So! You’ve made the exciting decision that you just can’t wait anymore and the streets of Disney are calling your name! If you’re a regular to Disney Parks, then you’re probably super satisfied with your choice and the savory memory of the taste of a giant turkey leg (or my new fave, the slow roasted pork shank from Gaston’s tavern in Walt Disney World) is already forming tiny little droplets of saliva in your mouth. But! If you are like tons of other potentials to the wonderful world of Disney, you may be having the opposite feelings, complete with dry mouth and anxiety. Because let’s face it. Planning a trip to Disney can be a daunting task… but it doesn’t need to be!
While there are many facets to planning a trip to Disney, I first recommend sitting down and taking the time to answer a few questions outlined below. Once you have these questions answered, it’ll be much easier to move ahead with the next step.
Questions to ask yourself/fellow traveling companions
- What is our total budget we are looking to spend?
- How important is eating out and what types of meals are we looking to eat? Packed food? Quick service food? Sit down restaurants?
- Will we be taking our own car or need a form of transportation?
- What parks do we want to see and what rides are a must?
- Do we want a more leisurely trip or do we want to be busy and see everything humanely possible?
Got your answers? Because once you do, the next step of course is to figure out what to do with your answers. Due to the sheer nature that everyone is different and is going to answer everything in a way that best suites them,it would be a bit much to try and go over every answer to every possible scenario. So, instead I’m gonna let you all know what the next step to me would be, and that is the all important step of figuring out the hotel.
Hotels
To me, I know the parks will always be there, there will always be a way to get there and there will always be food waiting to be purchased. But there won’t always be rooms at the place I want and can afford if I put it off. So because of this, there have been many times where I’ve actually booked a trip to Disney based solely on a resort having an opening that I really wanted.
Sound a bit overboard? Maybe to some, but I’m sure there are other Disneyophiles nodding their head with me, you know who you are! But if you aren’t, then what? Well my suggestion is to get semi-familiar with the types of hotels and resorts available and to figure out what exactly is the most important to you. If you are just looking for a place to crash and then head to the parks, a cheaper room may be more your speed. Looking to unwind, relax by the pool and then enjoy everything the resort you are staying in has to offer? Well, you may want to consider spending a bit more on the rooms then.
But either way, the first step is knowing what’s out there.
If you’re headed to Disneyland you’ll find there are three main hotels to choose from (Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, the Disneyland Hotel and Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel) and then a host of hotels known as the “Good Neighbor Hotels”. These are basically hotels close to Disneyland that tend to abide by standards set according to Disney itself. You can be sure to expect the same level of service and detail that you would at a Disney hotel, though you may not receive all the perks (more on the perks of staying on property to come in a later post).
If on the other hand you are going to Walt Disney World and looking to stay on property, the choices range in categories listed as Value, Moderate, Deluxe and Deluxe Villas. As you can assume, they start off with at a lower cost and progressively become more expensive. The trade off between prices tends to be the availability of different types of food services (think mostly just quick service for the Value and then a wide array of quick service, sit down and high end sit down for the top tier resorts), the types of pools, crowds and maybe the most important to many, location. You’ll find that many of the Deluxe and Deluxe Villa resorts tend to, but not always (looking at your Animal Kingdom Lodge!), be located in prime real estate next to the parks themselves where as the more affordable resorts tend to be further from the action. Again, it’s all a trade off on what’s most important to YOU!
After you think you’ve figured out where to stay, then the next thing for me tends to be, the food!
Eating at Disney!
A little known fact to most people planning a trip to Disney for the first time (or “for the first time in forever!”, queue the music!) is that it really does behoove you to figure out what you want to do about food right away. If you are the types to pack food and go, awesome, you’ll probably be fine hunching over a bench shoveling food in your mouth to enjoy every moment you can of your amazing trip (no judgement here, that is literally what we did as a family when I was growing up). But! If you are like the adult-child that I have grown up into, yes the hyphen was necessary, then you’ll probably need to delve a bit more into planning.
The thing about Disney Parks is they have GREAT food options. There are quick service places that are almost a must at some parks (thinking Pacific Wharf Cafe in Disneyland and Pizzafari in Walt Disney World) but tend to get crowded super early. Then there’s the Be Our Guest restaurant that offers quick service for lunch but yet, you are almost guaranteed to go without if you don’t have a reservation. Yes, a reservation for QUICK SERVICE.
Annnd speaking of reservations, you’ll have a hard time probably getting into at least 50% of the sit downs if you haven’t reserved a table as soon as possible. And I mean it, ASAP. Now, that’s not to say there is no hope and on day 180 out from your trip you better make a reservation or your family will starve. But, I will say the sooner the better if you want to get every place you want, and even then be prepared with fill ins in case you can’t get all of your first choices.
But don’t fear! The reason if can be hard to get in to eat at the places you want, is because so does everyone else. And that can be good thing! One of the best meals I’ve had at Disney came out of picking a restaurant for the sheer fact that no one else was eating there and we wanted a quiet dinner alone. Basically, being forced to try something else can be a blessing. So if you don’t get the place you had your eyes set on, hakuna matata yourself over to another option and you might be pleasantly surprised.
And with that we’re finally reading for the last topic in this post?
Transportation
Now, while this topic can go all over, I feel it can make or break a trip. If you planning on renting a car, there’s the expense of renting the car, filling it with gas and possibly paying for parking to consider (I say possibly as guests staying at a WDW resort do not have to pay to park their vehicles at the resort or the parks). If you are taking your own car, well everything but renting the car still stands.
But most people in the pre-stages of planning often don’t consider that there’s a third option, going without a car. Disney does a great job of having shuttle and monorail service to their parks often negating the need to bring your own car. On top of that, at Walt Disney World, if you are staying on property, they’ll even pick you up from and take you to the airport for free. Many times I’ve traveled to Disney without a car happy to take a bus/monorail when needed and when the occasion or two arises that I’d like to take a personal vehicle, paying the small $12-17 fee for a cab ride has seem nothing when in comparison of having taken a car to the parks (heck that’s close to what one day of parking would cost to non-resort guests). Truly, if you don’t have to take a car to the parks and you are traveling by plane, consider not bringing a car. Now families with children with strollers may feel otherwise and I totally understand. Just know it’s an option.
And the third option I know many will roll their eyes at? Walk! And before the eye rolling or jaw dropping occurs, hang in there with me for a second! Aside from the whole finding a way to the hotel/resort from the airport (for this I suggest the earlier mentioned shuttle Disney provide, again, free for Walt Disney World guests staying at one of their resorts, a fee is charged at Disneyland last I know), another option if you have the time or stamina is to walk everywhere you can.
If you are staying at Disneyland, Disneyland Park and California Adventure are literally across from each other. On top of that you can also walk to Downtown Disney from both locations, not to mention the monorail runs from Tomorrowland inside Disneyland Park to Downtown Disney as well. And what’s more, is if you are staying at either three of the hotels offered at Disneyland, they too are also within walking distance to the parks. Yes, it means a LOT of walking, but it is doable.
If on the other hand you are staying at Walt Disney World, a bit more planning is needed, but again, walking to various locations is do-able for a good chunk of the trip… if you are willing to splurge on resorts. I say that because right outside Magic Kingdom there are three major resorts all within walking distance to the park (though some will fight me on the Polynesian suggestion, again, it is a hike but do-able). What that means is it’s possible to walk out your door and make it to the steps of Magic Kingdom without having to set foot on public transportation. Again, I’ll reiterate for the last time, I know this is a lot of walking but I’ve done it and the trips I’ve walked the most somehow tend to be the ones I feel like I accomplished the most.
In addition to the three resorts mentioned above (that is, the Contemporary, the Polynesian Village Resort and the Grand Floridian), there are also several others located between EPCOT and Hollywood Studios that are almost in an even better spot. These resorts reside along a canal stretching between the two parks and make up some of the nicest paths to stroll along I’d almost say in all of Disney. But again, these resorts will come with a price.
Recap
Okay, so there you have it. While it is far from being everything you need to know about planning a trip to Disney Parks, hopefully it’s a good start. Again, I truly believe that the foundation of a trip to Disney really is figuring out where you’re going to sleep, where you are going to eat and then how you are going to get around. Because as stated before, the parks will always be there. Yes there may be deals on tickets and what not, but if you don’t know how you are going to get around or where you are going to stay, that can add a major headache. And also, in the slower times of the year, Disney will often offer packages where for booking a certain amount of nights at a hotel they’ll reward you with meals or discounted tickets. It’s worth looking into. But that’ll have to be a post for another day. 😉
Good luck and I hope this helped!
Take me to Main Street! 