Tip Tuesday: Get there early

Welcome to another Tip Tuesday.

My apologies for the delay in this post. I just returned from a big trip to Walt Disney World last weekend. In fact, it was a trip fit for the Biggest Disney Fan! That's right! Last weekend was the big trip filled with lots of amazing experiences. The local newspaper even did a story on me.

Best of all, YOU get to share in what happened as I will be bringing reviews and articles about some of the more exclusive experiences at Walt Disney World, including the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show, concierge service, fireworks aboard the Grand One and premier VIP park touring.

It was the best five days my family has ever spent at Walt Disney World.

So be looking for more on these topics coming to this blog very soon.

Now, on to today's feature presentation!

I've talked about this tip a few times in passing, but it's so important that I wanted to highlight it again -- get to the parks EARLY, especially if you're planning to catch major attractions.

Case in point: We arrived at rope drop in the Magic Kingdom on Monday morning. As soon as we entered the MK, we took the train to Frontierland (another quick reminder: the WDW Railroad doesn't stop a ToonTown until after 10am). My son and I then proceeded to walk on Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row while my wife and other two children walked onto Pirates and had an entire boat to themselves. They then walked onto Alladin's Magic Carpets.

We met up after this and just about walked onto the Jungle Cruise, and then walked again onto Pirates. After Pirates, we made our way to the Haunted Mansion where we had to wait only two minutes for the mansion doors to open and admit the next group.

Boom! Before 10am, we had hit several major attractions - some twice!

Now you might be thinking that the park wasn't all that crowded that day. Think again. At one point, Buzz Lightyear had a 70 minute wait -- the longest wait time I've ever seen for Buzz. Space Mountain was at 60 minutes and Big Thunder quickly rose to 60 minutes by lunchtime. By the afternoon, there was a line for even the smaller attractions like the TTA.

The reason getting to the parks early is so important is that most days, especially during busy times of the year such as spring break and holidays, the parks start to get very crowded around 11 a.m. Apparently most guests just don't want to get up early for a 9 a.m. rope drop. This is to your benefit.

After 11 a.m., be prepared for long lines and to make heavy use of FastPass (in fact, it's a good idea to go ahead and get some FastPasses early and not use them until the afternoon). Remember you can possibly hold more than one FastPass at a time (see this previous Tip Tuesday post for more about this).

The other benefit to arriving early and getting major attractions out of the way is that frees up time for you to enjoy some of those hidden details in shops, shows, restaurants or just out and about while other guests are standing in those massive standby queues.

So, as they saying goes: the early mouse gets the cheese, er, ride.

CNBC: Anaylists fear park slowdown at Disney

From the "This isn't good news" department:

CNBC is reporting that some analysts think a slowdown is coming for the Disney parks. Due to all the current economic mess (I will leave out of this post my own thoughts on how this happened), though they did admit there is no evidence yet of a slowdown.

Personally, I don't buy it. I have a feeling park attendance is going to slightly increase or stay flat at the worst, especially from guests in the south and along the East Coast. Why? People will want to get away from all the stress in their lives and Disney is the first place that comes to mind. Trips to Europe and Hawaii are out, the airfare is too much. If they're within a decent drive time, I think Disney is a solid option, especially with gas prices continuing to drop (knock on wood that this trend will continue).

I may be an optomist - but there you are. You can decide for yourself.