Living in Florida is great for several reasons. Here are just a few: 1) the weather is great for outdoor activities 85% of the time, 2) there are many vacation type activities to do all with in a few hours drive from home and 3) Florida has history that spans from prehistoric to the space age.
The first year in Florida we always headed to Orlando to do the theme park thing. With Sea World, Universal Studios, Walt Disney World, Legoland, Busch Gardens, Gatorland and other amusement parks all located within an hour drive of each other, it is no wonder the Orlando/Tampa area is considered the amusement park capitol of the world. As Florida residents, there are always special deals to be found. But thanks to the miracle that is the internet, deals are available for all. Here are a few helpful websites that I have found:
http://discountticketsorlando.com/
http://www.floridaticketstation.com/
One great line time saver is called a Rider Switch Pass (RSP). The RSP allows all members of your party that meet ride requirements to ride all the rides even if you are traveling with smaller children. It works this way...All members of your party will go together to the line entrance for the ride. Ask the cast member at there for a Rider Switch Pass. They will ask who is staying and who is riding. Sometimes they hand the pass to the persons that are riding first so that the others have to wait until that rider is off before the second group gets on. Other Cast members will just hand it to the person that is waiting outside the ride. Send all members of the group that can go on the ride and want to go on the ride with first group. When the first group gets off the ride, the person who didn't get to ride takes their RSP to the start of the Fast Pass line and the RSP acts like a FP. The best part of the system is that Disney doesn't want anyone to have to ride alone, so RSP actually lets 3 people through the FP line with one card. So if you have kids or others that loved the ride, they can go on the ride again. That is a total of 3 people per RSP. You can get a Rider Switch Pass even if you have fast passes. Just go the the fast pass line and ask for the Rider Switch Pass. Save the FP that you would have used just in case 4 people want to go on the ride the second time. Unlike the FP, the Rider Switch Pass does not have a designated time return, so if for any reason you need to go a way from the ride, you can return anytime that same day to use the RSP. The passes do have the date on them, so they can't be saved in order to be used another day. By the way, the rides don't run out of Rider Switch Passes.
If you are looking for information on the Disney website, first go to the Parks page and select the park you are planning to visit. When you get to the specific Park's page, look to the left and find the calendar link. That will take you to the current monthly calendar, but you can check calendars for the current month as well as the next 6 months. Once you get to the month in which you will be visiting the parks, click on a specific day. This will take you to a page which has that day's schedule of events and if you look to the right of the page, there will be Operational Updates.
If you have a Smart Phone, buying an app for the Walt Disney World Parks is very helpful.
Walt Disney World Pro looks interesting for iPhones or how about the Disney Parks Mobile Magic for Verizon phones. There are many options but some research will be needed because most options are phone specific. Also if you have a good data plan, you can access Walt Disney World's Mobile Website.
2- Check the weather. Except for the Water Parks, Disney World Parks are open everyday of the year. The only thing that shuts them down is extreme weather. The only time that this has ever happened was with Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. So you can be confident that the parks will be open, but not all the rides operate in all weather. Mainly the outdoor roller coasters shut down and only when there are lightning strikes in the area.
Other than rides shutting down, you can get very wet in a Florida rainstorm. If it looks like rain, bring rain ponchos. You can keep on going with your vacation when you have good rain protection. Not to mention ponchos come in handy on Kali River Rapids, because if you ride it, you will get wet. Don't worry if you don't have room to pack the ponchos with you. The parks have adult and kid sized ponchos for your convenience and they aren't too steeply priced.
3- Make reservations. The Walt Disney World $$ or $$$ restaurants are very busy places and the waits can be very time consuming. Reserve your table up to 6 months in advance. The sooner you book the greater chance you have of picking a time that works best for your whole party. If you have any questions about the restaurants, visit the Where to Eat page at the Walt Disney World Website. You can also make reservations via this page. All dinner shows and dinner events have to have reservations.
Walt Disney World - Where am I?
We enjoyed having Annual Passes for Walt Disney World. As I was looking through pictures we took during our visits, I thought we could play a game. I am going to add pictures to this page. If you know where the picture was taken, post the answer. I love Disney's attention to detail.
Picture #1
Picture #2
Picture #3
Picture #4
http://www.floridaticketstation.com/
Walt Disney World - Quick Line Tip
One great line time saver is called a Rider Switch Pass (RSP). The RSP allows all members of your party that meet ride requirements to ride all the rides even if you are traveling with smaller children. It works this way...All members of your party will go together to the line entrance for the ride. Ask the cast member at there for a Rider Switch Pass. They will ask who is staying and who is riding. Sometimes they hand the pass to the persons that are riding first so that the others have to wait until that rider is off before the second group gets on. Other Cast members will just hand it to the person that is waiting outside the ride. Send all members of the group that can go on the ride and want to go on the ride with first group. When the first group gets off the ride, the person who didn't get to ride takes their RSP to the start of the Fast Pass line and the RSP acts like a FP. The best part of the system is that Disney doesn't want anyone to have to ride alone, so RSP actually lets 3 people through the FP line with one card. So if you have kids or others that loved the ride, they can go on the ride again. That is a total of 3 people per RSP. You can get a Rider Switch Pass even if you have fast passes. Just go the the fast pass line and ask for the Rider Switch Pass. Save the FP that you would have used just in case 4 people want to go on the ride the second time. Unlike the FP, the Rider Switch Pass does not have a designated time return, so if for any reason you need to go a way from the ride, you can return anytime that same day to use the RSP. The passes do have the date on them, so they can't be saved in order to be used another day. By the way, the rides don't run out of Rider Switch Passes.
Not all rides have Fast Passes available. If you look on the park map, each ride that has Fast Passes available will have "FP" next to the ride information. The maps also contain the height requirement for each ride so you will be able to plan ahead when it comes to Rider Switch Passes. If there is no height requirement marked on the map, all members of your party will be able to ride the ride regardless of height.
Walt Disney World - Know Before You Go
1- Check for ride closings. There is nothing more disappointing than telling your kids all about the best rides from when you were a kid only to get to the parks and find out they are no longer there or closed for construction and cleaning. You can go directly to the Walt Disney World website to get this information. There are also Smart Phone Apps that have up to the minute information on closures as well as line wait times.If you are looking for information on the Disney website, first go to the Parks page and select the park you are planning to visit. When you get to the specific Park's page, look to the left and find the calendar link. That will take you to the current monthly calendar, but you can check calendars for the current month as well as the next 6 months. Once you get to the month in which you will be visiting the parks, click on a specific day. This will take you to a page which has that day's schedule of events and if you look to the right of the page, there will be Operational Updates.
If you have a Smart Phone, buying an app for the Walt Disney World Parks is very helpful.
Walt Disney World Pro looks interesting for iPhones or how about the Disney Parks Mobile Magic for Verizon phones. There are many options but some research will be needed because most options are phone specific. Also if you have a good data plan, you can access Walt Disney World's Mobile Website.
2- Check the weather. Except for the Water Parks, Disney World Parks are open everyday of the year. The only thing that shuts them down is extreme weather. The only time that this has ever happened was with Hurricane Floyd in September of 1999. So you can be confident that the parks will be open, but not all the rides operate in all weather. Mainly the outdoor roller coasters shut down and only when there are lightning strikes in the area.
Other than rides shutting down, you can get very wet in a Florida rainstorm. If it looks like rain, bring rain ponchos. You can keep on going with your vacation when you have good rain protection. Not to mention ponchos come in handy on Kali River Rapids, because if you ride it, you will get wet. Don't worry if you don't have room to pack the ponchos with you. The parks have adult and kid sized ponchos for your convenience and they aren't too steeply priced.
3- Make reservations. The Walt Disney World $$ or $$$ restaurants are very busy places and the waits can be very time consuming. Reserve your table up to 6 months in advance. The sooner you book the greater chance you have of picking a time that works best for your whole party. If you have any questions about the restaurants, visit the Where to Eat page at the Walt Disney World Website. You can also make reservations via this page. All dinner shows and dinner events have to have reservations.
Walt Disney World - Where am I?
We enjoyed having Annual Passes for Walt Disney World. As I was looking through pictures we took during our visits, I thought we could play a game. I am going to add pictures to this page. If you know where the picture was taken, post the answer. I love Disney's attention to detail.
Picture #1
The disney world is a wonder in itself. thank you for the amazing post it was of great help.
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