Orlando Florida. – It’s said to be “the happiest place on earth,” but some travelers aren’t keen on what it takes to take a trip to Walt Disney World these days.
In the Disney parks, the best restaurants can be reserved months in advance. Time slots for new attractions can operate within seconds of going live, at 7 a.m.
And then there is the jargon. To avoid queues, FastPasses are out of the question and Lightning Lanes are all the rage. There’s also Disney Genie and Disney Genie+ (the latter costs extra), Individual Lightning Lanes (not to be confused with regular Lightning Lanes), and photography services like PhotoPass and Memory Makers.
For some Disney superfans, mastering the system is part of the fun, not to mention a way to reduce park wait times.
However, for occasional visitors to the park, strategizing for a stay can be overwhelming.
“It’s crazy. How much work it takes to plan a Disney vacation,” Andrea told CNBC 4, who didn’t use her full name at the request of the interviewee because she works in the travel industry. . “I would need a vacation just to plan my vacation,” he said.
Andrea told CNBC that she joined various Disney Facebook groups for planning advice, but “oh my god, what a rabbit hole,” she said.
Other travelers are turning to Disney-focused YouTube channels, blogs and message boards, where fans swap tips on saving money, hotel pools and new rule changes.
A message last week on a message board read: ‘We have been to WDW several times but not in the past two years and I am confused by all the new changes.’
However, these changes are part of Disney’s ongoing quest for improvement, a company representative told CNBC.
“We are always listening to our customers and continue to make updates to improve their experience, including implementing new ways to make planning easier and simpler, now and in the future” , said Avery Maehrer, a spokesperson for Disney.
Right now, planning a trip to Disney is like “an Olympic sport,” Andrea said, adding that many of her friends eventually turn to a Disney travel agent.
Jonathan Alder, CEO of Jonathan’s Travels, organizes African safaris, French wine tours and trips to remote areas of Patagonia. However, and despite his knowledge, he assured that Disney vacations are the most complex planning of all.
“The problem is that the system is so incredibly complicated that it takes your own PhD to really understand it,” he noted.
On the other hand, there is Alder, a resident of the town of Winter Park in Florida, not far from said attractions. Alder has visited the parks more than 100 times and explained that there is a cost to walking without schedules at Disney. “There are those who understand the system and those who just go for it… The first group approaches planning as if it were a science and the second gets very little out of their day,” he said.
This last group can still have a good time, but they will spend a lot of time waiting in line. They may come away thinking the food at the parks is a “cheeseburger and a hot dog…which couldn’t be further from the truth,” he said.
Walt Disney World includes four theme parks, two water parks and dozens of themed hotels, as well as a shopping and entertainment area called Disney Springs. The entire complex sits on over 40 square miles of land, roughly twice the size of Manhattan.
Alder explained that the pandemic has introduced many of the changes that are confusing travelers these days because before COVID-19, restaurant reservations would open six months before a visit. It’s been two months now, which has made it harder to get reservations.
How to Plan a Trip to Disney World
Alder recommends that you first book accommodations at hotels like Disney’s Boardwalk or Beach Club Resort due to their proximity to the parks. They are not the most luxurious “resorts”, but that does not matter because the logistics are more important. “At Disney World, your feet are your best means of transportation,” he said.
The next step is to make reservations at the restaurants as “they fill up very quickly”.
For him, the Victoria & Albert’s restaurants at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa (children under 10 are not allowed) and the California Grill at the Contemporary Resort and Topolino’s Terrace at the Riviera Resort are the best options. However, I should know that he makes the recommendations for dinner and not lunch, as he understands that it is better to have lunch at the parks.
“I highly recommend sit-down lunches. I think fast service is a bad idea…It’s that air-conditioned seat that keeps your stamina up,” he said.
Casual dining in the parks
- Magic Kingdom: The Diamond Horseshoe, Liberty Tree Tavern or Tony’s Town Square
- Epcot: Restaurante Garden Grill, Connections Cafe
- Hollywood Studios: Hollywood Brown Derby, 1950s Prime Time Cafe, Sci-Fi Dinner
- Animal Kingdom: Tiffins, Yak and Yeti
He also recommended making park reservations based on where lunch reservations are secured. This is particularly important because “Park Hopper” tickets no longer allow travelers to “hop” from one park to another at will; ticket holders cannot change locations until after 2 p.m.
Avoid the lines at Disney
Perhaps more than anywhere else, this is where “you need to have your game plan,” Alder said.
The free FastPass program, which reduced wait times at some attractions, will end in 2021.
In its place came Genie+, a service available through the My Disney Experience app that starts at $15 per day per person, according to Disney’s website.
Additionally, it allows customers to reserve “Lightning Lanes”, which allocates a window of time for customers to access shorter lines at attractions.
Unlike the now-defunct FastPass program, Genie+ allows customers to book attractions only and charge for them “same day.”
It also does not guarantee seats on new attractions, such as Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and the Tron Lightcycle/Run attraction.
Visitors are not allowed to enter and queue for either ride, Alder said; instead, they must enter a “virtual queue” (which is free) or purchase an “individual lightning lane,” according to Disney’s website.
Virtual queues open at 7 a.m. and 1 p.m., and reservations go fast, Alder said. “You have, I’d say, a good 15-20 seconds, if you’re lucky, before it’s gone,” Alder said.
Individual Lightning Lanes, which are one-time purchases that typically range from $9 to $15, also typically sell out in the morning. This allows passengers to reserve ride time for attractions that are not available on the Genie+ service, and only two can be used per day, according to Disney’s website.
“The individual Lightning Lanes are much easier to get to if you’re staying at a Disney property because at 7 a.m. they’re only open to hotel guests,” he said. “As soon as the park opens, all visitors can purchase it, and it’s usually gone, if it’s not already, within moments.”
If that all seems like too much, Alder said, customers can book a VIP private tour, using their privileges to ride the most popular rides at all four parks in one day.
However, the service costs between $450 and $900 per hour and has a seven-hour minimum. Acknowledging that it’s beyond most budgets, he said “if you have the financial capacity to do it…it’s worth every penny”.
What’s happening in the other parks?
Disney’s other theme parks, known as Disneylands, are smaller, with only one (Shanghai, Hong Kong) or two parks (Anaheim, Tokyo, Paris) in total.
Therefore, planning visits to these parks is not that complicated, according to Adler, who added that the exception is Disneyland in California, which operates very similarly to Disney World.
Australian Phoebe Morris said she didn’t bother to book restaurants until she visited Tokyo Disneyland last month.
“Eating slots open a month in advance for some restaurants and when we realized it was too late,” he said. Despite this, “we were able to eat at other places that allowed us to walk”.
Another park visitor, Derek, who asked that his full name not be used, called his visit to Shanghai Disneyland last month “a very flexible experience”.
He said he needed a park reservation and used an app to navigate the tour, but “did not make restaurant reservations” or purchase skip-the-line services “because (I) went on a weekday when the kids are at school.” .
Outside the United States, Disneyland parks offer a “Premier Access” service, which allows customers to purchase access to a shorter line on a ride or, in some locations, to a wider range of attractions , according to the parks’ websites.
At Hong Kong Disneyland, purchasing this service for eight attractions costs $42, although the costs for the service at Disneyland Paris are considerably higher.
“Don’t rush” on your first trip to Disney
“If it’s your first time, a big trip to Disney is seven to nine days…Don’t rush it,” Adler urged all visitors.
The Disney fan said travelers need at least four days to visit the parks, but staying longer allows visitors to see them at a more leisurely pace.
Plus, there’s a lot more to Disney World than theme parks. Adler also called Disney an “amazing spa destination.”
There’s also boating, golf and biking, plus a variety of activities called Colección Extras Encantadoras, including horse-drawn carriage rides, tequila tastings, helium balloon rides and backstage access tours.
These latest types of activities at Disney are those for his four-day birthday bash, where he and 35 friends played miniature golf, rented Surrey bikes and booked Animal Kingdom’s Wild Africa Trek.
“It’s a super tough reservation to get,” Alder said. “It’s the difference between people just showing up…and really stepping into the detailed world of Disney planning.”
NOTE: NBCUniversal owns CNBC and Universal Studios, which is a competitor to Disney World.