Tips for visiting Disney World

Since we got back from our Disney Vacation I've run into several people who are going soon and asked for tips. Well, I have LOTS of tips so I'm going to post them here so they are all in one place. To see previous posts with previous tips just click on the Disney label in this post and it will take you to all of them.

First of all I wanted to share some resource books and websites that are very helpful when planning a Disney Vacation.

Books:
Birnbaum's Disney World
PassPorter's Walt Disney World

Websites:
http://www.themouseforless.com/
http://www.mousesavers.com/
http://www.buildabettermousetrip.com/
http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/menus/wdw/menus.shtml (This is the part of themouseforless that shows the menus with prices for all of the restaurants in Disney World Parks and Downtown Disney. Excellent resource when planning a budget! I found most prices to be almost exact as they listed)

Fastpasses:
The Fastpass at Disney parks is FREE. You use your admission ticket to get them. Only some rides have FP. Check the Disney world website or a travel guide to find out which ones. You insert your ticket into the FP machine and it will give you a fastpass with a comeback time on it. (ie: 10:15-11:15 am) You must wait until the start time of the time window to use the fastpass. Once you have reached that time you can either use it or save it for later. You can also now get another fastpass for another ride. If you get a FP with a late comeback time you can get another in 2 hrs. even if you haven't reached your comeback time. I recommend getting as many as you can early in the day and using them later in the day when the park is crowded.

Extra Magic Hours:
If you are staying at a Disney Resort Hotel then you can take advantage of extra magic hours. These vary according to park and day. Check the weekly schedule available at the parks and hotels to find out which park has them on which day. There are early morning hours and extra evening hours. For the early morning ones, one park will open an hour earlier than usual. For the evening ones one park will stay open later. I really like the early ones. You can get so many rides ridden in just a couple of hours. Then, you can go back to your hotel and take a nap in the afternoon if you want.
If you are not staying on property, I would avoid the parks with extra magic hours on the days they have them because they will be more crowded. In the case of morning hours you will also have many people who got a 1 hr. jump on you.

I will share my personal suggestions for each park, but I will put those in separate posts (still labeled Disney) because I have lots of suggestions and it will take me a few days to get them all on here.