Tips For First Visit to Disney World Orlando

11 Tips For Surviving Your First Trip to Walt Disney World

January 20, 2013

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FastPass It!

Ask anyone who's been to Disney in the past few years, and they'll mention FastPass with a knowing grin. Once you're in the park and experience it, you'll become part of the cult! FastPasses will shuttle you to the front of the line for the park's most popular attractions — the catch is that only a limited number of passes are handed out during the day, and you can only have a limited number of passes at one time.

The key is to grab a FastPass as soon as you enter the park. It will assign you a time to return to the attraction (though the ticket-takers let you return anytime after the time stamp on the ticket) where you can enter a special entrance that shuttles you to the front of the line. It also tells you when you can get your next FastPass, often an hour after the first. By collecting the passes at the indicated times, you will significantly limit your wait time — and child meltdown time — while visiting the park.

Suggested attractions to FastPass: Splash Mountain, Toy Story, Peter Pan, and a meeting with Mickey and Minnie (yes, you can even FastPass that character signing!).

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by Rebecca M Gruber 6

FastPass It!

Suggested attractions to FastPass: Splash Mountain, Toy Story, Peter Pan, and a meeting with Mickey and Minnie (yes, you can even FastPass that character signing!).

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6 Comments

aprilallard 14 weeks 3 days

love this! great pics! we are going in april (first time with kids...we have been alone once before). it's going to be tough, but i am really excited. i want to know how much the stroller rental was in the park for a double?? thanks!

rmfranze 1 year 8 weeks

This is a great list! I would also recommend doing the disney hotel, because that gets you extra hours at the park, free shuttles between parks/hotel, and pickup/drop off at the airport. A meal plan is also a good investment. There are plenty of websites that will help you get a great deal on them. For my husband and I, we did the basic plan (a snack, usually our breakfast, a stand up, usually our lunch, and a sit down, which we made reservations for) and it cost us $50 a day for both of us. That may seem like a lot until you look at what just your dinner bill would have been...most times it was $70-$80 to get all the things included in the meal plan dinner. Another bonus, if you ask the wait staff for the recipe for something, they are supposed to give it to you. Good luck on future planning!

Susi May 1 year 10 weeks

I am not so afraid now — thanks for the tips!

Bloomdl 1 year 11 weeks

These tips are invaluable & couldn't come at a better time! I've just started planning our first real family vacation with our daughter who will be 5 in December when we go. We have lodging arranged, now I'm trying to plan all the details but since it's been, oh, about 25 yrs since my last trip, I was clueless. Now I feel much more prepared, thanks to you!

inbliss01 1 year 11 weeks

wow! these tips are really good! If you did all these things you definitely did better than me. Our first time at Disney was amazing...but it was tough! glad you had fun!

Nancy Einhart 1 year 12 weeks

These are great tips. Honestly, I love Disney World, and I kind of want to go right now. I haven't been since they had the FastPass or rider switch things; what a smart idea!