planning a trip to Disney World can be stressful but what if I told you the dfb team could boil down everything you need to know in just 15 minutes don't think it's possible stick around we just might surprise you [Music] hey everybody it's AJ for Disney food blog I know a Disney World trip can be quite the undertaking but you just clicked on the very video that's gonna save you a whole lot of time and money we're gonna start from Square One Disney world is made up of four Parks You've Got Magic Kingdom Epcot Hollywood
Studios and Animal Kingdom in order to visit each Park you will need to buy a park ticket or a park hopper ticket if you want to try to hit up multiple Parks All in One Go Disney World also has two water parks Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon the water parks are cheaper than the main parks and will cost you around seventy dollars per adult unless you buy a park hopper plus ticket which includes a water park visit along with your admission into the main Parks if that's how you choose to use it don't worry we'll
explain all of that in a bit and then there's Disney Springs a totally free to visit shopping district with hundreds of shops and restaurants and premium activities for you to try outside the parks including things like bowling and amphicar cruises and tethered hot air balloon rides you get it so four main Parks two water parks and a shopping district following so far awesome now you can stay in three types of Disney Resorts if you want to stay on property does new world has over 25 hotels for you to choose from that come in three pricing
flavors value resorts are going to be your cheapest option but will provide fewer amenities standard value room prices usually range around the 130 to 200 range moderate resorts are a more expensive stay with a few more added amenities and recreational options think of them as the rooms you're going to want to choose if you're trying to be bougie on a budget standard rooms in the moderate range usually cost about 300 to 400 dollars per night remember we're talking about Disney budgeting prices right and then there's the deluxe Resort which will provide you with the best
resort benefits and activities and dining opportunities but will also cost you the most to stay in this is also the home of the Disney Vacation Club Villa rooms standard room prices for a deluxe Resort can start around 500 to 600 dollars but some can push you well over the thousand dollar per night range Disney World also has good neighbor Hotel options where they partner with nearby hotels to provide guests with cheaper rates and similar Resort benefits you can find the whole list of good neighbor options on the Walt Disney World Good Neighbor hotels website but
just because you're not staying on Disney World property or with a good neighbor Hotel does not mean you won't be allowed to explore Disney World you can technically stay wherever you want to stay whether it be on Universal Studios property with an Airbnb or with Grandma and Kissimmee and still have a great visit to Disney World all right time to talk tickets there are two parts to buying theme park tickets though buying your tickets is an important first step to getting into the parks the second step is just as crucial nowadays and that's making a
park pass reservation once you purchase theme park tickets for two or more Parks you'll need to make reservations for each Park that you'll want to visit on each day otherwise you won't be allowed entry by the way one day one park tickets will have automatic reservations so no need to worry about those now this second step only takes a minute or two to complete and isn't terribly complicated after you buy your tickets Disney should provide you a link or a notice to go ahead and cure those reservations immediately but if you need to track down
where to make reservations later on you can find them under the My Disney Experience tab on the Disney World website via the theme park reservations link or tap on the plus sign in your My Disney Experience app to make or modify Park reservations from there you can always check the park pass reservation availability calendar on the Disney World website before you buy your Park tickets to double check the parks aren't booked up on your preferred days now I just mentioned the My Disney Experience app and that's the next thing we're going to talk about do
you need to download Disney's free app in order to go to Disney World no but should you yes because the My Disney Experience app is going to be your Swiss army knife for your trip let me give you a brief overview of what this planning tool can do for you it facilitates dining reservations and mobile ordering your food that lets you check in for your hotel and hold your room key and your tickets and more it fills you in on current ride wait times around the parks it links to your Disney photo pass it connects
you to Disney Genie plus more on that feature soon it adds you to Virtual cues for the Park's newest rides it has a convenient mobile merchandise checkout option so you don't have to wait in a physical line to purchase your souvenirs at some stores and helps you make and modify reservations of all kinds download it ahead of time study up on all the services it provides and use it often to make your vacation life 10 times easier also don't forget to connect your family and friends who are traveling with you in the My Disney Experience
app make it much easier to do a lot of reservations and bookings if everybody's connected alright so park hours aren't always the same and Disney Resort guests get extra time in the Parks let's talk about that next the Disney World parks do not open and close at the same time as one another not only that the hours for each part can vary day by day typically park hours will increase during Peak Seasons like spring break and holidays to give guests more time in the Parks if you're staying at a Disney World hotel or one of
the select goodness hotels you'll have the added benefit of using early theme park entry each day which lets you enter any of the parks on any day 30 minutes before they open for everybody else who's not staying in a Disney hotel and if you're staying at one of Disney World's Deluxe Resorts you'll have another hotel perk the extended evening hours benefit that's going to allow you to stay in select parks on select evenings up to two hours after everyone else has to leave check the Disney World website calendar for park hours and extended evening hours
before your visit so you know what you're working with now how to get around Disney World once you're there sure you're more than welcome to drive yourself around Disney World property or pay for a ride share to take you from place to place but Disney World also offers multiple complementary transportation services to help you get to where you need to go every Disney hotel will have free transportation to take you to the parks and Disney Springs and this comes in the form of buses and boats and monorails and Skyliners depending on where you're staying if
you'd like to travel from your hotel to another hotel you may need to do a multi-stop tour take free transport to a park or Disney Springs then jump on another leg to go to your destination Hotel unfortunately most hotels do not have direct transportation between one another with a few exceptions like hotels that are connected to one another by the monorail or boat service if you're staying off property you're more than welcome to use the complimentary Transportation on Disney World property but keep in mind if you're driving and not staying on property in a disney-owned
hotel that you will have to pay to park your car at the theme parks which will cost you around 25 dollars per day Disney hotel guests on the other hand park at the theme parks free of charge as do annual pass holders so your Park tickets and various other Park and hotel reservations can all be kept in a centralized location one of three ways first you've got the standard key to the world card option those are free plastic cards that you can get at your Disney World hotel at the front desk or at Guest Services
in any of the parks second you've got the magic mobile option which is the digital version of the key to the world card that you can find on your My Disney Experience app and third you've got the magic band or Magic Band plus accessory those you can buy either before or during your trip to connect to your Disney World account and hold all of your ticket info and reservations the big takeaway here is that there's no wrong way to hold your tickets and reservations it's just whatever you prefer using in the end and you can
use all three if you want to okay how to pay to skip over the lines got a confession to make it's really really hard to describe everything you need to know about lightning lanes and Genie play Us in such a short amount of time but I'm going to give you the basics now and you can check out our outsmarting Genie plus video later to get a better idea for how to use this premium planning tool to the best of your ability deal deal all right in its most basic form Disney Genie is actually a free
planning tool on the My Disney Experience app that can help you customize your Park itineraries and maximize your time in the Parks but within this free planning tool are two crucial premium sections Disney Genie plus and individual lightning Lanes both of these premium features allow guests to bypass the standby lines for attractions and instead enter their much shorter lightning Lanes the Disney Genie plus base price option starting at 15 per person per day allows guests to select one attraction at a time and bypass that line meanwhile individual lightning lanes are a pay per ride service
for the more in-demand Disney World attractions you won't be able to find these popular rides listed on the regular Genie plus lineup so instead you'll pay to skip over over these a-lister lines separately both Genie plus and individual lightning Lanes have surge pricing depending on daily demand at their highest we've seen individual lightning Lanes priced at 17 per person and Genie Plus at 29 per person per day again you don't have to pay for either of these to visit the parks but they could help you out tremendously if you're visiting during one of their busier
seasons and don't want to repeatedly wait one to three plus hours to get on each ride now the dfb team and I put a ton of food info reviews and updates about the Disney World restaurants all year long and to our videos our blog posts and our most detailed digital guidebooks which you can find on the dfbstore.com website but here are some food basics for you first you've got quick service restaurants which is basically fast food some of these have basic offerings like burgers and pizza and chicken tenders others have more adventurous options like customizable
bowls and internationally inspired eats then you've got your standard table service options which allow you to sit down for a bit and enjoy a nice meal in the AC with table service these range from basic comfort food in a nicely appointed setting to those highly themed and super popular restaurants like space 220 and Epcot and sci-fi dining and Disney's Hollywood Studios character dining table service restaurants allow you to eat and meet your favorite characters at the same time nope you don't eat them and meet them you eat food and meet characters maybe that makes more
sense these are pricey they can be worth it to avoid waiting in line for each character separately in the Parks signature dining is what Disney calls its fancy most expensive restaurants they are super high quality but super high price tags plus a dress code one more dining option I want to quickly mention because it so deserves a shout out is the several outdoor food booths you'll find around the world showcase during Epcot seasonal festivals epcot's got four festivals throughout the year including Festival of the Arts flower and garden food and wine and Festival of the
holidays and each of these not only provide dozens of exclusive foods for you to sample around the park but also unique entertainment offerings and limited edition merchandise and we've got guidebooks covering the Epcot festivals too whatever guidebooks you want to download from dfbstore.com make sure to type in that savings code YouTube for a discount towards your total purchase now before we wrap up this food Point there's one last important tidbit of information I need to relay that's Advanced dining reservations in order to dine at table service restaurants it's best to make reservations ahead of time
Advanced dining reservations open up 60 days before your first Park visit though you can still make reservations anytime after that leading up to your trip but your best chance of getting a table for the most popular Disney restaurants is going to be right at that 60 day Mark so set yourself a reminder and don't miss out you can book those reservations on the My Disney Experience app or on the Disney World website you can also call them but Disney prefers you don't literally they said that okay rides and more of course you want to know
about Disney's rides and attractions we've got videos that rate and rank all of the different rides you'll encounter in each of the parks and we recommend you check those out before your trip to get a good idea of which rides to prioritize and for families traveling with younger kids my advice is to watch ride-throughs of the different attractions to gauge how your kids might respond to them before taking them in with no prior knowledge of what's happening our friends over at allears.net have full POV ride-throughs on their channel so be sure to check them out
it's also a good idea to check out each provides height requirements before you arrive it is heartbreaking when you've waited in line for an hour and then your kid can't ride because they're not tall enough besides just rides you're also going to find immersive shows character meet and greets parades cavalcades and fireworks and so many gift shops in a nutshell Disney does not skimp out on their interactive theming around each of their Parks so whether you want to soar on the back of a flying elephant become part of the big blue world with Nemo and
friends meet Anna and Elsa inside Royal summer house or defend the power of Dreams alongside Sorcerer Mickey at Fantasmic or all of the above you have the power to do all of that with the purchase of your theme park tickets again make sure you're studying up on all the different activities included in your Park tickets so you know exactly what you want to put at the top of your must-do list during your upcoming visit alright sometimes life throws our vacation plans for a loop so what are you gonna do if you have to make those
dreaded trip cancellations for starters note that Park tickets are indeed non fundable unless you're using Disney's travel insurance policies or there's a hurricane exception or something however you can modify your Park tickets to change their original start date just as long as you change them before the original start date happens if you need to change the date but aren't sure when you'll be able to go again Disney does note that the actual tickets will expire but the value of your unused tickets will be valid indefinitely what if you made a hotel-only reservation though generally you
won't have to pay any cancellation fees as long as you cancel five days or more before your arrival and if you need to cancel a Disney resort vacation package which includes your hotel and your tickets you'll need to cancel that package 30 days or more prior to arrival for a full refund if you cancel two days to 29 days prior to your scheduled arrival then Disney will refund all the amounts paid minus a cancellation fee of 200 bucks and later than that you'll still need to pay for the vacation package in full and don't forget
about your dining reservations in order to keep from having to pay that 10.00 per person no show fee you do need to cancel any dining reservations necessary at least two hours before your return window note that different restaurants like Cinderella's Royal table and hope to do Musical review have different cancellation policies so while the two hour cancellation window is the general rule for pretty much every other Disney restaurant on property you'll need to double check and see exactly what the cancellation policy is for the restaurant you'll be visiting so you don't accidentally get charged the
full price of your meal without being present to enjoy it Victorian Alberts does that too by the way okay stop the clock everyone because we are done 15 minutes has already passed while this video is going to provide you with a solid foundation for starting your Disney World vacation planning make sure to keep checking back here with us when you're ready to start applying some Pro tips and tricks to your itinerary don't forget to follow us subscribe to the channel and click that notification link as well there's so many more layers to a Disney World
trip than we could ever cover in just 15 minutes but we want to make sure you get the best possible trip you can so come back with us and we'll be sure to help you with that thanks for listening everyone and thanks for watching as always this is AJ for Disney food blog and we'll see you real soon
