Trip-Planning Checklist

If you want to plan a vacation to Disney World, use this checklist to see how to get started and to make sure you have covered all your bases.

Decide when you can go. 
Crowds, discount offers, weather, special events, and park hours can all be factors to consider when deciding what dates are best for your family to visit Disney World. For more help deciding what time is best for you, click here.
You may want to choose your dates based on what discount packages are currently being offered.


Make a list of everything you want to make sure to get done while you are there. 
Once you have all the rides, experiences and restaurants you want to make sure to see and do, prioritize them in order from least to most important to you.

How long can you stay?
Deciding how many days you can stay will help determine which activities from your list you should make priority on your visit. If you can only stay 4 days and this is your first trip, then this will affect your itinerary for your trip and which attractions you head to first.

Make a rough plan for each day that includes some of your highlights and dinner reservations.
You don't have to map every time and hour of what you will be doing (I do, but that's just me. You don't have to, but it really helps. I recommend The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World for helping map your days if you choose to do this in great detail), but I would recommend at least making sure to plan which days you will be going to which park, hitting which highlights and eating at which restaurants. This helps you to make sure you don't miss out on experiencing things that you are high priority to you. Plan activities together on the same day that are in the same park if you can. For example if you are eating at Crystal Palace for lunch, try to experience Dumbo on this day because Dumbo is in the same park. When you get there, once you have experienced all your highlights, you will be free to explore the diversions and distractions that are less important to you.

Decide which theme park tickets you will need based on the agenda that you made.
If all you will be doing is going to one park each day, the basic tickets will be fine for you.
If you see that you will need to visit multiple parks each day, you'll want to get Park Hopper passes.
If you see that you will be visiting any of the water parks, mini golf, Disney Quest, Wide World of Sports, or the Oak Trail Golf course (or all of these), you will want to add the Water Park Fun and More option to your tickets.

Make Dining Reservations for your chosen restaurants.
You aren't likely to get a seat at the restaurants you want to eat at unless you make your reservations in advance. Call (407) 939-7211 or make online reservations here.

Decide where you want to stay.
It's always best to stay in a Disney resort. It just makes your life easier and more enjoyable when you are there. They have value resorts that can start at around $80 per night during the value season all the way up to deluxe villas that can be $500+ per night during peak seasons. I have stayed in all levels of Disney resorts and have never been disappointed.
Once you decide which level is best for your budget, you will need to look at the location of most of the items on your agenda to decide which "Value" (or "Moderate" or "Deluxe"-- whatever you decided) resort will be best for you. You may also consider other factors, such as the decor and restaurants at that resort. I like choosing based mostly on location because it cuts time when traveling to and from your resort to the parks.

You can go to Disney World and not stay in a Disney resort, but it won't be the same experience. To me, it is not worth it, even if you will be visiting other Orlando attractions as a side note to your Disney vacation.


How will you get to your Disney World Resort from the airport if you are flying?
If you are traveling by plane, Disney World will pick you up from and take you back to the airport as needed if you do not have a rental car. You will need to make these arrangements by contacting Disney. (You don't necessarily need a rental car if you are just going to Disney locations because the resort will bus you to and from your destinations while you are there as well).

There's a lot more planning and research that can be done before your trip, but if you get these basic questions out of the way, it should be smooth sailing from there! I always use the most current version of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World when I am planning my trips because they offer these great maps that tell you when the shortest lines will be available during the day at each ride based on their research. That's pretty cool.