Going to Disney in October! How do I prepare?

[Jumpman64]

So my wife and I are going to Disney World from the 24-31st of October. I'm super excited but I wanted to find out what to do before the trip, what do I need to do to maximize my fun.

Due to a crazy deal we are staying at the yacht club so we will be on site, also prob going to spend a day at universal. We are starting to watch our favorite animated movies right now to pump ourselves up.

Any advice from era Disney pros would be much appreciated.

 

[AkumaNiko]

Are you going for the halloween party?

1.) I would recommend not renting a car and just using DME from the airport. If you Uber to Universal and back on that one day, it will still be cheaper than renting a car all week + gas + parking on site.

2.) Stay away from Disney springs if you can on a night that the MNSSHP is going on. People who did not buy the party ticket will most likely be there and it will be crazy packed.

3.) Get the single day photopass and do all the party shots. They are fun

4.) If you are going for the party, you can do reservations for food and should have a good shot at getting in a good spot.

5.) Scope out a spot for the halloween parade and fireworks at least 30 min ahead of time, its well worth it.

6.) if you are doing halloween night at the MK, prepare for a crowd. I did the party on Halloween night and they are known to oversell the party. it will be nuts.

7.) Do the haunted mansion after the party stuff, its great and they usually have some characters out if it does not rain

As far as a crazy deal, i assume that you rented points for the DVC room at the YC? We do that every year, staying at Bay Lake Tower with theme park view this year. Also, again, if going to the party, get the party ticket now. Halloween night sells out fast.

 

[gutshot]

It might be too late but make your dinner and FastPass reservations now.

 

[Grym]

get on any food reservations now (I think we booked ours like 6 months ahead? that is table service stuff though. If you are just eating quick service on the go, you don't need reservations) and Fastpasses (Edit - it was 60 days ahead). Buy Halloween party tickets now as well.

Are you going to each of the parks? Or which?

 

[DrROBschiz]

Travel agency

I just booked my trip in October as well!

Went through Magic minus the Mayhem or something

It could not have been smoother and its definitely more complicated than it seems to plan a damn trip there

 

[Skinny Pete]

Just went a few months ago. There are a lot of blogs and videos on youtube that will help you make the most of your trip. Def do your fast passes ASAP if you haven't as well as your dining reservations.

I also recommend the photo package. Def worth the extra money.

 

[Prime2]

We went last year, wear comfy shoes, make sure you go early when parks open and fast pass everything that gets huge lines it'll save you loads of time. Bring a water bottle you can get free refills everywhere and make sure to get dole whip and get school bread in Epcot other than that enjoy it's fantastic.

 

[BasilZero]

Have fun OP!

Wish I had someone to go to Disney world with me

Unfortunately no one in my family is interested in Disney, maybe in a few years when I have children that will change lol

Can't give much advice but I would consider making a list of what you want to visit, probably do some research at what is available around the time and to make note of when certain events take place during the day or the week.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

Get your tickets now so you can get the fast pass and then just sit on the fast pass app until you get the rides you want. you want to get three of the big rides relatively early so then you can switch to one fast pass at a time and just go from ride to ride

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

You're late if you didn't make fast passes yet

 

[Bigkrev]

1. Food Reservations whereever you want to eat. You are probably too late now, but it doesn't hurt to check
2. Take the Magical Express from the airport instead of taking an Uber. You are going to be taking busses to each park, might as well get used to it now
3. Take a look at each park, plan on 1 or 2 things you want to do/fastpass, but for the love of god, ENJOY YOURSELF. If you try to regiment a schedule to see everything, you will hate your trip.

My favorite attraction at any of the parks is the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom. Get in line 30mins before the event time. Don't waste a fastpass on it unless you are bringing elementary school aged kids, as then you have a chance to have them picked to be in the show

 

[Lightus]

Plan out which days you want to do what ahead of time. Different parks have different opening/closing times everyday, look it up ahead of time so you aren't caught unawares.

Bare in mind that Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party is going on. It requires a separate ticket than the standard entry. They kick standard ticket holders out of the park early and keep the park open later for the Not So Scary ticket holders. It's pretty fun so I'd recommend buying a ticket if they are sold out!

Otherwise, bring sun screen, a bathing suit and summer attire. It's still pretty hot for most people here in October.

edit:

1. Food Reservations whereever you want to eat. You are probably too late now, but it doesn't hurt to check
2. Take the Magical Express from the airport instead of taking an Uber. You are going to be taking busses to each park, might as well get used to it now
3. Take a look at each park, plan on 1 or 2 things you want to do/fastpass, but for the love of god, ENJOY YOURSELF. If you try to regiment a schedule to see everything, you will hate your trip.

My favorite attraction at any of the parks is the Lion King show in Animal Kingdom. Get in line 30mins before the event time. Don't waste a fastpass on it unless you are bringing elementary school aged kids, as then you have a chance to have them picked to be in the show

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This is important! Lines get long at Disney. Pick a handful of "must do's" and do those. Consider everything else a bonus. You should be able to do most things you want in a park in a day but it's a possibility you may miss a ride or two depending on how busy it is. Don't rush, just enjoy the atmosphere!

Also to echo others, go ahead and make dinner reservations.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

You're late if you didn't make fast passes yet

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He's fine. You just have to remember to keep refreshing the app for new selections I got everybody on avatar a day before with 30 min of refreshing. Shit changes so much. One time I got avatar for four people 10 minutes before the time

 

[SaN1ty24]

Are you going for the halloween party?

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Was going to ask the same thing since the park closes early for Mickey's Halloween Party.

 

[LucidMomentum]

(Note: speaking from Disney Land experience here so World may differ slightly)

Make your reservations if you're planning on eating inside the parks at the nicer restaurants.

Those reservations are often a month out for good times of day.

Plan your route along the parks if you're in a rush or want to hit as much as you can. If not, don't stress about it.

Either way, get fast passes ASAP for the popular rides when you do get in the parks (or before if you're able to) so you don't spend 2 hours in line for one ride. Hit the older / less popular rides while you wait for your fast pass times to come up.

Pack light, don't buy anything not specific store exclusive until you're ready to leave the parks for the day. My mother will stop at every store despite the fact that they very rarely have items you can't buy in downtown Disney anyways and it always bugs me lol. But she likes shopping more than I do.

Bring a water bottle for refills.

HAVE FUN!

 

[RumbleHumble]

FastPass ASAP. If you're a rides person, be ready go to hard at the parks before they open, then crash at the resort during the afternoon before going back again in the evening. Stay away from a park on days where the park has extra magic hours because those days are the most busy typically. During a Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party, the Magic Kingdom will be closed unless you bought a ticket for the party (big upcharge). Download the Disney app to give you an idea of ride times, park hours, maps, food options in advance of the trip. Be prepared to see plenty of temper tantrums, both out of kids and adults, it's a place designed to cater to indulgence as much as possible, so people acting like shits sometimes comes with the territory. Lastly, outside what you plan to hit at the very beginning of the day, just go with the flow. Disney is most fun when you're taking it and uncovering pleasant surprises that you didnt expect to otherwise. Favorite rides - Flight of Passage (Animal Kingdom); Everest (Animal Kingdom); Dinosaur (Animal Kingdom); Rock and Rollercoaster (Hollywood Studios); Tower of Terror (Hollywood Studios); Mission Space (Epcot); Spaceship Earth (Epcot); Splash Mountain (Magic Kingdom); Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom)

 

[Ruck]

Depending on how active you two already are I would recommend going on walks for the next few weeks to prepare your feet for what it's gonna be like when you stand all day for a week straight. Wear comfy shoes and break them in now if you opt for a new pair. You will thank me for this later lol

You should definitely go to the Halloween party at the Magic Kingdom since you're there at the perfect time. It's a separately ticketed event though, and it's not as cheap as it used to be. Look into it soon as the dates closer to Halloween will sell out in advance. But it's fun. You can trick or treat, see special Halloween shows and parades, eat special themed snacks, and because there's a limit on tickets the lines for rides are much shorter.

That being said, October is a good time to go regardless. There's not really an "off season" like there used to be, but it's one of the slower months because school just started. I wouldn't expect it to be too crowded in general.

Make reservations for dinners now if you want to eat somewhere nice. Last year there were special dinner reservations for Halloween party guests that weren't very well advertised so if you're looking to eat somewhere busy like Be Our Guest, maybe look into that but do it soon (like, tonight)

Book your fast passes soon, or don't if you just want to take things slow. Up to you on that one.

If you guys like taking pictures I would recommend a photopass, but if you don't care about anything fancy you can totally just ask the photographers to take one with your phone.

If I think of anything else I'll post again :) or if you have any specific questions I can probably answer them. I used to work there so I can probably help you out.

 

[adj_noun]

So my wife and I are going to Disney World from the 24-31st of October. I'm super excited but I wanted to find out what to do before the trip, what do I need to do to maximize my fun.

Due to a crazy deal we are staying at the yacht club so we will be on site, also prob going to spend a day at universal.

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Sounds like it's your first trip.

Go to the front desk of the Yacht Club and ask for first trip Celebration Buttons to wear in the parks. Celebration Buttons look like this:

Even if it's not your first visit, there's a button for just about anything you could possibly be celebrating. The buttons are free, and the front desk cast members will be more than happy to get them for you.

These things essentially work as a Treat Me Special beacon inside the park. Cast members typically will go out of their way to make sure you have a nice trip/generally make your stay that much more memorable if you wear the buttons.

It's well worth the price of free.

 

[Quantum Leap]

I don't know if Florida has MaxPass but if they do get it. Unlimited digital photos for the day for $10 is a steal.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

He's fine. You just have to remember to keep refreshing the app for new selections I got everybody on avatar a day before with 30 min of refreshing. Shit changes so much. One time I got avatar for four people 10 minutes before the time

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Yea but it's nice to have 3 ready to go

 

[Jumpman64]

It might be too late but make your dinner and FastPass reservations now.

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We made dinner reservations, but I need to do fastpass now

 

[Nephtes]

1. If you're doing Mickey's not so Scary, buy tickets now! They're not the same as park tickets for the day. Every one that does not have a Mickey's Not So Scary ticket gets kicked out of Magic Kingdom at 7pm. So make sure the day you do Magic Kingdom is not on a Mickey's Not So Scary night.

2. If you're doing Mickey's Not So Scary, don't use a park ticket for that day. The separate Mickey's Not So Scary ticket will get you into Magic Kingdom from 4pm till midnight. It'd be a waste of a park ticket to go to Magic Kingdom earlier than that or burn a ticket in another park. My wife and I like to tour the expensive hotels like the Floridian and Polynesian on these days. Just chill and have coffee, or enjoy your own resort till 4pm.

3. If you're staying on grounds be sure to check which parks have extra hours the days you'll be there. You can maximize your time in the parks that way.

4. Use the website to plan out your stay and book your fast passes now.

5. Don't carry souvenirs around in the park. If you buy something tell the shop what hotel you're staying in, they can have your purchase shipped to the gift shop at your hotel for pick up the next day for free. Beats lugging around a bunch of souvenir bags while you wait in line for attractions.

6. Bring rain gear. You're going to need it.

7. Bring sunscreen, you're going to need it.

8. Flying? Have Disney arrange bus service to your hotel. It's free and they'll even pick up your luggage for you from baggage claim and deliver it to your room. All complementary. It's very convenient.

9. Mickey's Not so Scary has 2 headless horseman parades. If you don't have small children, consider going to the later parade as most of the park clears out after the first parade. Good views are much easier to find at the second parade.

10. Consider Fast Passing Fantasmic at Hollywood studios. It's the Park's "goodnight" show and the line is horrific. It's worth it to see for sure, but without fast pass, you'll need to line up 2 hours in advance for the good seats.

Have fun!
I've been so many times, but my wife and I love Disney World.
We'll be there next week actually for Food and Wine Fest.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

Yea but it's nice to have 3 ready to go

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Oh def lol. He's got work to do

 

[Xyer]

I went to Disney/Universal back in a February. Download Disney's app for the park. It'll show you all the line wait times pretty accurately in real time and also have schedules of stuff going on that day. It was a pretty handy thing to have while we walked around the park.

Make sure you stay to see the Happily Ever After fireworks show if it's there. I think it happens at 7 or 8 pm at the main park. That was seriously the highlight of the trip for me. Incredible show.

If you're going to Universal Studios to just see Harry Potter (which is what we did), there's two attractions: Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. You get swindled if you want to see both locations since they're apart of separate sections. I think we paid $300 for two day access to both parks. Both are really awesome though. $60 plastic wands. Lol.

If you plan on going on Gringotts or the Hogwarts ride, get ready to stand in line. The average wait for Gingotts was 2 hours, I believe.

 

[Grym]

I don't know if Florida has MaxPass but if they do get it. Unlimited digital photos for the day for $10 is a steal.

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It is way more expensive at WDW than at DL (We've done it at both). But there are far more places to use it as well across all the parks. I think Memory Maker is like $160 for the entire stay for all ride pics, character/dining photos, PhotoPass/Magic shots, etc. It is good with friends and family as well though. So we had two other family groups with us we put on the same service and it made it worthwhile over the entire 7 day trip.


EDIT - Here it is. Worth it for us with multiple families and therefore tons of kids and character photos. I'm not sure I would do it with just me and my wife though and the few Photopass/Magic Shots we'd stop for for just us.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/memory-maker/

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Oh def lol. He's got work to do

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Ha yeah. And really helpful to get them early to book around dining too, to max efficiency.

 

[Ottaro]

Youve already got a ton of great advice in here so I'll just add this: even with 7 days you wont see/do everything at Disney World. So don't worry about running around to squeeze as much in each day as you can. Just relax. Half of the experience is being in these park environments, and you should stop every now and then to soak it in without feeling pressured to run to the next ride. Grab a drink and find a chair.

 

[Raijinto]

Bring food with you- most of the restaurants in there are rip-offs. Fast passes are great but not mandatory. Get a map near the entrance both for convenience in utility as well as design 'cause they're great. Wear something outlandish to get picked on the Monster's Inc Laugh Floor.

Universal is also great, though I'm not sure 1 day suffices to experience both Studios and Islands of Adventure- so prioritise the one that appeals the most.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

Ha yeah. And really helpful to get them early to book around dining too, to max efficiency.

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Yeah especially since hotel peeps can book 60 days in advance while even with an annual pass I can only do 30

 

[DarthWalden]

Personally based on my experience I wouldn't get caught up in the dinner reservation thing, I had free dining and a reservation everyday and the only restaurant that was actually worth having a reservation at was Be our guest (which is probably long booked up). The food is extremely expensive and just not all that good based on where I ate.

You probably also missed the boat on the must have fast passes, primetime for things like the mine train and peterpan book up the practically the day they go up.

I would not plan to park hop, getting anywhere in disneyworld can be very time consuming, I found it better just to do one park at a time.

A lot of people will tell you to plan! plan! plan! I got way to caught up in the planning stage of this thing and I hated having my whole trip tied down to where and when my fast pass/dinner reservations that I booked months out were, especially since I hadn't been and wasn't quite sure what I would and wouldn't enjoy.
If I can re-do anything from my trip this would be it as there was very little down time or time to relax when we weren't trying to rush to the park to get a resteraunt or fast pass reservation.

Having said that it is a good idea to check up on rides you'd like to enjoy and their wait times, if you can plan it right you will save a bunch of time. Walking on stuff like the mine train with an hour plus wait was really great.


Interestingly one tip I got and learned from my time in disneyworld was to actually avoid the days where they open early for hotel guests because those days tend to get the busiest. In Disneyland this was a wonderful tip when we went but in Disneyworld every park is insanely busy all the time so it doesnt really matter.

 

[adj_noun]

The glory days of Fast Passes were back when they didn't enforce expiration times.

Good times.

 

[Syriel]

So my wife and I are going to Disney World from the 24-31st of October. I'm super excited but I wanted to find out what to do before the trip, what do I need to do to maximize my fun.

Due to a crazy deal we are staying at the yacht club so we will be on site, also prob going to spend a day at universal. We are starting to watch our favorite animated movies right now to pump ourselves up.

Any advice from era Disney pros would be much appreciated.

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Some random tips in no specific order off the top of my head:

* Do not skip the hotel pool. The sand bottom pool at the Yacht and Beach club is so popular that Disney had to block guests from other hotels coming over to use it. Also, bring your camera. The pool doesn't use chlorine, so you'll often see a family of ducks cruising around among people.

* Purchase a length-of-stay park hopper pass.

* Purchase a meal plan (you can't take advantage of this the way you used to, but you can still save quite a bit on food costs).

* Epcot has some of the best restaurants in the park. Your hotel is located right next to the rear entrance for Epcot (only park that has a front and back entrance for guests). If you get the park hopper, make use of Epcot for dinner selections. Walk to Epoct, don't bother with the bus.

* Studios is a short boat ride away from your hotel. Unless you're leaving Studios during a mad rush, the boat is faster than the bus.

* You can go straight to Magic Kingdom via bus, or you can walk to Epcot and then connect via monorail.

* You're taking a bus to Animal Kingdom.

* Don't skip Animal Kingdom.

* Since you've never been (I'm assuming this is your first time) you might be overwhelmed with the four main parks, but Typhoon Lagoon (waterpark) is also worth a day if you can spare it. There is an extra admission fee for this, even if you have the basic park hopper pass.

* Again, get the park hopper. This will let you move freely through the parks, and is great for maximizing your time.

* There are special early hours (rotating between parks) for Disney hotel guests. Make use of them.

* The fudge at the shops on Main Street in Magic Kingdom is great.

* If you want a super classy, fancy dinner, with no kids around, book a night at Victoria and Albert's at the Grand Floridian. This may be the most expensive restaurant on Disney Property (I can't recall if the Club 33 location opened in FL yet or not), but it'll be worth every penny.

* The best character breakfast is at the Polynesian Hotel (anyone who says otherwise is wrong).

* For a fun and memorable dinner show get tickets to the Hoop-dee-do Musical Revue.

* If you properly time your dinner tickets to the Hoop-dee-do Musical Revue, you can also catch the lagoon light parade.

* Back at the Yacht Club, watch out for the seagulls. Those bastards don't just beg. They'll swoop down and steal a scoop of ice cream right off your cone. For real.

* If you want to do a neat "learn-a-skill" thing, book a one-off class at the Disney Institute.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Yeah especially since hotel peeps can book 60 days in advance while even with an annual pass I can only do 30

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Yep that's handy. We did a 1 day trip a few months ago. Stayed at contemporary. Took my 4 year old son and went 7:45 am til 11 pm. He killed it and we did every single thing. App, Dining, FP all worked great with planning. Freaking love FP +. Swapping attractions on the fly, checking for any openings to get even more, etc.

 

[Nephtes]

Addendum to the earlier stuff:
Cinderella's Royal Table and Be Our Guest are probably the only restaurants worth booking at Magic Kingdom.

Epcot is going to have Food and Wine Fest going, so I wouldn't book a reservation there, just sample all the food in each country. It's cheaper and you'll be too full to eat it all.

At Hollywood Studios I think the best two restaurants are The 50's Prime Time Cafe (it's like eating in a sitcom from the 50's) and the drive in theater... Can't remember the name of it right now... They're both fun experiences.

 

[Elderly Parrot]

Yep that's handy. We did a 1 day trip a few months ago. Stayed at contemporary. Took my 4 year old son and went 7:45 am til 11 pm. He killed it and we did every single thing. App, Dining, FP all worked great with planning. Freaking love FP +. Swapping attractions on the fly, checking for any openings to get even more, etc.

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Oh that's awesome. He will probably have good memories of that forever.

 

[GrimGrinningGuy]

Oh that's awesome. He will probably have good memories of that forever.

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Yeah he still talks about it daily ha. I was worried only 1 day in the park but with planning and advance FP/Dining it was not an issue at all

 

[Jombag]

Make a Rehire James Gunn shirt and wear it at Disneyworld

 

[Wood Man]

If you're going to the Magic Kingdom stop by the Rapunzel tower bathroom. Best bathroom in the park. It's nice 10 minute breather during mid day. Pick a quiet stall near the back and do your thing.

And don't waste your fast passes on certain rides. I'd say rides like Snow White, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain & Splash mountain should take top priority if you can get them. But you're going at a good time of the year so lines shouldn't be too bad. But it peaks around noon so if you can't get fast passes to the big ride do them first thing in the mourning or last thing at night. Just don't miss the fireworks. It's awesome.

Epoct get fast passes for Fast Track or Soarin'. Those are always long waits. And I love the Mexican place there. Nice place to eat.

 

[GodofWine]

Fast Pass +, Park Hopper, No Rental Car, Bring Ponchos (dont buy them there), get new sneakers and break them in, if weather is good get to Blizzard Beach.

They give a lot of food at quick service places, splitting a breakfast and lunch is usually fine, book dinners in advance (like NOW).

Slinky Dog rollercoaster is fun, the new Pandora Flight of Avatar Ride was my entire familys favorite thing (Just went 2 weeks ago with wife and 2 kids), its a GREAT ride, lines are long, just wait for it.

A week there is enough time to do everything and not rush - take some down time to chill out and rest.

Edit - Food and Wine Fest is in Epcot now - take a night or two to just try a bunch of little plates of food, places are set up all over for various small plates of ethnic stuff.

 

[Syriel]

Oh, one other thing.

If you don't HAVE to ride right next to each other on rides, SINGLE RIDER LINE WHENEVER YOU CAN!

 

[Elshoelace]

If you are just preparing now, it is already too late. Joking, but fastpass and enjoy Mickeys not so spooky. If you can book any dinners if you are looking or a sit down ASAP.

 

[Ryan.]

Make sure to download the Disney World app. Easy way to book fastpasses and see wait times & if something is closed in all of the parks and a convenient way to access your pictures taken by cast members and rides. Also buy the magic band as it's easy to just wear that then pulling out your card for fastpasses and to get into the parks. I would download it now and start looking at wait times to see what could take priority.

Unfortunately we didn't eat at any of the nicer restaurants where you might need a reservation but if you're looking for a cheap snack, if you buy the souvenir popcorn bucket for $10 you can get refills for $1.75 the entire time you're at the park.

Sine you're staying on sait remember you can have your souvenirs brought to your hotel room so you don't have to carry them around or wait until the end of the day to get them. One of my personal favorite things to get were the tradable pins you can wear. Since you're going during Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween you can probably find some cool exclusive ones. A lot of cast members wear lanyards with them and trade with the guests. The only bad thing is that the hobby can get expensive.

 

[Hiphopopotamus]

Bring a nice cooler, I have found many of the Disney hotels don't have mini-fridges.

Buy a mosquito repellant with DEET in it. That organic shit your mom's yoga instructor swears by, doesn't fucking work. I usually get Backwoods spray

Half of the prostitutes are cops. Don't

Otherwise, have fun and expand our tax base!

 

[Deleted member 32561]

Get what fastpasses you can NOW. You almost assuredly won't be getting any of the headliners like Seven Dwarves Mine Train or Flight of Passage this late in the game (yes I said 'late' people hop on those things the minute they can make selections lol) but you might get, like, Big Thunder Mountain or Soarin', which are great but maybe not worth waiting two-three hours for.

Also, make sure one of your days you go to Animal Kingdom early in the morning since you won't be getting FoP fastpasses. Like, try to get there an hour before opening. You'll probably still have like an hour wait for Flight of Passage but A) that's better than the 3 to 4 hour waits that it'll be for the vast majority of the day all the way until closing, and B) the queue is practically an attraction in of itself, especially the lab section, so it's worth waiting in line at least once. And yes, believe the hype, Flight of Passage is by far THE best attraction there. It literally feels like you're flying on the back of a dragon. Simply amazing. The other attraction in Pandora is, imo, skippable but maybe worth it if it ever dips down a 30 minute wait. Not worth wasting a fastpass on.

Also agreed on renting a car - don't. Just use the buses. They're free and they have pretty accurate timetables you can check from your phone on the My Disney Experience app.

Those are my major suggestions, but I'd also suggest you spend two days apiece at Magic Kingdom and Epcot, only a half a day at Studios, and a full day at Animal Kingdom. MK and Epcot are jam-packed with things to do- rides in the former, and exploring the World Showcase in the latter. Studios is basically just 2 must-do rides with 2 more for thrill seekers- the new Toy Story Land is cool to walk through but I wouldn't suggest waiting for Slinky Dog or the Alien Saucers rides if they're more than a half hour. That said if you have park hopper (ticket option that lets you go between parks without wasting an extra day's ticket on a day you go to another park), it might be worth going to Studios for an hour or two in the evening a given day so you're able to see both nighttime offerings- Fantasmic is an amazing stage and pyrotechnics show with a climax of a lake on fire (!), and the Star Wars fireworks are pretty cool too. Animal Kingdom will be about a day between the animal trails and the waits for the attractions (FoP, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest, and Dinosaur). I suggest catching either the Nemo or Lion King shows too, they're pretty neat, as is the nighttime water show.

 

[Bigkrev]

If you and your wife aren't big Harry Potter fans, you can easily do both Universal parks in a single day

* For a fun and memorable dinner show get tickets to the Hoop-dee-do Musical Revue.

* If you properly time your dinner tickets to the Hoop-dee-do Musical Revue, you can also catch the lagoon light parade.

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Seconding the Hoop-dee-do Revue, but you should read about it/watch a Youtube video. You will either find it corny as hell or super charming- there really isn't any in-between

 

[Dyle]

Don't be a square and skip the Carousel of Progress, it's the best air conditioning in the Magic Kingdom and has the best song of all theme park songs.

 

[Ryan.]

Don't be a square and skip the Carousel of Progress, it's the best air conditioning in the Magic Kingdom and has the best song of all theme park songs.

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I think this is one of the first rides I went on when we back in May. The song was definitely stuck in my head but in a good way! Now It's a Small World's song on the other hand...

 

[The Albatross]

DIsney is awesome. Yacht club is really a good hotel your kids and you will love it. Plus it's a 5min walk to Epcot through the back entrance, to the best part of Epcot.

1. Outline your itinerary for the week. Don't wing it. You shouldn't micromanage every moment of the dya of course, but just outline a general schedule of... "Day 1: Magic Kingdom, Day 2: Epcot, etc" I assume you've got park hopper passes? If you don't, get them. Sure, they're pricey, but especially because you're staying at Yacht Club, the flexibility of being able to walk through Epcot every day is worth it... Also Epcot has a Starbucks if you want a coffee fix in the morning. When I went last, I'd walk to the Starbucks at Epcot and get me and my wife coffees each morning, it was great. My wife and I would also go for runs in the morning and so running from where we were (Boardwalk) around Epcot in the morning was great, especially when it was dead.

2. Once your itinerary is figured out, and you should do this soon, SIGN UP FOR YOUR FAST PASSES. This is vital and it helps give you an outline to your day. You get a certain amount of fast passes each time of the day (like 8-11, 11-2, 2-6 or something), and so you schedule those rides you want to go on at those times and it helps map out your day in the park. Maybe when you get to Magic Kingdom, you have a 9am Pirates of the Carribean, so from 8-9ish you do your thing, soak up the entrance, take photos, wander around, etc... then you go do your fast pass ride, then by 9:30 - 11 you start working over to Frontier Land where you go on BIg THudner mountain or something, waiting for your 11:30 Splash mountain fast pass... then get lunch ... then wander over to Fantasy land for your 2:30 pm Mine cart ride, etc. Obviously, set your own schedule with what you like, but this helps provide a good structure to the day... and it means you get to ride what you want without getting exhausted just waiting in line.

3. Plan and reserve your dinner reservations now. It's good to have dinner planned out every day, if you need recommendations happy to provide some. I went with my wife a couple years ago, and we had dinners planned every day, but also scheduled a couple lunches too, and then went light on dinners those nights.

4. Epcot is amazing as an adult, love that place. If you like drinking, even if you're with kids, epcot is a blast to 'drink around the world,' and IIRC, Yacht Club is right off of Epcot in the back entrance, so it'll be perfect for you.

5. You're across from the Boardwalk. It's a good place to go with kids for easy dinners and night time activities, just a pleasant place to be at night. My wife and I stayed there when we went and had a good time.

Don't bother renting a car. Take the shuttles and busses. Yacht club isn't busy and it's a convenient bus ride to most places.

Also, DIsney SPrings is worth going to one night. It gets busy but it's good to get dinner at a "non theme park" and it's nice to wander around the shopping areas. They have good stores there.

Don't be a square and skip the Carousel of Progress, it's the best air conditioning in the Magic Kingdom and has the best song of all theme park songs.

Click to shrink...

Fellow Carousel of Progress fan here. I fucking love how cheesy it is. And yeah, that + people mover... get out of the heat and relax for a half hour. Perfect rides to recharge on.

 

[CesareNorrez]

I like to get Touring Plans Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. Lots of great info and helps me get in the right mindset. They also have an app that you can subscribe to, with a discount from the book, and use it to check times as well as submit your own wait times. Their app tends to be more accurate than Disney's.

 

[Bumrush]

Yacht Club being so close (easily walkable) to Epcot means you should expect to spend some quality time in Epcot.