UPDATE: When I originally wrote this a former Disney cast member friend reached out to me about becoming a travel agent specializing in Disney. I am thrilled to say that I did indeed become a travel agent, and after unofficially helping many friends and family members plan their vacations I’m now helping my clients with every step of the planning! You can find out more about having my FREE services in planning your vacation here.
When I find out a family member, friend or even an acquaintance is planning a Disney trip, I can’t help but unload as many tips as possible on them.
I LOVE planning Disney vacations. I grew up going to Disneyland, and didn’t visit Disney World until I moved there for my Disney College Program. If you aren’t familiar with the college program, it’s an internship/work program for college students.
Here’s a broad guide to planning a great Disney trip with young children.
I find that planning well makes all the difference in how enjoyable the trip is. That being said, if you don’t want to delve very deep into planning this guide should help you generally have a magical trip.
If you enjoy in depth planning, I will link more resources and blogs to assist you at the end of this!
Picking the right time to travel
For some families this is very much dictated by school breaks and holidays. For others, visiting during low crowd times is most important.
Personally, I do not plan to go during any holiday weeks or school breaks. I even try to avoid holiday weekends. For my family it is a priority to go to Disney during times that are not too crowded.
For the lowest crowds (but very hot weather) consider visiting in early September. It sees some of the lowest crowds typically, and thus lower prices. Fall is not when I prefer to go, because I love fall in New England (and not surface of the sun heat).
My preference is to go during winter when we really need a break from the cold dreary weather.
I’ve gone a few times during winter, once right after Thanksgiving. This was special because we were able to enjoy all the beautiful Christmas decorations.
On that trip we stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge which has a beautiful tree in the lobby. Another highlight was watching the Christmas fireworks from the deck at California Grille (a perk of having a dinner reservation there).
This year we went in January. I love January and February for Disney trips because we are desperate for the warm weather at this time of year.
Check a Disney World crowd calendar for an idea of good dates to pick. You’ll want to watch out for the Run Disney events and holiday weekends. This year our first park day was the final day of the marathon. We had very low crowds. Our last park day was the Friday before MLK Jr. day. Crowds were definitely increasing in the parks then.
Weather in January can be hit or miss, but if you’re coming from New England it will surely be an improvement either way. I’m seriously pining for the 60-degree mornings watching the sunrise and waiting for the boat to Magic Kingdom at Wilderness Lodge of our recent trip.
Choose the right resort for your family
There are many options when it comes to lodging at and around Disney World.
On property hotels include value, moderate, and deluxe. You can contact me for a quote and suggestions.
There are perks to staying on-site, and when I’ve priced out Airbnb plus a car rental and parking fees it was nearly the same as our hotel stay.
Once you have figured out which level of hotel your budget allows I would take into consideration which parks you will spend the most time visiting.
Like many families with young children our plan was to spend the most days at Magic Kingdom. We did three days at Magic Kingdom, one Epcot, one Animal Kingdom and one Hollywood Studios. For this reason I wanted to choose a resort with easy transportation to Magic Kingdom.
If you aren’t super familiar, there are three deluxe resorts with quick access to Magic Kingdom and Epcot via the monorail; The Grand Floridian, The Polynesian, and the The Contemporary. These are all some of the most expensive resorts at Disney World.
For this trip I chose the Wilderness Lodge. The newer Copper Creek villas appealed to me and the rooms were a little slightly less expensive than the monorail resorts.
However, Wilderness Lodge has a lovely boat ride to Magic Kingdom which makes for easy and quick transportation to and from that park. To get to the other three parks there are buses.
If I were wanting to spend more days at Epcot or Hollywood Studios I would choose the newest Riviera Resort or Beach Club.
For a moderate resort my personal pick is Coronado Springs Resort (especially the new Gran Destino tower). Port Orleans (both French Quarter and Riverside) are popular picks as well.
For value resorts consider Pop Century or Art of Animation Resort.
While I’d be thrilled to return to Wilderness Lodge I’ve booked our next vacation at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort.
Choose Your Ticket Package
I can help guide you on the differences between base tickets and park hoppers. One size does not fit all. For example an adult couple visiting for only 2 days a park hopper would be a great choice. Whereas a family of 12 people spending 6 days in the parks, may find a park hopper to be unnecessary.
If you haven’t been to Disney lately park hopping has changed. You still need to reserve your first park (explained in the next section) for the day. You MUST go to that park before you can park hop, and you cannot park hop until 2pm. A park hopper still allows for the most flexibility.
Make Your Park Reservations
When Disney World reopened following its 2020 closure they made another change.
This change requires you to not only purchase your tickets in advance, but make a park reservation. So, don’t forget to make those reservations once you have purchased your tickets.
That being said, unless the park reaches capacity it is very easy to change your reservation to a different park if you choose.
On our past trip I initially planned for 2 Magic Kingdom days and 2 Hollywood Studios days, plus one each for Epcot and Animal Kingdom. During the trip I changed one of the Studios days to Magic Kingdom because my young children really enjoyed so many of the attractions there.
Having visited using the new park reservation system, I really don’t mind it and did not feel limited by it. Those who skip important planning steps such as making these park reservations are likely to have other feelings about this.
Get to Know Genie + and the My Disney Experience App
Here is a great overview of Genie +. Basically it’s Disney’s replacement of Fastpass.
I am a fan of Genie + and felt that it was worth the money. For our family of 4 it was $60 per day, so $360 for our trip.
I know it’s a little annoying to pay for something that was once free, but time is money, and in the grand scheme of a trip it’s a small increase. We found it to be especially valuable at Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. It’s a little less necessary at Animal Kingdom. I did not regret spending the money on it at all.
I did however, regret spending the money on the Individual Attraction Selection for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure because my kids did not enjoy it (but most kids will). My 5-year-old is VERY nervous about rides! That being said, today that same child said they would want to give it another try next trip!
The My Disney Experience App has a very helpful tip board showing ride wait times and dining options with availability. I love this feature compared to the “old days” of running to the physical tip board in the parks to check wait times.
You should definitely download and explore the app prior to your trip, it is a necessity.
Book Dining Reservations
Dining reservations can be made 60 days prior to your trip at 6AM EST. To have the best choices for restaurants be sure to be logged in and ready at 5:45AM 60 days ahead of your trip.
Here is where staying in a Disney hotel has an advantage. If you are staying on property you will be able to make your reservations for your whole trip 60 days out. If you are staying off property (in a non-Disney hotel) you will have to do this individually each morning for each park day 60 days in advance, rather than for the whole time you will be on vacation.
Don’t despair if you don’t get every reservation you want. Sign up for dining alerts through a site such as mousewatcher. 1-3 days out, you’ll likely get a lot of alerts for the reservation you’re looking for. I would set a different ring tone for the alerts so that you know to run to your phone and quickly try to grab the reservation. Disney charges a cancellation fee for reservations that are not cancelled the day before, hence why you will get a lot of notification a day or two in advance.
I had a very specific list of restaurants I wanted, and I knew some would be hard to get. I followed very specific steps. Clients booking their vacations through me get access to all of my best tips!
Using these tips I managed to get every reservation I wanted. If you have no idea what restaurants you want you can browse the menus for each restaurant on My Disney Experience. Again, I send my clients thorough lists of dining recommendations.
My husband is very particular about what we eat, and quick service restaurants mostly do not meet our preferences. Because of this we primarily did one signature or fine dining meal per day.
The Copper Creek villas have well equipped kitchenettes and kitchens. On our arrival day I scheduled a Whole Foods delivery through amazon. I also brought a small egg cooker with us. We prepared things like hard boiled eggs, toast with butter or nut butter, overnight oatmeal bowls with protein powder and toppings, or yogurt parfaits with protein powder for breakfast.
I like having breakfast in the room because it got us to the parks earlier than having to eat breakfast out.
I also ordered plenty of healthy snacks to take with us each day. There’s many fun snacks at the parks, but my kids wanted snacks SO frequently that it was nice to be able to quickly grab a snack without waiting in a line or finding somewhere to order.
It also was substantially healthier and cheaper.
Keep an eye out for another post soon about my favorite Disney restaurants, but what works best for your family definitely depends on the type of food your family enjoys and your overall budget.
Make The Most of You Time in the Parks
UPDATE: Since posting this I have received multiple messages like this one, “We never have been early morning people, but we took your advice and got to the park for rope drop…Wow! We were able to ride so much without waiting in line:”
Before kids we never did this, but now I realize how important it is.
ROPE DROP.
What is rope drop?
It is literally being at the park and through the admission turnstiles early enough to be held at the entrances to the land’s entrances by physical ropes.
Then, a signal is given to the cast members and everyone walks in a very calm polite manner to the rides that will have the longest lines as the day gets longer.
Okay, it’s a little bit more of a stroller race.
Here is another advantage of staying at a Disney resort. Disney resort guests get to enter the park 30-minutes earlier than guests staying off property.
For example on my family’s first Magic Kingdom day this month we left our hotel room at 7:17AM and walked to the boat from our hotel, which arrived sometime around 7:30.
The official park opening time was 9AM, which means 8:30 for on property guests. I believe it was before 8AM that we were let through the entrance turnstiles (where they scan your magic band or ticket).
We took our photos in front of the castle and such and made our way towards fantasyland (following the signs for early entry guests).
When the rope was dropped most people rush to Seven Dwarves Mine Train. My children however are not ready for roller coasters.
We scurried over to Peter Pan’s Flight because it basically always has a long line. For this day I had made our first Lightning Lane reservation (at 7AM) for Jungle Cruise (because that also almost always has a long line).
We got right onto Peter Pan’s Flight. My kids enjoyed their first Disney ride so much that they wanted to go on it again! The line was still short so we hopped right on again.
By the time we got off the second time the line was getting longer and it was about 8:50. We headed toward Haunted Mansion which opened right at 9AM. (Not all lands are open during the early entry time).
We got right onto Haunted Mansion with no wait.
After this we headed to Adventureland for Pirates of the Caribbean. This also had just opened at 9 and had no wait.
Our first lightning lane was for 9:45AM at Jungle Cruise. So, we still had a little time before that.
We went to the Enchanted Tiki Room and The Magic Carpets of Aladdin before it was 9:45.
Once we scanned our magic bands in the queue I immediately booked our next Lightning Lane.
I selected Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin. Now, if you want to do roller coasters I would not make this my next choice I would choose Splash Mountain or Thunder Mountain. Or, I would select Peter Pan’s flight if you haven’t been on by this point.
After Jungle Cruise we headed to Tomorrow Land. We rode Tomorrowland Speedway with about a 10 minute wait, followed by the Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover (often overlooked, but is a must-do).
Then, it was time for Buzz Lightyear, which was one of my kid’s favorites. We walked next door to Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor. This is another great attraction that rarely has a long wait (even on a busy day).
Again, as soon as we scanned our magic bands at the attraction I hopped on the app to book our next lightning lane. At this point most things we wanted to do had short waits. However, I still find the lightning lane to be worth it to save 10 minutes. So, I selected It’s a Small World.
After Monster’s Inc. we went to Dumbo, staying for a little extra time to play in the nearly empty play space in the queue.
We walked right onto Under the Sea-Journey of the Little Mermaid. Then waited about 10 minutes for the carousel.
It was time to enjoy our It’s a Small World Lightning Lane.
By this point in the day it was around 2:15 and almost time for our Jungle Navigation Ct. Ltd. Skipper’s Canteen lunch reservation. We had been able to do 14 attractions with minimal waiting.
All that being said, the first hour and a half were really key in getting onto attractions with little to no waiting. The first hour or two was essential each day of our trip. So, make a point to rope drop if you can!
There are some situations in which rope drop may not be good for you. Perhaps you’re coming from the west coast. The time change may make that unbearable. If your family will be miserable getting up early, also not worth it. Instead take advantage of the lower lines late at night.
Remember that you can get into line for an attraction up until the last minute the park is open.
Like many families with young children, we are up early anyways, so we continued on our schedule of early to bed and early to rise.
The one exception we made was to stay up late on our last park day to see the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. The following morning we had a late brunch reservation at Topolino’s Terrace (so good), so it worked out very well!
Stop Planning
Once you are on vacation, it’s time to relax and enjoy yourselves. Sometimes you’ve got to know when your kid has had it. That might be when it’s time to get an ice cream, have a seat in the sunny grassy area at the end of Main St. in front of the castle!
Wave to the characters if they come by on a cavalcade (mini-parade), catch the castle show (when it returns), or just enjoy the view of the castle.
Rinse and Repeat
Kind of kidding. Kind of not.
If you’re trip goes as amazingly as our most recent one did you may find yourself just wanting to go back as soon as you’re home.
My husband isn’t the Disney fan I am, but even he was saying “I miss Disney World” before we even were back to the airport, and “how much is it to buy Disney timeshare (DVC) points?”
Other Resources for Further Disney Vacation Planning
If you like spending time learning all about the parks and planning the ins and outs you may enjoy my favorite vlogs All Ears and Disney Food Blog.
Not looking for a Disney vacation yet? Here’s two other trips that I love in the Northeast.
Now you know how to plan the best Disney World vacation!
[…] you aren’t able to snag every reservation you want, there is still hope! Take a look at my Disney World Vacation Planning Tips post to find out how to get those reservations you weren’t able to get at the 60-day […]