Top 5 Mistakes not to make when travelling to Walt Disney World (British Travellers)

So after much saving you are finally heading off to Orlando for that dream and possibly once in a lifetime vacation at Walt Disney World.  If you are coming from the UK the chances are that this has been a very sizeable investment and you probably won't be planning on coming back for a few years while you save up again.

Here are my top 5 tips on getting the most out of your vacation.

1. If you are staying off-property hire a car

2. If you fail to plan you plan to fail

3. Manage the heat

4. Enjoy the magic

5. Capture the magic


The key to the great holiday starts from the moment you decide to go and make that first booking.  You can now get very reasonable package deals if you shop around and can for the same price either book a hotel room in a value Disney Resort or a condo or apartment off-property.

1. If you are staying off-property hire a car

Many people seem genuinely worried about the prospect of driving in Orlando.  If you are staying off-property hiring a car is essential if you want the flexibility and ease of visiting other parks such as Universal Orlando, SeaWorld, Busch Gardens and even a further drive down to the Kennedy Space Centre.  Whilst transportation can be found to all these parks and attractions you very quickly lose the flexibility of arriving and departing when you want.  With a little bit of prior reading and preparation driving in Orlando is as simple as driving in the UK.  Parking is incredibly easy as all the spaces are huge!  I was amazed at how quickly my brain accommodated driving on the 'wrong side of the road'.

2. If you fail to plan you plan to fail

If you are looking for a vacation where you can simply turn up and 'go with the flow' a Disney vacation is not for you.  In many ways this is not really an option with the use of FastPass+ When we started planning for our vacation and we were talking as a family about having to make our choices 30 days in advance (or 60 days for people staying on-property) we soon realized that you also have to plan where you are going to be each day in advance.  If you are the super organized sort of person who loves planning then this is not a problem but if you want flexibility this could be a challenge.  There are many great websites offering trip planning advice and data about which days the parks are the most crowded and these definitely make the planning process more manageable. One of the upsides of this planning process was that at no time we found ourselves sat wondering what we should do next.

• Make a list of the absolute must attractions you want to see and will be disappointed if you miss them. It is also worth checking when attractions are down for refurbishment or long term maintenance and plan accordingly.
• Make sure that everyone gets a say in the planning process.  We wanted to make sure that everyone in our family had a say in which attractions they wanted to see.
• Pace yourself.  We decided that we would plan our itinerary around what the youngest (and most likely to get tired first) child could cope with.  This was actually a really good plan as we also got tired fairly quickly.
• Avoid anything too strenuous on your first evening.  If all goes well you could be in your resort by 9pm (Florida time).  By now you will have been up for hours so it probably not a great idea to book a character meet and greet for your kids!
• Plan to have drinks, food and time to visit the restroom - I think this goes without saying!
• Plan rest-time in the day / vacation.  You might be tempted to think that after spending so much money on the trip you want to squeeze every last minute of fun.  This could easily have the opposite effect and spoil the fun.
• It is worth taking a tablet or smart phone into the parks to access the many apps that are available from MyMagic+ to park guides and wait times.  There is free WIFI across almost every park and attraction which generally has a reasonable speed.  If you are using your phone don't forget to make sure that cellular data (3G/4G) is switched off!

3. Manage the heat

Assuming that you have planned well and have worked out a manageable itinerary you mustn't forget the heat and humidity levels.  Unless you are used to it, the wall of heat you feel at 7am when you step out of the Air Conditioned room can literally stop you in your tracks.  Common sense is really important here and also taking good care of your body.

• Wear plenty of suntan lotion of the right factor for your skin.  Put it on before leaving your accommodation. Get someone to check that you have not missed any areas.  Don't forget to top up during the day especially after getting wet on a ride / in the pool or during the Florida rain.
• Wear a sunhat and glasses.  Remember that the same harmful UV rays which damage your skin also damage your eyes.  You will also need the shade a hat provides when you are out in a long queue. 
• Consider buying an evaporation towel,  These are made wet and when placed around your face and neck evaporate and cool you down.
• Don't neglect your skin!  in the high humidity levels it is very easy to get sore in any place where your skin rubs.  There are some good products out there that can help with this.
• If you do get sunburnt you really should take it seriously.  
• Drink plenty of water and remember to keep your kids hydrated too.  Avoid alcohol in the hottest part of the day as this can make you more dehydrated.  There are plenty of water fountains throughout the parks.

4. Enjoy the magic

This sounds obvious do allow yourself time to enjoy what is going on around you.  One of the saddest things to see in the parks are stressed, tired and hot parents screaming at their kids "Don't you know how much this has cost us to bring you here - you will enjoy it." I promised myself that I wouldn't say it - although I did at least once when I was very tired and hot!

Some ideas on how to really enjoy the magic ...

• Let yourself go and get caught up in the magic of the parades, the music, the theming.
• Don't watch everything through the viewfinder of a camera or iPad.
• Say Hi, please and thank you to the Cast Members. As well as being polite you get such a friendly response from people.
• Look for the detail as you walk around - keep your eyes open.
• Watch your kids (well obviously!) - seeing that look of wide-eyed wonder as they experience something for the first time
• Don't feel that you have to buy things to experience the magic, often things are just happening around you.  We were treated to two private moments just from being in the right place at the right time and being polite!

5. Capture the magic

With so many memories and magical things happening you will want to take lots of photos and video. Again it is very easy to fall into the danger of trying to record and capture everything so all you see is life through a phone or iPad screen.

It is definitely worth considering investing in Photopass as this offers very good value for money, especially if you have lots of photos taken.  When you are back home you only get a limited window of time to download a ZIP file.  I would definitely suggest that you take several copies of this onto different drives! (learnt from bitter experience)

Some tips on capturing the magic!

• A DSLR can be great if you are looking at taking lots of scenic photos from around the parks.  They do become very heavy quickly when you are carrying them around.  you are not allowed to take cameras on many rides so need a good case / bag to store it in.
• A GoPro is great for recording ride footage (POV) and general atmospheric video.  You should always check if you are allowed to film on a ride with a GoPro as I was told-off on the Jurassic Park ride!
• Selfie sticks (is that craze still around?) are banned from all Disney World parks and you can't even take them in! 
• With the high quality cameras on many smart phones this also make a good device for capturing the magic.  I shared many pictures with Instagram while I was away - but remember you may be advertising the fact that you are away on vacation and have left the house empty.

I hope that you find some of these tips useful!

Have a great vacation.

Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa review

If you are looking at visiting WDW but want to stay off property we really enjoyed the Lake Buena Vista Resort Village and Spa.  Check out our review and room video. It is about 20 minutes drive to Magic Kingdom.

A British tourist driving in Orlando for the first time - my experience

How to survive driving in Orlando

Our rental car

One of the key decisions we had to make when booking our vacation was should we drive or rely on transportation.  We knew that we wanted to do more than just visit Disney so we stayed off-property and rented a car with Alamo.  In the weeks running up to the trip I felt quite nervous about driving in America, there were so many things which seemed scary and alien to me:

• Driving an automatic car
• Driving on the right and sitting on the left
• Different road markings and traffic signals
• Turning right at junctions on red lights

I did some prior reading before I came and to be honest I am very glad that I did drive for the extra opportunities this gave.

Two essential things I found vey useful were:

UK guide to driving in the USA 

Florida drivers handbook

I also managed to find a dashboard cam video of the journey from the airport to Disney which was really helpful.

So what did I learn?

• Driving in Florida was really simple and I am glad I did it.
• The traffic lanes are generally wider than in the UK
• Traffic is generally slower
• Some of the speed limits felt strange (35mph) and I had to really concentrate on those
• Speed limits are not as well signposted as in the UK and at times it was not obvious when joining roads what the correct speed limit was
• Other motorists are generally very tolerant of tourists who get lost
• Our rental satnav wasn't all that helpful - it was obsessed with taking us on i4 all the time!
• When turning left remember it is a long left before you have to turn!

My advice for first time drivers in Orlando is do it!  We saw quite a few people waiting for transportation at Disney and at our Condo and I definitely enjoyed the freedom of coming and going when we wanted.

Parking was lovely, the spaces are much longer and wider than ones in the UK.  Most cars parks at the theme parks cost $17 per day. Parking at Disney is transferrable if you want to park hop during the day.

Many roads have tollbooths and these can appear confusing at first.  We were offered the opportunity to buy a sunpass transponder when we picked up the car but decided that we would pay.  In total we spent $16 on toll roads of which $10 was for the journey to Kennedy Space Centre.  At manned booths you will need to use the very right hand lane and have notes no bigger than $20.  You can ask for receipts here which are worth keeping.  We only encountered one automated booth and had small change for that one.  There is a map here. 

A word of caution - We had a couple of very 'interesting' driving experiences during thunderstorms.  You will definitely need to be very careful as the visibility reduced very quickly and the roads became quite slippery.

In summary, if you are not sure about driving but know you will want flexibility hire a car. I would definitely have a look at your route in advance from the airport to your accommodation.  We left the airport at half past midnight, feeling very tired and stressed due to the rain and having a general sense of what we were doing was useful.

Getting petrol (gas) in Orlando - a guide for British tourists

So you have made the decision to drive in Orlando on your vacation.  At some point during the trip you will need to fill up the car with gas (petrol).  You might be tempted by the slick car hire rep to return the car empty and let them fill it up, don't do it!

Filling up at an American gas station is really no harder than in the UK but there are a couple of extra things you will need to think about.  If you are a local reading this you might think that this is really obvious but as a Brit doing it for the first time it can be daunting.

All gas payments must be made in advance, this can either be through a credit card or paying cash at the counter. Until chip and pin cards are finally used everywhere you will not be able to use your British credit card at the pump as it asks for the zip code that the credit card is registered to.

Before I go through the steps of paying for gas it is worth mentioning location.  There are many reasonably priced gas stations around Disney and International Drive but the closer you get to the airport the greater the cost.  You can find out current prices here at orlandogasprices.com. If you are visiting Disney on your last morning before returning to the airport you can fill up there and still have a full tank when you get back.  We found the HESS on World Drive very pleasant and accommodating of tourists.

The biggest difference between the UK and America is the price of gas.  Currently you can be paying anything up to $6 a gallon for gas here in the UK compared to the $2.21 in Orlando (rough calculation).

Step 1: Check which side your petrol cap is on and where the button is to open it

Step 2: Have a rough idea of how big your fuel tank is, as a rough estimate; 

Small car 12 gallons
Mid-size car 16 gallons
Full-size car 18 gallons
SUV 20+ gallons

Step 3: Do a rough sum of how much is it going to cost based on how much of a tank you will need.

I filled up a full-size car when the tank was half empty - roughly 9 gallons.  At $2.21 dollars a gallon I knew it was going to be around $20

Step 4: Go into the shop and ask the cashier to put $20 on the pump you are using.

Step 5: Most pumps offer a selection of different grade gas.  I went for the cheapest! Before you put the nozzle in your car and check again if you have diesel or petrol.  At this point you may have to press a selector button for the gas you want.  This was the moment I wondered what had gone wrong as nothing was happening.  I had missed the sign saying "lift the switch" beneath the pump holder.  

Step 6: If you have not used the full amount you will then need to go back in and ask for your change.  I would always ask for a receipt to prove that you have returned the car full to the hire company.