So............you know the WHEN, HOW LONG, and WHERE for your Walt Disney World vacation. Now it's time to start the more in depth planning.............let the real fun begin!!! Let's start by creating a sketch plan of the park(s) you'll visit for each day of the trip. Remember this process is how Donna and I are planning our trip and it's a guide not a rule.
We plan for a park visit on both arrival day and departure day. To do this I do my best to plan our arrival for as early as possible and our departure to take place as late in the day as possible. If you're like us and doing this planning more than 6 months in advance you probably don't have airline reservations yet (or maybe you do...........). If you're using Disney's Magical Express keep in mind the time it may take to get to your resort on arrival day.........I'd allow an hour and a half to 2 hours. On the way home remember that DME requires pick up "at least" 3 to 4 hours prior to your flight time.
In this part of planning we don't try to get too specific. We talk about a general plan regarding what parks on what days. We will sometimes have a specific goal for a day in mind but we try not to fill in all the detail at this point. Remember there's plenty of time to add and/or change details. Also keep in mind nothing here is set in stone. When we did this planning we only had historical information regarding park hours and other events that may be happening during our visit (in fact we're still about 40 days away from knowing the park hours for our trip). Things may have to be modified as we get more information.
Arrival Day (Monday)
For our first day/night we're looking for something fun to start our vacation off with a bang. Now this doesn't always mean being close to the resort. For our Sept trip we've decided to plan the "Fantasmic Package" at Hollywood Studios. Next up.............our first full day at WDW!
First FULL day (Tuesday)
What usually happens is that on our first full day at WDW we end up at the Magic Kingdom. This is usually because the MK is the iconic park at WDW and seeing that castle is just too much of a highlight to delay. We have several things we're looking forward to on this day..........Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (1st Goofy encounter) and dinner at "Be Our Guest". Again we've put out these rough thoughts nothing more is filled in at this moment.
Day 3 (Wednesday)
We've chosen to visit Hollywood Studio's on our Day 3. Now others may disagree, but I don't view Hollywood Studio's as a full day adventure, especially since we will be visiting on arrival day. Given that attitude, this is the first day we've discussed as a "rest/pool" period at our resort (the Wilderness Lodge). This also allows for an exciting dinner experience in the evening.
Day 4 (Epcot Thursday)
Day 4 is Epcot all day long.................... Epcot is our favorite park at WDW, we love the World Showcase and all it has to offer. For this year's visit we've decided to try our luck at "Drinking around the World" at Epcot. Remember we're older and this plan really wouldn't work for families with children. This is also the only day we aren't thinking about rising at dawn to get to a park. We're thinking breakfast at Cape May Cafe (2nd Goofy visit) mid morning and then strolling into Epcot for a fun filled day. We're also thinking of Dinner at a location we can watch Illuminations from. Expecting a long day.......but ton's of fun!
Departure Day (Friday)
On our last day at WDW we're again not planning on getting up too early. We do plan on visiting Animal Kingdom on our last day. This requires a bit of setup as we need to be packed and checked out prior to leaving for the park. We do want a breakfast at AK and we've targeted Tusker House breakfast buffet (final Goofy visit). The plan will be to be back at the WL in time for our DME pickup at mid to late afternoon.
Your "Sketch" is complete
So there you have it...........the plan is "sketched" out. Keep in mind we did this at about 275 days prior to our visit (just after we booked the trip) so this is truly just a SKETCH. Plenty left to do...............but plenty of time to think/plan it out.
If you have your reservation number I would always recommend getting this plan into your "My Disney Experience" on the Disney website at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/ This site allows you to add your reservation and setup your daily plans. It is from here you also customize your Magic Bands, setup you FastPass+ plans, and setup dining reservations. NOTE: Each of those 3 subjects are very important and very detailed.........more on them in later posts.
Next up we'll look at adding details to the daily plans for each specific day................
We plan for a park visit on both arrival day and departure day. To do this I do my best to plan our arrival for as early as possible and our departure to take place as late in the day as possible. If you're like us and doing this planning more than 6 months in advance you probably don't have airline reservations yet (or maybe you do...........). If you're using Disney's Magical Express keep in mind the time it may take to get to your resort on arrival day.........I'd allow an hour and a half to 2 hours. On the way home remember that DME requires pick up "at least" 3 to 4 hours prior to your flight time.
In this part of planning we don't try to get too specific. We talk about a general plan regarding what parks on what days. We will sometimes have a specific goal for a day in mind but we try not to fill in all the detail at this point. Remember there's plenty of time to add and/or change details. Also keep in mind nothing here is set in stone. When we did this planning we only had historical information regarding park hours and other events that may be happening during our visit (in fact we're still about 40 days away from knowing the park hours for our trip). Things may have to be modified as we get more information.
Arrival Day (Monday)
For our first day/night we're looking for something fun to start our vacation off with a bang. Now this doesn't always mean being close to the resort. For our Sept trip we've decided to plan the "Fantasmic Package" at Hollywood Studios. Next up.............our first full day at WDW!
First FULL day (Tuesday)
What usually happens is that on our first full day at WDW we end up at the Magic Kingdom. This is usually because the MK is the iconic park at WDW and seeing that castle is just too much of a highlight to delay. We have several things we're looking forward to on this day..........Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (1st Goofy encounter) and dinner at "Be Our Guest". Again we've put out these rough thoughts nothing more is filled in at this moment.
Day 3 (Wednesday)
We've chosen to visit Hollywood Studio's on our Day 3. Now others may disagree, but I don't view Hollywood Studio's as a full day adventure, especially since we will be visiting on arrival day. Given that attitude, this is the first day we've discussed as a "rest/pool" period at our resort (the Wilderness Lodge). This also allows for an exciting dinner experience in the evening.
Day 4 (Epcot Thursday)
Day 4 is Epcot all day long.................... Epcot is our favorite park at WDW, we love the World Showcase and all it has to offer. For this year's visit we've decided to try our luck at "Drinking around the World" at Epcot. Remember we're older and this plan really wouldn't work for families with children. This is also the only day we aren't thinking about rising at dawn to get to a park. We're thinking breakfast at Cape May Cafe (2nd Goofy visit) mid morning and then strolling into Epcot for a fun filled day. We're also thinking of Dinner at a location we can watch Illuminations from. Expecting a long day.......but ton's of fun!
Departure Day (Friday)
On our last day at WDW we're again not planning on getting up too early. We do plan on visiting Animal Kingdom on our last day. This requires a bit of setup as we need to be packed and checked out prior to leaving for the park. We do want a breakfast at AK and we've targeted Tusker House breakfast buffet (final Goofy visit). The plan will be to be back at the WL in time for our DME pickup at mid to late afternoon.
Your "Sketch" is complete
So there you have it...........the plan is "sketched" out. Keep in mind we did this at about 275 days prior to our visit (just after we booked the trip) so this is truly just a SKETCH. Plenty left to do...............but plenty of time to think/plan it out.
If you have your reservation number I would always recommend getting this plan into your "My Disney Experience" on the Disney website at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/plan/ This site allows you to add your reservation and setup your daily plans. It is from here you also customize your Magic Bands, setup you FastPass+ plans, and setup dining reservations. NOTE: Each of those 3 subjects are very important and very detailed.........more on them in later posts.
Next up we'll look at adding details to the daily plans for each specific day................