STEPS TO TAKE:
Planning your disney vacation TO GET THE MOST OUT OF IT
Whether this is your first Disney vacation or your 100th, there are a seemingly infinite number of things you must do and remember to ensure a successful Disney vacation.
​
First let me break down what my definition of "successful Disney vacation" means to me. For us, regardless of group size, everyone needs to leave feeling happy and satisfied, however compromises will almost always need to be taken. Everyone in the group should get to experience their top 1-3 things that they had wanted to do prior to arriving to the parks, this includes attractions, shows and food experiences. In our opinion if you can leave Disney having done this, everyone in your party should feel good about their trip and feel like they got their monies worth as well as enjoyed their time. This is a blanket answer however, there are many specific things that need to be worked out to accomplish this, and we'll take you through our list now.
RESEARCH!
I understand that for many people, "research" can sound like a 4-letter word. Perhaps it used to be when your only options were going to a travel agent, or flipping through an old triple-A guide book. But with the internet at your finger tips, it isn't so bad. Heck, you're reading this, so you're already on your way. There are many great websites out there dedicated to all things Disney. Of course, there is Disney's official website as well. My suggestion is easy, use them, all of them, or at least Disney's official site. There is tons of valuable information. My goal is to provide answers or insight to things not found on those other pages. But when it comes to hotel information or dining reservations, I recommend using those other sites, because they've already done a fantastic job of providing the essential information and if you're using Disney's site, you can book hotel stay, purchase tickets and make dining reservations right there, so why go anywhere else?
​
The reason I point this out is I run into people that didn't do their research. The next time you're at the parks you can spot them yourselves. They are usually looking at a map, standing in the walkway arguing on where to go next or making suggestions that just don't make a lot sense, such as wanting to find another attraction with a shorter line. If they would have just researched ahead of time, downloaded the My Disney Experience app, they could see the other wait times, they would have known where to go etc.
​
Most importantly, I believe research will familiarize you and your party with locations to attractions, restaurants and shows, as well as give you tips on how to get from location to location the quickest, when not to try and go to a location and what to expect once you get there. That type of information can be just as important mentally. When spending time in the parks, it can be quite a mental shake-up if you arrive at a location only to find that there is a line for the line, and those who know where it's going to load from are positioned best and those who don't know will end up with a bad spot.
STICKING TO A PLAN
So you have done all of your research, prepped your group on all of the pertinent information and saved you money for your trip and you're ready to go to the parks; you have a plan...stick to it!
​
This may sound easy but I can tell you from our experiences that this can be difficult depending on who you're traveling with, how well you planned to begin with and other unexpected factors.
​
Marzz and I, along with my parents visited Walt Disney World in November of 2017. We hit the parks for a total of seven days, each day meticulously planned and crafted to maximize our time and money while visiting the resorts. I would say we were about 90% successful. There were two areas where we fell short of our pre-arrival plan.
​
One was in taking rest breaks during the day (see our blog for more about resting while at the parks). Our plan was to go back to our hotel room to rest and possibly nap. What actually happened was us resting by sitting on a bench in the parks, which by my own admission is resting, just not what we had planned. The reason I consider this a fail is that we were already so tired from the time change, the travel from California to Florida and just being on our feet for over 12 hours each day. I knew we needed longer more impactful breaks, but this did not happen. I recommend to anyone traveling to Disney World that they make time to rest and make it count. Any time you lose in the parks due to traveling back to your room and resting, will be worth it in the long run.
​
Second was miscalculating how much we were going to eat. We had purchased the Disney Dining Plan, which included 1 table service, 1 quick service and 2 snacks for each night we were there, which was 8 nights. We ended up wasting several quick service and snack credits at the end of our trip. There was a couple of reason for this. First reason was we failed to keep track of our credit use while we were there. Had we done this, I believe we would have seen that we were going to come in under the amount and we would have adjusted to eaten more items. The other reason was that we were too full from our table service meals to eat our quick service ones. This was for a couple of reasons as well. One being the timing of our table services reservations were sometimes close to the next meal time, but those were the only reservations we could secure. The other was that we had a lot of buffet table service meals, and we over ate.
​
Had we been able to rest and track our meal credits better, I believe we would have come much closer to accomplishing our goals. Now 90% is nothing to be ashamed of, we had quite a complex and extensive plan overall and I think coming up short on just these two things is still a great job; but I want to share so others can perhaps learn from this.
​
As a cast member, I would see countless families or couples arguing in the parks. I still joke about this today, but if you just make a plan and stick to it, I think you can avoid this.
​
Some things to keep in mind are time, money and tiredness. Things will almost always take longer than expected so plan on it. You can find prices for just about everything at the parks and resorts prior to arriving so take the time to figure it out and also factor in the taxes that you will pay, especially if you're not used to paying those in places like Oregon. Lastly, you will most likely be more tired than you expected to be. It's not about age or fitness level, you will simply be worn out physically and perhaps more importantly, mentally. Know your limitations and you will have a fantastic vacation.
TIME MANAGEMENT
Planning ahead and calculating the time it takes to get around can be invaluable at times. The Disney parks offer many different forms of entertainment, so depending upon your tastes and those in your group, you may want to seek out a combination of different things to see and do. This means not only utilizing the Disney Fast Pass system or Max Pass at Disneyland, but also planning for show times, parades, character meet and greets and of course eating!
​
Similar to planning how long it will take to park and arrive to the park, you will need to plan how long it will take you to get around the parks, in order to be on time for your fast pass or a show time. The parks themselves are fairly big, around 100 acres per park, but when you add tens of thousands of people, they can be a challenge navigating with any efficiency. So here are a few tips for managing your day.
1. Plan ahead - If you're reading this then you're already here and this really is the first step to a happy and successful Disney vacation. I recommend utilizing pages like mine as well as www.disneyland.disney.go.com or www.disneyworld.disney.go.com for more information. You cannot research too much and virtually all information is useful at some point.
​
2. Take advantage on booking things ahead of time. This includes dining reservations as well as Fast Passes if you're visiting Walt Disney World in Florida. If you're staying at one of the Disney resorts, they offer what they call in-room celebrations which are ways that you can add more magic to your trip right from the moment you enter your room. These offerings can be a great way to save time, ensure you experience the things/places that you want to and maximize your stay.
​
3. Know your way around the parks. This includes studying the maps ahead of time, as well as having an understanding of what is available at each park even if you don't memorize its exact location. You can waste valuable time searching for something only to find out it is in another park.
​
4. Budget. I realize this can be a stressful word to many but it is far too important to leave out. In addition to researching maps and experiences, all of the dining locations have their menus available online either through an official Disney website or other fan run pages so that you can have a really good understanding on what you will spend on dining. The same can be said for many of the merchandise items, special events or tours offered at the parks and resorts. Just like knowing where to go to save you time, knowing how much you'll likely spend will allow you to save ahead of time and feel more relaxed on your vacation knowing you have budgeted for all of the meals, snacks, experiences and souvenirs for your vacation.
PRIORITIZE YOUR DAY
This is a bit of an extension on TIME MANAGEMENT, but prioritizing your day will assist in ensuring you hit every "must-do" item on your list. If you or members of your party have attractions and shows on your list plus food options, you really need to prioritize on what is important to everyone.
​
Everyone should make a list with their top 3 things for each category. For example, top 3 attractions, top 3 shows, top 3 food items or locations. Then go through each category and find ones that multiple people shared the same ones. Make those a priority. Then continue through the list noting what each person listed.
​
You will then need to compare that list to your daily schedule. If someone wants to see a particular show, but that show is only available on certain days and times, then that narrows down which days you must be at that park. The same goes for dining. If you need to make a reservation for a particular restaurant, then which ever day and time you end up getting will dictate which day and time you will need to be at that park or location.
​
Once you've made all of your reservations, and for Disney World, made your fast pass reservations as well, then refer back to you list of "must-do's" that everyone wrote down. From here it is usually trial and error, just plug in each item as best you can, seeing where it could fit into your daily schedule. Don't forget to factor in walk time from place to place so you're not late to anything.
​
One common mistake I see guests making all the time is making decisions based on the current wait times of attractions that they're already at. This means, they're not looking at wait times on their smart phone or at the information booth, they're actually standing at the entrance of an attraction, looking at the stand-by wait time and then deciding it's too long and they should take their chances at another attraction. In most cases this is a mistake. Whatever other attraction you go to will most likely have a line, but you will have wasted that time walking to that other attraction, and often times end up waiting longer than you would have. Another thing you sacrifice is enjoyment. Many times the attraction your leaving is a popular one, hence the long line, but if you trade that in to ride an attraction with a shorter wait, you are most likely trading an experience. For example, Space Mountain in Disneyland is always busy, and I've seen people sacrifice riding it to go ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters instead. The thrill of a roller coaster in the dark for go-carts is not a fair trade off. I would recommend waiting the 45+ minutes for Space Mountain rather than riding two or even three other smaller attractions.