Planning Your Trip

Believe it or not, the time to start thinking about your Disney trip is about 6 ½ months before your arrival date.  I highly recommend using the My Disney Experience service on the Disneyworld.com website and the app is a great way to keep track of all of your plans.

1. You can check the park hours 6 months + 1 week before your trip.  I allow this to determine which days I will go to which park (this is important for step 2 which is reserving dining in all the right parks on the right days). Feel free to contact us for a customized list of park hours including parade and fireworks times and extra magic hours (for guests who are staying on property).

2. Dining reservations need to be made 6 months (180 days) in advance.  If you're not sure what day that will be, give us a call or an e-mail and we'll help you keep track of all of the dates that are fundamental to your trip.  With character dining and newer restaurants (such as Be Our Guest), it's best to be as close to that 180 days as you can because even during off-season, they book up very quickly.  Insider Tip: The reason for this is that in order to maximize profit, Disney has fewer tables/reservations available during the off-season dates.


3.  If you are staying on Disney property, you can check-in online up to 60 days in advance.  If you're not sure which Disney resort to stay at, check some of my other blog posts for recommendations.  If you're interested in staying off Disney property affordably, I recommend Sheraton Vistana Resort for a condo or the Lake Buena Vista Holiday Inn or Caribe Royal Orlando for hotel rooms.  I've stayed in all 3 and they're very comfortable for the price.  That being said, none of them offer the perks of staying on Disney property, so be sure to take that into consideration when considering the price before booking.

4.  Make your Fastpass+ Selections!  You can make them 60 days in advance if you are staying in a Disney resort or 30 days in advance if you are staying off Disney property.  They can be made at midnight and we're happy to be the ones to lose a little sleep to make those selections if you don't want to stay up until midnight.

5.  Print your 10-day forecast before your trip.  Make sure you check out my packing list which shows what to have for rainy days, etc!