Have a question about planning a trip to Disney or something you’ve read here? We’re here to help! We’ve visited every Disney resort around the world, from Walt Disney World to Tokyo Disney Resort, and have stayed in nearly every Disney-owned hotel.
Many frequently asked questions we receive can be answered by reading the posts on this site. If you are curious about a certain topic, use the search feature at the top of the page. Some of our most helpful pages include the following…
If you’re trying to plan a Walt Disney World trip, visit our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide. If planning a Disneyland trip, check out our Disneyland Trip Planning Guide. If you have questions about photography or want camera recommendations, read our Photography Guide. If you want to use one of the Tom’s photos from this site on your own blog, website, etc., check out our Photo Usage page. If you have questions about Sarah’s attire, take a look at our What to Wear to Disney and Unique Disney Packing List posts.
If you can’t find a post that answers your question, please leave a comment on a relevant post, and we will do our best to reply to your question. We see all new comments, even on old posts. This is the easiest and most effective way of asking us a question. Unfortunately, we do not have time to respond to questions via email–you’re much more likely to get a response to a comment on a post.
Please note that we just two passionate Disney fans writing a blog about our experiences with advice based on those experiences in our free time. In other words, don’t expect instantaneous responses or post an ALL CAPS comment when we don’t respond to you within a day. If you don’t hear from us within a week or two, consider re-posting the comment, as we might have missed it.
We are not affiliated with The Walt Disney Company nor is this an official Disney blog, so if you have questions or complaints about a booking with Disney or anything of that sort, you’ll want to contact Disney Guest Services for that.
Thanks,
Sarah & Tom Bricker
Bonjour! Our family of 5 (kids ages 10, 7, and 1) is planning our first trip to DL this year. WeÊ»d love to go during their holiday celebration but can manage to get away only during the busiest times of the year (Nov 24 – 27, Dec 22 – 29, Jan 1 – 6). In your opinion, which is the least worst time to go? Thanks!
Hi Tom. Massive fan of Disney Tourist Blog, I’m always recommending it to friends just to read! Anyways, I was wondering if you and Sarah have any plans to stay in the treehouse villas at Saratoga Springs. I have an unwell friend and if we can get her cleared to fly from Australia I’ll be keen to check them out. Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi Tom! I am a long time reader of the blog and trip reports. We are considering a Coast-to-Coast Disney trip. Pros and Cons? Thanks so much!
I should also mention we have been to both sets of parks, DLR most recently and WDW many times. Thanks.
Just a question about your photography, Tom. Throughout your posts, you mention an affinity towards taking night time photos in Disney World. I’m visiting soon and would like to captures some night time shots as well.
Do they let you hang around and take pictures once the park closes and the guests have made their way out? Or what is your best game plan or strategy of attack when it comes to night photography in Disney World.
Thanks,
Brittany
Hi Tom! First of all, THANK YOU! Your insights and thoughtful writings are much appreciated – Keep up the great work! Would you provide me some thoughts on visiting the Disneyland Resort in the days immediately following Labor Day? I see you mentioned that may be a better time to visit due to low crowds but I noticed the parks are open 6 hours less per day (10-8) starting the day after Labor Day. I also noticed that unfortunately there seems to be no Paint the Night parades or fireworks scheduled during these days, most likely due to the parks closing at 8PM. Have you visited during these days? Are the low crowds (fingers crossed) worth the minimal operating hours as well as the lack of Fireworks/PTN Parades? Any thoughts are appreciated and again, thank you.
Hi Tom,
Any tips or advice for the Halloween on the High Seas Disney Dream cruise?
Thank you,
Kristy
I think you need to update this page https://www.disneytouristblog.com/epcot-food-wine-festival-reviews/, which talks about 2013 events soon to be announced
Looking to stay on site for our next family vacation in October 2016. Right now I see a back to school special with a 20% savings for this time of year. Historically has there been any other offers for this time of year or is the best I will expect to see?
Shaun, Tom might be busy acquiring new adventures, not to mention earning a living, so I suggest you simply type in ‘ebook Christmas’ in the Search space you can find along the margins of this blog. It’s tiny but visible if you look carefully. This will return a number of entries and I believe the ebook you desire is there free to download once you supply your email address.
My boyfriend has never been to Disney World and to the parks in the Orlando area in general, so I am surprising him with a big trip for Christmas this year! We will be visiting WDW, Universal and Legoland. I saw on one of your articles that you wrote an eBook for Christmas last year, and I was wondering if there was any way to still get access to that? I have signed up for the email list already. Thank you!
Do rooms currently not listed as available at Disneyworld resorts tend to open up nearer the date? Am considering upgrading existing tickets during upcoming trip to annual passes if we can visit a few more specific times within the next year. Specifically the October 15-23 offerings are rather anemic, my search returning mostly value rooms. This appears to be the case even when I search for rooms without the Fall promotion. Our travel agent usually comes up with results similar to what I find on my own. Thinking that ‘bounce back’ offers might contain broader choices? My ‘chats’ with representatives online haven’t proven fruitful,.. I guess my question is whether what is offered online is the enduring truth or a snapshot of some calculation that will evolve,.. thanks, Rob
Any chance your Aulani trip reports 2-4 will be posted sometime? Would LOVE to read them. They would be extremely helpful for our trip we’re starting to plan. Thank you for ALL of your hard work on this awesome site. It’s the best one out there imo!
Hi Tom,
I love your website and have used so much of the information you provide to plan our upcoming trip. Here is my dilemma– thought i was picking an ideal week by planning our family’s trip for the week of 11/10-11/20, We had Thursday 11/17 planned for the full family day at the Magic Kingdom as different family members are joining us at different points during the trip but seeing the shortened hours and hearing about the IAAPA convention I am wondering if it is worth it. I am OK with the shorter hours because we will just push through my youngest’s naptime instead of leaving and coming back , but how do you think the crowds will be on that date?
Thank you.
hello,
we enjoy reading your blog, and as well seasoned Disney travelers . we have a trip planned for july of 2016. and were curious as to whether parksavers.com is a safe place to buy tickets. because they have an offer that seems too good to be true purchase a 4 day park hopper for $389 get 3 days free for a total of 7 days. which we need 6 of for adults. which would save us nearly $400 for the total cost!
Alrighty Tom,
I looked in the News section and couldn’t find it and looked on the Facebook page and couldn’t find it so I’m going to ask this here….Your thoughts on the latest rumor that Tower of Terror in Disneyland will be replaced/remodeled into a Guardians of the Galaxy ride? Is there any validity to this rumor? Also, your thoughts on this happening to the Tower of Terror at Disney World? Personally, I wouldn’t be able to forgive Disney if they did this, although I would understand their motivations for doing so.
From what I understand, it’s only seriously being considered for DCA, not DHS. I doubt that it will happen. I think reasonable minds will prevail.
For what it’s worth, I think it’s an awful idea, and that they would even consider it shows how clueless management at times.
Hi Tom and Sarah:)
We are anxiously awaiting your Aulani 2-4 trip reports! Is there any way you would consider posting them? I know other people have commented that they’d love to read them, too!
I know you’re slammed, but if you could somehow find the time, it’d mean a lot and be extremely helpful as we are going there next year!:):)
Thanks for reading this, considering the request, and for this rockin’ blog! It is such a HUGE help!
Sincerely, Beth
I bet a lot of readers would enjoy a post on here about Sara’s favorite healthier items at each of the resorts. I’ve seen them frequently mentioned in your restaurant reviews, and I would love some sort of master post or healthy eating guide. I searched on the blog for a post of this nature and didn’t see one, though I may have missed it.
Fantastic, you guys really do a terrific job. I need some advice. We booked our trip for November 13 – 20 last January. We missed out on free dining but two days ago we got an email with a discount code for 20% off our resort. The email stated for booking between now and like June or something. Yesterday so one day after we got the code our travel agent called disney and they said it is no longer available in other words sold out. This promotion was not released to the public and I am sure many got the same email but still. If it is open for booking for months how can it be sold out in less than 24 hours. Disney’s suggestion is to call every day in case of cancellations.
Two questions:
1 – Is it realistic that cancellations will open up spots for this promotion?
2 – Is there a chance the promotion will be released publically opening up more rooms?
I really think Disney should not even offer discounts if they are so limited to capacity that it is not even worth trying to book. It feels like a waste of time.
Any advice?
I can’t speak to this specific promotion, but the same rules apply generally to all promotions, so here goes…
1. Yes, absolutely. When *any* promo first becomes available, there are a lot of people who have their travel agent book free temporary holds immediately, to give them time to think about the trip; these expire a few days later and at that point, you’ll see a decent amount of availability open up.
2. What’s possible here is that Disney re-evaluates its projections for room bookings during certain timeframes, and releases more rooms to a public offer, or releases a new PIN code offer (what you received). I doubt they’d release more rooms to the old PIN code, but I could be wrong.
Hey Tom,
My partner and I really love your blog and I am constantly accessing it for more info, or to keep myself from going crazy while waiting for our next Disney Vacation time to come. 🙂
In regards to Tokyo Disney Resort, we have a few questions that I couldn’t find the answer in your blog, or even on their official website. Their page is a nightmare in comparison to the Disney World and Disneyland Paris ones.
So, we are planning to spend 3 days/2 nights in Tokyo Disney Resort, staying at the MiraCosta Hotel. We would like to stay longer, but the plan is to also visit some cities in Japan, so we are hoping that 3 days can be enough if we follow your tips and itinerary very well.
My questions are:
1) If we do stay at one of the 3 Disney’s Hotel (MiraCosta most likely), is Breakfast usually included on the price?
2) Is there any sort of Disney Official Package that includes Hotel + Park tickets (like the USA and Europe parks offers), or the only way to pay for those is by buying/reserving it individually?
3) Finally, as we are planning to visit both Japan and the two Disney Parks, would you say that the month of June would be good as a time to visit Japan in general? We read on your blog that June should be emptier in the parks, but in your experience, is June also a good month to visit Japan and the other cities?
Thanks a lot for your time,
-Matheus
1) Nope.
2) These are offered in Japan, but not on the English version of the site (at least to my knowledge).
3) June is good if it doesn’t rain. You’re sort of rolling the dice with that. Here’s more info on when we recommend visiting: https://www.disneytouristblog.com/tokyo-disneyland-crowds-tips/ The same “rules” that apply to TDR apply to any tourist spots in Japan. If anything, they apply *more* to the temples, shrines, etc., because those are bigger tourist spots.
Hope you have a great trip!
That’s great! Thanks a lot for your reply! We really appreciate it! 🙂
Cheers.
hey are you guys on twitter or instagram? Would love to follow you guys! I’ve been to all the Disney Parks too so I love to see photos from others who have done the same!
Hi Tom,
Love your blog and always check it out before a Disney trip! We are fortunate enough to be traveling to China this summer and are planning on spending a day at Shanghai Disneyland at the end of June. Do you have any inside information about the park you can share with us?
Thanks!