Vacation Planning According to Lisa Green

 If you are reading this right now, February 20th, then I am in Walt Disney World with Lisa Green and our fellow Disney Exchange go-host David Hodges right now! So why not get some advise on planning a trip from Lisa? - Nick

By Lisa Green 

There are as many schools of thought on Disney vacation planning as there are attractions at Walt Disney World!  If you like the excitement and anticipation of looking forward to a Disney vacation – if the planning is nearly as much fun as the vacation itself, this post is for you!  Let’s talk planning timeline, want to?

Getting Started

Not long ago, I offered a tutorial called, “5 Ways to Ruin Your Own Disney Vacation“.  There are perils involved with both over- and under-planning!  The key is to plan just the right amount!  For me, 12 months (or a little longer) is the perfect planning timeframe for a Walt Disney World Vacation.  It allows me to strategize and choose my vacation options in phases – Advance planning to this degree ensures me the maximum number of options to choose from (I make selections as soon as Disney lets me!) and at the same time, I get to have fun researching, dreaming, scheming…you get the idea.

Step 1 – Decide when you can go and how you’ll get there.  Driving?  Flying?  By Train?  If you’re driving a long way, this may eat up a chunk of your vacation time.  Flying may take a big bite out of your vacation budget.  Will you want to go during the absolute busiest times?  Spring Break, Thanksgiving week, Christmas time – will all be more crowded and expensive.  Best practice – select a couple of weeks, if possible, and price them out using the rest of the steps in this plan.

Step 2. Do a little resort recon.  There are a LOT of resources available – Books and websites both offer excellent information on choosing a location on Walt Disney World property that works for your travel party.  I strongly recommend staying on property (because of the Disney Bubble).  Please consider the number of people traveling with you, your budget, and what’s most important to you with regards to amenities, location, and dining options.  Be mindful of how you think you’ll spend most days – away from the resort enjoying as many rides and attractions as possible? Soaking up the sun poolside?  A little of both?  Compare staying a couple of days longer at a Value or Moderate resort versus a shorter stay at a Deluxe.  Not all resorts are created equal – pick one that works best for your needs.  Choose your resort as far out as possible and book it!

Step 3.  Think about FOOD!  Will you want to bring some of your own?  (We do that – check here for details.)  Will you be happy eating mostly quick/counter service foods?  Do you want some sit-down meals or dinner shows?  Fine dining perhaps?  Go back to those books and websites – look at menus, read reviews, make a plan and a budget.  You can find my tips on dining plans here and here.  Lots of people purchase a Disney Dining Plan – it may not always be the most economical way to buy food at Walt Disney World, but for many people, knowing they’ve budgeted and pre-paid for their food expense is a huge convenience, worth the price.

Step 4. At the 180-day mark, book all the table service meals you’ve planned in Step 2.  That’s right!  Six months before you go to Walt Disney World, you will need to book your Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs).  This may sound ridiculous, but a nice dinner or dinner show in a very popular restaurant needs to be booked 6 months in advance.  If you don’t want to do this, that’s okay – just know that, depending on what time of year you’re traveling, your dining options may be extremely narrow if you wait until right before you go or – gasp! – after you’ve arrived at Walt Disney World to try to snag an ADR.  Even if you only have your heart set on 2 or 3 places, get them booked!

Step 5 – Exactly 60 days out, book your FastPass+ selections via the My Disney Experience website.  It’s important to link up all members of your group first, so don’t wait until the last minute to link.  Some rookies tend to make this harder than it has to be by over thinking choices.  You will want to know height requirements for different rides and also which rides are super thrilling versus the milder attractions.  

 

Since FastPasses do not cost extra, this is a great time to get the entire family / travel party involved in picking which rides, shows, parades, or nighttime shows are most important to the group.  All you really need to keep in mind is where and when you’ve booked any Advance Dining Reservations and make sure your FastPass+ selections won’t interfere with dining plans (and the travel time needed to get to restaurants).  There are a LOT of resources available to help you – take advantage of them, this step can be confusing!

 

Right now, once you book your trip, Walt Disney World sends you reminders of the important booking windows I’ve mentioned.  You’ll get customizable Disney MagicBands to wear during your vacation that serve as your park ticket, resort room key, and, if you like, a way to touch-to-pay for any and everything in stores and restaurant.  You can also pre-purchase the MemoryMaker photo package before you go (another budgeting tool!).

In between all the steps detailed above, research things like typical Orlando weather for the time of year you’ll be visiting, what shoes you’ll need (you’ll be walking a LOT), if any restaurants you’ve booked have dress codes, etc.  Make packing lists, use a fun countdown calendar, heck – get your group some matching tee-shirts if that’s your thing.  With my plan, you have plenty of time for all of that!

Planning not your thing?  Use a travel agent – there’s absolutely no extra expense to you AND they’ll take care of all the steps I mentioned for you!

Your turn!  How long do you need to plan a Disney vacation?  Do you have any steps to add to my plan?  What planning information would help you most in future posts?  C’mon, don’t be shy – leave a comment, please.

This article was originally posted on Lisa's Living a Disney Life Blog.
She can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/LivingaDisLife and on Twitter at @life_of_green

Please be sure to check out Lisa along with me and David Hodges on The Disney Exchange Podcast!

Cutest Magic Band

by Gaylin

Since everyone is probably familiar with Magic Bands already, I won't go into a detailed article on them. Some people may not realize that you can strip the grey part of the band away to make it smaller to fit children.

On my last trip I was in a washroom and spotted this little girl, I asked her mom if it was okay if I took a photo because wearing the magic band this way, on this tiny girl was too cute to not share.

I wish I could have gotten a photo of her parents lifting her up to wave her ankle at the Magic Band reader on a ride!

The Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom

by: Nick

Today, in the United States, we are celebrating President's Day in honor of George Washington's birthday, so I thought we'd take a look at the Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.

Hall of Presidents opened with the Magic Kingdom on October 1st, 1971.

The entry gallery features paintings of Presidents along with actual and reproduced artifacts.

The show itself never fails to make my patriotic heart proud.

We open with a film narrated by Morgan Freeman, which gives a brief history of the Presidency, focusing on highlights and historical significance from various administrations.

During the segment featuring Abraham Lincoln, the screen rises and an audio animatronic Lincoln recites The Gettysburg Adress.

The film then commences, and at it's conclusion the screen once again rises, and all 44 Presidents are represented by audio animtronic figures for a role call, with a speech from Barack Obama.

This is "edutainment" at its finest, and everyone should see it at least once.

If you're interested, here's a link of the Presidential role call from my YouTube channel.

Our Disney Magic Band Experience

By: Nick

Back several weeks ago, our friend Jennifer shared her Magic Band Experience in an excellent article here on Disney Musings.
We had the pleasure of using them on our recent trip, and I thought I'd briefly share our experience.

First off, I'd had a concern that I wouldn't be able to stand wearing a band on my wrist to begin with. It turned out to be a non-issue, as I actually would forget I had it on. Unless I was looking for the time, in which case I'd find myself looking at it like a watch. This happened frequently, and was somewhat annoying, but that's no fault of the band, just my brain.

I chose to wear mine the traditional way:

While Barbie chose to wear her's with the RFID facing down:

We had "discussions" throughout the trip as to which method was more practical, with no clear winner. Sometimes my way was better, other times her way was, so it is a personal choice based on what you are more comfortable with.

As for use, we had very few glitches, and these occurred early in the week. Really, it was amazing how quickly things were hashed out. Let me explain.
We started using the bands immediately, at the airport, for Magical Express. This was very smooth, and we were on the bus in minutes.

At the park, we used the bands as room key, park pass, and credit card. You would simply punch in a code that you selected each time you made a purchase. These pads were available at every register, including every food booth at Epcot's International Food and Wine Festival!

I noticed that early in the week that the pads seemed "stiff", and that you would very forcefully and deliberately have to punch your code into the machine or it would not register, and you'd have to start all over.

By the end of the week, it appeared that ALL the pads had been replaced! I asked a Cast Member and she said it had virtually happened overnight, and that they were constantly updating the technology!

As for the FastPass + feature, well, that is about the best invention since sliced bread! Several times during the trip, I would go on my smartphone, into the My Disney Experience App, and change around my selections, sometimes within the hour I was assigned for another ride!
There were a few times the system was slow, or even unavailable, but within minutes, this would be resolved.

Another great thing about FastPass+, I didn't feel the need to make it to every rope drop! Don't get me wrong, I was still up at the crack of dawn because I was too excited to sleep, but on a couple of mornings we had breakfast at our resort, and arrived later than I would have otherwise because I didn't have the urge to get to the parks before the masses. So, while some are saying scheduling every moment of the trip takes away spontaneity, I actually found it more relaxing!

Of course, there are still bugs to be worked out. Friends told us a story of waiting for several hours to work out an issue they had, and we heard of similar issues from random guests that we talked to, but honestly, we absolutely loved them, and look forward to using them on future trips.

My Magic Band Experience

Guest Writer Wednesday

My Magic Band Experience 
By: Jennifer Parra

My husband Diego and I have been Annual Passholders for over 6 years and visit Walt Disney World (WDW) almost monthly. Recently we decided to leave the children at home and experience WDW from the adult perspective.

We had originally booked at the All-Star Sports resort, but changed our reservations to POP Century resort about 3 weeks prior to our trip. Pop is currently one of the few resorts selected to test the new Magic Band which is part of the new My Magic Plus system that includes Fastpass plus (FP+). Magic Bands currently replace the traditional Keys to the World card which was the room key/ticket. The Magic Bands can be customized and personalized (they’ll even engrave your name in it). They also now have covers for sale for the band and even little pins you can place on them for decoration.

If your resort is selected you can go online and customize your bands via mydisneyexperience.com to customize for free. Many people were notified via email that they were participating in the test, but I found out one morning by checking my Disney experience account. I was surprised how many people didn’t know about My Disney Experience or about Magic Bands in general. If you did not customize your bands, you and your party will be issued grey bands at check-in.

The Magic Bands allow you to make FP+ selections prior to leaving for your trip. The selections can be made as early as two weeks before your trip or even the day of. You are allowed to make three FP+ selections in one park per day. Three FP+ per day doesn’t seem like a lot to an avid WDW traveler like myself; I can rack up 7-8 paper fastpasses per day with proper planning. During testing phase, you will be issued a RFID card as a back up and that can be placed in the traditional fastpass machine for more fastpasses. A little way to add a little more Disney magic! I am unsure how this will change, as Disney does plan on phasing out the old system at some point. I sure do hope that they allow you to make more than 3 selections or have an option to have a park hopping option. My favorite part  of being able to preselect my FP+ was I was able to sleep in a little later and not need to be at a park for rope drop (when the park opens to public) to get fastpass for rides like Toy Story Mania or Soarin.

In order to make FP+ selections, you must have a valid theme park ticket linked to your account. I ran into my first glitch then, trying to link my renewed annual pass (which hadn’t been activated yet) to my account. It took over 3 hours on hold with Disney IT on 3 separate occasions to have them try and sort it out. Finally, I learned I needed to go to Guest Relations at any theme park to resolve the issue. I was very bummed about that response because I was scared I wouldn’t be able to get the selections to the attractions I wanted. I was assured by multiple cast members not to worry that I shouldn’t have that problem even if I decide to wait till the day of to make my selections. So I left it to a little bit of faith, trust, and pixie dust.

We checked in late on a Friday night. I had customized our bands and they were mailed to my house ahead of time. I brought them in with me to check-in at the front desk. If you hadn’t customized them, don’t fret, they’ll provide you with the simple grey ones at check-in and provide you with full instructions on how to use them. With a quick magical swipe, our bands were activated and we were off to our room. We never had an issue with the band not working to open the door or get “demagnetized” as I have heard was an issue for others. We made plans to head to Hollywood Studios (HS) the next morning and went to sleep. We arrived at HS the next morning at about 9:00am to activate my annual pass. We learned that by linking my annual pass to my account, we would be able to use our magic bands to enter the park.

We entered the park with our RFID card and iPad in hand ready to link it all together. Linking our tickets was quick and easy and now I was ready to make my FP+ selections.

Sitting on the park bench in HS, we decided we would make our FP+ selections for Epcot that night since we had dining reservations there. Nervously, I picked 3 attractions available at Epcot, unfortunately one of the attractions I wanted I was unable to select, which was Test Track. When you make your original selections it gives you 4 options of varying times for your FP+ from morning, afternoon, and evening. If you don’t like what is offered to you, don’t worry; we learned you can easily modify them. We reserved FP+ for Soarin, Mission Space, and Character Spot. After an hour we went to modify the times and to my surprise Test Track was now available so we swapped it out with Character Spot.

We also decided to go ahead book our following evening at Magic Kingdom (MK) and we were surprised we received a bonus FP+ for Under the Sea with Ariel.

 

Our original FP+ selection at MK included Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion. Before heading out to MK, we made modifications for the night and swapped out Haunted Mansion for Enchanted Tales with Belle, which normally has a 40-50 minute standby wait time.

The modifications are easy to do and can be done online through the mobile app, and WDW also has kiosks and iPad stations to assist those who want to modify. WDW resorts and parks offer free Wifi which makes using the application on mobile devices easier.

I only have two things I could complain about of the Magic Band trial. My first complaint is over a glitch when a ride you have selected goes down. The first night we tested, Test Track became temporarily unavailable due to lightening in the area. The app removed the FP+ from my account. After talking to the cast member who attended to the My Magic Plus service center, we were notified via email. Who checks their email on vacation? I don’t. The app should have some sort of push notification to advise you that you can either use your FP+ at any location it is available or wait and use it later if the attraction goes back up. Luckily for us, Test track was up and running 15 minutes later and we used our original FP+, crisis adverted!!

My second complaint is more personal, but I couldn’t stand how the band felt on me! My husband wore his the whole time (slept with it and even went with it into the pool) and had no complaints. Day one I used it both lose and tight on my right hand and it thought it was sweaty and sticky. I did better on the second day when I wore it next to my watch on my left hand snug.

Keep in mind Magic Bands are still in testing mode. There are glitches in the system and need to be ironed out prior to My Magic Plus going live. As the program does go live, changes will occur to the program and also the existing paper fastpass machines. This is just my experience with it and the information I provided can change at a moment’s notice.