Most People Who Stay At Disney World Don't Know This

you've bought your tickets you've booked your hotel you've done your research you are officially ready to go to disney world or are you hey everybody it's aj for disney food blog here at dfb we're in the disney world parks and resorts non-stop like every day seven days a week 52 weeks a year so when it comes to a detailed knowledge of disney world we got that wrapped up mostly due to learning from our own mistakes now today we've got lots of pro tips for you that we've realized most people who stay at disney world even if they've been there many times before don't necessarily realize and some of these are even things we've had to research several times because they keep changing so buckle up for a bunch of tips we're going to start with hotel tips staying at a non-disney owned hotel is a more attractive option than ever before right now they are on average much cheaper many disney hotel guest perks like extra magic hours early access to fastpass plus bookings purchase delivery dear hotel free magic bands and more have been discontinued temporarily or permanently so they're not as much of a big draw to pay those huge bucks kind of associated with disney hotels now here's a very very clear example of something that absolutely shocked me when i was researching for an upcoming disney trip you can get more space and more luxury by booking off-site for the same money now i know you're saying aj we always knew that it's true okay but here's the example that i wanted to share with you that was really surprising to me because i always knew that too but i did not realize it was to this extent okay so i was looking at getting a suite at a hotel near disney world because i've got multiple family members coming and we want to all stay together so of course i went right over to art of animation family suites right because that's great you've got the skyliner right there and they're really really fun themed rooms and and it's great i've stayed there before it's good so right now an art of animation family suite in disney world for july 18th costs between 500 and 547 dollars per night with no discount and that's pretty expensive right 500 to 547 that's about how much you're going to pay for a room the grand floridian resort a basic room but you get 565 square feet at art of animation versus you know the 300 plus square feet that you would get at a deluxe resort single room now okay put that in your brain art of animation family suite nemo suite 547 565 square feet all right next on a lark i went over to look at the waldorf astoria which is a hilton-owned hotel which is right in the middle of disney world property it offers free transportation to the parks lots of restaurants in the hotel compared to art of animation which only has the one food court and it's very luxurious i've stayed at the waldorf astoria before it's a very luxurious hotel you're not going to find that kind of luxury even in a disney world deluxe resort much less a value resort so i thought hey let's look at a suite at the waldorf and see what happens there right well a 945 square foot suite so that's almost double what you're going to get at art of animations family suite is 475 a night on july 18 versus the 547 dollars so it's 70 cheaper and like 400 square feet larger than the art of animation family suite and then i was like let's do a little more research a 1400 square foot suite at the waldorf astoria with a king bed it's a luxury corner suite pull out sofa this one costs 567 on july 18th 1400 square feet that's almost three times the size of the art of animation family suite 567 versus 547.20 more for 1400 square feet that's the size of some houses so anyway that was really shocking to me i could get 1400 square feet at the waldorf astoria super luxury resort for 567 a night versus anyway you already got it i saw all the numbers it was eye opening so that's definitely something to think about you know with all of those kind of disney hotel perks being temporarily discontinued or even permanently discontinued it may make sense to go check out some of these luxury hotels on disney property and see what you can get for the same amount of money as you would pay if you were staying at an art of animation family suite or even at a moderate resort at disney world okay harped on that for too long let's move on the disney springs area resorts are another great option they're much lower cost than disney-owned hotels they're still good neighbor hotels which means they're offering whatever those disney perks are that you can still get and they are right there on property right next to disney springs so those are good ones as well and finally the swan and dolphin resorts those are a no-brainer for me deluxe amenities walking distance to two parks cheaper than disney-owned resorts especially deluxe resorts which is what they are compatible with and there's plenty of pools and restaurants and i actually personally i'm choosing to stay at the swan and dolphin when i take my family to disney world in june because i can walk to two parks and i know that transportation has been real slow in disney world i don't want to deal with having to take transportation if i don't have to and i know that the swan and dolphin has like at least three restaurants that i absolutely love that my husband loves so we are super excited to stay there so that's the one that we chose definitely do your research don't just assume that you have to stay in a disney owned hotel there are lots of hotels on property that are not disney owned that are within walking distance to parks that you can stay at for less money and maybe that's the theming isn't there as much as those other hotels but they are still really really good deals and things to look into okay next tip you can request a late checkout at a disney world hotel but it is super weird now i want to tell you about this because i always have to request delayed checkouts because i never am on time for anything you guys know that so here's why it's weird you're going to need to call the day before you check out and tell them what time you'd like to check out usually 12pm or 1pm because regular checkout for a disney hotel is 11 so you can really only get one or two hours out of a late checkout and then they'll put you on hold while they ask housekeeping then they'll come back sometimes it's a yes sometimes it's a no but it's always very mysterious and if they don't have a late checkout for the time you requested but they do have a late checkout for a different time they won't tell you and they say you can only ask once so it's real weird and if you've had a different experience from me let me know because i call for a late check out just about every time i stay at a disney hotel and it's been real weird every time so let me know in the comments what you've experienced but may the odds be ever in your favor on the whole late checkout thing you got to choose the right time because you can only ask once apparently okay now let's talk about ordering things to be delivered to your hotel a lot of people don't realize that you can do this a lot of people don't realize this will save a lot of space in your luggage especially if you're bringing tons of diapers or formula and things like that but you can actually have things delivered to your hotel through amazon grocery delivery services i've ordered things just from regular you know shipping websites and also you can order from disney floral and gifts even former disney cast members have created new businesses and offer really really fun unique items that you can order to your hotel now let's go through some of the details because this is one of those things that you have to get it right the first time it's the worst thing in the world to get to disney world and expect everything to be delivered and in place and you need that diaper and it's 11 o'clock at night and you didn't write the address correctly or they're holding it in the convention center and not at the front desk or whatever there's a lot of things that can go wrong with this that can really take up a lot of time on your trip so i'm going to detail how you're going to do it this is one of the things you want to pay attention to okay if you send a package to yourself at the hotel we're going to talk about that before we talk about grocery delivery so a package shipped from home or an online retailer will be accepted by the front desk they'll keep your groceries or packages stored refrigerated or frozen if needed until you can pick them up from the front or you can have them delivered to your room for a handling fee of six dollars per package so if you get yourself like 50 little tiny packages it's gonna be six dollars per package if they are delivered from an online retailer or something like that now you can pick them all up yourself from the front desk for free so you'll have to make the decision of how you want to handle that first of all don't ship anything that will get there more than a week before you arrive anything within a week of your check-in date is fine use the official shipping address listed for your disney world hotel this can be found on the disney world website simply search for your resort hotel and on the main page for each hotel on the right hand side you'll see the mailing address for the resort when you address your package include the word guest with the arrival date and the name of the person under whose name the room is registered written clearly on the package preferably on the line below the hotel name so disney's art of animation resort next line guest and then the name of the person under whom the room is registered follow these simple instructions and your package should get to disney world without any trouble you can pick up your packages at the front desk 24 hours a day in theory in practice the number of cast members on duty in the middle of the night is real real thin so you might want to prioritize getting your package during the daytime hours if possible i personally have had trouble picking up packages in the middle of the night now once you arrive and check in ask the cast member at guest relations in your hotel if there are any packages waiting for you often these will be noted on your file prior to arrival okay let's move on to grocery delivery next okay this is different from package delivery first you're going to find a reputable service provider i personally have used instacart i've used shipt which works with target to deliver groceries i've used garden grocer oh i've also used amazon fresh to deliver now these are all going to charge you a fee you have to sign up for all of them so you can look into which one is going to work best for you i recommend using them at home before you use them at disney world just to make sure you kind of know how to use them and you know how it goes now garden grocer is another popular but pricier option they have a good relationship with disney world many folks have used them for many years but they set their own stock in prices so you may pay a bit more here and garden grocer charge is 14 per order or the delivery is free if your order is over 200 now many other delivery options exist do your research before you go and see what's gonna work best for you the good news with grocery delivery at disney hotels is no matter how many boxes or bags your items arrive in your disney world hotel will only charge you a flat rate fee of six dollars to deliver your groceries now it's not six dollars per item like it is with packages and here's where we love disney world hotels even more if you have perishables in your bags each of the hotel's bell services has a refrigerator and a freezer to keep your items nice and cold that means when your groceries get dropped off cast members will take care of items that obviously need to be refrigerated or frozen until you can get those groceries and of course if you order cigarettes or alcohol disney will need to see id before handing those over now if you do order from a grocery delivery service like instacart or shipt where you actually can communicate with your shopper or the person who's dropping off your stuff it may help to get in contact with them and let them know hey i'm staying at this hotel in disney world they're local they'll know where you are and it won't be quite so confusing for them okay so there's packaging grocery delivery everybody got it everybody write it down super duper it can get real confusing but it can also save you a ton of money if you have that stuff delivered to your hotel and it can also save you a ton of packing space like i said with things like diapers and formula and stuff like that just have those delivered to your hotel instead of trying to pack them in your suitcase oh my goodness anybody who's been to disney world for a week with a toddler knows that you basically have to take an entire suitcase full of diapers so it makes a lot more sense to have them shipped and if you try to buy them in the gift shop that's going to cost you a gazillion dollars because of course they mark those up significantly okay more hotel tips there are extra special hotel rooms in disney world that you might want to consider booking not all rooms are created equally if you want to pack a bunch of people into your hotel room in disney world consider booking the treehouse villas at saratoga springs these are huge very very cool kind of circular suites multiple rooms full kitchen so those are fun ones to book that's a disney vacation club room but you can book it as well more on that later there are pirate themed rooms at caribbean beach resorts if you're interested in a pirate themed room or if you have pirates in your family then this might be the right stay for you if you have princesses or princes in your family the royal guest rooms at port orleans riverside might be a good choice for you these are of course currently closed that hotel is currently closed but when it reopens those royal guest rooms will be waiting for you and then another cool place to book the cabins at fort wilderness if you love camping if your family loves camping but you still want to sleep in a real bed the cabins at fort wilderness are a really really well-priced option they're usually in the 300s per night but you have a lot of space you have a kitchen you have a murphy bed you have two bunk beds you've got a queen-size bed so there's lots of space for lots of people to sleep so that's a great alternative we were talking about the art of animation family suites right the wilderness lodge cabins are a great alternative to that where you can fit even more people sleeping in there plus you're out in the woods and it's really calm and relaxing and it's a great retreat from the parks each day okay so let's talk about that disney vacation club thing i just mentioned disney vacation club is disney's time share program and there are lots of rooms at disney world and disneyland that are disney vacation club rooms now you don't have to be a disney vacation club member to book those rooms non-dvc members can stay at dvc hotels and you can either book there directly it's going to cost a little bit more than it costs to stay in other hotels or you can rent points now the good thing about dvc rooms is that most of them include kitchens or kitchenettes most have laundry facilities and that can save you a lot of time and money and make up for the extra cost it's kind of like having a condo instead of just a hotel room and they have a lot more room as well now if you're not a disney vacation club member you might be able to save money on a dvc room by renting points now points are the currency that dvc members use to book their rooms if they don't use all their points within a certain time frame they lose them so sometimes they put them up for rent so that they can get a return on those points instead of losing them non-dvc member guests can rent those points and can save some money but it can be dicey since you're basically checking into a hotel room and trusting that this stranger has booked it and paid for it for you already so we suggest using a dvc point rental agency we love david's dvc rental to rent points they serve as an intermediary between you and the dvc owner which greatly alleviates the liability and trust issues of sending a stranger a bunch of money and crossing your fingers that they're actually going to book that hotel for you i've rented points years and years and years and years and years ago just through some guy i found on the internet and it worked out fine luckily but it doesn't always and so having an intermediary having someone who can basically confirm for you that the hotel's been booked they can confirm for the person who's renting the points that you have paid the money it's a great sort of escrow situation that keeps everybody safe when they're making that transaction okay you can see in this video i'm going into a lot of detail and some things we talk about once in a while on the channel but i think these tips are really really important especially since these are things a lot of people don't even learn about until they've been to disney world many many many years and these are all things i would have wanted to know about before i went to disney world the first time so hopefully it's helpful okay moving on most disney hotels don't have smart tvs this is something i just thought about telling you about when i was recently staying at a condo in south carolina they had a smart tv which was super helpful because i could just bring up a movie on netflix for my kids and that was no problem but they didn't have disney plus on their smart tv which was kind of a bummer because my kids wanted to watch you know a movie that was on disney plus so most disney hotels don't have smart tvs which means they're not going to be equipped with those streaming services so if you want to watch those bring cables to hook up your phone or computer to the television so that you can use that to sort of you know entertain your kids sometimes or entertain yourself you know if you're done with the parks you just need to chill that's gonna be the best way to get those streaming services available okay now let's talk about renting stuff in your room if you're visiting with kids there is a whole world of kid stuff rental companies i did not know this until i started researching it when i had a baby from humidifiers to cribs to high chairs and strollers you can pretty much rent anything you might need while you're on vacation for your baby or toddler so that's definitely something to look into so you don't have to haul all that stuff because i know what a nightmare it can be to have to haul all that stuff with you on vacation and speaking of stroller rental you have lots of options in disney world but they've recently changed significantly you can rent a stroller from disney in the parks each day those hard plastic strollers and don't forget if you go to a different park after paying for a stroller in one park you can show your receipt at the next place and get a stroller there for no charge so if you pay in magic kingdom for a stroller then you hop to epcot just show them your receipt you don't have to pay for a stroller a second time that day and that's the same by the way with lockers and ecvs which is very very important to know second option you can rent a stroller from a disney partner stroller rental company and they can drop your stroller off at your hotel this can be better than renting in the park because when you have little littles and they fall asleep you can just stroll them out of the park and not have to pull them out of the stroller to return it because you can't take a disney stroller out of the park that if you rent a stroller for your whole stay from a third-party company you just take it with you and finally you can rent a stroller from a non-disney partner stroller rental company this means they won't be able to deliver to your hotel as easily but there are many very reputable stroller companies in orlando from rich to rent so don't necessarily count them out just because they're not disney partner stroller rental companies okay next thing to know about disney hotels if you're staying there a lot of people don't know different views cost different rates at the hotels if you want to stay at a deluxe resort but you don't think it's in your budget look at the lower cost rooms in that hotel for example the garden wing rooms at the contemporary are less expensive than the rooms in the big a-frame tower they're the same rooms they're just not in the a-frame tower and standard view rooms are about a hundred dollars less expensive than savannah view rooms at animal kingdom lodge so if you want to stay at akl but you don't want to pay the big bucks for the savannah view room you can save a hundred bucks a night by staying at a standard view room so those are all things to look into if you want to say upgrade to a moderate resort from a value resort just look at the less expensive room views and last thing in our hotel section here of most people who stay at disney world don't know this refillable mugs may not be as great a deal as you think if you're not getting the dining plan of course the dining plan doesn't exist right now and in case you don't know what refillable mugs are i mean obviously they're refillable mugs you can buy a mug in your disney world resort hotel that you can refill throughout your stay these cost twenty dollars and there are certain places you can refill them now when the disney dining plan existed you would automatically get a refillable mug with your dining plan but right now you can still buy refillable mugs but it's an open question whether they're worth it so how do you figure it out well think about how many times you're going to want to refill that mug per day you can refill it with things like coffee and tea and soda pop so if you're gonna refill it multiple times a day great but note that there aren't that many places to refill these mugs that are within a decent walking distance from most hotel rooms and that's especially true at moderates and values so if you're gonna pass by a refill station before the park each morning and don't mind carrying your mug around all day that's great but really think through if that purchase makes sense since it's gonna cost nearly a hundred dollars for a typical family to buy refillable mugs so think about if you're really going to use it or not when it doesn't come free with your dining plan it becomes much more of a question of value all right now we've got some restaurant and dining tips things that most people who stay at disney world don't know and i certainly would want to know if i was staying at disney world the mobile walk up wait list could help you score a last-minute spot at a restaurant you want to eat at this is brand new basically what it means is disney's now letting you know what restaurants are available right now to walk up to and that's on the my disney experience app so you head over to my disney experience app you say reserve dining and you just look for the little box that says now and it'll tell you what's available right this minute super super helpful also table service dining to go is a new option in my disney experience it's the first time disney's offered officially to go options from table service restaurants so that's definitely something to check out as well as a dining alternative another quick tip for dining at places when you can't get reservations if you want to go to a disney springs location and you can't get a reservation through disney then check open table opentable is an online service that you can book reservations through and it's a national service and there are often several disney springs restaurants on open table and they may have a reservation available even if the disney system doesn't last tip on getting a meal if you don't have a reservation if you want to eat at a fancier restaurant consider walking up and asking if there's a seat at the bar or in the lounge this is a great tip for a high-end dinner if you don't have a reservation but it's still going to cost you the same so if sitting at the bar or in a lounge is less pleasing to you it might make sense to save that restaurant for when you can actually sit at a table to get your money's worth but if you don't care and just want to try it then the lounge or a bar is a great last-minute opportunity to dine at some of disney's more signature restaurants okay a few more restaurant tips kids meals aren't just for kids anyone can order them and they can be quite satisfying if you aren't super hungry and typically eat slightly smaller portions but couple things to note here this can be done anytime at counter service locations nobody's going to check and make sure that you're ordering a kids meal for a child at a counter service location you can order any time but if you try to order them at a table service location they may make you pay a higher price for a larger portion of the kid's meal food so definitely ask your server if you are at a sit-down restaurant about the kid's meal and say if i want to order a kid's menu item do i get the amount of the kids meal or do i just have to pay more and you'll give me more of the chicken nuggets or whatever all right this next one's really important for a lot of our viewers disney just launched a huge plant-based menu initiative so if you're eating vegetarian every single menu in disney world right now should have at least one plant-based item on it that includes counter service kiosks and table service so look for the little leaf icon on the menus that means that it is plant-based and finally in our dining section very important piece of information for a lot of you out there i know myself included there is a mcdonald's on property lots of people don't realize that there is a mcdonald's on property but there is it's over by the all-star resorts in coronado springs so you'll probably have to drive over there or get a ride share there aren't any buses that go to mcdonald's but if you need mcdonald's or if it's late at night and you just got on property and you need to eat something that'll be there for you okay a few other tips most people who say at disney don't know these things but we want you to know them so that you aren't going in unaware mobile merchandise checkout this is a thing that's brand new what it basically means is while you are shopping and participating disney merchandise locations like mouse gear and ebcod and a few others there's a mobile merchandise option where you can scan the things you want to buy you can buy them on the my disney experience app and then you get a little qr code to show as you're leaving to show that you paid for your items so you don't have to wait in any lines it's a completely touchless and cue-less system for purchasing merchandise in the parks so look into that check that out on your my disney experience app also on the my disney experience app turn those notifications on because we've sometimes gotten notifications about rides being down extra time the parks will be open like the day of we've had pop-ups in magic kingdom say hey the park's gonna be open an extra 30 minutes tonight you can ride these rides so that's bonus park time you wouldn't know about if your notifications weren't on and other things so this is super useful for those last minute items that disney's trying to kind of push out and let people know about or even testing and speaking of getting extra ride time park times are changing a lot right now park hours park pass availability so you'll want to check both frequently even after you've made your plans booked your tickets made your trip and you're in disney world be sure to check the park hours on my disney experience every day because those can change by the way sometimes the parks open earlier than they say they're going to open and you can actually ride rides before the official park opening time this is nothing official disney isn't gonna say that they do this but they do so consider getting to your park of the day 30 to 40 minutes before the official park opening time and you may be able to get in and get a few rides ridden before the day even starts now let's talk about park hopping park hopping is a little different than it's been before it starts at 2 p.m so you can't hop to a new park until 2 p.m or later now you can add a park hopper onto your ticket at any time but you generally can't remove it so we always recommend that you go to disney world and then decide if you need a park hopper when you are in your first park if you do want it then add it on if you don't want it don't pay the cost the cost does not change if you wait to add it once you're already in a park but if you do add park hopping on it'll be for all the days of your ticket which means if you don't add it on to the very last day you'll still have to pay for all the days before that you were in parks so best to decide on the first day you get there so you can use it for the rest of your trip and finally the last tip i want you to know about is that you really really really need to bring an external charger these days disney's switching everything onto your phone your smartphone is your key right now sometimes literally so bringing an external charger i suggest bringing with two usb ports so that you can charge two devices at once like if you're at dinner you need to charge your phone and your kids ipad at the same time i always bring along a big old brick external charger with me every day and it always always use it now of course i'm using my phone to do things for work all day long but people are using their phones more and more often and i'm hearing from a lot of you that your phones are dying midday because you just don't have the charge so bring along those cables bring along the external charger it's necessary these days all right it's a long video but i just couldn't stop adding more stuff to this because there are tons of tips that we have learned the hard way that a lot of people don't know are actually the way things are at disney world anyway wanted to fill you in wanted to make sure you knew about this stuff before you can go hopefully it can save you some money save you some time and help with your planning so thank you guys so much for listening thank you so much for watching we really really appreciate you being a part of this channel and sharing your tips and tricks in the comments as well as always this is aj for disney food vlog and we'll see you real soon you

Channel: DFBGuide

Views: 205,717

Keywords: disneyfood, disney, disney world, disneyland, disneyvideo, disneyvacation, food, disney parks, disney travel, disney tips, disney guides, disney planning, disney trip, disney how to, disney vlog, disney vlogger

Id: Qr8aZmKASGY

Length: 28min 20sec (1700 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021