so they lasted for the season and that’s all we needed them for. When I say lasted, I am referring to the lights. One of my son’s shoes stopped lighting up within a couple months.

5. Disney Characters and Princesses

The fifth awesome Disney tip has to do with Disney Characters and Princesses. Chances are your kids are going to want to see their favorite characters in Disney. Now of course part of this whole experience is getting the Disney Characters and Princesses autographs. A lot of people purchase what they call “Disney autograph books”. Most of them just have a Disney cover and include just blank pieces of paper.

The best thing we did was purchase the Disney Jr. Encyclopedia for each of our kids. Warning, I know they are a little heavy and cumbersome if you are trying to travel light, but they are a must have and they are well worth it. It was the perfect souvenir for our kids and it includes most of the characters and princesses. The character then just signs his/her name on their picture. So much better than signing a blank sheet of paper!

If you child is interested in Princesses, it is good to know which Princesses are in each Park. The Disney app, “My Disney Experience”, is obviously a great way to know which princesses are at which area on any given day.

If your child is super into princesses and you are planning on doing a few special things for her, including; the Disney Princess Breakfast and the Bippity Boppity Boutique, make sure you plan ahead. It’s a good idea to schedule the Bippity Boppity Boutique first, followed by the Disney Princess Breakfast. First of all, they are right next to each other if you book the Bippity Boppity Boutique at the Castle. More importantly your daughter will arrive to the Disney Princess Breakfast all done up and in her favorite princess dress.

6. Disney FastPasses

The sixth awesome Disney tip discusses the importance of FastPasses. We were in Disney for 7 days and I wanted to make sure we went to each park. On day one we arrived late afternoon so we decided just to do dinner. I suggest not booking anything night one because it takes any pressures off in terms of timing.

If you are going to go to all parks, I suggest booking in a pool day here and there. If you plan on going more than 7 days, it’s a good idea to go to the park every other day and if you are going less than that, I would try to have at least a couple pool days to break things up a bit.

Once I determined which park we would go to on each day, it was time to book the FastPasses. Before booking my FastPasses , I made sure that I had a FastPass strategy in place. The strategy must include Ride Swapping (especially if you are going with grandparents or additional friends or family). There is an extra level of awesome and strategy when it comes to ride swapping. I first listed out the rides that I knew had the longest wait times. Then I looked at their proximity to each other. I mapped out which rides I was going to book based on popularity and proximity.

The other thing to note that most people either do not know about or forget about is that after you have used all three fast passes, you can book additional FastPasses one at a time. There is really no need to wait in lines unless there is another tier 1 that you want to go on.

7. Disney Dining Establishments

The seventh awesome Disney tip covers Dining Establishments. If you wanted to eat at a certain establishment but much to your dismay it is booked, a little tip for you is to check the restaurant a few hours before the time you wanted to go. Now I would not depend on this, but it is a good back up idea. Often times people cancel their reservation the day of or hours before because their plans changed.

If you are looking for suggestions, there are many great places I would recommend but for the sake of just providing tips in this blog, I would have to say there is nothing more outstanding then eating at a table by the window at California Grill during the Firework show.

My plan was to book early enough for the kids to eat but late enough for the show. I booked at 7:15 thinking I was spot on. We ended up having to wait over an hour and a half with the three littles. Although this was stressful, the people there could not have been more kind.

When I first arrived, I asked for a window seat, “hint hint”. I was thinking that may have been the reason why we waited so long. They told me they could not guarantee anything but I thought it was worth asking. Boy was I right. Being against the window during the show with the music blaring through the restaurant was simply spectacular!

There are two tips here, ask for a window seat, and book EARLY. What we didn’t realize is that everyone had the same idea. They were just willing to wait at a table rather than in the waiting area. SMART. Book at 6pm but plan on staying a few hours or as long as you think the kids can last😊. Also, always mention special occasions at any establishment. Disney will go out of their way to make it special.

8. Disney Park Perks

The last awesome Disney tip gives you some hints on Disney Park Perks. Although most of the pictures you take are going to be on your phone, if you do opt for the Memory Maker pics, they are great. They take the pics that you simply won’t be able to take yourself. They will capture the crazy faces you make on roller coaster rides, the perfect picture of the family by the castle and of course they can add in characters in the pictures as well.

Most people do not know about this but you can request a “magic” picture. When you do this, the photographer will make you pose a certain way and then when you get the pictures, a character will be added in. For example, Tinker bell will be in the palm of your hand. Kinda cool.

Also, always make sure to take advantage of the Magic Hours if you are staying on the property. We were able to get on two of the rides that we could not book on Fastpass and we didn’t have to wait in any lines.

The “My Disney Experience” app was great to use throughout the process and helped us tremendously. Job well done Disney. The one thing I will say is to make sure to bring a few external chargers with you. The app sucks a lot of battery and so does all the pictures and videos you will take throughout the day. External chargers. Check.

To sum it up. Plan ahead. Plan Strategically. Make some lists. It will all be worth it in the end and you will have the most Magical experience!

For a list of some items to pack for your next Disney Trip, see the list below!

Amazon

1. shoe organizer
2. pop up hampers
3. thermos water bottles
4. ponchos
5. light up shoes
6. Disney Jr. encyclopedia

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