*Please note that this is my own personal advice and is in no way associated with the Walt Disney World Resort, the Disney company, or any of their partners.

You are finally going on your dream vacation to the Walt Disney World resort in Orlando, FL! Hooray! You have probably saved for months, if not years to be able to take your kids to meet Mickey Mouse. Here are a few pointers on avoiding the those lengthy lines!

1) This might seem obvious but if you are able to visit during the tourist off-season, do it! Off-season is typically during the months of September, October, January, and February. Do not plan your trip at the same time as any national holiday or spring break. People think that everyone will be home celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families... guess what.. they are not. They are swarming the Magic Kingdom and braving lines that make the wait at the DMV seem pathetic.

2) Go when the park opens! Do not arrive in the middle of the day! Park open is at 9:00am at all four theme parks, every day of the year. Fastpass (which I will get to later) is on a first come first serve basis and will probably be gone for those big attractions by about lunch time.

3) Change your eating schedule! When do you usually eat lunch? If you are like most of America lunch is around noon and dinner is around 6:00pm. Quick service food locations at Disney World generally begin serving from their lunch menu around 10:30. I tend to eat around 11 for lunch and wait until 7 for dinner. The lines for the attractions are shorter when the bulk of guests are eating between noon-1pm and 5-6pm. The line are also shorter during parade times. I do not recommend skipping any parades, however, if there are 2 scheduled performances of Spectromagic (the light parade in the Magic Kingdom) plan on attending the second parade and hitting the big rides during the first.

4) Disney's Fastpass! Use it! Love it! Fastpass is a free service (YES FREE) offered to all guests at Disney World. Unlike Disney's distant cousins (ie Seaworld and Universal Studios) who charge for similar services Fastpass is included with every ticket (see my hub on ticketing for tips on where to get the best deal!)To be sure Fastpass will save you time. You walk up to kiosks located near every major attraction at Disney World. Put your ticket in the machine. It will spit out a piece of paper with a time frame on it. Come back to the attraction during that time frame (with that piece of paper) and you will be given admission into the Fastpass queue. Your wait is generally only about 15 minutes as opposed to the stand bye line which can average a couple hours for some attractions on busy days. Every member in your party needs their own Fastpass. Tickets that did not pass through the Disney turnstiles that day are not eligible and the computers know it. So if you save old tickets thinking that you will be able to get extra Fastpasses, you are wrong. You are also limited to how many of these Fastpassses you can hold at a time. Generally you are allowed one Fastpass every two hours or after the time frame given has passed, whichever comes first. The idea is that you will "make a reservation" for one attraction and brave the insanely long line at another. I highly suggest getting Fastpasses for the following attractions:

Magic Kingdom: Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Peter Pan's Flight.

EPCOT: Soarin' and Test Track.

Disney's Hollywood Studios: Toy Story Midway Mania, Rocking Roller Coaster featuring Aerosmith, and Tower of Terror.

Disney's Animal Kingdom: Expedition Everest

Keep in mind that Fastpass is available at additional attractions but the above listed are usually the busiest! Another thing to remember about Fastpass is that they are on a first come first serve basis. Think of them like reservations in a restaurant. Once the eatery runs out of tables they cannot make anymore reservations.

5) Go to the "hard ticket events" or take advantage of "Extra Magic Hours" for guests staying at the Disney hotels. "Hard Ticket" are after hour events that require a different ticket from tickets sold during the day. These events include: Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party which runs from Septemeber-November on select nights, Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party running from November-January, "Night of Joy" a christian rock weekend in September, or Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party in the spring. These tickets usually run about $60 an event and are limited. On a busy day the Magic Kingdom may have 75,000 guests during the day. For one of these events there are generally only 15,000-25,000 tickets sold and all the big attractions operate. "Extra Magic Hours" refer to times when the parks may be open a few hours later or an hour early, but only for people who are staying at the Disney hotels. The number of people staying at the resort is tiny compared to the number in attendance at the park on any given day. These hours are usually twice a week (sometimes more during busy season) at each park.

Good Luck!