Disney World Resort Florida - help

[MumOfTwoLittleOnes24]

Hello
Looking for some advice and information from any mumsnetters who've been to Disney World Florida in the last few years.

My family (me, husband, two boys aged 4 & 9) are going to be in Florida over February 2025 half term and would like to spend three days in the Disney parks, (ideally a water park but not essential)

I've looked into tickets and passes but it seems that you either buy a 7 pass or 14 day pass for the parks or alternatively you can buy individual day-ticket passes but these work out at pretty much the same price for 3 days as you'd pay for 7 or 14 days (and there's not a lot in price difference for the 7 day pass compared to the 14 day pass). Could anyone advise if this was their experience (if they've been on a short stay holiday there) and if they've can suggest any useful websites etc to book through. We don't require flights as these are already booked.

Also any general useful advice regarding hotels, car rentals, lightening lane (fast track) tickets etc would be much appreciated!

Thank you from a Disney World first time!!

*First Timer! 😜

You can use undercover tourist for day tickets or a VPN and buy on their website directly. However, 3 days is definitely not enough, but I appreciate you might be on a time crunch.

Sorry ignored the rest of the message .. hotels you probably want to find something in lake buena vista, don't know about cars and you can download the disneyworld app to book lightening lanes.

We buy tickets from either Disney themselves or attraction tickets direct. Always the 14 day ticket.

Is there any reason you only want to go for 3 days, you won’t even scratch the surface. There are 4 parks plus water park and each park is huge, you won’t even all of one park in one day.

I haven’t bought Disney tickets for years, but last time I went to Universal I bought the tickets online in Orlando with Undercover Tourist. There were options for a few days only that you can’t get on the UK sites. That said, if you’re going mainly to do WDW, having a 7 day ticket that allows you to visit for a shorter time each day might work well.

Car hire, we always use Alamo using the Alamo Brits’ Guide discount deal. You don’t really need the book (although you’d probably find it really useful), just search Alamo Brits. We particularly like the skip the counter options so you go straight to pick your car without waiting at the rental desk.

No clue on Lightning Lane I’m afraid - we’re off to Florida in a few weeks and although I’d like a day at Hollywood Studios I’m daunted by these changes - and we always stay at one of the Marriott Vacation Club villas (highly recommended, but they are not hotels).

Finally, go to the DIBB forum - they can help with everything.

The 7 or 14 day tickets are only available to buy from the UK, there are higher prices for visitors within the US.
Universal’s Volcano Bay is a much better water park than the Disney ones if you do end up buying individual day passes. It was about $85 on the door this year iirc.

I've got tickets from undercover tourist before and it's a much easier way of burning of your only want 2,3,4 day etc.
like the others have said though 3 park days is not really enough. I suppose it depends on what else you have planned though. With only 3 days you will have to have long days of lots of walking to see and squeeze everything in. Where as if you spread out yr park days on a 7 or 14 day ticket, we usually then do a few mornings and afternoons to spread all the walking out and make sure we have enough downtime as well. I feel Florida is a min 10 day holiday so much to do and it won't be as rushed

I also recommend The Dibb, you'll find everything you need to know

I would recommend staying onsite at a Disney hotel for your park days if you can, will give you magic hour for more time in parks etc

I've used Andy at Discount Florida Car Hire before ( Dibb recommended) great service and price.

Thank you for this info and advice. Please could you let me know what you mean by WDW (Disney World Resort?) and DIBB forum?

Thank you for all your responses. Much appreciated!

We only have 3 or 4 days available for Disney World whilst we're in Florida and wanted to give our boys the experience of visiting Disney - we've never been to a Disney parks before. Would love to do a longer trip but just not possible.

We'd like to see the park with Star Wars but other than that I'm not really sure which parks would be best for my boys. I've heard the Magic Kingdom is a good place to start.

Also, it sounds like Disney is made up of several parks; do you get individual tickets for each park to go on a set day?

As is probably coming across, I'm a bit clueless at this! Thanks again for your help lovely Mumsnetters!

Usually one ticket gives you access to the 4 parks but if you are buying individual days you may need to specify which park you want to visit.

Definitely do magic kingdom, especially for your little one but there are still lots of rides that will interest your eldest. Research child swap, one parent queues with elder child for a ride, when they come off the parent who stayed with the little one can then go back on with eldest using the lightning lane for free so essentially with no queue. Magic kingdom obviously also has the castle and the parade, plus fireworks.

With minimal days and children your ages - I would chose Hollywood studios (Star Wars and Toy Story land), Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. If you want to do flight of a passage (avatar ride) at animal kingdom, make sure you run there first - queues can be up to 3 hours later in the day, like I said earlier, if your little one isn’t tall enough or doesn’t want to ride you can ask to use child swap.

We went last April. The 7/14 day tickets allow you to park hop.

Our favourite was Hollywood Studios (you can also get to Epcot from here on the skyliner, and magic Kingdom from Epcot via the monorail. The other parks are a bit further away but still not far in an Uber if you stay in the lake Buena vista area. We stayed at a Marriott village hotel that did free shuttle buses also but we were never awake early enough to catch them.

We didn't hire a car as with fuel, parking in the hotel and parking at the parks it was cheaper to Uber everywhere. Cars would be there in minutes.

We watched a lot of YouTube videos as we were first timers too and we had such an enjoyable holiday.

We used Floridatix for our park tickets and got them in a black Friday sale. Definitely worth getting the photo pass if you can (ours was free with our ticket offer).

I'm sure there are far more people who have experience of going more often so expect more will be along to give some more useful info 🙂

Google “the Dibb Florida” - top answer takes you to the forum. It will be the best place for everything you’ll need to know.
There are different forums on accommodation, tickets, guides to the parks etc. and the info will be up to date.

WDW = Walt Disney World, and the DIBB is a UK-centred Disney and Orlando trip planning forum.

If you only have 3 or 4 days and want to do the Star Wars side of things then that’s Hollywood Studios. This park also has Toy Story so definitely a good park for kids your age. Do not underestimate how big the parks are and how tiring one day can be. I certainly don’t think you should plan 3 or 4 days in the parks without some down time. Adding in a day at a water park will certainly increase your costs. If you’ve not booked accommodation then look at an onsite Disney hotel. They have great pools and facilities that could give you the chill time you will need. Even getting to a water park and doing the rides etc is a full on day.

As others have said, join the DIBB for all up to date information. Plan your time well though OP. If you don’t, you will find your time in whatever park you choose to be a challenge.

When we last visited and planned individual days, we bought tickets from Walmart.

Hmm with only three days and a 4 and 9 year old it’s really tricky. Is the 9 year old a Marvel/Harry Potter fan? Because if so Universal might be more bang for your buck (people say Volcano Bay, which is Universal, has the best water park and your 4 year old will enjoy the Dr Suess parts) and potentially quieter in Feb as a lot of people are waiting to go until their new park opens this spring.

If you do decide to go for Disney, I would maybe stick to just two parks (maybe MK and Hollywood Studios) - you’re not going to have enough time to do everything and you’ll probably want to visit one of them again. Your younger kid may not be allowed on or understand much of the Star Wars stuff btw so it’s only worth it if your DH and elder son are massive fans.

We went in 2024.
7 day ticket will allow you to dip and dip out.
Best to stay in Disney resort hotel - budget Pop Century was good enough but there are pricier hotels. The advantage is that you can use Disney transport to get straight into the park early. This includes transport between parks and the Disney shopping zone.

Disney hotels allow you to get Uber eats deliveries. They have a small fridge in the room.

The water park is a must. They are as good as the main parks in my opinion. It also makes a change to being in busy parks.

lightening lane- this was really annoying when we went. I believe it has changed to make it a bit easier and fairer.

Try and book a themed meal with the Disney. Characters. There are lots of fast food places but equally some amazing restaurants at Disney.

if staying In a non- Disney hotel be prepared to pay the extortionate daily parking and contend with the traffic to get in.

We used Alamo for car rental and got a Hybrid.We never had to refuel.

The queues were insane. Get yourself some Sketchers - ugly but seriously comfy, get a folding portable stool, download games for the queues, music on your phone, games etc
for the kids and for yourselves.

Americans go all out with matching family T- shirts.

Save yourself £40 on Disney ears bought in the UK( I got my kids from Primark).

Have fun- the kids are going to love it and you will never have walked so much in your life!

I bought 3 days as a package through Disney cruise lines, we had a 4 day cruise too. 3 days was plenty! It's like boot camp, you are exhausted after 3 days hence the relaxing cruise!