I can’t believe that it is three months since we went on our trip to Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. One thing is for certain, we are still talking about it and I think we always will as it was a holiday of a lifetime and we loved it. This is my final Disney post and it is dedicated to some of the questions I have been asked since our return and I hope that if you are planning a holiday at Walt Disney World, you will find some of the information helpful.
When is the best time to go to Walt Disney World? Is it too busy during the summer months?
Quite a few people have asked me these questions. I think my honest answer would be any time because it is such an amazing holiday, however, there are two main factors to consider; the weather and the crowds. The summer holidays in America last for two months, usually from the beginning of July until the end of the August, so naturally, this is going to be the busiest time. It is also the hottest time with average temperatures of 28°c. We still had the holiday of a lifetime in spite of the crowds and the temperature and if you use MyDisneyExperience and your FastPass+ wisely, you can make the best of the time without having to spend too much time in a queue. All of the shops, restaurants, indoor experiences and accommodation are air conditioned which really helps too and don’t forget that the hotels all have fabulous swimming pools and there are two water parks which are just perfect for cooling off in.
If you want to go when it is quieter, I have been told that May or June is a great time as it is slightly cooler and quieter. A good friend of mine has visited at Christmas time several years in a row and said that it is truly magical and I must admit that the thought of a Christmas break to Walt Disney World does sound like a real treat!
How do you get from the airport to Walt Disney World Resort? How long does it take?
If you are staying at a Disney Resort Hotel, you are entitled to travel free of charge to the resort on the Disney Magical Express. This air-conditioned coach is spacious and has a toilet and onboard displays that keep you entertained with information about Walt Disney World. After a long flight, it is a relief to know that your travel to Walt Disney World is straightforward.
When you arrive at Orlando International Airport, take the shuttle to the main terminal and once you are ready to leave, follow the signs to Disney Magical Express which is located on Level 1 of the B-side baggage claim area. It is well signposted and the service operates 24 hours a day.
It takes about 25 – 30 minutes to reach Walt Disney World and then a few minutes between each of the hotels. We were staying at Port Orleans Riverside and it took about 40 minutes in total.
You can also catch Disney’s Magical Express on your return journey back to the airport and staff at the resort will post a letter of confirmation through your door the day before you leave, confirming the time of pick up the following day. In order to use this service, you will need to confirm it when booking your holiday.
How far away are the Disney parks from each other and is the transportation reliable?
Until you visit Walt Disney World, you don’t realise how big the resort is, it is huge, the size of Greater Manchester in fact! Travelling by bus, it varied between 15 and 30 minutes to get to the different parks. Fortunately, the transportation system is amazing and we usually waited for between 10 and 20 minutes to get a bus to and from the parks. I wrote more about the transportation system in this post.
Can the accommodation cater for larger families?
This is always one of my first questions when booking a holiday as there are five, sometimes six of us and anyone with bigger families will know that finding somewhere to accommodate you all together can be tricky. Walt Disney World does cater for larger families. At Port Orleans Riverside, our spacious room slept five very comfortably and there are plenty of hotels and resorts that sleep up to six guests and there are even Deluxe Villa and Treehouse Resort Hotels that sleep up to 8 or 9 guests. So, there really is room for the whole family!
Is it worth staying in the resort hotels?
I admit that I haven’t stayed elsewhere but I have spoken to people who have and I think that staying at the resort is so much better for two main reasons. Firstly, the hotels are part of the whole Disney experience and there are so many wonderful activities and opportunities there. Secondly, within the resort, Disney provides free transportation between parks and hotels and with regular buses, this makes your holiday a whole lot easier. Having spent a week in Port Orleans Riverside, we loved the hotel as much as we loved the parks and the accommodation really is part of the whole Disney experience.
Is the food expensive?
On the whole, I was pleasantly surprised by how reasonable the meals were at Walt Disney World. We tried out a number of different restaurants in the parks and ate at least once a day in the self-service restaurant at our hotel. If you are trying to keep to a budget, I would recommend using My Disney Experience (either the website or the app) which you use to plan your holiday. On there, not only can you book restaurants (which I strongly recommend as they get very busy) but you can see prices and menus, so you can check prices before you book.
Of course, there are some restaurants that are more expensive for example Character Dining, but it is worth paying extra for the experience because the characters come to your table and you have plenty of time to take photos and get autographs – so worth it!
Is it best to buy tickets before you go?
Absolutely. It is so much easier to book everything before you go by linking your tickets to My Disney Experience. The UK ultimate ticket gives you unlimited access to all six parks and buying your ticket in advance means that you can start making FastPass+ reservations up to 30 days before your trip if you are staying outside of Disney and up to 60 days before your trip if you are staying at a Disney Resort Hotel. UK Adult Ultimate tickets also currently include Memory Maker which normally costs $169 if purchased in the resort.
What is My Disney Experience?
It’s a really handy service that you can download an app for your phone to access or that can be found on the Disneyworld.co.uk website. Once your holiday is booked, you can use it to set up an itinerary for each day of your holiday and pretty much organise the full holiday through it. I used My Disney Experience daily before our departure to book FastPass+, which allows you to select a time to ride your favourite attractions; you can also make dining reservations and find out information about the parks. Once you are there, you can use the app to change dining reservations and FastPass+ times and also view a map of the park to help navigate but it also shows how long the queues are for the different rides and experiences.
How does the FastPass system work?
This is a really brilliant system that allows you to book a FastPass for each person in your party for three rides or experiences each day, free of charge! (you can then book a fourth FastPass+ in the parks when you have used the first three.) You can book your FastPass+ rides and experiences using My Disney Experience and don’t worry if your plans change, you can change them on the day if needed but bear in mind that with some of the more popular rides, you might not always get another FastPass+ time slot for that day.
Can you reuse your Magic Bands if you return to Walt Disney World?
We loved our Magic Bands and you can find out more about what they are and how they work in this post. You don’t take them off (don’t worry they are waterproof) during your holiday and you can become quite attached to them. They are personalised to you, you choose the colour and they have your name on the inside and the good news is that if you return to Walt Disney World and the bands are still in working order, you can link them back up to your account and use them all over again.
Which restaurants would you recommend?
We didn’t visit a restaurant that we didn’t enjoy at Walt Disney World. From our daily self-service breakfast at the Riverside Mill Food Court at Port Orleans Riverside to the Character Dining experiences, we enjoyed them all. The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom is definitely a place to visit. The restaurant itself is amazing and the food was fabulous. We also enjoyed lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern at Magic Kingdom which is a colonial-style inn serving traditional New England-inspired fare at reasonable prices which we all enjoyed.
A meal at Cinderella’s Table in the Magic Kingdom is a real treat for Disney Princess fans young and old. Set in Cinderella’s castle, you meet at least four princesses and all of the little princes and princesses are treated to a wishing star and a wand as well as a sumptuous banquet of food. This is extremely popular and I would recommend booking as early as possible.
Epcot is the park to visit if you want to experience great food. As you stroll around the World Showcase, you can sample food and drink from the different countries represented and we enjoyed a Mexican lunch followed by a French ice cream but there is a huge range of restaurants and cafés which all looked appealing and were extremely popular.
Is it worth booking a Character Dining experience?
YES! We love them. We experienced three Character Dining experiences which were all amazing. In Animal Kingdom, we had the most amazing meal at Tusker House Restaurant which offers an African themed buffet with the chance to meet Mickey and friends. The staff were amazing and the food was fabulous. Breakfast at The Crystal Palace in Magic Kingdom was an unforgettable experience with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Once again, the staff and food were wonderful. Finally, I treated my daughter to a meal at Cinderella’s table which was more expensive but worth every penny as she met her Disney Princess idols.
All three experiences were loved by us all and they are the meals that we will remember from the trip, so I would say that you have to book at least one Character Dining experience as it is something that the entire family will enjoy and you will take lots of great photos too, I guarantee it.
Can you rent pushchairs there?
If you have younger children, it is worth having a pushchair as there is a lot of walking in the parks. You can hire a pushchair (or stroller) in every park at Walt Disney World for around £12 a day or you can prepay for your whole trip for around £10 per day (you will have to pay a deposit of around £80 in Disney Springs). You could also consider bringing a stroller of your own on the trip, for help finding a stroller for bigger kids go to https://wifeknows.com/best-
Would you recommend staying at Port Orleans Riverside?
We loved it and if we go back, we would stay there again, so yes we would recommend it. It has a chilled-out feel throughout, yet there are so many amazing activities and opportunities going on. We completely fell in love with Port Orleans Riverside and made full use of the facilities from horse and carriage rides to nightly campfires, Surrey bikes to the amazing swimming pools, there is something for everyone there and the accommodation is spacious and comfortable too.
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Is one week long enough at Walt Disney World?
I must admit that I was worried that we would not be able to fit everything into a week but we planned the week well and managed to do each of the six parks with a return visit to Magic Kingdom on the last day. A week is long enough and you can use My Disney Experience and the FastPass+ system to make sure that you make the most of each day. When I look back, we managed to fit so much into every single day and we didn’t always get up and get out early either, the parks are open until 10 pm, so you can afford a few lazy mornings and just stay at the parks until later in the evening.
If we go again, I would book for two weeks as it would be nice to have time to spend a couple of days in each park and even have a couple of days to chill out at the hotel as the facilities were incredible.
Would you go back again?
In a heartbeat. I have spoken to and heard from quite a few people about how addictive Walt Disney World is and now we have been, I completely see why. As soon as we came back, we started to talk about going again, we completely fell in love with the whole place, it really was a holiday of a lifetime and we are planning to save up and go again in two years’ time. It is a new adventure every day and lifelong memories are made and I am so thrilled that I was able to take my children to experience the magic of Walt Disney World!
Find out more about our adventures at Walt Disney World Resort in my other posts;
Walt Disney World – The Magic Follows You Home
What you need to know about a trip to Walt Disney World Resort
Planning a stress-free trip to Walt Disney World Resort
How to Destress a Stressy Mummy at Walt Disney World
This post is in partnership with Walt Disney World. All opinions here are my own
I went to HK one before, it smaller, but I did manage to take photos with Winne the Pooh, and watched the castle fireworks, it was really really enjoyable. 🙂
I’ve loved reading your Disney posts. It’s great that they do rooms for larger families and the transport system sounds brilliant. It must make life really easy and stress-free.
It really does sound fantastic and I’m so pleased for you that you’re going to go again. I’ve just managed a two and a half hour flight and was OK, but I can’t get my head round the idea of flying for longer, so I can’t imagine we will ever manage to go.
Sarah MumofThree World recently posted…He’s not so bad really
A great and informative post. Would you go back again…. I have yet to find someone that has only been the once. We went for our ‘once in a lifetime trip’ in 2011 and ended up going 3 times in 25 months.We have done a combination of villa, then the year after villa for a week and disney hotel for a week. And on our last visit we stayed in a disney hotel for the full 2 weeks. I would definitely return and just do the disney hotel, as it worked really well for us as neither of us fancy driving over there. So glad you had an amazing holiday x
Tracey Williams recently posted…An Autumn break to Scotland