Disney World means different things to different people. To the child in my family, it means an opportunity for rides, fun, snow cones and slushees. To the adults, it means relaxation in a safe family atmosphere, good food, and no bad surprises.
Best Season for Low Disney Prices
For the best weather, shortest lines, and good prices, taking advantage of “shoulder seasons” between summer and fall break or between the holiday season and spring break. At such times Disney packages can provide true value. In our case, flying from roughly the middle of the U.S. to Orlando, staying 4 nights at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and park tickets for three days cost roughly $1100 per person, without the food plan.
Since my family eats lightly, we found that room service for breakfast was far more economical than the breakfast buffet. Some days we skipped lunch or survived on park snacks until dinnertime.
Aside from the economic value, the sheer euphoria experienced during the off season while walking swiftly through “empty” line lanes at the entrance to Disney attractions is almost intoxicating!
The Disney Fastpass System
When visiting Epcot, of utmost utility is the sign located roughly between “Mission: Space” and “Test Track” which shows the estimated wait times for lines at various attractions. The sign also indicates the current times being issued for Fastpass tickets.
Fastpass is the system that allows everyone inside a Disney park to obtain a ride ticket in advance. This cuts down on wait time at the attractions by allowing Fastpass holders to enter an attraction at the front of the line.
However, Fastpass tickets are good only for one-hour time slots, requiring careful orchestration, since only one active Fastpass at a time can be dispensed to any given ticket holder. It’s useful to know that Disney staff will never allow Fastpass holders to enter a ride early, but arriving after the one-hour attendance window is absolutely okay.
If you happen to have a Verizon phone, you can get the Mobile Magic app, available for $9.99 from Verizon. This app provides the same information on rides and Fastpass availability, as well as locations and times of shows and Disney character events and much more - all directly through your phone.
We did not discover this handy piece of information until well into vacation, despite a significant number of google searches for Disney deals in advance of our trip. Had I known, I would have purchased it.
The term “Disney” can, in some contexts, carry a pejorative edge. However, after an extremely pleasant family vacation at some of the cleanest, friendliest, and most educational entertainment parks in the world, my family has begun to think of Disney as synonymous with quality.
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