Disney Planning Timeline

Alright, I have said all along that I recommend a 6 month planning period for Disney World. This is true especially if you want to take the time to plan all the little extra magic and book your restaurants. So here it is- my 6 month timeline!

6 Months Out

- Pick out your hotel, tickets, and dining plan.

- Put a deposit down on your trip and book it!

- Start reading up on places you might like to eat and research them! Allears.net has menus and reviews of every place to eat in Disney! Make a list, you will need it later!
 
- Order your FREE Disney planning DVD from Disneyworld.com. Even though you are in the midst of planning it has some great tips and it is fun to watch with the whole family to build up some excitement! Also, check out netflix, they have some great Disney Parks shows also!!!
 
- Start making a daily itenerary of places to eat, extra park experiences, etc. This may change a bit when you finally get to see the park schedules for your visit (if you plan on being in certain parks for extra magic hours, etc.) but will help you to know which places to eat at for reservations, etc.

- Check Disneyworld.com often for the operating hours during your trip. Most likely this will be posted during the week before you need to make your dining reservations. Knowing your itenerary daily beforehand will help, and then you can just move the days around based on which parks open early or stay open late if you choose.

- At EXACTLY 180 days out (roughly in your 6th month) you need to reserve your seat at the restaurants you want to eat at! You may think I am nuts, but rumor has it that even waiting one or two days after this mark will loose you the chance to eat at places you really want. I, for one, plan to be online at 3am (when it is rumored that you can start reserving) on my 180 day mark to pick my places. There will be a whole post on this later!

- Book your extras like the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique or Pirate League!

5 Months Out

- Book your airline ticket. Usually 5 months out is when you can finally book your airline ticket. Often, booking them early will save you some money, but if you need to wait to book your ticket you can! This is just when you can start looking and booking!

-Your Disney DVD should have arrived by now, so be sure to watch it and start building up the excitement of seeing where you will soon be going!

- Go through some of the attractions at each park and make a list as a family of the must-do things for each person! Then get on disneyworld.com and order a set of FREE personalized maps! You can choose all your favorite attractions and they will be mailed to you in a couple of weeks, soooo fun!!

- Start some chore charts for your kids to earn souvinier money! Disney actually has some "Disney dollars" you can purchase for your kids to use at the parks or Disney gift cards you buy can be used in the parks as well.

4 Months Out

-Reserve your stroller. We have a huge double sit n' stand stroller that we do NOT want to travel with, so we have done some research and found a resonably priced one. There will be more on this to come!

- Order groceries for your room! We are doing this through the same company that we are renting our stroller. We are ordering just a few items we do not want to travel with, like donuts, breakfast bars, and fruit snacks. Also cases of water, because you are allowed to bring food and drinks in the park, so these may come in handy and save you money!

- Order your welcome packages. If you want, there are several companies that you an order some pretty magical welcome packages from that will be waiting in your room upon arrival. Us? Well, I am pretty crafty and I am making my own! When we get to our hotel I will run up and set them out before thhe hubs brings the girls up, voila! Much cheaper for us. More on this later!

- If you plan on being that cute family with matching shirts everyday (like me!) start looking for them now, or finding supplies to make them! Disney store often has sales where you can get 2 for the price of one,you can also find some cute patches and iron ons on Etsy.com.
 
3 Months Out

- Start browsing dollar and craft stores for small Disney gifts! There is a magical idea that I love called "Tinkerbell gifts". Basically you leave small gifts out for your kids each night that Tink herself has snuck in and dropped off. This can help curb the souvinier spending, as you can always remind kids, that Tink will be leaving a special present for them that night. Also, can help with behavior, as you can tell them Tink will be watching for them and does not leave presents for misbahaving children!

- Start looking out for some simple Disney decor! This is a thing. At most Disney resorts the rooms will have a window that looks out to passers-by and people decorate them! So think window clings!! And small things to set in the window! (No tape please)

- If you are interested in Pin Trading, look on ebay and order some pins, sooooo so so so so so so much cheaper!

- If you have little ones look on Etsy.com for some cute, personalized autograph books!

2 Months Out

- Watch your Disney DVD's again!! It is getting close, time to build up some more anticipation.

- Starts a Disney countdown if you havent already!

- Watch some youtube videos of the rides and character meet-n-greets to prep young kids for what to expect. Nothing like waiting an hour to see Mickey then your child be scared!

- Order  or find any little things you might need that will be more expensive in the parks. Think hand held fans, panchos for the small daily Disney showers, lanyards for your keys to the world, etc.

- Decide if there are any little things you will need cash for and organize it. For example we plan to leave a small tip each day for our "Mousekeeper" in our room, so we will have envelopes dated, with a few bucks in it for each day. We also plan to have our tip money for restaurants in mind, but if you are eating with a group of 6 or more a 18% gratuity automatically charges to your room, so be prepared!! And finally we will use a cab to go to Universal, so we plan to have cash on hand for that!!

- At your 45 day mark you have to have your vacation paid off, this is a good time to check for reservations at any places you didnt get to reserve initially as a lot of people wont have paid off their trips and will be cancelling, call throughout the day!!!

1 Month Out

- Once your vacation is paid off you will recieve a few weeks or so prior to your trip a package including your Disney luggage tags, (for the Disney Magical Express) and some other coupons and extras, so look for this fun package to arrive!!

- Finish up any projects like welcome bags, Tink gifts, tshirts, etc.

- Start packing! There is a lot to remember so start your bags now!

- You may want to make some signs or tags for your stroller and bags that you will take into the park each day to make it handy to find in the sea of other strollers.

- Watch Disney movies/shows/play games, just get hyped!!!

- Gather all your info in one place! Reservation #'s, flight and hotel info, etc. Most people will make a printout of this and keep it handy, theres also many apps to store the info for you as well.

- Print out or put your daily itenerary in your phone.


There ya have it! I am sure I forgot some stuff, but hopefully I nailed most of it! See what I mean! Disney is A LOT of planning...lucky for me, I love it! Many, many more posts to come about things I mentioned here!

Happy Planning,
Terri