Disney Travel Tips and Hints: Disney

Updated Tuesday 6th October 2015

In a not very surprising move it has been announced that Universal Orlando will also be increasing the parking fee from $17 to $20. Source: Orlando Sentinel

Disney have announced a rise in parking charges from $17 to $20.

Having visited most of the Disney World parking lots during the summer I do think this still represents good value for money. With good signs, clear traffic management, friendly transportation staff and plenty of parking spaces, parking at Disney was not too stressful.

Top tip for parking (particularly for tourists)

Parking in such a big parking lot can feel like a daunting experience for the first time visitor but here are a few tips.

Use your mobile phone and take photos of your car, your parking lot, your space and the end of the row so you know where you have parked.
When you collect your hire car at the airport take a photo of the number plate and make a note of the details.
Bring a soft plush toy on holiday with you and place it in the back window of the car. This will make it much more easy to find later when you are walking around the park.
If you have any problems with your car, simply raise your hood and wait for assistance.

I am a firm believer in the old saying of treat others as you would like to be treated yourself. We made a real point of always saying "Please" and "Thank you" whilst we were in the parks. It was obvious from a number of cast members reactions that this is not always the way that guests treat cast members.

Whilst we were at Animal Kingdom we caught the end of the end of the "Flights of Wonder" bird show in Asia. Being an avid photographer I put my camera into high speed shutter mode and took lots of photos of the birds in flight.

As we were leaving the show I simply said "thanks" to the cast member and told them how much we had enjoyed the show and how I was pleased with the photos I had taken.

The cast member then told us to wait behind if we had a couple of minutes to spare. It turned out that they were about to do some training with one of the younger birds and needed a family to simulate a small audience. We were then treated to a small private training session for about five minutes. It was really good to see how the training was carried out, but also to feel special that we were able to see it privately.

You never know when an extra special moment of Disney Magic is going to happen, and we certainly didn't set out aiming for this to happen!

I do feel that cast members do appreciate good manners in the park and especially when guests say thank you after a ride or an experience.

Have you had a moment where you have experienced an extra special bit of Disney magic?