Adults are only kids grown up – Walt Disney

I would say the most popular comment I get from family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances when they ask about my Disney vacation planning is, “I could never plan a vacation like that. It would take the fun out of the trip.” I owe it to my Type A to address something here. I believe strongly that having a fantastic vacation doesn’t just happen. Or at least not a vacation where theme parks are on the agenda. Anyone going to a Disney Theme Park is investing a lot of money into experiences and memories. The absolute last thing you’re going to want to do is show up without a plan and unaware of what is there to see and do. The parks are overwhelming. They’re filled with lots of people, rides, dining options, and experiences spread out over multiple parks and I guarantee you not everyone in your party is going to want to do the exact same thing. So even if you have decidedly not made any plans for an upcoming or future Disney trip, indulge me for a few minutes and read through how I plan a trip. Worst case scenario you can laugh at my antics and tell your friends and family about this Disney crazed woman you read about on the internet (actually, if you could do that either way, that’d be great – I’d owe you one). Best case? You’ve learned something you didn’t know before and it will help you create a better trip. So where do I start? First, I owe it to you to say my family has done this trip many times before and so my starting point looks different than it used to. Consider this my approach to our very first trip when we had three very young kids. My parents decided to join us, so our planning was for 4 adults, 2 children and an infant. I had been to Disney a few times before with my parents but never with my kids and the idea of going seemed so daunting I wasn’t sure where to begin. My inner data nerd took over and I went to the Disney Website and filtered on rides at each park. I made a spreadsheet with the ride name, the land you could find it in, the height requirement, and if it was FastPass eligible (ahh, the good ol’ days of FastPass). Then I did the same thing but for parades, shows, or any non-ride entertainment in each park.

This workbook was a thing of beauty, I tell you.

At the time, my husband told me it was absolute craziness. After the trip he and my mom (who both were convinced, this trip was ‘only for the kids’) agreed it was the most fun vacation we’d ever been on and couldn’t wait for our next trip. Was the workbook a *little* much? Probably, but it has paid dividends! At the time I had a 4-year-old, a 2-year-old, an 8-month-old that I was still nursing, a husband who wanted to only hit the rides, a dad who wanted to get to The Hall of Presidents, and a mom who HATED the teacups (she still does). I knew we were spending a small fortune on this trip, and I needed to make sure we knew about everything we could do, where it was, and when we could go. And that is the key to planning a successful trip – knowing what is there and where it is. My next step was having a very informal meeting with the adults who were going. Actually, I tricked them into this meeting under the guise that it was a family dinner, but I digress. The goal for this meeting was to understand what everyone wanted to do. What were the “must do’s” and equally as important were the things people absolutely did not want to do. Did we want to plan dinning reservations, were there VIP tours we wanted to go on, and what rides did everyone have to get on? Take one guess at what everyone said during this first meeting? “We don’t care – we’ll do whatever.” UGH! You guys!!! If someone asks you for your opinion on a trip – PLEASE – just give it to them. Here’s why. The best part of planning a vacation is making sure those you’re traveling with are also doing the things they want. Do you need to review the website and research each park? No! But a really good starting point is to say one thing you really want to do and one thing you’d rather not do. For example, my husband really wanted to get the kids on as many rides as we could but did not want to shop (a top non-ride activity my mom wanted to do). Other really helpful things to tell your planner is “I don’t want to get up early”, “I want to rope drop”, or “I want to spend a day at the hotel by the pool.” Help them structure the day so that everyone has fun. Part of the challenge at Disney is that there are things for everyone. There are things for the early risers, for the night owls, for the foodies, for young families, the child-less thirty-somethings, and the young at heart. There are so many things to do you’ll never get through them all. Does it mean you need to plan it down to the hour? Absolutely not. But the difference between feeling totally overwhelmed and feeling excited is understanding what’s there and what you’d like to do. So where do you start? While it’s not a comprehensive list, here are some topics I find to be the most helpful when beginning my planning:

1. This probably goes without saying but everyone needs to be honest about their budget. Talk about what you’re willing to spend your money on (ie, resorts, dining, souvenirs, experiences) and how you’ll approach things that others want to spend money on that you do not. For example, if one part of the group wants to see Drawn To Life at Disney Springs, but you don’t want to spend $85 on a ticket, let the group know you’re going to do something else and will meet up with them after.

2. Determine where you’ll stay. Many of your other decisions will depend on knowing where you’re going to stay. Will you be able to rely on resort transportation or will you be driving each day?

3. How will you structure your day? Do you want to go early in the morning, late at night, or are you looking to go all out and go from rope drop to closing? How about in park entertainment? Do want to see parades, meet characters, watch shows, or are you focused on getting in as many rides as possible? Make sure to ask about weather, too. Is there a chance it will be incredibly hot, and you might need a break?

4. How does the group want to approach food? One large meal, three medium sized meals, or are you hoping to limit the number of times you eat out and bring snacks?

5. Next up, add-ons. Are you going during a holiday or festival? (Halloween, Food & Wine, Christmas, Flower & Garden, Festival of the Arts) Maybe you want to splurge and take a guided tour that gives you VIP access to the rides you want. Or are you thinking about trying (a serious Stefanie favorite) a fireworks dessert party? Maybe you’re travelling with someone like my 7-year-old who will always ask to go fishing, no matter where we are, and you want to add that on too.

6. Lastly, ask everyone if they intend to stick together the entire day or if they plan to venture off on their own (this might not be applicable but if you’re going with a group, it is very helpful to know).

The point of all the questions is to set expectations for the trip. Use the feedback from the group to make an outline, at the very least. Once you know everyone’s expectations the rest is pretty easy. The good news is when you’ve done the basic research your plans can change quickly, and you’re still prepared. I'll give you an example of what I mean. One of the trips we made to Disney may have very well been a trip to the surface of the sun. The lowest temperature while we were there was 97 degrees. I sweat just thinking about that trip. We got to the park and found that the lines were long and the sun was relentless. After two hours, I turned to everyone and said, “I can’t do this anymore. I’m taking the kids back to swim at the pool. The park is open until 9pm and we’ll eat an early dinner and come back after.” All of our plans were all for the middle of the day, but I knew forcing everyone to stay in the heat would lead to a miserable time. So I cancelled our FastPasses, looked for later options where I could, and we headed to the boat to get back to our resort. Was I thrilled about losing out on things we planned? No, not at all, but I was thankful I knew enough about the park and what we wanted to do that we still had an amazing day. Maybe you find yourself at Hollywood Studios and it’s packed (it usually is) and decide you want to park hop to a less crowded park. Or maybe you wake up totally exhausted from two days of back-to-back, sun up to sun down fun and want to indulge in a slower morning. Plans can change and you can still have fun and not feel “cheated” out of the time you have there. Disney is expensive, there’s no getting around that. The best way to ensure you don’t end up as that person who is whisper-shouting at the group they're with in the middle of Fantasyland that “WE’RE ALL HERE HAVING FUN SO KNOCK IT OFF!” is to know what you’re up against. Once you’ve been to the park a couple of times, your strategy planning changes but even as many times as I have gone there, I still always make time for it. For example, the first two trips we went on my kids never slept past 6 am, so we were always taking advantage of early hours. Flash forward to our trip in December of 2021 there were days my kids didn’t get up until 9! I knew my kids were older and could handle late nights much better than they could six years earlier, so I didn’t plan for us to get to the park until after lunch time almost every day. Each trip has changed because each time we have had different wants and expectations, but each trip has been amazing. Not because I scheduled us down to the hour or because things didn’t come up that altered our plans on the fly, but because I took the time to figure out what each of us wanted to do. My advice? Regardless of how many times you’ve been to Disney, figure out what everyone expects to do, try your best to be flexible, and most important of all HAVE FUN!

If you think I’m missing something, let me know! What was the best piece of advice you got while planning your Disney vacations?