Cinderella Castle

There are several of elements of Disney World planning.

Today’s post aims to breakdown the five key areas you should think about when you’re planning your Disney World vacation.

This is mainly an overview, but you’ll also find links to related posts in each category.

Without further ado, here are the main elements of Disney World planning.

Where to stay

When it comes to where to stay, you have to start by making one big choice; do you want to stay on Disney World property or off?

On Property

If you want to stay on property, you’ll be staying at a Disney World Resort.

These prices can range from around $100/night to $1,000/night, give or take, depending on where you stay and when you go.

Staying on property keeps you in the Disney bubble and you gain a whole host of amenities

For more on this topic, check out The Pros and Cons of Staying at a Disney Resort, and Choosing your Disney World Resort.

Off Property

If you choose to stay off property, you have more options!

You may choose to stay at a nearby hotel, which may offer you more space for less money.

Or you may choose to rent a house, which may be ideal if you’re traveling with a larger group.

This may also be a good option if you or your group members might like a break from the Disney bubble, or if you’re planning to do other activities in the area outside of Disney World.

Again, check out The Pros and Cons of Staying at a Disney Resort for more!

Park considerations

When it comes to getting your park tickets, you can choose between a single park per day ticket or a Park Hopper ticket.

Whatever you choose you’re committed to for your entire trip. So you can’t pick a Park Hopper for two days and a single park per day ticket for the other days of your trip.

Single park per day ticket

A single park ticket gets you admission to a single Disney World Park for each day of your trip.

This means if you start your day in Magic Kingdom, that’s the only park you’re visiting that day.

You can still leave and come back as many times as you like. But once you walk through the Magic Kingdom gate, you can’t decide you want to go to Hollywood Studios.

Park hopper

A Park Hopper ticket is a little more expensive, but it gives you the option to hop from park to park as much as you want throughout your day.

So if you want to have breakfast in Animal Kingdom, lunch in Epcot, Dinner in Hollywood Studios, and end the night with the Magic Kingdom fireworks, you can make that happen!

There are two options for your park hopper ticket, which you can read more about in this post about the Pros and Cons of the Park Hopper.

NOTE: At the time of writing this, the Park Hopper option is available at a limited capacity because of COVID crowd management. However, I expect it to come back when those guidelines can be lifted, which is why I’m including it here.

For more on the current limitations, check out Disney’s website here.

Dining

Where to eat

Disney TONS of restaurants! If you’re planning on eating in the parks, it’s a good idea to go through the menus ahead of time.

Disney has a lot more than typical theme park food to offer, so if you’re looking for more than burgers, fries, and pizza, you’ll have no trouble finding plenty of options.

(Though, if you want burgers, fries, and pizza, you can find that too!)

You can find restaurants and menus on Disney’s website.

Advanced Dining Reservations

If you want to eat at a table service restaurant, you’ll need to make an advanced dining reservation.

You can do this in the My Disney Experience app, which you can learn more about in this post.

You can make reservations up to and through your vacation. The longer you wait, the harder it’ll likely be to get into the more popular restaurants. However, you can also get lucky and snag someone else’s cancellation.

Currently, you can make these dining reservations 60 days prior to your trip. In the past it’s been 180 days, and it may revert back to that post-COVID, but it’s too soon to tell.

Dining plan

In normal times, Disney World offers the Disney Dining plan which essentially gives you the option to pre-pay for your meals ahead of time.

It’s a good option for big eaters or anyone who wants to have all the major costs of their trip paid upfront.

However, it’s absolutely possible to eat at Disney for less than you’d pay for the dining plan. And it’s absolutely possible to lose money on the dining plan if you’re not smart about what you eat.

For more about the Dining plan, check out this post on the pros and cons.

NOTE: The dining plan is not available because of COVID crowd management. However, I expect it to come back when those guidelines can be lifted, which is why I’m including it here.

Bring your own food

And of course, you can always bring your own food!

Depending on where you’re staying, if you have the option to refrigerate, you can either do a grocery run or have groceries delivered.

Park Day Planning

You will likely only have to worry about one or the other of these items, depending on when you end up going to Disney World.

Park reservation

Currently, you need to make a park reservation in order to get into the park.

These reservations can (and should) be made well in advance of your trip.

In my experience, you’ll likely be able to make your park reservation as soon as you make your trip reservations.

The park reservations are used to keep crowd numbers under control to allow for social distancing. This means they’re not expected to be around long term, but if you’re traveling in 2021, you will likely need a park reservation.

You can make a park reservation in the My Disney Experience App.

FastPasses

Disney’s FastPass system allows you to reserve your spot in line at some of Disney’s most popular rides.

This means you can ride with a significantly reduced wait time.

You can book three FastPasses per day in advance of your trip.

If you’re staying on property, you can book your FastPasses 60 days in advance. If you’re staying off property, you can book 30 days in advance.

Currently, FastPasses are unavailable because the parks are operating at a reduced capacity, so you’re booking a park reservation instead of FastPasses.

You can learn more about how to use FastPass in the post.

Transportation

Getting to Orlando/Disney World

First, you need to decide if you’ll be flying or driving.

If you’re driving, you can go right to your resort/hotel/rental/etc.

If you’re flying, you’ll need to get from the airport to your accommodations. Disney World is about 45 minutes from the airport.

If you’re staying at an off property hotel, there may be a shuttle that will pick you up, so make sure you look into that. It may also be something to consider when you’re choosing a place to stay.

If you’re staying at a rental or some place that doesn’t offer a shuttle, you have the usual options of rental car, taxi, or a ride share.

And if you’re staying on Disney World property, you can take the Magical Express. This is a bus that will pick you up from the airport and take you to your resort free of charge.

Here’s a post on the Magical Express with everything you need to know.

Getting around Disney World

Once you get on Disney Property, you can use the Disney World Transportation System to get around.

All forms of this transportation system are free to anyone once you’re on Disney Property, even if you’re staying off property.

You can read all about Disney World Transportation in this post.

For more Disney World tips and tricks, check out the other Disney World Posts!

Sound off: What elements do you consider when you plan your Disney World trips? Tell us about it in the comments!