Lessons learned from visiting Walt Disney World over Christmas week

I was lucky to visit Walt Disney World for the first time in my life this past week. On the one hand, the weather was great, but on the other, it was the busiest week possible for the theme parks. Given the craziness of the week, I learned a lot of lessons during the trip on what worked and didn't work. I also spent some time researching and preparing for the trip beforehand at the recommendation of some good friends, and I just wanted to share what I learned in case it can help other travelers.

The advice and observations below are made from the perspective of a twenty-something male with no children and a large appetite for action and rides, so the points below might not apply to everyone.

General:

• Disney has four main theme parks in the area (Magic Kingdom [poor imitation of Disneyland], Epcot, Hollywood Studios [poor imitation of Universal], and Animal Kingdom), each of which requires a full day to cover.
  
• Besides the four major Disney parks, there are also several Disney water parks.
• Besides the Disney area, there are also Universal Studios, Sea World, and (I'm sure) many others.
• Plus, there are lots of non-theme park things to do, like golf and shopping (Downtown Disney [like our Universal CityWalk] and others like it).
• A great book I read was Eyewitness's Walt Disney World Resort & Orlando.

Accommodations and transportation:

• There are many Disney hotels right near the parks.
• If you stay at a Disney hotel, you get to go to one theme park per day for an extra hour before anyone else can.
• The closer the hotel to the Magic Kingdom, the more luxurious and expensive.
• There are Disney dining plans, which might give some sort of savings but do come with restrictions.
• The area is HUGE and takes 20+ minutes to make a trip from most of the hotels to any of the theme parks.
• If you stay at a Disney hotel, you can take free shuttle buses and ferries to get to the theme parks. These are a nice convenience, but they can get very crowded and sometimes make many stops and take a while.
• There are also taxis available. A trip is about $18 from hotel to park, but it's a lot faster and direct than a shuttle, so you can use it in case of emergency (or if you slept in late).

Theme parks:

• Biggest obstacles when the parks are this crazy: strollers and scooters/electric wheelchairs. Watch out for the stampede, and definitely avoid the mid-day parade routes.
• Animal Kingdom is awesome. Real animals, unique walking paths and rides, really cool (especially for those who have already been to Disneyland).
• Epcot's World Showcase features architecture, food, and movies from many of the world's countries. Each area is manned by employees who immigrated from that country, which is really fun. This part of Epcot was my favorite.
• Most parks have an end-of-day show. Fantasmic (at Hollywood Studios) is just like at Disneyland, and so it's very good. I thought the fireworks at Epcot were really cool as well. You need to find a spot to view any end-of-day show about an hour in advance.
  
• Disney World has a deal with Verizon that its mobile customers can access a special app to view waiting times. All other people can view them on the general mobile site (though the information is more limited -- no specific waiting times just low/medium/high).
• I used an iPhone app with crowd-sourced waiting times that worked decently well (it also had show schedules and opening times).
• (AT&T) cell phone reception wasn't great at the parks, maybe due to the large number of people there that week, so don't rely on phones for very important communications. Try to plan as much as you can in advance. Portable family radios might be nice to carry for groups.
• Get to the parks as early as you can. It's tough if you stay for the end-of-day show the previous night, but do your best. 8am and 9am are still ok for ride waiting times, but by 11am, the park is packed.
• Get FastPasses every 2 hours to the rides in highest demand. You can come back and ride them anytime after the FastPass window you receive.

Food:

• Make dinner reservations ahead of time. I totally didn't expect to need to do that, but when my friends recommended it to me and I checked availability online, I realized they were right. There are about 2-3 really nice places in each park, and the "normal" meal times fill up weeks ahead of time.
• The Cinderella restaurant in the Magic Kingdom apparently fills up months ahead of time, so if you have little kids, you'll want to bring them there. If you don't, just stop by and take a peek; it's a pretty restaurant.
• There are some surprisingly good lunch places in each park as well, and these take reservations as well (and they book up days ahead of time). I was always used to just eating "theme park food," and on this trip, I learned I could actually eat nice, healthy, non-fried food in quieter, sit-down environments, which offered a nice break in the day.

Favorite restaurants:

• Animal Kingdom Tusker House
• Animal Kingdom The Yak and Yeti
• Epcot Biergarten
• Epcot Bistro de Paris (one of the best soufflés of my life)
• Hollywood Studios Prime Time 50s Cafe (awesome decor)
• Hollywood Studios Hollywood Brown Derby
• Magic Kingdom Tony's Town Square
• Magic Kingdom Liberty Tree Tavern

Favorite rides:

• Animal Kingdom Expedition Everest (really nice coaster with single rider line)
• Animal Kingdom Safari (real animals, best early in the morning)
• Animal Kingdom various walking paths
• Animal Kingdom veterinary hospital visit
• Epcot Test Track (fun and fast)
• Epcot Spaceship Earth (cool way to teach history of science)
• Epcot World Showcase (ethnic food and foreign languages -- 'nuff said)
• Hollywood Studios Tower of Terror (really fun at night)
• Hollywood Studios Toy Story (worth the hype, really fun interactive game)
• Magic Kingdom Enchanted Tiki Room (funny)
• Magic Kingdom Tom Sawyer Island (lots of secret things hidden and cool walking paths)
• Magic Kingdom Space Mountain (seemed better than Disneyland's)
• Magic Kingdom Thunder Mountain (as good as Disneyland's)
• Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion (almost as good as Disneyland's; only worse because it seemed shorter)

Least favorite rides:

• Animal Kingdom Dinosaur (not worth the hype)
• Hollywood Studios Backlot Tour (way shorter and less interesting than Universal's)
• Epcot Mission to Mars (a bit boring)
• Magic Kingdom Pirates (seemed shorter and worse than Disneyland's)
• Magic Kingdom Jungle Cruise (after seeing real animals in Animal Kingdom, this ride pales in comparison)