If you are dreaming of dining at Cinderella Castle on spring break, and you don’t already have your reservations, it’s too late.
It’s not too late to see the landmark at Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, of course, but access to Cinderella’s Royal Table — a restaurant in the castle where you meet Cinderella and several other princess characters — is one of several signature Disney experiences that get snapped up six months out.
Not to brag or anything, but I had breakfast at Cindy’s.
The food was good, the atmosphere was great and the look on my daughters’ faces as they met Belle, Ariel, Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella, was worth the $138 that I shelled out for three meals (my 2-year-old’s French toast sticks were free) and a photo package.
Yes it’s expensive. It’s Disney.
I started planning and saving for my family’s mid-January Disney trip 10 months in advance. For the amount of money that I was spending, I didn’t want to fight through crowds or end up standing in the middle of Main Street, U.S.A. clutching a map and trying to figure out what to do next.
I knew that I wanted the best value for my Disney dollar. And that requires planning. Here are some ways to save time and money.
Regular season vs. off-season
The obvious upside to visiting during off-season is smaller crowds. And since busy times at Disney World coincide with breaks in the school calendar and holidays, avoiding a summer trip also means you won’t be touring the parks in Florida’s tropical heat.
And you’ll pay less for Disney hotel rooms and character meals during the off-season. For example, my family’s breakfast at the castle would have cost $12 more had it been during a busy period.
The downside to the off-season is that Disney closes more of its attractions for refurbishment. Two major Magic Kingdom attractions were closed when we were there, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for us. The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster was off-line and Dumbo The Flying Elephant was being dismantled and moved into the new Fantasyland expansion.
That expansion includes a new Storybook Circus area that will be home to the old Dumbo and a duplicate Dumbo (doubling capacity of one of the Magic Kingdom’s most popular rides). Dumbo is scheduled to be back in the sky this spring but will relaunch as a solo, with the second ride coming online later in the year, according to Rick Sylvain, Disney public relations director. One will run clockwise and the other counter-clockwise.
The full Fantasyland expansion will open in phases starting this spring and going through early 2013.
You can find a list of closed attractions (along with park hours) on the Disney World calendar at disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/.
Tip: It's possible to avoid crowds when Disney World is busy, but it might require some creative scheduling. Arrive when the park opens and then leave at lunch for a long afternoon break (and a nap) and return at night.
Crowd calendars
Regardless of the season, crowd levels fluctuate between Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom and Disney Hollywood Studios, enabling you to choose the least busy park each day of your vacation.
I found the most comprehensive crowd information on TouringPlans.com. The crowd calendar tool is one of several available to subscribers ($11.95 per year for Disney World) and uses historical data, Disney park hours, attraction wait times and hotel occupancy rates to predict crowd levels at each theme park. These projections helped me determine which parks we were going to visit on each day so that I could make our in-park dining reservations.
Tip: Keep tabs on the crowd projections so you can be flexible with your schedule. The accuracy of the crowd calendar diminishes the farther in advance you plan.
Touring plans
Once you figure out how to beat the crowds, you will need a strategy to beat the lines. By following a good step-by-step schedule (also called a touring plan) you get the most out of your time in the parks.
TouringPlans.com offers ready-made schedules that tell you how to hit the best attractions with the minimum wait at each Disney park. Len Testa, president and chief researcher at TouringPlans.com and co-author of "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World," says their plans can save you up to four hours of waiting in lines on busy days.
An example: The first portion of their Magic Kingdom One-Day Touring Plan for Grandparents with Small Children, instructs visitors to be at the entrance 40 minutes before the park opens, then go to Dumbo, followed by Peter Pan’s Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, It’s a Small World, Mad Tea Party, Tom Sawyer Island, Frontierland Shooting Arcade and Country Bear Jamboree.
This plan sends you to two of the most popular attractions right after the park opens (to minimize waiting in line), and restricts you to Fantasyland and then Frontierland (to minimize walking). If you don’t wish to see a particular attraction on the itinerary, then skip it and move on to the next.
If you don’t see a ready-made plan that suits your needs, you can use their site to build your own. I created customized plans for our family so we could accommodate our castle breakfast and certain high-demand character greetings like Rapunzel.
Both of my girls are huge fans of the animated movie “Tangled,” and the young woman who embodied Rapunzel spent a few minutes talking to each of them and posing for photos.
Those few minutes with each child can add up when there’s a long line.
Our castle breakfast was at 8:10 a.m. and Magic Kingdom opened to the general public at 9, the same time that we finished our meal. So we had a jump on the Rapunzel line. By the time the meet and greet opened at 9:15, we were fourth of about 20 families.
Testa says the Rapunzel wait is usually at least an hour long. We waited about 35 minutes.
TouringPlans.com is working on an upgrade to their build-your-own touring plan feature that will optimize your plan. The beta version is live now, and Testa says they are slated to launch the full version in early March.
The upgrade will allow you to plan your day with any of the parks’ myriad attractions, parades, shows and dining opportunities and it will put your selections in the proper order, so you spend less time in line. The tool accounts for wait times and the time you can expect to spend at a ride, as well as the time you will spend walking from one attraction to the next.
Tip No. 1: Go early. The key to a good day at a Disney park is being at the gate before it opens —or "rope drop"— which varies. Just to clarify, getting to the parking lot at opening time is not early enough. It takes at least 30 minutes to get from your car to the gate at Magic Kingdom, because that park is only accessible by monorail or ferry.
Testa recommends that on busy days you should be at the gate at least 30-40 minutes before the park is scheduled to open, because cast members start admitting people early. You won’t be able to start going to attractions, but Testa said, “just being on the other side of the turnstiles gives you a huge advantage over everyone else because of the time it takes people to validate their tickets using the biometric scanning process.” (Yes, folks, Disney scans your finger.)
Accessing the park at rope drop means you can probably knock out three or more attractions before the real crowds start showing up at around 11 a.m.
Tip No. 2: Use an app. Smartphone applications can help you navigate the parks by offering current wait times for all Disney attractions. Verizon customers can download the official Disney Mobile Magic app for free.
TouringPlans.com offers its Lines app on multiple platforms and it's free for their subscribers. And if you built a customized plan on TouringPlans.com, you can recalculate the time in Lines. Testa gave an example: "If your kids decide that they want to ride the Haunted Mansion again, you can enter it into Lines, re-optimize your plan and it will tell you the best thing to do next."
FastPass
Most touring plans use Disney’s FastPass system, a free queue jumping system that is available at many attractions.
To get a FastPass, you insert your Disney park ticket (it has a magnetic strip) into a kiosk. It will return your ticket and spit out a paper card with your 60-minute return window to come back to the attraction. When you return, use the special queue for FastPass cardholders and you’ll bypass about 90 percent of the regular queue.
The best use of FastPass on our trip was at Kilimanjaro Safaris in Animal Kingdom. The posted wait in the standby line was 40 minutes, so we picked up FastPasses and walked over to the adjacent Pangani Forest animal exhibit which had no line. When we finished that, we took a short break and headed over to do the safari. We traded 40 minutes in line for 10 minutes in line and worked another attraction into the mix.
Tip: You might have some leeway on your FastPass window. Disney has generally not enforced the second time on the FastPass, leaving the window open for FastPass holders until the park closed, Testa said. But several fan sites have reported that Disney will start enforcing the window this spring. Disney's Sylvain said via email that the company does not comment on "matters of rumor and speculation."
“We expect guests will return within the time window printed on their FastPass ticket,” Sylvain said. “If a guest experiences extenuating circumstances that affect their ability to return, we will deal with that on a case-by-case basis.”
Jim Hill, an entertainment writer who reports on Disney through JimHillMedia.com, says the new policy is a precursor of the next generation queue jumping system, which he says will allow Disney hotel guests to reserve ride times before they go on vacation. Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs gave investors a preview of the $1 billion system last year.
Sylvain said that the company had “nothing to share” regarding the new FastPass system.
Signature dining
Another benefit of planning ahead is that you have a better chance of getting a table at one of Disney’s most exclusive restaurants like Cinderella’s Royal Table and Le Cellier Steakhouse in Epcot. Disney accepts dining reservations exactly 180 days in advance, and these two in particular tend to book up immediately after slots open.
To have a chance at a table, calculate the first day you can make reservations (there's an online tool at pscalculator.net/pscalc.php). When that day rolls around, place your reservation online promptly at 6 a.m. at disneyworld.disney.go.com/reservations/dining. You also can call their reservation center (407-939-3463) at 7 a.m.
Tip No. 1: Disney resort guests can book dining reservations for their entire vacation (up to 10 days) on the 180th day before check-in.
Tip No. 2: If you had your heart set on a princess meal, but you strike out at the castle, try the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall at Epcot. It features a Norwegian buffet (it is at the Norway pavilion, after all) and access to many of the same princesses at the castle — including Cindy.
Mind your money
Take your own food and drinks into Disney parks. We never had to spend $2.50 for bottled water because we took our own. There are some limitations: no alcoholic drinks or glass bottles; no plastic straws allowed in Animal Kingdom; no coolers that have hard sides or wheels; foods must not require heating.
● Another tip: You can get a free cup of ice water at any counter service restaurant in Disney parks.
Use Disney photographers. Disney offers a PhotoPass service, where professional photographers take photos of you at key locations inside the parks. Once the PhotoPass photographers take your picture, ask them to shoot it again with your own camera. It could end up saving you the $14.95 that Disney will charge you for their photo.
● Another tip: If you think you'll end up buying more than six or seven PhotoPass images, you can save 33 percent by prepaying for a CD of all of your images for $99.95. The regular price is $149.95. (disneyphotopass.com/previsitoffer.aspx)
Protect your investment. Once you get your tickets, be sure to scan, photocopy or photograph the back of each one so the serial number is clearly visible. If you lose a ticket and you have that information on hand, Disney will cancel the original ticket and issue you a new one. I lost my ticket on our first full day of touring and discovered it was missing when we were trying to get back into Animal Kingdom. I had a photocopy of my tickets was able to get a new ticket from guest services in minutes.
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