I Surprised My Kids With A Disney Trip. Now What?

You have surprised your children at Christmas with their first Disney trip. Now what?

A friend of mine called me in desperation, asking, “So, what do I do now?” She knew from hearing about my trips that she had to do something to prepare but wasn’t sure how or when to start.

The first order of business is to determine when you are specifically going and how you are going to get there. Book a place to stay and then decide if you are going to drive or fly. (Investigate flights because the day you fly can influence the price of those plane tickets.)

Once you have a place to stay and a way to get there. Decide which parks you want to go to, and if you want the ability to jump between parks or if you will stay at the same park all day. Then, purchase your Walt Disney World park tickets (you need valid tickets for the planning process and you really should purchase them at least two and half months before your trip.)

Go to www.MyDisneyExperience.com. Create an account and connect all of your family members and friends that are traveling with you. You can do this by loading your ticket numbers on to My Disney Experience. You may also add information for children and link adult members of your party by email. (You can change and delete folks as you need to for future trips.)

Choose FastPasses for rides that have long waits 60 days ahead if you are staying at WDW resort and 30 days ahead if you are not. (FastPass+ is an electronic system for reserving attraction times in the Walt Disney World theme parks. Instead of waiting in the regular line, you are able to enter a much shorter queue and get on rides much quicker. For more info on FastPasses, click here.) You can choose three FastPasses a day, and once those are used, you may select additional. You can choose them for all of the members of your party, if they are available, based on demand.

You can also make dining reservations through My Disney Experience, which I highly recommend if you want table service dining during your stay. (For quick service or counter service meals, they have lots of seating near where you order your food.) To make a reservation, you will need to link a credit card to your account.

Why do I have to all of this? I promise you: planning ahead will make your entire trip go more smoothly. Not only will you shorten your wait times, but your family will be relieved when hunger starts to set in, and you already have a plan ready to go.

If you want more details on traveling to Walt Disney World for the first time, check out of First-Time Visitors Series at the following links:

First Time Visitor Series I: Magic Kingdom

First Time Visitor Series II: Epcot

First Time Visitor Series III: Animal Kingdom

First Time Visitor Series IV: Hollywood Studios

First Time Visitor Series V: Kid-Free Magic Kingdom

First Time Visitor Series VI: Kid-Free Epcot

First Time Visitor Series VII: Kid-Free Animal Kingdom

First Time Visitor Series VIII: Kid-Free Hollywood Studios