Your least known Disney tips

I don't find any thing wrong with doing that Brad and I hope no one else does. Fault finding like that is the reason I left the other WDW forums. But what do I know? I'm already over the hill.
Joe

We do that several times each trip depending on where our meals are. I never even gave it a thought as to that may be frowned upon.

I don't think any reasonable person would take issue with that. The questionable practice is when people park at a resort where they are not staying and have no ADR or any other business there then go to the parks just to avoid paying for parking. If you have an ADR or are doing something else at the resort I don't, and I doubt Disney would, have any issue with it.

Here's one that I often forget may not be common knowledge:

Don't worry about coming back late with your FASTPASS. They'll take them pretty much any time after your window's start time.

Regarding parking at a resort where you have an ADR and going to the parks -- I know sometimes, during busy days, Disney will give you a three-hour parking pass when you have an ADR. That's the only indication I've seen of them putting a limit on parking when you have an ADR.

I've seen that too..we really don't drive around the parks but once we had a late ADR and we didn't want to have to play the bus hop game so we drove to Poly and we got a 3 Hour pass..

Got a really interesting tip on this trip from a very friendly CM. When you get a Tables in Wonderland card, it's good for 13 months. So basically it will expire on the last day of the month after you get it. In our case that meant it expired on Sept 30. When we went to renew it, the CM suggested we wait til Oct 1, the first day of the next month, so that we got an extra 30 days in the active period. So basically, never renew your TiW card, just go get a new one right before you need it.

Good tip!! I did the Tables in Wonderland a few years ago (before it was Tables in Wonderland) and I really thought it was a great advantage. Especially since the discount was on alcohol as well.

That's a GREAT tip!! Thanks!!

Here's one I thought of today: Don't eat when other people eat. Either for ADRs or quick meals. You're on vacation and for a lot of us it's not even the same time zone. Eat at 11 am, or 2pm for lunch and eat at 5pm or 9pm for dinner. It makes getting ADRs easier and lets you avoid crowds. Who wants to spend your vacation waiting in line for food.

That's one we take advantage of alot. Now if I could only figure out "off time" for that Tequila Bar

1. We have DEFINITELY popped into a park after an ADR - esp MK. We'll go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast for example, then head over to MK to walk around and avoid the TTC lines.

2. Take advantage of First Aid and, if you do have children, the Baby Centers. I never used either before I had children - but they're awesome! First aid is staffed and sponsored by FL Hospital, and they're friendly, helpful, and very liberal with the bandaids! The baby center features a nice air conditioned area to feed and change baby, and there's a mother's area where mom can nurse or pump in private. The bathrooms are clean and quiet, and there's bottled water to make baby bottles (and rehydrate mom and dad!) There are also activity rooms to give toddlers and older siblings a little break. And did I mention the a/c???Love, love, love these hidden treasures.

1. We have DEFINITELY popped into a park after an ADR - esp MK. We'll go to Chef Mickey's for breakfast for example, then head over to MK to walk around and avoid the TTC lines.

2. Take advantage of First Aid and, if you do have children, the Baby Centers. I never used either before I had children - but they're awesome! First aid is staffed and sponsored by FL Hospital, and they're friendly, helpful, and very liberal with the bandaids! The baby center features a nice air conditioned area to feed and change baby, and there's a mother's area where mom can nurse or pump in private. The bathrooms are clean and quiet, and there's bottled water to make baby bottles (and rehydrate mom and dad!) There are also activity rooms to give toddlers and older siblings a little break. And did I mention the a/c???Love, love, love these hidden treasures.

If you have a ticket for a party (MNSSHP or MVMCP) that starts at 7pm, they'll usually start taking the tickets at 4pm. That's a good way to not use up an extra day on your park hopper!

Ditto on the band-aids! I had a blister on my foot and the nurse in HS gave me about 100 band-aids!

I am glad to hear about the Baby Center..even though Holden won't be a baby baby when we go I plan on utilizing the Baby Center as much as possible to change diapers. I hate changing him in a nasty bathroom. I try to never do it in my day to day life.

All good stuff. Thanks for sharing.

My tip is if you want to stay in a DVC resort, don't rent directly from Disney but rent from someone who is renting their points. The room will be wayyyyy cheaper than Disney.

For example a studio in AKV that Disney will rent for $250 can be had from an owner for between $90 a night to $150 a night depending on view. Example $10 a point which is average price to rent a point. 9 points = $90 a night for a value room. 15 points = $150 a night for a savannah view. Still way cheaper than Disney directly.

Also if you are renting studio points the cheapest resorts for points are OKW, AKV and BWV
Here is a points calculator
http://www.dvcbyrequest.com/point_calculator.asp

Here s another great tip for watching parades at Magic Kingdom: About 2 hours before parade time, Main Street will be packed with guests already waiting for the day or night parade! Frontierland/Liberty Square (especially by Splash Mountain) doesn't even fill up until about 10 to 15 minutes before parade time (which will be about 20 minutes after it starts on Main Street)! So, while everyone is standing along Main Street waiting for the parade, enjoy an extra hour or 2 of (less crowded) ride time, then head to Frontierland to catch the parade!

Oh Bella - Baby Centers are like little Disney Shang-ri-las for parents! So nice and clean and the staff is so helpful. There are clean high chairs, and the cushiest, huge-ist changing tables you ever did see - complete with liners! And the staff are constantly sanitizing everything. I'd say it's totally safe to use baby centers as long as you have a baby - or toddler - to feed or change. I often wonder when I see a meltdown in the parks if the parents know about them.

TDGar, parades typically start over by Splash Mountain, right? Or do they finish there?

Well cdub, I know the MNSSH parade starts over by Splash Mountain and several other do too because we have been caught there waiting to get through to Adventure Land.

Yes, typically start over there, and end at the front of the park. I too have gotten stuck more than once

This won't apply to everyone, but it might be applied in varrying situations.

We went to WDW with my dad in 1999 who could not transfer from a wheelchair to rides, so any ride that involved transfering he couldn't get on.

1. All of us were able to use the line swap option...in other words they would bump us to the front of the line as if we were swapping off a small child, so my dad wouldn't have to wait and wait for us on each ride. We only used it for long lines, but it was soooo nice.

2. If he asked, and they could accomodate him, they'd take my dad in control rooms of some rides while we were on them. Being a computer engineer, techy geek it was more of thrill for him than if he were riding the ride.

3. Upon leaving MK one night 5 resort buses came by, 2 without wheelchair lifts, and the others too full to fit my dad. I raised a massive stink at that point and wouldn't get out of the buses doorway until the bus driver called in the situation. As the guests were understandly upset by me, he called the problem in. 3 minutes later a bus for us showed up with [our last name' VIP's Only listed and loaded us on. A manager was on board to officially appologize and gave us a phone number to call if we had a problem anytime during the rest of our stay for another VIP bus. Apparently, this number is given out if requested and deemed necessary by a cm.

Now, as I said these happened in 1999, but knowing how accessible disney prides itself on being, i'm sure many, if not all, are still occuring.

Huh..I think they must have taken your request to heart Katrina bc I don't think I've ever seen a WDW without a wheelchair lift..I could be dead wrong here but I don't think so.

Good call Brad!

I usually eat during the off times instead of traditional lunch and dinner times. I ate at the Crystal Palace during the afternoon parade at Magic Kingdom; not many people there at all! And with all the windows you can still see the parade outside the windows while you eat.

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted back in a while, just got done with finals week!! But the only time that parades start at Splash Mountain is when it's raining or there is a really really strong chance that it will sometime during the parade. This is because theres a slight uphill on the parade route (when coming from Main Street) and during rain, floats can't make it up! Any other time, the parade will start on Main Street!

That being said, I've never saw the Halloween or Christmas Party parades so they might start at Splash Mountain! I am only referring to ELP and Celebrate a Dream Come True!

That's cool about the little hill. I didn't know that.

Good morning!

A tip that works for me is to eat a banana about two hours before boarding rides that can cause nausea (such as a roller coaster, Mad Hatter's Tea Party, or Mission: Space). Somehow you suffer less from motion sickness with a small amount of food in your stomach than you do if your stomach's full or empty.

Jim

Thanks for the tip on parade starting!

Jim -- agreed on the banana!