How to Start Planning a Disney World Vacation
If you’ve ever wanted to plan a Disney World vacation and wondered, where do I start? then you’ve come to the right place! Start here! And read on for my beginner’s guide to planning your Disney World vacation.
Since we’ve returned home from Disney World, I’ve gotten a LOT of questions about planning a trip…which honestly brings me so much joy and I am SO happy to help. I am not an expert, but as my friend Kristin articulated, we have a solid ‘plan-but-go-with-the-flow’ balance to our trips. I like to have a rough plan, but also leave room for exploration and vacation.
I know there is so much information out there on planning Disney World and well, it can be pretty overwhelming. I put together the below questionnaire to help you start planning your vacation. Once you have answers to the questions below, you’re well on your on your way to planning your trip!
PLANNING YOUR DISNEY VACATION? START HERE!
When do you want to go to Disney World?
Think about the right time of year for your family and then check crowd calendar, do some reconnaissance on flights, hotel prices. Are you willing to take your kids out of school? Do you want to go in the summer when it’s very hot? Is it a busy time of year for the parks (e.g., spring breaks, holidays)?
Do you want to stay at a Disney World resort hotel?
There are pros and cons to both staying onsite and offsite. I will have another post on that coming soon! If you are staying on-site, you likely need to plan a little farther out. Off-site will give you more options to plan your trip closer to the date you want to go. We planned our trip less than 2 months out from when we wanted to go.
How many days do you want to spend at the parks? Do you want some rest days built in?
There are 4 parks (plus 2 water parks), all of them are very different and resonate for different ages. I like to have 2 full days at Magic Kingdom and then 1 day at each of the other parks. It’s all very personal - I adore Animal Kingdom and would choose that over EPCOT or Hollywood Studios but I know that’s a spicy take and many people would disagree with me. Happy to have that discourse in the comments though! You can also build in time to visit Disney Springs or resort hop!
What kind of trip do you want?
Are you going all out, sparing no expense? Are you on a budget? There are options for both kinds of trips!
Do you want to use Disney transportation (e.g., bus, monorail) or rent your own car?
This will also affect whether you want to stay on or off property. On-property provides transportation to all parks (included in your stay), while off-property would mean renting your own car and paying for parking. We have enjoyed the freedom and convenience of renting our own car and it’s an additional cost that we are willing to incur.
What do I do next?
Go to the Walt Disney World website and create an account. Here, you can root around to learn about the different hotel options, price out park tickets and really get a sense for the kind of trip you want to take.
Join some FB groups. FB is innately evil and so basically the only thing I use it for is to follow Disney World planning groups. I’ve found so many helpful tips and ideas there! I like Smart Moms Planning Disney and Disney World Junkies.
Follow some instagrammers! I follow a lot of Disney accounts, some of my favorites are:
Keep following me here and on instagram! I’m constantly adding posts and planning tips, so I hope this page will be a helpful resource for you!
Was this helpful? If so, would you leave me a comment or share it with a friend? It would mean the world!
xo, Rachel
