At some point in every parent's life, it happens. It may even happen to you this summer. Your child, whom you've fed, clothed, read to and otherwise lovingly nurtured, realizes all you have done for him. He turns to you and with heartfelt tears in his eyes and a tremor of anticipation in his voice simply says: "I gotta have more. Take me to Disney World."
For some parents, this is a moment of pure joy. They have either been socking away money for this blessed event or are happy to find a way to spend all that cash that's been taking up space in the bank. These people immediately ring up their travel agents and book a weeklong resort stay.
For the rest of us, who (A) are not Mouse manic; (B) do have "some" vacation money set aside; and (C) do want to offer our child this Goofyized slice of the American dream, but for a limited time only because Disney makes us a little, well, tired, there is hope: You can do Walt Disney World in just one day and still have an amazing experience. My two kids and I did it and had a no-regrets, all-fun vacation in which we accomplished everything we wanted to.
Here's how to make the great one-day compromise happen.
1. Hold out until your kids are at least 8. There are a couple of reasons to wait until your kids age a bit. First, and I speak from experience, your son won't remember the trip if he went when he was 4, and he will begin begging when he is of school age to go again. Second, as kids mature, they need less rest and can walk more. I'm not suggesting you establish a marathon runner's pace in the amusement park, but you do want to keep the little guys moving.
2. Go during an off-season. Lines are longest and crowds most annoying June to Labor Day; Christmas to New Year's Day; the week of Presidents Day; and the end of March to the end of April. Avoid these times.
3. Pick a single park. In one day, you can do only one park really well. We picked the Magic Kingdom.
4. Develop a strategy for that park. Well before we left on our trip, we got Birnbaum's "Walt Disney World" guide and the children's version of it. We voted on our top-three Magic Kingdom rides (Space Mountain, Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad) and made a list of second-tier attractions. Then I studied the map. We decided to go straight to Space Mountain, then way across the park to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. We'd get our top three rides in first so the pressure would be off.
5. Be at the park gate when it opens. Beat the crowds. We arrived just before 9 and waited only a few minutes at the gate. We then got onto our first ride, Space Mountain, with less than a 10-minute wait. The wait time for our second ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, was almost as short. By 10 a.m., though, the park was packed.
6. Stay on Walt Disney World property. To tackle WDW in one day, I suggest you stay for two nights: Use the first night to get a good night's sleep before your long day in the park.
The clearest advantage to staying on the property is that you can use the WDW transportation system to minimize the amount of time it takes to get to a park in the morning. Did I mention there will be a lot of walking? And lines? If you drive in and park in one of the tremendously huge lots, you'll spend precious time getting from that lot to the park. WDW transportation, on the other hand, takes you from your resort to the park gates. If your hotel is a monorail ride away from the park you want to go to, it will take just a few minutes of commute time to get there. If you need to get on a bus, the ride can take up to half an hour. From some properties, you can walk to a park.
Another advantage to staying in a WDW resort is that you can buy the ticket for your park at the hotel desk the night before. (Get a one-day, one-park pass; if you decide the second day that you have enough energy/time to do a second park after you've checked out of the hotel, buy another one-day, one-park pass. This is about 20 percent cheaper than buying a two-day Ultimate Park Hopper ticket covering multiple parks that you're not going to be able to see in this limited amount of time.)
Another draw to an admittedly overpriced on-property stay is that each day, sections of one park are open up to 1½ hours early for WDW resort guests only. (Ask about this at the desk when you check in.)
7. Have a good breakfast brought to your room. Because you want to get straight to the park, you don't want to waste time doing something silly like looking for a place to eat. We ordered room service with Mickey waffles, milk and coffee. We ordered room service with Mickey waffles, milk and coffee. While I was helping one kid put on sunscreen and fix her hair, the other was chowing down, and then, vice versa.
8. Parents: Wear a small backpack. Again, you want to keep those kids walking, walking, walking so they can then stand in the long lines for the attractions. Carry light snacks, water bottles and sunscreen so you can refuel, rehydrate and re-SPF while you're in those lines.
9. FASTPASS, baby. Since 1999, some of the busiest attractions have had a free feature called FASTPASS. Use it correctly, and it rocks. You'll save loads of time. (Disney surveys show the average time saved is 1½ to two hours a day.) Here's what you do: Walk up to the desired attraction's FASTPASS booth, insert your park ticket and get a piece of paper with a return time on it. This is a window of time, usually an hour, in which you can return to this attraction and get into a very, very short priority-rider line with almost no wait time. Sound great? It is. But there are a couple of catches: After getting a FASTPASS, you must wait two hours or so before getting another one for another attraction (your FASTPASS paper will tell you when you can get your next one), so plan carefully. And, you may have to modify your park strategy.
10. Be willing to modify your park strategy. After short lines at Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, an hourlong line at Splash Mountain surprised us. We decided to FASTPASS this attraction instead of trying to ride it third as we had planned. We got our FASTPASS tickets and moved on to our second-tier attraction choices. We did those that were in the general geographic region of Splash Mountain — the Haunted Mansion, the Hall of Presidents — then went back to Splash Mountain and walked straight on without a wait. Such is the power of FASTPASS. Use it wisely.
11. Eat a late lunch. There are enough lines at WDW without adding a high-noon restaurant wait.
12. Power through bad-weather situations. If you're from some of the dryer parts of the country, you may not understand that summer rain is normal. And it does rain in Florida, especially during summer afternoons. The good news is that this tends to scare off some people, so it will cut down on the lines. My advice: Buy bright-yellow ponchos for about $5 each from any of the gift shops at WDW. Then keep those kids walking.