DisneyTips.com Your Guide To A Great Disney Vacation
In the digital age, where viral trends explode over social media, it’s no surprise that people bring those trends to the busiest theme park destination on the planet. At one time, the dress code craze was doing the rounds until Disney got wind of what was going on, and now another viral trend is gaining steam.
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Walt Disney World Resort, for all of its magic and desirability, is still the center of much discussion regarding rising costs and the intensive planning needed to make the most out of a vacation. Since the pandemic shutdown, Disney has extensively retooled its operational systems. From virtual queues to pricey “FastPass” experiences, the Disney World experience is now more expensive than ever.
Instead of the formerly free FastPass+ service offered to all guests, Disney debuted the Disney Genie+ service in late 2021 at both Disney World and the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. Now, three years later, Disney Experiences has rebranded the service as the Lightning Lane Multi, Single, and Premier Pass.
Credit: Disney
With a variable cost per person per day, a family wanting to ride specific attractions will find themselves increasingly out of pocket. Not only do wallets now take a bigger hit on a Disney World vacation, but the need to utilize virtual queues means guests have to be awake prior to 7 a.m. or on their phones in the early afternoon in order to secure the coveted virtual queue spots.
At present, Disney World only has two virtual queues active: the Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind attraction in EPCOT and the brand-new Tiana’s Bayou Adventure in Magic Kingdom’s Frontierland. TRON Lightcyle / Run, also in Magic Kingdom, used to operate a virtual queue until the Splash Mountain replacement debuted in the summer.
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However, despite the apparent need to purchase and operate all these systems in order to enjoy the Disney World vacation many fork thousands out on, some are taking to the parks with no plan in mind. It might seem like a nightmare to some, but this guest seemingly had a liberating experience.
Posting to the popular Walt Disney World Reddit thread, user Flgirl420 explained their zero-plan trip to the Central Florida resort and how many attractions they actually got to experience.
“No app. No lightning lanes. No virtual queue. Just raw dogged it and lived my life. The first day at magic kingdom was great. Rode 14 rides and then one of those rides 4 times so 17 rides if u include that. And I took a mid day break at the hotel for 3 hours . We went back for the Halloween party so I was able to ride Tiana’s bayou adventure without a virtual queue .
Hollywood studios was long lines and didn’t get to ride as much there .
Animal kingdom was hardly any wait at all. Pandoras flight of passage was less than 20 minutes both times I rode it . (Rope dropped this ride bc we were nervous of longer waits later). Everest was at 15 min all day. Dinosaur was 5.
The point of this post is I think I had just as much fun or more than if I were a super planner . Props to those who can handle the anxiety of schedules but if you’re worried you can’t do Disney because of all the planning involved , you still can! No plan required!
I went to Disney world with zero planning
byu/Flgirl420 inWaltDisneyWorld
The public service announcement that “anyone can do Disney” is more powerful than some may think. With over 1,000 likes and over 200 comments, it’s clear that the planning aspect of a Disney World vacation is a big barrier for many potential guests. Of course, a zero-plan trip may only work at select times of the year. As the parks gear up for the busy Thanksgiving and holiday periods, a zero-plan trip may result in more disappointment than liberation.
That said, during quieter periods, such as the famously low crowds of late August and early September (not including Labor Day weekend), a zero-plan trip could most definitely work for the better and save a guest an awful lot of money.
Credit: Jamie S., Inside the Magic
This idea of doing something without planning or, as the Reddit post says, “raw dogging” is a growing trend on social media. People experience something without entertainment, distractions, sleep, or music, such as taking long flights and only watching the plane map on the screen.
“‘Raw dogging’ became one of the buzziest travel trends this year when people on social media were ‘raw dogging’ flights with no entertainment whatsoever–no music, no streaming, no sleep–just staring at the map on the seatback screen, or nothing at all, in silence,” News.com.au explained.
Amongst the hundreds of replies, other Disney fans had conflicting views. While some recognized the poster’s username and deduced they probably lived close to the parks, others shared the sentiment that a no-plan trip should be feasible for everyone visiting Disney World.
Credit: Jamie S., Inside the Magic
Related: Drunk Disney World Guest Begs to Be Arrested, “F*** You, Take Me to Jail”
“Disney has tricked us all into thinking that we need lightning lane, advance reservations, evening parties and endless ads-ons to have a great visit. It’s absolutely not true,” a comment by Historical-Isopod718 reads. “Ultimately, it’s a resort. Anyone should be able to have a good time simply by virtue of being there.”
With the latest addition to Lightning Lane—the Premier Pass—being piloted for Deluxe resort guests, it seems that Disney is not shying away from implementing costly additions to the parks. The Premier Pass costs up to $400 during peak times at Magic Kingdom Park, for example.
Have you ever visited Walt Disney World Resort without planning anything? How did it go? Let us know in the comments below!
I worked reservations at WDW in the early ‘90s. We trained for 10 weeks, mostly in the Parks. My favorite time was when Mickey hugged me on a trip the Magic Kingdom. He exuded love and I have never forgotten what a thrill it was. In trueDisney ethic, I was given a leave of absence to attend my daughter’s wedding in Idaho. I worked three years before that, but records were only kept for the time I returned. My supervisor said I had a passion for the parks and while there I won the Partners in Excellence award which is no longer given. I hope folks who work there now are as well treated as we were. While on line with a guest if I had a question about what was allowed, I could put the guest on hold and phone for a helpful answer. I once did that and though I had been given a negative response, my supervisor had me call the guest back with an affermative response. She had been listening in to my call as we knew was often the case. Did I love working there, ABSOLUTELY!
We are headed to WDW next week and not doing any planning so we’ll see how it goes. It’s been one of the reasons I’ve stayed away for 5 yrs. I don’t go on vacation to be on the phone all day.