How do I start planning a trip to Disney?

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So, as we started planning vacation this year (partial Disney and possibly partial beach), I was thinking about all the things I do in the beginning of planning a Disney trip and wanted to share.

Everyone plans Disney different…some do it all themselves…some have their travel agents do it…some fly by the seat of their pants.  In our family it works better if I start it and Dan helps fill in the blanks.  He helps me narrow things down and tries to keep me on task.

Here are some important early steps that I always take:

  1. Dates, dates, dates. After figuring out what deals Disney has going on, we pick our approximate dates.  These may shift slightly in the planning process as special events (Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, Food and Wine Festival, closures, etc.) usually have some bearing on when we go.
  2. After our dates are picked, we pick which parks on which days. If you are staying on property sometime the extra magic hours have a hand in deciding dates.  With a little one who is still under 3, the Extra Magic hours don’t have as much meaning for us at this stage.  We still try to keep on a slight schedule for her.  As she gets older, they will.  However I have noticed the parks with the Extra Magic Hours that day also tend to be the most crowded.  Something to think about.
  3. We can then decide on sit down restaurants (If you are doing the dining plan or want to pick a few favorites…and if you aren’t doing the dining plan…why not?!?!?). Part of our favorite thing about Disney is the food.  Can you do it cheaper without the dining plan?  Sure, but we like to eat and not worry about costs once we are on vacation.  There are lots of options at each park and we have even left the part to go to restaurants in the nearby resorts.
  4. You might think this is an early step I missed, but it’s not. It’s actually not too important to us.  We then pick a resort.  Always on property.    Pop Century is a favorite for us, but we have done other value resorts as well.  The kicker to this one is that if you go during the fall when the free dining is on, you have to pay a small fee to upgrade to the dining plan that we like (One quick-service, one sit down, and one snack per day).  It’s worth it though.  I do usually price a moderate resort out as well.  Sometimes it’s worth the extra cost.  Sometimes not.  The last few trips we haven’t done a full week so we aren’t spending much time at the resort.  In that case it’s almost always not worth it.  The Value resorts are great and the biggest difference between the Value and Moderate is slightly bigger rooms and nicer pools.  If you aren’t planning to be in the pools a lot there is no reason to do Moderate in my opinion.
  5. Park tickets. Again, another late step for us.  You already picked the parks above but know, some of the Disney Deals require you buy a certain number of park tickets during your stay.  We have in the past added things like the water parks, and Park Hopper onto our pass, but won’t need to again until M is a bit older.
  6. The last one (and some might think this is the first), is to call 407-W-Disney or a Disney travel agent. They can help you plan things out and get you pricing?  Need one?  Another Mom/Disney blogger I know is great.  You can read more from her blog here and reach out to her if you need someone to help with all these steps!

How to save money on your Disney trip…

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So, I have been getting a lot of questions lately about how I save money on a trip to Disney. So here are some of my best “practices”. If you have specific questions on your trip, I’m not a travel agent, but always willing to talk Disney and give my opinion if I can! We plan on taking M as much as we can. Not always for a full week, so that is a big money saver. I’m okay with going down there for a long weekend. Don’t get me wrong, it’s sad to leave on a shorter trip but if it gets us there more often, I’m good with it.

“C”lue- My biggest one is to go off peak season and the Fall is our favorite time. They usually do some dates with the “free dining plan”, and that is another money saver. If you are going to be down there for some of the days that qualify, you can split your trip up and get the free dining for part of it. Their Halloween event at the Magic Kingdom is phenomenal and it’s Food and Wine festival at Epcot. I know that the older kiddos are in school, and my mom (a retired teacher) will kill me for this, but take them out of school if you can.

“L”ink- The Chase Disney card. This website gives you both options. The pay one will sometimes “pay” for itself within a few months, but you need to look at both options to see which one will work better for you and your family. You can rack up “Disney Dollars” and those can be used to pay for your trip and/or things onsite. The one with an annual fee you can use towards flights as well.

“T”hought- It’s always a debate for us on whether to stay at the Value resorts and upgrade to the dining plan with one sit down meal and one quick service meal (YES! You can do that and just pay the difference!) or to just stay at a Moderate Resort and get the dining plan we want. My best advice on this one? Ask the people at 1-407-W-Disney or your favorite travel agent. They will price out both plans for you. I never try to do it myself on the web. They can do it quicker and somehow always get me better pricing than I see anyway.

Hope this helps and honestly, I’m always open for a Disney talk if anyone has other suggestions or questions!

How Obsessed with Disney are you?

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I have some news!  I will have my first giveaway in the next week or so.  I have spent some of my free time after M is in bed this week working on my blog.  Bought the domain name, created a Facebook site, created a Twitter site and a few other things.  To keep in the loop please “Like” my Facebook page here and Follow “thecltdiaries” on Twitter @thecltdiaries .  You can also “Follow” my blog by clicking the link about this post.  Facebook is being funky about showing all my posts about the blog, so this way you won’t miss one!

Since my aunt sent me the “How Obsessed with Disney are you?”  Buzzfeed quiz, I figured this is a good week for a Disney post.  You can take that quiz here.  My result was 87 out of 120 & “ You are a true Disney head. If there is a Disney thing, you know about it.”  Let’s just say, I’m not surprised.

“C”lue-A great way to keep up on all things Disney is the many fan created Facebook pages.  I follow a ton but you need to find the ones that are right for you.  I have a few listed below this week, but you can find others by just typing “Disney Facebook” in Google.

“L”ink- Here are a few Facebook pages I “Like”.  A lot have websites too, but here are the links to their facebook pages.

Walt Disney World for Grownups – Find them here

The Main Street Mouse – Find them here

Disney Dining – Find them here.  This one has a bunch of spin offs, and I actually follow them all.  But when I’m planning my trips I find it to be very helpful.

“T”hought-  Dan and I have a bunch of favorite restaurants in Walt Disney World.  When we went last time we tried to rank some of our favorites.  We came close to agreeing, but couldn’t get it down completely.  One of our favorites is California Grill.  It was just recently renovated this past Fall and the food is amazing!  If you are on the dining plan it requires two credits, but it’s worth it.  After you eat, you can watch the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom from your table or their balcony.  They pump the music in.  So be sure if you want to make a reservation to time it to when the fireworks will be that night.  You can find that out by looking at the calendar on the Disney website.  Want to salivate over the menu?  Check it out here!

If anyone has any Disney questions that come up while you are planning, please let me know!  I would love to feature your question in a blog post!