Eric Jordan’s Disney World Tips and Tricks

Have you ever been to the Happiest Place on Earth? If you have then you know its also one of the busiest places on earth too. Ride lines are typically very long, dining reservations for popular places are extremely difficult to get, and souvenir are pretty expensive.  But all these things don't need to be accurate.

I go to Disney about 4 or 5 times a year, and through plenty of experience I have discovered tips and tricks to eliminate all these preconceived notions.  Below I will show you exactly how to get the FastPasses for the rides you want, no matter when you book them, I will help you get reservations at the toughest restaurants to get into, and I will show you a cute inexpensive souvenir you and the kids will LOVE.

Before we start anything, download the "My Disney Experience App" for Disney World in your phones app store.

Lets start with getting FastPasses for difficult rides. If you are getting your passes last minute, or maybe you don't like your current selections, here is how you can replace them with great rides!

Once you've purchased  park tickets and linked them to your My Disney Experience App. Each day includes 3 FastPasses. (Plus 1 additional FastPass after use of the first 3 are used)

1.) Click on the Get FastPass+ icon on the app.

2.) Select a date and specific park (All 3 FastPasses must be in same park)

3.) Make your selections for as early in the day as possible. Always pick MAJOR attractions.  Look for these in the app for the following parks:

Magic Kingdom:

1. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
2. Space Mountain
3. Peter Pan's Flight
4. Splash Mountain
5. Thunder Mountain

Epcot:

1. Soarin'
2. Frozen Ever After
3. Test Track

Hollywood Studios:

1. Toy Story Midway Mania
2. Rockin' Rollar Coaster with Aerosmith
3. Fantasmic (Not a ride but very popular night show with limited seating)

Animal Kingdom:

1. Expedition Everest- Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
2. DINOSAUR
3. Kilimanjaro Safaris

4.) Once you have used all 3 FastPasses you can select a 4th through the app!  Here is how to get MAJOR attractions for the 4 pass. 

By the time you are ready to get your 4th fast pass on the app all the major attractions will be gone. However that is not the truth. There is a trick I use to get passes for the rides with the longest wait times.

When going to select a FastPass think of a specific ride you want a pass for and try to get one specifically for that.. and be patient. If you can spare 10-15 mins of your time you WILL get a FastPass for that ride.

All you need to do is continuously search the app through select times and keep refreshing the page. (Scroll up to the picture above to see example) But if you click back and forth through certain times eventually a fast pass for that ride will pop up on the list.

So say in example its 7 p.m. and the park closes at 10 p.m.  you would click all the times on the app between 7 &10, clicking all the times over and over again until a FastPass pops up. This ALWAYS WORKS for me.

Now lets get you into the Restaurants that are extremely difficult to get into. If you didn't plan your vacation 6 months in advance chances are you won't be dining in some of these places! 

1.) Click the Reserve Dining icon on the app.

2.) Select a specific restaurant

3.) Search to see if any times are available on your preferred date. Always use the "Search by Time" option. ( Do not click on the generic "Lunch" or "Dinner" buttons. )

If you don't see any available times try these following tricks.

***First change the party size you're searching for. If you have a group of 4 try searching for a party of 2. If you do find a table  for a smaller party size reserve it! When you arrive tell them your group is for 4 and they will still seat you.

In addition to this trick also use the same one you used for getting FastPass. Try checking the app daily and scrolling through the times for reservation. Once someone else cancels their reservation it opens up on the app! Keep checking and you're bound to find a table!!!

Finally here's my suggestion for a really great souvenir that wont break the bank!!!

All around every park attraction and even hotels you will find penny press machine. For 51 cents you can put a penny into the machine and pop out a mini souvenir! They are so fun to make and collect!

Check out examples of the ones I got above!

If you are headed to Disney anytime soon be sure to use these tricks!! If you have more tricks of your own and want to share them comment below!