Tag Archives: park hopper

2018, Disney, Disney Tips and Tricks, Disney World, Disney World Tips and Tricks, Disney World Vacation, Disney World Vacation Tips, Family, Food, Summer, Travel, Vacation, Walt Disney World, Walt Disney World tips and tricks, Walt Disney World Vacation

Life is a Happy Song…..

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Welcome to summer!  I don’t know about you, but for me, these days bring lots of heat, lots of sun, and lots of activities.  One of my favorite ways to spend these days is by hopping around the parks of Disney.  Disney is truly my happy place and I can’t imagine not being in the middle of the magic.

When booking a trip, many people ask if it is better to buy a base ticket or the park hopper option?  While I can’t speak for everyone, I know my go-to choice is the park hopper ticket.  Here are the short and sweet benefits of purchasing a park hopper ticket:

  • Choices:  When you have a park hopper ticket, you have the choice to JUST stay in one park a day OR to visit multiple parks in a day.  It is up to you and how you want to spend your day!  Crowd levels, weather, or even just changing your mind on a whim can affect your overall experience each day, but having the chance to leave a park and go to another can make for a better overall vacation!
  • Extra Magic Hours:  Extra Magic Hours are an amazing treat for those staying on Disney property.  It gives you the chance to enter a park earlier than normal operating times, or stay later than normal hours.  These hours change daily, so be mindful of what parks offer each day.  Having the park hopper option means you can hit Hollywood Studios from 7:00-8:00am and then go to Magic Kindom from 9:00-11:00pm (or later some days!).  What an awesome advantage of staying on property.
  • Restaurants:  With a park hopper ticket, you have the flexibility to have a morning dining reservation at Magic Kingdom, followed by hitting a few rides, then heading over to Animal Kingdom for the rest of your day for your fastpasses.  There is alot of freedom with this option.
  • Bucket List:  The park hopper allows you to do as much as you want, for as long as you want.  Maybe on your bucket list is hitting all four parks in one day!  Maybe you want to experience fireworks at Epcot and head over to Magic Kingdom for late Extra Magic Hours.  It’s your choice!  Fill those buckets!
  • Park Hopper Plus:  With the Park Hopper Plus ticket, you get everything mentioned above as well as same day admission to:  Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, a round of golf at Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Course (reservations required and subject to availability), Disney’s Miniature Golf at Fantasia Gardens and Winter Summerland courses, as well as the ESPN Wide World of Sports.

If you would like to get in the middle of the magic, it’s not too late to sneak in a summer getaway.  Contact me today to get your Minnie Box in hand and plans made.  debbie.lands@magical-vacations.com

Disney, Disney Vacation Club, Disney World, DVC, Family, FastPass, Joy, MagicBands, Mobility, Travel, Vacation

I Wan’na Be Like You-uuu

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One of my favorite things to talk about with Disney are the great opportunities to interact with characters.  We have been very fortunate to have the chance to have ALOT of character meet & greet’s over the years, and it has not only been on the “to do” list for my children, but also for me as well.  I love seeing the excitement in their eyes as their on screen characters come to life.

I can not call this a “top” character meet & greet, because we have yet to run into a character that we didn’t love.  For now, let’s just say these have been our top so far……  Let’s start with my featured image:

Joy and Sadness (Epcot):  They.  Were.  Amazing.  The time they spent with my children, the way they moved around them.  Joy was literally hopping and dancing everywhere, and Sadness told my son she adored him simply because he wore glasses, just like her.  When we left our meet and greet, they both fell to their knees in a “we’re not worthy” kind of manner” and left us all giggling for hours afterwards.  I get the best feeling when I tell the stories about our time with them.  They devoted great time to us, so much, that they earned a compliment card from us.

Sorcerer Mickey (Hollywood Studios):  The area that we met him in was truly something “Fantasmic”.  Mickey seemed truly larger than life during this character meet and greet.  Maybe it was because we came in out of a torrential downpour to see him.  Or maybe it was just the Pixie Dust that we felt had been spread over us.  Either way, Mickey was great about spending time with us and we loved meeting him.

Cinderella and Tiana (Magic Kingdom): Both of these princesses were true to their character!  They carried on conversations with us as if we were their best friends.  Cinderella talked to my son until he was practically floating away on a cloud, and even called him her “Prince Charming”.  Tiana talked to us about her mother and how we know she’s the best cook in all of N’Orleans!  She was magical, graceful, and beautiful.  When we mentioned how we would see her at her Riverboat Dessert party the following day, she told us all about how Naveen would be there too.  We loved these ladies.

Rafiki (Animal Kingdom):  Oh how we loved Rafiki!  He took mutiple pictures with our kiddos and we just loved how he signed their autograph books.  Very engaging and definitely worth our time!

O’hana Breakfast Characters (Polynesian Resort): Lilo, Stitch, Mickey, Pluto:  Maybe it was the food, or maybe it was the music.  Maybe it was the dance line.  But when these characters came around to see us at our tables, they laughed with us, did sign language, signed autograph books, and interacted with our kiddos in the perfect way.  The perfect way to start our day.

Tusker House (Animal Kingdom) Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Daisy:  Again, tremendous food, followed by characters who weaved their way into our hearts.  Daisy flirted and hugged on our boys, and Mickey was just as sweet as he could be.  Donald and Goofy played around and signed autographs, and we all were full of smiles.

Cinderella’s Royal Table (Magic Kingdom) and Akershus (Epcot): Divine meals while being surrounded by the princesses.  They spent so much time with us and we had opportunities for real conversations with them.  It didn’t feel rushed at all and was definitely worth the time and money, especially being inside the castle .

This is my list of our top character meet and greets.  For your opportunity to do this and more, please visit my website:  www.magical-vacations.com/debbie.lands or feel free to email me at: debbie.lands@magical-vacations.com to get your vacation planning started.  Remember that my custom quotes are free, along with all of my services.  All of our resort packages come with a complimentary Minnie Box.  Let’s create some magic today!

Disney, Disney Vacation Club, Disney World, Family, FastPass, MagicBands, Travel, Uncategorized, Vacation

For the First Time in Forever…(Part 5)

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Wrapping up my blog series, today I will jump into using FastPass + and MagicBands, two of my favorite things from WDW!

Fastpass+

A question I get asked regularly is “What is a FastPass+?”.  Essentially, it reserves a spot for you on a ride/attraction.  The best thing?  It is FREE!  You can choose your FastPass+ selections 60 days prior to your trip, and when choosing, it gives you a choice of time frames to select from (if mutltiple time slots are available).  You will have an hour window in which to physically complete your FastPass+.  Each guest is given three FastPass+ selections per day, and upon completion, you can even select a fourth!  If you are a park hopper, the fourth one can be inside a different park, but the first three MUST be completed within the same park.  So, if you are NOT a park hopper, then the fourth one will be completed within the same park as well.

As mentioned before, FastPass+ can be booked at 60 days out from your trip via the My Disney Experience App, or website, or can even be done from inside the park at one of the kiosks on the day of your trip.  This can be done once your tickets are purchased AND if you are staying on property during your trip.  The selections are then stored in your app,  MagicBands, or also on your physical park ticket.  I would have to stress that it is highly recommended/critical to book FastPass+ in advance for those highly sought after rides and attractions.  This summer, Pandora debuted during my trip.  I regret now NOT taking the time to check it out, as the lines were 240 minutes long every single day, for MOST of the day,  during our trip (it debuted the day before we arrived).  No one wants to spend that much time in line, when you have planned so many other things to do while at Disney.  There is no guarantee you will get exactly what you want, but the chances are much higher if you are able to book at your 60 day window.

You use your MagicBand Mickey Head (see the one in my picture above) to meet up to the ride’s RFID Mickey Head as you walk into the attraction opening.  There will be a line for FastPass+ and for Stand-by.  It always feels SO GOOD (but honestly, I have also felt a little guilty!!!) going in on the FastPass+ side, knowing that at most, you may only have another 10-15 minute wait for a ride, as compared to some coveted rides where there is a 90-120 minute wait in the Stand-by line.  You can arrive 5 minutes early or 15 minutes past your “selected time”, which, in theory, gives you more than an hour to complete the ride.  Things happen, and this is one nice option to have.  Having pre-selected times for rides also allows for the opportunity to do other things while waiting for your next ride such as grab a quick bite to eat, pose for some pictures, do some shopping, or simply rest!

The great thing about using a company like Magical Vacations, is that it is OUR JOB to book these reservations for you.  So, if you were to use me as your specialist, we would discuss together some choices that your would like to have for your trip, and then after I have them selected for you at your 60 day mark, you get a quick email from me stating which ones are confirmed!  Even as a specialist, we can’t guarantee to get 100% of what you want, but we can take the stress away from having to try it alone.

MagicBands

The next most popular question I get asked is “what are those colorful bracelets everyone wears?”  Why, in fact, those are MagicBands!  That is what you see in my image above.

MagicBands are fantastically designed by Disney to incorporate a vast amount of knowledge in one piece.  They double as:  room keys, credit cards, park tickets, food reservations, park photos, and FastPass+ selections.  You can store ALL of this information into your MagicBands, for every single person on your trip.  No more carrying a separate card for your room, or only getting “two” as we do at hotels.  Every member in your party can have access to the room with their own customized MagicBand.

As I stated above,  it also stores credit card information.  So, you don’t HAVE to carry a separate wallet unless you want to.  Just like with the room keys, anyone in your party can have access to using their MagicBands for payment.  You choose a PIN password for payment info after touching your MickeyHead on your MagicBand to the one on the payment sensor.  Done!  This way, if you were to lose a MagicBand, your payment information is still secure via PIN password protection.

The park photo storage option is probably one of the most clever ideas invented for this handy wristband.  When you enter a ride using your MagicBand, the ride then has knowledge that you were on the ride, and at premium photo opportunities with specific rides, you will have your photo taken.  After the ride, you can view your photo on available screens, and near them are, guess what, more of the Mickey Head sensors.  You place yours to theirs, and voila!  The photo is now stored as yours and will pop up on your app using your Memory Maker package, which can be purchased as an add-on for your trip.  You can also pose for pictures throughout the park, such as character experiences, and those photographers can link their photos to your package using Mickey Heads from their devices.

Each person will get to choose their color of MagicBand as part of your package, and it will be needed to get in to the parks or to access your rides.  You will also have the physical tickets that can be used should a MagicBand become lost.

MagicBands are also waterproof, so there is no need to take them off when swimming!  Did I mention they are FREE?  MagicBands have become such an integral part of the Disney system, I can’t imagine now not using them.  There are MagicBands that can be purchased if you would rather use them than the standard solid colors, and you can also buy add-on waterproof vinyl images from sites like Etsy (like I have shown on mine).    You can also buy accessories such as MagicBandits to slide onto your band.

I would love to give you a FREE custom quote on a magical trip.  If this sounds like a trip of a lifetime for you, please let me help make that happen!  Contact me at:  debbie.lands@magical-vacations.com to get started!

 

Disney, Disney World, Disneyland, Family, Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Travel, Universal

For the First Time in Forever….(Part 4)

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Today’s topic in my blog series is how to choose the right park ticket for your family’s vacation.  Of the choices and options that we have discussed up to this point, this is one of the easier ones, I feel.  It is easy to narrow down the days that you will need first, so let us jump right into that.

Tickets:  How Many Days?

Every Day

I have been that person before!  I remember being so excited for our first trip back after so many years and wanting to cram in AS MUCH time as possible in the parks.  If this sounds like you, then you might want a park ticket to be equal to the number of days you will be vacationing OR one day less.  For example, if you are staying 6 nights and 7 days, you would want the 7 day ticket option IF it made economical and physical sense that you could be in the parks all 7 days.  Some people have a late or early flight on their arriving or departing days, and that takes away one day immediately.  So, the first option to decide will be narrowed down to how many days can we REALLY physically be in the parks and get our money’s worth out of it?

Not “Every” Day

I have also been this person.  When you choose a Disney World, Disneyland, or Universal vacation, you go into it knowing there will be a fair amount of walking, while definitely having the time of your life.  There are vacation goers like myself who know that you will need to write in a day to relax at the resorts, which is exactly what we did during our last trip.  We took one day, spent it at the pools, lounged around, right during the middle of our vacation week, and we truly felt it recharged our batteries.  We still watched the fireworks from the Polynesian beach during the evening, and we definitely still felt we were vacationing at Disney.  But, it gave us some peace.  It gave us time together.  We moved as fast as turtles that day and enjoyed every minute of it.  We had our lunch by the pool, supper in the room (the best pizza I have ever had in my life!), and just laughed and enjoyed each other.  So, for our 8 days and 7 nights we were there for this trip, we didn’t do an 8 day ticket.  We did 6 days worth of tickets.  One reason was what I just stated, taking a day to relax.  The other reason was that we arrived later in the evening on our first night, and it wasn’t physically worth it to pay for a ticket, when we were already jet lagged and just needed to rest so we could be ready to go the next day.

Tickets:  Park Hopping vs No Park Hopping

The idea of park hopping is that your ticket allows you to visit more than one park per day.  So if you started your day off in Magic Kingdom, but really wanted to end the evening at Epcot for their Illuminations fireworks festivities, you could do that.  If you even wanted to park hop over to another park that had Extra Magic Hours that evening (later than normal “business” hours), you could do that, too!  It gives you the most flexibility with your ticket as far as seeing more in a day.  Your Disneyland Park Hopper would allow you to venture into both parks in the same day, while your Disney World Park Hopper would allow you to venture into all four parks in the same day (if you chose to, but I can only imagine, that would be exhausting, even though exhilarating).  Universal has a system called Park to Park, which is essentially the same idea, just a different name for their brand.  They offer a Single Day ticket,  with the Park-to-Park option for their two theme parks.  The price of park hopping is higher than having a one park per day ticket, but each family has to determine the value of that dollar and what they want to accomplish during their vacation.

Tickets:  Water Park Options and More

Park Hopper Plus

There is also the Park Hopper Plus option at Disney World, where you can add on the option of other very popular Disney World attractions to your ticket.  You can also buy those separately, but this allows you to work them into your park hopping options.  With a 3 day Park Hopper Plus ticket, for example, you would get 3 visits, or with a 4 day Park Hopper, you would get 4 visits.  The exception to the rule is a 1 day ticket allows for 2 visits.  The attractions offered are:  Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water Park, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park, ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, Disney’s Oak Trail Golf Complex, and Disney’s Fantasia Gardens Miniature Golf Course.   These attractions are amazing!  You could easily take a day alone to hit the water parks, and then another day to try out some rounds of golf and head over to ESPN!

Multi-Day Ticket

Universal offers a new water park called Volcano Bay and it has been a huge hit with tourists.  Tickets can be purchased separately for this or you can combine them into a Multi Day ticket with a 3-Park Ticket, giving access to all three parks. 2-Park Tickets allow access to Universal Studios Florida and Universal’s Islands of Adventure each day. 1-Park tickets allow access to 1 Park per day.

Tickets:  Annual Passholders

This is my final ticket option I will be discussing with you today.  Annual Passholders are an amazing option if you find yourself having the ability to vacation at your favorite Disney or Universal destination several times a year.  There are several different tiers when deciding which annual pass is right for you.  I am an annual passholder, and for me, one benefit I love is the shopping and dining discounts we receive in the parks from being a passholder.  There is even an app that honors passholders, and gives discounts on merchandise.  Just like everything else, this is not an option for everyone, and you must decide whether or not this is something that would be worth your money.

Tomorrow’s Topic:  MagicBands, FastPasses, and more!

I would love to give you a custom quote on a Disney and/or Universal vacation package that allows you all the flexibility that you need on a dream vacation.  Please email me at debbie.lands@magical-vacations.com and let me get started for you!  I would love to give you a free Minnie Box customized for your family!