Hey Howdy Hey Heather and welcome to planDisney!
I totally get where you are coming from here. With a resort as big as Walt Disney World, there are so many options from places to stay, theme parks to visit, dining locations and ways to personally tour the resort that trying to make things work often takes some studying to understand everything. The good part is you have a planDisney team here to help you as well as a lot of other resources to make sense of things. So let's start with a few general things and then discuss planning options.
First off with the
Park Hopper Option. This is something extra you can add to your base 1-park per day ticket. What this does is give you the option to move from the original park you started in that day, to any of the other three, pending availability. You can leave the park you started and enter the next park starting at 2:00 p.m. It is completely optional which days and which parks you want to hop to and completely fine if you want to stay the full day in the park you started in as well.
Next with Disney
Genie. This is a tool that is completely free and helps you to navigate the parks more efficiently. Going through and putting in your interests and preferences, can help guide you in the parks to attractions you would be interested in and wait times that are a bit lower. It just helps to make your time in the parks more efficient. If you wanted to add
Genie+, this gets a little more complicated. This is a separate purchase and not required. If you purchase Genie+, this gives you access to
Lightning Lanes. These will help to reduce wait times by having specific times to return to attractions.
When you get to the parks, there is a
Guest Experience Team located throughout the parks that are there to help in any way. If you get there and need help utilizing Genie or Genie+, feel free to ask a Cast Member for clarification or to assist in making Lightning Lane reservations. You also have
Guest Relations at your resort and in the parks as well you can stop and ask questions. Feel free to continue to ask us any questions that you may have here at planDisney. The other option that you can explore is reaching out to Disney Authorized Travel Agents. These top-notch agencies have special distinctions from Disney for their customer service and expertise. I would inquire if they can help you make these reservations and plans as some agencies will. Just know this probably will be an extra charge but the expertise and knowledge of the agents are priceless!
Good luck with your continued planning and let us know if you have any further questions!
Nick