TRAVEL GUIDE: Magic Kingdom & Orlando

We recently spent Fall Break in Orlando, and decided we would take the kids to Disney’s Magic Kingdom a couple days while we were down there. We’d only been to Disney once, and it was a 48 hour trip, when Jaxon was 3. So I started researching all the things, and while it took hours, it paid off in a huge way. We had the best time!

Since returning, I’ve had a lot of questions and thought I would write this post with some simple tips, because reading all the blogs and pinterest posts before your trip can be so overwhelming and time consuming. If you are a Disney pro, this one probably isn’t for you, but if you are going for the first time or have only been a time or two, you might want to check it out.

Getting To Orlando:

Flights were expensive this trip! As a little work around, we flew into Sanford Airport instead of Orlando. Doing this saved a lot of money and we were able to get direct flights. From there we rented a car, and it was about a 40 minute drive to our resort.

The Resort:

This trip we did not stay on property. (Last time we stayed at Disney’s Port Orleans and while it was nothing crazy special, it was very convenient.) We stayed at Marriott Grande Vista, in a 3 bedroom timeshare. The resort was perfect for families, as their were daily activities for adults and children. They had multiple pools, restaurants, sand volleyball, pickleball/tennis courts, a 9-hole golf course, gym, gaming & recreation room, pool bars, a convenient store, the list goes on and on.

Pros:

-full kitchen (bought groceries & made breakfasts/lunches)

-always something to do or going on (see list above)

-spacious rooms

-free parking

-location (about 17 minutes from MK, and near restaurants, outlet mall, parks, etc.)

Cons:

-bad tasting water

-not many cons, I would totally stay here again!

We spent a majority of our time at the resort. We would typically workout or play pickleball in the morning. Plus the kids would do activities like crafts & cartoons. Then we would spend the afternoons/evenings at the pool and planned activities like Bingo, Capture the Flag, Oktoberfest, etc.

Disney Park Days- Magic Kingdom:

Alright, lets talk Disney. Because of our kids’ ages 7(boy) & 3(girl), we decided we would do Magic Kingdom two days, and skip the other parks.

Planning Ahead of Time:

Okay, you’ve decided you want to go to Disney, what do you do first? Also, if you do not want to plan your park days, hotel, flight, ect. there are many great Disney Travel Agents that will do this all for you!

Before 60 days out:

1. Download the My Disney Experience App.
2. Purchase park tickets for the days you want to go, through the app. (We did a Monday & Thursday, to have some rest days in between. Back to back days would have been tough for our crew!) TIP: make sure you know the park hours for the day you book.
3. Then reserve the park that you want to go to. (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios) TIP: On the app, you can see which parks are available and which ones are sold out on a calendar. Check the availability before buying your park tickets (number 2, above.) You will need a ticket AND park reservation.

60 Days Out:

1. Through the app you can now make restaurant reservations. (Staying at a Disney resort, I believe allows you to do this earlier, but off property, you can make reservations at exactly 60 days out.)
2. I highly recommend a character dining experience! On a non-park day, we did a breakfast at Cape May’s Cafe. This was at a Disney resort, and not in a park, so you did not need a ticket. You could eat breakfast and have Minnie, Donald, Daisy and Goofy come to your table, plus sing and dance. (It’s a good way to meet characters and not have to spend as much time at the parks doing so.) TIP: Some restaurants are open breakfast, lunch and dinner, but the characters may only be there for one meal. Make sure to read the descriptions on the app, so you don’t book a dinner, and expect characters, but they are only there for breakfast.
3. You can also make dinner reservations at Disney Springs, which is another fun place to spend an evening. There are sooo many restaurants, bars, shops, live music, etc. We ate at City Works so the boys could watch football, and then we hit up the M&M store, Lego store, and the massive Disney store, where Kollyns spent all her money.
4. There are some experiences you can book now, like the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, where girls can get made over into princesses. (We couldn’t get in, but Kollyns would have loved this!)
5. This trip, we also booked lunch at Be Our Guest at the Beast’s Castle, where the Beast comes around while you dine at lunch, and I believe Belle is there at dinner time. It was a good break from the hot day, and one of the more decent meals in Magic Kingdom. We didn’t get this reservation initially, but that brings me to another TIP: continually check reservation availability on the app, leading up to your trip, because people cancel all the time!
6. Measure your kids’ heights so you know what rides they will be able to ride, and can better plan your park day.

30 Days Out:

This is a good time to purchase some things ahead of time that you might need or want to pack, all that you can get much cheaper ahead of time, instead of paying Disney prices!

The Dollar Store:

Disney Notebooks & pens (we used to get autographs from characters/princesses)

Disney coloring books, crayons, stickers, activity books (fun things to keep them busy on flight/at hotel)

Ponchos (in case there is an afternoon shower, or to throw on for Splash Mountain)

Disney figurines

JC Penny:

I never shop here, but heard they were having a BOGO sale on all Disney and picked up an Ariel swimsuit, flip flops, pajamas for both kids, and a Minnie & Goofy stuffed animal. (Had the stuffed animals waiting on their bed when we returned from Magic Kingdom.)

Etsy:

Minnie Ears (I found some great ones for about $8, instead of paying $35 at the park)

Park outfits for the kids (I got Kollyns this dress and Jaxon this shirt)

Amazon:

I just ordered some pool toys, goggles, and another princess dress for Kollyns. I also grabbed a portable cell phone charger, but it didn’t come in time. (You are on your phone a lot, – app, photos, etc.)

Night Before Your Park Day:

Here is what I packed, mostly the night before and a few things in the morning…

A backpack with:

-sunscreen

-refillable bottles of water (plenty of places in the park to fill them up)

-frozen uncrustables (these were great snacks)

-frozen G2

-other snacks we like

-portable phone charger

-ponchos/umbrella (depending on forecast)

-Disney activities/books from the Dollar Store

-stroller

-fanny pack (I kept my phone, ID, credit card, etc, in here, and took this on rides, and left our backpack with our stroller. You cannot wait in any lines with your stroller and have to leave at the designated stroller areas.)

6:30AM Morning of Your Park Day:

I’m sure you have heard, and maybe been confused by “Genie Plus”. It’s a service within the app that you can purchase from $15-$22/person/day. It basically allows you to get “Lightening Lane” passes, so you don’t have to wait in long lines for rides and character meet & greets. You can purchase this at midnight on your park day, but instead of staying up late, I would get up around 6:30am and purchase, because TIP: You can book your first Lightening Lane at 7am, the morning of your park day. You will do this on the “Tip Board” section of the app. Here it will show you current attraction and show wait times and next lightening lane times available.

Then right at 7am, have your app open and choose your first Lightening Lane pass. You wont get to pick the exact time you ride that ride, but it will give you a time and you can select it or choose something else. TIP: Being speedy, right at 7am, can determine if you get to use a Lightening Lane on your favorite ride that morning! Then every two hours you can book another Lightening Lane OR once you have ridden that ride.

Monday Park Day Schedule:

I thought I would just take one of our days at Magic Kingdom and list what we did and when…

The park was open from 9am – 11pm this day! TIP: Your app will list all the show/parade times.

6:30am wake up, purchase Genie Plus

7am made first Lightening Lane reservation for Jungle Cruise and got a 10:10am reservation.

7:30am left our resort for Magic Kingdom

Lets talk parking – we parked for $25 in the Magic Kingdom general parking lot. (the app will track where you park for you!) From there you walk to the Transportation Center, where they will check your backpack/stroller, and then you will choose to get on a ferry boat or monorail that will quickly take you to Magic Kingdom.

8:15am arrived at Magic Kingdom and showed our tickets. TIP: Bring your IDs, they will check them when they scan your ticket barcode on your phone to make sure the names match. We walked around Main St and hit up Starbucks.

8:55am Gathered at the Castle for rope drop

9am rope drop, headed right to Frontier Land TIP: people staying on property can get into Magic Kingdom 30 minutes before rope drop, but they cannot get into the Frontier Land part of the park. So our strategy was to head here first and we were able to walk right on Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean.

10:10am Jungle Cruise (honestly don’t know what the hype is on this ride, we wouldn’t do it again) TIP: As soon as we scanned our tickets to use our Lightening Lane here, I could book our next one and selected Buzz Lightyear.

10:30am Buzz Lightyear Ride (booked next Lightening Lane for Barnstormer at 11:10am)

After Buzz and before the Barnstormer the kids ran through the splash pad a bit, and we got a fun treat in the circus.

11:10am Barnstormer (booked next Lightening Lane for Teacups at 11:40am)

11:20am waited in line and went on Dumbo

11:45am Teacups ride (booked next Lightening Lane for Under the Sea at 1pm)

12pm Snacked on uncrustables and people watched

12:30pm Mickey’s PhilharMagic (so underrated, we loved this!)

1pm Under the Sea ride (booked next Lightening Lane for Peter Pan at 4pm)

2pm Lunch reservation at Be Our Guest (this is when our day took a turn. We were here almost 4 hours because the whole park shut down from thunderstorms.)

5pm We caught a quick show at the Castle and headed back to our resort.

Thursday Park Day Schedule:

This day was much different, and the only reason why I am also including it. The park hours were 8am – 6pm, because that evening was Mickey’s Halloween Party, which we did not have tickets too. This worked out in our favor, because the park was dead that morning! (People with Halloween tickets could enter Magic Kingdom at 4pm and parkhoppers at 2pm.) Today we had 8 people with us.

6am wake up, purchase Genie Plus

6:30am left our resort for Magic Kingdom

7am made first Lightening Lane reservation for Peter Pan and got a 9:10am reservation.

Lets talk parking – we parked for $25 in the Magic Kingdom general parking lot. (the app will track where you park for you!) From there you walk to the Transportation Center, where they will check your backpack/stroller, and then you will choose to get on a ferry boat or monorail that will quickly take you to Magic Kingdom.

7:15am arrived at Magic Kingdom and showed our tickets. We walked around Main St and hit up Starbucks.

7:55am Gathered at the Castle for rope drop

8am rope drop, headed right to Frontier Land TIP: people staying on property can get into Magic Kingdom 30 minutes before rope drop, but they cannot get into the Frontier Land part of the park. So our strategy was to head here first and we were able to walk right on Big Thunder Mountain and actually went on it 3 times in a row – back to back to back! (we would have done Splash Mountain too, but it was freezing, 51 degrees that morning!)

8:45am Pirates of the Caribbean (Peter Pan was shut down, and our LL got canceled!)

9am The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (booked Lightening Lane to meet Tiana & Rapunzel at 10am)

9:30am Half of our group walked on to Space Mountain & half to Buzz Lightyear

9:50am Carousel

10am Met Tiana & Rapunzel (booked next Lightening Lane for Under the Sea at 11:30am)

10:20am walked on to Dumbo and kids played in the indoor play area

10:40am walked on to Teacups

11am walked on to Barnstormer

11:30am Under the Sea ride (booked next Lightening Lane for Space Mountain & Buzz at 1:30pm)

12pm walked on to Splash Mountain (it had warmed up)

12:30pm grabbed a quick lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe (it was just okay) TIP: You can use the app to order your food ahead of time and just walk up to the counter to get it, once ready.

1:15pm Mickey’s PhilharMagic

1:30pm Half of our group went on to Space Mountain & half to Buzz Lightyear (booked Lightening Lane for 2:10pm for Tomorrowland Speedway.)

2:10pm Tomorrowland Speedway & then got in line and went again

3pm Disney Festival of Fantasy Parade (this is a must!)

Then we shopped along Main St and headed out by 4pm.

So that is how we did our two park days at Magic Kingdom. TIP: You can use your app to see current wait times on rides, and that will help you decide what you want to use Lightening Lanes on and what you can just walk on.

I hope some of these tips and examples help you to plan out your Disney trip. I’d love for you to leave some of your own tips and tricks in the comments so we can all learn!