My Top Tips for a Supercalifragelisticexpialidocious DisneyWorld Holiday!

DisneyWorld has got to be my favourite place on Earth but there's no doubt that planning a family holiday to DisneyWorld is stressful, but it's also so much fun! Here are my 12 top tips for a holiday that's filled with magic, fun and happy faces!

1. Plan in advance! There's no doubt, that last minute DisneyWorld trips are better than no trips, but they definitely make life more stressful. A lot of the best hotels and restaurants are fully booked up to a year in advance! Staying in a Disney Hotel is definitely worth it as well...it's so easy to roll out of bed onto the buses to the different parks. You also get to take advantage of the extra magic hours only, meaning extra time in the parks only available to hotel guests! Hotel guests can also make use of the dining plans (see point 7) available. It's also great if you're a big kid like me who would very happily wake up at 5am and get the bus straight to the Park whilst you're parents are still lazing around in bed!

2. Download and login to the Disney World App (which you can do free here). This App is your gateway to magic, where you can book Fast Passes, restaurants and shows. Again, the earlier you do this the better as things do tend to be fully booked early. Ask the rest of your party if they have any specific rides or restaurants they want to visit and use this and the App to create an itinerary for your stay. This will make your life so much easier and save you so much time and arguing over what you want to do...trust me!

3. Get Fast Passes! Logging on to the DisneyWorld App and spending ages deciding which rides you want to go on and working out the timings may seem like really hard work, but it's soooo worth doing (plus it's really fun)! Fast Passes allow you to skip the queues virtually straight to the front! Sometimes this can save you up to 2 hours waiting in line! Have a look to see which rides are the biggest ones - the scarier, the faster, the longer the wait time. This means that these are obviously the best ones to get Fast Passes for. Rides like the Carousel don't have long wait times anyway so it's not really worth getting Fast Passes for these. One of the features of the DisneyWorld App is that you can check out the wait times whilst you're in the park. You can also do this in advance to see which rides are worth getting Fast Passes for. Shows tend to have a lot of people seated in one go, so often you don't even need a Fast Pass to get a short wait time.

4. Make the most of the shows, characters and parades! The rides are great! I love them! But the shows, parades and characters are what the real DisneyWorld Atmosphere and experience are all about! Make sure you take the time to sit down and watch them. Though the streets get a little busy before the parade so it's worth taking it in turns to sit on the curb to reserve some spots!

5. Visit all the Parks! Everyone's tastes are different, and whilst I'm definitely a Magic Kingdom girl, my parents preferred the slightly more chilled environment at Epcot! All the parks have very different atmospheres so it's worth spending a little time in each park. If you're staying for a while I'd recommend spending a day in each park and then deciding which ones you'd like to visit again for the rest of your holiday. Don't forget about the Water Parks. They're a great way to have a bit more of a chilled out day after a busy few days.

6. Water! Walking around the parks in the heat can be really tiring...but so can carrying around loads of water...DisneyWorld know this, so have installed water fountains all over the park, so rather than carrying water around with you, why not carry an empty cup that you can fill up each time you find a water fountain (which will probably be about every 5 minutes...)

7. Food! Food in the parks is incredibly expensive so it's worth doing what we did and buying a meal plan before you go. We had the "Disney Dining Plan" which gave us 1 Snack, 1 "Quick Service" and 1 "Table Service Meal" a day. This was plenty! Most days we didn't even use our snack as the portions were so big! The meal plans may seem expensive at first, but they make life so much easier and with the expense of food in the park, you soon get your money back! So, what are Quick Service and Table Service meals? Quick Service meals were mainly fast food, and this wasn't just burgers, they also had curries, breakfast, pasta and all sorts of other delicious stuff. Table Service meals involved going to an actual restaurant (of which Disney has soooo many!) and sitting down and being waited on. To some extent this was the highlight of the day as it let us rest our feet whilst still enjoying the Disney Atmosphere. There are so many amazing themed restaurants throughout the park. Many of them (especially those that involve dining with characters are fully booked well in advance though, so it's worth booking all of your table service meals as far in advance as possible via the App. My favourite Table Service Restaurant was Mama Melrose's Italian in Hollywood Studios. We got three courses included in our meal plan and it was definitely value for money! The Rainforest Cafe is also worth a visit! We went there twice for both breakfast and dinner!

8. Disney, Disney, Disney! Everything in the park is Disney! People walk around wearing T-shirts, dresses, and other forms of clothing featuring their favourite characters. Of course they sell all these items in the park but they're sooo expensive...it's well worth checking out some shops near where you live to kit yourself out with some Disney clothes! Everywhere sells them now! Don't be left out!

9. Magic Bands! These things are amazing! Not only do they hold your park entry tickets, but they also hold all your meal reservations, meal plan so you can buy snacks at any point, fast passes AND you can use them to make purchases whilst in the park so you don't have to carry around cash! Don't worry though, when you check in at your hotel they'll ask you whether you want to activate all the magic bands for purchases or just a few of them...so you won't have a giant bill at the end...

10. What age should I take my children to DisneyWorld?

Whilst anyone of any age can enjoy all the parks, there are a lot of rides with height limits and this should be considered when travelling with younger children. Plus, you want them to remember it for years to come. I first went to DisneyLand Paris when I was 8 years old and I can remember my highlights of the trip very clearly. My younger sister on the other hand was 4 and remembers very little about our trip.

11. Too hot?

Florida can get incredibly hot in the summer, plus it's prone to hurricanes so I'd recommend going at Easter or October half term depending on whether you wish to go for 1 week or 2 (I'd recommend 2, but then I could quite happily spend a year there and still not want to leave!) it's a lot cooler. Walking around the parks is unbearable in the heat!

12. Plan, Plan, Plan! As with most things in life, planning is key! You want to spend as much time in the parks as possible! If this means waking up early one day and going to bed late the next, it's worth it! Make a rough plan of what you're going to do each day before you leave, still leave some space for things you see when you're there, but having a rough idea of what you really want to do will make sure you get to see everything you want to! To check out my Disney Itinerary check here.

I really hope these tips will be useful! Disney World really is the most magical place in the world and I treasure every minute I get to spend there and never want to leave...I really hope these tips help make your holiday even more magical! Don't forget your autograph book!

Ready to experience the magic for yourself? I am a Disney Holiday specialist which means I can get some great deals on Disney packages! Contact me today and let's start planning your dream holiday!