Time is money and last week we talked about a few ways to help you make the most of your time on your Disney vacation. This week, we have more tips to save time!
Make the most of My Disney Experience: This wonderful app has so many time savers and can be a life-saver! It will show all your plans, including hotel information, dining plans, Fast-Pass times, wait times for each attraction or show, park hours and bus arrival times, just to name a few. It also has maps for the parks and resorts, so you will always know where you are and how to get to where you want to go. Make sure all of your plans are noted (those that aren’t FastPasses can be added as “favorites” so they too can show up). Don’t forget to link up with any other families you are traveling with so everyone can check times, events, etc. Talk about a time saver! Having this app allowed me to work in shows between attractions, so that we didn’t have to waste time waiting around for the next show to start.
Make yourself at “Home”: Once arriving at your resort, take the time to settle into your room and unpack. If you are like me, I feel more organized and ready for each day if I am completely unpacked and have things in drawers, cubbies or hung up. Each Disney resort has plenty of storage and coat hangers, so giving everyone space to put their clothes will make life easier each morning. Bonus time-saver tip: put things in the drawers with everything for each day folded together, thus speeding up the “getting ready” time each morning!
Plan for tomorrow: Once you are unpacked and it is feeling more like home, think about each day in the park. What all will you need or what should be in your “park bag”? It is a great idea to lay clothes out and re-pack your park bag each evening, so you don’t have to think about it in the morning. This is especially helpful for those who are not “Morning-People”. I have also found that getting showers or baths each night, speeds things up in the mornings.
Speed up breakfast: While it’s important to start off with a good breakfast, doing this doesn’t have to take more time than necessary. So think ahead! You can bring some simple breakfast foods from home with you or stop by the food court on the way home from the park each evening and grab what you want for the next day. If you don’t need a hot breakfast, go ahead and pick up things you may want in the morning for breakfast such as milk, cereal and fruit. If you prefer fresh baked goods or a hot breakfast, unless you have a villa or family suite, you will have to visit the food court each morning. There is a small mini-frig in the room for simple breakfast foods. One of my favorite time savers? I love to get up before anyone else, finish getting ready and then head to the food court, bringing back what we need. This gives me time to myself each morning, and frees up the bathroom area for the next person. The food courts also have microwaves and toasters available if you need them or brought something from home you want to heat up.
Use those maps! The My Disney Experience app has maps and you can also grab a paper copy when you check in to your resort. Take time to look over the map before you arrive and make a plan. This will ultimately save you so much time throughout the day. There is nothing worse than walking around blindly trying to figure out where to go next. (Ideally, do this before you leave home so that your FastPasses are planned with the maps in mind.)
Order your food in advance: Many of the quick service locations now have mobile ordering which can be done through the My Disney Experience app and this can be quite the time saver. Take a look at the menu ahead of time, order and then pick up. How easy is that! If you prefer to see what the food looks like rather than a picture, wait outside the exit line of the counter service, and then once everyone knows what they want, go ahead and place your order while everyone else goes to find a table.
These are just a few of the ways my family saves time at Disney. Do you have a favorite time saver once you arrive at the parks?
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Debbie and her husband live in Collegedale, TN where her youngest son is going to college. She is a huge Disney fan who dreams of someday retiring and working as a tour guide at Walt Disney World. She has enjoyed many trips to WDW with children, grandchildren and sometimes adults only. It is her ultimate goal to make sure everyone who visits WDW has the same magical time that she enjoys every time she visits.
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