- It’s a lot of walking so wear good tennis shoes. Sandals will not do.
- Bring a car or rent one. Why spend your time waiting on a bus when you can zoom to the park in your own car? Imagine holding 4 kids, 2 strollers and 2 bags on a crowded bus-not for me.
- You can take an ice chest in so we always bring a small one and hang it on the back of the strollers. Water bottles filled with ice work well to keep things chilled.
- Most of the concession stands/restaurants will give you free cups of ice water
- Buy a drink cup from your hotel if you are staying onsite especially if you are a big coke drinker. We used ours for an afternoon and evening snack. Pretty good value and gave us something fun to do-go and get a coke!
- Fastpasses don’t expire. You can use them anytime after the first time listed. Our first few times as Disney, we didn’t go back to a ride because we thought we had to go between the two times listed. Nope, just any time that day after the first time.
- Give everyone in your group your park tickets and let them hurry to the main attraction to gather the fastpasses and then meet up. Saves so much time.
- Don’t sleep in. Be there when the park opens-the lines are not long and you can get so much done before everyone else shows up. Disney is not a restful vacation-Get up!
- Use a AAA parking pass. You can get one if you buy your tickets through AAA or you can get one off of ebay. You park right behind the handicapped parking if you have the AAA parking pass. Seriously, you will never have to ride a tram.
- Port Orleans French Quarter is our favorite hotel right now. It is in a central location and a much smaller resort with many amenities. Building 3 is preferred-near the parking lot, pool and main building.
- Schedule breakfast before the park opens, it is so nice to get in early and finish just as everyone else is walking in. And if you are eating early at Magic Kingdom, the walk down an empty Main Street is wonderful.
- Always be at your reservations early. We have been seated up to an hour early sometimes-it never hurts to try if your dining time is supposed to be later than you want.
We have ranked the places we have eaten on our last trip and will add on subsequent trips. But here is what we thought on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being the best and 1 being not worth the time)
- 10-Magic Kingdom Adventure Land’s Orange Juice Slushies. This is Robby’s favorite dessert and would hop in the car and drive to Orlando just for one.
- 6-Magic Kingdom Adventure Land’s Dole Whip. Great dessert but much smaller than expected portions which made me sad!
- 3-Magic Kingdom Crystal Palace. Unless you really like Winnie and Tigger, just go ahead and skip this. The food is a standard buffet prepared for a zillion people.
- 7-Magic Kingdom Pecos Bill. Loved the condiment bar with lots of indoor seating. I loved the taco salad-absolutely loved it.
- 8-Magic Kingdom Main Street Bakery. Great cinnamon rolls.
- 7-Magic Kingdom Cosmic Rays. Large portions with lots of variety. Also lots of indoor seating with close bathrooms.
- 9-Epcot Akershaus Royal Dining. Wonderful for little princesses. Liked sampler buffet and really great that you see all of the princesses and it is just one dining credit as opposed to the two credits that Cinderella’s Castle takes.
- 5-Epcot Coral Reef. Not my favorite and probably should have ranked it lower. I think it had a fishy smell, pitiful service but with decent food.
- 7-Epcot Sunshine Season. Fairly central location with lots of seating and wide selection.
- 7-Epcot Mexico Cantina. Good Mexican food with delicious nachos.
- 6-Hollywood Studios Pizza Planet. Pretty good pizza that kills hunger. Nice that it has indoor seating.
- 8-Hollywood Studios Starring Rolls. Great desserts with huge sandwiches.
- 9.5-Animal Kingdom Tusker House. Huge breakfast selection and you see Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy. This now beats out my Chef Mickeys which I love.
- 8-Animal Kingdom Flame Tree BBQ. The best BBQ around with plenty of covered seating along the lake just keep walking down the path.
- 7-French Quarter Quick Service. The food was good, plentiful. Excellent beignets and quesadillas.
- 6.5-Polynesian O’hana Breakfast. We weren’t as crazy about O’hanas this year as we were last year but still a great breakfast and well worth it if you go here before the park opens (at least an hour)
- 7-Downtown Disney Wolfgang Pack. Pretty good out of the park dining. The service was a bit slow but the food was still good.
- Animal Kingdom’s Lion King show. It is one of our favorites and always a nice break to sit somewhere cool for a bit.
