When Should I First Take My Kids to WDW?

I get this question a lot from friends contemplating a first Disney World trip with their kids.  It is a very reasonable one, and my wife and I thought long and hard on this one before deciding to go approaching our twins' 4th birthday.   There are various things to consider, including the child or children's readiness, whether they will likely remember it, and whether WDW is a one off trip or the first of several.  So I will attempt to address each of these issues individually in this blog.

A child's readiness to not only travel by plane and / or car, and spend a day or days in an amusement park such as Disney World with so much going on is very individual.  It is not about whether a child needs or wants a stroller, but more about their ability to handle the age appropriate rides, meeting large sized characters, watching shows in crowded theatres and viewing areas, and lining up (sometimes in the heat). My kids could handle it at nearly four, but even then my son had a couple of tear filled near meltdowns over our four days (not full ones) in the parks.

This brings up a couple of points to note.  There are plenty of rides and shows suitable for younger kids both in the Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. Several of the character dining  experiences are geared toward the younger set, including the gang from Winnie the Pooh at Crystal Palace in MK.  You also have to be realistic about what you and your kids can accomplish during the day, how long they should be in the parks, whether a nap is needed, or a return in the evening.  Fastpass times should be sufficiently spread out to enable you all to get from one attraction to the next, and have a chance to grab a bite if needed or stop a watch a show or parade.

If you believe that this may be your one and only time that your family may go to Disney World, or at least for quite a long time, then waiting until your youngest child is 7 or 8 would be a good idea.  Our children definitely got more and more out of each successive trip, and we would not have gone at around age 4 if we thought it was going to be our one and only trip. But it also pays to consider how much you want your child or children to remember.   That is if it even matters to you.  Our kids do recall quite a bit of their first trip, due partly to the fact that my wife took many photos, and had each child choose their favourites to put in a Disney photo album.  They each keep this in their room to look at whenever they please.  It has aided in keeping the memories of that first trip alive.

There is no definitive answer to the question of which is the best age to first take kids to Disney World.   As with most other questions regarding WDW, it depends on your family's situation and expectations.  My best advice is to consider the questions that I raised to come to your own conclusion for your child or children. And for the most part, focus the decision on your youngest child (or children), as he or she is the one that will effect everyone else's enjoyment the most.

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Things that Make Disney World So Special (Updated)

I am not exactly sure who I am directing this post towards.  Most of you that follow this blog are aware, I am sure,  that Walt Disney World is a special place and a most unique vacation.  So I guess I am hoping that this post will be shared with the doubters,  who insist on questioning why someone would even go there at such expense, and then dare to return time and time again.   I think you now know of the people of whom I speak. Here are six things that make it so special to we WDW devotees.

1. Walt Disney World has four distinct and separate theme parks, plus two additional water parks in one location.   Each park has a distinct theme and set of shows and attractions.  No where else in the world has this many in one spot.                                                     
2. On the Walt Disney World property there are about 30 hotels and resorts, both Disney and independently operated. The Disney Resorts  have unique themes, and they range in price from quite inexpensive to high end exorbitant. Our recent stay at Port Orleans Riverside just added extra magic to our vacation. There are even themed rooms including Finding Nemo, Little Mermaid, and pirates.                                        
3. The characters are phenomenal!  From the original group including Mickey and Minnie to both the classic and the latest Disney Princesses to the Pixar characters such as Buzz Lightyear, Lightening McQueen and Mike Wasowski to Star Wars and the Muppets, the opportunities are overwhelming.   I can only imagine that coming up with an idea for an attraction,  show or dining establishment to fit a character or movie, really inspires the creativity of Disney's imagineers. Character greetings in a variety of forms (please see a previous post) have become a staple of many a WDW trip.  And what surprises me most as an adult,  is how caught up we can get in meeting our favourite characters again.  You really start to act like a kid when you are there, which is a wonderful thing to have happen.                              
4. This last point brings me to the mix of the imagineers' creativity and technology in some of the attractions and shows that put them head and shoulders above everywhere else. For example, the technology used in Epcot’s Turtle Talk with Crush is amazing,  but since the show is so engaging and interactive,  you forget about how they do it, and focus on the magic of it.  I guess when you have no limits to either imagination nor budget (probably), what you can do goes to infinity and beyond!   Now there are some traditional style amusement park rides in WDW, and a few cheesy ones like Carousel of Progress, that seem to be stuck in a time warp, but it is the special attractions and shows that we tend not to forget.                                                                           
5. The dining options are both unique and numerous, from coffee and Dole Whip stands to the fanciest in fine dining and everything in between.  Just as the resorts are, many of them are themed on characters, movies, or just interesting ideas or concepts such as T Rex (dinosaurs) or Sci Fi Diner (eating in booths inside 1950s cars in a drive in theater showing sci fi clips).  What they really offer are experiences, whether it be visual, character greetings, or menu choices.  My most favorite experience is dining at California Grill during Happily Ever After Fireworks  (which is also another blog post topic).                                                                       
6. This leads perfectly into my next item--parades and fireworks shows.  First of all, the fact that they have these on a daily and nightly basis is unique enough.   But when you add in the scale and quality of parades such as the Festival of Fantasy in Magic Kingdom, and the night shows of MK's Happily Ever After and Epcot’s Illuminations of Earth, you realize how special these are.  I am not going to pretend that Walt Disney World's park admissions haven't risen to extreme levels, but these amazing parades and light and fireworks shows add a value that nowhere else matches, and therefore a cost too. And there are special parades and shows such as the one filmed in November but televised on Christmas Day, Christmas parade, which are highly anticipated too.  

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The Disney Transportation System Scoop

On our most recent trip to Disney World, it was our first time staying in a Disney Resort. One of the things that we were most excited about was using the Disney Transportation system, which is included as perk of staying in one.  That, and the fact that our resort, Port Orleans Riverside had a riverboat to Disney Springs as part of the system.   Now when we stayed in the on site Holiday Inn, and off site, I had used the monorail and ferry from the Transportation and Ticket Centre to Magic Kingdom and the three monorail hotels, but nothing else.  The system is better than some in major cities, and I will detail how it all works in this post.

The buses are really the backbone of the system, even though the monorail is what everyone thinks of at Walt Disney World.  The bus routes take you from your resort to a park, waterpark, or Disney Springs.  Some resorts such as Port Orleans French Quarter have only one bus stop for everyone, while its sister resort Port Orleans Riverside has four.  With only one stop, it is completely direct both ways, but at times the bus line could be long during busy times.  My advice is to try to get a room located close to a bus stop, and if possible, the first pick up.  During our stay at POR, we were a two or three minute walk to the first pick up, and we always got on the first bus.  Also be aware that some resorts such as Beach Club and Swan and Dolphin share a bus from certain parks (or at least at certain times of the day).  There are monitors that are constantly updating wait times for the next bus to each park or Disney Springs.  Buses to the water parks are also shared.

If you need to go from one resort to another resort for a dining reservation, you will need to change buses at a park.  It is best to ask a cast member at your home resort which is the best park to transfer at if you are not sure.  I was advised not to transfer at Disney Springs.  Always give yourself a minimum of an hour or so to get from one resort to another.  Park hoppers can also board buses from most parks to the others.  One other thing to note is buses drop off next to the front entrance of the Magic Kingdom, not the Transportation and Ticket Centre as do other shuttle buses.  But this does mean you also bypass the monorail ride.

The three Deluxe hotels located on the Magic Kingdom monorail are the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian.   There are two monorails that circle around Seven Seas Lagoon connecting the Transportation and Ticket Centre to the Magic Kingdom, but only one of them stops at the three hotels as well.  It runs in one direction only, going from TTC and stopping in order at the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian, MK, the Contemporary and back to TTC.  It takes awhile to make this circuit so plan accordingly if coming to or going from these resorts.  There is also a monorail that connects MK to Epcot, but it actually connects at the Transportation and Ticket Centre.

I would be completely remiss if I didn't mention the boats that you can take, including the ferry that sails across Seven Seas Lagoon connecting the Transportation and Ticketing Centre to the Magic Kingdom.   But there are also riverboats that travel between hotels such as Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter and Saratoga Springs to and from Disney Springs.  There is also a boat from both Epcot and Hollywood Studios to and from the set of boardwalk hotels such as Beach Club.  It does depart from near the World Showcase, so you would have to have a valid park pass to utilize it. Our family really enjoyed the tranquility of the riverboat ride from POR to Disney Springs and back again.  Just be aware that the boats sometimes service more than one hotel, depending on time of day and crowd level.  There is even a water taxi that takes you from one end of Epcot's World Showcase to the other.

While the Disney transportation system isn't flawless, and can get very busy at peak times, we went mid summer, and it was excellent.   There are a number of perks to staying in a Disney Resort that I have outlined in several previous posts, but Disney's transportation system is certainly one of the best.

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The Decision to Fly or Drive (Updated)

For my wife and I, it was a fairly easy decision.  We thought about driving because we had the time, and it would have been nice to see some of the United States as we made our way from the Greater Toronto Area to Orlando.  But we have credit card points that would be worth two to three airline tickets, and so the cost savings for an already expensive vacation made sense.  The real question for us, being from Canada, was whether to fly out of Toronto, or drive to Buffalo or Detroit and fly from there. 

I recognize that the two main reasons for driving over flying are the cost savings and convenience of having your car with you.  But the amount of  savings largely depends on how long it takes to drive there, how quickly you can actually do it, and how well your kids can handle a long drive.  From our area, it is a approximately a twenty four hour drive.  Some families will complete it in less than two days, with just one stop overnight.   Others will take longer, spreading out the driving,  and making more stops, including overnight, along the way.   Some friends and Facebook group members have told me that they loved the drive,  while others have vowed to never do it again (at least with kids)!  

It also used to be nice to be able to park at a Disney Resort for free, but recently Disney decided to charge an additional fee of $13 US per day, including parking at the parks.  If you fly through Orlando International Airport, you can use the Magical Express to transport you back to your resort, and return to OIA for free.  On some airlines, you can even check your bags to and from the resort and your departure airport.  So this is another cost that needs to now be accounted for.

The first thing that we did was look at the flights from Toronto, to see the prices and the times.  There were no bargains, but the largest deterrent to flying from a Canadian airport are all the surcharges and taxes, that add approximately $100 to $150 US per person to the cost.  Credit card points do not cover these, except for using 100 points per dollar, which isn't worth it.  There are also baggage fees for most carriers which add another significant amount to the cost.  In the United States, the taxes are only about 10 to 20 percent of the Canadian amounts, and often the ticket prices are lower as well, including the exchange for a lower Canadian dollar.  Southwest even allows you two checked bags for free, and while there is no seat selection, you can get in line for priority seat selection at the gate for a mere $15 US return per person.  Spirit has very low fares, but charges for everything else including any checked bags.  Another low fare US carrier is Jet Blue.

There is the issue of driving to Buffalo or Detroit, but doing so in the spring, summer  or fall is not the risk that you would have in winter, when a snowstorm could hit.  Also, crossing the border in a car is actually easier than having to go through the long lines at Customs in Pearson International Airport in Toronto.  Parking in Buffalo is very cheap relatively speaking (even with the lower Canadian dollar) and you can always stay at a nearby airport hotel and leave your car there.  That was our plan.  We chose to drive to Buffalo the day before, stay overnight, use the hotel's shuttle, and take an early flight to Orlando.  Another advantage of flying to Walt Disney World, is that if you are staying in a Disney Resort (and we will be this trip), you can take advantage of the Magical Express bus service directly to your resort.  And if you want a rental car, you can just reserve one from any of the various rental car companies located in Orlando International Airport.

The next step for us was to wait for the Southwest fares to be released so that we could decide which airline to take, and book our tickets. Since we ended up on an early morning Southwest flight, we selected a nearby airport hotel to stay in, that had a gated parking lot to keep your vehicle up to 14 days. If we had to fly later in the day, we may just have driven directly to the airport and park there.  No matter whether you are flying from the US,  Canada or elsewhere,  there may be alternative airports to fly out from.  Spirit actually flies from the much smaller Niagara International Airport rather than Buffalo.  Even Orlando has a secondary airport called Sanford.   But be aware that if you fly into it, Disney's Magical Express is not available.  There is lots to think about when deciding to fly or drive,  but it is a decision that is worth pondering all your options for the best one for you and your family.

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My Top 10 Disney World Trip Planning Tips

For my 50th blog post I decided to come up with a list of my top ten tips for planning a trip to Disney World.  These all come from previous blog posts, many of which were discussed in much greater detail than will be on this list. So this post is something like those classic sitcoms with their "best of" episodes featuring numerous flashbacks.

1. Start planning early!  I would suggest booking at least 6 to 9 months ahead.  You don't want to miss the 180 day ahead mark to reserve some amazing dining experiences, or the 30 or 60 day mark to make Fastpass selections.  You can always take advantage of new and better deals that will come around.                                                                                                                              
2. There are so many options to stay both on and off site.  But you should seriously consider staying in a Disney Resort.  There are plenty of price points, and so many bonuses that add extra value to your stay.  These include the Magical Express, Disney Transportation, package delivery and Extra Magic Hours.   Not to mention the great pools and fun and interesting themes.                                                      
3. The Disney Dining Plan or Free Dining Promotion is not always worth it.  And the promotion is not "free" as you have to pay full price and add park hoppers.  It also does not include tips.  You have to do the math to see whether it is worth to you or not.  It depends on your family's eating habits.                                  
4. There are plenty of ways to save on food while in Walt Disney World, and they are listed in a previous blog post.   They include packing snacks, eating breakfast in the room, sharing huge main courses, and avoiding or limiting expensive character dining.                                     
5.   Deciding whether to fly or drive is a personal decision based on a variety of factors.  But if you do fly, consider all your airport options with a few hours drive, because you could save hundreds on air fares by doing so.  We flew out of Buffalo instead of Toronto, and saved a bundle.   Keep in mind that the Magical Express only runs in and out of Orlando International, and not the smaller Orlando area airports.           
6. Bring your own refillable water bottles into the parks.  We prefer Brita ones with filters to improve the taste.   Then refill them with complimentary ice water at any Disney quick service location.                                                           
7. Taking breaks is very important, in order to both extend your day, and survive the Florida heat.  Staying onsite allows you to go back to your resort or hotel to swim or rest.  But air conditioned rides and shows also can provide the needed respite.  Even a park free day can be nice, especially if you spend it at your resort and / or Disney Springs.                                             
8. Be sure to select your Fastpasses at either 60 days (If staying in a Disney Resort) or 30 days with your purchased park tickets connected to the My Disney Experience app or website.   Hollywood Studios and Epcot have tiered selections, so please read my blog post for info on how the system works, and some tips for making your selections. You can select youe first three at one park to start.  Then once those are used up, you can continue to pick one at a time.  Not everyone in your family has to have the same Fastpasses, and you switch them as well as the times providing there is availability.       
9. Before making dining reservations at 180 days ahead (for your entire stay if booked at a Disney Resort), plan out which parks you are going to be at each day first.  You can use one of several crowd calendars to help you, and then you can use your location to help plan out your dining reservations.  My one recommendation is to splurge for dinner at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary Resort before or during Happily Ever After fireworks!                    
10. Consider avoiding parks with early Extra Magic Hours, as they tend to be the most crowded, and the advantage is only for that first hour or two.  By avoiding the EMH parks, we have rarely faced heavy crowds in the parks, even during March break or mid summer.         

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Is Disney World Worth the Cost?

The question of whether Walt Disney World is worth the cost is asked in various different Disney Facebook groups in a variety of ways. As a blogger about planning trips to Disney World, I obviously feel it is worth it.  But I understand why anyone would ponder this, as I did before our first trip as a family.  WDW is expensive, and it has very few real comparables for price and value, but I am going to try to share some in this post.  Another thing that complicates this question further is that there are so many ways to do a trip to Disney World.  You can drive or fly, stay on or off site, go for one day or a couple of weeks, combine it with a trip to Florida or a cruise.  But having all these options, including so many different accommdation types and levels within the Walt Disney World Resort, provides the flexibility to tailor your trip to your budget.  Other all inclusive vacations or some other destinations do not offer this opportunity.                                  

Let's start with a simple premise.  Let's say that you were going to Florida for a vacation.   Most of your costs would be similar.  You could stay in the same priced hotel, resort or condo, eat at similar restaurants and transport yourself the same way.  Yes, some (but not all park meals) can be more expensive, but we havs paid similar prices for food at other Florida, and even local attractions.  So the biggest cost factor for Disney World are the park tickets.  For one day at one of the four theme parks it costs over $100 US per person, and that doesn't include the extra cost to park hop.  The cost for a second park day is not much less, but after that each extra day costs only $10 to $20 more.  I am not suggesting that it is cheap, but on a per day basis, if you were to have 6 park days, the cost would be the same or less than if you did a day at Seaworld, another at Legoland, Universal Studios or the Kennedy Space Center.   And you can't fairly compare it to other normal theme parks.  You are paying for more and better rides and shows, a multitude of classic and iconic characters, nightly incredible fireworks and light shows, daily multidimensional parades, the Fastpass selection system, and the usually excellent customer service.  You don't get most of these at other theme parks and attractions and still pay 60 to 80 percent of the cost of a day at a WDW theme park.                                                    

Now let's take the most comparable destination , Universal Studios Orlando.  First of all, while Disney World has 4 theme parks and 2 water parks, Universal only has two parks and a water park.  This is an important distinction, because many guests to Universal stay one or two days because that is all that is required.  The prices for one or two days are similar, and the "park hopper" at Universal is pricey, especially when you are only going to two parks.  The Universal Fastpass equivalent also costs extra (Disney's is free) unless you are staying in one of their deluxe level hotels.  And if you decide to do both parks, one each day, you will still miss out on the new Hogwarts Express train ride, which runs between both parks, because you must have the two park pass to ride it.  There is also the possibility that without an opportunity to skip the ride lines, you could be spending the day just lining up.  That's not good value in my opinion.  My wife is a Harry Potter fan, and she wanted to experience that section in Islands of Adventure, along with the Hogwarts Express. I calculated that it would cost us over $600 US (plus the Canadian exchange rate) for four of us for one day, not including food!  It was too expensive for our family, and so we chose to spend our money elsewhere.                                                                        
But there are other extras that give a Walt Disney World vacation extra value, especially if you stay in a Disney Resort.   The Magical Express service that shuttles you to your resort, with your bags sometimes beating you to your room.  The Disney Transportation system is free and takes you from your resort to parks, other resorts and Disney Springs on buses, boats and monorails. If you prefer a vehicle during a resort stay, you can park for free including at the parks. Each resort is themed down to the smallest detail, and resort hopping, such as in Vegas, has become a tradition of many visitors.  The restaurants and quick service dining options are often themed too, and the choices are seemingly endless.  There are several golf courses, other leisure activities, and a fabulous shopping and dining area called Disney Springs to enjoy, all within WDW.                                        

And you always have the choice of what you want to do, where, and for how long, where you want to stay, where you care to dine (on almost any budget), and even cost certainty to a large extent is possible.  I discuss the Disney Dining Plans in a previous blog post, but purchasing one in a package can help do that.   There are also numerous discounts on accommdation, tickets and dining to be had, as well as added value with festivals and holiday celebration.   The bottom line is that while a vacation to Disney World is not inexpensive, it actually contains a great deal of value as well. If you want to save money and increase your value, I encourage you to read several of my other Disney World trip planning tips blog posts.                                                                           
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Nightly fireworks and light shows add extra value to a trip to Disney World.

The New Canadian Residents Discounted Ticket Offer (Updated)

Last year, I saw quite a number of posts in the Canadian Disney Addicts Facebook group asking whether last year's multi day discounted ticket offer would return.  Some members, including myself thought that it probably wouldn't as the Canadian dollar had recovered a bit.  It had been such an exceptional deal, that I thought Disney would not offer it again for quite awhile.  We were right and wrong.  The offer did not return exactly as before, but a watered down version was available until February of this year. Now they have released the 2018 offer to Canadian residents until March 15th.

Here is what is the same as last year.   It is a discount on tickets only for four days or longer. You are able to upgrade to a park hopper ticket if need be  You will receive certificates that can be linked to the My Disney Experience app for Fastpass selection, and then you need to bring passports or other proof of Canadian residency to Guest Services at a park or in Disney Springs.  You can still combine this offer with a room discount, but not free dining.                                                          
This year, as it was last year, the discount is 20%. Two years ago it was 25%. For example, a four day adult ticket that would normally cost you $395 US, will now cost you only $316. Also, the 2016 year's tickets did not expire until the end of 2027.  But the 2018 version of the deal states that you must use the tickets no later than September 27th, 2019 as they expire on this date. There is also a blackout period of December 24th, 2018 to January 1st, 2019.

There are a few things that we don't know yet about the current offer.   Two years ago, the folks at Disney extended the deadline once or twice into about April or early May.  Disney also did not raise the price of the Canadian ticket deal, even when all regular priced tickets had their annual increase in February.   That meant that the discount for Canadian residents eventually  added up to about 30 percent after the prices increased.  But last year the offer was not extended beyond February. So while it is a pleasant surprise that the offer is back, it is far similar to last year's than the original 2016 offer.

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