GATHERING INFORMATION
YOUR DISNEY TRIP-PLANNING TIMELINE, AKA THE QUICK-START GUIDE TO USING THE GUIDE
A S Y O U G O T H R O U G H T H I S B O O K , you’ll see many references to date-specific planning milestones for your trip: As we went to press, you could make Disney park reservations for dates through January 2023, and dining reservations 60 days before your arrival. And you might be wondering about other milestone dates that are important to know for your Disney trip.
Starting on the next page is a comprehensive timeline that rep-resents the major research, decisions, and tasks that come into play when preparing for a typical Walt Disney World vacation. Next to each milestone, we’ve put a reference to the section in this book that has the information you need for that milestone, and/or links to our website and blog for additional material like photos or videos.
Most Disney trips involve about a dozen important dates to remember. If you’ve started planning more than 11 months before your trip, you’ll have plenty of time to do research ahead of those dates. If you’ve decided to visit Disney World within the next couple of months, you’ll want to move a bit quicker.
Do you really need to do this? Absolutely—the demand for park reservations and restaurants far exceeds their capacity, and you may not get to experience them without planning and reservations. Con-sider that Disney’s Hollywood Studios, with Walt Disney World’s newest land and rides, has a current limit of around 23,000 guests—
about 35% of its pre-pandemic capacity. And a hot restaurant such as Be Our Guest, running at full speed, can serve lunch to fewer than half as many guests as it used to.
Making park and dining reservations as soon as possible is vital if you want to eat at nice restaurants and avoid hours-long waits at pop-ular rides. Other reservations, such as those for spas or recreational activities, aren’t currently offered. When they are, they can frequently be made when you arrive in Orlando, especially if you’re visiting dur-ing a slower time of year or if you’re flexible with the date or time of your appointment. But your best bet is to research early and make reservations as soon as Disney allows.
How to Plan in a Hurry
We get variations on this email a lot:
OMG! Our first Disney trip is in three weeks, and I just found out about the Unofficial Guide. I had no idea about all the preparation I should have done! What do I do?
Three weeks is plenty of time. You’ll still want to go through the timeline below, because those steps are important, if not mandatory—
you’ll just have a more compressed schedule.
If your preferred places to eat are already booked, check out our guide on page 276 that shows highly rated alternatives to hard-to-get restaurants. Also check TouringPlans.com for advice.
You’ll also want to follow the touring plans in the back of this book—
they’re your insurance against long waits in line. They suggest which FastPass+ reservations to get (if they’re available) and when. If our rec-ommendations aren’t available, our free touring plan software can make alternative suggestions and work with whatever FastPasses you can get.
12–9 Months Before Your Trip
You may already have a general idea of when you want to visit Disney World. What the trip will cost you, however, can be a surprise. Take a couple of evenings to plan a budget and an approximate time of year to travel, and to narrow down your hotel choices.
• Establish a budget. See pages 70–72 in Part Four for an idea of how much Disney vacation you can get for $1,000–$3,000, for various family sizes. More information is available at tinyurl.com/1000-disney-vacation.
• Check the quarantine policies for your home state, plus those of Florida and any other state in which you’ll spend more than 24 hours, at tinyurl.com /ushealthdepts. While the policies may change, this gives you an idea of whether you’ll need to add days to self-quarantine on either side of your trip.
• Figure out when to go and where to stay. Begin researching resorts (see Part Five) and the best times of year to visit to avoid crowds (see page 39). Our own Erin Foster has devised an excellent method for finding the best vacation dates for your family. See her planning blog at tinyurl .com/planningwdw.
• Brush up on discounts. Disney releases certain discounts around the same time every year. Check mousesavers.com for a list of these regu-lar discounts, when they’re usually announced, and the travel dates they cover at tinyurl.com/wdw-historic-discounts. Also see our section on hotel discounts beginning on page 95 in Part Five.
• Create an account at My Disney Experience (see page 35). You’ll need it to make park, hotel, dining, and ride reservations later.
• Make a preliminary hotel reservation. This typically requires a deposit equal to one night’s cost, and it guarantees you a room. You can change or cancel your reservation without penalty for several months while you continue your research.
• Disney Vacation Club (DVC) members can make reservations at their home resorts starting 11 months before their trip. See page 98 for informa-tion on how to rent points from a DVC member.
• Investigate whether trip insurance makes sense for your situation. If you’ll be traveling to Disney World during peak hurricane season (August and September), it might be worthwhile. Third-party policies, such as those from insuremytrip.com, are usually cheaper than Disney’s trip insur-ance and are often more comprehensive.
• If you’re not a US citizen, make sure your family’s passports and visas are in order. Passports typically need to be valid for six months beyond your travel dates. An electronic US visa is typically good for two years from the date of issue, if you need one. See esta.cbp.dhs .gov/esta for details. As of 2020, you must apply for a visa at least 72 hours prior to arrival.
9–7 Months Before Your Trip
Now is the time to start thinking about where you’ll be eating and what you want to do in the theme parks.
• Purchase your park admission at least this far in advance (see pages 74 and 75 for ticket details and add-ons). Our Least Expensive Ticket Calcu-lator will find you the best discounts on Disney tickets: touringplans .com /walt-disney-world/ticket-calculator.
• Link your tickets to your My Disney Experience account, so you can make park reservations and FastPass+ reservations (if they’re offered) at the 30- or 60-day mark.
• Disney Vacation Club members can make resort reservations outside their home resorts starting seven months before their trip.
• Check the best days to visit each park. Use our Disney World Crowd Calendar to select the parks you’ll visit on each day of your trip: touring plans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar.
• Make park reservations. Disney World requires you to make a theme park reservation in addition to purchasing valid admission to that park.
At press time, reservations were available through at least January 2023.
Visit disneyworld .disney.go.com/park-reservations to get started.
6–4 Months Before Your Trip
Become familiar with Disney’s rides, shows, and attractions, and start planning what you’ll see each day. This will help you identify potential bottlenecks, which you can address using our touring plans and Disney’s FastPass+ system (temporarily suspended). You can make FastPass+
reservations (if offered) in a few weeks.
• Review the attractions and shows at the Magic Kingdom (page 461), EPCOT (page 509), Disney’s Animal Kingdom (page 544), and Disney’s Hollywood Studios (page 573).
• Make a list of must-see attractions in each park. If you’re unsure whether your child should experience a particular attraction, see our Small- Child Fright Potential Table on pages 392–394. Every attraction is listed.
A table on page 396 lists height requirements for the attractions. Finally, you can preview attractions on YouTube at tinyurl.com/wdw-ride-videos.
• Review our touring plans (see page 56) and use them to begin putting together a touring strategy for each park. You can also use our touring plan software: See touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/touring-plans. By starting now, you’ll be able to see what attractions would benefit from FastPass+ (if available), which you can reserve 60 or 30 days before your trip. You’ll also see whether you’ll need the Park Hopper option on your theme park tickets, which you’ll purchase later.
180 Days Before Your Trip
Now you can start making tour, spa, and other reservations. These timelines may change (perhaps to 60 days in advance) once these activi-ties return.
• Make reservations for the following (all temporarily suspended):
Theme park tours:
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407-WDW-TOUR (939-8687)Recreational activities such as boating:
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407-WDW-PLAY (939-7529) Spa treatments:☎
407-WDW-SPAS (939-7727)Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (page 666):
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407-WDW-STYL (939-7895)• Get familiar with Disney World restaurants (see Part Six). When Dis-ney’s dining reservation system opens at your 60-day mark, you can make reservations. See touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/dining for current menus and prices at every Disney restaurant, all searchable.
• Also get familiar with the Disney Dining Plan (temporarily suspended;
see Part Five, page 210). If you’re planning to stay at a Disney hotel, you’ll
need to figure out if the plan will save you money on the restaurants you’ve identified.
120 Days Before Your Trip
As your vacation approaches, it’s time to make concrete arrangements for your days in the theme parks.
• Save money on stroller rentals in the parks (if needed) by renting from a third-party company; see page 386 for our recommendations. You can also save on wheelchair and ECV rentals this way; see page 408 for details and recommendations.
• Recheck the quarantine policies for your home state, plus those of Florida and any other state in which you’ll spend more than 24 hours, at tinyurl.com/ushealthdepts.
60 Days Before Your Trip
The theme for this week of planning is “the three F’s”: food, FastPass+, and refunds. (If you are a stickler for precision, then substitute funds retrieval for refunds.)
• Make reservations for sit-down dining beginning at 5:45 a.m. Eastern time online at disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining or at 6:45 a.m. by phone (see page 273 for tips):
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407-WDW-DINE (939-3463). If you’re staying at a Walt Disney World resort, you can make reservations for up to 10 days of your trip today.• Revisit the economics of the Disney Dining Plan (temporarily sus-pended) after you’ve made dining reservations, to verify it’s still worth the money. If not, call Disney to drop it from your reservation.
• Disney resort guests and those staying at select on-site resorts can make FastPass+ reservations (temporarily suspended; see page 63) starting at 7 a.m. Eastern time. Once that’s done, update your touring plans. If you’re using our online touring plans, we’ll redo your schedule so that you get to your chosen attractions on time.
• Start a walking regimen to prepare for the 7–10 miles per day you may be walking in the parks. See page 376 for more on that.
• Try a ride-hailing service like Lyft or Uber. These services are often the fastest way to get between your hotel and the theme parks, and they’re cheaper than taxis. Download one of these apps to your smartphone, cre-ate an account, and take a short trip in your hometown to become familiar with how they work.
• If you decide not to go to Disney World, you typically have 30 days to cancel most Disney vacation packages without a penalty; room-only res-ervations can be canceled without a penalty until six days before your trip.
See page 92 for a review of Disney’s cancellation policies, as they may be more flexible during the pandemic. Otherwise, you can start your online check-in at Disney resorts 60 days before you arrive.
45 Days Before Your Trip
• Final payment for room-only reservations is due if you book online within 45 days of arrival (payment of room-only reservations booked far-ther out isn’t due until check-in).
• Order your MagicBands (page 82) if desired.
• Make Disney’s Magical Express reservations (page 422) if flying, or make other transportation arrangements. The Magical Express service will end December 31, 2021.
• If you want to switch resorts or make additional dining reservations, now is a good time to check, owing to cancellations at the 45-day mark.
• Recheck the quarantine policies for your home state, plus those of Florida and any other state in which you’ll spend more than 24 hours, at tinyurl.com/ushealthdepts.
• Travelers age 2 and up entering the United States from another country (including returning US citizens), make an appointment to get a coronavi-rus test no more than three days prior to entering the United States.
30 Days Out
• Send your room request to Disney. We can do this for you automati-cally. See tinyurl.com/wdw-hotel-fax for details.
• Final payment is due for Disney vacation packages.
• Off-site guests can make FastPass+ reservations (temporarily sus-pended; see page 63) beginning at 7 a.m. Eastern time.
• Confirm park hours and finish preliminary touring plans.
• Download our Lines app so you can follow your touring plan and get updates in the parks: touringplans.com/disney-world-app.
• Arrange to stop delivery of mail and newspapers.
• Arrange for pet or house sitters.
2 Weeks Out
• Arrange grocery delivery to your resort (see Part Ten, page 460).
• If you’re flying to the US from another country, complete the Advance Passenger Information and Secure Flight (APIS) process at least 72 hours before your flight. You should be able to do this through your airline’s website; otherwise, make sure your travel agent has your information.
You’ll need to provide the address where you’ll be staying in the United States, so have that information handy when you complete this form.
• Check that you have enough prescription medication.
• Triple-check the quarantine policies for your home state, plus those of Florida and any other state in which you’ll spend more than 24 hours, at tinyurl .com/ushealthdepts.
6 Days Out
• This is typically your last chance to cancel Disney room-only res-ervations booked online without a penalty. Call
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407-W-DISNEY(934-7639).
• Check the weather forecast for Orlando: tinyurl.com/wdw-weather.
• Start packing. See touringplans.com/blog/tag/packing-tips for our tips.
5 Days Out
• This is typically your last chance to cancel Disney room-only reservations booked by phone or travel agent without a penalty. Call
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407-W-DISNEYto do so.
4 Days Out
• Purchase Disney’s Memory Maker photo package (see Part Ten, page 457) at least three days in advance to ensure that all photos are linked as soon as you arrive. You’ll also get a discount if you buy your package ahead of time.
3 Days Out
• Travelers age 2 and up entering the United States from another country (including returning US citizens) must obtain negative coronavirus test results no more than three days prior to entering the United States.
The Day Before
• Check in to your airline online.
• Finish Disney resort online check-in, if you haven’t already done so:
disneyworld.disney.go.com/trip/online-resort-check-in.
• Cancel any unneeded dining or baby- or pet-sitting reservations.
• Do one last check of park hours and weather.