The Walt Disney World Instruction Manual’s Top 10 Pages

4 comments

1 Janine { 04.18.11 at 5:05 am }

Hi,
we are busy planing our dream holiday to Disneyworld and Universal.
We have 8 nights, please help maximize these days , we have 2 teens and we r thinking of staying at Animal Kingdom 5 nights or 6 and then maybe staying at universal at one of their resorts for 2- 3 nights?? Are we better of just staying at Disneyworld and traveling each day to Universal, is it far? or should we do Disney then move over to Universal? we are getting hopper passes and know by staying inside the parks we can get extra hours on selected days, how do you find out what days they extend?
We are heading over from Australia in early September 2011 so excited!!!
appreciate your help xx

2 Dave { 04.18.11 at 7:31 am }

Hi Janine!!

First, for the park calendars–including how to figure out which parks have extra magic hours which days–see http://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/03/30/walt-disney-world-hours-of-operation/

Second, Universal Orlando is a ways from WDW. For how to get there and back, see http://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/01/10/getting-to-harry-potter-from-walt-disney-world/ But I would advise staying at a Universal resort hotel a couple of nights–that will give you early entry to Harry Potter and “front of the line” access to other Universal stuff. See http://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/12/17/where-to-stay-during-your-visit-to-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/ this is focused on Harry, but applies to Universal generally…

3 Anthony { 09.13.11 at 11:04 am }

Hi,

We are plannig a trip to Orlando April 4, 2012 to April 9, 2012 we are staying outside of the resort at our timeshare and will want to go to Disney one of those days. We will be traveling Wed 4/4/12 and Mon 4/9/12 so we have Thur 4/5/12, Fri 4/6/12, Sat 4/7/12 and Sun 4/8/12 free to go to the park. What day do you think would be the least crowded and suggest going on? We have 4 kids ages 3,5,9 and 12. Also what other park do you think would be best suited for the ages of my kids and what day would you suggest going to it?

Thannks Anthony

4 Dave { 09.13.11 at 5:23 pm }

Hi Anthony!

Unfortunately, that’s one of the two most crowded weeks of the year–see this: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/07/11/disney-world-crowds-in-2012-spring-break-2012/

Of Disney World’s four main parks, the one that suits your ages best is far and away the Magic Kingdom.

The only way to beat the crowds is to arrive before the park opens.

However, during that week, because it is so busy, the Magic Kingdom typically has morning special hours (“extra magic hours”) every day for on-site hotel guests, which makes it hard to pick a best day, especially since these are often added the week–or even the day–before, since you’ll be entering an hour after thousands of others have already entered…

For Disney operating and extra magic hours for the equivalent pre-Easter week this year, see this: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/04/15/next-week-416-to-4242011-at-walt-disney-world/

What you will be looking for when this year’s calendar comes out is a day that another park also has extra magic hours that same day, to divide the guests heading out early. A partial view of these will be available by the end of September, perhaps earlier, so ping me back then and I’ll have suggestions for you.

TouringPlans.com already has recommended parks by day up, but their recommendations may change if the schedules are different than they are predicting, or change, which they often do. (TouringPlans.com costs around $10.)

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