Pick a home park but get Park Hopper
Once you know where you’re staying, a pro tip is to settle on your home park during your trip. Plan for this place to be where you spend most of your time. I suggest this because it’ll have ripple effects on the next three discussion topics, too.
When you pick your favorite park for a trip, you’ll have a stronger idea of which restaurants and FastPasses to target. Even so, I still recommend the purchase of Park Hopper tickets with Disney admission.
suffered a technical outage. This snafu prevented guests from entering the park for more than two hours. Without Park Hopper, you’d be stuck just outside, hopelessly frustrated.
You never know what will happen on a given Disney day. So, you don’t want to get locked into a single park. For example, the entrance at Magic Kingdom recentlyWhen you have Park Hopper, you can adapt on the fly, an essential skill at Walt Disney World. Since you're on a last-minute trip anyway, you haven't planned much anyway. You're not losing out by switching strategies and heading to a different park.
Advanced Dining Reservations
First of all, even though you’re planning at the last minute, don’t think that you can’t book any Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs). While the biggies like Be Our Guest and Chef Mickey’s are likely sold out, you’ll have plenty of other wonderful options.
Walt Disney World is home to more than 200 restaurants, lounges, and snack stands. Many of the Table Service establishments accept ADRs, and some of the best ones are available during your arrival week.
I can't say for sure which ones you'll find, but some of my favorites like Kona Café rarely sell out. The Wave… of American Flavors is another underrated eatery that falls below the radar. Here are several other good places for last-minute ADRs: 50's Prime Time Café, Biergarten, Cape May Café, Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd Skipper Canteen, Trattoria al Forno, and Whispering Canyon Café.
Mobile Ordering
Of course, you can go an entirely different way with spontaneous vacation. You could ignore ADRs altogether. Instead, you could prioritize counter service restaurants for quick bites. After all, you’re probably not staying long and want to maximize your vacation time. Sitting down at a restaurant for 60-90 minutes isn’t the best way to do that.
You should utilize Mobile Ordering instead. This service allows you to order ahead at more than 30 Quick Service restaurants. You’ll find the full list of participants here. The best part of this service is that you can use it while you’re standing in line for rides and attractions! You’ll be able to select your entire meal.
Disney won’t even prepare your food until you signal that you’re ready, giving you complete control of the process. It’s a spectacular way to maximize your Disney vacation time.
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