Top Tips: Beat the Heat at Walt Disney World!

The hot Florida sun – it’s as synonymous with a Disney vacation as Mickey Mouse. With an average temperatures in the mid-90s (and highs that go even higher!), summer in Orlando can be brutal on vacationers. 

From finding air-conditioned shows or attractions that cool you down (some without water!) to what you should bring with you and even the one piece of advice everyone else gives that you should DEFINITELY ignore (trust me, you’ll thank me later!) here are my “top tips” for beating the heat on your Walt Disney World vacation…

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Savings Alert: Ticket prices going up on Sunday, 6/12/11!

Planning to visit Mickey Mouse this summer? If you haven’t already purchased your theme park tickets, it’s going to cost you more starting this Sunday!

Ticket prices for Walt Disney World and Disneyland will increase starting June 12, 2011. In the past ticket price increases have occurred in late July or August.

A 1-Day Magic Your Way base ticket for Walt Disney World will increase from $82 to $85 plus tax ($90.53 including tax), and a 1-Day, 1-Park ticket for Disneyland will increase from $76 to $80 ($88.75 including tax). A full list of updated Walt Disney World ticket pricing can be found here. Information on Disneyland ticket prices can be found here.

There is good news for those planning to visit Walt Disney World for only one day. The cost for adding the park hopper option for 2-Day through 10-Day Magic Your Way ticket will increase from $54 to $55 however the cost for adding the park hopper option to a 1-Day ticket has been reduced to $35 + tax. This brings the cost of a 1-Day park hopper ticket down to $127.80 as opposed to current ticket prices of $144.84.

Purchasing your theme park tickets, or placing a vacation package under deposit before Sunday morning will “lock in” current pricing. For a family of 4 planning to purchase 7-day park hopper tickets this will save almost $100 by locking in pricing now.

As a special bonus, I am offering a $50 Disney gift card* to anyone booking a Magic Your Way vacation package before 11:59 pm on Saturday night! Contact me or request a quote for more information! Continue reading

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good…

Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Can you keep a secret? or two?

I’ve been invited to learn more about some of the youth education options at Walt Disney World. Not being the type to turn down the opportunity to visit Mickey, the vacation planning wheels started turning. End result: I’ll be taking my oldest son on a short and sweet trip, just the two of us, in a couple of weeks. That’s secret number one…he has no idea! He won’t find out until we are already at the airport.  I love surprises! My middle son will be at Webelos Encampment with his cub scout den that week so it worked out perfectly (don’t worry…he’ll get his weekend of fun while my oldest is at boy scout camp too!).

Secret number two…you can’t tell Mickey but we’re going to be splitting our time and visiting Harry Potter while we are there too!

I have to admit, this Harry Potter side trip is as much for me as it is for my son. We are both fans of the books and movies but I think I am the bigger Potter nerd of the two of us.  I can’t wait to check out everything that the Wizarding World of Harry Potter has to offer.

There will be a lot of first for us on this trip. I’ve started my laundry list of things we need to check out, photograph, document and just test out in general. We’ll make a game of it and consider it a scavenger hunt of sorts!

This will be a working vacation for both of us. My son will be serving as a junior reporter, a role he requested recently and will share his insight on both Universal Studios and Walt Disney World.

In his first job as a junior reporter, I asked Brandon to share some of his Disney favorites and advice with me (pardon the background noise – he requested we do this interview at a local park). Take a second and check it out…

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJn-5oVDsvw]

Are you a Hogwarts alum? Perhaps a prefect even? If so, I’d love to hear from you!

See ‘ya real soon!

Lori
lori@magicalmemoriestravel.com
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