Disney world in Florida~

Decide what your priorities are. Do you want to maximize your time or soak everything in? Dependent on how much you want to accomplish changes how you should approach your trip.

If you want to maximize there are some great resources (free and non-free) to help out (some go as far as printing out a schedule of where you should go and when, etc, down to the hour and these can potentially save many, many hours and time for several bonus rides).

Disney World is four parks compared to two at DLR in Anaheim. Their Downtown Disney is also significantly larger than the one in California.

The Animal Kingdom, Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot all offer a lot of attractions worth visiting, especially the Animal Kindgom which I think impressed me the most (the Safari and Expedition Everest, and I've heard Avatar land is pretty spectacular).

If you are short on time, you may want to skip the Magic Kingdom altogether, since Disneyland itself in my opinion is much more charming and most of the rides are similar. The only rides you will be missing out on that aren't at Disneyland would include rides a part of their Fantastyland expansion like the 7 Dwarfs mine train coaster, the classic Carousel of Progress in Tomorrowland (which used to be at Disneyland until the mid 70's) as well as the classic PeopleMover ride (which Disneyland has not had since the 90s) and the Country Bear Jamboree which used to exist at Disneyland but was replace by Winnie the Pooh.

WDW similarly is missing several rides that are found at Disneyland, like The Matterhorn Bobsleds, the Submarines, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, etc.

Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean, Thunder Mountain and other rides are slightly different in each park, some better at Disney World and others better at Disneyland, depending on who you ask.

I've missed some but that's a general idea.

tldr; If you are used to Disneyland, Disney World's Magic Kingdom is going to feel like a stretched out Disneyland lacking some of the charm and homey feel you're used to at the original in Anaheim. At least, that was my experience when I went there the first time.

Disneyland > Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World > Disneyland Resort

All my subjective opinion, of course. :p
 
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Make a wishlist of the stuff you have to do/eatand the things you want to see - I suggest letting each person who’s going have a top 1-3 things that they absolutely must do, because you’re not going to be able to do it all in one trip. Book your fast passes in advance, and plan around those. Also consider extra magic hours in your planning.

some things you can definitely expect:
-it’s huge, and your feet will hurt at the end of each day
- you will spend lots of time waiting in lines, and there’s no way around this really - the majority of the rides are worth waiting an hour or maybe two. If it’s 3+ hours, maybe consider whether it’s worth it to you. The Disney Play app is relatively new and lets you play interactive minigames based on the line you’re waiting in.
-it’s hot and humid af. And in the afternoon, there are usually thunderstorms, so pack a poncho. You can buy ones there, but they tend to be expensive. Even if it doesn’t rain, these can keep your stuff dry on water rides.

Other stuff:
* the pin trading is super fun imo, so get some before you go! I like to carry mine in a windowed backpack (there are cute ones online) so that they don’t fall out! Cast members love trading with you!
* eat lots of good food/drinks (dole whips are my #1)
 
I went there once when I was a little kid! I remember having a lot of fun and always wanting to go back while I was growing up, but unfortunately I remember more of just the feeling rather than what I actually did while I was there lol
 
I live in Florida (actually very close to Disney World, to give you a hint) and I’ve been there around 20+ times. Some things to keep in mind:
- Save your money but have some fun. I know that it’s fun to purchase cool lollipops and balloons and knickknacks and what not, but trust me, Disney has a lot of cool things and buying merch can be very addictive. Also, all of the food is delicious, but can be pricey. In Animal Kingdom (sorry Disney no shade), I’m pretty sure that pricey Kobe beef cheeseburger is just a regular hamburger. Shop smart, you can buy a Florida souvenir at any other gas station. :)
- Fast pass. Especially if you live far away, Disney should be enjoyed in full and there are so many tourists wanting to ride all of those rollercoasters, get fast pass to save your time. You could save at least 30 minutes of time just by using the fast pass. I remember when the Avatar ride came out in Animal Kingdom, there was a 4 hour wait. Fast pass is your friend.
- Ride as many rides as you can. I remember bringing along friends and other people who just won’t ride a single ride. You’re at the “Happiest Place on Earth”, so you should see as much of it as you can. This is not too much of an issue at Hollywood Studios or Epcot, but mostly towards Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom.
- Watch the shows, parades, and stay for the fireworks. It’s always fun to watch your favorite Disney character in costume, singing & dancing, so I would suggest staying. The fireworks are amazing at Magic Kingdom, and stunningly beautiful at Animal Kingdom, there are giant fluorescent lotus petals floating in the water with a lot of lights.

In Magic Kingdom, imagine walking through Cinderella’s castle and garden, with elements of Alice in Wonderland. There are different parts like Mainstreet with many old-fashioned style buildings to eat or buy merchandise, Tomorrowland with a futuristic style, Frontierland with an American western-style place, etc.

Animal Kingdom has different sections, Africa, Asia, Dinoland, Pandora etc. All which are very cool, I can’t tell you about Pandora as I’ve never been on any rides, but they do a good job with the outdoor decorations. There are also real animals around the park, and you can take a train to see African wildlife, or wander to see monkey, tiger, or reptile exhibits.

In my opinion, there’s nothing to do in Hollywood Studios in terms of rides, but you can watch Star Wars and other Disney shows. I don’t have a lot of memories there unfortunately.

Epcot lets you eat all around the world, the World Showcase, with little sections of Japan, Germany, France, UK, Mexico, Italy, China, US, Canada, Morocco, and Norway. I remember as a kid my family went there to eat dinner by going to the different booths lol. Definitely worth it.

Once the pandemic calms down, you should totally visit Disney World sometime! 😄
 
Best thing if you don't like it too hot and too many queues go out of season. I'm from the UK myself so don't do HOT Gah either. We went in January when we went one time and that was a nice temperature although does become very cold in the evenings on the park. Queues were much better then too. Are you in to Harry Potter? When I went we did just over a week staying in disney and doing the various parks and the second part of the holiday staying in one of the Universal hotels and visiting there as me and my friends who I was travelling with are massive Harry Potter fans!
 
Emmsey said:
Best thing if you don't like it too hot and too many queues go out of season. I'm from the UK myself so don't do HOT Gah either. We went in January when we went one time and that was a nice temperature although does become very cold in the evenings on the park. Queues were much better then too. Are you in to Harry Potter? When I went we did just over a week staying in disney and doing the various parks and the second part of the holiday staying in one of the Universal hotels and visiting there as me and my friends who I was travelling with are massive Harry Potter fans!
Click to expand...
Yes I’m really into Harry Potter~ you should see my bedroom lol
 
Had a great time when I went with my family and cousins when I was a kid, probably one of my fondest memories. Hopefully 2021 will have us clear of this virus so we can all enjoy travel again!
 
I had a really great time there but the lines are super long (as expected) and have vivid memories going there ^-^ I think they did announce several months ago before the pandemic that they were doing a lot of construction throughout 2020 to prepare for some anniversary event next year. My favorite parks were EPCOT and the Magic Kingdom. I haven’t been to Hollywood Studios.
 
I've been a couple of times when I was much younger, but I remember having a lot of fun. Hopefully, the following advice will still be applicable even if it is years later.
  • It may be worth it to do some planning before going. It can be as simple as choosing which parks you want to visit on what days, or choosing what rides/attractions you want to do the most, or as complicated as making a touring itinerary to follow. However, I think that doing at least some planning is worthwhile because of the size of the parks and how busy they can get.
    • Take advantage of Fastpasses and Extra Magic Hours if you decide to stay on property. Once, my Dad and I got to ride Splash Mountain 3 times in a row during Extra Magic Hours without having to get off the ride vehicle, it was so empty in the park.
    • Definitely plan to see some shows/fireworks/parades as Disney's are high quality. If you've already seen a show once, you can always use that time to do rides as lines should be a bit shorter during that time period.
  • If you can, go off-season. Try to avoid school holidays and such. Disney World usually gets very busy, so any time of year is likely going to have lots of people, but at least you can somewhat reduce the amount of people who'll be there.
    • If you go during the summer, bring an extra pair of socks. Because of all the rain, my feet got soaked pretty quickly and I remember being pretty uncomfortable walking around with wet socks and shoes. A poncho may also be helpful (and also for wet rides too!). Disney World sells them but you'll probably be able to get them way cheaper from your hometown.
  • Wait to buy merch until near the end of your vacation so that you can see what is available. The exception would be if you know an item is exclusive to a particular ride/area and you for sure want it. Disney has so much available that it may be worth it to take a look to see what is available before buying anything. Disney will also do complementary delivery of items to your hotel room if you stay with them so you don't have to worry about carrying things around all day!
  • If you want to do pin trading, you should be aware that many of the pins circulating the lanyards/boards of cast members are fake. Pin trading can be fun, but to avoid trading your pins for pins of much lesser value, I'd stick to just purchasing outright. If you really want to trade, you could try doing research on fake pins before hand and trading the Hidden Mickey sets/on sale pins to avoid the risk (as you'd be trading cheap pins).
With the pandemic ongoing, Disney World is taking many precautions to prevent the spread, some of which might detract from the overall theme park experience. This includes limiting the hotels they have open, restricting park hopping, and completely changing the way that parades/fireworks/shows are run. If I were you, I'd wait until the pandemic situation gets better and these precautions are lifted to be able to enjoy the park to the fullest, as Disney is not reducing ticket rates despite these changes.
 
I've been to disneyworld literally hundreds of times (annual passholder and I live about 45 mins away) and it's not something that can be done in one day, or even a couple of days. Some parks need multiple days to experience everything. Also, Florida is very hot and humid and not fun to be out in too long, thus making more days at the parks optimal.

If you can only stay a day or two, plan ahead and get fast passes as soon as you know which days you will be there. Epcot is my favorite park, it's a bit more relaxing than the others since I can't really physically handle rollercoasters and thrill rides anymore.

Also, hotels make a world of difference. All of them are great, even the budget ones, but shelling out more money to stay at the Contemporary instead of the All Star's will add a lot to your experience.
 
Disney World and Disney Land are so different in terms of experiences. Unlike in Land, you can't just hop over to another park very easily as some of them are often miles away. If you use Disney transportation, that can end up being 1 hour or more to go between parks. The only two parks that have consistent travel time are Epcot and Hollywood Studios, so you can go between them interchangeably.

I can't speak for the pandemic times that we are in currently, but here's the most important things imo.
  • Fastpasses: You need to reserve these 60 days in advance if you don't want to wait 4 hours on rides like Flight of the Pandora. It's just mostly all about making sure you don't forget to book them. Additionally on the day of once you use your booked fast passes, you can sometimes snipe some additional valuable fast passes just by paying attention to the app. I got to ride on Flight of the Pandora twice in the same day just by watching the app, its something a lot of people don't know about or don't care to do.
  • Food: Unless you plan on eating fast food the entire time, make sure you have the restaurants you want to go to planned out way in advance and book them as well. If you are trying to go right now though, that might not be possible because i don't think they are taking reservations
  • A schedule: I'm not saying you need to adhere to this, but I find it very important to at least plan out what you plan to get done each day so that you know you can knock off everything on your wishlist. Might be also valuable to plan in some rest days if you are the type to get overwhelmed from all the things to do and people at the park.
  • Check the weather: Getting raIned on sucks, and not having an umbrella or rain coat with you on that day sucks more, and buying a 20 dollar umbrella sucks even more. Check the weather each day before going out.
Overall, I would not recommend going right now because the pandemic makes everything in the park currently basically Disney-lite. There's no fireworks, very few restaurants are open, no parades, no shows, you gotta wear a mask all the time, etc... But if you do plan on going this year, my tips should still mostly apply!
 
If you’re in florida, visiting Disney world is a must! I’ve lived in Florida my whole life and I’ve been to both Disney and Universal more than I can count. I’ve also worked at both parks and I can definitely say, while universal is better if you’re looking for more thrilling rides, Disney has way more to see and they care more about their guests.
Animal Kingdom is my favorite (that’s the one I worked at so I might be a little biased haha), it has the most to see and do in my personal opinion, and the avatar ride is definitely something you don’t want to miss out on.
Like others have said, definitely check the weather beforehand and come prepared for rain if you’re visiting during the summer because Florida weather is very unpredictable.
Also, everything at Disney is pricey, so make sure to bring food or extra cash if you plan on staying all day.
 
I've never been to Disneyland, but Disney World was such an amazing experience!!! Some tips from what I remember is that it would rain unexpectedly in the afternoon/evening so pack a poncho, umbrella, maybe even a change of clothes in a waterproof bag and ziplock bags for your phone or something. You will be walking a lot so make sure you bring shoes with good support. Bring a reusable water bottle if you don't want to keep paying for water (the restaurant prices are jacked up) or maybe even bring your own food. I remember the actual restaurant food being so/so but the special snacks are really good and worth the money (baked goods, drinks, ice cream, etc) !! Also I don't know if you planned your trip already, but you need to book events far in advice (I'm talking months or even a year early) because stuff fills up super fast. "Events" refer to special restaurant reservations with Disney characters, the Luau event at the Polynesian Resort (you don't have to be staying at that hotel to participate), the Disney Hollywood studio shows, or other special events in the parks.

For personal recommendations, my sister and I enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the Lilo and Stitch "ride" (its more of a show/experience), the Luau at the Polynesian Resort, and just shopping at all the parks. When we went (this was like maybe 10 years ago) we didn't like the Animal Kingdom park because it was very "little kid" BUT I think they changed it since then and added a few things (like that Avatar land) so maybe its gotten better! My overall favorite park was Magic Kingdom and I would say give yourself at least 2 days here to experience everything (its very big)! You can feel free to dm me if you have any other questions :) OH and be sure to see the nighttime parade and fireworks show in the Magic Kingdom at least once!
 
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