Howdy Dennis!
Welcome to planDisney. I’m super excited to hear that you and your family will soon be visiting
The Most Magical Place on Earth. I was just telling some of my fellow panelists that I remember my first trip and how overwhelming it was to figure everything out, so hopefully I can give you some tips for planning your days. As my friend Peter Pan says, here we go!
Alrighty, the first thing I would do is download the
My Disney Experience app if you haven’t already. This magical app will be your go-to for almost everything you want to do while visiting the parks and resorts. I’ll go over its capabilities because I use it whenever we visit to make the most of our time.
From the home screen, the first thing you will see is the
Lightning Lane Multi Pass / Single Pass. If you are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort or other Select Resort, you can begin booking experiences 7 days prior to your arrival. Lightning Lanes allow you to save time by scheduling your ride or experience in advance and waiting in a short line versus the standby lines. If you scroll down a bit, you will find the hours of operation for each of the parks as well as the Today’s Showtimes button, which will show you the entertainment schedule for the day. If you are staying at a Walt Disney World Resort or other Select Resort, you will also have the benefit of early entry, 30 minutes prior to regular opening. This can really help you when trying to ride popular rides before everyone else enters for the day.
At the bottom of the screen, you will see the location icon. This will open a map of the park you are currently in. At the top of the screen, you will find important information, including wait times for rides, dining, attractions, characters, and more. Whatever you are looking for, you will almost always find it here.
Next, you will see the + button in the center. Tap this to check dining availability if you have not already booked something, and to mobile order your food, along with a few other great options like merchandise mobile checkout. If you are not sitting down to eat, I would check whether your dining location offers mobile ordering so you can pre-order your meal and just walk up to get it when it’s ready. Can’t quite find what you’re looking for? Then the search button is where you will find it. You can search for almost any location or experience and even get directions to it.
Finally, the best advice I can give you is to relax and just have fun. There are so many magical things to see and do just by taking your time and taking it all in. For example, we always rushed by Rapunzel's Tower in Fantasy Land until we realized that if we stopped to look around, there were hidden Pascal’s all around. We had a great time trying to find them all. You will find a little magic around every corner, and maybe even a little pixie dust as well.
Dennis, I hope this helps with all of your planning and that you and your family have a magical time visiting Walt Disney World. If you have any further questions, please stop back by, and we’ll be happy to assist you.
See ya real soon,
Robert