Category — s. FAQ and Glossary

OVERVIEW: TORNADOES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Although hurricanes get much more attention, tornadoes are likely an equal threat to central Florida visitors—although neither is a major risk.

Winter/Spring tornadoes are a particular threat.

MORE ON TORNADOES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

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OVERVIEW: THE DISNEY RESORTS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

At several points in this site’s instructions for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World I note that they should stay at Walt Disney World resort hotels—for example, in Where to Stay.

In other places, at times I refer to “official” Walt Disney World Resort hotels.

This page means to make clear which hotels count towards this instruction, and which don’t.

Where I want people to stay is those Walt Disney World resort hotels that are owned and operated by Disney, and—and this is the important thing—that offer all of the key benefits available to guests staying at a such a resort.

These key benefits include:

• Early access to FastPass+, the key tool for reducing waits. Guests at Disney-owned resorts can start booking their FastPass+ 60 days ahead. Everyone else except those at the Swan, Dolphin, Shades of Green, and the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels have to wait til 30 days ahead
• Disney’s Magical Express—free transportation from the airport to your hotel, and back again
• Extra Magic Hours: early openings, or late closings, of Walt Disney World theme parks, when only guests at Walt Disney World resorts and a few others can enjoy the rides and attractions
• The Disney Dining Plan, a prepaid meal plan. Visitors with younger kids eating all of the meals in one of the itineraries on this site may save a bit of money from signing up for this plan
• The Disney transportation system, a fleet of buses, boats, and monorails that transports guest from the Walt Disney World resort hotels to the theme parks and Downtown Disney, and back again

Other benefits are also available to guests at Walt Disney World resort hotels—room charge privileges, package delivery, etc., but the five above are the key perks that are the basis of the recommendation that first time family visitors stay in an “official” Walt Disney World resort—that is, in Disney owned and operated resorts.

WHAT ARE THE DISNEY OWNED AND OPERATED RESORT HOTELS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD?

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OVERVIEW: EXTRA MAGIC HOURS AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

Extra Magic Hours have been replaced by a new morning program, Early Entry.

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

Extra Magic Hours are a program offered to guests staying at Walt Disney Resort hotels, and also at three other hotels: the Swan, Dolphin, and Shades of Green. In early 2018, access to them was added to guests staying at one of the Disney Springs Resort Area hotels, and in March 2018, to guests staying at the Four Seasons. In early 2019, Extra Magic Hours access was granted to guests staying at the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek and the Waldorf Astoria Orlando.

Almost every day, at least one of Walt Disney World’s theme parks offers morning Extra Magic Hours or evening Extra Magic Hours.

During morning Extra Magic Hours, a theme park opens one or more hours earlier to these guests than it opens to the general public. During evening Extra Magic Hours, a theme park remains open for these guests for two hours or more later than it is open to the general public.

Not all rides and attractions operate during these hours. However, most of the most popular ones are open in the morning hours, and even more are open in the evening hours.

The effect of these hours is to increase the operating hours of the theme parks for Walt Disney World resort guests—and for the guests of the three additional hotels listed above.

These are not, however, necessarily less crowded periods.

The hotels in the program hold on the order of 30,000 rooms!  That room capacity can put a lot of people into the parks! See the “Dos, Don’ts, Tricks and Tips” section below for suggestions on how to work Extra Magic Hours.

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OVERVIEW: FASTPASSES AT WALT DISNEY WORLD

(This page is one of a series explicating Walt Disney World lingo, abbreviations, and FAQ for first time family visitors to Walt Disney World.)

Walt Disney World’s FASTPASS system is a benefit that comes built-in for free in all Walt Disney World theme park admission tickets of any type.

Using FASTPASSES greatly reduces your time spent waiting in line for some (but not all!) of Walt Disney World’s most loved—and crowded—rides and attractions.

The FASTPASS system allows you to “make an appointment” with a ride or attraction to come back to it at a later time in the day.

When you come back at that time, you will, after showing your FASTPASS, be directed to a special, shorter waiting line and be able to experience the attraction with almost always less than a fifteen minute wait.

This can save you hours of waiting in line.

HOW WALT DISNEY WORLD FASTPASSES WORK

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