Happy Friday!! Today I'm hopping on a plane to go back to Disney for my third trip this year!! I cannot even tell you how thankful and excited I am to be going back and spend some much needed time with so many friends from my two DCP's!! I am gone for a full week this time and am so ready for some much needed Disney magic!
I've been in intense trip-planning mode which also means I've been going back and forth with friends about our itinerary. I wanted to share some advice for creating an itinerary for a Disney trip since I know it can be super stressful with all the different things to do on property! And I just love seeing how other people plan their trips so why not share how I plan?!
Here are 10 pieces of advice I can give for creating a Disney trip itinerary:
Decide if you are flying or driving. On family trips we typically drive down to Florida from NY but when I'm going by myself to meet with friends, I fly. This helps decide how many days to spend in Disney, in the parks, if you should stay off property, etc.
Determine how many days your trip is. Once you have figured out how much airfare is or gas/hotels on the way down, what days are the best to fly, how long you can stay, you'll have a much easier time trying to create your itinerary for your trip!
Decide how many park days you want to do. Do you want to do all park days (park open to park close), half park days (half park day/half pool day), some park days, or no park days? If you're a Cast Member, Annual Passholder, etc, blockout dates most certainly apply and this is a huge factor when deciding how many park days to do! On this trip, our tickets are blocked out for a majority of the days due to blockout dates so that's why we're taking advantage of the free things at Disney instead!
Decide what parks you want to go to. Every trip, without question, Magic Kingdom is a must. It's my favorite park and if I don't go there on a trip, my trip really doesn't feel complete! If you want to go to all four parks, decide if you want to park hop every day or do one park each day. Maybe you only want to do 3 of the parks instead. It's all up to you, just decide what combination of days/parks works best for your trip!
Figure out if you want to stay on Disney property or off property. It's much easier to not only experience the resort but get around the resort if you stay on Disney property. Although it is much more expensive, I absolutely LOVE ending the night back in a Disney resort. It's like the magic truly never ends.
Decide what your non-park must-do's are. On every trip, I NEED to go to Disney Springs. Ever since I was younger, I went to Disney Springs with my family the first night we would arrive in Florida so now I literally cannot go to Disney without going there! Maybe you want to take the Skyliner to visit different resorts on the Skyliner route. Maybe you want to eat breakfast one day at the Grand Floridian Cafe. Maybe you want to have a pool day at your resort. Make a list of the things you'd be SO upset if you didn't get to do on your trip!
Decide what your park day must-do's are. In each park, there are certain things I absolutely cannot miss and others that I really don't mind skipping. Pirates of the Caribbean in Magic Kingdom? CANNOT MISS. Country Bear Jamboree? Definitely can skip. If you're travelling with more than one person, my best tip is to have each person choose one or two things total (including rides, restaurants, snacks, parades) that are their must-do's.
For my family in Epcot, my must is Soarin' and taking photos around World Showcase. My mom loves Journey Into Imagination and walking around the UK Pavillion. My brother loves Test Track and Mission: Space and my dad loves Soarin' and Spaceship Earth. Based on what we all say, we'll decide a brief plan for our full day in Epcot to make sure everyone can check off their two must-do's from the list.
Allow extra time in your day for all the extra stuff. Both in the parks and not there alot of extra stuff. Shopping, taking photos, park-hopping and transportation all take time. Taking photos can literally take hours. Shopping on various days can take hours. Waiting for the monorail at peak times can take an hour. It's important to account for these things that you wouldn't normally think of of your trip.
Write everything down. I'm such an organizer and need to have everything written and laid out to make sure I'm not forgetting anything. This will help you visualize your trip and see where you have time to go to Disney springs, add a nice dinner, spend time at the pool, etc. On my most recent trip in February, my friend and I realized we had a whole morning free on our last morning before the airport so we decided to spend it at the pool!
Make reservations. Once you have your itinerary figured out for the most part, start making dining and theme park reservations! Now, you need a park reservation after you purchase your theme park tickets to be able to get in the park. Once you have these, if you want to make dining reservations inside the parks you definitely should! If you want to make dining reservations at Disney Springs or at any of the resorts you should absolutely do that too!
I know there's a ton of info here but I hope it is helpful on your next trip!! If you have any tips you swear by when planning your own trips, please share them with me! I love talking about Disney trips (if you couldn't tell). I hope you have the best weekend and please please head to my IG stories to follow along on my Disney adventures this next week!
See ya real soon,
Danielle
