Disney Tips – Use a Vacation Planner

by Sarah | Mar 7, 2019 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, DisneyTips, Redefining Perfect, Universal

I haven’t been to Disney hundreds of times (yet. Give me a couple years), but I’ve been my fair share.

I’ve done it with crazy intensity, and in a casual jaunt.

I’ve done Disneyland (finally), and Disney World.

I’ve picked up a few tips along the way.  And while there re blogs across the web, I wanted to hand out my own Disney advice I’ve learned along the way, and tips I’ll be learning as I begin to go more frequently.

This months tip is one I wholeheartedly support – but have never used myself.  So I asked my good friend Liz to come over and guest on my blog as she’s used this tip quite a few times in the past few years.

Use a Disney Vacation Planner.

From here, I’ll let Liz tell it…she’s the expert.

*~*

We consider ourselves Disney World experts at this point. We have had 3 family trips, a secret husband and wife trip, and I’ve just booked a mom and daughter trip. We go to Disney just about every 2 years and fully embrace the magic and fun that comes with a complete Disney vacation. While we talk about a Disney cruise or Adventures by Disney, we just can’t seem to stay away from Disney World.

I never intended to go to Disney World, honestly. I loved Disney movies and characters but had only ever been to Disney World once – my mom took me when I was 5 years old. Fast forward to my adulthood and I went to Disney World for a conference. And I fell in love and knew that I had to bring my family. What I didn’t know was how to make it happen.

Thankfully, a friend had recently shared about becoming an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner. I contacted her and was thrilled to find out that it wasn’t going to be nearly as overwhelming as I had feared. I chose to go the full Disney route – staying “on property” (meaning at a Disney resort), having a Disney Dining Plan (meaning all meals are part of the vacation package expense so it’s all paid for before you get there), and so on.

My planner is Katie Dixon from Hi Ho Vacations. She lives local to me so for that first trip, she actually met with me face to face and walked me through park maps and suggested what to ride first and ways to navigate each park. At the time, I had no idea all the ways that she would prove to be an invaluable asset. Even now, as updates happen and construction is going on and things change, Katie helps me navigate and understand how to book my Fastpasses, how to get the most use out of Fastpasses while in the park, where to request special things or how to find the best seat for fireworks or parades.

Here are just some of the reasons why we always use Katie to book our trips.

She watches for specials and price changes. I usually book a trip 6-9 months in advance. Disney may release specials or discounts after I’ve already booked. If I booked it myself, I’d have to be watching for specials, determine if they apply to my trip, and then contact Disney to have my trip updated. By using Hi Ho Vacations, Katie is monitoring that on my behalf and applies any discounts that come up for me!

And on that price point – using Hi Ho Vacations means that I make payments. I pay $200 to reserve the trip and then I can make payments towards the trip. Payment in full is due 45 days prior to travel. This means we’ve been able to Disney without going into debt. One of the biggest reasons I love our Disney trips is that everything is paid for before we go. The resort, the food, the theme park tickets even the photography – it’s all in the package and paid for. In fact, the only cash I bring along is for table service server tips and “mouse”keeping tips in the room!

Katie has also been a huge help to me when we have been in the midst of our vacation and something isn’t going right. She has been able to change reservations for us or contact someone for help on our behalf. When we learned on our first trip that an 8 p.m. dinner with our little kids was a bad idea, she was able to look at the rest of our itinerary and make suggestions of what to change and then did the work to make the changes. I didn’t have to take any time away from my vacation to handle the problem.

If there were a circumstance where we need special assistance on our trip – maybe I have a kid with sensory issues or I get hurt before my trip and now need a wheelchair and assistance – Katie helps navigate and arrange all the things. And I guarantee you she thinks of things I never would have known about because her Disney knowledge and experience is fantastic.

I’ve also enjoyed the sprinkles of Pixie Dust we get by using Hi Ho Vacations. They take very good care of their customers – either by a surprise “hook up” on a dinner reservation for better seats or maybe a small gift in your room or some other fun bit of magic. Katie always has fun things up her sleeve to make our trip special – even before we get there!

Booking through Hi Ho Vacations also benefits the Make A Wish Foundation for Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana – they donate $10 to Make A Wish for every trip booked through them.

The most important question is – what will it cost me to use a vacation planner? Absolutely nothing! Here’s how I understand it – if I book everything myself, Disney considers themselves the planner and basically pays themselves out of my trip. However, by using an authorized planner, my planner gets paid what Disney would have paid themselves. The commission either goes to Disney or goes to my planner – and I’d rather have someone helping me step by step get that money.

Even as I prepare for my 6^th trip to the parks, I know I need Katie in my back pocket. I’ve been more independent planning this trip – but I feel confident about it because I’m asking Katie questions and getting her advice as I go!

*~*

Soon as I read this post, I told Liz I wanted to book a trip NOW!  I love the idea of the usual stresses being handled by an expert so that I have to do nothing but enjoy my trip along the way.  I also, as a former Wish family, love that Hi Ho Vacations donates to Make A Wish for every trip booked!!

After this – what do you think?  Would you use a planner? 

Here is the information for Liz’s All-Star Vacation planner, Katie:

Katie Dixon
317-374-2849
Katie@hihovacations.com
http://www.hihovacations.com/

Disney Tips – Go to an Event

by Sarah | Feb 7, 2019 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, DisneyTips, Redefining Perfect, Universal

I haven’t been to Disney hundreds of times (yet. Give me a couple years), but I’ve been my fair share.

I’ve done it with crazy intensity, and in a casual jaunt.

I’ve done Disneyland (finally), and Disney World.

I’ve picked up a few tips along the way.  And while there re blogs across the web, I wanted to hand out my own Disney advice I’ve learned along the way, and tips I’ll be learning as I begin to go more frequently.

This months tip is one I picked up thanks to a coworker.

It’s only prevalent if you’re only planning to go for one day.

Go to an event – an after-hours event or one of the parties!!

Did you know that Disney offers such things as Disney After Hours at Magic Kingdom (and Hollywood Studios and now a new one at Animal Kingdom)??

These special ticketed events give you access to the park after hours when the crowds are gone – but as a special bonus, you can actually enter the park as early as 7PM before the park closes!  Not as many rides/shows will be open for the after hours events – but the crowds will be lighter and it’s a great way to hit rides that usually have large lines…and do it at around the same price as a one day ticket! Also, they have treats available for free! This includes, popcorn, ice cream treats (the ever popular Mickey Bar is included!) and certain beverages.

You can start your day in Disney Springs (which is free to enter and wander around. Has great stores and restaurants, plus the opportunity to ride the car-boats!), and then head to the parks at 7PM to get your Disney on!

When it comes to the parties, Disney always does it right.  From September through right before Christmas every year Disney runs their two big parties.  The Not-So-Scary-Halloween Party starts in September and turns into the Very Merry Christmas Party at the beginning of November until December 21st(ish). These parties start earlier in the evening, and with your purchased tickets you can usually enter the park around 4PM to get your ears on before the party officially starts (you’ll be given a special wrist band to show you belong).  Once again, this is a special ticketed event and though they are generally a lot more crowded than the after hours parties – most people are rushing around to trick or treat or see the special parades so the rides aren’t as busy. With fewer crowds taking up the lines you can get more rides ridden all while seeing the park decorated for the holidays.

If you’ve got a whole long vacation in Florida planned, but only ONE day for Disney – I have to say I think this is the RIGHT way to do it.  My coworker/friend did this last year during the NSSHP and raved over how it went.  She and her friends hung out in Disney Springs during the day, then headed over the park and had so much fun. They were able to get in a lot of rides and loved seeing the park decorated for Halloween.

Honestly, if you’re going for multiple days, this doesn’t make as much sense cost-wise because you’re paying extra for a ticket instead of folding it into your multi-day discounts…but if you only have ONE DAY…do it right. Pick up a party or an after hours even night and get more done!!

*~*~*~*~*

For more reference on what’s involved in an after hours Party, here’s a couple of posts from some of my favorite Disney Blogs about the After Hours Parties:

Animal Kingdom After Hours via Disney Tourist Blog

Hollywood Studios After Hours via KennythePirate.com

Magic Kingdom After Hours via wdwinfo,com

Disney Tips – Don’t Overschedule

by Sarah | Jan 17, 2019 | All About Family, All of Us, Blogging Life, Disney, DisneyTips, Redefining Perfect, Universal

I haven’t been to Disney hundreds of times (yet. Give me a couple years), but I’ve been my fair share.

I’ve done it with crazy intensity, and in a casual jaunt.

I’ve done Disneyland (finally), and Disney World.

I’ve picked up a few tips along the way.  And while there re blogs across the web, I wanted to hand out my own Disney advice I’ve learned along the way, and tips I’ll be learning as I begin to go more frequently.

My first tip is – Don’t Overschedule.

There is a LOT to do at Disney. So much, you could go every day of the year and not get it all done.

Once more for the people in the back…

You cannot get everything done at Disney in one trip.

Seriously.

My BEST trips have been when we didn’t have a ton of stuff planned. We had vague ideas of what we wanted to see, key points we wanted to hit…but there wasn’t “THE LIST” or reservations or anything like that.

Do your research, sure.

Make A reservation (maybe 2) of places you really want to eat.  Don’t scatter your trip with reservations every day that you have to make it to by a certain time because there are so many variables like wait times and travel time and crowd levels and potty breaks. Though there’s flexibility in your arrival times…it’s still undue pressure you don’t need.

There are so many places at Disney that are counter service and don’t require a reservation and many of them are GOOD (and many also now offer mobile pickup, which we’ll cover another time because YAY).  They’re scattered along your route in the park and easy to drop in, grab and get back on the route.

This is MOST key, I think, if this is your first ever trip – ESPECIALLY on your first ever trip with your kids.

Be flexible. Be open.  On your research, take note of the restaurants in the areas you plan to be in so you don’t get a bad one (we did our first trip. We still joke about the awfulness…yes, it does happen).

OR…don’t plan.

AT.ALL.

Our first trip with the kids I had vague notes of things I really wanted us to hit, but otherwise it was a free-for-all.  The good (and bad) parts of the trip are still ALL good memories. We joke about the bad food, we joke about the painful seats on Molly’s first roller coaster (in an area we had NO designs on going in originally).  Nothing we did on that trip was planned.  It was amazeballs (and not just because of the Genie pass).

Year 2 was still great…but much more stressful because we had PLANS.  We spent 7 months researching and planning and making meal reservations (only 1 of which was worth it…and it wasn’t a character dining…and they were all $$$)…and I was so stressed about “having” to be here or there that I didn’t have as much…FUN.

I experienced the same thing when we went last year with actual passes. The first time we went, hubby and I were able to just take things casual. We spent a lot of time at our resort pool. When the power went out, we headed to the boardwalk for ice cream.  Our days in the park were cool and casual, very little ‘planned’ along the way.  Unfortunately, later that same year when I took the girls my son decided he had to schedule us fast passes for everything under the sun which led to a lot of flurry of activity that was stressful, especially in the high crowds of Christmas week.

I don’t make this tip lightly, I promise.  I come from a long line of planners. My dad loves to plan out vacations to the minute.  I was super excited for that second Disney year because Denver and I had planned so much…but the planning robs the spontaneity and fun out of Disney.

Definitely, do your research. Think hard about how long you’re going and the crowd predictions and think about your “must-do’s”. Make some general plans…what park(s) what day…what key things to hit. Make a reservation or two (I’ve got some suggestions in later posts)…sketch out days lightly, don’t set them in stone with Sharpie’s…

Because at Disney – the fun is in the spontaneous and unpredictable.

Let yourself get pulled off course – that is where the fun is.