Five Things to Know Before You Go to Disney World
So you want to go to Disney, but you don’t know where to begin planning? Don’t worry, we’re here to help. This post will highlight a few things that we think are important to research and know before you go. In future posts, we will provide more details to help you plan.
1. Walt Disney World consists of four theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, EPCOT, and Hollywood Studios), two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), various resorts, and other destinations. The monorail, skyliner, and buses run between some of the parks and other destinations.
2. Download the My Disney Experience app. There, you can find maps, park hours, show schedules, and more. You use the app to buy tickets, book dining reservations, buy Genie+, check wait times for rides, do mobile food orders, do mobile merchandise checkout, and see your photos.
3. You can book your dining reservations 60 days in advance. Many of the table service restaurants at Disney require reservations, and many of those reservations fill up quickly. Reservations open online at 6 AM EST. You can book your reservations on Disney’s website or on the My Disney Experience app.
4. Learn about Genie+! There will be several posts about Genie+ in the future, but for now, know that Genie+ is a paid extra that allows you to reserve your spot in a lightning lane, which bypasses the standby line. You can purchase Genie+ at midnight, and you can make your first ride selection at 7 AM. Afterward, you can reserve a ride when you enter the lightning lane or once every two hours, whichever comes first. Genie+ can be tricky for those who have not used it before, so we recommend researching it ahead of time.
5. Two newer attractions, TRON at Magic Kingdom and Guardians of the Galaxy at EPCOT, use a virtual queue, not a standby line. The virtual queues open at 7 AM and 1 PM, and they tend to fill up quickly. These two rides, in addition to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, and Star Wars Rise of the Resistance at Hollywood Studios, have individual lightning lanes and are not included with Genie+.
