You and your family have decided to go on your first-ever Walt Disney World vacation! Hooray! *cue the confetti* As you’ll quickly learn, planning a Disney World vacation is a little more complicated than simply clicking “book now” and then showing up at the park gates. You can certainly do that, but you are likely missing out on valuable information that will make your vacation a lot smoother. That means it’s time to do some research on Disney World tips to make things easier.
There is a lot of information to take in and digest as you prepare for your first Disney World vacation. It’s unlike any other vacation destination! If you’re planning your first trip and are wondering where in the world you’re supposed to start, let this article be your guide. Like I said, there’s a lot to take in. Feel free to reference this guide as you go through the planning process, check out other articles on the site, and feel free to leave comments and ask questions!
Disney World is big. Like, really big.
As you embark on your first-ever Disney World vacation and drive away from Orlando International Airport, what will quickly become apparent is the sheer size of the resort. Walt Disney World, in its entirety, is over 27,000 acres, or roughly 43 square miles – twice the size of Manhattan and roughly the same size as the city of San Francisco.
When you visit Disney World, you need to think of it less like a singular theme park destination and more like a small city. It comprises four theme parks, two water parks, a shopping and dining district, nearly two dozen hotels, and miles upon miles of roadways. Just to get around, Disney has several transportation options: buses, Monorails, the Skyliner, boats, their own ride share service, etc. Then there are the hundreds of restaurants, attractions, shows, stores…you get the picture.
I think the first thing you need to remember when planning your first-ever Walt Disney World vacation is the sheer size. Everything requires you to board some method of transportation to get to and from. Each park consists of enough rides, character meet and greets, dining options, and entertainment to keep you occupied for days. This is all to say: you will need more time than you think to get around and see what you want to see.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you cannot get everything done in one Disney World vacation. Even the pros can’t get it all done. However, if you want to scratch the surface of everything, you should plan on spending one full day at each theme park. I also like to throw in a fifth day in case you want to visit one of the water parks, spend more time at Disney Springs, relax at the hotel pool, etc. This doesn’t count your arrival and departure days. All in all, that’s a 7-day, 6-night vacation.
CLICK HERE FOR A 10-STEP GUIDE TO BEGIN PLANNING YOUR DISNEY WORLD VACATION.
Disney World has a lot of hotels, but they aren’t your only options.
Like any vacation, one of the first decisions you’ll make in the planning process is where you want to stay. If you want to be as close to the parks as possible, this is almost a no-brainer decision. Disney World is home to nearly two dozen hotels, all at various price points and with varying levels of amenities. Disney World’s website is a great place to start to get a sense of what’s available.
Keep in mind that you do NOT have to stay at a Disney World hotel – in fact, many travelers always opt to stay off-site. This is, after all, the greater Orlando area, where there are dozens more options within a few miles from Disney World. The benefit of staying off-property is that you stand to save a ton on accommodations.
While there are clear benefits to staying off-property, remember the point I made above – Disney World is large. If Disney World is the only thing you’re doing on vacation, then I would not stray too far. You don’t have to look far, however, to find affordable options. A small group of hotels known as the Disney Springs Area Hotels is a good place to start looking.
To drive this point home, your choice of hotel will impact more than your budget. It also impacts how long it takes to get to the parks. Even some of the hotels on Disney World property are a 15 to 20-minute drive from the parking lot of some of the theme parks. If you don’t have a rental car, you’re also at the mercy of buses and ride share, which adds even more time to your transportation. And as we’ll discuss frequently throughout this article, your time at Disney World is money. Very often, it is worth spending a little extra to save time in order to fit more into your vacation.
Sometimes, it’s best to stick to the three golden rules of real estate when picking your hotel: location, location, location.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT DISNEY WORLD’S CHEAPEST HOTELS
No, you don’t need to get the Disney Dining Plan.
Tons of vacation destinations around the globe offer all-inclusive packages where your meals are included. Disney World doesn’t necessarily offer that, but you can opt for a meal package known as the Disney Dining Plan.
In short, purchasing the Dining Plan ahead of your trip gives everyone in your travel party a certain number of meal and snack credits based on the number of days on your trip. This usually breaks down to everyone having enough credits for a couple of meals and a snack per day, prepaid (tips and gratuity are not included). So, having the Dining Plan gives your vacation a more “all-inclusive” feel where you aren’t constantly paying out of pocket for food.
There is a major convenience factor that comes when you purchase the Disney Dining Plan. I’ve used it many times and love it. But you by no means have to buy it, and in fact, you’ll often wind up paying more and have to eat more food than you typically do in order to get the most benefit out of the Dining Plan. I go into way more detail about the Dining Plan in my breakdown of if you need it, but the short answer is no, you don’t need it.
Some people love and swear by it, and some never buy it. Both are correct. It’s up to you to determine if it’s worth the cost.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ABOUT IF THE DISNEY DINING PLAN IS RIGHT FOR YOU.
Use Disney World’s website as a tool for mapping out your days
I briefly mentioned Disney World’s website above as a way of researching hotel options, but it truly is an invaluable tool when planning your vacation. It is not just a portal to book your vacation (which I highly recommend you use rather than go through third-party services. It keeps everything more streamlined. Or you can go with a certified Disney World travel agent). It also lists everything there is to see and do. You can research attractions, read entertainment schedules, study park maps, etc.
There is also some valuable information on Disney World’s website you definitely want to know ahead of time. You can read about the various height requirements for rides, you can see if there are any rides scheduled to be down for regular maintenance while you’re there, and much more.
The website also helps from a budgetary standpoint. Every restaurant and dining location at Disney World has a page on the site where you can read the menus and get a sense of what things will cost. This is also helpful if you’re traveling with anyone that has a dietary restriction or food allergy — the menus on Disney’s website have allergy information available. You can also see which restaurants offer character dining experiences, if that’s something your party is interested in.
Even as someone who has been to the Disney theme parks hundreds of times, I still use their official websites to plan my trips. As a first-timer, I think Disney Word’s website is an undervalued tool that can make you a pro in no time. You’ll also start to get a sense of how much “stuff” there is to accomplish in one day, which leads me to my next point…
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT WHICH CHARACTER DINING RESTAURANTS FEATURE MICKEY MOUSE.
You can’t do it all in one week. Plan and prioritize accordingly.
Perhaps the most important thing you can hear and internalize before going on your first Disney World vacation is that it is impossible to do it all in one week. That can be frustrating to hear, but it can also be very freeing. This allows you to pick and choose what you want to prioritize, and anything else on top of that is just icing on the cake.
There are a few tips and tricks to consider if you want to maximize your time. After all, Disney World is a pricey vacation, so of course you want to try and fit as much into your trip as possible!
Warning: This is about to get confusing. It’s not just you; this is confusing for all of us. I have to remind myself of these rules and intricacies constantly. We’re all in the same boat here. If this is making your head hurt, feel free to skip this part and return as your trip draws near.
GENIE+ AND LIGHTNING LANES
NOTE: Genie+ will be retired in July 2024 and will be replaced by Lightning Lane Multi Pass. Read more here.
Consider purchasing Genie+ on some of the days. Genie+ is a paid service that allows you to reserve return times at most rides for a shorter wait using a ride’s Lightning Lane (fancy term for the expedited queue). The intricacies of Genie+ are a bit complicated, but for the purposes of your first-ever vacation, here’s what you need to know:
- Genie+ is available for purchase the day of starting at 12:00 AM. No in-advance purchase option is available at this time.
- You can begin booking Genie+ reservations starting at 7:00 AM daily once you purchase the service.
- The price of Genie+ is variable and fluctuates per park per day.
- In addition to Genie+, you may purchase Individual Lightning Lane reservations for the newest and/or most popular rides. This is an additional fee and is sold separately. You do NOT have to have purchased Genie+ in order to purchase Individual Lightning Lane selections.
- The rides available for Individual Lightning Lane selections are NOT included with Genie+. If you want a shorter wait time for those ultra-popular rides, your option
- Individual Lightning Lane purchases can be made starting at 7:00 AM for Disney World hotel guests and upon park opening for all other guests.
- Genie+ can sell out. It usually doesn’t; when it does, it’s usually during the busiest weeks, like around Christmas. But it can and does sell out.
- You can book an additional Genie+ selection after you redeem your first one OR two hours after park opening. After that, it’s every two hours or when you redeem your current selection.
The current Individual Lightning Lane attractions include:
- In Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcylce/Run and Seven Dwarf Mine Train
- In EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
- In Hollywood Studios: Star Wars Rise of the Resistance
- In Animal Kingdom: Avatar Flight of Passage
VIRTUAL QUEUES
In addition to Genie+ and Lightning Lanes, Disney World offers virtual queues. This is typically reserved for its newest attractions. Unlike Genie+, obtaining a virtual queue is completely free of charge. An important thing to note is that if a ride offers a virtual queue, it means there is NO standby queue available. So, your options are usually limited to getting a virtual queue or purchasing an Individual Lightning Lane selection.
Your first shot at a virtual queue is at 7:00 AM daily. This can be from anywhere, regardless of if you’re staying at a Disney World hotel or not. The second shot is at 1:00 PM daily. For the afternoon time slot, you must be scanned into the same park as the ride you want the virtual queue for. If a park is offering extended evening hours (currently available only for guests staying at Disney World Deluxe Resorts), there is a third shot available at 6:00 PM that day. Note that you can only hold one virtual queue at a time.
The current virtual queue attractions include:
- In Magic Kingdom: TRON Lightcycle/Run
- In EPCOT: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind
As you can see, time management is going to be an important tool to use during your Disney World vacation. Genie+, Lightning Lane, and virtual queues are very confusing and have made navigating the parks more complicated for everyone these days, even the seasoned pros!
My tip, if you’re just getting started, is to research the various rides and attractions in the theme parks and have everyone pick their top two or three must-dos. From there, you can begin building an itinerary that checks everyone’s boxes, and you can determine whether you need to worry about Genie+ or virtual queues.
In my experience, you likely don’t need Genie+ every day of your vacation. It can be helpful for theme parks with a ton of popular rides, like Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios. But you may find you don’t need it for Animal Kingdom or EPCOT! But if you have a once-in-a-lifetime trip coming up, it may be worth it to buy Genie+ to maximize your time. Again, your time is money at Disney World.
CLICK HERE TO DETERMINE THE AVERAGE COST OF A DISNEY WORLD VACATION.
What else does a first-timer NEED to know about Disney World?
I thought I’d close this out by doing some rapid-fire tips you should definitely be clued in on prior to your first Disney World vacation:
- Advance Dining Reservations open 60 days out for all guests. If you want to dine at a table-service restaurant, I HIGHLY suggest you circle that day on your calendar in red Sharpie. Popular restaurants can and do fill up. Refer to my article on restaurants with hard-to-get reservations for more information.
- You’re going to spend a lot of money. No matter how you slice and dice it, Disney World is an expensive vacation destination. Budgeting ahead of time will help minimize the pain. Check out my article on ways to save on your Disney World vacation for more help on this topic!
- It will likely be crowded. Disney World is a popular vacation spot for a reason, and lots of families will have the same idea you did to visit when you’re visiting! Don’t be alarmed when you see long wait times for rides and wall-to-wall crowds.
- Be ready for the weather. It’s Central Florida, so it’s going to be anywhere from warm to very, very hot. It can also rain, and depending on what time of year you visit, it will definitely rain. Pack accordingly. Drink lots of water.
- Maximize those park hours. Especially if you don’t plan on buying Genie+, the best way to find shorter wait times for rides is to show up early and stay late. “Rope drop,” a.k.a. the park’s opening time, is when lines for popular rides will be at their shortest. Head to your number 1 priority ride at that time. Lines tend to get shorter closer to closing time, too!
- Perhaps my favorite tip of all: don’t let anyone boss you around and tell you how to do Disney World “correctly.” There are a lot of tips and tricks to make your vacation easier, but that’s very different than me or anyone actually TELLING you what to do. My goal is to equip you with the tools and knowledge to make your own informed decisions as your OWN Disney World expert. You’ll get a ton of advice from your friends and family leading up to the trip. Take it with a grain of salt. Determine if what they’re telling you is advice on making your life easier or if they’re trying to prescribe their own preferences onto your trip. Trust me, this is a big one!!
Is there anything I’m forgetting? Drop your questions in the comments!
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