It is easy and fun to plan a Walt Disney World Vacation. Don’t be overwhelmed just because
there is a lot to do and consider. The important thing is that you do plan. The first thing you
should do is budget your trip. Include a food budget and consider travel costs. Use the
remaining budget to determine your hotel. That’s the first step to successfully planning your first
visit to Walt Disney World
Book Your Hotel
Armed with the knowledge of how much you have in your budget you can browse hotel pricing
and determine how long you can stay. There are benefits to staying at a Disney resort hotel,
but they are more expensive to book. Pricing tiers range from value, to moderate, to deluxe.
There is a trade off from one price range to another. Values are farther from the parks and
entertainment than the others. Deluxe resorts are closest. Since it is your first visit, take your
time with the Disney World map before making your decision.
Download the App
The My Disney Experience app is essential to your planning and execution of your first visit to
Disney World. It will be linked to your account and show your itinerary as you build it. it
manages Fastpasses, dining reservations, Photopass, and includes mobile order for a lot of the
dining locations. It even tells you current wait times while you are in the parks and lets you
check into your hotel room remotely.
Make Dining Reservations
As early as 180 days before your arrival, you can make your dining reservations. Some
experiences like Lunch with an Imagineer are extremely limited and difficult to book if you aren’t
on top of it. Other fine dining and signature restaurants will also require you to book pretty
early. For your first visit you should at least have one very nice meal to get the full experience.
If you miss out on a reservation see if the restaurant you wanted has a lounge. Those are first
come first serve. Another way to help you out last minute is if you have a club level room. The
concierge can often make those last minute plans happen.
Select Fastpasses
Be planning how you want to spend your days as the vacation dates draw near. Learn the
maps and make a calendar of what parks will be on what days. Include dining plans and start
mapping out routes within the parks.
If you are staying on property Disney gives you a 3o day head start on Fastpass selections.
You can start 60 days before check in rather than 30. This is a great advantage, especially for
your first visit. Base your Fastpasses on where you plan to be at different points in the day to
that your course is well plotted. Leave room in the day to add more Fastpasses once you finish
your first three.
Have Fun
All the planning in the world can’t prepare you for the experience of Disney World. You can side
step a lot of potential problems, but you can’t prevent every setback. The important thing is to
be prepared and go with the flow. Enjoy yourself and don’t get wrapped up in negativity if
something doesn’ you will hopefully have such a great time, you will want to do it again.