Cheat Sheet for Walt Disney World in 2014
By Dave Shute
My four-page Walt Disney World Cheat Sheet–an example page is to the right–includes a number of this site’s famous charts and graphs. It’s updated to reflect FastPass+.
In total, the cheat sheet provides the key stuff you need for planning your 2014 first family visit to Walt Disney World.
Click here to open it as a PDF–it’s 1.47 MB, so might take a bit.
Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!
120 comments
Great website!
We are arriving on 6th April 2014 for two weeks. probably staying at either Wilderness Lodge or Saratoga – (just working out difference in cost- also get free dining plan). I have noticed that the first week is not so bad crowds wise but the second is one of the busiest. we have 2 children (1 girl 1 boy) 8 and 6 – is there anything you would suggest doing in the first week rather than the second and vice versa given the crowds?
Many thanks!
Hiya Linda, and thanks!
Frankly, I’d try to do everything the first week, and save the second week for repeat visits. Take a look at this for an itinerary that’s pretty much everything in the first part of your visit: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/basic-itinerary/alternative-itineraries/itineraries-for-the-rest-of-the-year/v2-of-2009-autumn-winter-spring-itinerary/
Was this even remotely helpful?
Well then mosey on over to the home page, and like it on Facebook or pin it on Pinterest!
Going to WDW for the first time from Februrary 4-11 2014. Any recommendations?? Kids are 13 girl, 9 girl and 4 boy. We purchased the dining plan. I looked on line for Cinderella’s castle breakfast and or was pre pay even with the dining package?? Any tips for a awesome vacation will be much appreciated!! Thank you!!
Jenny, they will take your credit card info so they can hit you with the full charge if you are a no-show. You can still use credits from the dining plan.
See this for more on your dates, including a recommended itinerary. The itinerary does not match your days, but it will give you a strong start for your planning! https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/08/12/february-2014-at-walt-disney-world/
Was this even remotely helpful?
Well then mosey on over to the home page, and like it on Facebook or pin it on Pinterest!
Staying 5 full days in 2014 – March 31 – April 5 (possibly staying the 6th as well)
Kids ages 13,10,9 (all tall enough for all rides finally lol) any suggestions for seeing and riding all the “must do’s” while there? Are the crowds going to be manageable for a mom alone with 3 kiddos? Any tips are appreciated.
Tammy, I’m not too keen on that week–see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/10/07/disney-world-crowds-2014/
At those ages, with 5 days I’d plan two days at MK, and one each at the other three parks.
I don’t have itineraries for trips that short, but take a look at this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/03/09/the-comprehensive-guide-to-walt-disney-world-rides-and-attractions/ Josh also has great stuff here: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/
The 31st, avoid HS and AK–Epcot is your best bet.
Te 1st avoid Epcot–this is a good MK day
The 2nd avoid AK, this is a good day for MK
The 3rd avoid MK–this is a good day for AK
The 4th, avoid Epcot and try HS
Hi, I have reservations for Sun. MARCH 1ST thru Thurs. March 6th. 3 adult s and 7 year old little princess. Tentatively scheduling Sunday for MK, was able to get a late 5:25 app at BBBoutique and late CRT reservation at 9:25 I also have a reservation at 1900 PL for 8:25. Not sure where to eat that night. I also plan on doing MK on Wed. MARCH 5th. I have Tomorrow Lane Dessert Party Reservation for 7:05 bot o expect that to change seeing wishes is at 10. I have CRT reservation for 2:10 this day and 1900 Park Fare reservation for 4:35. I have never been to disney so not combination would work best in timing and getting from place to place. Please advise.
Hi Mona!
What other parks are you interested in and for how many days? A seven year old could enjoy all the Disney parks except perhaps Epcot–altho princesses love Akershus at Epcot (see https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/10/31/review-princess-dining-at-akershus/ )
One of the reasons I ask is that March 2 will not be a great day at MK. The 4th and 5th will be much better!
Book breakfast in parks either at 8 or 8.10, or 10.30 or later. Otherwise you are wasting low-crowd times (the lines are always shortest at opening and the 60-90 minutes after.)
And be sure ot check out FastPass+
We’re trying to plan a 2014 trip with our (then) 4 and 8 year olds. Due to school schedules of both the kids and my wife, who is a teacher, as well as an early summer commitment, we’re pretty limited to either early August or the week after Xmas. I’m torn because you say to avoid Xmas week due to big crowds and higher prices, but I’m also concerned about dragging my kids around in 90+ degree swampland temps for a week. I have no expectations of this being a relaxing week, but I don’t want to make it any worse than necessary. What do you think? What’s worse with small children, big crowds or sweltering heat?
Joe, I’d pretty definitively pick August. The reason is that by taking the afternoons off and napping or swimming, you can avoid the worst of the heat…but there’s no good way to miss the truly astonishing crowds after Xmas…
Hi Dave. We are arriving April 6th for 5 nights at wilderness lodge. Doing 4 days of parks. Plan to just hit the pool and relax our arrival day. Any suggestions for a dinner place that first night? Does the boat from wilderness go to the Polynesian? Also I see you state it’s a good week to go crowd wise. Do you think we won’t even need to bother with the fast passes that week? Thanks!
Melissa–“good week crowd wise” means good compared to other weeks. There will still be tons of people, so you will still need to arrive at the parks before they open, use FastPass+, etc!
Re dining advice–do you have kids, and if so, how old? One set of boats goes from WL to MK, and another from WL to the Contemporary and Fort Wilderness. Between the three hotels involved in the second boat, there’s great dining for any goal. See also this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/where-to-eat/dining-alternatives/the-comprehensive-guide-to-walt-disney-world-dining/
To get to the Poly, take the first boat that is going to either MK or the Contemporary, and there grab the Resort Monorail.
Dave,
Thanks! Yes we have two boys ages 4 and 6. Any dining advice with that in mind?
Melissa, with the boys, Whispering Canyon at the Wilderness Lodge would be my choice for the combination of simplicity–it’s right there–and family fun
Hi, we are looking at booking a trip for 8 possibly 9 of us for our first trip to Disney World, possibly May August or September. What would some of your recommendations be as where to stay for our two families as one group. We probably are looking to stay on the resort as I’m sure we don’t want to be taking taxi’s everywhere. Also what do you recommend for meal plannings as we are on a budget.
Lisa, for large families on site see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/special-circumstances/special-circumstances-large-families/ For meals on a budget see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/08/30/the-tightwads-guide-to-how-to-eat-at-walt-disney-world/
We are going to Disney Feb 24-March 2. There will be 4 adults and 1 child who will be turning 4 on Feb 28th. We are staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. Any recommendations for how to arrange/schedule our days would be a HUGE help as well as must sees or places we need to reserve for meals…all this planning is overwhelming and I want it to be an extra special birthday trip. Thanks
Hi Candy, my stuff focuses on kids 8 or older so I don’t have a lot to help. But here’s some thoughts:
Kids that age can have a trip entirely focused on the Magic Kingdom, for 2-3 mornings and one evening. You could also spend a morning at each of Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom. A morning at Epcot is also a possibilty
In general, avoid parks on days they have extra magic hours or late closes. Those dates, avoid all but Epcot the 24th, avoid Epcot the 25th, avoid AK the 26th, avoid MK the 27th, avoid Epcot the 28th, avoid HS March 1, and avoid MK March 2. The best MK days will be the 25th and 26th, and then the 28th.
Many of the best loved meals will have booked out months ago. But you can use this to target them: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/where-to-eat/dining-alternatives/the-comprehensive-guide-to-walt-disney-world-dining/
Hope this helps!!
Hello Dave,
I just found your website and am very excited. We are planning our first trip to Disney World with our two girls. They are 7 and 4. It was a quick decision a few months ago to surprise them on Christmas morning so we are trying to work out all of the details. We are flying in the night of February 21st and leaving the morning of the 26th. Our plan is to do Animal Kingdom on the 22nd. MK on the 23rd and 25th. And Hollywood Studios on the 24th. We have no idea what we are doing. I didn’t realize planning this trip would be so stressful. We are staying off site so we aren’t doing the meal plan. We plan to go to Rainforest Café one day and also Chef Mickeys at some point. Any other ideas of where we should take the girls to eat? Cinderella’s castle was booked of course. I look forward to checking out the rest of your site!
Thank You!!
Hi Jenn! Keep the questions coming, that’s what this site is for.
First…change your planned park days. MK will be quite busy the 23rd, as will be both AK and HS the 24th. I’d do MK the 24nd and 25th, AK the 22nd, and HS the 23rd.
On dining…your trip is a little short, so I wouldn’t overdo this. Do the Rainforest cafe for lunch at AK, and consider–if your 4yo is a DIsney Junior fan–lunch at HS at Hollywood and Vine: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/hollywood-studios/hollywood-and-vine/
AT MK, aim for lunch or dinner at the Crystal Palace (or Chef Mickey’s if you can get it, but CP tends to be easier to book this late…), and do the rest of your meals as counter-service…
Thank you so much Dave,
That was our original schedule until I got onto a site and it showed the crowd expected. It showed that MK would be busy on that Monday so we switched HS to Monday. Its so confusing. We weren’t sure if because of the princess marathon if that’s why HS was supposed to be busy on Sunday.
But I trust your opinion and will move things back around to our original plan if possible. Thank you again for all of your help!
Jenn the only daily crowd calendar I trust is Josh’s…see this: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/02-february-2014-crowd-calendar/
Ended up changing our travel plans a bit, now we are coming with our two boys 13 and 15 from March 27th- until April 9th, from an earlier March date, and staying at Port Orleans French quarter,I am guessing this time frame will see fewer crowds then earlier on is that correct? Also would you recommend getting the hopper pass option since are stay is also extended? We are also wanting to get to Universal studios, would renting a car be our best option to go to Universal and sea world and maybe a couple other outside of Disney World places? Can you recommend an itinery for this time period, and what days we might want to stray away from Disney World? Do you recommend reserving all sit down meals ahead of schedule..we will be on a dining plan as well. Any favourite places to eat that you recommend? Sorry for a ton of questions, I am enjoying your site and learning lots..TY for helping us plan a trip of a lifetime!
Hi Lisa!!
No you don’t need a hopper…and if you decide once you are on site that you want one, you can add one then at the same cost as buying it now.
I don’t remember your original dates so dunno if that will be more crowded or not! My crowd forecasts for then are here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/10/07/disney-world-crowds-2014/
You can use my AWS itinerary as a starting point, but you’ll need to a. keep your eye out for earlier openings and b. supplement it with FastPass+ thoughts.
The itinerary is here https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/basic-itinerary/alternative-itineraries/itineraries-for-the-rest-of-the-year/v2-of-2009-autumn-winter-spring-itinerary/ and my thoughts on how to do FastPass+ are here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/08/20/what-you-need-to-know-now-about-fastpass/
Dining suggestions are in the itinerary–you need to book them now as they start filling 6 months before…
Typically, Universal and SeaWorld are least crowded Sat-Mon, so you can adjust the itin for that, given the length of your stay. The best way to see Universal is to stay in one of its three deluxe hotels for a night–this gives you special privileges the day of check in and the day of check out. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/12/17/where-to-stay-during-your-visit-to-the-wizarding-world-of-harry-potter/
Having a car is always handy, but not essential. See this https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/02/28/renting-a-car-at-walt-disney-world/ and also this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/01/10/getting-to-harry-potter-from-walt-disney-world/
Hello Dave,
As I’ve said in each post “so stressful” We decided to change everything today except the dates we are going. Once we sat down and decided how much we were spending on renting a car, how much the character dinners were, and other things we decided our best bet would be to stay on site so that we can do the dining plan as well as hopefully try to enjoy some extra magic hours, and not have to stress about parking and driving.
What would your recommendation be for which parks we should go to which day now? Should I keep them the same? Of course I’ve already made reservations for places but now I am unsure of where we should go to and when to get the nost of our stay. You have been so wonderful and helpful. Thank you so much.
Jenn, I’d keep your park dates the same. EMH days are generally more crowded than non EMH days, so its best to avoid them…
Hi we are looking to go April 23 to the 30th.. We are a family of 7 16 yr old, 9,7,6 and 2.. I was wondering if this is a good time to go. We are not staying on the grounds. I am looking to buy tickets for 5 days and wondering if there will be any deals and if that is a good amount of time for all parks. If there are any other things I need to know as it being out first time. Thank you
Hi Lindsey, on your specific questions, yes and yes! See this for your week https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/09/18/april-2014-at-walt-disney-world/ and see this for the deal that’s out now for then: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/06/disney-world-room-rate-deal-for-well-into-june-2014/
On the “other things you need to know”–start on the home page and work your way thru its topics and links!: https://yourfirstvisit.net/
Hi Dave!-
I am trying to plan our 1st Disney trip, dates would be March10-13, (Spring Break for my Kindergartener) checking out 14th. This would be at Art of Animation. We have Military perks, but couldn’t lodge until the last week of May at Shades of Green. Son will be a week shy of 6yo and daughter will be 4. I looked at the charts for peak crowds & would like to come during Fall break (Oct. 13-16, checking out 17th) with the 4 day park hopper military tickets, but that being said- there is no guarantee te Government won’t shutdown again. If we could come in March or May this spring, what Parks, days would you suggest, do’s and don’t suggestions, things geared for the kids ages etc. Or should I play the waiting game and hope there is a deal on tickets for the fiscal year of 14′-15?
Samantha, as you know there’s no guarantee that the military salute will continue beyond September–we all hope so, but won;t know til it’s announced.
I focus on kids much older (see https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/how-oldtall-your-children-should-be/ ) but for kids that age with a 4 day ticket I’d spend two days at MK and a morning each at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.
Your March dates will be wildly busy, so you’ll want to be at the parks before they open and use FastPass+…
(in your opinion) for 4 days at WDW, would you recommend the Dining plan? We’ve changed dates to Labor Day weekend- for more booking options for dining etc.
The dining plan doesn’t save much money any more, so I agree with Scott–it doesn’t much matter whether you get it or not…
Samantha, for what it is worth we are planning a 4 day trip and are not getting the dining plan. This is partially because of where we plan to dine, which will include Yachtsman Steakhouse a credit choice. The dining plan is boarder line not worth it.
We are planning to visit Disney 12/3-8. After stumbling up on your site, I noticed Pop Warner begins the 7th. Do you think we should change our reservation to earlier 11/29-12/4 or earlier in November. We will be visiting with our twins 8 years old and mother, brother, and 2 nieces 9 & 4. There will be a total of 8 people in our party. We are staying at POFQ, but I’m starting to second guess myself. Would you recommend Carribbean Beach or Coronado Springs. I’ve always heard great things about POFQ, but it’s been about 3+ years since my visit and researching. All of your suggestions will be appreciated. I need to know where you would stay, when you would visit, and any other tips for such a large group. Also, would I need strollers this time? I saw big kids riding last time, but would love your opinion 😉
Hi Twin mom! On Pop Warner, it’s trivial and don;t worry about it–see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/05/30/pop-warner-week-at-walt-disney-world/
On strollers…many find them a great help even with kids that have grown out of them recently. WDW take a look of walking and long hours, and wears kids out.
For large families, start here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/special-circumstances/special-circumstances-large-families/
For your other questions–start on the home page and work your way through its topics and links! https://yourfirstvisit.net/
Leave a Comment | Ask a Question | Note a Problem