I have reached the final of the four parks, Disney's Animal Kingdom. I still remember seeing commercials and information about the park as it was being built and the opening on the Disney World Very Merry Christmas parade back in 1998. Animal Kingdom is themed around animal conservation and is divided into 7 themed areas: Oasis, Discovery Island, Africa, Asia, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Dinoland USA. It will eventually be 8 as Disney is currently working on Avatar land to create Pandora (an opening date has not yet been announced).
Once you enter the park you enter into the Oasis which includes some animal habitats as you make your way into the park you will see the park's centrepiece the Tree of Life(a 50ft tree with 325 animals carved in it's trunk) in Discovery Island. Discovery Island is the park's central hub which connects almost every other section of the park. You will also find the main gift shops as well as the 3D show It's Tough to be a Bug. I have never gone on this as there is spiders during the show (granted they are cartoon ones, but I am a major arachnophobe). I am told it is incredibly well themed though. Whenever I go to Animal Kingdom I always make sure to go to Pizzafari in Discovery Island and buy an order of their delicious breadsticks! They are super tasty and a great mid day snack :) And when you are walking towards Africa keep your eyes open for Devine! She blends in as she is completely covered in leaves and stands completely still and only periodically moved, very cool!
If you start making your way around the park from the right you will enter into Dinoland USA. This section is great for any children who may love dinosaurs. There is a dig site where they can find fossils. The area's main attraction is the ride Dinosaur. The story is that you are going back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. Be warned the ending is VERY loud. Personally I find the ride too rough and loud. But it is worth a try because the theming is great :) I do think this area was meant to have more than it does as there is an area with some more midway style attractions not usual to the usual Disney grandeur. There is now a Finding Nemo musical at the end of this section which is a great show and perfect for an escape from the outdoor heat.
From Dinoland you will cross a bridge that will take you into Asia and the first thing you will see is Animal Kingdom's best ride, Expedition Everest! This is a very well themed roller coaster. Just the queue is very well themed and you can see the work Disney put into the immersion of this ride. As you walk through you will see actual articles the Disney imagineers brought back from Nepal where they went to do all of their research for the ride. In this ride you are on a train tour of Mount Everest when you suddenly come to a dead end where the tracks have been torn up. The coaster will then propel backwards through a dark area coming to a stop when you see a projection of the Yeti's shadow ripping up the tracks. Suddenly the train goes forward exiting the mountain and taking a drop on a high speed ride. You will at one point enter the mountain again where your train will go under a giant animatronic Yeti. This is an absolute must do! Also in this section there are several animal trails where you will see various animals you would find in Asia including Bengal Tigers! Also found in Asia is Kali River Rapids, one of the other major attractions in the park. It is a raft ride that can be great on a hot day, because be warned you may get SOAKED. If you are looking for a good quick service place to eat and enjoy Asian food I would recommend Yak & Yeti. This is my husbands favorite place to eat in Animal Kingdom.
Exiting Asia you will then enter into Africa. Make sure you don't miss Kilimanjaro Safari's, the area's main attraction. You are taken through a savanna where you will see animals such as antelope, elephants, giraffes, Lions, cheetahs, gazelles and many more. Another absolute must do! And it is great because you never know where the animals will be or what the will be doing. Once you exit this ride you will also find another animal trail. Located in Africa is a train that will take you to Rafiki's Planet Watch. I actually didn't even know this section was there on my first couple of trips as it is kind of hidden and only accessible by the train. There isn't a lot over there and it is mainly a petting zoo. In Africa you will also find one of Disney's best character buffets at Tusker House. If you can only do one character meal I highly recommend Donald's Safari Breakfast here as it is fantastic! As will all character meals the characters (Mickey, Goofy and Daisy) will go to all the tables. This is by far my favorite character breakfast!
It is currently closed as it is being relocated (I am not sure where as of yet), but if it has reopened when you visit make sure to go see the Festival of the Lion King! This is a fantastic show! It was located in Camp Minnie Mickey but this area is being removed to make way for Avatar Land. It is great to see a themed land going in here as Camp Minnie Mickey was only meant to be temporary. The original plan for the park had this section as a land called Beastly Kingdom. It never came to be due to budget constraints unfortunately. The park was originally supposed to include 3 types of animals: Ones that used to exist, currently exist and mythical animals such as dragons and unicorns. I am actually disappointed this never came to be as from what I have read this area sounds amazing! There was going to be a castle built around a roller coaster with a bad side housing a fire breathing dragon at the end and a good side being the home of a unicorn. When Disney didn't end up building this it was actually bought by Universal for Islands of Adventure and was called Dueling Dragons (although it was not as well themed and did not include a fire breathing dragon). Universal's is still a great ride and has now actually been re themed and renamed Dragon Challenge as part of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. It is two coasters intertwined one being fire and one being ice. I think it is very unfortunate though that Disney did not end up building this and it went to Universal as it is a great coaster!
It has been a lot of fun doing this 4 part post and I hope it has been informative and helpful :) This will be my last post for probably at least 9 days as tomorrow I am leaving for California and Las Vegas until May 4th! I am of course going to be visiting Disneyland, so when I return expect some trip reports and articles on my visit there :)
Hollywood Studios opened in 1989 and was originally called MGM studios. I originally knew this park as MGM and it took me years to get used to calling it Hollywood Studios! The park name change took place in 2008. The original plan for this park was for it to be a working studio for movies and tv shows. This is no longer the case. All Disney parks have a theme in which they follow and of course for Hollywood Studios that is show business.
The layout for Hollywood Studios is not the traditional park layout. Originally before all the expansions adding additional sections and "streets" the park upside down resembled a Mickey Mouse head. Personally I am not a huge fan of the current layout to the park because it does not have a good flow. There are some areas that lead to a dead end and some streets that could be completely missed if you are not paying attention. This isn't really a major concern though as I still love the park.
Hollywood Studios is divided into 6 themed areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Animation Courtyard, Sunset Boulevard, Pixar Place and Streets of America. Hollywood Boulevard is the main entrance to the park and the street leading you into the park which of course is lined with shops leading you to the parks centerpiece the Sorcerer's hat. This main street is also used for the Disney's Block Party Bash Parade.
Once you find your way to the end of the street to the right you will find Sunset Boulevard. This would be a dead end street so it does require some back tracking to move on to other areas. The street is mainly shops. Once you reach the end you will find Disney's Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rock n Roller coaster. These are must do's and my 2 favorite rides!! You will see Tower of Terror as you are walking down Sunset Boulevard. It is incredibly well themed to appear abandoned with overgrown gardens, cobwebs and cracks in the building. Once you make your way through the queue and pre-show you load into an elevator which takes you through some sequences before you enter the final elevator shaft for the drop. The Disney World version is unique as instead of it being a set drop sequence every ride (you do not drop once, there is lifts and drops), in WDW it is completely randomized so every time you ride it is different! You could even start out being shot upwards! To the left of Tower of Terror is Rock n Roller coaster. This is an indoor roller coaster that will play a random Aerosmith song during the ride. The story is that you are in a "super stretch" limo in a rush to get through traffic to get to a concert. The ride is in the dark except for the Neon signs you see along the way. At the start you are shot from 0 to 60 MPH in 2.8 seconds and then goes into an inversion! I also recommend the Beauty and the Beast stage show located in this area. It is a wonderful show with some amazing acting. The last show I watched the actress who played Belle sounded exactly like in the movie! Adults and children would love this show.
After you have backtracked back to the center if you continue along the right you will enter into the Animation Courtyard. Here you will find a Little Mermaid show and some Playhouse Disney shows for the younger kids. A lot of people don't know that if you actually continue straight back you will enter the Magic of Animation building where you can get a unique and free souvenir! You are taught how to draw a random Disney character and you get to keep it in the end. Continuing past the Little Mermaid you will enter into Pixar Place. Currently the only attraction in this section is Toy Story Midway Mania. This is a very popular attraction so a fast pass is a must! Unless of course you want to wait in line for 60-90 minutes. The ride takes you through a track where you wear 3D glasses and play various midway games building up a score against the other person in your vehicle.
Next we move on to the back of the park for the streets of America. This section has a street which is themed to look like New york while a side street to look like San Francisco. At the very back you will find Lights, Motor, Action an extreme car stunt show. At the beginning of this section is Muppets 3D. You will also find a great little quick service food choice in this section, Pizza Planet. Of course themed after Toy Story. If you are visiting late November or December make sure you go to this area around 6pm to experience the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. This is an incredible sight! The entire street is lit up with over 5 million lights which will periodically "dance" to Christmas music while it "snows" on the street! This is an absolute must see!!
And finally we move onto Echo Lake. If you are entering from Streets of America you will first see Star Tours. This is a 3D motion simulator, which also is random with several different scenes you could end up with. In every ride someone is randomly picked as the "rebel spy", which worked out perfectly to be my little brother the first time we took him on Star Tours! I have also been chosen a couple of times, so it's not impossible to get! Rumor has it that this area will eventually be expanded and developed into Star Wars Land (oh how I hope this is true!) while the Streets of America will eventually become Cars Land. A great experience for young kids in this area is also the Jedi Training academy! You will need to arrive for park opening to sign up as it does fill up quickly for the day. We managed to snag one of the last spots for my brother last May and I am so glad we did as this ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for him! He got to fight Darth Maul (you could also fight Darth Vader) and at the end received a certificate. The other big attraction in this section is the Indiana Jones Stunt show. This has been in the park for a very long time and once again if your watched the Full House episode where they visit Disney World, this is the show with the giant boulder when DJ thinks she sees Steve. I highly recommend the funnel cake you are able to buy near the Indiana Jones stunt show as well. They are delicious!!! And if you happen to be on the dining plan, you are able to use a snack credit for one (this seems to be one of the most expensive options you are able to use a snack credit for).
When you visit Hollywood Studios please make sure you stick around until the end of the night and make your way back down Sunset boulevard by Tower of Terror to see the night time show Fantasmic! This is a stage show with video projected on water effects mixed with lasers and some fireworks. I honestly cannot stress enough the injustice you are doing to yourself if you skip this! It is absolutely an amazing show and cannot be accurately described. I would recommend arriving at least 45 mins prior or if you can book it with your Fast Pass+ reservations. This is an absolute must do!
If you are a Star Wars fan you may want to visit in late May to experience Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. This takes place every year on weekends in late May and early June (June gets very hot). I have had the pleasure of attending twice and I loved it! You will not have time to do everything as there are lots of shows, character meet and greets, special merchandise locations, celebrity meet and greets. You will find normal Star Wars characters as well as Disney characters dressed up as Star Wars characters like Jedi Mickey! Make sure you catch the parade in the afternoon, there is only one so made sure you check the times! If you are a Star Wars fan this is a must and one of the other reasons Hollywood Studios is one of my favorite parks!
I have decided that I will go in the order of the parks opening date for my 4 part blog entry about the Disney parks. So that means next is Epcot, which opened in 1982. A lot of people think they would not enjoy Epcot and that children would not enjoy Epcot. While I will admit if I had to choose one park to skip it would likely be Epcot (although that is unlikely to ever happen lol). But Epcot is actually a very enjoyable park for both adults and children.
Epcot is a park in which it's focus is technology, as Walt had wanted it to be a futuristic city. This of course did not happen and the park was built long after Walt's death. Instead it was built as a park that focuses on learning and technology. The name Epcot stands for Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow, and if you are in Magic Kingdom and ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority you will actually see a model of Walt's original idea.
If you are in the park you will find that it is broken into 2 sections; Future World and World Showcase. The parks main entrance brings you into Future World and there are a variety of pavilions which focus on innovation and science. Some of the attractions center around learning while still being enjoyable. For example, Spaceship Earth is located in the Epcot ball and takes you through time showing how communication was developed in history.
There are three major rides in Epcot; Mission Space, Soarin and Test Track. Soarin generally has some of the longest waits so you will want to get a fast pass for this ride to save yourself some time. Soarin was brought over from the California Park and is a motion simulator that makes it appear as if you are in a glider flying over various parts of California. Also located by the building Soarin is located in you will find The Seas With Nemo and Friends. This building houses the Finding Nemo dark ride (great for kids), and a massive saltwater aquarium with various types of salt water fish. If you have ever watched the show Full House and remember the episode where they visit Disney World, this tank would be the one in which Jesse and Joey were broadcasting their radio show and the Coral Reef restaurant also in this building is where Danny was having Dinner with Vicki.
Now we move to the opposite end of Future World for Mission Space and Test Track. Mission Space can be an incredibly intense ride. When you enter you can chose 2 options the green version or the orange version. I prefer the green since it is milder. I have done orange once and it was too intense for me, although my 11 year old brother and my husband love it! When we took my brother back in May of 2013 he rode the orange version back to back several times! No matter which version you choose the story of the ride is the same. The only difference is in the orange version you are put in a centrifuge (where you are spinning) with very high G-Force being used. In Mission Space the story is that you are training as an astronaut on a Mission to Mars. In the orange version it puts you closer to what an astronaut would experience from the G-Force of the Mission to Space.
And finally located next to Mission Space is Test Track. I absolutely love this ride! It is by far my favorite ride in Epcot and is a lot of fun. This ride was recently changed with a completely new Tron like overlay. I have seen mixed reviews between the old and new version but I personally prefer the new version. Before the ride you enter into a room where you are given a card to design your own vehicle. Before you board your vehicle afterwards you scan it and as you are going through the various "road tests" that would be involved with testing a vehicle screens tell you how your car hold up. The best part of this ride is at the end when you end up outside on a track doing a lap reaching speeds of 65 MPH (I would take off those mouse ears because you may lose them lol). The ride is not intense but just a lot of fun!
Let's now move over to World Showcase. There is actually a second entrance which is rarely used (and this is the only park with 2 entrances) that will bring you into World Showcase. Otherwise, you can just walk over from either one end or the other. World Showcase surrounds the World Showcase Lagoon and includes 11 pavilions: Canada, United Kingdom, France, Morocco, Japan, American Adventure, Italy, Germany, China, Norway and Mexico. World Showcase is certainly more adult themed and each pavilion is meant to look like that country. Disney even pays so much attention to detail here that every worker in each pavilion is actually from that country!
Each pavilion with have a shop that sells merchandise relevant to that country, has restaurants with local cuisine. The buildings are meant to look like landmarks for that country (ie The Eiffel Tower for France, St. Mark's Square and Gondola's for Italy). There is various performers and shows within the pavilions. You will not find many rides in this part of the park. There is a dark ride located in the Mexico pavilion as while as one in the Norway pavilion.
The major draws for World showcase for adults is drinking around the world and the various restaurant choices. One of my favorite character breakfasts is Akershus in Norway. This is a great dinner with the princesses and an excellent alternative to a breakfast in Cinderella's Castle (and in my opinion has better food) as it feels like you are inside a castle! When you enter you will find Belle in her yellow dress to greet guests for a photo opportunity (and the photo is included with your meal!). While you enjoy your breakfast the princesses (usually Ariel, Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White) will make their way from table to table. It can be a little more pricey than some of they other character breakfasts, but it is a fantastic experience for little girls (or us adults who still get all giddy over the princesses) and a great way to avoid the long meet and greet lines in the parks!
One of Epcot's fanciest restaurants is a steakhouse in the Canada Pavilion called Le Cellier, It is not my tastes as it is a steakhouse (but I am a very picky eater), but people love it! We did eat here once and I must say the inside was very nice with the seating is broken off into each Canadian province (oddly enough we were seated in the New Brunswick section). Now speaking of food, one of the big draws for me is the quick service restaurant Yorkshire County Fish Shop. They sell the best french fries I have ever eaten in my entire life!! I personally do not like fish, but my husband does love their fish as well. It is our favorite place in the park and a must do for us every trip! They great part is it's less than $10 per person for a very filling and tasty meal here!
At the end of the evening make sure you stay to watch Illuminations Reflections of Earth. This is the parks fireworks show which also includes lasers and fountains going along to a soundtrack for the show. This show has an amazing finally during the holiday season late in the year as well.
I hope this gives some information for anyone who is not sure if they want to make a visit to Epcot or not. Also keep in mind early in the year you will find Epcot's Flower & Garden festival when the park is filled with some beautiful flower displays. And late in the year is Epcot's Food & Wine festival, where they will bring in more food and alcohol from around the world!
Most people don't know just how large the Walt Disney World Resort really is. When many people think of Disney they think it's either just Magic Kingdom or that it's a few parks close together with some hotels...This is not the case at all. Disney World is actually 42,000 acres of land (just to give you an idea that is twice the size of Manhattan and the size of San Francisco!). And of this mass amount of land only 35% of that has actually been developed on. So if you are going with a plan of walking from park to park think again. Also do not expect to see and do everything in one trip because it's not going to happen! Everything is spread out very well with roads to get from place to place, it is like it's own little town. And when you are inside the parks you will not see a lot of the outside world (especially within Magic Kingdom as this is how Walt intended it).
Within this area Disney is actually 4 theme parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom), two water parks (Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon), Downtown Disney (shopping and various restaurants), Disney's Boardwalk, ESPN's Wide World of Sports, Walt DIsney World Speedway (Richard Petty Driving Experience), five golf courses (including a PGA golf course) and 2 mini golf courses (Winter Summerland and Fantasia Gardens). There is also 24 Disney owned resorts (yes that's right 24!) broken into four categories: Deluxe, Moderate, Value, and Disney Vacation Club Villas. As well as 9 non owned Disney resorts. So it really isn't a small world after all!
If you are within one of the many gates that enter these 42,000 acres of land, then you are in Disney World. I am going to only focus on the theme parks, since those are the most important. I started out this post planning on including them all in one but realized this would be better broken into 4 parts. Picking a favorite park is really difficult because they are all great for their own reasons. If I really had to pick one I would probably pick Magic Kingdom only because when you think of Disney World it is the first place you think of and has all of that classic "Disney" nostalgia and of course the castle!
Magic Kingdom:
Since Magic Kingdom is the first place everyone thinks of and is the first built Disney World park, I figured this would be the best place to start. Magic Kingdom opened back in 1971 and is the park Walt was planning before his death (unfortunately he died in 1967 so he never actually saw it finished). When Walt developed the plans for Magic Kingdom he meant it to be larger and improved version of the Disneyland Park in California.
Magic Kingdom is made up of 6 "lands" which are all arranged around a central hub. You will enter the park onto Main Street USA which is made up of Disney shops. One of my favorite restaurants is also located in this area, Tony's Town Square which is themed to Lady and The Tramp and is meant to be the inside of the restaurant in the film which the famous spaghetti scene takes place outside of. Main Street leads you to the main "hub" and Cinderella Castle. Of course, Cinderella Castle is just beautiful! I still remember the first time I saw the castle and it was love at first sight! At this point the park has a hub and spoke design where it breaks off to the different lands.
To the left you can head off to Adventureland, which is where you will find the classic rides the Jungle Cruise and Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates of the Caribbean is one of my favorite rides in the Magic Kingdom! It is very well themed so that it feels like you are actually in a boat outside at night in the Caribbean. The ride was actually what the movies were created from. On the left you can also enter Liberty Square, the main attraction in this section being Haunted Mansion, which has some amazing technology for it's time or even today (especially the ballroom scene).
Once you get through either of these lands you will also find Frontierland. Frontierland is the home of 2 of the 3 "Disney Mountains", Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This area is also where I have found a great little "quick service" restaurant called Peco's Bill's, which is always a must every trip for us!
Behind the Castle you will enter Fantasyland, which was recently expanded. Within Fantasyland you will find a lot of the classic Disney rides such as the Carousel, It's a Small World (my least favorite ride lol!) and Peter Pan's flight to name a few. Also located in Fantasyland is one of my favorite attractions Mickey's Philharmagic (a phenomenal 3D show). Fantasyland was also recently expanded to include Story Time with Belle within Belle's cottage. Next to that you will find Be Our Guest restaurant which is beautifully themed as if it is inside the Beast's castle with the main dining area looking just like you are in the main ball room! And of course there is a part of town complete with Gaston's Tavern! Walking past there is Eric's castle with The Journey of the Little Mermaid located inside. As well as the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train expected to be completed within the next month. Part of Fantasyland is also the newly built Storybook Circus area, which is where Dumbo is now located.
Tomorrowland is the final land located to the right of the hub. This land has a futuristic theme. Here you will find many great attractions such as Monster's Inc Laugh Floor (a comedy show which is always different and surprisingly funny), Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, The Tomorrowland Speedway and of course the third Magic Kingdom Mountain Space Mountain (an indoor dark space themed roller coaster).
Magic Kingdom also has 2 parades daily. The first being the Festival of Fantasy Parade which takes place in the afternoon and the Main Street Electrical Parade in the evening. You should make sure to stay to watch Magic Kingdom's fireworks show Wishes at the end of the night! Wishes is an absolute must see and no Disney trip is complete without it :) It is such an amazing show! What I recommend doing is finding a spot on Main Street or near the castle to watch the night time parade. After a short break after the parade there will be a really neat projection show on the castle called Celebrate the Magic, which is followed by Wishes!
I have noticed that when people think of Disney World they instantly start seeing dollar signs. People assume it is something that is out of reach and completely unaffordable. Taking a vacation to Disney World is actually a lot more affordable than some may think. There are many options available to fit pretty much any budget. In my last post I wrote about how I make Disney affordable for our frequent vacations, so I figured now I will do a post for one off vacations. I am also going to keep it to the major trip expenses for this post.
Let's start with airfare...since this is where your trip will start. As I have mentioned before I live in Canada so flights are extremely expensive. For those who live near me on the east coast, drive to Portland for your best deal on flights. If you drive to Portland you can fly for approx $250 round trip per person through Jet Blue or Southwest airlines. These airlines also do not have any baggage fees and fly into Orlando International airport. I always drive down the night before my flight and book a park n fly package at the Howard Johnson or Double Tree in Portland. You can book these for an average of $80-$150 for the night. You would pay $12/day for parking at the airport so instead that can pay for the hotel the night before and you can catch a morning flight to Florida. I like to catch the 6am flight because then I arrive in Orlando by 11am and this gives me an entire day on my vacation!
The biggest decision you will need to make for your vacation is where to stay! This can be a huge choice and all of the available options can be very overwhelming. When asked I will almost always recommend staying on site at a Disney resort. Even if the cost is a little more it is completely worth it just for the convenience and experience! If you are on a budget you can generally get a room at a Disney value resort for approx $100-$120/night. If you plan on spending any significant amount of time at the Disney parks you will save money in the long run. By staying on site you get free transportation to and from Orlando International airport. As well as free transportation all around the Walt Disney World resort to all of the Disney parks, water parks, Downtown Disney, etc. In the long run this will normally work out to be cheaper than staying off site by the time you factor in a car rental for the week and parking at the theme parks ($17/day). Plus you will get all of the Disney perks and just the overall full Disney experience, and there is honestly nothing like staying on site. Disney also almost always has some sort of promotion such as 15-30% off the room rates or free dining. If you are taking children it will also be a better experience for them staying on site and they will LOVE the theming of the value resorts!
Now there are times that I will recommend staying off site. If you are only planning on visiting one or two of the Disney parks you will be much better off staying off site. Also if you are traveling with a large group of people (more than 4), you are likely going to spend less by staying in a large unit or renting a house off Disney property. On occasion I do choose to stay off site (although I still prefer on site), just for a variety. There are a lot of options available near the theme parks at affordable prices as well. If you are traveling with a large group your best option is going to be renting a house. I have seen options available for about $400-$700/week for a large house or townhouse. There is also many resorts in the Orlando area that often have pricing available for less than $500 for a week in a 1-2 bedroom unit if you just search online. One of the cheapest is Wyndham certificates. You need to get a code and then buy a certificate for about $180 - $250 for a week at a Wyndham resort. Keep in mind as mentioned earlier staying off site does add many other expenses such as car rental and parking at the theme parks. One advantage is you will normally have a kitchen and you can save some money on buying groceries and cooking your meals (unless you get a free dining package).
Now onto park tickets. If you stay onsite and book a package with free dining you need to buy your tickets through Disney with your package. With any other option you can buy your tickets wherever you want. You will not find any deals for anything less than a 3 day ticket. So if you are only looking to do 1-2 days you are looking at $99 for a one day base ticket or $190 for a 2 day base ticket. After 3 days the cost to add an extra day just $10 more per day. For example, a 4 day base ticket will cost you $294 but the cost for a 5 day ticket is only $304....$10 more just for one extra day. So you may pay $190 for just 2 days yet can get a 7 day base ticket for $324 (obviously a much better value as it is only $46/day). Now these are all Disney's non discounted prices. There are ways to purchase discounted tickets for 3 days or more. One option is CAA (although I have never used them for my tickets). My preference is a website called Undercover Tourist. They offer the cheapest price I have been able to find for Disney and Universal tickets and they will ship them to your home for free. The price shown on their website also includes taxes! I have used this website many times with no complaints. I have always received my tickets quickly and have never had any issues. So this is my recommendation.
When you are on vacation you will need to eat. If you want to eat at a restaurant every night the cost is going to add up quickly as Disney's table service restaurants are expensive. I do recommend splurging on a character breakfast if you can fit it in your budget. It is worth every penny since the characters come to you! If you can only pick one, I recommend Donald's Safari Breakfast at Disney's Animal Kingdom. The Disney dining plan can also be a great deal depending on your budget and what you plan to spend. The cost for this varies based on what season you are visiting and there are several tiers for the plan. There are many "quick service" locations in the parks where you can get meals for about $10 per person. If you are staying off site obviously the cheapest option will be buying groceries at the local Wal-mart and making your meals. Great news is that food in the United States is cheap! If you do happen to eat at a quick service location keep an eye on your receipts because sometimes Disney will have coupons at the bottom for 10-20% off merchandise at the main gift shop for each perk in a certain time frame!
As you can see there are many options available and these are only a few! A trip to Disney may be much more affordable than you think :)
