How to Manage the Crowds at Walt Disney World

“photo ©Matt Clare”

“When should we plan our trip to Walt Disney World if we want to avoid the crowds?”
I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been asked that question! I used to have specific times I recommended and could confidently tell clients that the crowds would be “very light.”
That’s no longer the case. Even during the “slow” times, you are still going to encounter crowds on your Disney vacation. The good news is that the masses don’t have to impact your trip at all negatively.

I’ve put together a list of some of my top tips for managing the crowds at Walt Disney World…

Be realistic in your expectations.

There are plenty of “crowd calendars” available online to help you find the weeks where the parks are going to be less crowded. Just keep in mind that “less crowded” is relative.

It doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to walk right on to your favorite attractions with little to no wait at any time of day. If that is your expectation, you are setting yourself up for disappointment.

What it does mean is that you are unlikely to be standing shoulder to shoulder with other guests as you walk down Main Street USA on your way into the Magic Kingdom!

 

“photo ©Allie Caulfield”

Plan ahead.

A Walt Disney World vacation requires a lot of planning!

There are three things I recommend you plan in advance…

1.          Know what park you will be in for each day

2.          Plan and schedule your FastPass+ attractions for the day

3.          Make Advance Dining Reservations for any table service meals you plan to have for the day

Planning out your days so that you know what park you will be at each day and making your FastPass+ reservations in advance will make a massive difference in helping you to minimize the time you spend waiting in line.

I know what you may be thinking, we don’t want our trip to be overly scheduled. We want to go-with-the-flow. That’s an excellent idea but trust me when I tell you that once you see what a difference a small amount of advance planning makes, you’ll find it very worthwhile.

Creating a theme park touring plan is one of the services I provide to my clients as part of their vacation planning package. Following the advice in these touring plans can make the difference in your family feeling tired, frustrated, and spending most of your day in lines, or knowing the ins and outs of the crowd patterns, ticking off your “must-see attractions” (sometimes more than once!), and enjoying the day without feeling overwhelmed.

Arrive early…

It’s your vacation and waking up early may not sound like the kind of relaxation you had in mind, but the first hour to hour and a half the parks are open the crowds and lines will be at their lowest levels. As the day goes on, the crowd levels (and the heat!) will continue to build.

Arriving at the parks just before they open officially and heading straight for the “headliner” attractions is one of the best ways to ride them without waiting in long lines.

Use Extra Magic Hours Wisely

Each day Disney opens one of the theme parks one hour early, and/or keeps one of the parks open for 2-3 hours after its regular closing time just for on-site resort guests.

I typically only recommend the morning Extra Magic Hours to my clients if they know for sure they will be at the park before it opens so they can really maximize that hour. It’s also incredibly helpful if they have “park hopper” tickets.

Why? Because the morning extra magic hour park will usually be the most crowded park for the remainder of the day. Even if guests aren’t taking advantage of the Extra Magic Hours, many of them will head to that park since the tv in their room and the schedule on the info screens in the hotel lobby feature that as the park of the day.

If you aren’t going to take advantage of the full 60 minutes of minimal wait times, choose a different park for the day.

 

“photo ©Anna Fox”

Stay super late…

Early mornings not your thing? No worries!

Evening Extra Magic Hours are ideal for families with older kids and teens who are wholly opposed to getting up early, even if it means shorter lines! During the busiest travel seasons, evening Extra Magic Hours may have one of the parks open until as late as 2 am, and you can bet the crowd level is low for that kind of late-night fun! The lines, even for headliner attractions, are almost nonexistent by the end of the night.

A pro tip for late-night touring… adrenaline and activity will keep you going while you are having fun, but once you sit down and stop moving, fatigue can set in quickly. Waiting for the bus back to your resort can be tough at the end of a long night.

Consider taking the monorail to one of the resorts and catching an Uber, Lyft, or MinnieVan back to your resort. The nominal charge is worth it when you are dropped off as close as possible to your door and into your bed much faster than if you had waited for the bus!

Take a break.

Mid-day is when both the crowds and the heat index are at their peak, so it’s the perfect time for a break.

Consider planning a sit-down, table service lunch. You’ll escape the heat for a bit and get off your feet. Having a chance to sit down in the A/C and enjoy a good meal can be precisely what cranky kids (and parents!) need mid-day.

Or think about returning to your resort for a break! Take a nap… go for a swim… relax for a while and head back to the parks in the evening with renewed energy.

Parades and Fireworks Draw the Crowds

Disney does a phenomenal job with their night-time entertainment! Their parades and fireworks are top notch, and most people will secure their spot to watch both well in advance of the show starting… which means they won’t be riding your favorite attractions!

If you’ve already seen the parade or fireworks show (or the rides are more important to your family than the fireworks!), this is one of the best times during regular park hours to head to the parks most popular attractions.

Ready to start planning your next visit to see Mickey and friends? The perfect vacation begins with scheduling your complimentary consultation. Click here to request a time for us to chat [<<- LINK]. We’ll discuss the details and what your vacation priorities. I’ll give you my suggestions and explain how we can best work together to plan the vacation of your dreams.

Our Story of Travelling with Autism

People always look at me strangely when talking about Disney, because it just doesn't fit with what others think I like. Given the choice, I would rather stay in a real castle somewhere in Europe, but there is something when you walk into Magic Kingdom and look up Main St and see the castle it chokes me up and I will tell you why. It was one of the places that helped our special needs child turn into a confident traveler.

My eldest son is high functioning autistic, being diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was 5 years old. As he puts it now at age 23, he did have "issues" and of course these issues meant that travelling was a challenge when he was younger. Our #1 priority is and was to get him to a level where he can as we put it "function in the real world". We have been lucky to be backed up with a wonderful medical team and a school district who have seen his potential. Of course, getting him used to travelling had it's bumps in the road, but not road blocks. He's now in college working on his accounting degree.

This is one reason I have become  a Certified Autism Travel Professional, and I applaud IBCCES for establishing this program along with their program to certify resorts/hotels/theme parks.

So here are some of our strategies we have used in our travels with special needs,

#1 Prepare and repeat- This was huge in getting him used to TSA security. We practiced at home a lot and then took a road trip to our airport so he could see how it went before he actually had to do it.
Of course now, we have Global Entry with TSA pre-check, so this makes things easier. Also TSA now has TSA Cares

 #2 Sleeping arrangements-How fun was a vacation going to be if we asked him to share a bed with his brother? It would have been an absolute nightmare of no one sleeping, and let's face it no kid special needs or not is in risk of a meltdown with a lack of a good night's rest. So we always looked for accommodations that were multi bedrooms or connecting staterooms on a cruise ship. And as I always tell families, would you spend a week in your master bedroom with your family? Well that's what you are doing when you put 4 people in one hotel room. Plus it gives mom & dad privacy too, wink wink if you know what I mean.

 #3 Plan to include their interests- My son is a history buff, so Pearl Harbor was a must on our trip to Hawaii. Given the choice, he would rather see interesting things than sit on a beach all day. So you can imagine he was over the moon on his delayed grad cruise in Europe and one of his bucket list items is to do a Danube river cruise to see the major cities of the former Austrian-Hungarian Empire

#4 Don't rule out Disney- Yes they have accomodations for special needs, but we have never used them in our trips. By knowing how to "do the parks" we were able to avoid long lines both in Orlando and Anaheim. And the more times we went to Disneyworld, the more comfortable he got with the whole travel thing, from standing in a crowd waiting to watch the fireworks, to trying new foods and liking them. And I will say this from a consumer point of view, not just a certified Disney expert, there is a Disney Difference from the theme parks, resorts, cruise line and tour company.

#5 Cruise- I have been cruising since 1980 when my mom took us on the "Love Boat" aka Pacific Princess to Alaska and as a parent myself I find it a great way to travel with kids period. I'm pampered by not having to cook,clean or worry about did we take the wrong way. It's a super way for those on the spectrum to travel. You are in the same bed every night and come back to familiar food.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands 

#6 Plan downtime- Having some time when they can just watch tv, get on the computer or do whatever your special needs child does to release anxiety is good. Vacation time is structured differently than what they are used to at home and even with preparing and knowing ahead of time, you sometimes may have to cross an activity offer your list or plan that downtime into your schedule. Even if you don't have special needs children, edit your must see list. A vacation is supposed to be re-charge your batteries and connect as a family. Each family is different, but you don't need to take a vacation to recover from your vacation.

Taking a break for lunch

What Does a Family Travel Adivsor Do?

I’m going to let you in on an “industry secret…”

When you get a group of travel professionals together, it’s not uncommon for us to ask each other what type of title they use. You may be most familiar with “travel agent,” but many of us feel that doesn’t adequately capture what it is we do. We become travel advisors, travel consultants, travel designers or any number of creative titles that attempt to convey what we do for our clients.

It doesn’t matter what we call ourselves; there is no way to describe what we do each day in a title.

You may be wondering what exactly it is we do? What do we bring to the table that you wouldn’t get by booking your vacation online? As a Certified Autism Travel Professional and a mother to a son who was diagnosed at age 5, I bring not only my professional knowledge but my own personal experiences so you can have that family vacation that works for your whole family.

Here are just a few of the things we do for our clients…

We are great listeners.

This is one of the most essential skills for a travel advisor to have. We listen to what you say when you talk about your vacations. We ask questions to get a better idea of your tastes, likes, and preferences.

Which Cruise Line is the best for you, not your neighbor

We pay close attention so that we can get a clear picture of your needs, concerns, issues, and expectations. It’s crucial for us to understand these things so we can best anticipate your needs and make the best recommendations for you.

We are master troubleshooters!

It’s our job to take care of all of the nitty gritty details of your trip and to manage the whole thing from start to finish.

We’re here to help you out if things don’t go as planned. If you run into travel delays or any issue, you can look to us to sort it out for you. Because of our vast industry connections, we are often able to resolve things much faster than you could on your own.

We pride ourselves on our attention to detail.

We love putting together the pieces of your travel itinerary as if it were a big, beautiful puzzle! We make recommendations for things that will provide you with an added layer of convenience, security, or simply to surprise and delight you.

How about a day trip to Neuschwanstein? The inspiration for the castle at Magic Kingdom?

We’ll take care of the mundane details like keeping track of important dates, paperwork requirements, and other logistics. It’s our job to make sure your vacation is seamless and that you don’t have to worry about any of the things that can make travel stressful or frustrating.

Did you know your passport needs to be current up to 6 months after your return date? I'll let you know if you need to renew before your trip.

We’re continually building our network to benefit YOU.

From connecting with other travel professionals with expertise in specific types of travel, destinations, or properties to meeting the general manager and sales managers or places we visit, we are always working to create connections that can help us take better care of our clients.

With the General Manager of Sandals Barbados & Royal Barbados Resorts

Since no travel professional can have personal experience for every destination, we use our colleagues when we need to. If we haven’t been to that specific city you want to visit, there is someone on our contact list who has… and who can give us the inside scoop and direct us to the hidden gems you won’t want to miss.

We spend a significant amount of time… and money… traveling to do site inspections and research new destinations. While that may sound glamorous, and you may have been a little jealous when you saw our Instagram photos from fabulous places, it really is work! 

Quick stop to kiss the Blarney Stone on a trip with a supplier in Ireland

We took those fantastic pictures during the very brief downtime we had in a day spent walking the resort with a sales manager and touring multiple different room options, getting a walk-through of the spa (alas, no treatments for us!), the pools, the kids activities, the restaurants, and sitting through a lengthy sales seminar.

No swim up bar for me, site inspections at 3 resorts. Grand Velas Resort.

We do this so we get to check out places you may want to visit, but also to meeting and get to know the staff. An email sent to a general manager we know personally may result in a complimentary bottle of wine.

We work for YOU.

We work with various travel partners and suppliers to book your vacation, but we work FOR you. Should anything go wrong during your travels, we go to bat for you. We represent your needs and your interests… and we know who to call to get things fixed. 

When a major cruise line had issues with 2 ships this year, I found other options for my clients with other cruise lines, so my clients could take their vacation that week. That "personal vaacation specialist" that is an employee with that resort or cruise line is going to do what's best for their employer, not  you.

We are in your corner from the time your vacation is booked until you arrive safely back home. 

We consider you a friend.

You aren’t just a client. We consider you a friend… or even like a member of our own family, and we take care of you the same way we would a friend or family member.

We smile when we see your name on our caller ID. We think about your bad knee when we plan your itinerary. We remember that you love to play tennis when you travel.

And like a good friend… we don’t hold back when we give you our advice. We won’t hesitate to tell you when we think you might be making a mistake. If you come to us with a suggestion that we believe might not meet your expectation… we’ll let you know. We’ll let you know when it makes sense to spend a little more to get a better experience, and which corners you can cut without having a negative impact on your vacation.

Another little secret I’ll let you in on… we absolutely love hearing from you about your experience. It makes our day when you text us from your vacation to show us the amazing view from the hotel we recommended. It delights us when we you send us photos of your kids enjoying the activities we put together for you.

We look forward to checking in with you when you get back home… and we are so appreciative when you reach out to us to plan your next vacation or recommend our services to your friends and family.

Ready to start planning your next getaway? The perfect vacation begins with scheduling your complimentary consultation. Click here to request a time forus to talk. We’ll discuss the details and what you are looking for. I’ll give you my suggestions and explain how we can best work together to plan the vacation of your dreams.