WDW Tips and Bobs

Let Us Help You Plan Your Next Orlando Holiday...

Whether its Disney World, Universal Orlando or travel tips we're here to help. We hope we can make planning your next Orlando holiday that little bit more enjoyable with some Tips and Bobs we have picked up along the way!
Expect dining recommendations for varied budgets, accommodation tips to suit your travel party, our favourite things to do (not just the parks!) and lots of different things we hope will help you when planning your trip.
We love Orlando, Walt Disney World and Universal so we hope to help make you love it too by making the most of your holiday!

Need Answers Now?

Contact us for free on Instagram for your personalised Tips and Bobs for your travel party.

https://www.instagram.com/wdwtipsandbobs/



Whispering Canyon Cafe

So our first planned meal of the trip was breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe. The service was absolutely brilliant and the menu was really varied. We ordered various things off the menu as well as a mimosa flight each. The omelette and the mimosa flight were the favourites around the table (especially the blood orange mimosa!). The Carnivore skillet was delicious although it's probably better suited as a lunch dish than breakfast. 10/10 though and we would definitely return! It wasn't a cheap breakfast (hold that thought as we did return to ihop on our trip!) at around $50 a head but that would have been a lot cheaper had we not been drinking, and honestly we found it to be worth every penny.

Let's get planning!

A couple of weeks ago, we put together a draft plan to present to Lou's family ahead of our trip in October.
All of the exact days etc are still subject to change as we don't know park opening hours or dates that the Halloween events at Universal and Disney are on, but it's a rough guide of how we plan to fit 5 of the Disney parks and the 2 main Universal parks into just a week!
Here's an example of one of the days (featuring our absolute favourite - Jellyrolls!).

An update on our 2023 trip and how we chose our accommodation along with some top Tips on what to consider when you book.

Read more

Some of the 'need to know' information you should most definitely know before planning your first trip to Orlando!

Read more

Onsite or Offsite?

This was the view from our hotel room at the Holiday Inn at Disney Springs. It's a Disney Partner Hotel and we absolutely loved it. It had everything we wanted from a hotel and we're planning on going back next year.

Our Favourite Disney Rides

Expedition Everest

Animal Kingdom

Tower of Terror

Hollywood Studios

Crush 'n' Gusher

Typhoon Lagoon

Budget Friendly Places to Eat

There's countless affordable restaurants just outside of Disney if you look for them - you really don't have to break the bank as long as you don't have your heart set on eating onsite. We've got lots to recommend but one that was probably at most a 15 minute walk from our hotel was ihop! I (Cathy) decided it's where I wanted to go for my birthday breakfast and I wasn't disappointed! It was quick, tasty and actually really cheap too. It's not the most fancy place you'll find to eat at, but we were really happy with it.

Memory Maker

If you're booking a Disney holiday through the official website or if you book a package through a travel agent, you're most likely going to have the Memory Maker included. If you book each part of your holiday separately, this will be something that you can purchase at an extra cost.
Is it worth it?

If you are travelling solo or as a pair, absolutely yes. With your Memory Maker, you will have all of your ride photos automatically linked to your Walt Disney World app via your ticket or magic band, just by scanning them as you enter the ride. There are also countless PhotoPass spots around the parks where there are cast members there specifically to capture your magical moments, for example shots in front of the castle etc. If you're doing your holiday on a budget, you could absolutely ask people to take these photos for you on your phones or cameras to save the extra cost, however we probably wouldn't be without it now. Over our 2 week holiday, we ended up with hundreds of photos which we treasure now and the ease of not having to worry about getting pictures together was invaluable to us.


Tips and Bobs Recommends...

Garden Grill at EPCOT
For $42, Garden Grill offers an 'all you care to eat' style breakfast in a slow rotating restaurant that offers you views of Living with the Land, which also offers character meet and greets while you dine! We booked an early reservation which allowed us early entry into the park and can honestly say it was worth every single penny! We varied our dining a lot between onsite restaurant reservations, quick service meals, off site dining and self catering options from the local supermarket. We had fresh fruit salad from the shop for breakfast in our hotel room almost every single day because we did our holiday on a budget (also the fruit salad was incredible), so this was one of only two mornings we ate out for breakfast. As part of this dining experience you meet Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale while you're eating your absolute feast of a breakfast. Drinks aren't included in the price but that's ok because inclusive of the price is a platter of sausages, scrambled egg, bacon, little potatoes and Mickey waffles (which you can request more of if you want more of anything), as well as a gorgeous fruit salad and a huge, delicious cinnamon bun. I can't even explain in words how incredible the cinnamon bun was - I would eat it again right now if I could!
While you're eating, the characters are walking round all of the tables and you get some really good quality interactions with them. We had lots of laughs with Mickey during our reservation. I was also given a birthday card signed by all of the characters because we went a couple of days after my birthday which was a very cute touch.
We couldn't recommend this highly enough and I would encourage anyone to do this! I always swore I wouldn't be someone that enjoyed character experiences but it was such good fun and not to mention the food was incredible - it was worth every penny!

Celebrating in Walt Disney World

If there's one thing Walt Disney World are absolutely amazing at, it's helping to celebrate your special day! Whether it's your engagement, birthday, anniversary, anything - they will help make your day extra special.You can get celebration pins from guest services (which we did on Cathy's birthday - Cathy wore a 'my birthday' pin and Lou wore an 'I'm celebrating Cathy's Birthday' pin.
They just do it in such a magical way too - every time we scanned our magic bands for rides, the cast member would say 'Happy Birthday Cathy!' and when walking around the parks we were greeted by so many cast members. It was just amazing - Disney just make you feel so special on those magical days!
Also there is of course no guarantee but you might just get sprinkled with a little bit of pixie dust - when buying a pretzel in the Germany pavilion, the cast members noticed it was Cathy's birthday and talked in German to eachother (not knowing of course that Cathy is German and could understand the conversation!) pointing out that it was her birthday and agreeing to give her the pretzel for free. When we say this made Cathy's birthday it's not an understatement! Little touches like that just make your day even more special (who knew that was even possible when you're already spending your special day in a Disney park?!)

 

© All rights reserved