My wife and I have been to Disney Parks several times over the years but recently went on our first trip to Disney World with both of our kids (10 and 6 years old) for the first time. We had an incredible experience, however, were unlucky in having to navigate around record/near-record heat while we were there. Ideally, the best time to go to the Florida parks is during the winter/spring months when the weather is generally more favorable. However, summer is often the best time for many families with school being out, etc. Below are our key recommendations/tips for visiting Disney World.
#1 Get Familiar with My Disney Experience App
Downloading and getting comfortably familiar with the My Disney Experience mobile app is our #1 recommendation ahead of a planned trip to any Disney park trip. This app is a one-stop shop to plan your entire experience at the parks. Once you have purchased your Disney tickets, they can be linked to the app for easy entry and organization. The app also allows users to make restaurant reservations at the parks and place mobile food orders to avoid wasting valuable time in lines to get food.
The most impactful options within the app to maximize time efficiency at the parks include Genie and Genie+. Genie is a complementary service within the app that helps organize and plan out your day, for an additional fee, Genie+ can be purchased to help you “skip the lines” and reserve an arrival time for some of the most popular rides. We highly recommend purchasing Genie+, especially for one-day or especially park hopper(half-day) visits to a park(s). The app also allows you to purchase Individual Lightning Lane selections for the top tier rides that are not available on Genie+ such as the Star Wars Rise of the Resistance ride at Hollywood Studios and Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom.
Other useful tools within the app include maps of each of the parks and live wait times for the many attractions. Users can also link their credit cards within the app to purchase products using the Merchandise Mobile Checkout and avoid long store checkout lines. Lastly, if you purchase the Disney PhotoPass, the pass can be linked to the app to allow for all your Disney photos taken by Disney photographers at the parks to seamlessly flow into the app almost instantly.
There are so many useful options within the My Disney Experience mobile app, we highly recommend downloading it as early as possible and getting your tickets/add-on packages linked. Familiarity with navigation and options within the app will be critical in maximizing your time and experience at Disney Parks. One additional tip in relation to linking tickets, reservation tickets, etc to your My Disney Experience account is simply to call Disney Support at 1-407-939-5277. Disney’s Support group is very knowledgeable and helpful with any questions you may have regarding not only the app but also your specific plans during your visit to the parks.
#2 Stay at an Early Theme Park Entry Eligble Hotel
There is no shortage of fantastic hotels/resorts near Disney Parks. However, we highly recommend staying at a hotel/resort that has Disney affiliation/early theme park entry. Disney parks are busy year-round, getting early access to the parks before the full rush is crucial in not only getting additional time at the parks but also saving a lot of time in lines by going to the most popular rides early in the morning. Staying at a hotel/resort with early theme park entry also grants access to extended evening hours on select nights for select theme parks. This is another perk that can be extremely valuable. For example, we stayed at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, which gave us extended hours at Magic Kingdom for an additional couple of hours past the time the park closed at 10 pm. Having the extra time in the evening with a much smaller crowd is very valuable if you want to do more rides or repeat your favorite rides without having to wait in long lines.
#3 Bring a Portable Charger for your Phone
Between using the My Disney Experience app throughout the long 8-17 hour day and taking photos etc, it will be very difficult to get through the day without having to recharge your mobile device. We highly recommend bringing a portable charger of some sort to the park(s) and avoid having to waste time looking for a charging port and waiting till the phone charges. We took a Samsung battery pack that we already had but in retrospect, it was a bit bulky and not as easy to carry around as a FuelRod, which is much smaller. Disney does have kiosks available to purchase a FuelRod, which is a portable charger that comes with a USB cord and adaptors for both Apple and Android phones. However, purchasing a FuelRod at a Disney park will likely cost you more than purchasing it ahead of time elsewhere. You can purchase a FuelRod in advance from Amazon to save money and time here:
#4 Bring a Portable Fan and or Cooling Towels
The Disney Parks in Orlando are typically crowded year around, in the summer months they are very crowded and the weather in the Florida parks can get very hot and humid. There are limited options to stay as cool and as comfortable as possible. Aside from wearing light, comfortable clothing, bringing a portable fan that blows misty air is quite helpful in getting relief from the heat. We purchased these Doodle Set fans for our trip from Amazon and they were very helpful, and our kids used them frequently. Here is a direct link to purchase the ones we took on our trip:
Another helpful way to stay cool is to purchase and bring cooling towels. We purchased the towels linked below before our trip and found them to be very effective in providing a cooling effect in the scorching summer heat at the parks in Florida.
#5 Bring Your Own Refillable Water Bottle
Disney offers free access to drinking water throughout the parks at various locations, in fact, you can request a free cup of water at many kiosks and restaurants. However, to save valuable time and avoid paying significant markup prices for bottled water, we recommend bringing your own lightweight water bottles to refill throughout the day.
