The eggs made us true believers.
Back recently from 5 fun days at Disney World. Yes, my kids made me ride the Tea Cups and of course we had a blast at Animal Kingdom, but what I really want to tell you about is a phone app called Lines. There are a billion Disney advice websites, blogs and now apps. This one is a companion to the popular Unofficial Guides to Disney and their website Touring Plans. These people are absolutely crazy – and I love them!
Part of the fun of planning a vacation is reading up about where you're going – especially when it's something huge like Disney. I'll check books, blogs, whatever. I read the Unofficial Guide for a few minutes a day for weeks (really) and checked out the crowd calendar on TouringPlans. But the big breakthrough came about a month before we left, when I discovered Lines on my iPhone.
Here's why it's brilliant: in addition to the plans and information, they have a chat feature. Ask a question, any question, about Disney World and you'll get an answer in minutes. Staffers pop in and out but for the most part, it's just people who are very passionate and knowledgable about Disney.
You don't have to participate; just reading the chat is helpful. Never would have known about Jedi Training Academy without Lines. Thanks to the info, and the provided sign-up plan, my 6-year old fought and defeated Darth Vader. (We're so proud).
I also got great advice about food, rides, fast passes and bug spray. We were the heroes of the Chip and Dale Campfire because we brought Off, thanks to Liners' advice. Even the Disney Cast Member (that's what they call staff) was happy to use some of ours! By the way, the campfire is a really fun, nightly event - and it's free.
After a few days, tired of our in-room granola bars, my husband started asking for a "real" breakfast. He had laughed at how often I was checking the phone, but now he wanted me to ask "my friends" where we could get a good omelet. My daughter also asked to see the fancy Grand Floridian and Polynesian hotels, so here's what I wrote:
They also provide ride wait times and will tell you how crowded each park is. I'm telling you though, the genius here is that these folks have created a vibrant, active community – and thankfully, they're very happy to help the rest of us. Much appreciated, Liners!
We’ve gone to Disney ever year for the past ten years and one of the things we learned to avoid lines early was to skip the parades. At Magic Kingdom, while everyone’s oogling the parade first thing in the a.m., we run past the crowd to the back of the park and get on the rides. NO WAIT !!
Great read, Stacy! We love going to Disney and I found the Undercover apps to help with both that park AND Universal Studios Orlando when it comes to wait times, fast passes, etc. Glad to see Benny defeat Darth Vader. I saw a hilarious YouTube video of a little girl Padawan at DisneyLand’s Jedi Training Academy who totally bowed down to Darth Vader and shook her head yes when he asked her to join the Dark Side, LOL! Good times…good times. I enjoy your blog and your show on WBT, thanks for sharing.
Are you serious? You’re impressed with this group of clowns on Lines chat because they told you where you can get coffee at WDW. I suppose they would be heroes if they directed you to the bathroom to drain your bladder of coffee later. It’s the biggest tourist destination in the world, and they helped you get coffee…..hooray.
awesome tips, i’m gonna add that app before our next disney trip. my kid got to do the star wars thing too and she had so much fun. did you get a GAC? those are the best.
(ps lol @ david’s comment, that was performance art, right?)
David. Have you tried the coffee at Disney? Terrible brown liquid. Gives coffee a bad name. Kona Cafe is one of the few places with decent coffee on property. Do your homework before you criticize Stacey.
I enjoy your blog. thanks for sharing an awesome tips.
David O, what on earth are you doing on this blog? Stacey is all about positive thinking and sharing helpful info with others. I know when we took our kids to Disney I would very much have appreciated any helpful hints.
We just got back from 5 days at the Walt Disney World Parks and having this app, per your recommendation, was awesome. The park was not very busy, but many a time, we wanted to head to a ride not in our immediate vicinity and the app told us to go for it because the ride wait was short or to hold off, such as when we were going to head to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom and the app let us know it had just closed, and then later let us know when it was back open. We didn’t waste precious time. My mom and stepdad are WDW cast members and were also very impressed by this app. I also loved being a part of the data. If a ride wait was listed for 30 minutes (for example) but when I got there and found it was not accurate, I could enter the new time. You can also time your actual wait using the app and then have that entered. Very nice. And by the way, if you can go in November, before Thanksgiving week, I highly recommend it.