How Do You Plan Your Trip to Walt Disney World?

[Stephen Smith]

If you are planning for a Walt Disney World vacation, you seriously need to do some research. Planning is key to making the most of your time and budget to enjoy the amazing world of theme parks, entertainment, water parks, hotels, shopping and much more to add. Advance research work and planning help you to utilize your trip for maximum enjoyment in the Walt Disney World. So if you’re just getting started, check out the following guide to plan your Disney World vacation successful.

Choose the best time to visit Disney World

Walt Disney World can be a teeming place if you choose to visit the place at the wrong time. If you are looking at visiting Disney World during your kid’s school breaks, it can have an intense impact on crowd density and the wait times you encounter for attractions. Summer and winter vacation is the time when the parks are the busiest due to the vast majority of the guests being in the same circumstances. Eliminate any days when the schools are of out of session. Mid- January through early March and early fall (December prior to Christmas vacation) are all good times to visit Disney World from the perspective of crowds. Check out the following list to plan the best time to visit Disney World

Busiest period

• Easter week

• June to August (summer vacation)

• Mid- March to Mid- April (Spring break)

• Christmas week

Least busy period

• Mid-to-late January

• Early February

• Late April

• Week before Thanksgiving

• Early December

However, do make your plan during the Flower and Garden festival, Star Wars Weekends, Christmas, Halloween and Food and Wine Festivals. These are some of the special events at Walt Disney that should be your next biggest factor while determining when to visit Disney World.

Choose a perfect place to stay

Choosing a place to stay is a major decision. Walt Disney World has 305 resort hotels to accommodate every budget. Most of these hotels offer special perks to their guests that include complimentary Disney transportation and extra hours in the parks. You will find on-site hotels and off-site hotels that indicates whether you should stay on Walt Disney World property in a Disney owned hotel, or stay in a non-Disney owned hotel within driving distance to the Disney World. Each has their own advantages and disadvantages.

You may also find several resort hotels having their own internal bus route which means more bus time with your kids every time you want to grab a meal or do anything within the hotel. Resort pools should also be a consideration, as mid-day breaks near the pool are popular are well remembered by kids. It has been observed that parents prefer compact hotel as spread out hotels is inconvenient in term of navigating their kids. Some of them also prefer staying in their own timeshare which can comfortably house large families. Most importantly, timeshares allow them to maintain their privacy and enjoy the vacation as desired. Different hotels have different themes which are appealing to most of the families.

Decide on how long to stay

The length of your stay at Walt Disney World depends primarily upon the type of trip it is. If you are a first time visitor, the trip should be ideally for 6 to 8 days. However, the exact length depends on how much vacation time you have. However, if you’re a frequent visitor, you probably know what length of a trip is right for you. Walt Disney has four parks, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Epcot, and Hollywood Studios, Water parks, Golf restaurants, Downtown Disney and many more attractions. So you need to accordingly divide 8 days to maximize you time and experience for most of the attractions.

Set your travel budget

Start with airfare and transportation cost. Check out those travel agencies that give you the option to choose the nearby airports that offers better pricing or allow for immediate booking. You may also find several options that give you the opportunity to travel whenever a good deal pop up. You get the chance to sign up for their deal alerts. Also you can opt for their daily emails which provide listings for the cheapest airfares.

If you are planning to stay at an off-site hotel, consider renting a car. However, if you are staying at an on-site hotel, they will provide complimentary transportation everywhere you need to go.

Choose the best Disney package

Find for those packages that cover the combination of hotel, park tickets and dinner. You may find several travel agencies specializing in ‘no fee’ option that indicates that it costs you no more to book through them than it does to book through Disney. If you are unsure of which package might be the best, you may contact several authorized Disney Vacation planner and get the required information. To get the best discounts you may have to bundle multiple aspects of your trip together.

Select the rides, special events and the major attractions in advance

Planning the itinerary is crucial. Having an itinerary prevents you to skip any attractions in Walt Disney World.

The major attractions include

• Animal Kingdom

• Magic Kingdom

• Epcot

• Hollywood Studio

• Theme parks

• Water parks

Special events include

• Night of joy at Magic Kingdom

• Festivals of Masters

• Walt Disney World marathon

• Flower and garden festival

• Princess half marathon weekend

• Eat to beat concert series

• Wine and dine half marathon

Hopefully, these are valuable briefing to help you plan your Walt Disney World vacation.

Kevin White is currently the Consumer Analyst, Manager of Customer Service, Compliance Officer and a Vice-President of Timeshares By Owner. He is also host of the weekly radio show “Vacation Time Live” sponsored by Timeshares By Owner and airing weekly on News Radio 102.5 and 580 AM WFLA in Orlando and on iHeartRadio. Kevin began his career 12 years ago with Timeshares By Owner as a sales representative and moved into the Customer Service Department after two months as a sales representative.