Indianapolis (WISH)- Disney is not like any other trip. There is SO much to think about it when getting ready for this magical adventure.

Our own Amber Hankins’ adventure begins in November, as she and her family are headed to Disney World for the very first time!

To help her prepare, Magnified Cruise One Travel Agent Katie Awwad shares some “tips and tricks” to get the most out of her experience.

First up? Katie says there are two ways to approach the parks. Learning which best fits your family is KEY before you show up at the park.

Here’s more from Katie, herself.

The two styles are ROPE DROP or SLEEPING BEAUTY.

1: Sleeping Beauty Method

I have many clients that fit this style. This style is called Sleeping Beauty because it means rest is key to your family. So families that use this way to approach the parks will sleep in and get to the park sometime AFTER it opens. Most people come to the park around 10-11am so they would be entering. Pros to this method would be rest and not rushing. Con to this method would be not getting a ton done and not getting all the rides done. There could be a feeling of missing out with this method. It is really important to know what the goal is of the trip and if you really want to accomplish everything.

2: ROPE DROP : My favorite and really what I teach my clients.

This style is waking up and getting on resort transportation to the parks BEFORE the park opens. This makes really early days but guest will get to the park while sections of the park are roped off. You can actually enter the park before it opens and wait by the ropes until the park opens. Guest that do this will choose a very popular ride and rush to that ride as soon as the ropes drop. Pros to this method are allowing guest to ride almost everything at the park because they stay ahead of the crowds. Cons would be waking up really early for each park day and rushing to get to the next ride.

Either way is fine to do Disney. The magical thing about Disney is that you can really cater to your family and know what method would make the trip full of memories and magic.

Travel agents can help with park plans with either method so you can still have a plan for each day. You can not do that parks with out a plan.

Speaking of parks and plans. The next step would be choosing how many park days and order of your park days.

Some things to consider …

1) There are 4 parks at Walt Disney World. ( Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Epcot, Animal Kingdom)

Every family has a different amount of days they want to be in the park. The most I have booked was 10 parks days for one family.

2) It is not a great idea to do a park on a travel day. I would suggest leaving travel days for swimming at the resort.

3) Considering a rest day within your trip. Days are so LONG and with young children it can be hard to keep pushing them to the max with out a rest day. (Pictures of kids sleeping)

Staying on property verses at Walt Disney Parks and Resort

• There are options to stay at a good neighbor (Disney approved) hotel. These seem like
  they would be cheaper , but usually that’s not the case because the value resorts have great rates.
• Things to consider …
  1) Early extra magic hours are for resort guest only. This is a time where you can enter the park before guest that are staying off property.
  2) WD Resorts have free transportation to the parks. Off property hotels might have transportation but it’s limited times and usually cost money. Sometimes you need arrange times prior verses knowing transportation is available at all times. Buses are about every 20 minutes at the WD Resorts. Skyliner and Monorail are more frequent.

Stay tuned for “Part 2” of Katie’s Disney tips, coming your way later next month!