May 2019, we took our first family Disney vacation to Walt Disney World. To say the very, very least, it was every bit magical and wonderful as we dreamed. After coming home, we had so many friends ask about our vacation and were amazed to discover that we were able to experience so much and have a truly wonderful, fun-filled trip without it costing a fortune. Additionally, we learned A LOT and want to share those details including tips we were given, tricks we discovered, and more!
First, before you start planning your trip, you need to think about a couple of things...
1) how long do you want your vacation to be?
2) do you have flexible travel dates or are you only able to travel during certain times of the year?
These are two really important things to consider when you are starting your WDW vacation planning. Of course you'll need to remember that there are times of the year that it is absolutely slammed and other times of the year when WDW is empty. Obviously, the goal of your vacation is to have fun, experience as much as you can, and not break the bank. So, I'm going to break down step-by-step, what you should do to plan the perfect Disney World vacation!
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Alright, let's jump in!
STEP ONE - PICK YOUR DATES
It's really important that before you even start planning, you decide the best dates for your vacation. Here are few things to keep in mind or to check when you are ready to pick your dates.
1) Will this effect your child's school absences?
2) Check the Orlando ISD school calendar to ensure that you aren't having to compete with all the Orlando kids and their families if they are on break at the same time as your vacation dates - examples: Spring Break, Summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc.
3) Are you wanting to stay on-site or off-site?
4) Do you want to take part in the dining plan or are you going to bring your food or pay out of pocket?
**3 & 4 are important because these offer money saving options in some scenarios.
STEP TWO - DETERMINE IF ON-SITE OR OFF-SITE IS BEST FOR YOU
There are a few Pros and Cons to both. Here are my thoughts...
PROS of staying on-site:
1) Free MagicBands - I know these won't make or break a trip, but it certainly comes in handy and if you are off-site, you'll have to purchase one which is another expense.
2) First choice of FastPass selections - on-site guests get to pick their FastPass rides 60 days before arrrival while those off-site have to wait until 30 days; this means that the popular rides may be taken by the time the off-site guests get to book FP rides.
3) Extra Magic Hours - these are ONLY for on-site guests and are set by WDW. They pick the dates and parks as well as whether EMH will be morning or evening. Essentially, this allows on-site guests to gain access to the parks 1 hour before opening or 1 hour after closing. While all the off-site guests have to leave, on-site guests now have the opportunity to ride a few extra rides that they may have missed.
4) Faster access to the parks.
5) Free park transportation via boats, buses, or skyliner; they even offer Free airport pickup and dropoff to and from the resort for any guests who are flying in.
6) You can take part in the dining plan. If you are an off-site guest, you cannot purchase the dining plan, so you will need to prepare and have some money ready for your meals while at the parks.
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| Sequins and Dirt Blog Photo from Art of Animation Hotel |
1) Rooms may be smaller and more expensive - this is where you will need to price compare and determine if the pros outweigh the cons. Some families are comfortable with a smaller room on-site because they don't plan on using the room for anything other than sleeping. While other families may want a little more room, like 2 bedrooms or a full kitchen.
2) Overnight parking costs at the resorts. I know, it's silly, but the resorts do charge a fee for overnight parking, so you will need to be prepared to have a little extra to pay at checkout for the parking.
Aside from the hotels, you can also stay in a Disney Vacation Club rental. These are like timeshares, and often times, the owners will list them for rent. These are typically larger than the hotels, most have two bedrooms or more, full kitchens, and living rooms. And as a bonus, you don't have to pay for parking, and typically there will be a DVC representative that will guide you through the whole process and even help you book certain things.
Here are some DVC Rental sites that come highly recommended:
DVC Rentals from David's
DVC Rental Store
You can also rent directly from a DVC owner, however, do so with caution if you are not familiar with the person. I also advise going through a representative to ensure you are covered.
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I put this as step three because sometimes it's best for you to check the dates and pricing of the hotels/resorts based off when you are planning to travel. Reason for this is that certain times of the year are more expensive than others - for example, December is more expensive. So, this may change the number of days you plan on staying. You can easily play around with the number of days you want to stay with Disney's new price comparison tool.
***click image for the price comparison tool ***
Here's an example of how the pricing can be affected:
On-site 4 days with 2 day of park tickets for 2 adults - possible cost $900;
add dining (automatically applies for all 4 days) $300
On-site 6 days with 4 days of park tickets for 2 adults - possible cost $1500;
add dining (automatically applies for all 6 days) $900
Off-site 4 days with 2 days of park tickets for 2 adults - possible cost $600;
cannot add dining
Off-site 6 days with 4 days of park tickets - possible cost $1200;
cannot add dining
These are not exact numbers, just an example of cost breakdown.
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Once you've determined your dates, whether you'll stay on- or off-site, and how long you'll stay, you'll need to move forward with booking. My recommendations for booking times are:
185 days if using the Table Service Dining Plans
65 days if using the Quick Service Dining Plan or opting out of dining
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Tip: If you are using the Quick Service Dining, avoid waiting in lines by simply logging into your Disney app and then going over to the dining section, select the restaurant you'd like to eat from, place your order and pick-up in the designated on-line pick-up line. This saves you so much time and allows you to quickly move through the park or avoid waiting in line and for the food to be cooked/prepped. This is also super helpful if you want to eat at a restaurant before heading to a show or FastPass reservation. You can quickly eat and then move on to the next thing on your itinerary.
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At this point, you can breathe a sigh of relief. You just booked your Disney vacation. But, stay tuned, I'm going to show you exactly how to get the most of your vacation. I'm literally going to show you how we planned our vacation which allowed us to ride every single ride on our "must-do" list and we even rode popular rides like Frozen, Pirates, and Peter Pan more than once!
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