ATHLLC4672652987

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.520 | - Hello, and welcome to another episode of All The Hacks,

00:00:05.360 | a show about upgrading your life, money, and travel.

00:00:08.160 | I'm your host, Chris Hutchins,

00:00:09.400 | and I think for all of us,

00:00:10.760 | planning a trip to Disney is something that has

00:00:13.160 | or will eventually cross our minds at some point.

00:00:16.040 | So I wanted to do an entire episode

00:00:17.720 | to help you optimize the full Disney experience.

00:00:20.920 | So today we have Leslie Harvey,

00:00:22.560 | co-host of the Disney Deciphered podcast,

00:00:25.200 | to talk about some of the amazing insider tips and hacks

00:00:28.680 | that will help you save time, money, and stress

00:00:31.880 | planning your next Disney vacation.

00:00:33.880 | I am so excited, 'cause we're gonna cover how to plan,

00:00:36.440 | where to stay, what to see,

00:00:38.280 | optimizing your day at the park, and so much more.

00:00:41.280 | This is gonna be a goldmine of content

00:00:43.200 | for anyone going to Disney,

00:00:45.040 | so let's get into it right after this.

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00:02:12.280 | (upbeat music)

00:02:14.600 | - Leslie, thank you for being here.

00:02:16.240 | - Thanks so much for having me.

00:02:17.800 | - We have so much to cover about Disney.

00:02:19.600 | I'm so excited for this episode,

00:02:21.360 | but you have an entire brand

00:02:22.760 | dedicated to Disney of a podcast.

00:02:24.780 | Why do you love Disney so much?

00:02:26.320 | What is it that makes it so magical in your opinion?

00:02:28.560 | - Gosh, I mean, I grew up with the films

00:02:30.400 | and like so many kids,

00:02:32.080 | but I actually really like the challenge of going to Disney.

00:02:34.840 | I mean, I travel all around the world,

00:02:37.240 | but I like being able to ride rides

00:02:40.960 | and then finding ways to do it smarter and faster

00:02:43.880 | and better than everybody else.

00:02:45.400 | So for me, it's a little bit of a game.

00:02:47.920 | Of course, I mean, I have to love what I'm doing

00:02:49.560 | underneath that, but I like the game

00:02:52.120 | of doing Disney a little bit.

00:02:53.920 | - I think you probably just sold everyone

00:02:55.640 | on continuing to listen,

00:02:56.880 | because I think what you love

00:02:58.440 | is what everyone wants to learn.

00:03:00.080 | And you said around the world.

00:03:01.440 | So quick recap, there's two parks in the US

00:03:03.800 | and how many around the world?

00:03:05.680 | - Four other parks or four other resorts,

00:03:08.000 | because there are more parks than that.

00:03:09.440 | You've got Shanghai, you've got Tokyo, Hong Kong,

00:03:12.920 | and then Paris, and then you have a resort,

00:03:15.800 | not a park in Hawaii called Aulani.

00:03:18.240 | - Oh, interesting. Okay.

00:03:19.840 | And what do you think is so different

00:03:22.200 | about all of these parks and resorts

00:03:23.800 | that would help someone think about

00:03:26.160 | kind of high level how to pick one?

00:03:28.840 | - It's hard.

00:03:29.680 | I mean, nobody's sort of picking

00:03:31.320 | the international parks purposefully.

00:03:33.040 | Like people, I think at least Americans,

00:03:35.120 | you know, will go to a Disney park

00:03:36.680 | if they happen to want to take a trip to Japan, say.

00:03:39.600 | I mean, unless you're, I guess, a super fan

00:03:41.400 | trying to complete the around the world Disney,

00:03:43.600 | which, you know, is a different breed of folks,

00:03:45.800 | myself included.

00:03:46.800 | But I mean, in terms of the U.S. parks,

00:03:49.440 | Disney World and Disneyland, those are very different.

00:03:52.360 | A lot of people will say Disneyland is like a small city,

00:03:55.960 | and Disney World is like a small state or country,

00:03:59.480 | maybe even.

00:04:01.160 | So size and scale, that's the biggest difference.

00:04:04.280 | People go to Disneyland for one to three days.

00:04:06.240 | People go to Disney World for five to 14 days.

00:04:10.120 | So very different kinds of vacations.

00:04:12.480 | - What is that scale?

00:04:13.800 | If we double click for a moment, right?

00:04:15.840 | I've been to Disney World in the times that I can remember,

00:04:18.760 | which is maybe one as a child.

00:04:20.720 | I want to say it was a day or two.

00:04:22.240 | And then I hear you say 14 days,

00:04:23.800 | and I'm like, I must've missed a lot of stuff.

00:04:26.080 | What makes it so much more than Disneyland?

00:04:29.440 | - So Disney World has got four theme parks,

00:04:32.960 | two water parks, two dozen plus hotels,

00:04:36.640 | all sorts of other shopping districts

00:04:38.600 | and things sort of surrounding the park.

00:04:40.600 | So, I mean, there's just so much to do

00:04:43.160 | in terms of square footage, acreage.

00:04:45.320 | I mean, it's bigger than a lot of cities

00:04:48.320 | that you and I will visit.

00:04:49.640 | And then within those cities,

00:04:51.200 | there's something in every square foot, right?

00:04:52.840 | So there's a ride, there's a restaurant.

00:04:55.600 | So there's just no way.

00:04:57.160 | I've been going to Disney World since I was a kid.

00:04:58.880 | I grew up in Alabama.

00:05:00.200 | So that was the park that we drove to.

00:05:02.360 | And I still probably haven't eaten

00:05:04.520 | in half of the restaurants.

00:05:05.720 | And I go there all the time.

00:05:07.920 | There's so much to do there.

00:05:09.200 | - Just out of curiosity,

00:05:10.200 | how many Disney park trips do you have

00:05:12.800 | under your belt at this point?

00:05:13.920 | - I can't count them.

00:05:15.320 | I could count Disney World

00:05:16.440 | because now that I live in California,

00:05:17.960 | it's a longer trip.

00:05:18.800 | So I may be only going once or twice a year.

00:05:21.120 | But I mean, dozens of Disney World trips,

00:05:23.400 | dozens and dozens.

00:05:24.640 | Disneyland, I've lost count

00:05:26.360 | because I will often fly down to Southern California

00:05:28.960 | and go to Disneyland for just a day, like a day trip.

00:05:31.360 | I'll take the 6 a.m. flight and be back on the 8 p.m.

00:05:34.400 | - So if someone's gonna plan one Disney trip

00:05:36.800 | for their family this year,

00:05:38.480 | and they live, let's say in Denver

00:05:40.120 | and kind of equidistant-ish, how would you pick?

00:05:43.800 | Is it more about how much time you have or?

00:05:46.000 | - Yeah, it's more about the time that you have.

00:05:48.600 | And I mean, I guess if there's other things

00:05:50.280 | that you're interested in doing,

00:05:51.400 | a lot of people will do a Southern California vacation

00:05:54.520 | and then tack on a day or two at Disneyland.

00:05:56.280 | I mean, that's totally doable.

00:05:57.360 | If you wanna see California,

00:05:59.000 | I don't think as many people wanna see Central Florida,

00:06:01.360 | like as a destination.

00:06:02.320 | Even though, of course,

00:06:03.160 | I mean, there are other theme parks to go to there,

00:06:04.920 | but there's not, I mean,

00:06:05.800 | and there's the Space Center and things like that.

00:06:07.600 | But people are more, you know,

00:06:08.960 | will often go to Disney World,

00:06:10.760 | not leave Disney World until they go back to the airport.

00:06:13.280 | So it's less of a destination, you know,

00:06:15.680 | other than just Disney.

00:06:16.880 | So I would say time.

00:06:18.080 | If you only have a couple of days, go to land.

00:06:20.280 | I would also say if you have younger kids,

00:06:23.760 | Disneyland is easier because that scale is smaller.

00:06:26.120 | So if you've got toddlers, something like that,

00:06:28.760 | go to Disneyland.

00:06:29.600 | Disney World's gonna be overwhelming.

00:06:31.280 | The transportation, you know,

00:06:32.800 | needing to get back for a nap in the hotel room,

00:06:35.280 | that's gonna be a lot more

00:06:36.440 | than I think a lot of families wanna manage.

00:06:38.600 | But if it's, you are only going to one Disney destination

00:06:41.720 | over the course of your life, I think it's world.

00:06:44.800 | I mean, that's the bigger destination.

00:06:46.560 | Even as much as I love Disneyland

00:06:48.120 | and that's my happiest place of all of them,

00:06:51.200 | I think it's gotta be world, unfortunately.

00:06:53.280 | Hate to admit it.

00:06:54.120 | - So I think if we're gonna go through this process,

00:06:56.840 | I'm just gonna pretend like

00:06:58.040 | we're maybe planning a trip per se, you know,

00:07:00.000 | like how do we think about the pre-planning stage

00:07:02.080 | and go through that.

00:07:03.480 | How early do you even need to start this?

00:07:05.360 | If you wanna plan a great trip,

00:07:07.120 | you wanna get all the deals

00:07:08.400 | and make it as efficient and optimal

00:07:10.280 | and low cost as it can be for the experience.

00:07:13.720 | And we'll get to that.

00:07:14.560 | I don't know if it could ever can be low cost,

00:07:16.320 | but when do you start?

00:07:17.600 | - So different timelines,

00:07:18.680 | if we're talking about world versus land.

00:07:20.720 | So for Florida, you need at least six months.

00:07:24.440 | I mean, if you can start thinking about it

00:07:26.560 | 12 months in advance, that's helpful.

00:07:28.600 | Is it necessary?

00:07:30.000 | No, I mean, I can plan a trip to Disney World

00:07:32.840 | with, you know, maybe two or three months lead time

00:07:35.480 | without really worrying about it.

00:07:37.120 | But for people who are new to it,

00:07:38.680 | I'd say six months just to sort of do the research,

00:07:41.400 | make sure you can find the hotel availability that you want,

00:07:44.720 | you know, all of that good stuff.

00:07:46.000 | So I think it's always,

00:07:47.480 | the earlier you can do it, the better.

00:07:48.680 | I mean, right now we're recording this in late 2023.

00:07:51.600 | There are plenty of packages already out for 2025.

00:07:54.200 | So you can plan more than a year in advance

00:07:56.520 | if you so desire.

00:07:58.200 | - And when you say packages,

00:07:59.560 | whenever I plan a trip anywhere,

00:08:00.920 | I'm always thinking more like,

00:08:02.440 | I'm gonna book a hotel myself.

00:08:03.960 | I'm gonna go book everything individually.

00:08:06.040 | Is there an argument when someone's just starting

00:08:07.720 | to think of planning that they should be buying

00:08:09.520 | an entire package together?

00:08:11.200 | - Potentially.

00:08:12.120 | I mean, Disney is one place,

00:08:14.360 | pretty much the only place.

00:08:16.040 | I mean, if you're gonna stay at a Disney Resort Hotel

00:08:18.880 | and only do Disney,

00:08:20.440 | it's one place I would say use a travel agent.

00:08:22.560 | And I never say use a travel agent.

00:08:24.040 | Like I don't use a travel agent for anything myself,

00:08:26.240 | but I always use a travel agent

00:08:27.760 | when I'm booking a Disney World vacation

00:08:30.520 | because it's no additional cost.

00:08:32.640 | Disney's paying them a commission out of the packages.

00:08:36.160 | So I always use a travel agent

00:08:38.240 | unless maybe like I'm doing something,

00:08:40.320 | hacking something together myself,

00:08:41.760 | like I can grab some discount tickets and that's possible.

00:08:45.000 | But if you're planning like a big week-long family vacation,

00:08:48.600 | I don't think there's any downside to using a travel agent.

00:08:50.640 | They're gonna have so much more expertise.

00:08:52.840 | They're gonna tell you, you know what?

00:08:54.800 | You don't wanna stay in this hotel because this is noisy

00:08:58.400 | or they have construction this time of year.

00:09:00.200 | I have another one that's better for you.

00:09:01.560 | Something like that, so.

00:09:02.800 | - And is that a Disney travel agent

00:09:04.680 | or is it just any travel agent that specializes in Disney

00:09:07.440 | and how do you find them?

00:09:08.280 | - So any travel agent that specializes in Disney,

00:09:10.480 | and there are a lot of them.

00:09:11.320 | I mean, there are a lot of people

00:09:12.160 | who will book you a Disney vacation who you shouldn't use.

00:09:15.040 | They are not as knowledgeable as you could be

00:09:18.400 | if you were to sit down for, you know,

00:09:20.520 | and read a blog post a day for the next month,

00:09:22.400 | you would be better than they would be.

00:09:24.440 | So you just need to find word of mouth, I think,

00:09:26.520 | through, you know, finding people who are expert.

00:09:28.480 | I mean, I'll give a shout out to my co-host

00:09:30.440 | on my own podcast, Disney Deciphered, Joe Chung.

00:09:33.120 | He's a travel agent now.

00:09:34.320 | He didn't start out that way.

00:09:35.280 | We podcasted for years together and he loved it so much

00:09:38.560 | that he found it was a way to hack his own

00:09:40.520 | and his friend's vacation.

00:09:41.760 | And then of course it went from there.

00:09:43.000 | So find good people through word of mouth

00:09:45.360 | and find somebody that has been to Disney.

00:09:48.240 | And if they got good advice from that person,

00:09:50.240 | then you can trust that person.

00:09:51.800 | - Wait, where do I find that one piece

00:09:55.360 | of urgent information?

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00:12:31.000 | - And how do you think about when to go, right?

00:12:33.640 | Now we're thinking, okay, I gotta plan months in advance,

00:12:36.360 | maybe a little bit less in California, it sounds like,

00:12:39.120 | but are there, when it comes to crowds and weather,

00:12:42.560 | seasons to avoid or target?

00:12:44.520 | - So think about the school calendar first and foremost,

00:12:47.040 | when it comes to planning and crowds.

00:12:50.160 | So when the kids are out of school,

00:12:52.360 | the parks are gonna be busier, more generally.

00:12:54.360 | Not always, but that is the case.

00:12:56.880 | Summer used to be the busy season at Walt Disney World,

00:12:59.720 | but I think a lot of people

00:13:00.640 | just can't take the heat anymore,

00:13:02.700 | so it's not quite as crazy as it used to be,

00:13:04.880 | but the kids are still out of school,

00:13:06.360 | so a lot of people will take their vacations then.

00:13:09.200 | The worst week is to go between Christmas and New Year's.

00:13:12.220 | That is historically, at both parks,

00:13:14.320 | Disneyland and Disney World,

00:13:15.920 | everybody's home for the holidays

00:13:18.000 | and wants to run over there for a day

00:13:19.960 | or something like that.

00:13:20.920 | That's the only time I wouldn't go.

00:13:22.520 | If that's the only time you can go, then you should,

00:13:24.720 | but if you have choices, choose something else, please.

00:13:28.720 | - How different from a cost and/or crowd standpoint

00:13:33.440 | would, I don't know, let's say if you went

00:13:37.080 | during the middle of week in October

00:13:39.400 | when there's no holiday versus peak time,

00:13:43.080 | is that 3X the crowd, 3X the cost,

00:13:45.800 | or is it narrow enough

00:13:47.200 | that it's probably not a huge decision factor?

00:13:49.640 | - Most of the rest of the year,

00:13:51.000 | it's narrow enough

00:13:52.120 | that it shouldn't be a huge decision factor,

00:13:53.880 | and sometimes you can't plan for it, right?

00:13:56.800 | Sometimes you think, oh, I'm gonna go midweek in October,

00:14:00.360 | and the crowds are going to be what we call a level seven day

00:14:04.240 | which is still pretty high.

00:14:05.280 | There's a website called Touring Plans that I really like

00:14:07.440 | that has a crowd calendar.

00:14:09.440 | So they will rate the days from one to 10,

00:14:12.120 | and you would be surprised.

00:14:13.880 | There are days that you think would be a two,

00:14:15.920 | and they are an eight.

00:14:17.000 | So sometimes you can't necessarily plan around that.

00:14:20.240 | I don't try to micromanage it too much

00:14:21.760 | other than avoiding sort of those really, really bad times

00:14:25.560 | that are always bad,

00:14:26.920 | and the rest of the time, just kind of roll with it.

00:14:28.720 | I've been on Veterans Day weekend at Disneyland,

00:14:31.560 | and it's nuts, but-

00:14:33.560 | - That's what all the hacks we're gonna get to are for.

00:14:36.360 | - Right, right.

00:14:37.200 | - But I'm guessing spring break

00:14:38.520 | is probably another crowded time.

00:14:40.080 | - It is, but, you know,

00:14:41.200 | spring breaks are spread out enough nationwide

00:14:43.200 | that it scatters the crowds.

00:14:45.200 | So this year, I think it'll be worse

00:14:47.320 | because Easter falls at the very end of March.

00:14:50.080 | So a lot more people have the break

00:14:52.760 | the week before and the week after Easter,

00:14:54.400 | whereas if Easter falls in mid-April,

00:14:56.640 | then the breaks get spread out a little bit.

00:14:58.360 | So this year, I feel like spring break

00:14:59.720 | will be more of a crunch, but not necessarily.

00:15:01.920 | Oftentimes, you know, Southern schools get off in mid-March,

00:15:05.120 | and then those New England schools,

00:15:06.840 | they don't get off until April.

00:15:07.920 | So that does spread people out.

00:15:09.600 | - Yeah, I was looking at doing a trip

00:15:10.880 | for listeners to Iceland,

00:15:12.680 | and we were like, "When is spring break?"

00:15:14.080 | And I was so surprised

00:15:15.280 | that there's like not a consistent answer anywhere.

00:15:18.040 | And then when you're planning in advance,

00:15:20.240 | what are the major milestones and what do you do first?

00:15:22.960 | Is it get your hotel first, flights, book park reservations?

00:15:27.000 | What are the things that kind of

00:15:27.840 | really need to happen in advance?

00:15:29.440 | - So hotel and flights for me

00:15:31.880 | are usually the things that I'm doing together.

00:15:33.800 | I'm checking flight prices

00:15:35.640 | as I'm looking at hotel availability.

00:15:37.560 | I mean, now that I have older kids that are in school,

00:15:39.760 | so we're tied to a school schedule.

00:15:41.680 | So usually the vacation is dictated by the breaks for us.

00:15:45.720 | So sometimes we don't really have a lot of choices,

00:15:47.480 | but I'm doing those together.

00:15:48.680 | And hotels, I often book early and then switch.

00:15:53.600 | So I'm always watching availability.

00:15:55.440 | I'm looking for a better room type to open up,

00:15:57.400 | or maybe the resort I really wanna stay in is fully booked,

00:16:00.080 | but I think it'll come open later.

00:16:02.160 | So hotel reservations to me are not as firm as flights.

00:16:07.160 | Flights are something I usually,

00:16:09.600 | yeah, I'll still switch those two

00:16:10.720 | 'cause I book Southwest a lot.

00:16:12.000 | They're more fluid than I think a lot of people might realize

00:16:15.000 | and if you're looking and you have to go on a certain date

00:16:18.080 | and you can't find your hotel that you are dying to stay in,

00:16:21.400 | the game's not over.

00:16:22.280 | Like there's chances to find that hotel later, I think,

00:16:24.920 | and a good travel agent, I think,

00:16:26.400 | will also help you in that regard as well.

00:16:28.600 | But yeah, those are the two things.

00:16:30.640 | You mentioned park reservations.

00:16:32.280 | At Disney World, at least, those are going away in 2024.

00:16:35.320 | So people will not have to make park reservations.

00:16:37.560 | They will have to buy tickets,

00:16:39.200 | and tickets are date-based at Disney World.

00:16:41.320 | So that is something that you have to do,

00:16:43.800 | but you don't have to buy those six, 12 months in advance.

00:16:46.760 | You can wait a little bit on those

00:16:48.040 | and thank goodness park reservations are gonna be gone.

00:16:50.360 | Not at Disneyland, though, sorry.

00:16:51.760 | - Okay, as someone who doesn't know as much,

00:16:53.680 | what's that mean?

00:16:54.520 | I don't actually know what the difference

00:16:55.520 | between a park reservation and a ticket is.

00:16:58.120 | - Good point.

00:16:58.960 | So tickets at Disney World, let's start there,

00:17:02.400 | they cost different amounts

00:17:04.160 | based upon what day you're going.

00:17:06.520 | So if you're gonna go Christmas week,

00:17:08.440 | they're gonna cost more than if you go

00:17:10.560 | on a random midweek date in September.

00:17:14.320 | So when you're buying a ticket for Disney World,

00:17:17.440 | you're buying a date range, essentially.

00:17:19.880 | You can go any day in that range

00:17:22.880 | versus a park reservation,

00:17:24.040 | which is you're going to this park on this date.

00:17:26.520 | That part is going away.

00:17:28.160 | You still have to buy for the date range of your vacation.

00:17:30.480 | So say somebody gets sick

00:17:32.280 | and you need to spend a day at the hotel,

00:17:33.760 | and you can switch your vacation a little bit

00:17:37.000 | within the range that you were given on the tickets.

00:17:39.480 | - Okay. And you're talking about days.

00:17:42.560 | I think I've always done Disney.

00:17:44.960 | I don't even know.

00:17:45.800 | I can't remember, to be honest,

00:17:47.160 | but I feel like the one or two times we've done,

00:17:48.880 | it's been like a one-day experience.

00:17:51.360 | I imagine now that we have two children,

00:17:53.840 | walking anywhere, bathroom breaks, naps, food,

00:17:57.800 | as an adult, you could probably pretty easily

00:18:00.160 | run through things quickly.

00:18:01.920 | How many days do you think people need minimum maximum

00:18:06.120 | for a Disney trip?

00:18:07.400 | And I'm guessing it obviously changes world to land.

00:18:10.200 | - Yes. So I'd say for world, a minimum of four days,

00:18:13.400 | if you're going with a family.

00:18:15.040 | I don't do anything less than that

00:18:16.440 | unless I'm going solo just for research purposes

00:18:20.000 | for my blog and my podcast.

00:18:21.640 | For Disneyland, I'd say two days,

00:18:24.960 | ideally three if it's your first vacation

00:18:27.320 | with younger kids especially, but you can do it in two.

00:18:30.360 | I just did a trip with my family over our fall break

00:18:33.240 | that was two park days and two hotel nights to Disneyland.

00:18:36.720 | And we did most everything, not everything.

00:18:40.360 | - And you know, you said you go down for day trips.

00:18:42.400 | If someone's in Southern California

00:18:44.280 | and they have only one day free,

00:18:46.400 | but they've got their kids, like, can you do it in a day?

00:18:48.800 | - Yeah.

00:18:49.640 | - I mean, it's not going to be the whole thing,

00:18:50.720 | but is it worth doing

00:18:52.680 | if that's the only opportunity you have on your trip?

00:18:54.680 | - It is. Absolutely. Absolutely.

00:18:56.560 | And maybe you just want to do one of the two parks

00:18:58.800 | at Disneyland, but you absolutely can do it in a day.

00:19:02.480 | And I know tons of people just want to get that taste

00:19:05.280 | of Disney while they're doing, you know,

00:19:07.040 | something else in Southern California or,

00:19:08.960 | or they live there and it's like,

00:19:10.160 | we can only budget to go one day a year to Disneyland.

00:19:13.880 | Do it. Absolutely do it.

00:19:15.200 | - Okay. Now we haven't talked at all about costs.

00:19:18.280 | When people think generally about Disney and budgeting,

00:19:21.880 | what do you think people should think about in that regard?

00:19:24.280 | When I first thought about Disney, I was like, oh,

00:19:26.720 | you know, I've always gone. It's just been me.

00:19:28.200 | We've already been there.

00:19:29.480 | And then now that I think about it as a family,

00:19:31.160 | it almost feels like a ski trip and that like,

00:19:33.000 | it is not going to be a cheap experience.

00:19:35.600 | Is there any kind of ballpark guidance you think people

00:19:38.440 | should use to budget for their Disney trip?

00:19:40.840 | - Sure. So, I mean,

00:19:42.040 | people do have this impression that it's insanely expensive

00:19:44.720 | and it can be.

00:19:45.960 | I ski and I don't think it's as much as a ski trip.

00:19:48.500 | Not that level of stratospherically expensive yet,

00:19:52.180 | especially if you know what you're doing.

00:19:53.620 | The key is to know what is worth paying for and what isn't,

00:19:57.640 | because there are a lot of little additional add-ons

00:20:00.080 | that you might need or you might not,

00:20:02.720 | or maybe you only need some combination of them

00:20:04.560 | on certain days.

00:20:05.800 | So I think that helps to think about.

00:20:07.640 | For me, for a family of four,

00:20:09.800 | I like to think about a Disney World vacation.

00:20:12.040 | It's going to be more than a thousand dollars a night

00:20:16.720 | for a family of four when you consider the cheapest hotel

00:20:20.080 | and park tickets and basic food and souvenirs.

00:20:23.040 | So I did a quick little price out just to see what things

00:20:26.040 | were looking like.

00:20:27.140 | And I did a four day, four night vacation

00:20:29.700 | for a family of four with just the basics.

00:20:33.040 | And you're looking at about 4,000 to $5,000

00:20:37.880 | like for just the bare bones level.

00:20:40.080 | Cheapest hotels.

00:20:41.240 | - Including flights or no flights?

00:20:42.880 | - No flights, no flights.

00:20:44.360 | - Okay.

00:20:45.200 | And obviously there's another end to that.

00:20:46.640 | It could cost a lot more for the nicest hotels

00:20:49.360 | and all the things.

00:20:50.480 | - Yes, for sure.

00:20:51.520 | I would say that you can do Disneyland

00:20:53.840 | a little more cheaply these days.

00:20:55.600 | I mean, the cheapest one day,

00:20:56.940 | one park ticket at Disneyland is $104.

00:21:00.680 | And then they have right now a 50% off kids deal.

00:21:04.480 | So you could take kids.

00:21:07.440 | - Is that a normal thing?

00:21:08.640 | I almost never hear Disney's on sale.

00:21:10.600 | - No, it's going to be just for January

00:21:12.040 | through March of 2024.

00:21:13.520 | So PS, it's a slower season.

00:21:16.000 | So if you can go during that time period,

00:21:17.460 | your kids are like 50 bucks, you're a hundred bucks.

00:21:20.280 | You get a cheap hotel across the street

00:21:22.240 | that's not a Disney hotel.

00:21:23.960 | You can do that on the cheap, but not all the time.

00:21:26.680 | - Okay.

00:21:27.520 | And we'll get into some of the in-park optimizations,

00:21:30.520 | food and tickets and that kind of stuff.

00:21:32.400 | We talk a lot about points and miles.

00:21:34.700 | Is that even a factor for Disney?

00:21:37.040 | - It is more for land than it is for world

00:21:40.000 | because at Disneyland, we haven't mentioned yet,

00:21:42.320 | there are only three on-property hotels at Disneyland.

00:21:44.560 | Most guests at Disneyland stay at off-property hotels

00:21:48.460 | that are within walking distance of the park.

00:21:50.680 | And there are a lot of chains in there,

00:21:52.240 | a lot of Marriott's, a lot of Hilton's, Holiday Inn's,

00:21:55.160 | things like that.

00:21:55.980 | You can use points and miles for your hotel.

00:21:57.920 | And I do all the time.

00:21:58.960 | There's a great Fairfield Inn within walking distance

00:22:01.920 | of the Disneyland Resort.

00:22:03.080 | And I am using my points there

00:22:04.600 | because sometimes it's good for those certificates

00:22:06.640 | you can get with your Marriott credit cards,

00:22:08.160 | the category one through five certificates.

00:22:10.080 | You can sometimes use those there.

00:22:11.720 | So you can for land, and I do.

00:22:14.440 | You can't really hack the tickets so much anymore.

00:22:16.720 | There's not a way to like buy them through portals

00:22:18.840 | like there used to be, but for hotels, you can.

00:22:21.280 | And then at world, a lot of people will stay.

00:22:23.640 | There are a couple of hotels called the Swan and Dolphin,

00:22:25.720 | and then the Swan Reserve.

00:22:27.280 | And those are Marriott properties.

00:22:28.560 | Those are actually located really close

00:22:30.880 | to two of the parks at Disney World,

00:22:32.960 | Epcot and Hollywood Studios.

00:22:34.680 | So a lot of people will use points and miles

00:22:36.460 | to stay at those properties.

00:22:37.580 | And they're more in the bigger vicinity.

00:22:39.560 | But I think if you're serious about doing Disney

00:22:43.080 | and still want to get some points values,

00:22:44.720 | it's probably the Swan and Dolphin.

00:22:46.160 | - Okay.

00:22:47.040 | And if someone's thinking about budget, just briefly,

00:22:50.160 | and money's not the issue,

00:22:52.320 | are there any things to consider

00:22:54.200 | before we get into the nuance of hotels and tours

00:22:57.240 | and that kind of stuff?

00:22:58.080 | - I mean, sky's the limit.

00:22:59.240 | (laughs)

00:23:00.280 | So, I mean, for me, if you have a bigger budget,

00:23:02.840 | I think it's worth paying for more conveniences,

00:23:06.200 | especially at Walt Disney World.

00:23:07.940 | So we'll talk about it, but like stay at a nicer hotel.

00:23:11.400 | It's going to have easier transportation.

00:23:13.520 | Pay for the ticket add-ons.

00:23:15.400 | There are going to be ways that you can maximize

00:23:18.360 | going from park to park or when you start, things like that,

00:23:21.380 | if you're willing to pay for it.

00:23:22.600 | - All right, and so we're planning this trip.

00:23:24.640 | We've kind of figured out where we want to go.

00:23:26.480 | We've booked our flights.

00:23:28.200 | We'll get into hotels.

00:23:29.840 | So I guess that's the first thing.

00:23:30.920 | So let's just jump right in.

00:23:32.440 | How do you think about where to stay,

00:23:34.120 | whether it's at the park, near the park,

00:23:36.320 | Disney property, not Disney property?

00:23:38.460 | - All right, so let's start with Disney World,

00:23:40.280 | because like I said, there's more than two dozen hotels.

00:23:43.240 | And I'm thinking about transportation

00:23:46.080 | when I'm thinking about hotels.

00:23:47.720 | So there are four parks.

00:23:49.440 | There's all these different forms of transportation

00:23:51.360 | at Walt Disney World.

00:23:52.520 | There's the monorail, which I think a lot of people know,

00:23:54.720 | 'cause that's been around for a very, very long time.

00:23:57.040 | There's something new called the Skyliner,

00:23:58.900 | which is like a gondola system,

00:24:00.400 | like you would see at a ski resort,

00:24:01.840 | and that connects different resorts.

00:24:03.840 | And then you've got buses and boats.

00:24:05.760 | So you have to think about what park

00:24:08.080 | are you going to spend the most time in

00:24:10.680 | and what has the most convenient transportation

00:24:13.380 | to those parks?

00:24:14.220 | I mean, I really like the new Skyliner.

00:24:16.880 | I used to be a monorail girl

00:24:18.520 | and always liked to stay at the fancy old school hotels

00:24:21.840 | on the monorail.

00:24:22.720 | But this new Skyliner,

00:24:24.120 | it connects Disney's Hollywood Studios and Epcot,

00:24:27.280 | and then several of the hotels.

00:24:28.680 | And I think that's kind of game-changing

00:24:30.040 | for a lot of people.

00:24:30.880 | - Okay, and what about staying off property

00:24:34.360 | versus on property?

00:24:35.960 | How do you make that decision?

00:24:37.120 | - It's different at Disneyland and at Disney World.

00:24:39.400 | At Disney World, I'm almost always staying on property.

00:24:42.840 | And the reason is both the convenience

00:24:44.760 | and the logistics transportation,

00:24:47.040 | but it's also the perks,

00:24:48.400 | the benefits you get to staying on property.

00:24:50.760 | You will have a better in-park experience

00:24:53.520 | because Disney gives preference to its on-property guests.

00:24:57.400 | At Disneyland, not as essential to stay on property.

00:25:01.640 | I'd say 80% of the time I'm staying off property.

00:25:05.280 | There are some perks at Disneyland,

00:25:07.520 | but they aren't as essential to making your day seamless.

00:25:11.840 | - And what are those perks?

00:25:12.880 | - The biggest perk is early entry.

00:25:14.640 | - And for both parks?

00:25:17.120 | - So at land, yes.

00:25:18.840 | Right now there at Disneyland,

00:25:20.560 | you get early entry into both parks each day.

00:25:23.480 | That's gonna change in 2024.

00:25:25.040 | They're gonna alternate parks.

00:25:26.080 | So it's gonna be less valuable in 2024.

00:25:29.400 | And for Walt Disney World,

00:25:31.960 | you get 30 minutes early entry

00:25:34.200 | into any of the four parks each morning.

00:25:37.640 | So you get a jump on everybody else.

00:25:39.680 | And that's really important.

00:25:40.720 | If you know anything about theme park lines,

00:25:43.120 | being early is going to get you

00:25:45.560 | the shortest time spent in line.

00:25:47.320 | So I think that's super valuable for Disney World.

00:25:50.040 | And there's some other little things

00:25:52.000 | like about when you can book

00:25:53.480 | what we call your lightning lanes.

00:25:55.200 | And we'll talk about that too.

00:25:56.240 | So yeah, it's a lot.

00:25:58.840 | It's a lot to think about.

00:25:59.680 | But I think generally speaking,

00:26:01.360 | Walt Disney World has an on-property advantage,

00:26:05.000 | less essential for me at Disneyland,

00:26:08.080 | especially when you consider the hotels

00:26:09.600 | are more expensive at Disneyland.

00:26:11.240 | - And are there any kind of,

00:26:12.440 | I can't remember the name of it,

00:26:13.280 | but I was reading someone's post on a blog about Disney,

00:26:16.000 | and they were like, "Well, if you wanna stay on property,

00:26:17.560 | "don't forget you could stay at this one property

00:26:19.640 | "that's still on property and has the perks,

00:26:21.400 | "but it's usually a lot cheaper

00:26:22.720 | "and maybe actually more convenient, but slightly older."

00:26:25.880 | Are there specific places to target

00:26:27.920 | if you want on property and you wanna get a deal?

00:26:30.160 | - That might be this one on Dolphin

00:26:31.440 | that they're talking about.

00:26:32.480 | That's my guess because it's a Marriott.

00:26:35.480 | It's on Disney property, but it's not a Disney hotel.

00:26:38.320 | It's this weird hybrid.

00:26:39.640 | So I think a lot of people choose that.

00:26:41.960 | There are also some hotels at an area called Disney Springs

00:26:45.560 | that are also kind of in this hybrid category

00:26:49.240 | that get some of the benefits of the on-property hotels,

00:26:52.640 | but they're operated by third parties.

00:26:55.600 | So look into those, but at Disney World,

00:26:58.480 | there is every price range of a hotel.

00:27:00.960 | They have value resorts, they have moderate resorts,

00:27:03.040 | they have deluxe resorts.

00:27:04.560 | So you can stay at a value resort,

00:27:07.240 | and sometimes you can find a hotel

00:27:10.120 | for $150 to $200 a night.

00:27:12.120 | Not a lot more expensive

00:27:13.000 | than what you'll find at Holiday Inn.

00:27:14.200 | So for me, is it worth like $20 more to be right there?

00:27:18.600 | Yeah.

00:27:19.520 | Especially when you consider those off-property hotels

00:27:21.360 | might charge you parking or resort fee

00:27:24.720 | or some other little nickel and dime

00:27:26.960 | that they know how to do.

00:27:27.800 | - If you're on property,

00:27:29.160 | do you even need a car for the four days you're there?

00:27:31.800 | - No, you don't.

00:27:33.600 | I never, never have a car at Walt Disney World.

00:27:35.720 | I use only the transportation,

00:27:37.040 | and then in a real pinch, I'll take an Uber.

00:27:39.560 | - Any particular hotels that stand out

00:27:41.800 | for whatever reason from all of your stays?

00:27:44.280 | - I love the Polynesian.

00:27:46.760 | If only because I love the theming of the South Pacific,

00:27:51.640 | and it's just sort of an old school,

00:27:53.400 | one of the original hotels at Walt Disney World.

00:27:55.280 | It's on the monorail loop.

00:27:56.520 | It has a great location

00:27:58.120 | where you're on the monorail loop to go to Magic Kingdom,

00:28:00.640 | but you're also within walking distance of the monorail

00:28:03.240 | that goes to Epcot at a separate station

00:28:05.280 | called the Transportation and Ticket Center.

00:28:07.000 | So I love that hotel.

00:28:08.400 | I actually really love Caribbean Beach Resort,

00:28:11.840 | which is a moderate

00:28:14.480 | because it's at the hub of the Skyliner station.

00:28:18.040 | So you can take a quick Skyliner

00:28:20.400 | to two different theme parks from Caribbean Beach.

00:28:23.440 | The price is right.

00:28:24.960 | You know, it's not super fancy,

00:28:26.400 | but it's got a fun pool for kids.

00:28:28.520 | So that's kind of like my mid-range pick,

00:28:30.720 | especially for families.

00:28:32.280 | And I also love at the lower level, the value level,

00:28:35.360 | Hop Century Resort because it's also on the Skyliner.

00:28:38.320 | So if you really just want a clean place to stay

00:28:40.440 | and some easy transportation, that's an easy way to go.

00:28:43.320 | - You mentioned for families.

00:28:44.400 | And I think about traveling.

00:28:45.960 | If you've got five people and you're kind of in that boat

00:28:48.240 | where you can't just have one room,

00:28:50.960 | is there a particular property

00:28:52.480 | where you kind of get a better deal for a suite

00:28:55.040 | or something with more space?

00:28:56.560 | - A lot of people like the Art of Animation family suites.

00:28:59.360 | Those can sleep up to six, but they are pricier.

00:29:02.320 | I mean, they're kind of like the cost

00:29:03.600 | of two value resort rooms put together.

00:29:05.960 | So that's something to think about.

00:29:07.880 | I mean, a family of five at Disney World

00:29:10.080 | can stay in most moderate and deluxe resorts.

00:29:14.840 | You can't stay in a value,

00:29:16.200 | but a lot of the moderate resorts,

00:29:17.720 | like the Caribbean Beach that I just mentioned,

00:29:19.560 | they have rooms that sleep five.

00:29:20.880 | So you could squeeze in there.

00:29:22.200 | And I still am at the stage where with my family of four,

00:29:25.080 | we're staying in a single hotel room.

00:29:26.600 | So I'd rather stay in a nice hotel room

00:29:28.680 | as a family of four than a cheaper one and splitting up.

00:29:31.880 | - Okay, so we got our hotels booked, we got our flights.

00:29:33.960 | Now we're talking about parks.

00:29:35.720 | And how do you think about all of the parks, right?

00:29:38.680 | When I first thought about this, I was like,

00:29:40.560 | "Oh, you go to Disney."

00:29:41.400 | It's like, "Well, no, no, no."

00:29:42.360 | There's four parks, how many days?

00:29:44.440 | How much are you planning out

00:29:45.920 | in advance of what you want to do?

00:29:47.840 | - I mean, generally speaking,

00:29:48.960 | I think you want to spend a day in each park.

00:29:52.680 | So like I said, you want to take that four-day vacation

00:29:54.680 | to Disney World.

00:29:55.760 | Magic Kingdom is the park that everybody recognizes

00:29:58.840 | with the castle, right?

00:29:59.880 | And that has the most to do 'cause it's the oldest park.

00:30:02.040 | I mean, they've added more to it

00:30:03.080 | over the course of its 50-year history.

00:30:06.880 | So that's the park you probably want to spend

00:30:08.320 | the most time in.

00:30:09.160 | But if you have four days, a day in each park, that works.

00:30:11.640 | That gives you the taste of each, you know,

00:30:13.280 | different atmosphere and whatnot.

00:30:15.240 | If you have a longer trip, I think a lot more people

00:30:17.000 | will take that second day in Magic Kingdom

00:30:20.200 | or they'll mix and match a little bit.

00:30:21.840 | You know, there's something called the park hopper ticket

00:30:24.320 | that you can get that allows you to go to multiple parks

00:30:26.960 | in a single day.

00:30:28.280 | And a lot of people will start their morning

00:30:30.800 | at Magic Kingdom, ride all the rides,

00:30:33.260 | and then they'll go to Epcot at night

00:30:36.160 | because that's got all the great restaurants

00:30:38.200 | and the food festivals,

00:30:39.240 | and that's where they want to eat dinner.

00:30:40.640 | So think about those kinds of things.

00:30:42.720 | I mean, you'll get a sense from very quick research

00:30:45.500 | what each park is about.

00:30:46.800 | I mean, Magic Kingdom is the classics.

00:30:48.760 | Epcot's got this around the world world showcase,

00:30:51.480 | and then lots of futuristic things.

00:30:54.320 | Hollywood Studios has got a lot of thrill rides,

00:30:56.640 | and it used to be a studio, a real studio park.

00:30:59.840 | It isn't anymore.

00:31:00.920 | And then Animal Kingdom is like a park unto itself.

00:31:03.640 | It's this outdoor landscape that has full of animals

00:31:06.640 | and unique outdoor attractions.

00:31:08.880 | So each one has a different vibe,

00:31:10.720 | and you'll quickly figure out which one is your vibe.

00:31:13.640 | - And then in Disneyland, you just have two options.

00:31:16.480 | - Two options.

00:31:17.320 | So you have the Castle Park there,

00:31:18.720 | Disneyland Park is what we call it,

00:31:20.160 | and then Disney's California Adventure,

00:31:22.160 | which I'd say its closest cousin in Florida

00:31:24.280 | is Hollywood Studios.

00:31:25.660 | I think both of those are worthwhile doing.

00:31:27.440 | There's more to do at Disneyland Park.

00:31:29.120 | I would usually say for people spending three days

00:31:32.420 | at Disneyland, you want to spend two days at Disneyland

00:31:34.800 | and one day at California Adventure.

00:31:36.560 | - And in Disney World, is there a park that,

00:31:39.000 | if you went for five, and you're like,

00:31:40.320 | where are you going to spend the fifth day?

00:31:42.400 | Is it more do the four and go back to the one you loved,

00:31:45.320 | or is there one that really kind of needs more time?

00:31:47.740 | - Yeah, I mean, do the four

00:31:48.580 | and go back to the one you love.

00:31:49.560 | I think for most people, that's going to be Magic Kingdom,

00:31:52.960 | just because there's more to do there.

00:31:55.120 | Especially for families, if you have younger kids,

00:31:57.040 | there's more to do for them at that park.

00:31:59.880 | I mean, for adults, maybe it's Hollywood Studios or Epcot,

00:32:02.700 | I would say, because you've got the food in Epcot,

00:32:04.780 | you've got the thrill rides at Hollywood Studios.

00:32:06.820 | Animal Kingdom, I would say, is the only one.

00:32:08.660 | I mean, some people love that park,

00:32:10.480 | love, love, love that park, but it has less to do,

00:32:13.100 | and a lot of people treat that as a half-day park.

00:32:15.900 | - And is it easy to get between these parks?

00:32:17.660 | I'm thinking right now, and maybe this is just

00:32:19.660 | because we have a one and a three-year-old,

00:32:21.620 | I'm like, when we plan a weekend day,

00:32:24.380 | one activity is enough, you know, one activity.

00:32:27.820 | And then I'm thinking like going to two theme parks

00:32:29.920 | in one day seems crazy.

00:32:31.360 | - Yeah, don't park up if you have a one and a three-year-old,

00:32:33.600 | that's not necessary.

00:32:34.920 | But yes, I mean, you've zoned in on the fact

00:32:37.100 | that there is significant transportation

00:32:39.040 | at Walt Disney World.

00:32:40.100 | You've heard me talk about buses and ferries

00:32:41.920 | and Skyliners and monorails,

00:32:43.600 | and you will take nearly all of those things

00:32:46.640 | if you were there for a week in Florida, and it's a lot.

00:32:49.440 | So if you're staying at a hotel that's on the monorail loop,

00:32:53.160 | and you're getting up,

00:32:54.480 | and you're taking the monorail into Magic Kingdom,

00:32:56.800 | and you're headed back at the end of the day,

00:32:58.940 | the logistics aren't so bad.

00:33:00.420 | But it's when you start moving around the greater resort

00:33:03.340 | over the course of a week that you will have more time

00:33:06.740 | on the bus that isn't coming,

00:33:08.720 | and you're standing at the station, things like that.

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00:36:04.340 | I just wanna thank you quick for listening to

00:36:08.060 | and supporting the show.

00:36:09.540 | Your support is what keeps this show going.

00:36:12.380 | To get all of the URLs, codes, deals,

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00:36:23.660 | - We kind of have an idea.

00:36:24.780 | Let's talk about some of the things you need to do

00:36:26.380 | before you get to the park.

00:36:27.540 | How do you plan the day?

00:36:29.100 | What are those add-ons, Genie+, Lightning Lanes,

00:36:32.000 | that make sense to pre-plan ahead?

00:36:34.820 | And how do you start to get into the day?

00:36:36.620 | - So Genie+ is the thing that everybody

00:36:41.240 | should give a fair look to,

00:36:44.340 | especially if you have older kids.

00:36:46.180 | I mean, maybe not as much with a toddler,

00:36:48.180 | every park, every day.

00:36:49.260 | But Genie+ is Disney's replacement to FastPass.

00:36:53.220 | I think a lot of people know that the word FastPass,

00:36:55.500 | Disney got rid of it after the pandemic.

00:36:57.780 | And it now has something called Genie+.

00:36:59.860 | And Genie+ gives you access to the Lightning Lane

00:37:04.180 | for quite a few rides.

00:37:07.260 | And that's a lane like you might understand

00:37:10.500 | has a shorter weight.

00:37:11.340 | It doesn't have no weight, but it has a shorter weight.

00:37:13.700 | But a lot of theme parks,

00:37:15.380 | you buy some sort of astronomical add-on, right?

00:37:18.460 | The Fast Lane, the FastPass, whatever they call it.

00:37:20.900 | And you just get to go through the short line

00:37:23.180 | whenever you want.

00:37:24.380 | Not so at Disney.

00:37:25.820 | At Disney, you actually have to book a return time.

00:37:28.460 | And this is a very complex system.

00:37:30.700 | And this is something that's daunting to a lot of people

00:37:32.980 | because it's a whole new system to learn.

00:37:34.860 | But once you learn it,

00:37:35.940 | if you're somebody who's into that gamesmanship

00:37:37.900 | that I talked about, it is so much fun.

00:37:40.200 | Like figuring out how to hack it,

00:37:41.420 | figuring out which ride that you're gonna pick first

00:37:43.460 | in the morning, that's going to set you up

00:37:45.300 | to pick other rides later in the day.

00:37:47.540 | It's a lot.

00:37:48.380 | And I have a whole episode on it on my podcast

00:37:50.580 | that folks should go listen to

00:37:51.760 | if they wanna learn the basics.

00:37:53.220 | It's episode 256 of the Disney Deciphered podcast.

00:37:57.300 | It's Genie+ 101.

00:37:58.540 | And that'll give you the lay of the land

00:38:00.420 | for understanding Genie+.

00:38:02.240 | But it's an extra add-on.

00:38:03.900 | It costs about 25, 30 bucks a day,

00:38:06.420 | depending upon when you're going per person.

00:38:09.180 | I think it's worth it,

00:38:10.140 | at least for one day of your vacation,

00:38:12.380 | whether that's in Florida or in California,

00:38:14.500 | because it does allow you to dodge a lot of the lines.

00:38:18.500 | - And are there specific rides

00:38:21.420 | where the lines really matter

00:38:23.060 | versus ones where it's not as big of a deal?

00:38:25.380 | - For sure.

00:38:26.220 | I mean, like you think, it's the thrill rides

00:38:28.260 | where it's really going to matter.

00:38:29.920 | It's things like Space Mountain or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train,

00:38:33.660 | which is a popular coaster in Magic Kingdom.

00:38:36.500 | It's Guardians of the Galaxy Mission Breakout,

00:38:38.900 | which is the drop right at Disneyland,

00:38:40.500 | Disney California Adventure.

00:38:41.780 | So things like that,

00:38:42.820 | that's when you're going to really shortcut the lines,

00:38:45.060 | because a lot of those thrill rides,

00:38:46.740 | I mean, they could have 60 to 90 minute waits

00:38:49.600 | on a low crowd day.

00:38:51.440 | Forget about what they're going to look like

00:38:53.020 | on high crowd day.

00:38:54.380 | - And are some people just going to Disney

00:38:56.300 | and waiting in line for an hour or two hours?

00:38:58.800 | I mean, I feel like if you did that,

00:39:00.020 | you'd get through like four rides

00:39:01.620 | and that would be your day.

00:39:02.620 | - Yeah.

00:39:03.460 | I have a friend who went to Disney World last year

00:39:07.720 | during the Christmas holidays.

00:39:08.940 | She didn't call me first.

00:39:10.620 | She should have called me first.

00:39:12.260 | And they went during Christmas week.

00:39:13.780 | They didn't buy the add-ons

00:39:16.460 | and they did three rides one day.

00:39:18.820 | That was it.

00:39:19.860 | That's a lot of money to spend on park tickets

00:39:22.780 | to get three rides.

00:39:24.220 | - If they had really dialed it in,

00:39:25.780 | if they had, maybe they didn't stay on property

00:39:28.180 | and go in early.

00:39:29.020 | Maybe they didn't do Genie Plus.

00:39:30.300 | Maybe they did the wrong order.

00:39:31.640 | How much different do you think that day

00:39:33.180 | for them could have been?

00:39:34.320 | - I mean, regular people could have done seven or eight.

00:39:37.820 | I could have done a dozen, you know,

00:39:39.860 | with my level of expertise,

00:39:41.180 | even with the Christmas crowds.

00:39:42.540 | So, you know, and then there are days like

00:39:45.580 | that I've been in the parks without working too hard,

00:39:47.660 | just with my family at Disneyland

00:39:49.180 | over this busy fall break period.

00:39:51.080 | We did 20 rides at Disneyland one day

00:39:54.300 | while still doing a sit down lunch

00:39:56.740 | and leaving the parks before the fireworks started at night.

00:39:59.280 | - And what's the like, I mean,

00:40:00.660 | obviously people should go listen to this episode

00:40:02.340 | on Genie Plus, but is it all just optimizing Genie Plus

00:40:05.740 | that allowed you to like?

00:40:06.900 | - Yeah, it's mostly just knowing what ride to book first,

00:40:11.100 | because what will happen is the Lightning Lane return times

00:40:14.220 | will sell out for certain rides as the day goes on.

00:40:17.420 | So, you know, you have to pick,

00:40:19.060 | for example, in Hollywood Studios,

00:40:21.000 | if you don't pick the Slinky Dog Dash coaster

00:40:23.900 | as your first pick, it might be gone for the day

00:40:26.680 | by the time you're eligible for your second pick.

00:40:28.740 | So it's knowing the sequence of the rides

00:40:31.180 | that you need to pick.

00:40:32.500 | And then it's knowing what to do if crazy things happen.

00:40:36.300 | So for example, if a ride breaks down

00:40:39.180 | and you've got a Genie Plus return time for it,

00:40:41.860 | what happens is Disney's app will give you this thing

00:40:44.800 | called a multiple experience pass,

00:40:47.020 | and that's good at other rides.

00:40:48.860 | So it's knowing about where you should use that

00:40:51.060 | and then what you should do next,

00:40:52.740 | how you should adjust on the fly

00:40:54.660 | to these curve balls that happen,

00:40:56.900 | because you will plan out a day at Disney

00:40:58.500 | and then a ride will go down.

00:41:01.020 | And then your whole plan,

00:41:02.200 | you have to be able to adjust on the fly.

00:41:04.020 | And that's fun.

00:41:04.860 | I mean, sometimes it's frustrating

00:41:06.020 | 'cause sometimes three rides in a park will go down.

00:41:08.060 | The last time I was at Hollywood Studios

00:41:09.380 | that happened in the morning, I had gotten there early

00:41:11.540 | and three of the headliners were down

00:41:13.420 | within the first hour of park opening.

00:41:15.300 | So that's annoying, but you just roll with it and you adjust.

00:41:18.460 | - And do you think the average person could go listen?

00:41:21.500 | People that listen to this show love to optimize things.

00:41:23.440 | They go listen to that episode.

00:41:25.140 | How close to 20 can they get?

00:41:26.960 | Or is this something where they should be hiring

00:41:30.100 | a Disney expert to help them plan their day?

00:41:32.900 | - If you're interested enough to listen to that episode

00:41:36.920 | and do a little research,

00:41:38.580 | look at the app before your vacation,

00:41:41.540 | you won't do 20 on your first day,

00:41:43.620 | but if you're going on a seven day vacation,

00:41:45.520 | I bet you can do 20 by your seventh day.

00:41:47.660 | - That's awesome.

00:41:48.500 | I'm excited for this challenge.

00:41:49.580 | - Yeah.

00:41:50.420 | - But not with a one and a three-year-old.

00:41:51.740 | I guarantee we cannot do 20 rides.

00:41:53.660 | - Yeah, probably not.

00:41:54.740 | - Although I imagine there are some rides

00:41:57.860 | where using the Genie+ would be a total waste

00:42:00.600 | because the lines aren't as bad.

00:42:02.180 | Is that fair?

00:42:03.020 | - Yeah, and there's some rides.

00:42:04.960 | So this is, again, one of these big differences

00:42:06.860 | between Disneyland and Disney World.

00:42:08.300 | At Disney World, there's pretty much Genie+ for every ride.

00:42:11.000 | I mean, there's a couple that there is not,

00:42:12.780 | but pretty much every ride has Genie+.

00:42:14.740 | Whereas at Disneyland, only about half the rides,

00:42:18.180 | maybe less than that, have Genie+.

00:42:20.220 | So you're in standby lines for the other rides,

00:42:23.260 | whether you like it or not.

00:42:24.580 | So it's about knowing how to mix and match

00:42:27.140 | your standby lines and your Genie+ lines.

00:42:29.260 | - Okay, and then when it comes to optimizing the day,

00:42:32.140 | so tier one is just wing it, don't do any prep,

00:42:35.100 | go on three rides like your friend did,

00:42:36.620 | at least during the holidays,

00:42:37.900 | you could dial it in, listen to the episode, Genie+.

00:42:39.980 | Are there any other levels of optimization?

00:42:42.940 | - I mean, you can just do it casually,

00:42:44.660 | especially at Disneyland.

00:42:45.820 | I mean, this is one of those things that's like,

00:42:47.100 | if you don't wanna learn this as much, go to Disneyland,

00:42:50.140 | because you could listen to an intro episode

00:42:54.260 | and do it for the first couple of selections of the day

00:42:57.060 | and have a fantastic day at Disneyland.

00:42:59.780 | It's gonna be harder at Disney World

00:43:01.540 | because the rides run out faster.

00:43:03.740 | It's a more complex matrix

00:43:05.300 | that you're working in at Disney World.

00:43:07.420 | So I'd say, yeah,

00:43:09.420 | if you wanna learn this on a casual level,

00:43:11.340 | go to California and it's highly, highly usable.

00:43:14.100 | - And what about for someone who's like,

00:43:16.860 | I'm still going to Disney World,

00:43:17.900 | I don't wanna learn this.

00:43:18.900 | Are there options?

00:43:20.460 | You know, I know there's the VIP tours.

00:43:22.420 | I know there used to be some tour guides

00:43:24.260 | you could hire outside and bring in.

00:43:26.020 | What are your options if you want a little bit more

00:43:28.260 | of like a help make this simple

00:43:30.500 | without having to do too much work,

00:43:32.060 | but still get a great experience?

00:43:33.620 | - Sure.

00:43:34.460 | So, I mean, yes, there are VIP tours.

00:43:36.300 | They are many, many thousands and thousands of dollars.

00:43:39.660 | I mean, I haven't looked at the pricing at the moment,

00:43:41.700 | but like think about like an eight hour day

00:43:44.580 | starting at $5,000 for, you know,

00:43:47.660 | a group of like up to eight people,

00:43:49.140 | something like that, eight or 10.

00:43:50.300 | I can't remember the exact parameters off the top of my head,

00:43:52.980 | but yes, so you can do this.

00:43:54.740 | And they will take you through the lightning lane

00:43:57.700 | of any and every ride that you want.

00:44:00.340 | And they will bring you bottles of water

00:44:02.260 | while you stand in the heat.

00:44:03.460 | And it's lovely.

00:44:04.860 | I have a lot of friends who have done it,

00:44:06.260 | but it's not something that even folks

00:44:08.300 | who have money to burn can do for a week-long vacation.

00:44:11.900 | You still would only do that unless you're Kim Kardashian.

00:44:14.460 | You would only do it for one day of a week-long vacation,

00:44:17.340 | no matter what.

00:44:18.180 | So yes, you can do that.

00:44:19.140 | And I did have a friend do this last year with her family.

00:44:22.460 | And I can't remember how many rides they got on,

00:44:24.740 | but I think it was about maybe about 15 or 18

00:44:28.500 | over three parks at Disney World over the course of a day,

00:44:31.620 | like an eight or 10-hour day.

00:44:33.020 | So pretty solid.

00:44:34.500 | But yes, so you can do that.

00:44:35.780 | There are also people,

00:44:36.620 | I mean, your travel agent can give you a nudge, right?

00:44:40.220 | They can give you a list, things like that.

00:44:42.940 | There are itineraries that you can buy from people.

00:44:45.620 | I mean, there are people who will sell things.

00:44:47.220 | There's, like I said, I already mentioned touring plans.

00:44:49.660 | They can give you an optimized list if you subscribe

00:44:52.580 | and it's very low cost.

00:44:53.700 | That's a possibility.

00:44:55.140 | There are some people who will,

00:44:58.060 | and this is very like on the edge,

00:45:00.020 | the gray hat kind of techniques,

00:45:01.660 | who you can tell them what you want to do.

00:45:03.900 | They will book your lightning lanes from home.

00:45:06.100 | - Yeah, I've heard about this service.

00:45:07.980 | I've also heard about, I don't know,

00:45:10.380 | this is definitely probably crossing the line.

00:45:12.860 | And we could talk about some of the things

00:45:14.260 | that have recently gotten kind of shut down,

00:45:17.180 | but somehow someone I know went

00:45:20.020 | and had someone at home managing

00:45:22.300 | their Disney lightning passes,

00:45:24.220 | but somehow they had two different Genie Pluses.

00:45:27.140 | So they could, like they were running two separate systems

00:45:30.100 | at the same time.

00:45:30.940 | Maybe they had two park passes, I don't know,

00:45:32.700 | but somehow they were like queuing up

00:45:35.620 | in multiple apps at the same time.

00:45:37.500 | Someone else was managing it from remote

00:45:40.420 | and they were able to do twice as much,

00:45:42.260 | which might sound crazy to consider buying two park passes

00:45:45.780 | and two Genie Pluses, but you know, these VIP tours,

00:45:49.900 | I want to say there's something, you know,

00:45:51.260 | like you said, like $5,000 for 10 people.

00:45:53.620 | So you're going to spend an extra $500 a person at minimum.

00:45:57.060 | So it could be less expensive to do that.

00:45:59.100 | Is that something you've ever come across?

00:46:00.700 | - So there are all sorts of IT loopholes

00:46:03.580 | and as fast as people discover them,

00:46:06.740 | Disney shuts them down.

00:46:08.420 | Some of them, not all of them.

00:46:10.100 | So you can't buy, at least as of right now,

00:46:13.260 | you can't buy two Genie Pluses.

00:46:14.900 | So if that was a loophole that was a while ago,

00:46:17.460 | it may have been shut down,

00:46:18.620 | but there are things that happen.

00:46:20.260 | There are glitches.

00:46:21.140 | There are like things that you can take advantage of.

00:46:23.420 | This is one of those things where, you know,

00:46:24.780 | I highly recommend, just like there are with Miles & Points,

00:46:27.140 | there are Facebook hacker groups.

00:46:28.860 | People will talk about this.

00:46:30.420 | So if you're interested in getting into that, you know,

00:46:32.860 | reach out to your Disney experts that you know,

00:46:35.300 | and there are some folks who will know what's going on,

00:46:37.300 | but there were a lot of loopholes,

00:46:38.860 | especially when Genie Plus first came out,

00:46:40.940 | which was about two years and change ago.

00:46:45.460 | And Disney quickly patched up about 75% of them,

00:46:49.840 | which was, it was fun while it lasted.

00:46:52.140 | - And, you know, I know one time when we went skiing,

00:46:54.700 | it was kind of a similar situation where someone was like,

00:46:56.940 | "Oh, I want to do a lesson."

00:46:58.440 | But it seems so crazy that the lessons at the resorts

00:47:00.640 | were like, you know, a private lesson at a resort

00:47:02.700 | could be like a thousand dollars a day or something.

00:47:04.740 | And you meet the instructor and they're like,

00:47:06.180 | "Oh, I made like a hundred bucks today."

00:47:08.100 | And so they were like,

00:47:09.000 | "Maybe I could just find an instructor on Craigslist

00:47:11.620 | that could just teach me on the mountain for less."

00:47:13.680 | Is there any kind of finding a Disney tour person

00:47:17.140 | that could take you around the park

00:47:18.340 | and help you figure it all out and optimize it

00:47:20.300 | without having to spend $5,000?

00:47:22.380 | Does something like that exist?

00:47:23.620 | - There have been a lot of third-party VIP tour services

00:47:27.660 | like that over the years.

00:47:29.480 | And it's funny that you should mention it right now

00:47:32.020 | because just this very week that we're recording this,

00:47:36.040 | Disney began cracking down on these third-party services

00:47:40.060 | because technically they're against the rules.

00:47:41.520 | I mean, they're doing something commercial

00:47:43.020 | on Disney property and that's against the park rules.

00:47:45.600 | And Disney actually went up to a bunch of them

00:47:47.460 | and issued them trespass notices this week.

00:47:50.240 | So the future of those services is highly in doubt.

00:47:53.060 | I mean, a lot of them haven't been shut down,

00:47:54.800 | but it's a risky approach at the moment,

00:47:57.680 | not knowing if Disney's gonna keep doing this crackdown

00:48:00.500 | or whether they're gonna just sort of let it go.

00:48:02.180 | But a lot of these guides were abusing certain,

00:48:05.380 | not a lot, but some of the guides were abusing things

00:48:07.860 | like the Disability Access Service,

00:48:09.560 | which Disney rightfully wants to make sure

00:48:11.940 | is not being abused.

00:48:13.200 | So I think that's to be continued,

00:48:16.120 | to know what's gonna happen with these services.

00:48:17.900 | - And are these things like you have to know someone

00:48:19.860 | and find a secret website,

00:48:21.140 | or were they things that you could search around for

00:48:23.420 | and say, you know, Disney tours, and you'd find them?

00:48:26.620 | - Oh, this was easy to search for.

00:48:27.860 | I mean, these folks were openly advertising these

00:48:30.300 | and, you know, you'd hear about them

00:48:31.580 | in any Disney planning Facebook group.

00:48:33.740 | People would have recommendations.

00:48:35.300 | I mean, this was easy to find almost as a travel agent.

00:48:37.700 | - Oh, okay, all right.

00:48:39.100 | Those are the kind of options for planning the trip.

00:48:40.820 | You mentioned there are some other perks

00:48:42.240 | that you get with the hotels and the park

00:48:43.740 | beyond getting in the park early.

00:48:45.500 | Are those kind of relevant

00:48:46.860 | when it comes to this stage of planning?

00:48:48.380 | - Yeah, so I should mention,

00:48:49.580 | and when we mentioned Genie+,

00:48:50.780 | one thing we didn't mention

00:48:51.940 | was something called paid lightning lane.

00:48:54.300 | And there are a couple of rides that aren't on Genie+,

00:48:57.860 | but they do have lightning lanes,

00:48:58.900 | but you have to pay an extra fee for those.

00:49:01.420 | So it's another upsell that you have to consider.

00:49:04.620 | And if you're staying on property,

00:49:06.820 | you get the right to buy those paid lightning lanes

00:49:09.300 | at 7 a.m., and it may not sound like,

00:49:11.940 | it sounds like a consolation prize.

00:49:13.520 | It's like, here, you're paying more money to stay on site,

00:49:15.300 | and then you can pay us more money.

00:49:16.660 | But it gives you the chance to get a ride

00:49:19.380 | during a high crowd period

00:49:21.240 | that folks who are staying off site

00:49:22.840 | might not be able to get a lightning lane for at all.

00:49:25.300 | So at 7 a.m., you can make the reservation.

00:49:27.260 | Everybody else who's staying off property,

00:49:29.260 | they can only make that reservation once the park opens.

00:49:32.660 | So all of the lightning lanes may be sold out

00:49:35.220 | for the day for those folks.

00:49:36.380 | - Gives me kind of a little anxiety just thinking about,

00:49:38.980 | it's like, okay, I'm gonna book the return time

00:49:41.040 | to come to this ride.

00:49:41.880 | I gotta be back in two hours.

00:49:43.980 | What do I do in those two hours?

00:49:45.620 | Oh, I'm gonna go do this ride,

00:49:46.660 | and oh, it's taking a little long.

00:49:48.020 | Am I gonna miss it?

00:49:48.860 | Like, how do you kind of plan your day

00:49:51.340 | when you have specific reservations,

00:49:53.100 | but you're all over a park?

00:49:54.260 | - So the ride reservations at least are an hour-long window.

00:49:58.220 | So you have an hour to return to the ride,

00:50:00.540 | and practically speaking,

00:50:01.580 | you also can scan into the ride five minutes

00:50:03.720 | before that hour starts and 15 minutes after.

00:50:07.460 | If something happens, there are lots of cast members,

00:50:10.940 | guest relations, who can adjust these on the fly.

00:50:13.860 | Like, if you're walking up to a line

00:50:15.300 | and you're 20 minutes late for your Lightning Lane window,

00:50:17.700 | and a cast member sees that you have

00:50:19.380 | an 18-month-old with you, and you're like,

00:50:21.260 | "We had a bathroom emergency," or something like that,

00:50:24.100 | like, they're gonna let you in.

00:50:25.140 | They're gonna let you use your Lightning Lane.

00:50:26.420 | I mean, for everything but maybe, like,

00:50:28.180 | the newest of attractions that just opened.

00:50:30.140 | But, like, there's flexibility within this,

00:50:32.260 | and the Disney cast members are human,

00:50:34.220 | and they know that people are dealing with things like kids

00:50:37.460 | and, you know, a mealtime that runs longer than we expected.

00:50:40.500 | It's a firm guideline, but it's not a hard rule.

00:50:42.760 | - What are some of the rides

00:50:44.140 | that you kind of personally think

00:50:46.100 | are maybe underappreciated or overhyped?

00:50:48.300 | - Ooh, lots of things are going through my mind.

00:50:50.820 | I mean, I think a lot of people would say

00:50:52.540 | that Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Walt Disney World,

00:50:55.540 | at Magic Kingdom.

00:50:56.660 | The line is never justified as a standby.

00:51:00.940 | Like, that line can sometimes get, like, 120 minutes long.

00:51:04.000 | Don't ever stand in that.

00:51:05.100 | It's a great, cute little coaster.

00:51:07.720 | I love it, but I'm not gonna stand

00:51:09.840 | into a two-hour line to ride it ever.

00:51:11.920 | So, you know, definitely look for things

00:51:14.920 | that are maybe, like, in the corners of the park.

00:51:17.820 | Like, with young kids, for example, at Disneyland,

00:51:20.220 | I love going on Winnie the Pooh.

00:51:22.100 | The kids love that ride.

00:51:24.080 | It's way back in the back corners of Critter Country,

00:51:26.720 | so a lot of people don't make their way over there

00:51:28.900 | until, you know, midday.

00:51:31.000 | So if you're going to that ride

00:51:32.360 | at, like, 11 o'clock in the morning,

00:51:34.520 | you probably won't have a wait.

00:51:35.720 | So look for things like Gas Flow.

00:51:38.040 | I think it helps to start sometimes,

00:51:40.300 | or at least not immediately,

00:51:41.420 | but, like, within the first hour of getting into the park,

00:51:44.040 | go where other guests aren't going.

00:51:45.700 | Go deeper.

00:51:46.540 | Look for those little sweet spots.

00:51:48.040 | But I think most of the thrill rides,

00:51:50.420 | the standby lines, just aren't worth it.

00:51:53.840 | That's why you use Genie+ for it.

00:51:55.520 | - And is Disney Publishing kind of in the app

00:51:58.200 | all the wait times for all the rides,

00:52:00.060 | even the non-Genie+ ones, at any time,

00:52:02.040 | so you can kind of look and say,

00:52:03.240 | "What's gonna be easy now?"

00:52:04.840 | - Yes, they are.

00:52:06.200 | Whether those wait times are accurate is another question,

00:52:08.940 | but generally speaking,

00:52:10.240 | they're a good guideline to work off of.

00:52:12.120 | Touring Plans, that subscription service

00:52:14.440 | I mentioned earlier as well,

00:52:16.280 | they also keep track of wait times.

00:52:18.520 | So that is something you can use kind of in tandem

00:52:21.120 | with the official Disney World or Disneyland apps,

00:52:23.840 | if you'd like to.

00:52:24.840 | And then once you get used to it,

00:52:26.220 | actually, you can start to be able

00:52:27.860 | to eyeball some of these lines.

00:52:29.600 | I mean, I go to Disneyland all the time,

00:52:31.000 | and I can look at it,

00:52:32.200 | and if it says, you know, "It's a 60-minute wait,"

00:52:34.160 | I'm like, "Nah, it's a 20-minute wait."

00:52:35.920 | I know. (laughs)

00:52:37.040 | - And Touring Plans, do they also publish historical stuff,

00:52:39.500 | so you can kind of see what is it gonna be like

00:52:41.660 | on a typical day, so you kind of plan ahead,

00:52:44.180 | or do you need to just wait 'til you're in the moment?

00:52:46.120 | - Not as much with them.

00:52:47.480 | A site that you can look at historical information on

00:52:50.600 | is called ThrillData.

00:52:52.000 | It's thrill-data.com.

00:52:54.160 | I love that site.

00:52:55.320 | They track all of the metrics for all the Disney parks,

00:52:58.920 | a lot of other theme parks as well.

00:53:00.660 | And so you can see things like,

00:53:02.420 | they have a Lightning Lane availability map,

00:53:05.360 | and you can go onto the map,

00:53:06.840 | and you can see in color-coded bars that,

00:53:10.640 | "Oh, you know what?

00:53:11.960 | "This time of year,

00:53:13.560 | "Space Mountain availability is really good in the morning,

00:53:16.780 | "but then starting in the afternoon,

00:53:18.660 | "those Lightning Lanes start to run out."

00:53:20.580 | So you can see how early in the day,

00:53:23.020 | like, "Oh, I've gotta get Space Mountain.

00:53:24.560 | "You know what?

00:53:25.400 | "I really gotta get it before lunch."

00:53:26.220 | Or, "Know what?

00:53:27.060 | "I can wait until 3 or 4 p.m.,

00:53:27.900 | "and there's still gonna be Space Mountain Lightning Lanes

00:53:29.980 | "left for me to ride."

00:53:30.980 | - Is there a ride that you're always like,

00:53:32.400 | "This is the one due first,"

00:53:33.780 | or are there a couple hard and fast rules

00:53:35.780 | that you're like, "If you're doing Disney,

00:53:37.340 | "here's the thing"?

00:53:38.180 | Telling my friend who's already gotten the overview,

00:53:40.100 | but just wants to know a couple things,

00:53:41.900 | like, "Don't forget to do X."

00:53:43.220 | - At Disneyland, I'm always doing Fantasyland rides first.

00:53:47.860 | None of those are on Genie+,

00:53:49.260 | so this is like little dark rides,

00:53:51.060 | like Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland,

00:53:53.560 | and Dumbo and Snow White, those kind of attractions.

00:53:56.620 | I'm doing those first at Rope Drop,

00:53:58.800 | which is right when the park opens,

00:54:00.980 | or even during early entry, if I have early entry.

00:54:03.780 | That's what I'm doing there.

00:54:05.340 | At other parks, I'm doing a ride

00:54:09.900 | that I would book on Genie+,

00:54:12.280 | but that I'm not going to book on Genie+.

00:54:14.260 | So, say I'm going to Hollywood Studios.

00:54:16.340 | I mentioned Slinky Dog Dash is a ride

00:54:18.620 | that often sells out almost right away on Genie+.

00:54:22.260 | Well, maybe I'm booking a Genie+

00:54:24.060 | for something else in that park,

00:54:25.140 | and then I'm making a Mad Dash to Slinky Dog Dash

00:54:27.460 | to be able to ride that.

00:54:28.540 | - And is this like a Black Friday, doors open Mad Dash,

00:54:31.660 | or is this just like a brisk walk?

00:54:33.420 | - It depends.

00:54:34.260 | (laughing)

00:54:35.380 | Depends on who I'm with.

00:54:36.260 | You can do a brisk walk with kids.

00:54:37.740 | If you're Rope Dropping Peter Pan at Disneyland,

00:54:40.900 | there is not time to park the stroller.

00:54:42.580 | Somebody's got the kid on the back,

00:54:44.420 | and you're making a Mad Dash,

00:54:45.700 | and the other parent is flinging the stroller,

00:54:48.240 | and you're getting in the line.

00:54:49.420 | This is if you really want to optimize it.

00:54:51.720 | If you do park the stroller,

00:54:52.780 | maybe you'll have a 15-minute wait.

00:54:54.340 | If you don't park the stroller,

00:54:55.300 | maybe you'll have a five-minute wait.

00:54:56.820 | - I feel like there's a YouTube video

00:54:58.100 | I want to go watch after this

00:54:59.300 | of parents Mad Dashing with their children.

00:55:01.740 | - It's fun, and you'll hear cast members,

00:55:03.500 | "Don't run!"

00:55:04.460 | But everybody's power walking

00:55:05.620 | like you've never seen them power walk before.

00:55:07.540 | - Oh, that's amazing.

00:55:08.380 | Okay, we covered rides.

00:55:09.900 | What about food?

00:55:10.740 | I feel like this is an area

00:55:12.020 | where I actually have no knowledge.

00:55:13.700 | I haven't talked to anyone about it,

00:55:15.660 | and I feel like you've said

00:55:17.700 | you haven't even tried all the restaurants.

00:55:19.020 | So how do people even start to think about eating meals

00:55:21.540 | while doing a theme park?

00:55:23.300 | - So generally speaking,

00:55:24.980 | there are two different types of restaurants

00:55:28.660 | that people are gonna be eating their meals at.

00:55:30.100 | I mean, there are table service,

00:55:31.300 | like the tablecloth waiter kind of restaurants,

00:55:34.580 | and then there are quick service restaurants

00:55:36.500 | where you're going up to a counter

00:55:38.180 | and you're ordering kind of like mall food court.

00:55:40.660 | So some people really treat Disney as a dining destination

00:55:45.660 | and want to try all of these fancy restaurants,

00:55:48.580 | and some of the restaurants are quite good.

00:55:50.100 | I mean, I don't really think of like Central Florida

00:55:52.780 | as being like a foodie destination.

00:55:54.420 | I mean, California more so,

00:55:55.660 | but like people don't think about theme parks

00:55:57.300 | as being places where you're gonna eat great food,

00:55:59.540 | but you actually can.

00:56:00.660 | So some people really make this a big part of the vacation,

00:56:03.500 | and then Disney has what we call character meals as well.

00:56:06.780 | So you can go to a meal

00:56:08.260 | and see all of your favorite Disney characters.

00:56:10.460 | So you can kind of check some boxes for kids,

00:56:13.020 | like get them fed and get them to see something Disney

00:56:16.420 | at the same time.

00:56:17.260 | So this is something that a lot of people do.

00:56:19.660 | The basic thing is to not overdo it on the food.

00:56:23.820 | Some people, you don't want to eat

00:56:25.580 | two or three table service meals a day.

00:56:27.580 | You're gonna just be stuffed,

00:56:28.700 | especially if you're going like to Florida

00:56:30.260 | in the summertime.

00:56:31.180 | That's not fun.

00:56:32.020 | That's not, doesn't make for a good vacation,

00:56:33.860 | riding roller coasters afterwards.

00:56:35.940 | But I tend to plan one table service meal a day

00:56:40.620 | for my family.

00:56:41.700 | So I'll pre-book reservations.

00:56:43.180 | Reservations open 60 days in advance.

00:56:46.140 | It used to be like 180 days,

00:56:47.820 | which that was ridiculous to have to plan

00:56:50.100 | that far in advance.

00:56:51.620 | So book one reservation a day

00:56:54.060 | and then go with the flow for the rest of it.

00:56:57.700 | I mean, these counter service restaurants,

00:56:58.940 | you could just walk up on the fly.

00:57:00.460 | You can also do something called mobile ordering

00:57:02.460 | in the app where you place an order

00:57:04.660 | and you pick a time window to return,

00:57:06.420 | just like you pick a time window to return to a ride

00:57:08.500 | and you can go and your food's ready quicker.

00:57:10.500 | I love doing that with kids, especially,

00:57:12.260 | so they don't have to wait in line.

00:57:13.460 | - When it comes to the table service,

00:57:14.820 | any highlights of kind of best meals?

00:57:17.260 | - In Florida, I love Skipper Canteen,

00:57:19.420 | which is a restaurant in Magic Kingdom.

00:57:21.860 | It's, if you know the Jungle Cruise,

00:57:23.740 | where they tell the corny jokes,

00:57:25.380 | the waiters do the same kind of thing at Skipper Canteen.

00:57:28.780 | So you get a little bit of entertainment,

00:57:30.380 | you get really good food.

00:57:31.340 | Like the food is kind of a little bit like Asian,

00:57:34.220 | a little bit, I don't even really know how to explain it.

00:57:36.540 | It's exotic enough, but still familiar enough

00:57:38.700 | that your kids can eat like chicken fingers.

00:57:40.900 | So good for the adults.

00:57:42.340 | You got like Bao Buns, things like that,

00:57:43.940 | which I love Skipper Canteen.

00:57:45.460 | I mean, everybody sort of likes to eat it,

00:57:47.500 | like the character meals.

00:57:48.380 | The big ones are Ohana in the Polynesian Resort.

00:57:51.900 | Chef Mickey's is another popular one.

00:57:54.220 | Cinderella's Royal Table,

00:57:55.500 | which is the expensive one in the castle at Disney World.

00:57:58.980 | So lots and lots of choices for meals,

00:58:02.500 | from the low end to the high end.

00:58:04.540 | - And so you mentioned in the Polynesian Resort,

00:58:06.660 | does that mean that some of these kind of

00:58:08.780 | nicer dinners or lunches are not actually in the park,

00:58:12.660 | that you can kind of, maybe if you have young kids,

00:58:15.260 | go back, relax a few hours,

00:58:17.380 | and then have one of these

00:58:18.220 | without having to trek all the way back in?

00:58:19.860 | - Yes, every deluxe resort that I can think of,

00:58:24.220 | I think all of them, have a table service restaurant in them.

00:58:28.660 | Every hotel has at least a quick service restaurant in them.

00:58:32.740 | So if you're staying at one of the value resorts,

00:58:35.460 | you at least have a food court

00:58:36.740 | that you can go to and feed the kids.

00:58:38.820 | So, I mean, most families are going to eat some,

00:58:41.760 | if not many of their meals in the hotel restaurants.

00:58:45.700 | And some of the best ones are there,

00:58:46.860 | like Animal Kingdom Lodge,

00:58:48.820 | that has got two great restaurants, Sanaa and Boma.

00:58:51.980 | Those are some of the most highly rated restaurants

00:58:54.140 | so even if you're not staying in that hotel,

00:58:56.300 | you might be traveling to that hotel to eat a meal there.

00:58:58.580 | - And when you say most highly rated,

00:59:00.180 | what source of ratings would you tell someone to use?

00:59:03.300 | - Touring Plans has actually got some ratings.

00:59:05.540 | Some of these restaurants will make the usual

00:59:07.540 | food zagged or whatever, those kind of ratings as well.

00:59:10.700 | I'm not much of a foodie,

00:59:11.660 | so I'm not paying as much attention to this.

00:59:13.380 | I just know the types of food that I like.

00:59:15.540 | But yes, I mean, you will see,

00:59:17.540 | there's generally an accepted convention among Disney fans.

00:59:20.540 | This restaurant is one of the better ones.

00:59:22.700 | The chef is good, it's been consistent over the years.

00:59:25.780 | These are the ones that you don't wanna eat at as much

00:59:27.500 | because it's just gonna be like overcooked hamburgers

00:59:29.460 | and chicken fingers.

00:59:30.380 | - And if you were going with no kids

00:59:32.140 | and it was just adults, is there a place you're like,

00:59:34.180 | this is where we'd go?

00:59:35.140 | - There's a lot of places.

00:59:36.340 | (laughs)

00:59:38.100 | At Disneyland, 'cause I haven't mentioned

00:59:40.700 | any restaurants there, Napa Rose is a great restaurant

00:59:44.300 | and that's in the Grand Californian Hotel,

00:59:46.540 | so you don't have to have a park ticket to go eat there.

00:59:50.080 | Gosh, Lamplight Lounge, that's an in-the-park restaurant

00:59:53.640 | at California Adventure.

00:59:56.080 | I mean, there's some really fancy ones.

00:59:57.480 | There's one called Victoria and Albert's

00:59:59.600 | that is impossible to get a reservation to

01:00:01.680 | and it's going to be several hundred dollars per person.

01:00:04.400 | It's in the Grand Floridian Resort in Florida.

01:00:06.760 | So that's like a super sought after one

01:00:09.480 | if you're like a real foodie who loves,

01:00:11.360 | like say you would go to like French Laundry,

01:00:13.280 | something like that, it would be that kind of experience.

01:00:15.800 | - And you say impossible to get a reservation,

01:00:17.520 | you have to book 60 days out.

01:00:18.880 | Are there any ways to find last minute reservations?

01:00:21.920 | I'm sure people are canceling.

01:00:23.600 | Any way to optimize that if you didn't plan well?

01:00:25.880 | - Yes, I love a service called Mouse Dining.

01:00:28.680 | What you do is you put in the restaurant

01:00:32.000 | that you wanna eat at and the time of day

01:00:34.360 | and it automatically checks for you.

01:00:36.360 | They have a free version that will then send you

01:00:38.960 | email alerts and then you can just go in and book it

01:00:41.320 | as soon as you get the email.

01:00:42.840 | But if you really are trying to get something competitive,

01:00:45.400 | I think it's worth it to pay like a small nominal amount

01:00:48.400 | per month to get the paid version.

01:00:50.080 | I think it's maybe like seven or $10, it's not much money.

01:00:53.440 | And then they'll send you text alerts

01:00:55.360 | and then you can immediately jump in

01:00:56.880 | and book that reservation.

01:00:58.480 | I actually used it recently to get a reservation

01:01:01.500 | at Blue Bayou, which is a very sought after restaurant

01:01:04.280 | in Disneyland that is in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

01:01:08.200 | So a lot of people really enjoy eating there.

01:01:10.000 | - Okay, I love that.

01:01:11.120 | Can you bring your own food?

01:01:12.480 | - Yeah, you can bring your own food.

01:01:14.280 | Disney doesn't disallow it like a lot of theme parks do.

01:01:17.960 | A lot of people will do that for breakfast,

01:01:19.560 | like pack in granola bars or things like that

01:01:21.640 | just so you can eat on the run and get the rides in

01:01:23.880 | when the lines are short.

01:01:25.360 | But I mean, you also can just do very easygoing,

01:01:29.520 | quick service food.

01:01:30.720 | I mean, you can share like chicken fingers

01:01:33.040 | or there's a lot of things that you can grab and go

01:01:36.160 | and it's expensive, it's theme park food,

01:01:37.580 | but it's not like game changingly expensive.

01:01:39.900 | I mean, my family often will share meals,

01:01:41.840 | especially when our kids were younger.

01:01:43.640 | You know, we'd order two adult entrees

01:01:45.340 | and then, you know, share with the kids

01:01:46.720 | or even like as an adult,

01:01:48.520 | you can always order at the quick service restaurants.

01:01:50.680 | You can order a kid's meal

01:01:51.800 | and that's a whole lot cheaper

01:01:53.040 | than ordering an adult entree and say that way.

01:01:55.760 | - I like it.

01:01:56.580 | Any other tips when it comes to food and drink?

01:01:58.600 | You know, can you bring a water bottle,

01:01:59.680 | refill it places easily?

01:02:01.440 | - Yeah, that's not a problem.

01:02:03.220 | Water fountains and things like that.

01:02:04.640 | And ice water is free at like quick service locations.

01:02:08.160 | You can get that included as well.

01:02:10.260 | So yeah, I mean, Disney's very generous.

01:02:13.040 | So if you're used to like the rules of your local Six Flags

01:02:16.100 | or something like that,

01:02:17.660 | Disney's not gonna be that strict

01:02:19.500 | about those kinds of things.

01:02:20.660 | And I'd say pack in the baby food.

01:02:22.460 | That's one thing that if you have young kids,

01:02:24.820 | that's a little harder to like figure out.

01:02:27.680 | And like, if you need like a kid who needs whole milk,

01:02:30.380 | pack that, that's gonna be harder to find than like 2%.

01:02:33.020 | - And then what about Club 33?

01:02:34.300 | (laughs)

01:02:35.200 | - You know, you gotta be a member or know a member.

01:02:37.200 | So yeah, there's this club that Walt Disney founded

01:02:40.580 | to entertain VIPs.

01:02:42.780 | And the original one is in Disneyland Park.

01:02:45.280 | They actually now have one in Disney World as well,

01:02:47.740 | but they're different memberships.

01:02:49.460 | But it's a club above Pirates of the Caribbean

01:02:52.700 | in New Orleans Square at Disneyland.

01:02:54.840 | And you have to be a member to be able to eat there

01:02:57.420 | or a member can like sponsor you to take you in.

01:02:59.500 | I've eaten there once and it's lovely.

01:03:02.020 | It's a great experience.

01:03:03.020 | And you get to like kind of behind the scenes experience,

01:03:05.980 | but it's hard to guarantee that there's a way to do it

01:03:09.100 | unless you know somebody.

01:03:10.100 | - I have heard that it is one of the more,

01:03:12.740 | if not the most sought after Disney experience.

01:03:16.100 | It is very difficult to track down.

01:03:18.300 | I have heard some high-end travel agents

01:03:22.380 | have ways to make it happen,

01:03:24.380 | but it starts at like a thousand dollars a person

01:03:26.880 | in terms of getting in.

01:03:28.100 | So just to set some expectations,

01:03:30.280 | if you don't find the organic way of a person

01:03:32.340 | who's actually a member who can hook you up,

01:03:34.420 | we're talking thousands of dollars.

01:03:36.060 | - Yeah.

01:03:36.900 | Those kinds of things, those are still like very gray hat.

01:03:39.200 | Disney can and will shut that down at some point.

01:03:42.100 | If you're gonna do something like that,

01:03:43.180 | you be aware that it may blow up in your face.

01:03:45.100 | Like it may not work out.

01:03:46.020 | - But there's no sanctioned way,

01:03:47.420 | like a Disney VIP tour,

01:03:48.740 | just to be clear, we talked about earlier,

01:03:50.520 | that is through Disney.

01:03:51.980 | That's, you know, something sanctioned,

01:03:54.220 | a travel agent can book it for you, all of that stuff.

01:03:57.120 | But there's no kind of way to do Club 33 legitimately

01:04:01.220 | without knowing the right person.

01:04:02.380 | - No, unfortunately not.

01:04:03.940 | I mean, I guess you could get yourself on the list to join

01:04:06.180 | and be on the wait list

01:04:07.340 | and pay many, many thousands and thousands of dollars.

01:04:10.340 | I guess that's the way in.

01:04:11.180 | You can always buy your way in.

01:04:13.100 | In fact, I should mention that we were actually on the list

01:04:15.420 | to join back in the day,

01:04:16.860 | like before people knew about it,

01:04:18.260 | 20 years ago when I was in law school,

01:04:19.900 | my husband, he put ourselves on the list

01:04:22.740 | and it cost a lot less then.

01:04:24.660 | But by the time we came up for membership,

01:04:26.700 | the cost had about quadrupled.

01:04:28.060 | So we said no.

01:04:29.980 | - Any other kind of unique VIP experiences?

01:04:32.380 | You talked about character meals.

01:04:33.780 | We talked about the VIP tours.

01:04:35.580 | - Ooh, I mean, those are the big ones.

01:04:37.820 | I'm trying to think if there's anything else.

01:04:39.140 | I mean, there are something called after hours events

01:04:41.780 | that they aren't really VIP,

01:04:43.420 | but this is when Disney closes the park early

01:04:46.380 | and then sells tickets to that same park to other people.

01:04:49.500 | But there are much fewer people

01:04:50.620 | that go to these after hours events.

01:04:51.980 | So the lines are shorter.

01:04:53.420 | So a lot of people will actually do that

01:04:55.460 | as a way to just get in.

01:04:57.100 | Like there used to be an after hours event in Animal Kingdom

01:05:00.060 | where you could probably ride Flight of Passage,

01:05:02.140 | which is the big ride there,

01:05:03.620 | three and four times if that's what you wanted to do.

01:05:05.700 | And you just can't really do that on a regular park day.

01:05:07.940 | - Okay, I've heard about some behind the scenes tours,

01:05:10.820 | that kind of stuff.

01:05:11.660 | - Oh yeah, there are other tours.

01:05:12.940 | I mean, those are kind of cousins of VIP tours.

01:05:14.940 | So there's something called like in Disneyland,

01:05:17.420 | a walk in Walt's footsteps,

01:05:18.900 | where it's a short tour, like two hours,

01:05:21.540 | and they'll take you to a couple of special spots.

01:05:23.780 | Like that's when you might get to see,

01:05:25.140 | like there's an apartment that Walt had

01:05:27.460 | over Main Street USA at Disneyland.

01:05:29.100 | So you could get to go and like see that apartment

01:05:31.540 | in one of the tours,

01:05:32.580 | but you're not getting to ride a lot of rides necessarily.

01:05:35.260 | Maybe you're getting like one fast pass,

01:05:36.820 | depending upon what the tour is.

01:05:38.100 | And some of these are like more within reach,

01:05:40.020 | like a couple hundred dollars a person,

01:05:41.860 | but you're not going to like be able to use those tours

01:05:44.300 | to like maximize as an entire vacation.

01:05:46.380 | They're just kind of an extra add on

01:05:47.700 | for people who are like interested maybe in the history,

01:05:50.180 | or maybe want some sort of a specialty experience

01:05:52.820 | for something they're super interested in.

01:05:54.300 | Like there's a tour at Halloween time,

01:05:56.020 | if they wanna focus on the Halloween details of Disneyland.

01:06:00.860 | - So we talked about rides and food and tours,

01:06:03.100 | but what about all the other stuff in Disney?

01:06:04.660 | I know there's kind of meeting the characters,

01:06:06.460 | seeing the fireworks.

01:06:07.860 | What are other things people should be thinking about

01:06:09.780 | or maybe need to plan?

01:06:11.020 | - There's all of that.

01:06:11.980 | There are a lot of like live shows as well,

01:06:15.140 | where you can like a stage show,

01:06:16.780 | where you can see characters or sing alongs,

01:06:18.980 | things like that.

01:06:19.940 | So you'll quickly figure out what your family likes to do.

01:06:23.660 | Like my family is a ride family.

01:06:24.940 | We're riding and we will skip the fireworks.

01:06:27.140 | We will skip the stage shows.

01:06:28.260 | I mean, we'll see them.

01:06:29.100 | I mean, and there are parades, things like that as well.

01:06:31.380 | So figure out what you wanna do.

01:06:32.980 | I think with younger kids,

01:06:34.900 | they're gonna get more utility out of seeing

01:06:37.220 | maybe their favorite princess

01:06:38.340 | or their favorite character in a parade

01:06:40.940 | than your teenager will.

01:06:42.140 | Your teenager's gonna wanna ride

01:06:43.940 | all of the roller coasters as much as possible.

01:06:45.900 | So adjust your vacation based upon who you're with

01:06:49.500 | and don't be afraid to split up.

01:06:51.500 | My family actually does this

01:06:52.740 | because we have a 14-year-old who loves thrill rides

01:06:55.460 | and we have a 10-year-old who is very cautious.

01:06:58.260 | So there will be times where I will take the 10-year-old

01:07:00.540 | on the slow rides

01:07:01.820 | and my husband will take the 14-year-old on every coaster.

01:07:04.500 | - I wanna come back to kids,

01:07:05.340 | but I just, something popped in my head.

01:07:06.820 | One of my memories as a kid was in Epcot

01:07:10.460 | and eating at all these different countries.

01:07:11.980 | We didn't really talk about that when we came to food.

01:07:15.380 | How do you think about that experience?

01:07:17.140 | Is Epcot more of a place to walk around and eat

01:07:19.820 | or is it a theme park with lots of rides?

01:07:21.700 | I kind of have a vague memory of visiting as a child.

01:07:25.220 | - It's a hybrid and it's changed

01:07:26.980 | and it's changing right now.

01:07:28.380 | We're kind of in the middle of the Epcot 2.0 re-imagining.

01:07:31.780 | There's a lot of construction

01:07:32.740 | still being finished up there.

01:07:34.380 | There is the half of Epcot that is World Showcase,

01:07:36.940 | that has got all of these different country pavilions,

01:07:39.780 | each with a lot of great restaurants

01:07:41.540 | and there are food festivals most of the year happening

01:07:44.540 | in that part of the park as well,

01:07:46.260 | where they have booths outside of the countries as well.

01:07:48.860 | So that's gonna be like a big, big foodie destination.

01:07:51.820 | I often will eat dinner like every meal on a trip at Epcot

01:07:56.500 | just because there's so much choice

01:07:57.820 | and there's so many different flavors there

01:07:59.260 | because of it being around the world.

01:08:01.660 | And then there's the whole other front half of Epcot

01:08:04.060 | that's being transformed right now, a lot of construction.

01:08:06.620 | When I was a kid, it was like the super geeky '80s,

01:08:09.300 | like let's learn something.

01:08:11.300 | Now, like more of the Disney IP is being brought in

01:08:14.740 | and Disney's trying to sort of figure out what that is

01:08:16.900 | and what that's gonna be.

01:08:18.100 | But yeah, I mean, I guess the safest thing

01:08:19.820 | is it's kind of the futuristic Disney

01:08:22.340 | and there's some rides there as well that are worth doing,

01:08:24.700 | but the per capita rides, not as high as what you'd find

01:08:27.980 | in Hollywood Studios or in Magic Kingdom.

01:08:30.460 | - And going back to kids, I guess first,

01:08:33.220 | what age do you think it makes sense

01:08:34.420 | to actually start considering bringing kids to Disney?

01:08:36.900 | And what do parents need to know

01:08:39.180 | about a Disney trip with children?

01:08:40.500 | - So I always say the best age to take a kid

01:08:44.300 | for their first trip to Disney

01:08:46.020 | is when they are two years and 364 days old.

01:08:51.020 | And that's because when they turn three,

01:08:53.100 | you have to get a ticket for them.

01:08:54.580 | So the best time to go is right before they turn three

01:08:58.020 | for your first vacation.

01:08:58.980 | I'm assuming you're taking more than one vacation

01:09:00.700 | over the course of their lives

01:09:02.140 | because they're not gonna remember

01:09:03.260 | the one that they take when they're almost three.

01:09:05.220 | But at that age, a lot of kids know Disney characters,

01:09:08.980 | they have their favorites, they believe that they are real.

01:09:12.860 | And you as a parent seeing that

01:09:14.860 | is absolutely priceless in my opinion.

01:09:16.860 | So I think it's really worth it

01:09:18.500 | if you can afford to take more than one vacation to do it.

01:09:22.180 | And I think if you're deciding between land and world,

01:09:25.420 | land is the place to do it.

01:09:26.620 | It's much more manageable at that age

01:09:28.100 | 'cause they're still napping when they're almost three.

01:09:30.180 | If you're not doing that,

01:09:31.620 | then I'd say wait until their grade school,

01:09:33.740 | like six or seven.

01:09:35.500 | You're gonna miss that magical age a little bit,

01:09:38.820 | but you're just gonna be able to do much more.

01:09:40.660 | They're gonna be tall enough to ride more of the rides.

01:09:43.260 | So like, I'd say aim for that

01:09:46.020 | if it's like a trip once in a lifetime.

01:09:48.140 | I mean, maybe seven, eight, nine, somewhere in that range.

01:09:50.380 | So with younger kids, pay for convenience,

01:09:52.820 | pay for ones that have the transportation connections

01:09:55.660 | or the proximity, it's worth it.

01:09:58.020 | It's really worth it,

01:09:58.860 | especially if you have to go back for a midday nap.

01:10:01.100 | My firstborn would not nap in the stroller.

01:10:02.860 | We had to go back for a midday nap every day

01:10:05.140 | when she was younger.

01:10:06.340 | Second kid, eh, nap in the stroller.

01:10:08.220 | I think it's worth it for that.

01:10:09.500 | But I mean, don't try to do too much.

01:10:12.460 | Be realistic about, you can't start early every morning

01:10:15.380 | and then close down every park with fireworks every night.

01:10:18.460 | I think it's really important,

01:10:19.820 | especially on a longer vacation, to plan in a break day.

01:10:22.580 | Like I took a five-day trip with my son

01:10:24.380 | last summer to Disney World.

01:10:26.380 | And he's older, I mean, he's 10 now.

01:10:28.220 | And we took a one day in the middle of a trip

01:10:31.980 | where we just didn't go to a park.

01:10:33.260 | Instead, we swam in the hotel pool.

01:10:35.340 | We went to a character meal at one of the hotels,

01:10:37.740 | but we didn't go to a park and we didn't wake up early

01:10:40.220 | and we didn't go to bed late.

01:10:41.660 | And that's a great way to reset.

01:10:43.140 | - And you talked about character meals at hotels.

01:10:45.300 | Do you need to plan your day

01:10:47.060 | if your kid really wants to meet,

01:10:49.180 | I don't know, Mickey or someone?

01:10:50.300 | Like, is that just gonna happen?

01:10:51.780 | Like, can you just assume that whatever character

01:10:53.580 | you wanna find, you're gonna see at some point

01:10:55.540 | or is that something to plan?

01:10:56.820 | - You need to plan it.

01:10:57.660 | And some of the character meet and greets

01:10:59.540 | are actually attractions that are on Genie+.

01:11:02.220 | So you can book them using Genie+.

01:11:04.340 | Like there's a princess meet and greet

01:11:06.140 | in Disney Magic Kingdom that you can book

01:11:09.380 | several different princess options.

01:11:10.900 | So some of those you want to just book

01:11:13.300 | to make sure they happen.

01:11:14.380 | And then otherwise you can look on the Disneyland app.

01:11:16.460 | You can see where certain characters

01:11:18.620 | tend to have their meet and greets

01:11:19.940 | if they're ones that are a little bit less formal,

01:11:22.100 | but there will be cues for some of these characters.

01:11:24.860 | I mean, the popular ones,

01:11:25.820 | especially like a new movie has just come out,

01:11:28.100 | there will be a long line for that.

01:11:29.420 | So be prepared.

01:11:30.820 | - What about just things to bring, not to bring?

01:11:33.180 | Obviously we talked about strollers.

01:11:35.060 | Is that always the move over like a carrier

01:11:37.380 | or a backpack or something like that?

01:11:39.220 | - I mean, I'd say if you have a young infant,

01:11:40.980 | then a carrier makes sense.

01:11:42.860 | But if you're at the sort of toddler stage,

01:11:45.220 | then you're gonna wanna have a stroller.

01:11:47.060 | I mean, people are using strollers at Disney

01:11:49.780 | far longer than they're using strollers anywhere else.

01:11:52.220 | I'd say for me, like up until about age five,

01:11:56.060 | we would sometimes use a stroller in Disney parks.

01:11:59.140 | And I've even seen friends use them

01:12:00.460 | at like six and seven year olds.

01:12:01.700 | I made my kids walk at that age, tough mom.

01:12:04.540 | But especially if you're planning to stay out late,

01:12:06.820 | like you'll need somewhere for the kid to pass out.

01:12:09.580 | So even when my son was about to enter kindergarten,

01:12:12.740 | we wouldn't use a stroller most of the time.

01:12:14.620 | But if we went to a nighttime event,

01:12:16.580 | we'd have a stroller for that.

01:12:17.700 | So yeah, you need that.

01:12:19.540 | And just be realistic about the number of steps

01:12:21.620 | they can take.

01:12:22.460 | I mean, I have done 30,000 steps on a Disney day by myself.

01:12:26.740 | And I don't think most kids can do that.

01:12:29.260 | Certainly not day after day.

01:12:30.540 | - I know my kids definitely could not.

01:12:32.380 | Any tips if you have a large group, but not a family?

01:12:34.980 | - Try not to micromanage that group too much.

01:12:38.180 | Like make your hotel reservation together,

01:12:40.300 | like make a dining reservation

01:12:42.460 | for a couple of meals together,

01:12:44.260 | but then let people do their own thing.

01:12:46.500 | Because even my family of four, like I'm telling you,

01:12:48.740 | we're splitting up because we have different interests

01:12:51.060 | some of the time.

01:12:52.060 | If you're trying to move a group of like 12 or 15 people,

01:12:55.220 | you are going to be so slow moving.

01:12:57.540 | And it's going to mean that you sacrifice

01:12:59.700 | getting a lot of rides in that you might want to do

01:13:01.900 | or experiences you might want to do.

01:13:03.740 | So like pick a couple of different point people

01:13:06.940 | for that group and make sure like two or three of you

01:13:09.420 | know how to use GeniePlus.

01:13:10.980 | And then let people plan their own day at that point.

01:13:13.740 | - You mentioned experiences.

01:13:15.020 | And it just reminded me that about six months ago,

01:13:17.460 | a bunch of friends of mine went down to Disneyland

01:13:20.340 | and they went and like made lightsabers.

01:13:22.340 | Any other kind of experiences that people may not realize

01:13:25.820 | both exist or that you need to plan in advance?

01:13:29.420 | - There are a lot of little things like that,

01:13:31.180 | you know, based upon your interest.

01:13:32.660 | I mean, Star Wars definitely took those experiences

01:13:35.460 | up a level.

01:13:36.300 | You can make a droid as well,

01:13:37.340 | but that you don't really have to pre-book in advance.

01:13:39.500 | You can just walk in and build your own BB-8

01:13:42.140 | or something like that, which is really cool.

01:13:44.060 | All those tours that I mentioned,

01:13:45.260 | the walk in Walt's footsteps or the character meals,

01:13:47.900 | all of those you should book in advance.

01:13:50.900 | You might find openings last minute, but you might not.

01:13:53.420 | So I think it's important to think about those experiences.

01:13:56.540 | I'm trying to think if there's, I mean,

01:13:57.900 | there are plenty of other little experiences

01:13:59.460 | that you can do on the fly.

01:14:00.700 | Like one of the things I love to do in Disneyland,

01:14:03.460 | there's a little silhouette studio on Main Street USA

01:14:06.300 | where there's an artist who will cut a silhouette

01:14:08.980 | of you or your child, a profile.

01:14:12.020 | And you can just queue up there and stand in line.

01:14:15.180 | And we did that on our last trip.

01:14:16.660 | And we've done that every few years with my kids.

01:14:18.500 | We have a wall full of silhouettes of them

01:14:20.220 | at different ages and stages, and it's very inexpensive.

01:14:23.140 | So look for like little things like that.

01:14:25.740 | Those are what I think make the trip magical.

01:14:28.380 | And there's so many of those,

01:14:29.900 | even that I'm still discovering, right?

01:14:32.380 | I mean, there's so many little things

01:14:35.180 | that Disney tucks in the nooks and crannies

01:14:37.180 | because it's such a big resort.

01:14:39.740 | I mean, both of them are such big resorts

01:14:41.860 | that if you see something that looks interesting to you,

01:14:44.580 | dive in and do it.

01:14:45.740 | Forget about that Genie+, maybe once in a while.

01:14:47.820 | - My wife worked at Lyft for 10 years

01:14:49.420 | and she led the partnership with Disney.

01:14:52.220 | Her biggest takeaway is that Disney just cares so much

01:14:55.060 | about the experience and hospitality.

01:14:57.260 | And like, you might see something small and think,

01:14:59.420 | "Oh, that's not worth it."

01:15:00.500 | Her perspective was like, if it's there,

01:15:02.980 | someone at Disney intentionally wanted it to be there.

01:15:05.780 | And so there's probably something interesting to see.

01:15:08.580 | - Yeah, and it's funny you should mention Lyft

01:15:10.420 | because Disney has partnered with Lyft at Disney World

01:15:13.380 | to offer something called minivans.

01:15:15.860 | It's basically like Uber,

01:15:17.300 | but it's driven by Disney cast members

01:15:19.340 | and it operates on the Lyft platform.

01:15:21.260 | Those are some of my best experiences

01:15:23.260 | are riding in a minivan

01:15:24.780 | because the cast members who drive them

01:15:26.540 | are some of the absolute best that Disney has.

01:15:28.740 | And they will play games with your kids

01:15:30.300 | and they will tell you cool trivia.

01:15:31.860 | Look for moments like that.

01:15:33.500 | Yeah, my kids' minivans

01:15:34.860 | are one of their best Disney memories in recent years.

01:15:38.420 | - My wife will love hearing this

01:15:39.780 | because I believe that that was one of the things

01:15:41.900 | that came out of the partnership she worked on.

01:15:43.660 | So that is so cool to hear.

01:15:45.460 | - Yeah, awesome.

01:15:46.660 | - And the last thing we didn't talk about,

01:15:48.540 | but you briefly said the word souvenirs earlier.

01:15:51.100 | I think that's something that kind of comes up all the time.

01:15:53.180 | I feel like it's like souvenirs are really expensive,

01:15:55.540 | but kids always want them.

01:15:56.900 | Any thoughts on either optimizing or saving

01:15:59.380 | in the souvenir department?

01:16:00.780 | - For younger kids, buy them in advance at Target.

01:16:04.460 | (laughing)

01:16:06.060 | You know, one thing that we used to do actually

01:16:08.460 | when our kids were very young is Tinkerbell would come

01:16:13.260 | and visit our hotel room every night.

01:16:15.740 | Just like Easter Bunny or Santa Claus,

01:16:17.500 | Tinkerbell would drop off something each morning

01:16:19.540 | of a Disney vacation.

01:16:20.540 | So think about that.

01:16:21.860 | Think about whether Tinkerbell is something

01:16:23.340 | that you wanna tap for your Disney vacations.

01:16:25.140 | And then they have something special

01:16:26.420 | that they don't need to buy everything

01:16:27.900 | in the souvenir stores and the parks.

01:16:29.740 | But just set a budget in advance.

01:16:31.420 | You can buy discount Disney gift cards

01:16:33.460 | in advance of your trip.

01:16:34.740 | Even just if you have like a Target red card,

01:16:36.340 | go to Target, they're 5% off.

01:16:38.220 | You're saving a little bit here and there.

01:16:39.780 | There are other ways that you can hack Disney gift cards

01:16:42.140 | to a greater amount.

01:16:43.260 | So you can at least be saving that amount

01:16:46.060 | on your souvenirs when you spend a Disney gift card

01:16:48.940 | in a souvenir shop.

01:16:49.900 | So there's some ways around the margins.

01:16:51.900 | I mean, there are like some discount stores.

01:16:54.260 | There's one in Orlando where souvenirs that didn't sell

01:16:56.700 | go to die, but there's some really great stuff there.

01:16:58.580 | But that car is going off site.

01:17:00.060 | Unless you're a real Disney super fan

01:17:01.500 | or have a longer vacation, it's not worth it.

01:17:03.180 | - Okay.

01:17:04.020 | And you mentioned the discount gift cards.

01:17:05.460 | I know someone's listening is like,

01:17:06.700 | Chris better follow up because you said

01:17:08.220 | there are other ways to hack that even better.

01:17:09.860 | So I'm gonna just push on that to see what they are.

01:17:12.100 | - Okay.

01:17:12.940 | Well, they change a lot.

01:17:14.220 | I actually have a blog post on my site

01:17:15.980 | and we can hopefully leave a link in the show notes

01:17:18.580 | that has all the current ways to hack Disney gift cards,

01:17:22.620 | ways to get them on the cheap,

01:17:23.900 | but it's part of travel hacking.

01:17:25.820 | I mean, there are ways you can get them

01:17:27.900 | at Sam's Club at a discount

01:17:29.460 | and you're using the right credit card

01:17:30.820 | that gives you a certain point at Sam's Club.

01:17:32.740 | So things like that.

01:17:33.580 | It's combining different reward systems together

01:17:36.140 | where maybe you're getting like a cashback

01:17:37.700 | or points in another way

01:17:38.860 | and then you're getting them at a discount as well.

01:17:40.700 | - We will absolutely link to that in the show notes.

01:17:42.620 | Is that something you can use to buy your park passes,

01:17:44.900 | your Genie Plus also, or only in the park?

01:17:47.100 | - Yeah, you can use them for any Disney purchase,

01:17:49.900 | but most people for the tickets at least,

01:17:52.940 | a lot of people will buy from the discount resellers.

01:17:56.020 | There's some companies like Getaway Today,

01:17:57.980 | Undercover Tourist, a couple of other ones

01:18:00.220 | where you can buy discount tickets.

01:18:02.140 | And sometimes the savings from them

01:18:05.220 | are more than you could get from a Disney gift card,

01:18:08.700 | depending upon what the percentage savings

01:18:10.220 | you can get on that gift card are.

01:18:11.740 | - So you're not buying your Disney park tickets

01:18:14.060 | at the Disneyland website or the Disney World website?

01:18:16.420 | - Not usually, unless I'm using a travel agent

01:18:19.180 | to book a whole package.

01:18:20.220 | So the trade-off is you pay the rack rate

01:18:23.060 | if you have from Disney,

01:18:24.100 | but you get the guidance of a travel agent

01:18:25.940 | booking your whole package or you DIY it yourself.

01:18:29.060 | You're not getting that guidance

01:18:30.140 | and you're booking through Getaway Today

01:18:31.620 | or Undercover Tourist.

01:18:32.740 | Depends on what the savings are.

01:18:33.700 | And sometimes the savings for like a short vacation

01:18:35.700 | are only like five or 10 bucks a ticket,

01:18:37.700 | maybe not worth it for you.

01:18:39.260 | But if you're going for a longer vacation,

01:18:40.940 | then they could be, or you have a bigger family,

01:18:42.820 | they really can add up,

01:18:43.740 | especially if you can buy them during a sale.

01:18:45.460 | - Any other cost-saving optimizations that we missed

01:18:49.300 | that you're just kind of like,

01:18:50.540 | "Oh, we can't believe we forgot that one."

01:18:52.180 | - Oh gosh.

01:18:53.020 | - Let me say, I know you have a whole podcast to cover them,

01:18:55.500 | so we can leave people there.

01:18:56.660 | - For sure, for sure.

01:18:57.620 | So we regularly are covering new ways.

01:18:59.740 | I mean, I mentioned like,

01:19:00.580 | just check for these kinds of deals.

01:19:01.900 | I mentioned that 50% off kids deal right now

01:19:04.660 | that they have going for early 2024 at Disneyland.

01:19:07.660 | So look at those kinds of things.

01:19:09.100 | I mean, often Disney will have hotel sales,

01:19:11.740 | 25% off rooms at deluxe resorts

01:19:13.820 | if you go during a slower time of year.

01:19:15.540 | So look for those things

01:19:16.620 | and a good travel agent will let you know

01:19:19.860 | when a sale like that is released

01:19:21.180 | and apply it to your room,

01:19:22.260 | even if you've already booked it with them.

01:19:23.980 | - Are you publishing all of these on your blog,

01:19:25.660 | mentioning them in the podcast?

01:19:26.820 | Where can people make sure they're not missing out?

01:19:28.540 | - I'm covering more of these in the podcast

01:19:30.260 | because they're changing in real time.

01:19:32.220 | But sometimes it's easy as just running the search

01:19:34.500 | on Disney's website and seeing there's a big banner

01:19:36.300 | that there's a sale going on or something like that.

01:19:38.140 | But yeah, definitely on the podcast,

01:19:39.780 | we're covering the big ones that when they come out

01:19:42.300 | and not as much on the blog

01:19:44.020 | because these things are changing too much

01:19:46.060 | to be able to like cover them in real time there.

01:19:48.180 | - We talked almost exclusively

01:19:49.980 | about Disneyland and Disney World.

01:19:51.780 | I know there's four parks around the world.

01:19:53.060 | The only park that I remember recent past was in Paris.

01:19:55.900 | How do you think about the international park

01:19:57.740 | and are they a letdown if you've been to the ones here

01:20:00.100 | or are they amazing?

01:20:01.140 | Are they go out of your way

01:20:02.300 | while traveling to check them out?

01:20:03.820 | - So thus far, I've only been to half

01:20:06.540 | of the international parks.

01:20:07.380 | I've been to Disneyland Paris

01:20:08.580 | and I've been to Hong Kong Disneyland.

01:20:11.100 | I am planning a trip right now to Tokyo Disneyland

01:20:14.300 | for spring break next year.

01:20:15.660 | So I'll at least get three of the four very, very soon.

01:20:18.700 | But to me, they haven't been a letdown

01:20:20.580 | because I love seeing how Disney

01:20:22.740 | is translated around the world.

01:20:24.700 | Hong Kong Disneyland, I went there in 2014

01:20:27.860 | when my daughter was five years old.

01:20:29.780 | And that was an amazing experience.

01:20:32.020 | It's the smallest of all the parks around the world.

01:20:35.140 | And at that point it was much smaller than it even is now.

01:20:38.180 | They're adding a lot more right now,

01:20:40.220 | but it was so memorable to see.

01:20:42.740 | Jungle Cruise was available in three different languages.

01:20:45.940 | Like you would get in a line

01:20:46.900 | as to whether you were gonna do English

01:20:48.220 | or Cantonese or Mandarin.

01:20:49.620 | And that was just such a unique...

01:20:51.380 | And all the skippers could speak all three languages.

01:20:53.500 | So seeing things like that, I mean, it's just part of travel.

01:20:56.060 | It's a smaller part of world travel.

01:20:57.780 | And I never would take a trip just to go to a Disney park.

01:21:00.780 | I mean, we went to Paris and we did Paris

01:21:03.220 | and we did London, the same trip,

01:21:04.580 | but we spent a day and a half, two days at Disneyland Paris.

01:21:08.020 | So it's an add-on to enrich

01:21:10.540 | those international experiences, I think.

01:21:12.220 | - I love it.

01:21:13.060 | I feel like a whole new world is about to unlock

01:21:15.260 | with two young daughters

01:21:16.660 | who are gonna get to experience these things.

01:21:19.580 | And on your trip to Japan,

01:21:21.660 | I'm gonna send you a link to the episode and post we did

01:21:24.420 | with so much information.

01:21:25.860 | Hopefully that could be helpful.

01:21:27.460 | I'm obviously a resource if you need it.

01:21:29.260 | - Yeah, I saw that post.

01:21:30.540 | I saw that podcast in the list

01:21:32.020 | and I was like, I've already queued it up.

01:21:33.940 | The planning just started.

01:21:35.020 | We just decided this week to make Japan

01:21:37.220 | our spring break destination.

01:21:38.580 | - Oh, you're gonna have so much fun.

01:21:39.740 | You mentioned a sale in 2024.

01:21:41.340 | Are there any other big changes you think

01:21:43.020 | are coming to Disney on the horizon?

01:21:44.940 | - So we've mentioned Genie Plus

01:21:46.980 | and Disney has told us in 2024, they're gonna change it.

01:21:50.420 | So everything that I've told you so far may be a mood.

01:21:53.580 | I don't think they're gonna change it that drastically,

01:21:55.180 | but they are making changes.

01:21:56.540 | And I think 2024 is going to be a transition year,

01:21:59.580 | especially for the US parks

01:22:01.380 | because there's not a lot new coming.

01:22:02.940 | There's not like a big headliner attraction

01:22:05.220 | really that's coming.

01:22:06.060 | I guess there's maybe Tiana's Bayou Adventure,

01:22:08.180 | which is a redo of Splash Mountain.

01:22:09.740 | But demand has been soft,

01:22:11.740 | especially for Walt Disney World right now.

01:22:13.980 | And Disney's doing things

01:22:15.940 | to try to tweak the guest experience.

01:22:17.780 | So I think you're gonna see a lot of little changes

01:22:20.220 | that may offer some possibilities for deals

01:22:23.580 | or offer some possibilities for hacking the parks

01:22:26.420 | or making them more efficient.

01:22:27.700 | So it's not really a banner year for the US parks

01:22:30.700 | in terms of big openings.

01:22:32.660 | Now, the foreign parks, there are a lot of things coming.

01:22:35.980 | So there's a new land opening in Tokyo in summer.

01:22:40.020 | Right now, as we're recording,

01:22:41.220 | they're about to open a new land in Hong Kong Disneyland

01:22:44.220 | and Shanghai is getting a Zootopia land very soon as well.

01:22:48.020 | So a lot happening at the international parks very, very soon.

01:22:51.780 | So maybe this is the year,

01:22:53.180 | if you've done Disneyland or Disney World,

01:22:55.940 | make your way to an international park.

01:22:57.500 | - That sounds awesome.

01:22:58.340 | I forgot one thing I didn't ask earlier.

01:22:59.420 | Does it ever make sense to consider a season ticket?

01:23:02.460 | I know every time I go to a theme park,

01:23:04.620 | they're like, "Just for the cost of one more day,

01:23:06.660 | you can get an annual pass."

01:23:08.140 | - Not unless you're gonna go many days

01:23:10.580 | at Disneyland or Disney World.

01:23:12.820 | Most people I know who have annual passes

01:23:14.940 | either are locals or they're going two weeks a year.

01:23:18.980 | Probably not worth it.

01:23:19.860 | It's not the same as Six Flags, definitely not.

01:23:21.740 | - That's great.

01:23:22.580 | Some of those international parks sound amazing.

01:23:24.580 | I know you did an episode on 2023.

01:23:26.500 | Can we expect that if any of these changes come out,

01:23:28.780 | you'll do an episode on 2024?

01:23:30.340 | If Genie+ changes, you'll do another episode there.

01:23:32.860 | So can we just tell everyone

01:23:34.180 | that if they wanna stay on top of more and more Disney,

01:23:36.740 | it's just to go subscribe to Disney Deciphered?

01:23:39.500 | - Yes, please go to Disney Deciphered, subscribe.

01:23:41.740 | We will have in early 2024 an episode about what's coming,

01:23:45.140 | what's new, what are the changes,

01:23:46.580 | because there are lots of little incremental changes

01:23:48.460 | that I mentioned.

01:23:49.340 | So go there and subscribe

01:23:50.740 | and we will redo our Genie+ episode again.

01:23:53.940 | We have had to redo that thing.

01:23:55.260 | I can't even tell you how many times.

01:23:57.460 | So we're waiting.

01:23:58.300 | We're standing by, ready to do that.

01:24:00.060 | - Amazing.

01:24:00.900 | I will link to that in the show notes.

01:24:02.300 | People are already in a podcast app.

01:24:03.980 | Leslie, thank you for being here.

01:24:05.180 | - Thanks for having me.

01:24:06.340 | - That is so awesome.

01:24:08.540 | It makes me so excited to take my girls to Disney one day.

01:24:12.220 | I really hope you all got a lot out of this.

01:24:14.020 | If there's any Disney hacks, tips, or tricks you have

01:24:16.980 | that weren't covered here,

01:24:18.460 | please send them to podcast@allthehacks.com.

01:24:21.740 | I hope you guys have a happy holiday.

01:24:23.740 | Merry Christmas.

01:24:24.740 | Enjoy time with your family.

01:24:26.620 | And thank you all so much for all your support.

01:24:29.020 | I will see you next week.

01:24:30.340 | [MUSIC PLAYING]

01:24:33.700 | (upbeat music)