It’s said to be “the happiest place on earth.”
But some travelers aren’t thrilled about what it takes to drag off a visit to Walt Disney World today.
Top restaurants may be booked solid months prematurely. Timeslots for brand new attractions can go inside seconds of coming online at 7 a.m.
After which there’s the lingo: To avoid lines, FastPasses are out, and Lightning Lanes are in. There’s also Disney Genie and Disney Genie+ (the latter costs extra), Individual Lightning Lanes (to not be confused with regular Lightning Lanes) and photography services like PhotoPass and Memory Makers.
To some Disney super fans, mastering the system is all a part of the fun — not to say a technique to reduce waiting times within the parks.
But for casual parkgoers, strategizing for a stay may be overwhelming.
“It’s insane how much work has to enter planning a Disney vacation,” said Andrea, who asked that we not use her full name because she works within the travel industry. “I would want a vacation just from planning my vacation.”
She said she joined several Disney groups on Facebook to get planning suggestions: “Oh my goodness — what a rabbit hole.”
Other travelers turn to Disney-focused YouTube channels, blogs and message boards, where fans trade tips about saving money, hotel pools and navigating the brand new rule changes.
A post last week on one message board read: “We have now been to WDW loads of times but not the last couple of years and all the brand new changes are confusing me [to] no end.”
Those changes are, nonetheless, a part of Disney’s continual quest for improvement, an organization representative told CNBC.
“We’re all the time listening to our guests and proceed to make updates to enhance their experience, which incorporates rolling out latest ways to make planning easier and simpler, now and into the long run,” Disney spokesperson Avery Maehrer told CNBC.
For now, planning a visit to Disney World is like “an Olympic sport,” Andrea said, adding that a lot of her friends turn to a Disney travel agent in the long run.
“But even that’s cumbersome and confusing,” she said.
‘So incredibly complicated’
Jonathan Alder, CEO of the travel agency Jonathan’s Travels, organizes African safaris, wine tours through France and trips to distant parts of Patagonia. But he said Disney World vacations require probably the most complex planning of all.
“The issue is the system is so incredibly complicated that it requires its own doctorate to essentially understand,” he told CNBC.
Jonathan Alder was recognized as one among 21 “travel masters” by Robb Report this 12 months. He said he goes to Disney World about “once a month.”
Source: Jonathan’s Travels
Alder lives in Winter Park, Florida — not removed from Walt Disney World — and has visited the parks greater than 100 times, he said. Travelers who miss the old days of wandering around and not using a schedule can still do this, he said — but at a price.
“There are those who understand the system and those who just go,” he said. The primary group approach planning like “it is a science,” and the second “get little or no out of their day.”
The latter group can still have a fantastic time, he said, but they may spend numerous it waiting in lines. They might leave pondering food at Disney World is a “cheeseburger and a hot dog … which couldn’t be farther from the reality,” he said.
Walt Disney World comprises 4 theme parks, two water parks and dozens of themed hotels, plus a shopping and entertainment area called Disney Springs. The whole complex is about on greater than 40 square miles of land — roughly twice the dimensions of Manhattan, Alder said.
Alder said planning a visit to Walt Disney World is a science. It’s “silly to say it like this, but it surely truly is.”
Joseph Prezioso | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Alder said the pandemic ushered in lots of the changes which are befuddling travelers today.
Before Covid, restaurant bookings opened six months before a visit. Now it’s two months, which has made reservations harder to get, he said.
“People just weren’t excellent at planning six months prematurely,” he said. “Two months out is a unique game. Almost everyone seems to be like … I’ve got to be on this.”
Shortening that booking window was a response to customer feedback, in line with Disney.
The right way to plan a Disney World trip
Alder recommends booking hotel accommodations first, namely Disney’s Boardwalk or Beach Club Resort, due to their proximity to the parks. They are not probably the most luxurious resorts, he said, but that does not matter because logistics are more vital. “At Disney World, your feet are your best transportation,” he said.
From there, visitors should tackle restaurant reservations because “amazing restaurants replenish super fast.”
His top restaurant recommendations in Disney hotels are Victoria & Albert’s within the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (note: children under 10 aren’t allowed), California Grill within the Contemporary Resort and Topolino’s Terrace on the Riviera Resort.
He books those restaurants for dinners, together with Epcot’s Takumi-Tei and Monsieur Paul, but recommends booking lunches within the parks.
“I highly recommend sit down lunches. I feel the quick-serve thing is a terrible idea,” he said. “That air-conditioned, sit-down break is what keeps your stamina up.”
For casual meals within the parks, he recommends the next — some for the food and others for the ambiance:
- Magic Kingdom: The Diamond Horseshoe, Liberty Tree Tavern or Tony’s Town Square
- Epcot: Garden Grill Restaurant, Connections Cafe
- Hollywood Studios: The Hollywood Brown Derby, 50’s Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dine-In
- Animal Kingdom: Tiffins, Yak & Yeti
Next, book park reservations based on where lunch reservations are secured, Alder said. That is especially vital because “Park Hopper” tickets now not let travelers “hop” from park to park at will; ticket-holders can only change locations after 2 p.m.
Avoiding lines
Perhaps greater than anywhere else, that is where “you should have your game plan,” said Alder.
The free FastPass program, which reduced waiting times on select attractions, led to 2021. As an alternative got here Genie+ (pronounced “Genie Plus”), a service available through the My Disney Experience app that costs from $15 a day per person, in line with Disney’s website.
It allows visitors to book “Lightning Lanes,” which assign a time window for guests to access shorter lines on attractions.
The My Disney Experience app recommends itineraries, shows ride waiting times and lets visitors order food at some restaurants.
Matt Stroshane | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Genie+ has “made everyone’s life even harder,” said Alder. Unlike the now defunct FastPass program, visitors can only book attractions “on the identical day, and now there is a charge.”
It also doesn’t secure spots on the latest rides, corresponding to Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (“the best ride probably ever made anywhere on the planet”) and the highly anticipated Tron Lightcycle/Run attraction, set to open Monday.
Visitors cannot walk up and get in line for either ride, said Alder; reasonably, they have to enter a “Virtual Queue” (which is free) or purchase an “Individual Lightning Lane,” in line with Disney’s website.
Virtual Queues open at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., and bookings go fast, Alder said. “You could have, I’d say, a great 15 to twenty seconds, should you’re lucky, before the ride is gone,” Alder said.
Doug Polzin, who has been visiting Disney World annually for around twenty years, said at 1 p.m. “you go searching the park and everybody is standing still” on their phones.
“Then you definitely hear an audible ‘yay’ or groan from the crowds,” he, and his wife Lana, told CNBC.
Individual Lightning Lanes, that are one-time purchases that sometimes range from $9 to $15, also typically sell out within the morning, said Alder. These allow riders to book a ride time for attractions that are not available under the Genie+ service, and only two may be used per day, in line with Disney’s website.
“Individual Lightning Lanes are much easier to get should you are staying at a Disney property as at 7 a.m., they open up for hotel guests only” he said. “From the minute that park opens, all guests are in a position to purchase it, and it’s always gone, if it wasn’t already, in moments.”
Alder said rides to prioritize are Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance, Pirates of the Caribbean, Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure and Frozen Ever After. He called the Star Wars attraction “game changing,” saying fans “shall be crying” after they see it.
Source: Jonathan’s Travel
If all that feels like an excessive amount of, Alder said, visitors can book a non-public VIP tour, using its privileges to go on the most well-liked rides in all 4 parks in in the future.
Nonetheless, the service runs from $450 to $900 an hour, and has a seven-hour minimum. After acknowledging this goes beyond most budgets, he said “should you are financially in a position to do it … it’s price each cent.”
Though Disney doesn’t disclose park attendance numbers, Polzin said: “The parks feel busier now than they’ve ever been.”
He said on his last visit he spent about 80% of the day on the Disney app attempting to secure shorter lines for his family on their favorite rides.
“The one time you are not in your phone is if you’re on a ride or shopping,” he said.
Is it price it? “Absolutely,” he said.
What’s happening at other parks?
Disney’s other theme parks — generally known as Disneylands — are smaller, with only one (Shanghai, Hong Kong) or two parks (Anaheim, Tokyo, Paris) in total.
Due to that, planning visits to those parks is not nearly as complicated, said Alder, adding that the exception is California’s Disneyland, which operates very like Disney World.
Australian Phoebe Morris said she didn’t hassle booking restaurants before her visit to Tokyo Disneyland last month.
“Restaurant slots open up one month prematurely for certain restaurants, and by the point we realised it was too late,” she said. Despite this “we were in a position to eat in other locations that allowed us to walk in.”
Parks outside of the US, corresponding to Tokyo Disneyland, are smaller and said to require less planning.
Kazuhiro Nogi | Afp | Getty Images
One other parkgoer, Derek — who asked that we not use his full name — called his visit to Shanghai Disneyland last month “a really flexible experience.”
He said he needed a park reservation and used an app to navigate the visit, but “I didn’t make reservation at restaurants” nor did he buy any skip-the-line services “because [I] went on a weekday when Chinese children are all in school.”
Outside of the US, Disneyland parks provide a “Premier Access” service, which allows visitors to purchase access to a shorter line on one ride, or in some locations, a broader range of attractions, for one fee, in line with the parks’ web sites.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, purchasing this service for eight attractions costs 329 Hong Kong dollars ($42), though costs for the service at Disneyland Paris are considerably higher.
‘Don’t rush it’
“An excellent Disney trip, if it is your first time, is seven to nine days,” Alder said. “Don’t rush it.”
Alder said travelers need not less than 4 days to go to the parks, but staying beyond this enables visitors to see them at a more leisurely pace.
Plus, there may be so far more to Disney World than the theme parks, he said. He called Disney World an “amazing spa destination” and said Disney Springs, formerly generally known as Downtown Disney, has shopping, live music and incredible restaurants.
Horse-drawn carriage rides, footgolf (a mix of soccer and golf) and princess makeovers for kids are all a part of Disney’s Enchanting Extras Collection.
Mark Ashman | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
There’s also boating, golfing and biking, plus an array of activities called the “Enchanting Extras Collection” which include horse-drawn carriage rides, tequila tastings, helium balloon rides and backstage access tours.
Those are the varieties of activities he said he planned for his own four-day birthday celebration at Disney World, where he and 35 friends played mini golf, rented Surrey bikes, and booked Animal Kingdom’s “Wild Africa Trek,” which Alder called “some of the fun experiences ever.”
The group also did a tequila tasting at Epcot, he said.
“That may be a super tough reservation to get,” said Alder. “That is the difference between people just showing up … and really entering into the detailed world of Disney planning.”
Disclosure: NBCUniversal owns CNBC and Universal Studios, which is a competitor of Disney World.
