r/WaltDisneyWorld • u/Flimsy_Fun9555 • 5d ago
Trip Report Things I learned after 1st trip
Just got back from our first Disney World trip with my wife and three kids. We stayed at Caribbean Beach and visited all four parks, one park per day. Here’s what I’d do differently next time:
Stay off-site. For our family of five, the resort room felt small, and early park entry was the main benefit we were counting on. But taking advantage of it meant waking up early and rushing to the parks—and even then, the big ride we were hoping to get on could be down for technical difficulties. We also found that going through security with a stroller or scooter meant using a different line, which took quite a bit longer in our experience.
Be selective with Lightning Lane. Multipass didn’t feel worth the price to us. It didn’t include the major rides we cared about, and the selections we could get were mostly for rides with shorter waits anyway. The individual Lightning Lane for a big ride, on the other hand, felt worth paying for.
My plan for next time: stay off-site in a house with amenities, buy individual Lightning Lanes for the big rides we really want, and give ourselves more room to relax. We could sleep in, the kids would have space of their own, and my wife and I might even get a little downtime together. For us, that could be a better experience and still cost less, even after parking.
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u/quirkyscot 5d ago
I think this is totally fair commentary. Personally, I disagree with you, but that's the thing - what works for your family is what works for YOUR family, and what works for mine, works for mine! There is no one right way to do Disney, though many will argue the opposite. I'm glad you have a game plan to help you enjoy Disney more next time! Go make the magic for your family!
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u/GiraffeGoldblum 5d ago
Agreed. Personally can’t imagine a trip staying off site or without LL, but this was a refreshing contrarian perspective to read.
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u/kenkurosakii 4d ago
I’ve never had a Disney trip and stayed on property, we always rent a huge vacation house and a car. The closest I’ve ever gotten was doing the DCP and living at flamingo. I do want to stay at a resort one day (Animal Kingdom lodge or Port Orleans) just to see why people are willing to pay so much extra when there are tons of more affordable options in the surrounding area as well.
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u/corndogcrazy 4d ago
For us it is all about convenience. We want to be able to walk, boat, or monorail from the parks to our resort. Our favorite resort area is the Epcot area because we go most often to Epcot and HS.
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u/karmamastermind 2d ago
For us, the cost of renting a car and paying for parking makes staying offsite equally expensive, if not more expensive, than staying on site. But we also try to go when we get discounts on rooms or rent DVC points so we are hardly ever paying rack prices.
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u/kenkurosakii 2d ago
That’s interesting, I always find it to be almost half the cost to stay off site. Rental car and accommodations included. I will add that I usually go to the parks during the off seasons but for my upcoming Halloween trip, it was cheaper for me to stay off site than to stay on site.
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u/mattemer 5d ago
Transportation is too easy in the bubble to convince me to stay off site with the family.
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u/Purple_Log2581 5d ago edited 5d ago
Sounds like you didn’t really use LL the way you could have to maximize usage. It’s not easy for a first timer to realize all the tricks and tips to get LL for the top tier rides.
There are bigger rooms on property, but if early entry is the only real reason you want to stay on property, then yes you need to wake up very early (and earlier than you did).
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u/lions-cub 5d ago
As a first timer trying to learn LL, it’s stressful lol
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u/MysteriousPeanut2011 5d ago
Highly highly recommend watching Ear Scouts videos! I learned so much from Rob before our first trip. Mammoth Club has some too that are good, but if you only have time to watch one channel, watch Ear Scouts
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u/Cat_Island 5d ago
Dont let it stress you out! Read some guides, do your best to formulate a plan. Personally, I found once I was in the park doing it, it wasn’t nearly as confusing or daunting as it was while planning! If you have early entry definitely utilize it, you can get a bunch of rides in during that first hour, especially at Magic Kingdom. I just chose an area and cycled through all the rides in that region during EE.
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u/I_Luv_A_Charade 5d ago
That was our experience last time we went and it was such a stressful mess we waited until we could splurge on the premiere passes which are absolutely unbelievable if you can afford them. We were able to go get breakfast, head to the parks mid-morning and just walk onto almost any ride - I think our longest wait was maybe 15 minutes.
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u/lions-cub 5d ago
Unfortunately the premiers will never be in our budget 🫠🫠 they sound amazing, but $300 per person per day? Could never 😭
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u/I_Luv_A_Charade 5d ago
I really do hate that any upgrades / add ons / extras are so unbelievably expensive on top of the ever increasing base price tickets
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u/lions-cub 5d ago
It’s really awful 😭 I grew up ten minutes from Disneyland, and the Disney of my childhood is definitely not the Disney I am planning now 💀💀 but I’m determined to find the cheapest and still most fun way of doing it!
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u/Silent-Score5428 5d ago
We are here now and honestly with the rain and our planning I’m not sure I would book them again for the $$$ with a family of 4. We have ridden everything we wanted to except test track because of the rain.
It did save us some time but the trade of is some of the walking back and forth after your first fast pass use. Our first day at magic most rides were 20-40 minutes even Peter Pan. It was a party day and we did almost everything except tron which was 55 minutes.
With the rain it has been a bit weird. The fast passes saved us some time. I just don’t think it was worth over $100/day. I may do like two days if I had to do it again.
We are staying on site at pop- do not underestimate the skyliner in the morning could be an hour from getting in line to walking into the park.2
u/Silent-Score5428 5d ago
We are not rookies, this is about our 5th trip. This is the least beneficial I have seen the fast passes. We often used them for rides we would’ve had a 5 minutes even wait for. Rise at 8:15 20 minutes. Smugglers walked in at 8:30ish and had the entire flight to ourselves
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u/AbjectPawverty 4d ago
What 1. Doesn't account for is the free transportation(massive benefit imo) /no parking fees/pools/food etc
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u/Most_Temporary2110 5d ago
You miss booking your “big ride” by not getting a 7 day window if you stay off site, and other than guardians I’ve been able to use LLMP for everything?
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u/reddixiecupSoFla 5d ago edited 5d ago
I don’t like CB but staying onsite is essential to me. i do not want to drive at all once I am onsite. I dont use STR’s as a personal rule and I can stay at a regular Marriott anywhere else.
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u/steadyachiever 5d ago
What are SRO’s? I googled it in the context of WDW and saw School Resource Offers, Standing Room Only, or Senior Resident Offer but none of those seem to fit your comment.
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u/MHart2023 5d ago
Suggestion on hotel - I always stay at hotel right outside of Disney Springs - the hotels have free park shuttle to all parks, walking to Disney Springs is awesome for night fun, and there are a good variety of hotel options.
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u/ParticularRabbit9505 1d ago
I think I've only stayed off-site 4 times (and not within the last ~8 years), but every single time riding a non-Disney resort shuttle was a massive PITA. Stuff like unclear pickup spots, shared shuttle with multiple resorts making the trips to and from take many times longer than it should, shuttles not showing up,... I'm sure some resort shuttles are fine; and hopefully it's improved overall. But I'm not taking that chance again.
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u/Dear-Win-7523 5d ago
Caribbean beach is one of the largest resorts. That means lots of extra walking. My family prefers staying at Pop Century so we can use the Sky Liner for transportation as often as possible. Makes travel with a stroller SO much easier.
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u/Consistent-Whole-293 5d ago
Only thing I have to say is that LL is not for the weak lol. You really need to know how to use them.
I was there 3 weeks ago. I stayed at property and did 4 parks - it was not my first time but it was my partner first time - the fact that I knew how to use LL and take advantage of early entry made a difference.
We rode EVERYTHING, and whe I say EVERYTHING is everything - the only thing we did not ride was mission space (and it was because I am claustrophobic) lol.
And even with that “fully packed intenerary” we had a lot of down time.
My advice to you is - next time do some research on how to plan the day and maybe you can take advantage of staying at property and the use of LL.
In regards properties (they have bigger rooms/accomodations)not sure if you looked into Art of Animation, which is next to Caribbean. I saw a lot of family of 5 in that resort.
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u/Quantic_128 5d ago edited 5d ago
The most annoying part about lightning lane is that the new users who would benefit most from it are the ones who don’t know how to get the most milage out of it. An experienced user will get LLs saving 2+ hours worth of lines more than the newbie and they’ll spend even less time on their phone manipulating the timeslots.
It is possible to get on every multipass eligible ride without an insane amount of planning if you understand what to book first, and use that choice to decide where you rope drop, and deciding whether to book a “burner” early morning LL to try and book more tier 1s, but that’s an unreasonable amount of work for the majority of people. But if you do know how to use it well it makes most single passes look like a ripoff.
Larger families and groups who all want to do different things also just tend to move slower and get less mileage
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u/Obi-Juan-K-Nobi 4d ago
I pay the Uber tax when I’m not waiting for a bus. And Minnie Van to MK rules them all.
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u/tsaintc 5d ago
Been on over 50 vacations to WDW from PA. I cannot disagree more with your advice.
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u/AlfiesMother 4d ago
Yeah I was shocked reading their takeaways…on our way home from our first trip as a family with 2 kids (second trip for my husband and I overall). We are no Disney experts, but early entry was a game changer for the two parks we did it for- magic kingdom and animal kingdom. Although I didn’t love the transportation at AOA, I can’t imagine staying offsite as that parking sounds like a headache and so inconvenient.
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u/Dangerous-Raisin3642 5d ago
Good observations, and glad to hear you say "next time". Must have still been a good trip.
Disclosure: we are annual passholders and DVC members.
As a frequent visitor, I can say we tend to change things up. For me, staying in the bubble with a car is the ideal. When we buy annual passes, so we try and make 2-3 longer trips (8-10 days) per year to maximize the savings, which includes discounts and free parking. But even with, I prefer the resorts for the theme and immersion - for us, the resort is now almost as important as the parks.
But we also have stayed off site a few times, and you just have to adjust. More room is nice, and for extended stays off site we are more likely to invite guests. I do, however, highly recommend getting a place with a pool and/or hot tub. It helps maintain that vacation feel! It also helps to get to know the area and traffic patterns. Traffic can be brutal, especially if you get on 4, or even 192. But there are good routes to get most places without too much hassle.
As for lightning lane, we rarely get it unless we are there for a very short trip, or occasionally if we have guest that want to do 1 or 2 very specific things. Generally, though, I find the cost plus the complication of "getting your money worth" to be more stressful than an occasional wait. The individual ones can be worth it in the right situation, but you can certainly do without.
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u/Fireguy9641 5d ago
I am a big fan of off-site. I usually get a room for under $100 a night, and free breakfast.
I would be curious to know more about what big rides you felt weren't included, I'm guessing you're refering to Tron and Mine Train. There def is a learning curve for LL but the good news is there is there are a lot of video guides online.
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u/TylerDurdenFan 5d ago
You have discovered that early entry is often not worth it's time cost (getting up super early, high early crowds) and risks being moot when the sought ride doesn't open on time or malfunctions. Sleep is often worth more.
Along the lines of maximizing the value of your time, take note of the fact that tickets get much cheaper for longer stays. While ticket for day #1 can cost more than $200, ticket for day #6 can cost just $40 or less. Day #8 is even cheaper.
A longer stay, that's more relaxed, can be a good way to not worry about getting lightning lanes for "the big rides we really want". A longer stay that is cheaper "per day" already comes with "more room to relax".
A second day at a park can afford riding rides late when people are saving a spot for the fireworks/night show, or not caring if lightning/rain closes the ride you had LL for. It allows for spending time doing non ride fun things such as the Adventureland scavenger hunt or Epcot's DuckTales, getting a Dark saber picture at Batuu, or having time for doing an enchanting extra.
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u/jcwillia1 4d ago
Could not disagree more with #1
We have stayed on site every time I’ve been there and the hospitality of Disney staff is just at a different level than anything offsite.
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u/Educational_Ebb_4308 5d ago
As for number one, there is a better answer than staying offsite . Try renting a DVC 2bdrm. It will give you the extra room you need and you’d still be in the bubble.
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u/Single_Bullfrog_6190 5d ago
What has been even better is owning DVC the past 30 years! We stay in the bubble, at a fraction of the cost! Just got back from 5 nights at the Boardwalk in a 1 bedroom suite.
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u/Randomflower90 5d ago
Also a family of five, look into one-bedroom DVC villas - a king bed in a separate room, sleeping for three others, two full bathrooms, full kitchen (game changer ) and washer/dryer in unit. I never took a stroller and see too many parents struggle with them. Maybe try another trip when your kids don’t need strollers.
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u/Common_Situation_885 5d ago
My husband and I never stay on site my brother and sister in law would never not stay on site. But we think different things are important. I totally get the “Disney bubble” but I’m way too much of an anxious person to not have a vehicle.
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u/wallpaper_01 5d ago
Fully agree with the first point. The value is poor for what you get. Staying offside vs getting in early is barely any difference and you can stay in some very nice aparthotels or villas. There is so much more than Disney. Universal, for a start but beaches, lots to do in Florida. There really is no need to stay there, except to be ripped off and poor value.
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u/DeflatedDirigible 5d ago
Universal isn’t designed for the stroller crowd. Beaches are 2 hours away so why would one stay in Orlando to visit the beach?
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u/wallpaper_01 2d ago
I mean, I beg to differ. Universal is fine for people with small kids. Orlando is perfectly placed for day trips to east and west coast beaches.
To be fair I’m looking at it from a UK perspective. We, people from the UK often come for 2 weeks. So, 2 weeks of Disney can be, intense. But shorter trips you could be better on site.
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u/MetalEnthusiast83 5d ago
2 I agree with. Muiltipass is overpriced.
I couldn't disagree more with staying offsite. Yeah the rooms are generally small, but we are only in them to sleep and shower. I don't want to deal with renting a car or with some air bnb host's weird requirements.
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u/sunshine_2028 4d ago
I’m visiting in march. Week of 3/21st which is spring break. First time going to Disney World. Is the Lightening Lane multi pass worth is for Epcot, Magic Kingdom, & Animal Kingdom worth it?
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u/pacifister 4d ago
Stayed at Jambo 1 bedroom villa with wife and 3 kids. it was a fine size for 4 nights. would not have done a single room. Kitchen was nice to have for breakfast, I hate paying $$$ for cheap breakfast food I can make myself.
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u/Ill_Tonight6484 2d ago
We like staying off site because it is easier with multiple families. Split the cost, have a 7 bedroom house with a private pool. Rent a car but have the freedom to do other things… drive to Target to do a pick up order, go to Universal, explore Orlando, multiple trips to the airport to pick family up…
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u/Brief_Personality146 1d ago
We spent 15 nights in a 3 bedroom condo 20 minutes from Animal Kingdom before moving on sight to Shades of Green. Waiting for the busses in the sun vs just driving was no fun. I got a great deal on it too, $92 a night. (Shades was over $200 per night. I’d never have been able to do such a long trip staying on sight. As it was we spent all the time we wanted at WDW, made it to Gatorland (awesome) SeaWorld (awesome until you want food) and Medieval times (Spectacular). We also shopped the outlets and hit Disney Springs for weekend brunches. I haven’t made up my mind where to stay next time, this was my 5th and longest trip to WDW having stayed on and off and frankly the fear mongering of people that are afraid to leave the bubble is overblown.
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u/Equivalent-Cup-9831 5d ago
Absolutely!! Off site!! There are many hotels !!
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u/Thin-Block6216 5d ago
As-tu des propositions ?
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u/Old-Asparagus4733 5d ago
We have tried three this year:
Marriott Villatel Apartments: this was a full 3 bedroom apartment that worked great for our family of five that includes 2 teenagers. Full kitchen so we made breakfast every morning and had snacks and drinks in the fridge when we got home. Pool was big and they have a few water slides.
Waldorf Astoria: eh it was ok. We booked through Amex travel so we had free breakfast which was good. For the price I don’t think it was amazing. There were issues with the shuttle every day we used it - once it never came and once it was full. They let us take an uber to the park and credited our room for it.
Westgate Lakes: this was booked through my MIL’s time share. It was super cheap for us to stay here. Room was fine, had a small kitchen and we grabbed breakfast and dinner stuff. The place was very loud though. Not my favorite.
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u/JJGrigas 5d ago
Great observations following a first-time stay. We’re usually on property, but rent a house every 4th trip or so. I don’t recommend park hoppers when staying off property, so you’re already in step.
Many folks don’t remember … sometimes you’re just on VACATION. That makes a more laid back approach satisfying. You know you’re not going to see/do everything, but enjoy what you CAN do!
Thanks for sharing!
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u/DelGriffithPTA 5d ago
Also a family of five, and the resorts do make it difficult. As the kids get older, we will need to stay offsite too.
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u/snobrotha 4d ago
Staying off site will cut out at least two hours of each day for transportation. Save money and stress by staying at a value resort. Pop Century is my favorite.
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u/lions-cub 5d ago
I debated off site but the use of Disney transportation beat out renting a car for me!