Planning for Disney

Planning for a trip to Disney World can be overwhelming when you think of all the things that you need to do in advance. But for me, that was what made the trip so stress free. I knew that when we left, everything was planned and paid for all we had to do was enjoy our Disney experience. Now you know I am a list maker and Disney required a few check lists. I have tried to condense all my lists down into this post but at the end if you think of anything I have left out leave it in the comments and I will answer you!

{I want to be clear that we used a travel agent for this trip. Our old neighbor Jeremy runs Wiregrass Travel and you don’t pay him…Disney does! So using a Disney travel agent doesn’t cost you a dime and he does all the work, like booking dining reservations at the crack of dawn!!}

1 year to 9 months in advance: 

• We planned our trip one year in advance. It gave us time to save up the money and booking early gets you the best rates and the best choice of hotels.
• At around 9 months I also started making a list of what restaurants we wanted to eat at and coordinating it all with our meal plan. I emailed this list to my travel agent and on the morning we were able to book dining reservations he had my list {and he was up at the crack of dawn booking it…not me:)}

6 months in advance: 

• At 6 months out you {in our case our travel agent} can make all your dining reservations.
• I knew that when we arrived I was going to run up to the room and leave surprises from Mickey and Minnie, so I started looking for items in the dollar section or on sale about 6 months in advance. By the time we left I had gotten a great little gift bag ready for them for cheap!

3 months in advance: 

• I started planning what we would wear 3 months out. I knew I wanted to have some shirts made for the girls to wear while we were there and those things have a turn around time.
• Fast Passes can be booked in the months before you go. I used the My Disney Experience app to fast pass all of our rides for each day before we went. Again, I knew this was coming so I made a list of the rides that we could all ride as a family and planned my fast passes accordingly.
• I also looked online at the quick service dining options and made a list of the quick services at each park that our whole family would enjoy and their locations. I kept this paper in the diaper bag when we were in the park and when we all got hungry I could quickly identify a quick service near us that everyone would like before anyone had a chance to melt down!
• Book your stroller and crib rentals. We used Kingdom Strollers. Yes, Disney does have those hard plastic strollers for rent but I knew my girls would need to nap in the stroller so we went with a jogging stroller that was more comfortable. They also provided {for FREE} a rain cover for the stroller, a cooler,  and a large tag with our name on it so we could easily find our stroller. We also rented Whitney a crib.

Just before you go: 

• Pick up any snacks, drinks, and in room food items your family will need.
• If you have toddlers in your group start picking up little things {like bubbles} to entertain them in the long lines.

 

Look back here for my tips for traveling with kids. Our drive was 11 hours, so I learned a thing or two about traveling with kids 🙂

Random Info: 

• We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! I cannot recommend it enough.
• We had the Disney meal plan and had plenty of food each day. It was awesome to not have to worry about budgeting for food while we were there, it was already taken care of!
• Don’t forget to tip Mousekeeping, they work super hard!
• We didn’t add the Park Hopper Pass. I knew with a 3 year old and 1 year old we weren’t going to be park hopping! I planned our dining reservations at resorts or at the park we were already at.

I think that this checklist helped to make our Disney Experience extra magical for all and stress free for this mama!