6 Things to do Your First Day!

6 great things to do your first day at Disney World

So you arrive around lunch time and don’t have tickets until the following day. What could you possibly do at Disney World to entertain your children until they get to see Mickey?

There are literally hundreds of things you could do but we have narrowed it down to just 6, in no particular order:

1. Plan a first night dinner show. Disney has several really good shows that you can take in that you wouldn’t necessarily want to take park touring time out for. At Fort Wilderness you have 2 of them. The Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue and Mickey’s Backyard Barbeque. The Hoop Dee Doo is shown nightly, sometimes with 2 seating’s. The barbeque is only offered certain nights during the week so make sure you check the times. Another great choice is the Spirit of Aloha Dinner show at the Polynesian Resort. This luau inspired show gives you great Hawaiian culture and food while getting you ready to tour your favorite parks
2. Dinner at Ohanas in the Polynesian and watch the fireworks from their beach. We love doing this!!
3. Downtown Disney has lots of shopping, dining and street entertainment. Depending on the time of year you might have special events taking place too. There is even a bowling alley and movie theater!
4. Circue du Soleil is truly amazing and a show you need to see at least once. It is located at Downtown Disney and is an additional ticket but well worth the admission. You could do dinner and the show!
5. If you are visiting during the Holidays we love to tour the resorts to see the different decorations. The Deluxe resorts are especially gorgeous and will be decked out from November until January but you can also visit to see the fall decorations that go up in September!
6. The water parks are open year round! It would be an excellent time to give them a try. Make sure you have them added to your package as “waterpark & more” feature because it could save you half the admission to the waterpark alone!

There are virtually hundreds more we could go over but these are my top picks. There is something to be said for just getting to your resort and relaxing by the pool and getting yourself ready for the adventurous fun week ahead!

Check with us in the weeks to come for great Spring Break ideas and Winter trip posts!! 

Happy Traveling!

Mia

5 Tips to Make FREE Dining Work

5 Tips to make FREE Dining work well for your Family

 FREE Dining has come back at Walt Disney World! The long awaited promotion that drives many family’s vacation plans each and every year has finally started and on some dates selling out.

FREE Dining is difficult to maneuver for the novice Disney World visitor.

1. You can plan your dining choices before you book your Walt Disney World package. Disney doesn’t like that we do this, but you can. Once Free Dining is in full swing many popular dining spots will fill up before your travel planner can get off hold! So having at the very least a list of choices is extremely helpful.
2. Prices for the pre-fixed rate restaurants fluctuate by meal time. Breakfast being the cheapest, lunch a few dollars more and dinner jumping as much as $10 over the lunch fare. If you are going during FREE Dining do as many meals as you can in the evening or dinner times. This gives you the biggest bang for your FREE buck. And likewise if you are paying out of pocket remember it is cheaper at breakfast and often times the characters are the same (but not always the case!).
3. Flexibility is key to getting FREE Dining packages. Because Disney controls which dates are blacked out you need to be aware that you might have to change your dates if you insist on booking a Free Dining package. For instance, a big portion of October is blacked out, so being able to switch to September or the few days in November is key to getting that huge savings.
4. This one is a huge secret so don’t share it with anyone! I could lose my ears for this!! You can book your vacation on the last date of the FREE Dining Promotion offer and you will still get Free Dining for your entire vacation! GASP!! I said it outloud! So if Disney’s dates are September 1 – October 3^rd you can check in on October 3^rd, stay the entire week after checking out on October 10^th and have Free Dining for your vacation. Availability is the key as always!
5. Remember that FREE is never really free. Disney doesn’t hike the room prices up like most unnamed other vacation destinations, but when you have a sit down restaurant meal you will have to pay the gratuity, it is automatically calculated and added for you! It is 18% at the moment and could rise without notice from Disney, so be sure to plan on that with your budget.
   

   FREE Dining truly is a huge savings for any Walt Disney World package! This year I had clients who saved anywhere from $400 to $1200 based on length of stay and number of people in the party. This is probably the deepest discount you can get at Disney and certainly gives families the opportunity to try some of the world class dining venues that they ordinarily wouldn’t get to try! Give us a call today so we can help your family save money this year!

Dad's Tips For Surviving.......Loving A Disney Vacation!

Dad's Tips For Surviving.......Loving A Disney Vacation

Are you one of those dad’s that hates taking your family to Disney for vacation? Your idea of vacation is not lugging 12 bags in heat across a lot of pavement only to rush to a ride to stand in line! All the while your wife is shopping like you are a millionaire and your children are whining because, well because they can!

There is a book you must read! “Ears of Steel: The Real Man’s Guide to Walt Disney World,” by Bart Scott gives you tips on how to not only survive the trip but how to have the best vacation of your life!!

I had the pleasure of hearing him speak last October in Orlando and fell in love with his humor and uncanny way of telling men that you too can survive a trip to Disney World! Scott says he wrote the book for the "football watching, beer-guzzling couch potatoes" who would rather relax in a recliner with a cold one and a sporting event on TV than spend hours in the hot sun walking around theme parks.

AWESOME video of Bart explaining his tips! 

http://morningnews.wgntv.com/2014/05/12/tips-for-guys-on-how-to-survive-disney-world/ 

 

His FIRST TIP: Always stay on property! Yes you can find a simple room off property cheaper but the benefits far outweigh any savings you might initially think you will be getting!

SECOND TIP: take your trip in the fall! The weather is better, the kids are back in school and the lines are so much shorter.

THIRD TIP: don’t stress over the money! Easier said than done right? He equates to traveling to Hawaii, you get off the plane they give you a flower necklace and you hand them your wallet! Disney does deliver the value. You don’t exactly hand them your wallet but planning ahead and doing as much before you go as possible will make your trip so much more enjoyable!

FOURTH TIP: and of course the most important, use an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner because most of us are insane Disney nuts! A Disney Planner can help when things go awry, which you plan not to happen but it’s human nature and could certainly happen with the best of planning!

FIFTH TIP: learn the My Disney Experience app! Make sure you have all of your reservations linked, your travel planner has your information linked with theirs so they can help while you are there. Play around with the app before you go so that you are ready and can do it walking with 10s of 1,000s of other people reading their smartphone! Prepare!!

Bart’s book is extremely easy and helpful! His ideas are geared towards men who would rather sit at home watching the ballgame but can apply to anyone headed to the World! You can find it on Amazon and other online book retailers! Get yours today and start enjoying Walt Disney World the way I do!!

http://morningnews.wgntv.com/2014/05/12/tips-for-guys-on-how-to-survive-disney-world/

Happy Planning!

Mia ~ MackeyMouse Travel

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FREE Dining is Back at Disney World!

FREE DINING is BACK at WDW!

Free Dining is back this fall at Walt Disney World! If you have a Chase Disney Visa you can take advantage of this offer starting today, but it opens up to everyone on Wednesday, May 7th! Email me at mia@mackeymousetravel.com or message me for details!

Those individuals with a Chase Disney Visa will be available to book the Free Dining promotion beginning today, May 2nd, with the general public offer coming online on Wednesday, May 7th.

The dates for this offer are for guests traveling between:

August 31 – October 3
October 26 – November 1
November 9 – November 20
December 12 – 23 (I am really, really surprised by how close to Christmas this set comes!)
In the past, as long as your resort reservation began during a Free Dining window, it was extended through your entire stay. Now, that also used to be the case for the Room Only offers but changed last year, so here is hoping that Free Dining doesn’t go that route!

The Free Dining promotion will include Disney’s Quick-Service Dining Plan for those guests staying at a qualifying value resort, and the regular Disney Dining Plan for those guests staying at qualifying moderate, deluxe and deluxe villa resorts. All guests booked under this promotion will have the option to upgrade their dining plan to the next level at a charge.

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