Have you been planning for years to take that trip to Disney World. Are your kids are now at that special age where they still believe in the magic that is Disney. Have you saved up the cash and are ready for the trip of a lifetime.

Then you need to learn a few tricks before heading off to Disney World and wasting much of your hard earned money.

The first trick for the savvy Disney vacationer is to check on e-bay three weeks before the trip looking for park tickets. Never buy single day single park tickets. The park-hopper ticket is the way to go. This ticket will allow you change parks during the days of your vacation. You can leave one park and go to another to avoid the crowds.

Get to the parks early in the day. Most families like to sleep in and enjoy a late breakfast. So even with the parks opening early in the day they are relatively empty first thing in the morning. Ride the park rides at the back of the park first. It may take a while to walk into the park but most other patrons stop at the first rides and ride those. As the park starts to fill they move to the back rides. Utilize this time to enjoy some of the popular rides at the back of the park and save your fastpass tickets.

At the start of the day do not grab fast pass tickets, wait until the park starts to see more traffic. You need to be aware that there is a time limit on the frequency that you can grab a fast pass ticket. So you cannot obtain another fast pass ticket until the designated time, this time will be on your fast pass ticket. Use these sparingly to pick the choice rides. While you are waiting on your fast pass ticket time enjoy other areas of the parks. When you have to opportunity to pick up your next fast pass then do so immediately. Only at this point can you use the original ticket.

Make sure that you carry a backpack with you into the park. This pack will serve you well during the day. You should pack in water, and drinks in amounts that are comfortable to carry. This will save you dearly during the day. The cost of drinks and supplies inside the park walls is extravagant.

If you have two adults with you then you will need to team up to allow the kids to get signatures from the characters. Once you are ? of the way to a character one of the adults needs to go to the next line to wait for the character while the kids get the first signature. This will dramatically increase your time through the lines for characters.

Make sure you carry a marker to place on your car for the afternoon return trip. The best marker that I have found is those that your local sports teams have for the cars. Virtually everyone has seen the car flag. Purchase two of these prior to the trip to display on your car. This will make it simple to find your car in the afternoon after a hard day in the parks.

Finally, relax and enjoy your vacation. Disney is an exciting trip for you and the kids. If things don't go exactly as planned just let it go and enjoy.

Charles Cater