Our family has visited Walt Disney World twice in the past three years. Both times have been in the heat of summer. This past time was in early August with huge crowd levels.
Before each visit, we purchased The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and the accompanying online Touringplans.com subscription. Just want to emphasize that we bought this book and subscription completely with our own funds and the purchases were absolutely worth ever dollar we paid.
The first time we went to Walt Disney World, it was solely for a family vacation and we used the book and online resources to help plan our stay from the hotel and meals down to ride order in the parks. The second time, the family tagged along on a business trip and we used the resources to decide between conference hotels, for meal recommendations and for ride and entertainment recommendations in the parks.
What really amazed me about following The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World touring plan recommendations in the parks is that during both these peak season visits, we did not have to wait over 20 minutes for any ride or other attraction. Along with that we basically rode everything that we wanted to.
I saw many people in the parks with looks of frustration because they had to wait an hour or more for headliner rides. By following the of order our tailored touring plans laid out for us we zipped from attraction to attraction . So much more fun.
The other things I loved about this book where the detailed information about individual accommodations both on and of Disney property and all the individual restaurant profiles. Also, on our first visit with younger persons in tow, the ride scary factor/age level evaluations were so helpful. Thanks to that information, no one was subjected to an attraction to scary to handle.
Also, in The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, you will find lots of details about Universal Orlando. I have not used that part of the materials, but I would bet it works just as well as the other parts.
Get more details on The Unofficial Guides and the touringplans.com subscriptions at the official website by clicking here.
Hi Sarah! Great idea to plan ahead by using a book like this and online resources. If I’m every lucky enough to get as far as Walt Disney World I’ll make sure we do our research too … definitely don’t fancy waiting for an hour to go on a ride!!
Yes, planning ahead and getting to the parks early is definitely key. Makes all the difference.