Walt Disney World Florida - my top tips

WALT DISNEY WORLD FLORIDA

My top tips and advice

Disney World Florida needs no introduction but to those unfamiliar to Disney or who have never visited one of the parks, it can feel like an overwhelming holiday to plan, with so many aspects to plan, and a lot of attractions and logistics that keep evolving! As a complete newbie to Disney apart from having visited Disneyland Paris once for a day around 20 years ago, my mission was to get my head around all aspects of ‘how to sell Disney’ to my valued customers. I purposely didn’t spend too much time reading up on things in detail before I went because I was finding it confusing, so instead I went along completely ‘green’ with no pre-conceptions.

Walt Disney World and brand Disney was everything I expected it should be. Polished, slick, clean, happy, magical, friendly, huge and all-American. From the moment you arrive, you’re taken into a world of make-believe and you can’t help but get caught up with it all.

Which parks and attractions are included in your Walt Disney World ticket?

• Disney’s Magic Kingdom
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios with Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge
• Disney’s Magic Kingdom
• EPCOT with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
• Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park
• Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park
• Disney Springs (shopping, dining and entertainment district)
• Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course

Where did I stay?

I stayed at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn which is categorised as one of Disney’s deluxe hotels. Aside from the quality of the hotel and its facilities, the stand-out feature for me for this hotel was the location. Situated on the Boardwalk, it is lined with restaurants, cafes and bars (and a nightclub). Its a lovely place to wander at any time of the day, and there are places to sit out in the evening. In addition to the amenities along the Boardwalk, you can also walk to the back entrance of EPCOT within 5 minutes, as well as Disney’s Skyline (which will take you to many other resorts and attractions). It is also possible to walk to Hollywood Studios, which is around a 15 minute walk. There are few resort hotels which have 2 parks within walking distance.

Who would this hotel suit?

• Families and couples who are active or like the option to be able to walk to places (rather than relying on buses or other resort transfers
• Holidaymakers who like the idea of numerous dining options, aside from just their hotel
• This is a fairly classy-looking hotel both inside and out, with muted decor. It definitely isn’t ‘in your face’ Disney (if that makes sense)

Disney Resort hotels - benefits of staying in one

Disney offers benefits to those staying in Disney resort hotels. So for example, if you had clients who were weighing up the benefits of staying in a villa or non-Disney hotel v’s staying in a Disney hotel, you could talk them through these benefits:

• Resort hotel guests can purchase a MagicBand+ at a special pre-arrival price
• Early Access to Purchase Individual Lightning Lane Entry
• Early theme park entry (can enter the 4 parks 30 minutes earlier each day than standard ticket holders)
• Extended evening theme park hours - note this is only for guests in deluxe hotels and villas (on select dates, which are published in advance)
• Early Access to Purchase Individual Lightning Lane Entry - you’re eligible to make your first individual Lightning Lane purchase starting at 7:00 AM each day of your visit. You can select a one-hour arrival window, one at a time, for up to 2 different attractions per day. Guests of Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Hotels and Shades of Green may also enjoy this early-access benefit.
• Take advantage of free resort transportation throughout including Disney Skyliner, monorail, buses, boats plus Disney resort guests get free parking at all attractions. proximity to the parks
• Free standard parking at Disney theme parks
• Character dining experiences in hotel restaurants
• Themed rooms in some hotels

Walt Disney World Tickets - which ones should I go for?

• Ticket options to those unfamiliar with Disney there is very little cost difference between a 7 day ticket and a 14 day ticket, so if a you are weighing up thinking it will be cheaper to go for a week, the park tickets themselves don’t work out much more expensive
• A child is aged 3 - 9. From 10, a child counts as an adult however the price difference between a child and adult is very little… so it makes very little difference

Food, Drink & Dining Plans Dining Plans

These are exclusively available for guests staying in Disney Resort hotels. The Dining plan is essentially a credit for purchasing all food and drinks during your stay in over 100 different dining venues across Disney. Benefits of the Dining Plan:

• Allows you to make dining reservations up to 60 days in advance.
• No need to carry cash around.
• Really beneficial for budgeting

I actually expected the food and drink prices to be higher and the food quality to be lower. So I was pleasantly surprised on both levels. I had misconceptions that there’d be a lot of fast food on offer (which is there if you want it) but there was also plenty of salads, wraps, pastries and fruit.

Top tip! in the Disney resort shops you can buy a large re-usable plastic beaker (with lid) which you can take around with you and get free re-fills of cold drinks, tea, coffee and hot chocolate. It cost $22.99 and in the time I was there I definitely got my money back, plus I had a souvenir to take home with me. (Note this can’t be used in the parks, only around the resorts and hotels (but there are plenty of places to get your refills)

There are water fountains at every toilet block, for topping up water bottles.

What to wear around the parks

Orlando is hot and humid, there‘s no way of getting away from that. It is common sense but I would recommend comfortable shoes and loose clothing. I was worried about what type of bag to take in case it was unsuitable for rides. I wouldn’t recommend taking huge rucksacks but most rides have small storage on them for small bags. If its a big ride where you get thrown around a lot, there are lockers provided.

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