First things first, before you even begin to leave for the airport, find out the WDW extra magic am hours for the duration of your holiday (this information can be found on the WDW website). Trust me, if you're not staying at a Disney hotel then you do not want to be going to any 6 of the parks that have extra magic am hours (I will explain about the extra hours more in depth later) because the park fills up very quickly with Disney hotel guests. Universal also has early entry for on sight guests but only Islands of Adventure and their early openings are every day (as far as I know).
WDW theme parks open at 9am throughout the Summer and their closing times vary from day to day. You need to be getting to the parks at least 30 mins to 45 mins before opening, or Rope Drop as its known to most, this is so you're not at the back of the crowd because this crowd can get very big during summer time.
Once you're in the park, I'd highly recommend heading for the back of the park first, then you can make your way to the front, covering all the rides you and your family would like to go on. For the most popular rides, I'd suggest getting a fast pass. Fast passes are at NO extra cost and are a part of your park entry ticket. Fast passes are available to EVERYONE, so you don't have to be a Disney guest. These help me and my father a lot to make the most of our day at the parks. Fast passes are not available at the water parks.
Make sure you do the rides with outside lines before 11am and after 3pm (with the exception of the water parks) as this is the hottest period of the day during summer time. A lot of rides have indoor, air conditioned lines, so these are fine during the middle of the day.
During your day at the parks I'd suggest you eat every 4 hours, even if its only a snack and drink plenty of fluids (doesn't have to be cold drinks, coffee and tea are just as hydrating) but make sure you have a bottle of water on your person.
Take a break now and again, the park won't just disappear while your there, there is really no need to rush around in the heat just to do everything.
These tips go for all WDW parks.
Now some tips for Universal Studios:
There are two parks; Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios.
IoA opens at 8am every morning (unless stated). With this park I highly recommend you go the back of the park and start with the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, queueing up for that in the middle of the day is NOT fun! And it gets really busy as the day goes on. Same as the Disney parks, work you're way to the front.
It's a bit different for Universal, it opens at 9am but don't start from the back, start at the front. With their new rides, Hollywood Rip Ride Rock It, Despicable Me and Transformers 3D, which are near the entrance of the park, the lines get LONG in the afternoon, so start with those then work your way to the back.
Universal does have a fast pass system, Express Pass, but these COST money if you're not staying on sight. They are very expensive and not worth it really. It's really mainly a waiting game at Universal but for most of the rides the lines don't get that much of a wait.
I hope this post has helped anyone with planning their days at Disney and Universal.
I will post more about the extra magic hours in the next post.
Until then,
Emily
Below is a fast pass for Splash Mountain. I will do a post dedicated to Fast Passes later on.
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