Trip Planning - Disney Castle Dreaming Travel

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party — Is it Worth it?

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) is the Halloween-themed special event for Halloween at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World. Please note: There is also a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party offered at Disneyland. Since I’ve never been to that one, I don’t feel like I can tell you much about it, so this post is strictly about MNSSHP at WDW. It’s held on select evenings starting in AUGUST (which seems REALLY early to me to start thinking HALLOWEEN but I digress). The party is a special “extra” event that requires a separate ticket. The event runs 2 – 3 nights per week through November 1. Officially, the party goes from 7 pm to midnight on the days it is scheduled, so the Magic Kingdom closes to regular day guests at 7 pm.

Party ticket prices start at $74 for the parties at the beginning of the season, and gradually increase, the closer you get to Halloween. Tickets for the parties close to Halloween tend to sell out early, even though they are priced $100+. This year, the dates for MNSSHP are August 25 and 29, September 1, 7, 10, 12, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 26, 29 and October 1, 3, 5, 6, 9,10, 12, 13 15, 17, 19, 20, 22, 24, 26, 27, 29 and 31 and November 1.

The main question I usually get is “Is the Halloween Party Worth it?” And my answer, as with many things Disney is, “It depends.” A few years ago, when tickets were still $50-$60, my answer was an automatic YES. I think the parties are fun and the parade and the fireworks are really something special. However, prices have gotten a lot higher over the last few years, making it a much more challenging decision.

Benefits:

Early admission: Even though the party doesn’t start until 7 pm, you can enter the park with your party admission any time after 4 p.m. 4 p.m. – 12:00 a.m. means 8 hours in the Magic Kingdom; and with the exception of the “SOLD OUT” parties and the parties close to Halloween, generally the crowds are lighter than a “typical” park day at the Magic Kingdom, so you can usually take advantage of shorter lines and ride more attractions.
Boo to You Parade: This is one of my favorite parades that Disney offers. The Boo to You parade features floats and dancers that you don’t get to see any other way. All the Disney characters featured in the parade are wearing their Halloween costumes. It’s fun and not to be missed if you attend the party. It’s offered twice during the party, once at 9:15 pm and once at 11:15 pm. Generally, we attend the 11:15 pm parade as the crowd is lighter by then.

Hallowishes Firesworks: At 10:15 pm, a special Disney Villains themed fireworks display shoots off over Cinderella’s castle. If you’re not a fireworks fan, it’s a great time to get on rides with short or nonexistent lines, but if like me, you’re a fireworks fan, Hallowishes is pretty terrific.
Headless Horseman: Right before the parade, as long as the weather is good, the Headless Horseman gallops down the parade route, through the empty streets (blocked off for the parade). It’s creepy and cool at the same time. Note: He does not always ride so you can’t count on it 100% but when he does, it’s a big highlight of the night.

Special party-themed merchandise: At 7 p.m., the shops will put out special Halloween Party themed merchandise that is ONLY available during the party. At minimum, there are usually special pins, shirts, and ears, and often other “special” items. There are special Halloween Party pins available for Annual Passholders and DVC Members, again, that you can only get during a party. If you’re not a merchandise person, this is no big deal but as a (somewhat reformed) souvenir junkie, I’m always eager to check out the special party themed merchandise.
Treat Stations: throughout the park, there will be “Treat” stations where you can stand in line with your trick or treat bag and get free candy from whomever is a party sponsor that year. This is something I think has kind of deteriorated in recent years, but still seems to be a fairly big draw, especially for the kids. You used to get more candy, and a bigger variety of candy. Now, it seems the lines are longer, the candy is pretty standardized, and you don’t get much at the various stations. Not a big deal for me personally as I generally skip this altogether, but for some people it’s a main attraction. This year, there are 14 “Treat” stations, including a special “allergy-friendly” station in the Town Square Theater for those with special dietary restrictions.
Castle Forecourt Stage Show: There is always a Villain themed stage show offered on the Castle Forecourt Stage a few times during the party. It’s usually a 15-20 minute show and I’ve always enjoyed them as a way to see characters you don’t often get to see in the parks. This year’s show is themed the Disney classic Halloween movie, “Hocus Pocus”. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ve heard good things. It sounds campy and fun.
Costumes: MANY MANY MANY guests dress for Halloween for these parties, and that is one of the best highlights for me personally. I love seeing everyone in their costumes. The creativity and variety is really fun to see. There are some restrictions for security purposes—you can’t wear any costumes that cover your face, you can’t carry weapons, etc. (for a full list of restrictions, check out Disney’s website), but people manage to do some pretty terrific costumes. You don’t have to wear a costume, but it’s more fun if you do–even if it’s something quick and simple. One note: Keep the Florida heat and humidity in mind. It is NOT fun to melt in your costume, trust me on this.

Character Greetings: As with the parade, all the characters at the Character greetings during the party are in their Halloween costumes, so you can get unique pictures that you can’t get on a normal park visit.

Special PhotoPass Themes: If you have PhotoPass pictures taken during a Halloween party, you will have access to the Halloween party themed PhotoPass stickers and borders that you can add to your pictures.
There are usually some special “Magic Shots” only available during the Halloween Party. If you’re not familiar with Magic Shots, these are pictures taken of your group by PhotoPass photographers with something special added “magically” into the picture after they take it. For MNSSHP, these usually include hitchhiking ghosts or a ghostly hearse driver. Note: I have heard recently that ghostly magic shots are no longer limited to MNSSHP; however, in my experience, you had to get the picture taken at the party to have access to those special shots.
Shorter lines for attractions: You cannot book Fast Pass Plus reservations for any attractions during a party, but generally, you won’t need them. Once the party gets going and regular day guests have left, there are a lot fewer guests in the park than on a regular day. There are exceptions to this: In recent years, Disney has increased the number of tickets they sell for parties, and the sold out parties, especially near Halloween, can get pretty crowded from what I’ve heard. I’ve only ever attended parties in late September or early October, so our experience has always reflected pretty light crowds, especially later in the evening after parents with little kids have gone home.

Things to Consider:

There’s no getting around it, this is a pricey ticket. If money is no object, the parties are fun and offer some unique merchandise and entertainment that you won’t get to see unless you buy a ticket to a party. So, I say go for it. If, however, you are like me and money IS a big deal, this can be a much more challenging decision. If you are an Annual Passholder, you technically already have a park ticket for this day, so you can feel like you are paying twice to attend a party.

Some ways that we’ve made the party ticket a worthwhile spend for us: 1) we usually plan the party for a day we DON’T visit any other parks—we just go to the party. Often, this is the day we arrive, and would most likely not get a “full” day in at the parks anyway. 2) We avoid parties that fall on weekends or close to Halloween—those tend to be more crowded (and more expensive!) 3) We plan to arrive at MK at 4 p.m. to maximize our time at the park for the evening. If possible, we either sleep late that day, or, if it’s a travel day, we try to catch a short nap in the afternoon before the party. 4) we stay for the entire party, not leaving until they throw us out after midnight. 5) We take advantage of as many party-themed unique entertainment options as we can. In other words, we watch the shows, we go to the parade, we stake out a good spot for the fireworks. We will take character pictures if the lines aren’t too long. 6) We ride as many of our favorite attractions as we can during the party, knowing the lines will be longer on other days. We usually ride during the first parade, as well. 6) We take lots of PhotoPass pictures.

If you are NOT an annual passholder, planning to attend a party means you can buy one day less on your park tickets. If you were planning to purchase 5 day pass, purchase a 4 day pass instead. Just make sure you don’t visit any parks on the day of the party—make it a rest day, or a Disney Springs day. It’s not a big savings on your park pass, but it can help defray the cost of your party ticket a little bit.

Do you LOVE Halloween? Do you like to be SCARED at Halloween? This is NOT a scary Halloween event, like Halloween Horror Nights at Universal or Fright Fest at Six Flags. This is a family themed Halloween event, much more focused on FUN than SCARE. So, if you love haunted houses and people jumping out at you, you might not enjoy Disney’s idea of Halloween.
Do you like to dress up for Halloween? Do you have a terrific family theme idea for your Halloween costumes? Do you like seeing the characters in unique costumes you don’t normally see them in? If any of these answers are yes, you would probably enjoy the party.
AGE and ENTHUSIASM. I’m not sure this is a great value for families with small children, even though small children are part of the target audience. Most of the time, I see families with small children leave after the fireworks, about an hour and a half before the end of the party, and often I see small kids conked out on parents’ shoulders or in strollers way before that. That’s a lot of money to spend for a couple of hours of entertainment and some trick or treating. And some REALLY cute pictures! Definitely an individual decision for sure. If you know you won’t be happy after 10 pm, you’ll just be too tired, the party probably isn’t worth it for you.
There is an available add-on you can get, again, if money is simply not a concern for you: there is a HalloWishes Dessert Party, priced at $79 per adult, $47 per child ages 3-9. Note: the HalloWishes Dessert Party requires a MNSSHP ticket, so this is $79 on TOP of the party ticket. Basically, Halloween themed desserts and a special fireworks viewing area. Personally, I don’t think this is a good value at all…it takes up too much of your time and there is just too much other stuff going on at the party that you don’t want to miss. Plus, WAY too pricey in my opinion.

So…the bottom line:

If money is not an object and you like a FUN Halloween Disney themed event….plan to attend Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.

If you can attend a party earlier in the season, and replace a regular park day with attending the Party, MNSSHP may be a reasonable value for you.

If you are a costume junkie (or LOVE seeing Characters and visitors in costumes), MNSSHP should definitely be on your wish list, if the pricing makes sense for you.

If you like to go to bed early, or prefer your Halloween to be truly terrifying, give MNSSHP a pass.

I’d love to hear your perspective on Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Are you attending this year? Planning for next year? Let me know!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

Disney PhotoPass/Disney Memory Maker

One question I get asked a lot is “Should we purchase the Memory Maker?”. The short answer: It depends.

Ok, for me, it’s pretty much always YES…but I’m a HUGE photo nerd.

For more NORMAL people, there are several things to consider, and I will get to those in a moment. But first for those of you that DON’T know:

What is Disney PhotoPass?

Disney PhotoPass is a service that Disney added years ago, and I think it’s absolute GENIUS. Basically, they have photographers stationed at numerous locations around each park to take pictures of you and your group. This completely solves the “Did Mom even GO on that vacation? She’s not in ANY of the pictures” dilemma. For many families, there is always one person that takes all the pictures and they are never in any of the shots. Or, people rotate who takes the pictures, but there are never any pictures of EVERYONE together, because one person always steps out to take the picture. For some, Selfies have helped to address this problem, but with a Selfie, it’s still really tough to get a group or to include people AND a landmark in the picture.

The Solution

Disney has solved that. Basically, the PhotoPass photographer will take your group’s picture, usually with a park icon or landmark in the background, and then they will either scan your magic band (the easiest) or give you a PhotoPass card with a 16-digit number on the back. Note: If you are given a Photopass card, immediately take a picture of the back of the card just in case. If you lose the card, but have the number, you can still locate your pictures.

Big Group Attractions

Generally, at big group attractions where PhotoPass take lots of pictures (Enchanted Tales with Belle, for example), the photographer will hand out PhotoPass cards at the end; once you enter the number on your computer, you’ll have access to ALL the pictures they took during that particular event. If your kid had a role in the show, you do NOT want to lose that number! So take a picture of the back of the card, just in case!

PhotoPass photographers will also take pictures using YOUR camera or phone, so don’t be afraid to ask. This can be a way to save on Memory Maker or PhotoPass downloads.

Ride Photos and Videos

Some rides take your picture during the ride…those are now PhotoPass pictures, and can be attached to your Magic Band or PhotoPass card. The RFID technology in your MagicBand communicates with the reader at the attraction and automatically adds the photos or videos to your account.

Splash Mountain Attraction Photo (Photo: Disney PhotoPass)

Rainy Day at Disney World; What to do when it rains on your Disney Vacation

Seven Dwarfs Mine Train in the rain Photo: Linda Harkness

Character Meals

Some character dining meals also offer PhotoPass pictures, but not all of them. Also IF there is a PhotoPass photographer at a character meal, it will usually just be for a picture you take before you enter the restaurant. PhotoPass photographers do not go around with the characters as they visit your table, so ALWAYS bring your camera to character meals.

After You Get Home

After your trip, you will be able to visit the PhotoPass website to view all your pictures. You can add borders and stickers to the photos, and you can make products like Photobooks, calendars and mugs featuring your pictures on the Disney PhotoPass website. One picture can turn into 10 or 15 by the time you are done playing with borders, cropping, black and white, etc. Some borders are unique to particular locations, seasons, or events, adding a little extra magic to those photos.

PhotoPass pictures are also now available in the My Disney Experience app, so you’ll be able to look at them as your trip goes along. Most photos and videos appear in your app within 20 minutes.

NOTE: Pictures are only available on the PhotoPass site for about 30 days (unless you are an Annual Passholder.)

What is a Magic Shot?

Magic Shots are pictures taken by a PhotoPass photographer with a little something extra magical added later. The most common ones feature TinkerBell standing on the palm of your hand, or a bunch of balloons added to your upstretched arm. There are a variety of Magic Shots available at different times. During Star Wars Weekend a few years ago, we got Magic Shots with light sabers added. Recently, they added some pirate themed Magic Shots near the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.

During Mickey’s Not-so-Scary Halloween Party, there are special Magic Shots offered near the Haunted Mansion that feature some Happy Haunts.

How to Get a Magic Shot

Disney changes what Magic Shots are available from time to time, and not all PhotoPass photographers will offer to do them. Your odds are better if there’s no line and if you’re nice and friendly. PhotoPass photographers work very hard, and are on their feet for many hours a day, usually in pretty hot temperatures and sometimes not treated very well by guests. In my experience, if you are nice and there’s not a line, they’re more likely to spend a few extra minutes with you, and usually that results in some Magic Shots. To see what Magic Shots are currently available, visit the albums at the Disney Photo Pass Facebook Page.

What is Memory Maker?

Memory Maker is the product Disney sells that enables you to download all the PhotoPass photos, including attraction pictures and videos, linked to your My Disney Experience account for one price. You get the rights to the photos, allowing you to print them through any service you like. If you DON’T purchase Memory Maker, you can download individual PhotoPass photos, Magic Shots or attraction rides or videos, but individually, they are priced high.

Another benefit of Memory Maker: SHARING. If you have friends or family that share media with you via My Disney Experience, you will have access to all the PhotoPass photos and digital content on THEIR PhotoPass account, too. For our wedding trip, this worked out AMAZING. We purchased the Memory Maker and our whole group shared their pictures with us. Combining pictures from everyone, we got to see lots of amazing moments that we missed during the trip. We made CDs for everyone after the trip with all their pictures after we’d downloaded them. This is a great way to help defray the cost of Memory Maker—if you can share the cost with other family members, it makes the purchase much more palatable.

How Much Does Memory Maker Cost?

Currently, you can purchase Memory Maker for $199. If you plan ahead and order Memory Maker at least 5 days BEFORE your vacation, you can purchase it for $169. Note: Photos in your PhotoPass account will expire 45 days from the date taken, so make sure you download all your pictures before you hit that 45-day mark.

Note: If you are an Annual Passholder, PhotoPass downloads are included with your Annual Pass (Photos and other digital content expire 365 days from date of capture for Annual Passholders). For us, this was a big factor in choosing which park tickets we’d purchase this year. But that’s a topic for another day 😉.

So, back to the original question: Should I purchase Memory Maker?

Yes, I strongly recommend you purchase Memory Maker for your vacation (purchase it in advance to save $30) unless

1. 1. you hate having pictures from your vacation with everyone in them, including you
  2. it’s a super short trip, and you’re not likely to have the chance to have many PhotoPass shots taken
  3. you (or most of your group) refuse to pose for pictures
  4. rides: you don’t care about attraction photos or videos or you don’t tend to ride any rides
  5. Basically, if pictures are NOT a priority for you or your group, Memory Maker probably DOESN’T make sense for you.

If finances are a concern, and let’s face it, for many of us, finances are a major concern, you can try and play the odds. If you think you’ll end up with 10 or less pictures that you’ll really want to “OWN”, you could try NOT purchasing the Memory Maker. But if you get home and find there are 50 pictures you can’t live without, you’ll find yourself spending MORE money after the fact. At the prices Disney charges for individual photo downloads, if you end up wanting 15-20 of the pictures, you’ll spend more on individual downloads than you would on Memory Maker, which would get you EVERYTHING taken during your trip and linked to your account.

Note: You CAN purchase Memory Maker after your trip, but at the $199 price, not the pre-trip $169 price. But if you find you have LOTS of pictures you want to download, it will probably be cheaper to buy Memory Maker, even after your trip, than to purchase individual downloads. (Tip: if you have any friends or family traveling within 30 days of your trip, you could split the cost of the Memory Maker and share your photos and digital content. Just make sure to add your borders and download the pictures relatively quickly after the second trip is complete–you don’t want to risk any pictures dropping off).

A Disney vacation is a significant investment, and I firmly believe capturing those memories in photos is an important part of that investment. So, I plan for Memory Maker (and the post – vacation photo book I will make) in my vacation budget and savings plan.

Maximize Your Investment

I will say this: If you DO make the investment in Memory Maker–make sure you take advantage of it! Hit lots of PhotoPass photographers around the parks, use different poses, ask for Magic Shots. You don’t want to get home and regret the purchase. As long as you use it, Memory Maker can be a good value. With individual pictures priced at $12.95 (5×7), it doesn’t take THAT many photos for Memory Maker to make sense.

As I mentioned before, I’m a total photo nerd. I make my poor husband stop at almost every single PhotoPass photographer in every park. I LOVE having pictures from our vacations. We went once for a weekend trip (Memory Maker was more economical in those days, granted) and I almost didn’t buy the Memory Maker…I decided to go for it, and was so happy I did. I think I ended up with 45 PhotoPass pictures from that trip, before I started adding borders and stickers, and cropping them, etc. It was well over 100 by the time I was done “playing” and downloaded them. That’s a pretty light PhotoPass load for us, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out on any of them.

Sharing

For the wedding trip, there were only 3 park days, but we ended up with more than 200 pictures, once everyone shared their media with us. It was AWESOME. (Note: If one person buys Memory Maker, that purchase is linked to THAT account and they are the only account that can download the pictures for everyone that shared media. Everyone linked to the account can VIEW them, but only the purchaser can download. It’s super easy to share after you’ve downloaded though, so I don’t view this a big concern—just wanted you to be aware.)

Also, I like to stack the odds. If you take one picture, the odds are fairly high that you won’t love it. If you take 20 pictures, the odds are fairly high that you will love AT LEAST 2 or 3 of them!

Spaceship Earth Disney Fall 2021 Vacation Packages Available

Spaceship Earth (Photo: Disney PhotoPass)

Photos are a great way to relive magic moments. Disney vacations are typically FULL of magic moments you don’t ever want to forget. Disney’s PhotoPass and Memory Maker are great tools to help make sure your memories are preserved.

Make a Copy!

One more tip: If you do purchase Memory Maker, or even just individual PhotoPass photo downloads, make sure you make a back up copy of the files and store it somewhere different from where you store the original files. The cloud, another computer, a jump drive–just have a copy. I’m currently hunting for PhotoPass pictures from our January 2014 trip. With all the wedding planning that year, I didn’t do my usual routine with Disney trip pictures, and they are NOT where they are supposed to be. {sigh. I know I made a copy. I just don’t know WHERE I made the copy 😉}.

Do you have any questions about PhotoPass or Memory Maker? I’d love to hear from you! Or send me your favorite PhotoPass pictures and I will share them here, with your permission (of course!).

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

TRAINING for your Disney Vacation

She said WHAT?? TRAINING FOR MY VACATION? Is she INSANE? Well, yes, but that’s beside the point 😉 Seriously, I said training for your vacation and I meant it!

My goal in writing for this site is primarily to help you have a better Disney vacation. I want you to do a little up-front planning to make your trip go smoother. I want to tell you about new attractions or restaurants to help make sure you don’t miss out on something you’ll really enjoy. I want to offer tips and tricks to help you maximize your time and fun at the parks. I want to help you prepare for the best possible, most enjoyable vacation for you and your family.

How much good would all that do if, at the end of the first day, you are EXHAUSTED and your feet and legs hurt so much that you can’t even sleep that night? Or worse, if you end up with terrible blisters on your feet that significantly curtail your vacation activities as your trip wears on? Your vacation will definitely be much LESS enjoyable if you end up spending 2/3 of it in pain, trust me. I’ve been there. Which is precisely why I want to make sure you DON’T make the same mistakes.

Listen, these days, most people lead relatively sedentary lives. We drive to work, we spend the day sitting at our desks, we drive home and we sit down to eat dinner and then sit down at the computer or on the couch to watch TV. Obviously, there are many exceptions to this…If you work out most days and you routinely get 12,000 steps or more on your FitBit or pedometer, this article isn’t for you. You are in terrific shape for your vacation, go off and do something active 😉.

But if you’re part of the majority of us who DON’T routinely get more than 12,000 steps per day, you may want to consider training for your vacation.

A Disney vacation is wonderful and fun, and a great chance to let go of your worries and play together and drink in the magic and adventure. What it is not, as a rule, is relaxing. A Disney vacation is an active vacation. Now, I need to point out that it is possible to have a relaxing vacation at Disney…every resort has a pool, and there are golf courses and lots of other relaxing leisure activities you can take advantage of. Or if you are able to spend 2-3 weeks at Disney, it’s much easier to have a relaxing vacation, because you can spread out your park days and have more down time, and you can be much more leisurely about visiting attractions. Or if you have the means and time to visit multiple times per year. Or the means to hire a VIP tour guide that can help you get around behind the scenes and avoid many of the worst lines. There are definitely ways to have a relaxing vacation at Disney, if you have time and means. I don’t happen to have any of these ways or means, though…😉

I’m talking more about the average Disney vacation that most families or individuals take—3-7 days, time off work, trying to maximize your time in the parks and seeing and doing as much as humanly possible, maximizing your “return on investment”. Let’s face it, for most of us, a Disney vacation is a BIG expenditure, and you want to feel like you’ve squeezed every drop of fun out of that darn trip so you feel that spending was worth it. (There are lots of ways to do Disney more economically, and there are tons of budget travel tips out there—I’ll do an article on that in the future…but again, I’m talking mainly about the “average” trip right now).

First thing to think about: Disney resorts are LARGE. Some are VERY LARGE. In other words, just to get from your room to breakfast or the bus stop, you may walk a half mile (or more). Add to that: each Disney park is LARGE. Some are VERY LARGE. (Are you sensing a trend here?). It is not unusual to walk five miles or more in a single day, visiting only one park and not really pushing yourself. If you park hop, or really push to see EVERYTHING in a particular park, criss-crossing and revisiting favorites?? You could do more like 7-10 miles. In a single day. On a particularly adventurous day a few years ago, a friend and I set a goal to visit all four parks in a single day, and then ended up back at MK for fireworks at the end of the night…technically visiting four parks with five visits. We each logged more than 14 miles that day. That’s a half marathon, baby!

My point is, if you are NOT accustomed to spending long periods of time standing and walking 5-7 miles per day, multiple days per week, your Disney vacation is going to be physically more demanding than what you are used to. If you don’t prepare, you will be in serious pain after a day or two. Ideally, you have 2-3 months before your trip, and can ramp up slowly and without too much effort. Basically, your goal is to get to walking 5 miles per day, 4-6 days a week by about a week before your vacation. Note, I’ve tried getting ready using biking instead of walking, and that didn’t help as much. You really need weight bearing, low impact exercise. Part of it is time based too. Unless you walk really fast, 5 miles is going to take you around an hour and a half. That doesn’t compare in any way shape or form to 10 -12 hours on your feet, but it helps to get some decent time in as well as mileage on your feet. I’m a pretty heavy person, so my issues may be more challenging than yours if you are in better shape than I am, but even if you’re tiny, you’re still going to be putting a lot more pressure than you are used to on your legs and feet, walking and standing on hard surfaces all day long.

If you wear a FitBit or pedometer, take a look at your current average steps per day. If you are habitually below 12,000, start by trying to add 500 or 1000 steps per day for a week or so, and then try and add another 1,000 steps per day the next week. For example, I’ve been hanging around the 8,000 steps per day neighborhood for a few weeks now, so this week, I’m trying average 9,000 steps per day. Next week, I’ll work on 10,000 and 11,000 the following week. Make sense? For me personally, It takes about 2,300 steps for me to reach one mile. So my goal is to be closer to 15-16,000 steps by the time we leave for vacation. Everyone is a little different, and based on your height or stride length, you may need more or less steps than me to hit a mile. I found this helpful article that talks about this: How Many Steps in a Mile?

If you don’t have a pedometer, that’s ok. Just take a look at what you are currently doing and, if you’re not spending a lot of time on your feet and/or walking, add more! If you are completely sedentary, try walking for 20 – 30 minutes a day for a week or so. Then add another 10-20 minutes after that. Or take a separate 10-20-minute walk, later in the day. Whatever works for you, however you can fit it in.

Use what you have: if you can, take a walk outside on the sidewalk or street. Don’t worry too much about speed, unless you are also working on weight loss or training for a race. Just walk and try and enjoy yourself. Some days, I’m able to take a short walk on my lunch break at work. I always find my energy and mood lifted in the afternoon on those days. If you can’t walk outside, walk inside. Do you have a treadmill or elliptical? Great, use those. Just try and mix some outside, on the pavement time too. Your legs and feet need to build up a little endurance on those surfaces. If you are dealing with snow and ice or torrential rains and can’t walk outside and don’t have access to a treadmill or elliptical, DON’T GIVE UP! You can walk around your house. Turn on some music and dance around your house. March in place, jog in place, go up and down stairs. Just stay on your feet, and try and get those miles in. I also sometimes will use YouTube walking videos to help me get some variety in my walking inside routine: I really like Jessica Smith. Check her YouTube page out here: Jessica Smith TV She has a TON of free walking workout videos, as well as lots of other types of workouts, including stretching, yoga, kickboxing…all kinds of good stuff there.

Trust me on this: I know we are all busy, and finding time to exercise is something that everyone struggles with…but you are spending a lot of money on this vacation and you do not want to spend it miserable. And if your feet, legs, hips and back are killing you by the end of day 1, you will be miserable! I’ve been there, and it really impacted my enjoyment of the trip. Sometimes, it’s easier to motivate yourself to be more active when it’s in pursuit of VACATION rather than for the sake of being more active for it’s own sake. *Yes, I know, we should ALL be working on being more active because it’s good for our bodies and our brains. That is a fact. I KNOW. BUT…I’m still a work in progress. If thinking about vacation gets me moving when nothing else will? I’ll think about vacation!

Think about the rest of your travel group, too. You may not be able to get your kids to walk five miles 4 days a week with you, but can you get them to do more walking than they do normally? If you will be pushing a stroller with a 30-pound kid in it all over Disney, guess what? You should probably be pushing that stroller on at least some of your long walks before your trip. Try and get your spouse to do more walking too. It’s great if you can do this together, and spend time talking and getting excited about your trip. For my husband and I, our work schedules make it pretty tough to walk together most days BUT I’ve already started pushing him to walk every day in preparation for our November trip. He doesn’t want sore feet and legs any more than I do, so fortunately, he’s listening to me. We make a game out of it, teasing each other over who got more miles in each day or week.

Another thing to train: Your vacation footwear. Do NOT buy brand new shoes for vacation and not wear them for several days and miles before you go! I have done this in the past and my feet were NOT happy! Just like wearing heels at your wedding, you need to break in your shoes before you go on vacation. If you follow through and are walking a lot in the weeks leading up to your trip, try to have your ”vacation” shoes at least two weeks before your trip, and start wearing them on your walks.

There are a lot of different opinions out there on the “best” shoes for Disney vacation. I’ve seen everything from flip flops to high heels (really? Are you crazy, lady? All I can think is OUCH.) I tend to wear comfortable athletic shoes—not too old, I want lots of good cushion and shock absorption left in them. But wear what is comfortable for you, keeping in mind that you will be walking on hard surfaces for many hours and miles per day.

How are you planning to “train” for your Disney vacation? I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

60 Days to Go…Booking Fast Pass Plus

Sunday, 5:45 AM

You know what I find really interesting? When my alarm goes off on a work day—REGARDLESS OF THE TIME or how much sleep I’ve had, I immediately and automatically hit the snooze button. I seem physically incapable of getting right out of bed.

But when the alarm goes off on vacation (or for vacation related insanity like Fast Pass scheduling….) BAM, I jump right out of bed like it’s full of snakes or spiders or something. I’m sure that says something very troubling about me and my brain, but I’m not in the mood for deep psychological analysis this morning, so we’ll move on.

At any rate, the alarm went off and I headed straight down to the computer. I immediately logged into My Disney Experience, and headed straight to the Fast Pass Plus reservation area, selected my “Group”—my husband Frank and myself—and tried to choose my dates. It was still only 5:55 AM, so you guessed it…no luck. They are not kidding with that window. All that was available were reservation dates up to 30 days out. It looks at your hotel reservation and does not open that 60-day window until 7:00 AM (Eastern) the 60^th day our from the first night of your reservation.

Tried again at exactly 6:00 AM and magically, the window now showed all the days between now and the last day of our vacation. (The sixty-day window is for day 1 of your vacation—or really the first night in a Disney hotel…but the window then opens for every night you’ve booked in Disney hotel for the duration of that reservation, and will include the day after the last night. They’re assuming you get up, check out and go to a park on your last day. For those of you that like to resort hop: The window will open for the duration of that first reservation. So, if you are staying two nights at All Star Movies and then heading to the Grand Floridian for four nights, ONLY the first two nights will show up in your initial 60-day window. You’ll have to go back in two days later and book your fast passes for that second reservation.)

My plan of attack was to try and get the most difficult Fast Pass Plus (FPP) reservations out of the way first. I had planned our Epcot day as November 17, day 2 of our trip, and I really want to check out Frozen Ever After; it is new since our last trip. After you select your “group”, choose the date for the first FPP you are booking and then the system asks which park you want to visit.

By default, the system will automatically offer FPPs in the morning first. Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios all feature a tiered system. They group the most in-demand attractions in one tier, only allowing you to choose one from that tier, and the rest of the FPP attractions in the other tier, allowing you to choose two. If you want times in the afternoon or evening, you can select those windows.

I chose November 17 and Epcot and the two tiers popped up. It defaults to morning first, and will show the earliest available FPP slot for each attraction. **Note: If the attraction you want is not listed, it means there are NO available FPP left for that attraction for that day. This means you will either have to wait in regular lines for the attraction or try to get a FPP for a different day of your trip. For Frozen Ever After, the earliest available slot that day was 2:20 PM. I immediately grabbed it. It takes you to the next screen, which is a confirm screen. Take a quick look and make sure all the members of your party are listed and that you have the attraction and time slot you selected on the previous page. Once you confirm, it will ask if you want another FPP, and offer the option to continue on the same day or select a different day.

For my purposes, I wanted to work on my next most difficult attraction: Flights of Passage at Animal Kingdom. I grabbed the date and the earliest time offered was already 4:30 pm. I then booked FPP for Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safari for the same day. Yay. And then I realized I was booking the reservations ON THE WRONG DAY. I was supposed to be booking on Monday, November 20 and instead I’d grabbed Sunday, November 19. I blame the early hour and the lack of caffeine. CHECK YOUR DATES PEOPLE!!! I immediate chose to book a new FPP on a different (and correct) day, went to Animal Kingdom and found the earliest Flight of Passage FPP available on THAT day, which was 2 PM. Grabbed it, and then proceeded to book the other two I wanted for AK for that day.

I then went back to November 19 and selected Hollywood Studios. It immediately tells me I already have FPP booked for that day and to book new ones, I will be cancelling the old ones. I knew that already, but it’s good to note that Disney TRIES to stop you from accidentally canceling something you DON’T WANT to cancel. It will ask you to make the choice for each member of your party individually. (See screen shot below.)

You will also see an error like this if you are trying to book a FPP in a window that overlaps another FPP. I kept trying to overlap by a few minutes for attractions that were close together but it caught me every time.

For Hollywood Studios, the most important attraction for us is Toy Story Mania. We LOVE that ride. Sunday has Extra Magic Hours, so we will be heading straight to Toy Story Mania as soon as we are allowed into the park but I wanted to have a FPP for later so we can ride it again. I booked one for 10:45 AM. We’ll end up using it toward the end of the window as we have lunch reservation at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater at 11:55 AM. The other two FPP I booked for that day are Star Tours, 9:50 AM and Tower of Terror, right after lunch.

After HS FPP were booked, I went to Saturday and booked our FPP for Magic Kingdom. I wasn’t as worried about these because I knew we were going to the Christmas Party on our first night and would likely be able to ride everything we wanted at least once that night…The toughest one to get at MK is Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so I did that first and got a 2 pm window. The other two I grabbed were Peter Pan’s Flight and Haunted Mansion.

I then went back to Friday and booked the remaining two FPP I had for Epcot. Spaceship Earth and Mission Space. I’m not too worried about either of these, and may end up cancelling or choosing alternate times or attractions as I get closer to the trip and have a better idea of how we will be touring the park.

Finally, I booked a few FPP for Tuesday morning, our final day. I suspect we won’t end up going to the park on this day; I’m leaning more towards stopping at Disney Springs on our way to the airport but just in case we DO decide to go to the park, I booked a couple at MK (walking distance from our resort and our favorite park). Once we decide whether we will use these, I will update and/or release these FPP.

Here’s a different error message you might see. I didn’t run into this when I was actually booking, but I did run into it later when I was trying to book additional FPP to help me with this article. I basically logged out and logged back in to fix this issue. I know errors are super annoying, but you have to admit, this error message is awfully cute!

Once you’re finished, Disney will show you all the FPP reservations you’ve made. I highly suggest printing or saving these pages to PDF so you have a copy of what you booked. I’ve never had a problem, but I have heard a few stories of FPP being dropped from the system somehow…I’m not sure having a printout will help in the conversation with Disney about any missing FPP, but it sure couldn’t hurt. Hopefully those bugs were worked out in the beginning and that is NEVER an issue anymore, but ya never know.

Note: If you are visiting Magic Kingdom on a date where there is a special event, for example, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, or Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the software stops issuing FPPs at 5:30. The park closes to non-party guests at 7:00 pm. (Note these parties are special ticketed events and require separate purchase of a ticket. I will be talking specifically about this in a separate post.) If you have a ticket to the party, you can enter the park any time after 4pm using your party ticket, even though the party doesn’t start until 7 pm. So, you can reserve FPP between 4pm and 5:30pm. The system won’t let you overlap passes by even five minutes, though, so you may want to try and book a 3:30 or 3:45 FPP as your first one, even though you won’t be in the park until 4 pm. You’ll have until 4:30 or 4:45 to use the FPP, based on the 1-hour reservation window.

The Bottom Line

My early morning mission was successful. I was able to book Fast Pass Plus reservations for each attraction I’d planned to, and generally, the windows that I booked work for what I have planned for each day of our vacation. I didn’t run into any technical challenges at all, and the only glitch was one I created myself by choosing an incorrect date. I’ve still got a few things to figure out, so I may make a couple minor changes on the less popular attractions as we get a little closer to vacation, but overall, I’m pretty happy with how it went. I was even happier when I went back to bed for an hour before getting up and heading to work! 😉

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

More Thoughts About Fast Pass Plus Strategy

Focus on what is most important to you and your group. If you all have different favorite attractions, write down everyone’s favorites and determine which are likeliest to have the longest lines. Do any of these attractions offer Single Rider lines? Is that an option for your group if they do?

Single Rider Lines

For example, at Hollywood Studios, we love Toy Story Mania, the Tower of Terror AND Rock-n-Roller Coaster. Disney puts all three of those attractions into one tier, because, shock of shocks, those are a LOT of people’s favorite attractions. By utilizing Extra Magic Hours and making sure we are at the park before it opens, the odds are fairly good that we will be able to ride all three of these attractions before the lines start to get long, and that, by far, is the best strategy.

But if for some reason, we can’t do all three pretty early and avoid the lines, the first one we will drop initially and ride later is Rock-n-Roller Coaster, because it has a single rider line. Traditionally, most people like to ride with the rest of their group, so if a group has an uneven number, you might end up with an empty seat. Disney will almost NEVER waste an empty seat, so they pull from the “Single Rider” line to fill that seat. What that means to you: If you are willing to ride the attraction sitting next to someone you don’t know while your loved one(s) sit next to someone else, you can shave LOTS of time off your wait times. There are a lot of groups of 3 and 5, so there is a high demand for single riders to fill in those groups. The longest we’ve ever waited in the single rider line was twenty minutes, and that was on a CRAZY busy day with one of the longest regular standby lines we’ve seen—almost 3 hours! You still enter the line together, you wait in line together, you just split up right before your ride vehicles are loaded. Most of the time, Frank and I end up in the same car, just different rows. Every once in a while, you may end up riding a couple of minutes apart and one of you will have to wait at the other end for a minute or two but if you’re open to it, it’s a GREAT way to avoid the line, ride the attraction you like quickly and move on about your day. Currently, Disney offers three attractions with single rider lines: Test Track at Epcot; Rock-n-Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios; and Expedition Everest at Animal Kingdom.

Character Greetings

When most people think about Fast Passes, they tend to think primarily about rides. Sometimes, they’ll consider shows. But one other type of attraction that can be reserved via FPP is CHARACTER GREETINGS. If this is something that is important to you, you may want to consider using FPP to schedule some of these during your trip. The most popular characters (especially the Frozen princesses, Anna and Elsa) often have CRAZY long lines, full of lots of small and frequently tired and impatient children. Some kids are scared of the characters, even the princesses, so you may want to consider that before using up a FPP reservation if your child hasn’t even met a character before. Character greetings are something we enjoy, but they aren’t super important to us, unless we are traveling with more of our family. One of my favorite Photopass pictures from the wedding trip is with most of my family and Sorcerer Mickey.

Note: We did not book FPP for this greeting. Mickey was there, the line wasn’t long, I browbeat everyone into going over there 😊. So, we tend NOT to use FPP for Character Greetings, just hopping into lines if they are short and we have time. BUT, I know for many people, getting that picture with Snow White or Goofy will MAKE their trip. If that’s you, consider booking a FPP reservation.

Bottom Line

I look at FPP as a bonus—a way to get extra rides on a favorite, or a way to combat long lines later in the day after everyone else has shown up, or as a way to ride something we like that normally has long lines in a park we won’t get to until later in the day.

Identify your top priority attractions. Determine if they are Tier 1 attractions (at Epcot, Animal Kingdom or Hollywood Studios). Think about where in the park your top priority attractions are located. Think about where you have scheduled meal reservations (or, if you don’t have meal reservations, think about approximately when you think you might want to take a meal break and, potentially, where.) Think about WHEN you will be at the parks, and whether you’ll be able to take advantage of lighter, early morning crowds.

Finally, think about which attractions may be the hardest FPPs to get. Right now, the highest demand FPPs are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Space Mountain, all at Magic Kingdom. Frozen Ever After, Soarin’, Test Track and Illuminations at Epcot. Toy Story Mania and Rock-n-Roller Coaster at Hollywood Studios. At Animal Kingdom, the “hot” attractions are Avatar Flight of Passage, Na’vi River Journey and the Rivers of Light nighttime show.

Now that you’ve prioritized, you’re ready to book your Fast Pass Plus reservations!

A few things to keep in mind:

You can only book up to three FPP reservations in any given day, and those must all be in the same park.
Three parks (Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios) use a tiered system, grouping the most popular attractions together, and limiting you to choosing just one of those for your initial three FPP reservations. Be aware of which attractions are in those limited tiers and prioritize which ones are most important to your group.
Once you’ve used all three of your initial FPP reservations each day (or cancelled any unused ones), you will be able to book one additional FPP reservation using the app on your phone or one of the kiosks in the park itself. Once you’ve used that one, you’ll have the option to book another one and so on.
Based on that, you may NOT want to choose an evening attraction or FPP time slot late in the day as one of your first three FPP reservations. If for example you select Epcot Illuminations viewing as one of your FPP for a particular day, you will max out at three…you will never be able to book any additional FPP after you use your first three because you won’t be using the third one until the park is technically closed for the day.
Disney will not let you overlap FPP reservations, even if the attractions are right next to each other. So, if you have one FPP at 10:45 am, you can’t book another one for 11:30 am.
If you are visiting the Magic Kingdom on a day with a special ticketed evening event, FPP windows will end early. For example, on days when there is a Mickey’s Not so Scary Halloween Party, or a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, the park closes at 7 pm to non-Party guests. The system stops issuing FPP reservations at 5:30 pm, and you won’t be able to book any FPP for later than that. (Note these parties are special ticketed events that require a separate purchase. I’ll be talking more about these parties in a separate post.)
If your group is good about getting up and getting going in the morning, do not waste FPP by booking them in the first hour of the day…there usually aren’t long lines until after 10 or 11 am, so why burn a fast pass when you don’t need it? Use it later when it can really save you from waiting in line.
Similarly, if you know your group is NOT good about getting up and getting going, don’t waste FPP by booking them too early…if you aren’t likely to arrive in the park until noon, don’t book FPP’s at 10 and 11…you won’t use them and they’ll be wasted. Take your family’s touring style into account when you are planning.
Manage your expectations. Waiting in line for attractions is part of the overall theme park experience. You WILL be waiting in some lines, no matter how carefully you plan and no matter how early you get up. FPP are limited, and there are a LOT more attractions you’ll want to ride than you’ll be able to book FPP for. Know that you absolutely will be waiting in lines and while I like to plan as much as I can to minimize lines, it’s impossible to avoid them completely without avoiding most attractions altogether. (Unless you live in Orlando and can go whenever you want. Then obviously, if there’s a line, you can leave and ride another day. I am so jealous of those people!)

Even when you have a FPP, you may not “walk right on”. Generally speaking, with FPP, you’ll usually wait 10 -15 minutes max, but sometimes things happen that can make that wait longer. In extremely busy periods when the regular line has waits of 2 plus hours, you may end up waiting as long as 30 minutes in the Fast Pass return line.

There are lots of ways to help the time pass quickly while you wait in line—In a few days, I’ll be putting up a separate post on some of the things we try to keep from getting too bored in line.

Finally, remember that there are FOUR parks at Walt Disney World, filled with a TON of attractions, shows, characters, dining experiences, shops and magical experiences. There are two water parks. There are several golf courses. There are lots of water craft and activities you can try. You will NOT be able to do everything. You may not even be able to do everything you really, really want to do. Focus on the few MOST IMPORTANT attractions or events, and fill in the rest of your time with what you can fit. Don’t make yourself crazy. It’s all wonderful, and if you relax and accept that you can only do so much (and gee, you’ll just have to plan another trip to do the rest!😉)

As long as you make sure to hit the most important stuff (for you and your group–everyone is different, and what’s most important to us, may NOT be important for you) you will have a wonderful magical time.

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

Fast Pass Plus Planning

Tomorrow morning, 6 am Central Time…our Fast Pass Plus reservation window opens. For those of you that AREN’T familiar with Fast Pass Plus, it’s a tool that Disney implemented a few years ago that rewards those of us who (neurotic, anal, a little crazy, planning nerds) like to plan ahead. Fast Pass Plus lets you schedule time to ride up to three attractions per day in advance…When you use it, you SIGNIFICANTLY reduce your wait times on those pre-planned attractions. There are (of course) some limitations…

Your Fast Pass Plus reservation window opens 60 days before the first day of your trip, if you have Disney hotel reservations (and these MUST be linked to your My Disney Experience account). If you’re not staying on Disney property, you have a 30-day window for Fast Pass Plus reservations.
Fast Pass Plus does not really allow for park hopping in your planning. All three preplanned attractions in a particular day MUST be in the same park.
Fast Pass Plus uses a tiered system to prevent you from using all three Fast Pass Plus reservations on the most in-demand attractions…or on the same attraction.

Now, I know that many of you will read this and think “are you crazy??? You expect me to know WHAT ride I will want to ride WHEN on my VACATION?????” And my answer to you is simply, “Yes. I am crazy.” Reality. BUT I also will say…it only takes a little planning, but it will have a BIG impact on the success and joy in your vacation. Because trust me, if you can reduce your time standing in line, you WILL have more fun. You’ll be able to do more, see more and most importantly, SIT DOWN AND REST MORE. Just kidding. Well, maybe not. But you will free up some time to give you more time, period. And you can use that however you want. Highly recommended: Naps on the monorail. But I digress…

And the bottom line: You can change your mind. You can decide not to use your advance FPP reservations. You can choose to make the FPP reservations as a “break in case of emergency” back up plan and go merrily about your laid back, no planning involved vacation. But I STRONGLY suggest you take 20 minutes and go ahead and book them. JUST IN CASE. No one will ever know, I promise. 😉

A couple of things that work in our favor: When you schedule a time for your Fast Pass Plus (FPP), you are actually scheduling a one-hour window. If your planned ride time for Toy Story Mania is, for example, 11:00, you can go to the attraction any time between 11:00 am and 12:00 pm and ride the attraction with either no wait, or a very short wait. **Note: Rumor has it that most cast members working the FPP entry points will give you a 10-15 minute grace period if you’re late for your window BUT keep in mind…they don’t have to. So, I try very hard to never need that grace period. I don’t want to risk wasting my FPP. Once you have used your three booked in advance FPP, you can use the My Disney Experience app on your phone to book additional FPP reservations, one at a time, or you can use kiosks in various locations around the park. I’m excited to see how this has improved over the last couple of years…Last time I was in the parks, the app didn’t work very well and I got REALLY frustrated. But I’ve been hearing good things so I’m optimistic.

The other thing that is helpful is that you can set up everyone in your family or traveling group as a “FPP group” so you can book all your FPP together. In the very early days of FPP, this was a real challenge. You’d book one set for one person and then have to go back and try and book the same ones for the next person…it was super challenging. Fortunately, they fixed that, and booking in groups works really well now.

If you are someone that is really good about being at the park early for rope drop and/or extra magic hours, you generally can ride the most popular attractions first thing without needing to use up your FPP. That’s the strategy I use…I plan on early entry and try to ride the most popular and in demand attractions first, and book our FPP reservations for a little bit later in the day, after the crowds have started to pick up and the lines are getting longer. If the wait would be 10-15 minutes without a FPP, why use up a FPP? I’d rather ride without a FPP when the lines are short and take advantage of FPP when the lines are longer. Of course, that doesn’t always work perfectly, but again, I have to emphasize getting up early and getting to the park of your choice BEFORE it opens is KEY to doing everything you want to do without feeling rushed or waiting in super long lines.

Tonight, to prepare for tomorrow morning’s FPP reservation session, I reviewed my tentative plans for our trip. I reviewed scheduled meals, and which park I planned to visit when. I reviewed park hours and Extra Magic Hours schedules. I made little quick sheets to have with me in the morning. I reviewed the current tier structure for each park, and I have a pretty good plan of which attractions I’m going to try and book first.

Because our trip this year rolls into Thanksgiving week, which is a peak period for Walt Disney World, I suspect I will not be able to get all the FPP that I’m hoping for…but I will give it my best shot! Hopefully between Extra Magic Hours and always being early for open, we will be able to hit those really important attractions…

I already have two breakfasts that I will be cancelling because Disney has added Extra Magic Hours those mornings in the parks we were planning to visit. Both breakfasts were planned to help us get into the park early and be fed and already inside when the park actually opened. BUT now that EMH has been added, I don’t want to sacrifice that extra hour sitting down at breakfast. A big bummer because the Tusker House breakfast at Animal Kingdom is one of my favorites, but it can’t be helped. {sigh}

I’ll update you tomorrow on how my FPP reservations go.

Have a great night everyone!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

62 Days to Go…

Today I have Disney on the brain! We are 62 days out from our trip to Walt Disney World for our third wedding anniversary…because we are staying at a Disney resort and have already purchased our ticket media, our Fast Pass Plus booking window will open Sunday morning at 7 am Eastern time. Guess who will be on her computer at 5:55 am Central time on Sunday? ME. SO not happy about that, but it MUST be done, haha. (Yes, yes, I know. FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS.)

Over the last few days, I’ve been thinking about our Fast Pass Plus strategy so I will have a plan of attack Sunday morning. The end of our trip falling into Thanksgiving week means that I really will probably have to grab the fast pass reservations for the END of our trip first to hopefully get what we want. I’ve tentatively planned Animal Kingdom for our last full day at Disney, which will be Monday, November 20. I am SUPER EXCITED to see the new Pandora (Avatar-based land) attractions, and I know they’ve made the two Pandora attractions both Tier 1 attractions, which means I can only book ONE of them as a Fast Pass attraction. ☹ I’ve got to spend some more time on my Fast Pass strategizing, so I will sit down tomorrow and review our meal reservations and each day’s tentative agenda and write down my basic plan for each day, and then identify which attractions I want to try and get Fast Passes for.

When I was younger, I was the Queen of Exhausting Disney Vacations. We had to be at the park for rope drop (or earlier), we had to see and do EVERYTHING and we had to stay until the bitter end (or the Kiss Goodnight), regardless of how late that might be. I also liked to park hop, just on principle, so on Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom days, I almost always included at least a few hours at a different park. While we had a BLAST, those trips were a little frantic, and VERY tiring. It always seemed like we needed a vacation from our vacation when we got home.

Now that I’m a LITTLE older (😉), some of the URGENT must do everything or die mentality has faded. I love Disney so much, and I truly love almost every single attraction, show, shop and mode of transportation. BUT, I don’t have that “I don’t know when I’ll ever be back here” again feeling I used to have. Some of that is maturity (we can only hope), some of it is owning DVC (when you KNOW you have points every year, it’s a little easier to calm down and say, we will have the points to come back next year), some of it is knowing my husband has also become a Disney fan (not that I gave him a TON of choice, but he honestly DOES really love it too), some of it is knowing that I have friends and family members that also enjoy it A LOT that I could probably talk into a trip eventually…. Regardless, I no longer tour the parks “COMMANDO” fashion. I do still try to be at the parks for rope drop…honestly, that is the SINGLE best tip I could give anyone planning a Disney vacation. If you do nothing else, GET TO THE PARK BEFORE IT OPENS. You can usually get more done in the first two hours of the day than you’ll be able to do the rest of the day. SO many people like to sleep in, or have a hard time getting their families up and going, they don’t get to the parks until late morning, or even early afternoon. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THAT.

But where before, I would plan our days to run run run, now I strategize and prioritize a little more. I think it makes a BIG difference in how much my husband (and my Mom, in the trips I take with her) enjoy our trips.

Planning a Trip with Mom for the Spring…

SONY DSC

I’m in the very early planning stages in the trip I will take in the spring with my mom. My mom LOVES to garden so about 8 years ago (when things were great financially, or at least I THOUGHT they were, haha), I decided that I wanted to take my mom to Epcot for the Flower and Garden festival and do a Mom/Brooke weekend for her birthday/Mother’s Day present. So, I booked the room, using some of our DVC points, and planned the trip. Mom did pay for her own airfare (Things weren’t THAT great, unfortunately) but that first year, I did the hotel and the tickets. She did her airfare and some of the meals. I planned everything. We had so much fun that we did it for the next two years. The year of the wedding, we didn’t do it because we were both saving money for the wedding stuff, and because Frank and I were going in May already for our wedding planning and food tasting trip. The year after the wedding, it just wasn’t financially feasible, and well, that’s been the story for the last couple years as well. BUT things are finally getting better, and I think if I plan ahead, like I did for our anniversary trip this fall, and work a little extra here and there, I can swing it this year. Mom is totally up for it, and fortunately, is willing to cover her airfare, her ticket and some meals. Since I decided to go the annual pass route for the November anniversary trip, I’ll already have my ticket, so I just have to figure out my airfare and food. And of course, spending money because let’s face it…no way am I going to Disney and NOT buying some souvenirs!

With DVC, you can book reservations at your “Home” resort (the resort where you actually own your points…in our case Bay Lake Tower) 11 months out from your arrival date. You can’t book a room anywhere else until 7 months out from your arrival date. When I go with mom, we stay at Old Key West. The studios at Old Key West are the largest, and always have 2 beds, which makes them ideal for us. Extra room to spread out and gives her a LITTLE space from me (I snore ☹). Old Key West studios also cost the lowest amount of points per night, so we can stay more nights for fewer points than when I book a stay at Bay Lake Tower.

When I go with mom, Epcot is the MAIN attraction, although I always drag her through several parks anyways. But Epcot is the primary reason for the trip. Now that I have a more normal work situation, I’m really looking forward to taking a slightly longer trip with her than we’ve done in the past… The last time we went, we flew down on a Friday afternoon and had to fly home at the crack of dawn on Monday, because I just couldn’t take more time off work than that. Previous trips were a LITTLE longer, going down Thursday night, but still coming home early Monday. For this trip, I’m thinking about going down on Wednesday, morning hopefully and coming home Monday night. I also want to plan TWO Epcot days in there, so we can maybe attend some of the seminars or special tours offered during Flower and Garden.

Choosing Dates

Flower and Garden Festival usually runs from March 1 through Memorial Day. Disney hasn’t officially announced the dates for 2018, but I feel pretty secure in that window. In the past, we’ve planned for late April or early May, trying to see the Festival at it’s peak, and, avoiding as much as possible, spring break crowds.

I decided to look at the first two weekends in May as our target. The second weekend includes Mom’s birthday AND Mother’s Day and while that would be perfect from a celebration standpoint, it’s not really fair to steal her away from my step-dad and my brothers and their families for that weekend, so I was hoping that first weekend would work. I checked the Crowd Calendar predictions at Touringplans.com and predicted crowd levels are fairly light Wednesday through Friday, moving to 6’s and 7’s for the weekend, which is fairly good. Disney rarely has light days or slow periods anymore, so while I would LOVE for every day to be a 2 – 3, I consider myself lucky to have 4’s – 6’s. I then checked availability at Old Key West for those dates. Because it’s an older resort, it doesn’t have the popularity that some of the newer, “sexier” resorts have, like the Villas at the Polynesian resort or the Grand Floridian, so it’s generally fairly easy to get reservations there—at least during non-peak times. Currently, the dates we want are available. Of course, that could change between now and when my booking window opens…remember, I can’t reserve the room until 7 months out. With an arrival date of May 2, that means I can’t book until October 2. SO…bottom line…Have noted on my calendar on October 2 to remind me to book the reservation. Also, I made notes on December 3 and March 3 to note when I can make dining reservations and Fast Pass Plus reservations for our trip. Time for both Mom and I to start saving! I won’t be able to save much until after Christmas, but it really helps to have a trip planned and (sort of) scheduled. I do much better when I have a concrete GOAL to shoot for, know what I mean?

At any rate, you will be hearing lots more about this trip as time goes on…

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

72 Days to Go Part 3 – Planning Around Holiday Crowds

Walt Disney World Vacation Planning: Tips for Planning Around Holiday Crowds

Note: This is part 3 of a 3 part series. If you’d like to read the first two articles, please go here and here.

A couple new wrinkles: Usually, when we go in November we go around the 10^th-15^th. We got married on the 16^th in 2014. So this year, of course, I was looking at our “Anniversary Weekend” when I planned our dates. What I didn’t notice is that Thanksgiving is on the 23^rd this year…Rookie mistake.

Thanksgiving

For those of you that don’t know, Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest weeks of the year at Disney World. TONS of people go to Disney for Thanksgiving, primarily due to the shorter school week, I think. It’s not as bad as Christmas, but it’s fairly close. Now let me say something about crowds: It’s Disney…frankly, it’s pretty much ALWAYS crowded. They run so many room and vacation specials these days that “slow season” doesn’t really exist anymore. My mom and I usually go during the spring because we like to attend the Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot. Spring at Disney is RIDICULOUSLY crowded, due to the spring break crowds. BUT, if you go in prepared for it, pack your patience and go with the flow, you can still have a great trip. However, if I CAN plan to go during a week that isn’t super busy, I usually do. Early November has always been one of my favorite times to go. Generally, it’s the calm before the storm of Thanksgiving and Christmas crowds. Usually, the Christmas decorations are up by the 10^th or the 12^th, so you can get all the Christmas mojo without the hassle of the Christmas crowds. ANYWAYS….I didn’t realize when I planned our dates that we are rolling into the Thanksgiving week. So crowd projections starting Sunday are CRAZY. Giant bummer. Total rookie mistake. I can tell I’m out of practice on my trip planning. {sigh} So basically, I know that Thursday, Friday and Saturday will be (hopefully) manageable crowds, while Sunday and Monday will be a little more on the super crowded side.

Construction

Also, Hollywood Studios…under MAJOR construction right now. Star Wars land is under construction and Toy Story Land is under construction. A lot of areas and attractions have been closed and torn down to make way for these changes. In the meantime though….Not sure Hollywood Studios will actually involve a whole day. So I may end up modifying our Sunday/Monday plans. Conversely, Animal Kingdom was traditionally for us an “open until 3 or 4 pm” kind of day. We love AK, but usually, we’d be done around 4. NOW, AK is open in the evenings AND there are new attractions (PANDORA) and nighttime entertainment. SO I may plan to hit AK on Sunday afternoon and evening instead of waiting until Monday which might free up Monday night to go back to MK for one last fireworks before we go home on Tuesday. Not sure yet, still figuring that out.

And looking at 72 days, oh my goodness, I really should have this figured out by now! Fast pass reservations open up in 12 DAYS!

The most important thing is to be aware that crowds are much higher around the holidays, and you need to consider that in your planning. DEFINITELY plan your Fast Pass reservations as soon as your window opens; same with your meal reservations. You will competing for a limited number of spots with a lot of other people!

Having said that, the holidays are a very special time at Disney. There are lots of special decor, merchandise, activities and photopass Magic Shots. There are special snacks and a special kind of energy in the air that doesn’t happen any other time of year. It’s a magical time! But…it IS crowded, so it’s important to plan for extra rest time to escape the crowds, and to pack your patience!

You absolutely will still have a wonderful Disney vacation–you just have to take the crowds into consideration as you plan. I like to say that I’m “Planning Around the Crowds” because I like to minimize the impact of the crowds on my vacation as much as possible. With some advance planning and the right attitude, you too can plan around the crowds!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

72 Days to Go…Part 2

Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Tips: PLANNING THE SCHEDULE

Note: This is part 2 of a 3 part article. If you’d like to read the first part, please click here.

We are arriving on November 16, which is our actual anniversary. We’ll land around noon, assuming no delays, so by the time we get our luggage, get our car (this is still not a firm decision…we normally rent a car because we like the freedom and flexibility of having our own wheels BUT the smarter financial decision is to NOT rent a car and use Magical Express and all the free Disney transportation. Still deciding on this) stop and get water and breakfast foods and snacks and get to the hotel, it will probably be 2pm or so…

So I had a couple tentative plans initially:

Check in and have a lazy afternoon at our Resort.
MAYBE go visit the wedding pavilion and say hello to where we got married, maybe go inside if it’s open and take some pictures, maybe kiss on the spot where we kissed at the wedding, stuff like that.
Have a nice dinner somewhere for our anniversary. Somewhere with fireworks views because HELLO first visit back in three years and we LOVE WISHES. Except that WISHES is gone. There’s a new show, Happily Ever After, which I’m sure will be amazing too…but {sigh} we loved our Wishes. Oh well, change is part of life. For this, I was thinking either California Grill at the Contemporary Resort or Narcoosee’s at the Grand Floridian. We’ve had great experiences at both of these, although California Grill gets a slight edge because we really love watching the fireworks there, and it’s a little easier for us to get to because Bay Lake is attached to the Contemporary. Pricewise, they’re both about the same…way more than we should be spending on one meal!
Alternative to nice (expensive) dinner: Attend Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at the Magic Kingdom. MVMCP is a special ticketed event. It officially starts at 7 pm, but you can get in the park with your MVMCP tickets as early as 4 pm. Generally speaking, the weeknight parties, especially early in the season, have lower crowd levels than a regular park day, and it can be a great way to see more attractions with shorter lines. PLUS, the Merry Christmas parade is one of my favorites (the Halloween party parade is better, though) and that happens twice during every party. There are special Holiday-themed fireworks (usually called Holiday Wishes, but I don’t know if that’s been re-themed as well since Wishes no longer exists…I will have to investigate that). They distribute free hot cocoa and cookies (well, “free” is a relative term since you are paying for your party tickets) and the party goes until Midnight. Oh, one more thing: It “snows” on Main Street frequently throughout the party. There are some cute little shows and dance parties that happen around the park too—and of course, special MVMCP themed merchandise you can ONLY get at the party.

I knew a couple of main things: I didn’t want to burn a park pass day on Arrival Day and I wanted to make sure we saw Magic Kingdom fireworks (and the CASTLE) on our anniversary. Of course, a couple other options exist. As DVC members staying at Bay Lake tower, we can go up to the Tower Lounge on the roof and watch the fireworks from there. They have appetizers and a bar and the view is similar to the view from the California Grill. Also, since we’re spending the extra points for theme park view, we could just stay in the room and relax and watch from there…assuming it’s a decent view. Third, we could go watch the fireworks from the Contemporary…there’s a large balcony of sorts right where the Bay Lake Tower walkway meets the Contemporary…we took a bunch of our wedding pictures there, so that would be a nostalgic spot as well.

I went ahead and made a dinner reservation at California Grill, figuring I could cancel if I decided to go a different direction.

Planning the park days: Using the crowd calendar and taking into consideration our personal preferences, I started plugging in park days on our schedule. Assuming we’d either do the Christmas party at Magic Kingdom or at the very least see the Magic Kingdom fireworks Thursday night, I decided that Friday we would go to our second favorite park, Epcot and we’d return to Magic Kingdom on Saturday. A couple of factors: There’s another Christmas party Friday night, so I knew if we did Magic Kingdom Friday, we’d have to leave by 7 pm—I wasn’t about to buy tickets for a party AND burn a park pass day in the same day—it was either go to the party on Thursday night or not at all. I wanted to make sure we have at least one full day at MK so I decided Saturday.
We generally like to visit all four parks when we visit, as long as we go for at least four days, so next I plugged in Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom for Sunday and Monday—primarily based on park hours and projected crowd levels.
So current plan: Epcot Friday, MK Saturday, Hollywood Studios Sunday and Animal Kingdom Monday. We fly home Tuesday afternoon so Tuesday morning will either be lazy, pack, hang around the resort (Frank’s preference) or one last mad crazy dash to Magic Kingdom and then Disney Springs (Brooke’s preference). We’ll see how that works out….
Once I plan my park days out, I start working on meal reservations. I actually started making reservations for meals mid-May—I think even before I bought our airline tickets. Disney lets you book ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations) six months out. A big part of our Disney experience is good, sit down meals in air-conditioned restaurants. We like the breaks to recharge our batteries, relieve our favorite moments from the day (so far) and talk about what we still want to accomplish that day. Yes, taking the time for a sit down meal “takes away” from time we could be visiting attractions, but I learned pretty early on that if I want my husband to actually ENJOY his trips, I need to build in lots of breaks and give him time to rest and recharge. An interesting side effect was that I learned how much more I enjoyed myself when I gave us those breaks. So for me, sit down meals are MANDATORY. Now, this trip we have some budgetary constraints so I may have to cancel some of these, and we may need to go off property and grab quick economical meals at someplace like Perkins (assuming we have a car) or just do sandwiches in the room—but I decided to make reservations initially and then I will cancel as we get closer to vacation if it looks like we won’t have the funds.

I hope my “real life” stories as I plan our trips are helpful to you as you plan your own vacations. My goal is to offer Disney vacation planning tips and tricks to my readers, and to help all of you navigate the sometimes challenging process of planning a Disney vacation!

Happy Dreaming!

Brooke

To continue to part 3 of this article, please click here.

Category: Trip Planning

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Big Group Attractions

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So, back to the original question: Should I purchase Memory Maker?

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Thanksgiving

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