Disney World Parks

Below are the articles that I have written about exploring the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon. It includes tips, tricks, secrets, advice and more. Posts are in order of newest to oldest.

You can also browse all the articles I have written in an easy to use outline that is arranged in the order you should read these Disney World posts.

May

7:30 pm

Disney World Training: Characterpalooza at Hollywood Studios

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

Characterpalooza is a nickname given to the sudden rush of characters in the Animation Building in Hollywood Studios. To get to the character meeting room, you will want to enter the exit for the Magic of Disney Animation Attraction (it’s a gift shop), head through the double doors located at the back of the shop and follow the hallways to the right until you get to the meeting room.

Characterpalooza is based on Fantasmic’s schedule:

If there is no Chracterpalooza if the first showing of Fantasmic is before 7:30 pm.
If Fantasmic is at 7:30, there will be one 20 minute set at 4:45 pm
If Fantasmic is at 8 pm, there will be (3) 20 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
If Fantasmic is at 8:30, there will be (2) 30 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
If Fantasmic is at 9 pm, there will be (4) 25 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm
When there is no Fantasmic, there will be (4) 30 minute sets starting at 4:50 pm

There is no guarantee which characters will be at Characterpalooza, but here are a few that have been seen in the past:

Aladdin and Jasmine
Belle
Bolt
Captain Hook and Mr Smee
Chip and Dale
Eeyore
Genie
Jafar
Mary Poppins and Mr Penguin
Max and Goofy
Minnie
Mulan
Pinocchio and Gepetto
Pluto
Pocahontas and Meeko
Queen of Hearts
Rafiki
Snow Queen
Stitch
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

The characters will come out the door to the right of Pooh’s Meet and Greet area and the one across from Pooh’s Meet and Greet. The characters come out in sets with each set remaining for about 20-30 minutes. When the first set is over, those characters will return backstage and a new set of characters will come out to the floor.

Each character will have their own line and you will have to pick and choose which characters you want to meet. Be sure to ask the Cast Members how many sets of characters they will have that night.

If there are 3 or 4 sets of characters, they usually mirror the first 2 sets of characters.]

My tip is to get there at 4 pm and go ahead and meet all the characters that greet all day in the Art of Animation Building (Sorcerer Mickey, Pooh and the Incredibles). That way you are in the building and ready to meet the Characterpalooza characters as soon as their sets begin.

Be sure to let us know if you have participated in Characterpalooza!

Disney World is the Most Magical Place On Earth. Be sure to learn how to make the most of your trip by reading the Disney World Training series. You can also browse all the articles I have written in an easy to use outline. And if you are ready to book your trip, be sure to read about the perks of using an authorized Disney vacation planner (plus it’s FREE!).

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May

8:30 pm

Disney World: Magic Photo Shoots at Journey Into Imagination with Figment

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

Located in the gift shop of Journey Into Imagination with Figment are some pretty cool magical photo shoots you can do. For $12.95 to $24.95, you can choose to have your picture made with the Welcome to Disney Sign, the Epcot Ball, On Splash Mountain, Flying around the Magic Kingdom with Mickey, Surfing with Lilo and Stitch and more. There are over 30 different poses to choose from!

Prices are as follows:

5″ x 7″ Photo – $12.95

8″ x 10″ Photo – $16.95

8″ x 10″ Photo, 4 Wallet Photos, choice of Keychain or Magnet — $24.95

18″ x 24″ Poster — $24.95

Two 11″ x 14″ Posters — $24.95

You can also choose to make Puzzles too!

Here are the photos that we made on our 10th Anniversary Trip last June:

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Mar

8:00 pm

Disney World Training: Ride Photos

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

See the Hidden Mickey?

Select rides at Disney World snap pictures of your family as you experience the most exciting part of the ride. Most pictures/packages run about $20.

Magic Kingdom

Splash Mountain
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain

Epcot

Test Track – Added for FREE onto your Photopass Card

Animal Kingdom

Dinosaur
Expedition Everest

Hollywood Studios

Tower of Terror
Rock ‘N’ Roller Coaster

If you are interested in learning more about Ride Photos, you can read the Top 5 Tips for Great Ride Photos article.

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Mar

8:00 pm

Disney World Training: Extra Magic Hours

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Resorts,Disney World Training

Guest of Disney Resorts are eligible for an exclusive amenity called Extra Magic Hours. Each day, at least one Disney park either opens 1 hour early or stays open 3 hours later for Disney Resort guests. The parks vary each day, so make sure you check the park schedule to see which parks will have Extra Magic Hours.

Not all rides, attractions or characters are available during Extra Magic Hours. You can see a list of which attractions are available on the Disney World website.

There are over 25,000 resort rooms on Disney World property and because Extra Magic Hours is so heavily advertised to the guests of Disney Resorts, many guests are aware of this perk and take advantage of it. Which means that often these Extra Magic Hours are very crowded. Also guests tend to visit parks that offer Extra Magic Hours even if they aren’t taking advantage of it because they feel like they are getting their money’s worth by visiting that park.

Tips and Advice

Typically Evening Magic Hours die down about 1 hour before the park closes. If you can make it until the last hour, usually you can walk on everything.
There are less rides and attractions open during the morning than during the evening. The evening is typically the best one to do.
If you are going during the summer, Evening Magic Hours are awesome because it isn’t hot!
If you want to avoid the crowds, the rule of thumb is to visit the park the day after they had Evening Magic Hours. So if Magic Kingdom had Evening Magic Hours on Monday night, you would visit on Tuesday.
If you aren’t taking using a park’s Morning Extra Magic Hours, don’t go to that park! It is going to be crowded.
If you have Park Hopper and you are planning on using the Evening Extra Magic Hours, visit a different park during the day and then return to the other park for Extra Magic Hours that evening. Typically a park that has Extra Magic Hours is busy all day long.
If you aren’t staying on property, don’t go to a park that has Extra Magic Hours that day. Especially not the one that has Early Magic Hours.

My Opinion

Our kids are young so we don’t do Evening Magic Hours with them because they usually go to bed by 9 pm est. Twice we have tried Morning Magic Hours and both times it felt like total chaos plus there is less open during the Morning Magic Hours than the Evening Magic Hours. We also don’t usually get Park Hopper, so we avoid the park that has the Extra Magic Hours because we know it will be busy.

When my husband and I went on our anniversary trip, we did the Evening Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom and it was AWESOME! Towards the 2nd and 3rd hour, the park was pretty deserted and we were able to walk on almost everything. Plus it is so hot during the summer, so it is nice to be able to take advantage of the darkness.

Your Opinion

Please leave a comment letting us know what your family does!

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Mar

8:00 pm

Disney Training: Using FASTPASS To Avoid Long Lines

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

Photo Credit: Express Monorail

When you pay $3,000 for a vacation, time is money. Think about it. If you are at Disney World for 7 nights and 8 days, that is a total of 11,520 minutes. If you divide the $3,000 you paid by the minutes you are on vacation, you are basically paying $0.26 per minute. Why spend that money waiting in line when you don’t have to?

Disney World has an awesome line skipping amenity called FASTPASS. This amenity is available to EVERYONE for FREE! It doesn’t matter if you stay on-site or buy the dining plan or not, everyone can take advantage of the FASTPASS system.

Overview of FASTPASS

FASTPASS is available for the most popular attractions in each park. When you get your FASTPASS ticket, you are essentially reserving a place in line for that attraction for later that day. This helps you avoid spending possible hours in the stand-by line and instead enabling you to enjoy the other attractions in the park that aren’t eligible for FASTPASS.

How FASTPASS Works

Located near the entrance of participating attractions are the FASTPASS kiosks. To obtain your FASTPASS ticket, you insert your park ticket into the machine. It gives you a FASTPASS with a one hour window ride window listed on the front of the ticket. During that one hour window, you are able to return to the attraction and present the ticket to the Cast Member. They allow you to enter the FASTPASS line which gets you to the front of the ride faster than those using the stand-by line.

Photo Credit: Loren Javier

FASTPASS Tips and Tricks

The Rules:

FASTPASSes are available every 2 hours during the day unless your ride window is less than 2 hours from when the ticket was issued.Here’s an example… You FASTPASS Peter Pan’s Flight at 10 am. Your ride window is 2 pm to 3 pm. You can obtain your next FASTPASS ticket 2 hours after you received the Peter Pan’s Flight ticket (which in this case is 12 pm). At 12 pm, you can either FASTPASS Peter Pan’s Flight again or FASTPASS any of the other participating attractions.Another example… You FASTPASS Jungle Cruise at 10 am. Your ride window is 10:30 am to 11:30 am. You can obtain your next FASTPASS ticket at 10:30 am since your ride window is less than 2 hours from when your ticket was issued.
You must redeem your FASTPASS ticket during your ride window. Early and late arrivals will not be allowed to enter the FASTPASS line.

The Tips:

In order to obtain a FASTPASS, you will need an activated ticket or season pass (meaning it was used to enter the parks that day). However, the person who owns the ticket or season pass does not have to be the one to obtain the FASTPASS. We usually give all of our park tickets to my husband and he runs and grabs FASTPASSes for the entire group.
The return window that will print on your FASTPASS ticket is posted above the FASTPASS kiosks. Don’t obtain a FASTPASS if that return window doesn’t’ work for you.
FASTPASS return windows start an hour after the park opens. So if the park opens at 9 am and you grab a FASTPASS at 9:05 am, the return window will be from 10 am to 11 am. The best thing to do is to grab a FASTPASS within the first hour the park is open, but to use that hour to ride as many rides as possible using the stand-by lines. Do not use the first hour the park is open to eat or shop!
Children under 3 years old do not need a park ticket or a FASTPASS to ride the rides. They can accompany mom and dad through the FASTPASS lines without needing their own FASTPASS ticket.
If you have a FASTPASS that you won’t be able to use, you can pass it on to another guest. This is a great way to sprinkle Pixie Dust on others.

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Mar

8:15 pm

Disney Now Enforces Fastpass Return Times

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

(Photo Credit: Ride Max)

It has officially happened. Fastpasses are now only valid for the one hour window that is printed on the ticket. All Fastpass tickets now include the fine print “not able to accomodate late arrivals” (and that is Disney’s spelling error, not mine lol).

The new system started today. From what I am hearing on the Disboards, there is a 15 minute grace period after your window closes (you can see GP 11:40 printed in the lower right corner of the above Fastpass which we believe stands for a grace period up to 11:40 am).

I’m very interested in seeing how this changes the Fastpass lines at Disney. I am not sure how many people were aware that you could use Fastpasses at any time during the day after the return window opens (so if it said 10:25 to 11:25, you could redeem it anytime after 10:25 up until the park closed), so I can’t wait to hear about people’s experiences as we enter the busy Spring Break season at Disney.

As for our personal touring strategy, it just completely shook it up. We always used Fastpasses after the return window. We liked the ability to play our schedule around our meals and kids and not around when we were allowed to ride which ride. But we will learn to adapt to this change and hopefully it’ll be for the better.

What are your thoughts?

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Feb

8:00 pm

Disney World Training: Rider Swap

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Tips and Tricks,Disney World Training

This pic isn’t really relevant but it is so fun!

If you are headed to the parks with young children, you are probably wondering how you will manage to ride those rides they aren’t allowed to ride. Disney actually has a program in place for just that. It’s called Rider Swap an it’s easy to use but can be difficult to explain.

Rider Swap is available at rides that have a height restriction such as Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain and Soarin. Essentially you will be allowed to ride with your older children while your partner waits with the younger child and then you swap places and your partner rides again with the younger kids.

For rides with Fastpass

Obtain a Fastpass ticket for yourself and the older children in your party who will ride
When it is time to redeem your Fastpass ticket, everyone in your party including your partner and the child who is not riding will go to the Cast Member stationed at the Fastpass entrance
Let the Cast Member know that you want to do Rider Swap
The Cast Member will take the Fastpass Tickets from the riders entering the queue
The Cast Member will give your partner a Rider Swap ticket that resembles a Fastpass ticket
While your party rides, your partner and younger child are welcome to do anything they want in the parks. They don’t have to stay near the ride or sit in a special holding area. I like to use this time to meet characters with my little one.
When your partner is ready to ride, they will return to the Fastpass line with the Rider Swap ticket and up to 5 other people. That’s right! This ticket is good for up to 4 people! That means your older kids get to ride twice!

For rides where you are not utilizing Fastpass

Everyone in your party including your partner and the child who is not riding will go to the Cast Member stationed at the entrance to the ride
Let the Cast Member know that you want to do Rider Swap
The Cast Member will give your partner a Rider Swap ticket that resembles a Fastpass ticket
While your party rides, your partner and younger child are welcome to do anything they want in the parks. They don’t have to stay near the ride or sit in a special holding area. I like to use this time to meet characters with my little one.
When your partner is ready to ride, they will return to the Fastpass line with the Rider Swap ticket and up to 5 other people. That’s right! This ticket is good for up to 4 people! That means your older kids get to ride twice!

Here are some important things to remember:

Rider Swap is for those with kids who are either too short to ride or who are still very young and afraid to ride. It is not intended for parents with older children (such as teenagers) who just aren’t interested in riding
Rider Swap is available at attractions that feature Fastpass.
You do not need a Fastpass for your partner or your young child who is not riding. You are only required to have a Fastpass for those entering the ride the first time around.
You do not HAVE to use the Rider Swap Pass immediately. You do have to redeem it that day, but if you need to take a bathroom break or eat a meal, they don’t enforce a return time.

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Feb

8:00 pm

Disney World Review: Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

This review comes from my reader Christy…

We did Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom on Sunday morning. Our whole family was so excited and felt like we were doing something secret that not everyone knew about yet which is how it was because while we were doing our quest people would stop and look at us and you could tell they were wondering what we were doing and how we got to do that?!?

When we walked onto Main Street we saw a sign in front of The Firehouse just past City Hall that said “Sorcerers Wanted.” To play you have to present one admission ticket or season pass from one person in your party and they give you a Key card and 5 spell cards and then you go up to a portal and unlock it with your key and listen to a video from Merlin telling you about your quest.

I don’t want to give too much away to you but then you go zig zagging around Magic Kingdom looking for portals and helping Merlin fight villians using your spell cards.

We really enjoyed it. Our family lives only about 40 min from Disney and we have FL seasonal passes so we are there quite a lot and feel like we have done it all at The Magic Kingdom so for us this was great. Many of the portals are in out of the way places that we may never even take notice of when visiting Disney so it was a great way to make it feel new again for us.
I can see how some vactioners may not get a chance to do this quest because they are trying to pack all the rides into their vacations.

I understand that each time you do the quest it can be different and you get new cards each time you come but can use the ones you received on your previous visits again if you bring them back with you.

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Jan

8:00 pm

Disney World Training: VIP Tour Guide Service

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

Photo Credit: Loren Javier

Have you ever seen a small group with a tour guide that seems to be everywhere you go? Maybe you notice them getting the best seats for live shows, parades and nighttime spectaculars or getting to the front of the Fast Pass attractions? These are the VIP Tour Guides that offer personalized tours for guests. They will plan everything for you so that your vacation can be as magical as possible.

These tour guides only cost $175 – $315 per hour and I believe there is a 6 hour minimum per day. If you want to pay an extra $100 per hour, I hear that you can get the Premium package that gives your group unlimited Fast Pass admission at any attraction that uses Fast Pass.

If you don’t want to pay Disney’s prices, there are off site companies that also offer private Disney guides. Just Google “Disney Tour Guide Companies” for the complete list.

If you have used this service, we would love to hear more about it.

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Jan

8:00 pm

Disney World Training: Animal Kingdom Tours

in Disney World Parks,Disney World Training

Photo Credit – Andy Castro (his pics are AMAZING)

If you want to learn more about Disney World, the magic behind the scenes or you just want to try something new, you might consider an Animal Kingdom tour. There are many different tours available for a variety of interests and age groups. Tours can be booked starting 180 days in advance.

Wild Africa Trek

3 hours
Journey deep into the Pangani Forest on a privately guided expedition.
Includes tour and photo cd. Call Disney for pricing.
Theme park ticket required

Backstage Safari

3 hours
Insider look into how Cast Members care for animals in the Animal Kingdom
Participants must be 16 and older
Cost $72 per person
Theme park admission required

Wild By Design

3 hours
Insider look into how the Florida wetlands were transformed into untamed landscapes
Participants must be 14 or older
Cost $60 per person
Theme park admission required

Backstage Magic

7 Hours
Tour of Magic Kingdom Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. Includes lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe.
Participants must be at least 16 years of age.
Cost: $229 per person
Theme park admission not required or included

Holiday D-Lights

4.5 – 5 hours
Exclusive look in the many ways the Walt Disney Resort is turned into a sparkling wonderland
Participants must be at least 16 years of age
Cost $199 per person
Theme park admission not required
Only available on select nights in November and December

Yuletide Fantasy

3 hour tour
Select dates between Nov 30th and Dec 30th
Learn more about how the parks are transformed into an international holiday wonderland. Includes tours of Magic Kingdom and Epcot
Participants must be at least 16 years of age
Cost $84 per person
Theme park admission not required

If you have participated in a tour in the Magic Kingdom, we would love to hear your thoughts and about your experience.

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