Have a question about planning a trip to Disney or something you’ve read here? Hopefully this blog can help! We’ve visited every Disney resort around the world, from Walt Disney World to Tokyo Disneyland, have stayed in nearly every Disney-owned hotel in the world, and have dined at the majority of Disney restaurants.
Presumably, most of you coming to this site are here for Walt Disney World or Disneyland trip planning advice. Common questions you have can probably be answered by posts we already have written that pertain to these topics and contain links to most critical vacation planning info.
If you’re trying to plan a Walt Disney World trip, visit our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide. If planning a Disneyland trip, check out our Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. If you look on the right-hand sidebar, you’ll also find links to other key planning-related posts.
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Thanks,
Tom Bricker
Tom, we haven’t been to WDW since they started offering the Stainless steel refillable mugs. We are going for Christmas (fingers crossed all goes well) and I wanted to know if you had an updated list of which resorts might have which cups. It would be nice to reduce the number of plastic mugs in our cabinets
HI Tom,
I am refinishing a set for my Norwegian neighbor, I have the table left to do and Britta said the family learned a Norwgian Prayer (dinner I think) could you tell me how it is done in Norwegian and English please. I want to paint it on the table for them. The set was made by their grandfather. Thank you.
Jean Wickstrom Bauer
Goodman WI
I realized I hadn’t been seeing the catchy subject lines in my inbox…for some reason I stopped receiving the emails. I’m all signed up again so I can continue to see your cheeky posts and puns! (With of course very important content!)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi Tom, I have a trip in the beginning of February and have the park hopper option added. I was hoping this would come back as a way for us to attempt to ride, Resistance but do not want to be locked into Hollywood Studios until 2pm every day. Do you think that if I have a reservation for HS and attempt to get pass for Resistance at 7am and I am not successful they will allow me to switch my 1st park for the day (provided there was still reservations available for that park). So if I have no luck with Resistance on Monday, I can switch to AK for the 1st park on that day instead of going to HS for nothing until 2pm. Or do you think they will not allow you to switch your 1st park on the day of? Thank you.
CAN WE HAVE MORE INFO CONCERNING EPCOT. WHAT’S OPEN ? THANKS
Is there a post on what all needs a reservation at Disney World and other parks (but mostly Disney World)? I haven’t found one yet, so I thought I’d ask here. If not, that would be a great one Tom! Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (temporarily unavailable), Black Spire Outpost and Savi’s Workshop are three that come to mind pretty quickly, but what else is there? Also, are there any changes with the closures and re-openings due to COVID?
Thanks!
Hello Tom,
I enjoy reading your blog everyday. Do you know if you can park at the Contemporary Hotel and walk into the Magic Kingdom? I have a party of 15 and I am considering renting cars if I can avoid the monorail all together. I arrive on December 17th and I am staying for five nights. I know the crowd is really going to be getting big during this time and just trying to avoid transportation nightmares.
Dana
I can tell you that the Contemporary IS walking distance to the Kingdom. We did it with a family of 10 a few years ago, Each car will pay their own parking. No longer free parking at the resort. Be blessed on the trip for GREAT Memories!!!.
Cindy
you cannot park at the Contemporary if you are not staying the night. I missed that in my earlier post. It is not clear if you are staying at a Disney resort or not. Enjoy the vacation!!!
Tom, even if I keep the box checked below to notify me of of new posts or responses to my post I do not get an email notification, can you please tell me how to fix this? But if you reply here I won’t get the answer…lol so you would have to email me, please and thank you. I have tried to figure it out and can’t. I used to at one time.
HI, Tom! I read you daily faithfully and love your tips. I also second your opinion that the Muppets deserve much more attention than they ever muster, LOL.
Now that you’re branching out a bit more to UO, any info on Grinchmas, vibe at UO for the holidays, and Mardi Gras over there? I liked reading about HHN, too.
Also, any intel on the future of DVC Reflections, if it’s permanently scrapped or just pushed off for the next bull economy? You think they’ll stay at that site as a new property? Skyliner expansion hopes and dreams? Any idea if DVC will take away the resale restrictions for Riviera since the economy is flagging and it’s their only new property to sell? I’m curious if/where/when any new DVC properties would be sold. As you’ve said, all the on-site areas are built already, unless they were to do a Poly tower addition maybe? I read somewhere they had floated balloons to check out the site lines of a DVC building but decided to go with the current style DVC buildings to not obstruct the eyeliner over there.
You think there’s any hopes for Harmonious to debut by December, or no way, saving for 2021 crowds?
Keep up the good work, and I even really enjoyed your informative posts about riding out the hurricanes on site! I know you didn’t WANT to do it, but it was interesting to read a firsthand account when it happened.
We arrived at WDW on Oct. 11 from Michigan and departed on the 17th. Your blog was a great resource in planning our trip. The updated for COVID itineraries were the most helpful. When we arrived around 1:00 our rooms weren’t ready so we went straight to the the Magic Kingdom. We started at the mid-day part of your suggested itinerary and rode everything we aimed for. The waits times were inflated except for Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. Those two were pretty accurate at right around 60 minutes. The next day was again Magic Kingdom. It was so relaxing, even for a holiday Monday, we didn’t stress about having to ride something because we had successfully conquered our favorites the day before. We just repeated our favorites and rode the few things that weren’t on our list the previous day, Under the Sea and Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The Haunted Mansion broke down so we weren’t able to repeat it.
Next day was Animal Kingdom. Again, followed your itinerary and knocked out that park at a leisurely pace. You were spot on about heading first to Expedition Everest. My daughter walked on to ride, got off and the walked right back on again. We were able to do the safari before 10:30 so we did see the animals move about and eat. The Kali river soaking was a little disappointing because one: it seemed really short and two: we didn’t get the soaking which we wanted because it was 89° out. We skipped the evening safari (too hot) left the park around 5:00 and went instead to Disney Springs. That was a good way to finish the day.
Wednesday was Universal. I am a big Harry Potter fan and really enjoyed that section.
Thursday was Epcot. The food festival was going on which was really cool. I wish there was more shade in Epcot because you couldn’t escape the heat as well as in the other parks. We loosely followed the itinerary with success. Saw the manatees being fed which was super cool and finished with Frozen Ever After. 60 minute wait wasn’t that bad after the sun had mostly set.
Friday was Hollywood Studios. Again your itinerary was on the money. We got there early and there was no line for the Slinky Dog. Amazingly we got a slot for the Rise of the Resistance. Incredible. I think it will be the blueprint for any new or updating of rides.
The crowds were more than manageable, everyone was respectful while waiting in line etc. Disney is very strict about mask wearing. Several times we saw cast members calling folks out, in a nice but firm Disney way. We also watched them clean the boats/cars on some of the rides. I felt very safe at Disney.
Again, thank you for your blog. A trip like this can be overwhelming and it really helped break it down.
Hi Tom, can you edit my article to remove my last name in the “Name” section of the Hagrid article from today? Thanks!
Any rumors or predictions about when EMH, FPP, or DDP will return? In what order do you think they’ll return? Any modifications or exclusions you’d expect to see (like DDP only for Deluxe resort guests or only QS plans at first)?
Thanks!