Creating Your Timeline

Thanks for joining me on the second installment of the general information posts. I felt it was important to get all of the high-level travel tips out there quickly so that we can begin to dive into the more detailed topics at a later date.

So you've decided to take a trip to Disney - great! But now what? I know this feeling all too well. You've decided on your destination, you know how you're going to get there, and you know whether you want to stay at a Disney hotel or elsewhere. The next step is to decide when you want to go. If you're a family with school-aged children then you may be confined to summers and school breaks, which are often very busy seasons for the parks. I recommend checking Undercover Tourist for Disney World and Is It Packed? for Disneyland. In general, the best times to visit Disney World are mid-January to mid-March, mid-April to mid-May, late August to mid-November, and early December. Disneyland is a little more difficult to gauge because a lot of local residents have season passes and utilize them pretty frequently. Additionally, the Cars Land expansion in the California Adventure park continues to garner quite a bit of interest. Weekends are almost always going to be mildly busy, especially the weekends in October and December when locals decide to check out the Halloween and Christmas celebrations. Be sure to check the activities updates for each individual park to see if any additional events are planned for your weekend (for example, the DisneyRun marathons, cheerleading competitions, etc.) and then find one that appears open. You can find the Disney World events here and the Disneyland events here.

Once you've selected dates and booked a package, you'll want to create a vacation timeline and organize your thoughts. Keep these major deadlines in mind:

• Accommodations for Disney resort hotels can be made 499 days in advance.If you book your travel package on a Disney website then you'll need to pay the remainder of your balance 45 days before your travel date.
• Disney World dining reservations can be made 180 days in advance. For many high-demand restaurants, such as Be Our Guest, you'll want to be one of the first in line (virtually) to claim your reservation. The dining portal opens at 7am EST.
• Disneyland dining reservations can be made 60 days in advance, although it is considered unnecessary for most of the restaurants because you can often get a table with a 15-20 minute wait. The only exception that I've found is the Blue Bayou restaurant located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride; it can sometimes get booked early.
• Fastpass+ reservations become available to Disney World guests 60 days in advance. You can use the MyDisneyExperience site or the Disney World app to claim your Fastpass+ reservations. If you are not staying at a Disney World property, then you'll need to wait until 30 days to select your Fastpass+ options.

Also, be sure to create a Disney account so that you can keep track of your reservations and purchases in one place. The Disney World app is fantastic! I will be posting a tutorial for using this tool very soon.

Next up, I'll be discussing Disney World and Disneyland separately so that you can get the information most relevant to your vacation. Stay tuned!