Our Guide to Planning a Walt Disney World Vacation

In case it wasn’t clear, WE LOVE DISNEY! Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, Disney movies, Disney music, Disney food, Disney toys. We love it all, and we love sharing about our experiences with our Disney travels with you! That’s the whole reason we started this blog almost five years ago!

Back in the early days of the blog we shared a series of posts about the best way to plan a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort. A lot has changed since then, so I think that it’s time to share an updated guide to booking a Walt Disney World Vacation!

Pick Your Dates

The most important part of planning your trip is deciding when to go! What time of year do you want to go? Is there a special event like Mickey’s No So Scary Halloween Party, Mickey Very Merry Christmas Party, the Epcot Food & Wine Festival, the Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, the Epcot Festival of the Arts or a RunDisney event that you would like to attend?

Is there a certain time of the year that works best for you thanks to time off from work or school?

Once you’ve decided when you would like to visit you’ll need to decide how many days and nights you would like to stay.

Decide On Important Factors

Once you know when you would like to visit, and for how long, you need to make some important decisions.

Where do you want to stay? Do you want to stay on or off property? Is there a Resort that you’ve always dreamed of staying at? Do you have a favorite resort that you would love to stay at again?

Park Tickets are the next important aspect. What type of ticket is best for you? Do you plan to spend all day at a single park (1 Park Per Day Ticket), do you plan to check out more than one park on any of your park days (Park Hopper), or do you want to add a Water Park to your trip (Park Hopper Plus)? You’ll also need to decide how many days you would like to spend in the parks. Do you want to visit the parks every day of your trip? Do you want to reserve your travel days just for travel and visit the parks on the middle days? Do you want to take a rest day off from the parks to relax, visit Disney Springs or maybe resort hop at some point?

The last planning aspect before booking your trip is to decide if you’re interested in one of the three Dining Plans that Disney offers. The Disney Dining Plans are available to guests staying at Walt Disney World Resort hotels. They offer you the chance to essentially pre-pay your meals and snacks before setting foot on Disney property.

Book Your Trip

The next step is to book your trip! Trips can be booked pretty far in advance – the last day of your trip must not be more than 499 days away. The next year’s availability normally opens up in June. (2020 vacations opened June 2019.) That gives you plenty of time to plan and get excited! All that’s needed to secure your trip is a $200 deposit.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to know that you want to go or book that far out! It’s never too early, or too late to start planning your trip, though! I have booked trips for as far out as possible, but I have also booked trips for clients, and myself, only a few weeks, and in a couple of cases, one week before traveling. It can be done!

Pick Your Parks

Which Park or Parks do you want to do each day? This will help you when it comes to planning your dining and FastPass reservations. Do you want to visit all four parks? Do you have a favorite you want to visit on more than one day?

Plan Your Dining

If you would like to eat at any of the table service restaurants throughout the Walt Disney World Resort, then advance reservations are highly recommended. There are over 100 table service restaurants on property, at some resort hotels, in the parks, and at Disney Springs. There is something for every taste, cuisines from all over the world, buffets, meals served family style, dinner shows, and traditional sit down restaurants with a bit of Disney flair.

Advance Dining Reservations can be booked 180 days in advance.

If you’re booking a trip closer than 180 days out, don’t worry there are still plenty of options. If you’re flexible on times, dates you can get just about every reservation you would like. A great part of booking with me, is that if a reservation you would like is not available at first I’ll keeping looking for one for you until we can get it!

Plan Your Fastpass+

The next step is to plan what attractions you would like to skip the Standby line for! Hollywood Studios and Epcot have tiers that restrict what you can Fastpass.

FastPass+ reservations can be booked 60 days in advance for those staying at a Disney World Resort hotel, and select off-site hotels. Just like with dining reservations it is important to be flexible with FastPass times, and having a back-up attraction in mind, especially for big name attractions is always a good idea just in case no Fastpasses remain.  

Final Payment

As mentioned before, when you book your trip all that is required is a $200*. The remaining amount is not due until 30 days before you arrive at the Walt Disney World Resort**. Payments can be made before that point as many times as you want, as long as the amount is at least $20.

* For Room Only reservations the cost of the first night of your stay + tax is due at booking, the remaining amount is due at check in.

** Ticket only purchases must be paid in full at booking.

So, now you know how we go about planning our trips!

The best part about booking your trip with your favorite travel agent, ME, is that I keep you up to date on all the new information, apply discounts as they become available, help you plan and book dining and FastPass reservations, and answer any questions that you may have before, during, and after your trip!

Are you ready to start planning your next magical vacation? I’d be happy to help! Contact me at miriyawhitaker@worldofmagictravel.com for your FREE quote and to start planning your next trip on land or sea. For more Disney and travel information follow me on Facebook.