Katherine's Next Trip!

You have nailed down your budget, lodging, and tickets, now it is time to get prepared for the trip.  Here are some ways to get ready for your trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth:

Do your research

Granted, I skim emails and blog posts because I know about most of what they are talking about, but there are a LOT of sites dedicated to helping you plan your Disney vacation.  Ones that might be helpful:

            Disneyfoodblog.com – I promise, they have more than just food, they even walk you through doing a lot of stuff you will need to do on your trip! But also, FOOD! This is my go to website for reviews of all the new menu items, especially the new treats at all the festival kiosks in Epcot!

            Allears.net – all the news you need!

            Disneytouristblog.com – All the ins and outs of Disney!

            Disneyparksblog.com – the official source! 

Learn the Tech

My Disney Experience is the app you will need to navigate the parks, check wait times, book restaurant reservations, find characters, and check your resort bus times.  There are so many things you can do in the app that will save you time and give you the information you need to make it the “Best Day Ever!”  Download it to your phone and you can start navigating the app from your living room, pretending that you’re actually in Walt Disney World!  

Decide on Lightning Lanes

If you want to tick off as many boxes as possible (or if you have members of your group that “don’t do lines”) then the easiest way to wait the least amount of time in a line is a Lightning Lane.  The websites I shared above are WAY better at explaining it than I would be, so I defer to them to explain Disney’s paid “skip the line” feature that they have at most of their rides.  They have many different posts about the newest rules and ways to maximize your investment.  You can do WDW without paying for Lightning Lanes, especially since park tickets are expensive enough already, you just need to be a LOT more strategic and be ok with missing some of the bigger ticket rides or at least waiting longer to ride them or riding them at your un-preferred times.  

Get a Rough Itinerary

Which parks will you be in on which days?  Do you need to go to ALL of them in the short time you have?  Will you be having a relaxing or resort day outside of the parks?  Certain days in certain parks are busier than usual, like any Epcot festival weekend day when locals come to enjoy the fun is a given to be busier than the weekdays, and I would also say that Magic Kingdom will be busier on the weekends as well.  

Make Dining Plans

After you know where you will be on any given day of your vacation, you can start making plans for your meals.  As I have stressed before, food is half the fun!  A table service meal is a good way to take a break in the middle of the day (especially when the lines are starting to get LONG) and you can recharge in the air conditioning before taking on the rest of the park!  Table service reservations open at 6am EST 60 days in advance online.  For onsite guests that 60 is from the beginning day of your trip for 10 days throughout your trip, for offsite guests, dining reservations open one day at a time.

Character meals are a great way to meet a lot of characters without investing a lot of time, and one of my favorites is Tusker House in Animal Kingdom.  After you enjoy the extensive buffet with delicious African flair, you won’t be able to get the “Jambo! Jambo!” song that was playing as the whole restaurant danced along with the characters out of your head the rest of the day.  

Now that you have all your plans set to have a magical vacation in Walt Disney World, it’s time for getting deep into the research!  You will want to decide what parts of each park will be of most interest to your family.  Will your young jedis want to explore the planet Batuu in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge? 

Do your little toy family members want to play in Andy’s backyard in Toy Story Land?  Do the adults want to search for Captain Jack Sparrow in Adventureland?  How about helping the Guardians of the Galaxy keep the Cosmic Generator out of the hands of the evil Eson to save the world?  Does your dad want to join in on the dad jokes on Jungle Cruise?  There are so many options to choose from on a trip to WDW. 

If you feel overwhelmed with all of the unknowns, YouTube and other blogs can give you a good idea of the intensity and environs of each ride and attraction for you to decide which ones are best for your family, if you don’t mind a few spoilers.  

There are many layers to a Disney vacation, and the more you know about WDW, the more you will be able to tailor your trip to your group’s wants and desires.  I suggest that after your initial research, you sign up for one of the blogs’ email lists so you can keep abreast of the new developments in the lead up to your trip.  I don’t even have an upcoming trip planned, but I still click through the news stories to keep my Disney withdrawal symptoms to a minimum.  With all the information on the internet to keep track of I will definitely be informed of what is going on at Walt Disney World for Katherine’s Next Trip!