I think you're right about the machines not knowing the difference - one thing to consider is that you don't charge them so i'm not sure how long they're designed to last. but i figure if they can be connected in the app then they have battery life left.

awesome that helps a lot! the video didn't say if they have the music at saratoga springs (i know some resorts do that for happily ever after and other shows). But i think i'll just plan on managing the crowds... it's disney so it's unavoidable. I'm not sure if i'll want to stay up for the later showing but i would imagine the crowds are lighter for that one if the 9pm is too much.

Make sure they're connected to your account in the app - if they are and they're able to update to the latest software then you should be good. worst case scenario if it doesn't work to get you into your room you can buy some magicband+ at the giftshop or get some at disney springs. i did upgrade to magicband+ but for larger families i understand that this can be a frustrating expense so go ahead and try to use the old ones! Some members of my family used theirs from 2022 when we were there in november and they worked so i think you should be good.

I'm going to be doing the passholder preview on the 15th! I was planning to take a trip that weekend and i hoped it would align with the previews but wasn't sure. I did grab a MK reservation just in case it aligned knowing it would sell out as soon as it was announced and i was right... so glad i grabbed it!

i don't have any standby skipper experience either - I feel like it's best for folks who have done less research (you seem to have done yours) but in your case it really might payoff to get something booked during your flight. However, if it were me for option #3 i would either do MMRR or ToT based on your ride preferences, may be hard to do both in such a short time frame (i feel like the line for MMRR tends to be longer since it's little kid friendly and newer so maybe go for that one?). Part of my reasoning is that I think you can keep an eye on the wait time for SR and hope in when there might be a shorter wait. Also, since it's just the 2 of you, you can go into the single rider line for SR and will likely be put in a group together as gunners. You could get split up but the single rider line usually is super short so it's worth doing to skip the line i think!

I have a loungefly mini that I LOVE... it's not just the fun design, they really are the perfect size for the parks in my opinion! Granted i don't have kids so i'm not having to worry about packing for more than jut myself but i have: • collapsable water bottle from amazon that is the perfect size • i usually include some liquid IV packets (very important if it's going to be hot or if you plan on drinking) • a handheld fan (mostly for some parts of the line when it's not AC and you don't have a breeze) • sunscreen • backup battery/charging cord • I also keep a super cheap poncho to throw on if there is an afternoon shower - once i had to buy one of the ones in the park and it was SO expensive lol... dollar store ponchos it is for me. it's certainly not fully with those few items but it's nice to have a bit of room to hold on to any merch you may get as well so you don't have to carry it around all day. I do tend to get stopped at security but i pull out everything pretty quickly so it's never more than a 2 minute delay. And honestly i think it's all the pins i have on the bag that get me stopped and i'm not going to get rid of them!

I would go for ROTR - it's good to get it out of the way (and if you really love it you can grab an ILL for later in the day to do it again!) and worst case scenario if it's down you have time to get over to ToT and still snag a good place in line. I've rope dropped RotR several times and it's never been down for me. I hear it's more common than other rides but I would say you have a pretty good chance of it working. Hope you have a great time and let us know what you end up doing and how it turns out!

So I was recently in France for a work trip and since I've seen most of the sites (not to mention there was a lot of construction getting ready for the Olympics) I decided to take the train out and do Disneyland Paris! Robs video was super helpful and I'm SOOOO glad I got the Quiche... it changed my life. I was there April 20th which was a Saturday and I'm not sure if it was a slow time of year or if the French just aren't morning people but pretty much everything was a walk on for the first 2 hours of park opening! I rode everything well before lunch and spent the rest of the day repeating my favorite rides and wondering around. There are so many fun things tucked away so I'm glad I left plenty of time to explore! I didn't make it to park close as i had to get back into the city as i had an early flight the next day so i dind't see the drone show but it's only 10 min long i think so hopefully i didn't miss out too much. The only for sure tip I would have for anyone visiting is do Big Thunder Mountain FIRST... that's what i did and got on really quick but it was the longest wait of all the rides for the rest of the day - if you've seen the imagineering episode on disneyland paris they aren't joking when they say that Europeans have a love of the wild west - there was a ton of merch for Frontierland in general which was funny to see as an American. One question I'm wondering is if anyone knows what sort of cheese is commonly used in Disneyland Paris? It has a distinct smell in several of the cafes there and I know it was used in the Quiche and the Toastie I got... i'm wondering if we can get it here in the US?

Sounds like you have a really great plan! I'm not sure which parks you plan to go to on which days but like Meeshwell said, I would avoid MK on a weekend. Also, one crowd benefit you'll have is that you'll be there the one week there isnt a festival going on at Epcot so the crowds should be lighter. I usually reference a few but the ones that give crowd estimates for each park are usually more reliable since there can be. I haven't done child swap but for Genie+ here are my thoughts: • i don't think you need to split your party to play the slots. I was there with my family in November (party of 8) and i didn't notice a significant difference between playing the slots with the whole group and splitting. It could have been that we were there on a relativly light crowd day but i didn't notice a significant difference. - I would do Genie+ at MK and HS for sure. • AK i would spend the money on an ILL for Flight of passage... most people early entry/rope drop FoP but I find that i prefer using my early entry for navai river journey and then heading over to the safari (it doesn't open for early entry), doing the ILL for FoP and spending the day exploring the park, eating snacks (aside from epcot this is the best drink/snack park IMO), watching shows. Then in the evening if you want to do FoP again (which i always do) i just get in line a few minutes before the park closes since they'll let you ride as long as you're in line before close. The wait is usually much shorter and then you also get to catch the bus back to the resort after most of the crowds have gone. • Epcot: this one is a toss up for me... since you're staying at AOA and have access to the skyliner/international gateway for early entry i would say save your moneyand get a ILL for Guardians or Ratatouille. Since you'll come in through the back entrance (international gateway) you'll be right next to france and can have Ratatouille be your early entry ride i would do that and then may be hit up something like Soarin' before the crowds get too high. You can do the VQ for guardians but note that unless you're in an early group the wait is usually about an hour even with the VQ. With ILL you'll be on much quicker so it just depends where you want to spend your money. With this plan the only rides you'll have to keep an eye on wait times for is Frozen and maybe test track... Frozen is going to be the difficult one but since i think epcot crowds may be light when you're there you may be able to keep an eye on it and catch it when there is a lull (like around lunch/naptime for small kids - or even closer to park close). Since you have kids of varying ages it may be a time where you want to split up and one of you takes the younger kids to the frozen ride and one takes the older ones to test track. Anyway, hope that helps a bit! Just remember that not everything goes to plan but it sounds like you're knowlegeable enough to be able to come up with a good plan B if/when that happens and you'll all have a great time! P.S. The one time i rope dropped Ratatouille the ride went down and had to be reset. This isn't super uncommon in the morning, so while i hope it doesn't happen to you - some helpful info is that when it does have to be reset it ususally takes 38 minutes... a lot of people get out of line so it's up to you if you want to take advantage of that and just wait (maybe send someone for snacks lol) it can be better than trying to do it later in the day when the wait can get up to an hour and a half. I'm not sure if it was the right choice for me but i ended up waiting for 40 minutes... they had to restart again so they ended up giving the few of us in line a free LL to come back later in the day. they don't always do that but sometimes they will if you've clearly paid your dues waiting in line.

I'm planning a trip in early March and i'm very excited about the festival! I went last year and it was the first epcot festival I had ever exprirenced since my first trip to WDW ever was in late 2020 during the soft opening after covid. There is an iphone app called "Food&Wine" (sort of a gray icon with a red & and a white wine glass) that is free and super detailed with festival offerings. They don't have the Flower & Garden lists up quite yet but when they do i would recommend going through and flagging the items you want to have! it's a really cool app and you can see the price totals for everything on your wish list and then you can see people's ratings and photos as well. And when you leave a rating you get a passport stamp which is fun as well - i like to try and get my stamps from around the world at each festival!

Heigh-Ho, Everyone! I'm Madison from Houston, TX and while I'm fairly new to experiencing Disney World I'm loving getting into all the details and various things to do in the parks and resours to Ear Scouts had been super helpful in that regard! I never experienced any of the Disney parks as a kid and went on a Family trip to Disneyland a few years ago when i was well into my 20's but I absolutely loved it - which suprised me because I grew up with season passes to Astroworld and really thought I didn't like theme parks at all! When I saw the Imagineering Story in 2020 I realized what it was that I loved about the parks - it's the attention to detail and the immersive experience! I did a trip with my dad to Disney World in late 2020 right after the park reopening and even though the dining and other experiences were limited it was amazing to experience it for the first time with limited crowds. I went back earlier this year for a quick bday trip for myself and i've decided to become a passholder for just a year since i have a lot of airline points to use and love the idea of taking smaller but more frequent trips... there is so much to see! I'm currently planning a big adults only family trip with my parents and siblings coming up in the next week so I've been planning like crazy and the information from Ear Scouts has been super helpful! I'm looking forward to having planning support and being able to help others in this forum! Disney Adults truly are the most friendly :) Any other non-florida resident passholders out there? Any tips or tricks you recommend to make the most of it?

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful - and i didn't think of the sheets! And yes everyone is on the reservation, and we technically fit per the room capacity it's just about comfort level.

I certainly haven't eaten everywhere but I would highly recommend Spice Road Table - it's almost tapas style so if you want a lot or you want to snack it's a good option! I loved the Beirgarten in the Germany pavilion but it's an all you can eat so maybe not what you're looking for. On my last trip i did Be Our Guest for my bday and i wasn't impressed for the cost so def skip that one. I've heard good things about Nomad and will be going on an upcoming trip but haven't been there yet.

Great strategy! Starting with thunder mountain in MK is good since that land isn't open to the early entry folks so you should be good there. I'm assuming you're coming in through the main gate at EPCOT? if so I would rope drop test track or Frozen (but sounds like Test Track may be more of the type of ride you and your daughters would want to prioritize). I would also say that if you don't want to pay for a ILL for 7dwarves (it's a nice ride for kids but i'm not sure everyone needs to prioritize, just based on preference) - if you want to save money and it's not that important to you i wouldn't do the ILL for 7Dwarves and take my chances with the line being short at the end of the night durring the fireworks. just a thought!

Like the others said I would ride Remy first then if the wait isn't that long you can do frozen without much of a wait... if Remy's wait is pretty long when you get there (i.e. you arrive for early entry but you're pretty far back in the crowd) then you may want to go to frozen but you'll be behind those that were closer coming in through the main gate. Let us know what you end up doing and how it goes!

I have a question for everyone - i'm going with my family next week (my parents and all of us kids who are adults) and we have 2 rooms at all-star Sports. We're traveling on a budget to ensure everyone could afford to go so we'll have 4 people in each room, which means 2 of my brothers (the unlucky single ones lol) will need to share a bed, which they would rather not do. Does anyone know if the resort can provide a cott or air matress? I've heard some do this but i'm not sure about value resorts... i'm also thinking of just ordinger a cheap air matress on amazon and having it delivered there haha.

I was staying at all-star Music back in April and also tried to rope drop Remy - I was at the very front of the "rope drop" line by the Seas with Nemo and friends and walked as quickly as i could but the line was 55 minuete by the time I got there (and then the ride went down for 45 min so it was a wasted rope drop for me). I would recommend either finding a way to go in through the international gateway or do genie+ and grab a LL for it first thing. If you go the LL route you can rope drop something like Frozen or test track very easily. Either way let us know what you do and how it goes :)

I'm headed to Disney World next week and your content has been so helpful! I've been on my own before but i'm traveling with my whole family this time so there was so much more to plan and research.