trip planning Archives - Buster and the Banshee

Jan

19

2026

Walt Disney World Vacation Basics FAQs

Planning a Walt Disney World vacation can feel overwhelming... especially if it’s your first time or it’s been a while since your last visit. Between choosing the right dates, figuring out how long to stay, and deciding where to start, it’s easy to feel like you’re already behind. This Walt Disney World Vacation Basics FAQ is here to answer the most common Disney World trip planning questions in plain English. These are the real questions families ask when they’re just getting started, based on what we see come up again and again in Disney fan groups and planning forums. You don’t need…

Mar

01

2025

By buster

Who Has the BEST Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar?

Trip Planningtrip planning, walt disney world

One common topic that comes up in WDW chat groups is "Who has the best WDW Crowd Calendar?" People use these calendars to help determine when to schedule their Walt Disney World vacation, so having a good one is key. So what makes a Crowd Calendar good? Three things: Accuracy Accuracy And accuracy!!! If you end up relying on a Crowd Calendar that just isn't very accurate, you can end up with more crowds than you bargained for! To help the community, we put several Crowd Calendars to the test to see which one did the best job of predicting…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

Do Higher Lightning Lane Prices Mean Higher Crowds?

Archivelightning lane multi pass, lightning lane single pass, trip planning, walt disney world

When Disney introduced Genie+ and then Lightning Lane Single Pass and Multi Pass, one of the main features was "demand pricing". In other words, Disney would adjust the pricing based upon how in-demand those products are predicted to be on a given day. Recently in many WDW groups to which we belong, people have been asking whether they should pick their park days based upon LL pricing: "On Tuesday, a LLMP costs $29, but on Wednesday it only costs $27. Does that mean I should expect higher crowds on Tuesday?" Logically, it would make sense that Tuesday might be more…

Jan

20

2025

By buster

DISNEY 101: Walt Disney World FAQ, Part Two

Disney 101lightning lane multi pass, lightning lane premier pass, lightning lane single pass, rides, trip planning

Previously, we posted Part One of our WDW FAQ. In that article, we provided our answers to many common questions that come up in various online communities that we frequent. Specifically, we answered questions related to the following general topics: Vacation Basics Park Tickets Dining Entering the Parks Today, we've got even more answers to everyone's burning questions. In this edition, we will be answering frequently asked questions regarding Rides/Attractions, Disney Resorts, Disney Transportation, and Lightning Lanes. So let's dive in!!! Rides / Attractions What are some of the "can't miss" rides at each WDW park? Obviously, this is a…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

Will There Be Phased Closures at Walt Disney World This Holiday Season?

Archivetrip planning, walt disney world

It's almost Christmas time (and Hanukkah time)! The halls are decked with boughs of holly. Stockings are hung by the chimney with care. Dreidels have been made out of clay. And Disney Cast Members are gearing up for the busiest time of the year at Walt Disney World! If you happen to be lucky enough to be traveling to Walt Disney World for the holidays, you might have "phased closures" on your mind. This is where Disney detects that crowd levels are getting too high, so they put into effect various measures to limit entry into the park. Some of…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

Is the New Lightning Lane Premier Pass Actually a Good Deal?

Archivelightning lane multi pass, lightning lane premier pass, lightning lane single pass, trip planning, walt disney world

Two of the biggest complaints regarding the existing Lightning Lane Multi Pass is that it is complicated to use and you aren't guaranteed to be able to reserve the rides and times that you want. In response to that, Disney introduced a new product to its skip-the-line arsenal: the Lightning Lane Premier Pass (LLPP). This new pass is meant to address both of these criticisms. Purchasing it gives you the ability to enter the Lightning Lane once for every ride at any time during the day. You don't have to worry about making advanced reservations. You don't have to worry…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

How to (Legally) Extend Your Lightning Lane Booking Window When Staying Off Property

Archivelightning lane multi pass, lightning lane single pass, trip planning, walt disney world

With the introduction of the new Lightning Lane "skip the line" system in July, WDW guests are now able to pre-book their Lightning Lane reservations prior to their trip. This change took away some of the uncertainty for those who like to plan their park days in advance, but it did come with a new set of worries... particularly for those staying off property. [If you want to read more about the new Lightning Lane system, you can check out some of our previous articles here and here and here] Guests staying at Disney owned resorts, Swan/Dolphin, and Shades of…

Nov

09

2024

By buster

DISNEY 101: Walt Disney World FAQ, Part One

Disney 101dining, trip planning, walt disney world

As WDW nerds, we belong to a number of different WDW online communities. It's fun being able to share experiences with other fans about the "Happiest Place on Earth"! It's also a place where people come to ask the questions of the experts who frequent these groups. We really enjoying passing on our nuggets of wisdom to first time visitors! There are certain questions that seem to pop up with relative regularity in this groups. We thought it would be fun to tackle some of these "frequency asked questions" in an article. Of course, many of these questions are asking…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

New Things We Were Looking Forward to at WDW: A RECAP

Archivedining, parks, trip planning, walt disney world

One of the joys of Walt Disney World is that there is always something new (to us) that we get to experience on each trip. Prior to our August trip to WDW, we wrote an article detailing some of the new things we were looking forward to experiencing. Now that we have experienced them, we wanted to do a recap. Did they live up to the hype and anticipation? Read on to find out... Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party We were fortunate to be able to attend WDW's hard ticket Halloween event. Even though most people normally associate Halloween…

Nov

18

2025

By buster

UPDATE: Potential WDW Lightning Lane Strategies

Archivelightning lane multi pass, trip planning, walt disney world

In a previous article, I discussed some potential strategies for maximizing use of the new Lightning Lane Multi Pass (LLMP). Unfortunately, at the time, there was no real world data on LLMP. Therefore that article was very speculative. However, now that we have real world experience with Disney's new skip the line system, it makes sense to revisit this topic. Lightning Lane Multi Pass in Review Let's first review some of the key characteristics of Lightning Lane Multi Pass. LLMP lets you essentially skip the line of selected rides. More accurately, you can use the Lightning Lane to access the…