Planning your Walt Disney World vacation is fun, exciting, and deeply involved. There are so manybthings to consider that some important details can get overlooked. This is easy to do when thinking about dining reservations and which new attractions might be available. And it seems that the Disney Park Reservation is going to be hanging around for quite some time. Walt Disney World executives enjoy the benefits of forecasting guest attendance. So there is one important detail that is often overlooked during the planning phase that can really hurt your plans. You have to confirm the park hours.
Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World maintains fairly consistent park hours. They don’t change much during the season. So you can check the weeks before the hours are released during your vacation and get a good idea of what the hours will be while you are there. You then would want to plan on going to parks that are open the longest each day of your trip.
Another important thing to check is if there are any special events during your vacation. These occur mostly at Magic Kingdom and include Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. On those select nights, Magic Kingdom closes early (usually 7pm). So you don’t want to be at Magic Kingdom that day if you are not attending the event.
Walt Disney World is home to four distinct world class amusement parks. There are so many rides, attractions and dining options that planning can be overwhelming. Each day needs to be planned out, especially now with the Disney Park Reservation System. Planning can (and should) be exciting when considering new rides and attractions at each park. There is an inordinate amount of news constantly surrounding the four parks. But what about the water parks.
Blizzard Beach
Walt Disney World contains two separate water parks. Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon have distinct themes and different attractions. This purpose of this post is not to get into details about each park, but to encourage vacationers to consider a day at one of these locations. If your kids are anything like my kids, they absolutely love playing in the water. Like really love it. And these water parks are so different than the theme parks, it takes your vacation on a totally different direction. Also unlike the theme parks, you would not spend a whole day in a water park. It is a really fun excursion that can be completed by lunch time. Then it is a trip to the resort to change and then off to another park for the rest of the day.
Blizzard Beach
There is very little excitement within the online community for Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach. I am not exactly sure why. I guess that most people overwhelmingly prefer the other amusement parks. And I guess it is hard to compare one of these water parks to Magic Kingdom. But it really is like comparing apples to oranges. I get that Walt Disney World Vacations only last for a short time and going to a water park may seem like a waste of time. But it is really enjoyable for the kids and they get to have a little more freedom. They don’t have to be rushed to rides and wait in long lines. In the water parks they get to run and splash and play.
The added expense for the water park option can certainly be a deterrent. I already would recommend getting the park hopper option on almost all vacations. Adding in the water park option as well can make the cost per person per day increase a fairly significant amount. The cost per day actually decreases over time, so longer stays make the water park option slightly more affordable. It is easy enough to compare these prices on the Walt Disney website and see what works for you.
Vacations to Walt Disney World have so many variations. There are so many things to do and decisions to be made. Some families prefer a relaxing vacation with maximum time hanging out by the pool, while others arrive early at the park and stay all day. Many vacationers stay a week or more and still leave wanting more. There are also families that might only stay for a few days because of a number of factors including budgeting and time constraints. A short trip can seem even more overwhelming because there is the added stress of feeling rushed to get everything done. Here are some ideas to relieve stress and enjoy your vacation.
Hollywood Studios
The most important thing to remember when visiting Walt Disney World is that it is supposed to be fun. It seems simple, and kind of stupid, but it is still something to remember. Even with all the planning and considerations ahead of time, there WILL be bumps in the road. This is especially true for short trips where you will inevitably be trying to squeeze everything in. There have been times when I wanted to make a showtime, and just didn’t make it for one reason or another.
Dining reservations might be hard to come by. The dining reservation system opens when your vacation is 60 days away from the first day. So during a long stay, you can book the last days before many other people. The inverse is also true, that during a short stay, many people have already made their reservations by the time you are able to make yours. That means you have to accept that you will likely not get your top choices. And don’t feel like you need to sit down and eat every meal. I usually only do one table service meal anyway. On a short trip, it would be wise to only sit at a restaurant you really want, and not settle for anything.
It might be worth it to purchase the park hopper option on a short trip. The park hopper allows guests to go to 2 parks in one day. This way, you will at least be able to visit all the parks. A great benefit of this is that each park has their own hours, and generally Epcot and Magic Kingdom are open the latest. Also Animal Kingdom usually opens the earliest and you can really hit most of the attractions in half of a day. This allows you to start at an early park and then go to another that’s open later and really maximize your time. And to save money if you plan to park hop on the back end of the trip, you cab add that option after you used your base ticket the first few days. Something to remember is that Hollywood Studios and EPCOT are very close to each other and you can even walk from one to the other in about 20 minutes.
Finally, prioritize the attractions you definitely want to do. With a little luck you should be able to do everything you want at EPCOT and Animal Kingdom. But, assume you won’t have time to do all of the major attractions in one day at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. And you won’t want to spend so much time in lines you can’t really enjoy the Disney experience. So make sure to hit attractions that don’t have long waits. And again, don’t rush around trying to do everything. Just enjoy what the vacation brings you.
Disney D23 Expo concluded this past weekend. As usual, there was so much news coming out of this event it can get overwhelming. Disney announced a ton of new movies and Disney+ shows. There were also many Disney Parks updates around the globe. By far the long awaited news that got my interest was the Tron Lightcycle/ Run update.
Tron Lightcycle/ Run Under Construction
Tron Lightcycle/ Run is an innovative roller coaster under construction at Magic Kingdom. And it has been under construction forever. It was supposed to open for the 50th Anniversary of Walt Disney World in 2021. Unfortunately, the COVID19 pandemic derailed those plans. Construction started before the pandemic, so anyone that has visited Magic Kingdom over the last few years has seen the construction ongoing. It has been progressing at a snail’s pace. Tron Lightcycle/ Run will bring a much needed world class thrill ride to Magic Kingdom to help push Walt Disney World into the future.
And while construction has been under way, Walt Disney World Railroad has been closed, as it passes under or through the construction zone. So hopefully the Railroad will be opening again soon. Because I do miss that ride around Magic Kingdom.
This news is, however, met with some disappointment. Tron Lightcycle/ Run has been seen to be in operation recently with theories of ride testing circulating the online community. It seemed as though the ride was closely approaching an opening date. Selfishly, I was hoping it would be complete by my next trip to Walt Disney World this January.
There are so many things to do in Walt Disney World and so much planning that goes along with it. Most likely, you are not highly anticipating watching cartoons in a movie theater. But you should be. There are a couple of spots to catch Mickey Mouse on the big screen in EPCOT and Hollywood Studios. These attractions should not be overlooked. Kids love seeing Mickey Mouse and there aren’t many attractions featuring this original Disney character. These theaters also provide a great place to sit in the A/C and cool off and relax.
Hollywood Studios
Vacation Fun is located in Hollywood Studios behind Echo Lake near Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! It is an original short played in a cute theater. The animation is a throw back to older Mickey Mouse cartoons and not the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse style. The story is funny and kids and adults love it. There are also fun photo spots on the way out of the theater.
Vacation Fun
Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival is one of my favorite attractions in all of Walt Disney World. It is so underrated. It is located in EPCOT behind Journey into Imagination with Figment next to the Land in World Nature. The presentation usually includes 3 short films. The second two films are selected from several different options that rotate through performances. The first film is always a Mickey Mouse short. And it is so good. The first time we saw it we were blown away. We never expected it to be so great. The film is in 3D and the effects are top of the line. It is hilarious and so much fun. We make sure to catch this show every time we are in EPCOT.
