WDW Prep School
Disney World planning for smart people! Learn all about how to optimize your time and money during your trip.
How Single Rider lines save time
WDW Prep School Hello and happy Monday to you - I wanted to chat today about Single Rider lines at Disney World. If you've never heard of them, they are a separate lane you can enter at some rides that the Cast Members use to fill empty spots on the rides. For those willing to use Single Rider lines, it almost always saves a lot of time waiting. The biggest downside is that you usually don't get to ride with your party. These are the rides that always offer it at Disney World: Test Track –...
Let's prep for the holidays at WDW
WDW Prep School Hello - Hope your week is off to a good start. I know for those of us in the U.S. it's an especially tense week, so let's distract ourselves with holiday plans, shall we? If you want a general overview of all of the holiday festivities, start with our main guide. For more specifics, check out this info to help you plan: Note: some of these are noted as using info from 2023 info since Disney hasn't released it for this year yet, but can be a good reference to get you started....
Best Food & Wine booths for 2024
WDW Prep School Hello - As we keep an eye on the hurricane, I wanted to email about Food & Wine Festival where our team ate and drank everything to find the best of the fest. We were a little leery when Disney announced their booths this year because it was more than they've ever had when the festival began, but we're happy to report that the overall quality has improved over the previous years. 🙌 We are big fans of discussing best booths vs just mentioning best items since it's nice to be...
New! Disney Dining plan calculator w/recommendations
WDW Prep School Hello - Hope your week has gone well so far! We've just returned from D23 Expo and are riding on the high of some of the news we heard inside the Honda Center - some of it expected, but lots of it was a surprise. We have a lot to look forward to in the coming years! For the details of that, including opening dates, we have a D23 Expo recap you can check out. In addition to all of that, we've been working on a new Disney Dining Plan calculator that has just launched. It asks...
5 Lightning Lane tips we've learned
WDW Prep School Hello there - We've just returned from Disney World where we spent a day in each park using the new Lightning Lane system. In general, we found the system easy to use, and we were able to visit a lot of attractions without long waits. We do think that Lightning Lane capacity is being throttled right now. For example, we had zero wait for things like Tiana's Bayou Adventure and Slinky Dog Dash. While we don't expect a long wait when using a Lightning Lane, it was obvious there...
New! Lightning Lane priority cheat sheets
WDW Prep School Hello there - Been busy, busy on our end as we prepare for the new Lightning Lane system, D23 Expo, Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and then Food & Wine Festival. With the new Lightning Lane Pass System starting tomorrow, we wanted to get some info out to you to help you with Lightning Lane selections. We have info for each park, with graphics you can snag for easy reference. Note: we are making the assumption that character meets that previously offered Lightning Lanes...
Answering Halloween/Christmas party FAQs
WDW Prep School Hello there - As we say goodbye to 1 holiday, we've got our minds on some other ones today - specifically Halloween and Christmas parties which we get a lot of questions about. Some things we get asked a lot: How long can I wait to buy my party tickets before they sell out? We started tracking sellout dates for the parties to help you know how much time you have. While all of the parties will likely sell out, some dates go faster than others. Last year, most Halloween parties...
Ranking Disney World thrill rides
WDW Prep School Hello there - Hope you're doing well on this July 4 eve! Having a strong case of Friday-itis here, but need to push through for a few more hours before it's officially time off. Wanted to chat today about how the thrill rides at Disney World are ranked. To do that, we created a poll to see what others think. Here are the results: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (most thrilling) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith Expedition...
Answering your Lightning Lane Pass FAQS
WDW Prep School Well, it's been a heck of a week in Disney World news, and we've been working very quickly to pull together info to help people understand the new Lightning Lane Pass system - especially those traveling in late July/early August who have just a little time to learn it all before their trip. Here are some answers to questions we've been asked a lot this week. If I use my tier 1 ride, can I book another tier 1 ride? Yes, you can! The tiers only apply to pre-booking. There are no...
Goodbye Genie+, hello new pre-book system
WDW Prep School Welllll, Disney decided to keep the news rolling this week with some big, big changes to the system we've known as Genie+ for a few years now. We'll have a lot to learn in the coming weeks, but here's the quickest version I can pare it down to: Disney Genie+ will now be called Lightning Lane Multi Pass Individual Lightning Lanes will now be called Lightning Lane Single Pass Onsite guests (includes Shades of Green, Swan, and Dolphin) can book up to 3 Lightning Lanes per day of...
Disney World planning for smart people! Learn all about how to optimize your time and money during your trip.