Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Tips for A Succesful Day at Magic Kingdom

My family and I just returned from our Spring Break trip in Orlando.  We went to the Magic Kingdom on one of the days we were there.  This is our second time visiting the park with kids.  This time my kids were 8, 5, and 20 months.  My husband and I agreed that this time was a complete success with a fun-filled day with very low stress levels!  Here are my tips, planning is definitely the key!

  1. Check the crowd calendars before you plan a day and go on a "green" or "yellow" day.
  2. Load the My Disney Experience mobile app on your phone and watch the crowd levels several weeks before you go.
  3. Order your tickets ahead of time, if you are just going for the day, there are no discounts, so I recommend just getting them off of the Disney site and having the cards (or bands) in hand when entering the park.
  4. Make your FastPass+ selections as soon as possible (we did Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Space Mountain).
  5. Make a dining reservation for dinner.  This was a lesson we learned from our last trip, a big meal at dinner will refresh you and your family like you would not believe (we went to Tony's Town Square).  This gave my family the energy we needed to make it to parade,
  6. Reserve a stroller ahead of time for all kids 5 and under.  I highly recommend the City Mini we rented from Simple Stroller Rental.  The Disney strollers are not comfortable at all for your kids, my little girl was able to take a nice nap after lunch!
     
  7. Get there early, ideally you should be in the park for rope drop, we got there right at opening at 9 am, check park hours here.  If you are driving, allow at least 30 minutes to park, ride the tram to the Transportation Center and then ride the Monorail/Ferry into the Magic Kingdom.
  8. Pack a backpack with snacks, water bottles, and other needed items.  I recommend using gallon size zip lock bags to organize the bag.   I had a bag of snacks, water bottles, diapers/wipes, and an extra change of clothes for the baby.  It makes the bag check area go so smoothly!
  9. Buy a backup charger for your phone, I used this one for my iPhone and it worked great!
  10. Follow the recommended ride path here, it will help with the crowds!
  11. Book a breakfast/dinner with characters and avoid the character meets at the park unless the lines are short.  You get a much better experience at the meals (I recommend Chef Mickey's)!
What other tips do you have a for a day trip to the Magic Kingdom?

No comments:

Post a Comment