Some people may think it sounds outrageous to make a plan for vacation since vacation is supposed to be carefree and flexible. Your Disney vacation can still be all that with a schedule. Making a schedule just makes you better prepared. There are a lot of things to see and the parks can get very busy, and going in without a plan/schedule could lead to a lot of disappointment. If you even do just a little bit of planning, you can make sure you get in the important things and make sure you enjoy doing them and not waiting in long lines.
The most minimal amount of planning I would recommend is to at least map out the following:
- Decide which parks you will go to on which days
- Make dining reservations for all table service restaurants you want to eat at
- Decide which ride will be your first pick of the day with Genie+ and which ride you will ride stand-by at rope drop
Having the above 3 items planned out will already put you ahead of the game!
Choosing Your Days
There used to be a lot more factors to consider when choosing your park days, but it has become a lot more simple in the past few years. Every day at all the parks offers early entry to Disney Resort guests, so you no longer have to choose your days based on which parks are offering early entry. There really won’t be too much of a difference between days, there are only a few rules I recommend following:
- Go to Epcot on a weekday. There is usually always a festival running at Epcot and during those times, Epcot will be busier on the weekends.
- If you are staying at a Deluxe Disney Resort, then check to see which days/parks are offering extended evening hours for deluxe guests. You may want to work your schedule around those deluxe hours because I highly recommend taking advantage of them if you are a deluxe guest. The parks are very empty during those hours.
- If you are traveling between August and December, make sure to avoid Magic Kingdom on a party day. Various days during the week will have either a Halloween party or Christmas party at Magic Kingdom. The park will close early on those days, so you may want to be careful about what day you choose as your Magic Kingdom day so that you can go on a day that is open late to see fireworks.
The time of year will determine the level of crowds you can expect, but there are many sites out there that give you a prediction of what crowds will look like on certain days. You can consult these calendars and select your park days based on what they recommend. The two sites that I like to consult for crowd calendars are Undercover Tourist and Touring Plans. If you have park hopper passes, then you will have more flexibility with this as you will be able to change parks if you feel one is too crowded.
**Quick Tip – the time that they open the park at Disney is what is referred to as “Rope Drop”. If you plan to go to a park first thing in the morning, then make sure you arrive at least 30 minutes prior to rope drop. If you walk in to a park as soon as it opens, you can get a lot of rides done in that first hour. That is always the least busiest time of the day. Even better if you are a Disney Resort guest and you have access to the Early Entry hours.
Once you have a rough plan to decide where you will be on what days, then you can start to work on some of the finer details, such as restaurant reservations and Lightning Lane selections…
Part 5: Deciding Where to Eat