If you want to know how to plan a trip to Disney World, you’ve come to the right place.
This guide includes tips for
Regardless of which hotel you choose, Disney’s on-site hotels offer perks to enhance your stay:
- Free water park admission on your check-in day (available seasonally)
- A 30-minute jump-start on your day with Disney’s Early Theme Park Entry benefit
- The ability to purchase individual Lightning Lanes for eligible rides begins at 7 a.m. on the day of your visit (which non-resort guests can’t do until the park opens)
- The ability to purchase Lightning Lane Multi Pass for your entire stay up to seven days before your vacation, and preselect three ride choices per day
- Complimentary hotel and theme park parking
- Extended Evening Theme Park Hours for guests staying at Deluxe Disney resort hotels on select nights (also available to guests of Walt Disney World Swan, Dolphin and Swan Reserve hotels, as well as Shades of Green)
Related: The best hotels near Disney World you can book with points
How to save time in line at Disney World
Most Walt Disney World attractions offer a standby line. The only exceptions are new attractions, which will often offer a virtual queue or Lightning Lane access only for a limited time after opening. When Disney World is busy, though, standby lines for popular attractions can reach two hours. Luckily, Disney has Lightning Lane passes that help you skip the standby line and get to more attractions with shorter waits.
With Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can skip the standby line and utilize a much shorter Lightning Lane for most attractions.
The cost of the Lightning Lane Multi-Pass varies by park and day. The service starts at $17 per person, per day. It occasionally reaches $45 per person, per day during the busy Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season or in April during spring break.
Most attractions are included with the Lightning Lane Multi Pass, but one or two attractions at each park require a separate Lightning Lane Single Pass to skip the line. The Lightning Lane Single Pass pricing varies by day and attraction. It typically falls between $10 and $29 per person, per attraction for Disney’s most popular rides, such as Tron Lightcycle / Run and Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.
TPG spent a full day testing Lightning Lane to find out how much time it really saves. Check it out for the results and more details on how Lightning Lane works.
If you are staying in one of Disney’s on-site hotels or in select “Good Neighbor” hotels, as mentioned in the section above, you can also save time in line by utilizing Early Theme Park Entry and/or Extended Evening Theme Park Hours. You can get into the parks 30 minutes early with the early entry benefit, but you actually want to arrive at the front gates 30 to 45 minutes before that. This will give you time to get through security and to the roped-off area where they hold guests, making you one of the first in line to rush to your favorite ride when early entry starts.
If you or someone in your party has a developmental disability that makes it difficult for you to wait in a traditional standby queue, you can also save time by registering for Disney’s Disability Access Service. You need to start the registration process before your visit. Full instructions are available on Disney’s website.
Disney World pre-trip checklist
Now that you’ve determined your budget, purchased your tickets, booked your hotel and made a few dining reservations, your trip is nearly planned. There are some other details you’ll need to consider to make your trip as magical as it should be. Here’s our ultimate Disney World pretrip checklist:
- Pack accordingly: Depending on when you visit, you could be dealing with heat, humidity, afternoon showers, chilly temperatures or a mix of all of the above. It’s important to pack comfortable shoes and clothing no matter when you visit, but you may also want rain gear, sun protection or a warm jacket, depending on the weather. You can read our full Disney World packing guide here.
- Download the My Disney Experience app: It’s an invaluable tool you will use daily during your visit. You can use it to check everything from wait times to walk-up dining availability. You can also use it to navigate the parks with turn-by-turn walking directions, purchase Lightning Lane passes and even open your hotel room door.
- Check the park hours before your visit: You can find them on the Walt Disney World website or the My Disney Experience app. Each park has separate opening and closing times, and parks occasionally close early for special events like Halloween and Christmas parties. When you view the park hours, you’ll also be able to see times for any parades or fireworks shows happening each day of your visit and plan for early entry or extended theme park hours for eligible on-site hotel guests.
- Check the height requirements for attractions: If you are traveling to Disney World with young children, you can check the height requirements for attractions on Disney World’s website or in the My Disney Experience app. There are also measuring stations at all attractions that have a minimum height requirement. Still, it’s better to know ahead of time to avoid tears if your child isn’t quite tall enough.
- Know where to find your favorite characters: Most Disney characters have designated meeting times and locations that you can find in the My Disney Experience app. Booking a character meal can be a great way to meet multiple characters at once, but you can also meet many characters in the parks.
- Plan for downtime: One of the biggest mistakes people make at Disney World is overscheduling their trip and leaving no time for rest and relaxation. If you are visiting for more than a few days, try to schedule a day away from the parks to swim, explore other resorts or just lounge around the hotel. It’ll help rejuvenate you for the rest of your trip. For shorter trips, you may want to schedule a slow morning or return to your hotel early on one day, rather than being at the parks from opening to closing every day of your visit.
Bottom line
There you have it — the ultimate guide to visiting Walt Disney World.
In addition to the planning and preparation you’ve now mastered, there are two very important things you must do during your Disney World vacation: Don’t overplan, and have fun! It’s much better to have a short list of must-do rides, restaurants and activities than to have a minute-by-minute itinerary that almost certainly will not play out exactly how you planned.
Related reading:
- The 21 most underrated things at Disney World: What to see, do and eat that many guests miss
- All about Disney Vacation Club, including a new benefit that offers discount tickets, character meetings and more
- 8 Walt Disney World experiences that don’t require a park ticket
- Sun, fun and savings: Tips for visiting Disney World this summer
- Yes, you can visit Disney World on a budget: Here’s how I did it
Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.