How I Plan a Disney Vacation

(Please note that this does not contain any COVID-19 information or modifications. See Disney’s website for more information regarding planning during COVID pandemic. )

Planning a Disney vacation can be fun, exciting, and magical. But it can also be daunting, time consuming, frustrating, and confusing. I believe that the more planning you do, the better your Disney vacation will be. However, you can go to disney without planning anything and have a good time. Let me clarify… I think you can have a good time without advanced planning, but you should do some planning the night before, or morning of, a park day. The biggest thing to plan for are your fast passes. You can always find SOMEWHERE to eat without a reservation.

If you want the BEST vacation and don’t want to do any of the planning, I would suggest using a travel agent.  You will not have to pay any additional costs by using a travel agent and they will do all the daunting, time consuming things for you.  Personally, I like to plan my own vacation because I enjoy doing so.  The entire planning process helps me get excited for our trip.  I also like to create my own schedule.   I would recommend NOT being a stickler to your schedule though, because that could keep you from experiencing some ‘unscheduled’ magic.  I use my schedule more like a guideline rather than a rule. 

I have broken down my planning strategies and timeframes to steps for you to use as a guide to make your own Walt Disney World vacation!

Step 1:  Pick a Date and download the My Disney Experience App.  There is never a bad time to go to Disney.  I think that the time of ‘low’ crowds is of the past.  Anytime you visit, you will experience some form of crowds.  Planning will help you navigate them without feeling like the crowd is a problem.  While figuring out your vacation dates, you should ask your family and yourself the following questions:

• Are there any Disney Special Events that you want to attend, such as Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party?  There are different events throughout the year, so if there is one that you really want to attend, you should pick your dates to coincide with that event.  You can find out more about Disney Special Events  <HERE>
• Are there any Festivals that you want to experience while you are at Disney?  You can find out more <HERE> or <HERE>
• Did you want to go to Disney to celebrate something special, like a birthday, anniversary, or graduation?  
• Is Free Dining important to you?  There are some times throughout the year that Disney typically will offer free dining as a promotion and some people like to take advantage of this by booking a vacation during one of the times they typically offer it  (if free dining is announced for your travel dates after you have already booked, you can call and modify your vacation in order to take advantage of it)

Step 2: Book Hotel Room or Package.  You can go to Walt Disney World Website or use the My Disney Experience App to book your vacation.  When you book directly with Disney, you will only have to pay a down payment initially and make payments as time goes by.  I have never used a travel agent, but I am pretty sure they work the same way with a deposit and payments.  Decide if the Dining Plan is right for you and include that in your package.  You will have to pay for this in full when you book it and you can add it at any time up until just before your check in date.  To help you decide, read my blog about the Dining Plan. 

Step 3:  Plan your Park days.  Even if you have the park hopper option on your ticket, you will want to decide which parks you want to go to each day.  Check out park hours and when/where Extra Magic Hours (EMH) are offered.  This will help you decide which park to go to each morning. Knowing what parks have EMH is important because typically that park will be busier than the others because those who do not have hopper tickets will be at that park all day in order to take advantage of that benefit.  Knowing park hours is important; for example, if you do not have park hopper tickets and Magic Kingdom closes at 5:00pm for a special event, you don’t want to go to that park for the day.   Once you figure out your park days, it will help you make your dining and fastpass reservations because you know where you will be each day.

Step 4:  Make your Dining Reservations.  Once you have your vacation booked, you can make dining reservations at 180 days in advance.  Not all restaurants are competitive enough to warrant waking up at 7am to get on the app and make your bookings, but there are a few very popular locations that you will want to do this for if they made it on your list of must-do’s.    Disney planning books and my reviews page will help you decide where you might want to eat.  Including your family in the decision is always fun.  I give my kids a planning book or get them on the Disney website and say “Make a list of table service restaurants you want to eat at”.  Then I get the final choice and I usually choose based on which restaurant gets the most votes, is the most unique, we haven’t tried yet, or one that is always a good time.  

Step 5:  Choose your fastpasses!  If you have a disney park ticket and a hotel reservation, you can make your fastpass+ selection 60 days in advance.  If you are not staying on Disney property, you can make your fastpass selection 30 days in advance.  The biggest tip for this is to get up early and start making fastpass+ for the big ticket rides for the LAST day of your trip FIRST and work your way backward.  This allows you to actually make your fastpass selection up to 74 days in advance (for a 14 day ticket, 67 days for a 7 day ticket, etc.)  You can select your fastpasses for your entire stay in one shot.  There are two strategies that I like for fastpasses… 1 – Select fastpasses for the afternoon and rope drop big ticket rides in the morning. Or 2 – Select fastpasses for as early as possible for big ticket rides, then add more fastpasses (1 at a time, after your first 3)  

This advice and planning strategy is only the tip of the iceberg and is a great general guideline.  There are so many tips and tricks within each step, but it would be too much for just one blog post.  There are also other things that could add to your planning that I have not mentioned, such as Disney Tours, Disney Vacation Club, Shows, and Holidays.  But if you are going for the first time, this is a great place to start.  Keep looking into the magic, you will find new surprises every day!  I have been visiting Disney at least once per year for the last 15 years and I STILL find new things to see, do, and experience at Walt Disney World.  

Please comment with any planning questions and I will do my best to help you out!  Don’t forget to like this blog and share with your friends who might be planning a Disney Vacation!  Thanks for reading!