1. Budget Budget Budget!
The main mistake I made this trip was letting myself spend outside of my budget. Or not really having a budget, to begin with. I had planned on booking and making payments over time. But every time I turned around something was taking my money! So I ended up putting the rest of the trip on my credit card. Don't do that. I'm still paying it off.
Along with budget comes not using your magic band to make purchases. We did not do this on the first trip and made the mistake of doing it the second. Now, if you have a certain amount set aside on a credit card with a low limit and you want to do it like that, that would probably be fine. But just attaching a credit card to the band and not really checking in on it often, especially when two adults are using the bands, you're just asking for trouble. This is part of the reason I'm still paying off our trip this time. Your best bet is to either pay in cash or actually physically pull out a card to make your purchases. It'll help keep you accountable.
2. Use Your Fast Passes!
Every site I looked on while researching our trip talked about using your Fast Passes, but it still seems like no one really does. I didn't book them prior to our trip. I didn't want to be tied to those times and have to be in those parks at that time. What I did was check them throughout every day. We were able to bypass so many lines because I was on top of our Fast Passes.
I was so on top of it, that we were at the end of a 30-minute wait for Expedition Everest. It was hot, I knew just looking at where we were and how slow the line was moving that this was going to be much longer than 30 minutes. So as I stood there in the blazing heat, I checked for an open fast pass. And there it was. 2:30pm. I looked at the time 2:28! I looked at my husband and said: "let's go, I just got us a fast pass for right now". The people in line ahead of us gave me a death stare but had they been checking their My Disney Experience app they would have gotten the fast pass instead of me. But they weren't and I did! Woohoo!
So work those fast passes, you guys! Don't just book them once and be done, each person in your party gets three and then you can book more when those are used up! So keep checking your app, even when you're in line!
3. Give Those Feet a Rest!
I made the mistake last time of thinking we could do four parks in four days with no rest days. It was horrendous and made for a miserable trip. This time, however, we were determined to have an easier trip that didn't leave us with bruised feet. We went to the parks for three days instead of four. We took a rest day and went to Disney Springs for Owen's birthday. The boys spent the day at the pool. It was quite enjoyable. Your feet and body need that rest when you're doing 20k a day.
Not only did we take a rest day, but we also rested throughout the day. If we were getting cranky or hot, he would head back to the hotel and the boys would head to the pool for a couple hours and then we went back. We did that all three park days. It made for a much more pleasant trip.
Along with resting your feet, taking multiple pairs of shoes is also a great idea. As you walk around your shoes conform to your feet and if you wear the same shoes every single day, you don't give them the chance to go back to their original state. That means they're not giving you as much support as they should be. No one wants that. Especially not when you're walking as much as you do at Disney. Or standing. The walking is never as hard for me as the standing in the lines.
4. Extra Magic Hours are a Must Do!
Last time we went to Disney, we didn't use Extra Magic Hours at all. My husband didn't believe that it would be worth it to get up that early. So instead of getting an hour of riding time in before everyone else got there, we suffered through the long lines with everyone and their neighbor. This time I insisted that we do EMH.
We sucked it up got up at about 5:00 am to be at the buses to take us to our desired park each morning. The first day we did Hollywood Studios, it was gorgeous as the sun was coming up. Not only that but we did the most popular rides (a couple of them twice) because we got there so early! We got to Slinky Dog Dash and were the second group to ride that day! You can't even get fast passes for that coaster! The second park day we did Magic Kingdom and ended up riding all of our must ride rides before the park had officially opened! We were even able to do Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and were one of the first groups to go on it! We didn't even get to get in line for that one the first time we went. Peter Pan had no wait and neither did Small World because we were there so early. It was unbelievable!
5. Park Hopper is Worth It
We didn't do this last time either. This was a bad idea for us. This time around we were able to do our EMH at our desired park, then go back to the hotel for a rest and in the afternoon we went to another park. We went to Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom one day, then the next park day we went to Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Our third park day we let the boys sleep in and Dave and I went back to the Magic Kingdom so I could get some pictures and then we ended up going to Epcot and back to the Magic Kingdom again. I loved the way we worked it out his time.
I would advise going ahead and spending the money on park hopper if you're wanting to get the most out of your time.
I think that's all the tips I've got for right now. But if you've got some to add please feel free to leave them in the comments! And if you're interested in seeing how our trip unfolded check out my YouTube channel!
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