All you need is faith and trust. Oh, and there’s something I forgot…dust! Dust? Just a little bit of pixie dust.
I love Walt Disney World. They are experts at perfecting every little detail from most popular parades to the tiniest decoration. For example, the music in the queue while you’re waiting for a ride is carefully chosen not only to correspond with the ride itself, but also to give you a sense of what you are supposed to be feeling while you experience that attraction. Every person who works for Disney (called a ‘cast member’) is encouraged to do anything they can to make a guest’s stay magical, so their customer service is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. They are constantly looking for ways to improve – like the new FastPass+ reservation system and updated interactive waiting areas for their most popular rides.
But here’s the thing…I am a total dork! The only thing I might love more than visiting Walt Disney World is PLANNING to visit Walt Disney World! I check out every Disney World book from the library even in years we aren’t planning a trip. I read discussion forums, pin things on Pinterest, and have notebooks full of thoughts for future trips. During the years we have a trip planned, I pre-order my favorite planning book almost a year in advance. You better believe that puppy is highlighted and dog-eared from front to back the moment it arrives in the mail. When I went to Disney with my family as a senior in high school, I made planning booklets for each family member with our top ride/food choices and touring plans for each day (don’t worry – my non-planner dad laughed at me and didn’t look at his booklet once!)
You may wonder why any of that is necessary for a simple family vacation. Disney World spans almost 30,000 acres and is home to 4 Theme Parks, 2 Water Parks, 27 themed resorts, 4 golf courses, 2 miniature golf courses, entertainment venues, and more. There are over 300 restaurants and more than 130 rides and attractions. With the average trip costing about $5,000, this is not the kind of trip where you want to walk through the turn styles, look at your family, and ask, “Well, what do you want to do today?”
Some of my absolute favorite childhood memories are eating lunch in Cinderella’s castle with my mom, beating my whole family (and emperor Zurg) at Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, and watching in awe as a parade of Stormtroopers marched down the streets of Hollywood Studios. Those memories were all possible because of careful planning and preparation.
Why do I tell you all of this? Well, a little pixie dust has fallen on our family and we are planning our next Disney vacation in a little less than a year. I thought it would be fun to give you a real-time glimpse into my planning process with a One Year Countdown to Walt Disney World. Along the way, I will share some of my favorite Disney planning tips and tricks, the food and attractions I am looking forward to, as well as some free Walt Disney World planning printables to make planning your trip a little more magical.
Click below to discover this month’s resources:
Answers to the Three Biggest Disney Vacation Planning Questions
This Month’s Freebie: Walt Disney World Budget Planner
If you have anything to add to the conversation, don’t be shy! I would love to answer any of your Disney planning questions and if you share a tip I love, I might just include you in next month’s countdown.
Catch up on the whole series (So far!):
12 Months: Introduction // The 3 Big Questions // Free Printable Budget Planner
11 Months: 11 Month Update // Best Free Planning Resources // Printable Journal Cards
10 Months: 10 Month Update // Top Planning Websites // Free Printable Stroller Tags
9 Months: Disney Dining Plan Review // Free Printable Top 10 Attractions List
8 Months: 8 Month Update // Top 10 Tinker Bell Gifts // Printable Tinker Bell Gift Tags
7 Months: 7 Month Update // Best Disney World Planning Books // Travel Info Sheet
6 Months: 6 Month Update // Touring Plan Spreadsheet
5 Months: 5 Month Update // Pin Trading Guide
4 Months: Disney Movie Countdown // Free Printable Daily Disney Planner
3 Months: Best Gear for Traveling with Kids // Printable Guide to Rides by Height
2 Months: All About FastPass+ // Free Printable Character Autograph Print
1 Month: Disney World Packing List
Countdown to Walt Disney World: Disney World Trip Report
—
Like what you see on our blog? Join our mailing list to receive emails with freebies, projects, coupons and decor ideas to help you live a creative and joy-filled life. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.
I love planning for vacation, too…& Disney World is my favorite destination!
I LOVE this post! I am a Disney fanatic too (and total dork about planning as well)! I had a laminated sheet for each day of our trip the first time we went…complete with the order we would ride the rides. It is almost like a game to me to strategize the trip and see how well the plan works. Our first trip to Disney as a family even had a hand in me making the huge decision to become a stay at home mom (see http://www.undermygabledroof.com/about-me/wish-upon-a-star/ if you want to see how big of a Disney dork I am).
I am hoping to surprise my daughter in September with a trip for Mickey’s Halloween Party and then we have a Disney cruise booked for January that the kids don’t know about either! Can’t wait to watch your year long planning process unfold here on the blog…it’s not a trip to Disney but it is the next best thing…reading all about it!
We had season passes for a few years since we live less than an hour away.
Oh wow! You are the expert, then! We get to visit about every five years, but I would LOVE to be an annual pass holder!
Wow! What a lot of incredible information and a great printable to boot! Thanks so much!
Cynthia @craftoflaughter.com
Thanks for visiting, Cynthia!
Love your planner! And my husband tells me I love the planning just as much as the trip too 🙂 I think it’s all the anticipation of the fun to come.
It’s the best part!! I love than anticipation! I just got my Free DVDs in the mailbox today, so you can imagine how excited I am to get started, ha!
That sounds great in theory but unless you’re planning a fall-December trip, it’s pretty hard to plan all the details that far in advance. We always go in January and those dates don’t open up for booking until just a few months beforehand. And it’s impossible to even make guesses on prices before that. They can change drastically week-to-week, let alone month-to-month. It makes it very hard to plan! I wish they’d start opening things up sooner so that it would be easier for those of us that visit at the first of the year to plan.
I’m starting to plan our first Disney trip and this has been so wonderful. Thanks for all of the great info!! Can’t wait for the upcoming tips ?
Hey i am planning my first disney trip ever for October 2017 ( only 568 more dyas to go…) and i am wondering what book you always pre order and is there any other books or material that are worth reading and have a stamp of approval? Also any other tips you may pass my way ???
Thanks so much
That is so exciting!! I LOVE planning for Disney World! I wrote a post about my favorite planning books, which you can find here: http://ourhandcraftedlife.com/best-walt-disney-world-vacation-planning-books/.
My favorite books are probably The Complete Walt Disney World (because of the incredible photography) and PassPorters (because of the planning resources). They publish new editions of the books yearly sometime around September or October, so the 2017 guides will be out this Fall. Because there are so many things changing with the parks this year (new Frozen ride in Epcot, new night time show at Animal Kingdom, and lots of things closing in Hollywood Studios in preparation for Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land), I would check books out from the library for now because they will have a much better picture of what the parks will look like next year by this October. The great news is that October 2017 sounds like an AMAZING time to visit Disney World!
THANKS i am soo excited!!!! PLease teel me they are not closing the tower of terror!!
Megan, Thank goodness you love planning. I do too, if I had the time. I am SOOO glad I found this page. We are planning a year ahead. I’ve only been there once when I was 5. Now, I’m 31 and we are taking our family, my niece is 6, she’ll be 7 when we go. As you can see this is going to be huge trip for us! Thank you for being so organized and creative…you have made this super for us to plan.
Gaby, thank you so much for taking the time to comment! Your kid words made my day. Your trip sounds fabulous! You are going to love every minute! Let me know if you have any questions – I’m happy to help!
Hi Megan, I am all about Disney! I am 56 years young and raising my 8 year old granddaughter. I am planning our trip in Nov. 2017 for her ‘surprise’ 9th birthday. This is her 2nd time to Disney, she was 3 the first time, and still remembers things about it! I own 50+ lithographs, over 200 Disney dvd’s, about 40+ Disney beanie babies, and a coo coo clock I bought in Epcot’s world showcase (Germany) 5 years ago, among other things I have gotten with the Disney Movie rewards points on the DMR website. It will be our 18th time, as we went quite often when we were Florida residents many moves ago. I wanted to let your followers know that the Disney planning vacation dvd guide is free to order and ships to your home with some valuable pointers. Disney dining plans do not include the gratuities to waitstaff, except with pizza delivery to your room and a couple others outside the normal. One tip I can give that really works is to stay at a resort, then they (cast members) take your packages to your hotel room, you ride their (resort) shuttles to the theme parks from your resort and back, and the added bonus of extra magical hours an hour before the parks open to all Disney goers, you get an hour head start! They even stay open later, for those staying in the resorts as well. Go the opposite direction as the rest of the crowd, and you will have little or no lines. Meet and greets you will be near the front of the long lines. I have been planning our trip for over a month now, with an itinerary of where to eat and times in the different parks, rides and character meet and greets. I am playing the waiting game, as I will book my restaurant reservations May 23rd, and I won’t book fast pass attractions until we’re there, because the little ticket printouts are quick, and gives you an hour window to shop or to get a picture with a near by character while you’re waiting. I also wanted to let everyone know, if you book restaurant reservations in advance, Please make sure you find out the cancellation policy of each reserved restaurant, as a cancellation may result in an unwanted charge of cancellation too close to your reservation time, or no shows, for each person in your party.
I hope this helps a bunch, but even one Disney trip planner an unforeseen and unexpected charge, for something quite avoidable. 😀