Disneyworld Newbie - HELP!

[BB8sm8]

We have saved & saved & finally decided we have enough to go to Disneyworld for the first time in October 2019. DC will be 5 and 8 then & I am beyond excited BUT totally clueless!! We are very lucky that we have a friend who has a villa somewhere near so we plan to hire a car & drive in. I don’t want to miss anything as we’ve saved so hard for this holiday but I’m a bit overwhelmed with all the planning & don’t know where to start! What are the must-dos? What rides will my DC be able to go on? Will the lines be horrendous in October half term, will we need fast passes for everything & how do you get them? So many questions! Any tips or advice would be so appreciated ❤️

We hired a car via a uk company. They meet us at the airport and drive us to the villa where our chosen car is waiting.

Did that as didn't want to drive in a strange country straight off a long flight. Means that can hire a smaller car for the holiday as don't need to worry about fitting luggage in

Do estas now so can forget about them

There is an excellent Facebook group for all things Florida called it's Orlando time

Get onto the Dibb website full loads of info.
Read up on the Disney touring guides.

But most of all just enjoy it!!!

Will you just do Disney or do you think you will get to other parks as well, like SeaWorld? At that age, unless they are major Harry Potter fans, Universal could be wasted on them as there are more "big rides" there than at Disney.

Sign up for a Disney account, either by getting the MDE (My Disney Experience) or through their website. Add on all the family members and when you purchase your tickets link them to your account.

I am not really sure that I would call anything a must do, you might not like the same things as me. However if you have girls, the Bibbido Bobbidi Boutique is a nice treat, followed by a princess character meal. Other character meals are nice too, Chef Mickeys, Tusker House, Garden Grill for example. The Be Our Guest Restaurant is very popular, although the food is mediocre, we always book it for 8am or early as it gets you into the park ahead of the crowds.

You will be able to book restaurants through your MDE account up to 180 days in advance. You will be able to book your fast passes 30 days in advance as an offsite guest.

I have a spreadsheet of which park I will go to on which days and I use this to know which fast passes I should book. You can book three FP in advance but they need to be in the same park. After you have used up these three FP you can start to book more one at a time and that can be in any park.

Yes I think it will be busy in October, the food festival is on in Epcot and it will be decorated for Halloween and the Halloween parties will be running. However if you make the most of your FPs you can avoid some of the queuing.

You need the my Disney experience app. That will allow you to boom restaurants and your fast passes. You won’t get fast passes until 30 days out if you are staying off site.

The app is invaluable and very easy to use.

You’ll need a rough plan on what you want to do each day. So look at various websites like the DIBB and some of the Facebook pages like Disney and Orlando for brits.

We went in October this year and I was very busy. I planted some days like a military operation.

1. Join 'its Orlando time' on Facebook
2. Download My Disney Experience app and once you have your tickets, link them in the app - everything is done through it
3. If you want to eat at table service restaurants in the parks, hotels or Disney Springs, reservations open at 180 days prior - you need to book them on the app and in the case of popular restaurants (Be Our Guest for example) then you do need to book. We booked all dining for 2 weeks (we stayed at Disney with the free dining plan) and then chopped and changed leading up to and whilst there
4. As you're staying off site, you can't book fast passes until 30 days. It is unlikely you will get the popular ones such as Avatar Flight of Passage or Slinky Dog Dash but you do get 3 fast passes a day and I suggest you do book them - it doesn't matter if you don't use them and once you've used all 3, you can book more on the day, one at a time.
5. October 2019 is likely to be EXTREMELY busy if Star Wars Land has opened - they haven't released a date yet but it is 'Fall 2019'

Are you just doing Disney or other parks too?

Don't underestimate the traffic between villas and Disneyworld - takes up to an hour some days.

Just planning my 3rd trip for April 2020. You're going to have the best time!

Starwars land opens at Hollywood studios end of next year so bear in mind it might be horrific. We visited Pandora 18 months after it opened and the wait time for the rides was still 3 hours plus.

The dibb is brilliant. Incredibly helpful.

Plan a couple of pool days, it's bloody exhausting. We averaged 19000 steps per day! If you are planning any onsite meals book them 180 days out. Fast passes can be booked 30 days out if staying off-site.

Take your own food to parks! Pack a bottle of squash (I had the tiny ones) as all quick serve places have iced water but it tastes urgh.

Decide which parks you want to do each day and plan accordingly. Study the maps of parks and book fast passes in the same region if be possible. Also book them for in the morning if you can as when you've finished the last one you can make another.

Make sure you visit other things in Orlando. The outlets are good (buy your Disney bits from the shop there!). And if it's the right season take in a baseball game or something.

It's not a relaxing holiday but it's brilliant. We loved it so much we are going back in 2020.

We just went in October half term and it was fine.

We stuck to just the Disney parks. That was plenty for a week and had plenty for small children (our daughter was 4). I reckon Universal will be better for slightly older children.

The Disney app mentioned above is brilliant. It has maps, live wait times, fast pass bookings and links up to photo packages. We also got a guidebook to look at before we went.

My daughter loved the princess meets and turned out to love rollercoasters, which I wouldn't have expected. She's titchy but just made the 102cm height limit (in shoes!) which meant there were plenty of rides for her. Just wandering around was lovely too - there's the castle at the Magic Kingdom, the Star Wars characters at Hollywood Studios, etc.

I enjoyed the holiday more than I thought I would. The only rubbish bit is the food - it's mostly deep fried crap in huge portions around the parks. There are some other options but they are quite expensive and you need to book in advance.

Buy “The Unofficial Guide to Disney World”.
Get up really early and be at the parks when they open.
Enjoy!!!!!!

Buy “the Brit guide to Orlando” as your starting point to plan which rides you want to do at which parks

Remember to budget for parking at th parks (around $20/day)

Take advantage of staying offsite to enjoy some great American breakfasts at Denny’s/Perkins/crackerbarrel