Disney World is packed, but lines can be short — if you follow several tips

It's been 17 years since my past travel to Disney World.  

How overmuch could person changed?

The parks are inactive fantastic. But the days of hopping aimlessly from thrust to thrust are gone. Now, a palmy travel — defined present arsenic minimizing clip spent lasting successful lines — involves much walking, adopting Disney's tech and carrying a mobile telephone with an awesome artillery life.   

Download the My Disney Experience app and enactment it beforehand and halfway connected your phone's location screen. It's cardinal to the archetypal rule of unrecorded avoidance astatine Disney World: purchasing Genie+, a work that allows visitors to publication "Lightning Lanes," which supply one-time entree to shorter lines for astir attractions.  

The work starts astatine $15 per time per person, according to Disney's website. But it averaged astir $24 a time during my travel implicit the Memorial Day play successful May.

Is this excessively pricey? It depends connected your budget. But I estimation the work saved america astatine slightest 4 hours successful enactment per day, making it a bargain successful my opinion.     

Extra cost: About $145 regular for a household of six.

After purchasing Genie+, you tin commencement reserving spaces connected attractions for your radical — a process which begins promptly astatine 7 a.m. Starting immoderate clip aft this, adjacent by a fewer minutes, tin hold booking windows by hours.

I served arsenic the booking constituent idiosyncratic for my family, a indispensable but thankless job. Duties see weighing attraction waiting times, thrust popularity and proximity to your existent determination to find the champion and highest usage of your adjacent Lightning Lane — which tin beryllium utilized lone 1 astatine a time, oregon each 2 hours.

Disney estimates visitors tin use Lightning Lanes to participate 2 to 3 attractions per day, but connected galore days we booked 5 times that amount.

This means the constituent idiosyncratic has the privilege of explaining to the household wherefore they're walking past favorites — "Aladdin" and "Peter Pan" for the kids, "The Hall of Presidents" for the hubby — to instrumentality vantage of a uncommon parting successful crowds connected the different broadside of the park.

This strategy saves clip successful line, but results successful much walking — immoderate days we averaged 25,000 steps. But I'll instrumentality walking implicit lasting successful place immoderate day.

Tip: As soon arsenic you cheque into a Lightning Lane, publication the adjacent one. You don't request to hold until the thrust is completed.

This whitethorn beryllium arguable advice, but to prevention clip and simplify scheduling, see skipping "virtual queues."  

Currently, only 2 attractions successful each 4 taxable parks usage them: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind and Tron Lightcycle/Run.

There is nary standby, oregon standard, enactment for these rides. So galore visitors vie for spots successful the virtual queue, which are free. Bookings unfastened doubly regular — and are often gone wrong seconds.

We tried and failed to get slots connected Tron astatine 7 a.m. connected the archetypal time of our trip, utilizing 1 phone. At 1 p.m., we tried again utilizing 3 phones — 1 was successful. The booking, which we monitored passim the afternoon, was yet called astir 7 p.m. By that time, the kids were fatigued, and the enactment was the longest 1 of the full day.   

Spoiled by Lightning Lanes, we ditched virtual queues for the remainder of the trip, opting to bargain Individual Lightning Lanes for these 2 rides, positive 4 others wherever the work is available. These are one-time purchases to entree shorter lines.

By nary means is this the cheapest mode to go, but this strategy allowed america to prime acceptable thrust times, freed up clip spent monitoring my phone, and is easier to publication than virtual queues (especially for guests staying successful a Disney-affiliated hotel).

Extra cost: It varies, but astir $12 to $20 per attraction.

If paying for these services doesn't beryllium well, comparison them with the outgo to publication a private VIP tour. Tours scope from $450 to $900 per hour, depending connected the season, and person a seven-hour minimum. Note: this terms does not see parkland tickets.

"For those with the fund to bash it, it is the top thing," said Jonathan Alder, CEO of the question agency Jonathan's Travels. Tours usher visitors betwixt parks and assistance entree to backstage entrances and shorter lines, helium said.

"I'd accidental 2 parks successful a monolithic time with 13 miles of walking connected mean is what you extremity up getting without a guide," helium said. But with one: "I've done each large rides astatine each 4 parks and lone had astir 10 miles of walking."

Extra cost: From $3,150, but rates tin easy beryllium treble this.

We entered these lines portion we were betwixt Lightning Lanes oregon wanted to thrust the aforesaid thrust doubly (Lightning Lanes tin lone beryllium utilized erstwhile per day). But we waited for opportune moments — erstwhile the parks opened successful the greeting oregon during nightly firework displays — to bash so.

Staying successful a Disney Resort — there are much than 25 successful total — gives visitors a 30-minute caput commencement successful the mornings (and occasional extended evening hours arsenic well). This whitethorn not look similar much, but it allowed america to rapidly tackle astatine slightest 1 large attraction a time without battling large crowds.

In galore instances, I watched radical with MagicBands sail past visitors who were searching for the close surface connected their mobile phones to participate Lightning Lanes.

They besides prevention clip erstwhile you're buying nutrient and merchandise. Plus, they treble arsenic a souvenir that the kids tin deterioration agelong aft leaving the parks.

Disclosure: NBCUniversal owns CNBC and Universal Studios, which is simply a rival of Disney World.