11 Mistakes to Avoid When Staying at a Disney World Resort
Not Using Online Check-In
My Disney Experience on your phone and online will slowly become your best friend during your trip to Walt Disney World. One of the many things you can do is check-in online before your vacation. Besides saving you a lot of time, it is also convenient!
Depending on how long the line is at your resort when you arrive, this by itself is helpful. One of the reasons I love it that combined with using Magical Express, all I have to do when I arrive at my hotel is decide what park to hit first!
You don’t have to wait in any line to get your room number, you will be alerted via the app, text message, email, or all three depending on your notification settings once your room is ready. The last thing you want to do after traveling is wait in another line. If you checked in ahead of time, you can start your vacation fun right away!
Not Getting Any Discount
Disney is known to be expensive. This is absolutely true. No one is saying that Disney is a budget trip. However, there are many things you can do to visit Walt Disney World without blowing an exorbitant amount of money. Your hotel costs will be a large portion of your travel budget so don’t ever book a trip without some sort of discount.
Disney almost always has a discount running for different times of the year. Depending on the time of year, the special offer will vary. Whether it is a package deal, free dining, room only discount, or something special for families, you will usually find some type of deal over your vacation.
If you want to stay at a Deluxe Resort, you should consider renting Disney Vacation Club points. It is a great way to stay at a higher end resort at a much more affordable price. I’ve rented points from David’s DVC Rental in the past and they are extremely knowledgeable and helpful!
Not Selecting MagicBands
MagicBands quickly become your favorite accessory for a Disney vacation, next to Mickey ears of course. They are attached to each person’s My Disney Experience. When you stay at a Disney resort you get MagicBands for free! What not everyone realizes is that they can customize their MagicBands before their trip.
Simply go to the MagicBands and cards section of your My Disney Experience and select your trip. You can pick from various colors and each person in your party can choose which they would like. They will be mailed to your house prior to your trip.
If you do not select the MagicBands your entire party will get assigned gray ones and they will be at the front desk when you check-in.
You can buy MagicBands online at Shop Disney if you want one that has a character or movie featured. They have various characters, theme parks, attractions, and more to pick from!
Not Booking ADRs for the Entire Trip
Not booking ADRs when you have a chance is one of the top dining mistakes you can make. You can book Disney dining reservations 180 days out, but when you have a Disney vacation booked you can technically book them “190 days out.”
The quotes are because the first day of your trip has to be at the 180 day mark, but you can book for the entire trip up to 10 days. Make sure you book for the entire trip when you are able.
Also, book in order of difficulty, not sequence. This means, don’t book for day 1 right away, book for the days that have the hardest reservations to get.
Not Booking FastPass+ 60 Days Out
Disney vacations require a lot of planning. Similar to not making dining reservations when you can, not making FastPass reservations when you can is one of the most common mistakes with a Disney World vacation.
One of the reasons you stay on a Disney property resort, is all of the extra perks you get. Be able to make FastPasses 60 days out instead of the standard 30 days. This allows you to have the best chance at getting the FastPasses for some of the hardest rides, like Slinky Dog Dash or Flight of Passage.
Also like the dining reservations, you can book your entire trip at once. Make sure you book the hardest rides first, and try to plan those park days later in your trip to have the best chance of getting them.
Not Using Extra Magic Hours Properly or At All
One of the perks of staying at a Disney resort is the ability to use Extra Magic Hours. Extra Magic Hours allow Disney guests that are staying on property the option to visit the parks before or after the park opens while they are less crowded.
Not all guests are aware they have this advantage. During your trip be sure to check which parks offer this and on which days. This can help you plan what days to visit certain parks.
There is an incorrect way to use the extra magic hours. For example, if you are using the early morning hours, you need to go as early as possible. If you are not going to take full advantage of the extra time, do not go to the park that day.
There are a few more ways to use them correctly. There is a lot to learn about Extra Magic Hours and make the most of them.
Not Researching the Hotel Options
There are over twenty choices of places to stay in Disney. There are a few different levels of where you can stay. There are value resorts, moderate resorts, deluxe resorts, and deluxe villas.
Each of the levels provide different options, and the hotels in those levels also vary between what they offer. Most people assume a hotel is a hotel, but Disney adds much more than a simple place to sleep.
Staying on property keeps you in the “Disney bubble.” It allows you to keep the magic going even after you leave the parks. Each resort has its own theme that you can live in. There are various restaurant options, activities, pools, and much more! This actually leads to one of the next mistakes.
Not Exploring Your Hotel
Some people think a hotel is just somewhere to sleep and rest for the next park day. This is a big mistake. All of the Disney resorts are themed and have a lot to offer more than just a bed.
Plan to spend time at your pool, enjoy meals at the restaurants, or simply wander around the resort. Even just walking around to see all of the different elements that went into the hotel can be exciting.
You’d be surprised how much for your family can have at your home resort. Make sure you take the time to see as much as the resort has to offer!
Not Taking Advantage of Magical Express
Magical Express is Disney’s airline shuttle, but it is more than just that. Magical Express will pick you up at the airport and drop you off, but it also gets your luggage to and from your flight.
Prior to your trip, you will register for Magical Express. You’ll need to let Disney know your flight number for your arrival and departure, as well as the number of people in your party. They will send you information about how to use the system and where to go once you land at MCO.
One of the other things you will receive for your flight there is luggage tags. Disney will pick up your luggage when you land in Orlando and have it delivered to your hotel room. They will also take it the morning of your return to help ease check-in.
You do not have to use the luggage option if you do not want. Simply don’t put the tags on and then pick up your luggage yourself. In fact, if your flight lands between 10pm-5am, you do not have this option. You will have to pick up your luggage at bag claim and it will go under the Magical Express bus.
The mistake people often make with Magical Express is not using it at all or assuming you can just hop on any bus. You have to register in advance for both your arrival and departure. Disney schedules these busses to make multiple stops at various hotels so they need to know how many people will be on the bus so they can fit everyone.
Not Selecting the Correct Area of Your Resort
Disney resorts are large. Some are giant like Saratoga Springs and have an internal bus system that runs through it to get between different area of the resort. Even the value resorts are stretched out form one end to another.
Ever resort has different area you can request to stay in. Before you arrive, you should complete online check-in as we discussed above. One of the things you can do at this time is make room requests. The type of requests depend on your resort and the type of room you paid for.
Some of the requests are things like highest floor, ground floor, near transportation, a specific section of the resort, and many more. You are not guaranteed these selections, but Disney does their best to at least get one of your two requests.
The areas of the resort is going to be the request you should pay the most attention too. Look up a map of your resort prior to your trip so you can see how everything is laid out, but also see where you would like to stay. Remember, if you didn’t pay for a certain type of room like preferred, you cannot stay in a preferred section. Disney will not even give the preferred sections as options for your selection.
Parents with strollers tend to prefer a ground floor for convenience. We prefer a higher floor because it tends to put us away from kids running around if we are trying to sleep. It all depends on your vacation style!
Not Learning All Transportation Options
All Disney resorts provide transportation to the four theme parks, Disney Springs, ESPN Wide World of Sports, and the two water parks. However, not all of theme are just bus trips.
You may have heard of the monorail loop. This refers to Contemporary, Grand Floridian, and Polynesian resorts. They are all connected on the monorail loop to get to Magic Kingdom. There is also a monorail that goes to Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC) and Epcot.
Another form of transportation is the boats. There are boat rides from Magic Kingdom to Polynesian, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, and Fort Wilderness. There are also boats around Epcot that will take you to Beach Club, Yacht Club, Boardwalk Resort, and Swan and Dolphin. Hollywood Studios also has a boat to get to these resorts as well. There is a ferry boat that takes you to and from TTC.
The Epcot resorts around the Boardwalk are also connected by a walkway. You can walk from Epcot to any of these resorts. You can walk to and from Hollywood Studios on this pathway as well.
Other helpful Disney planning posts:
- Freebies at Disney World
- 9 Things To Do Right Before Your Disney Trip
- 11 Rookie Mistakes to Avoid at Disney World
- Everything You Need To Know About Extra Magic Hours
Are you ready to keep planning? Check out everything you need to know before you go when planning for Disney.
3 Comments
PegP
Please note. Using the Disney Magical Express will not guarantee your luggage will be picked up and delivered to your room.
1. Disney doesn’t provide that service to guests arriving from other countries.
2. The service is only available if your flight arrives between 5 am and 10 pm. Outside of those hours, you will need to retrieve your own luggage.
3. They also don’t provide luggage pickup unless you are flying on Alaska, American, Delta (domestic flights only), JetBlue, Southwest, and United
4. Neither the Magical Express nor luggage pickup is provided to guests staying at Shades of Green, or the Swan or Dolphin resorts. The three resorts are on the Walt Disney World property, but aren’t Disney resorts.
Kristen
Thanks so much for all the information! It’s crazy to think of all the research you did for this. One question though if you do the renting of DVC do you still get to use Magical Express for pick up?
Kelly
Yes! You can register online or call them at 866-599-0951 after you book your flights.