j. To-Do List
Your To-Do list for the Walt Disney World basic December itinerary follows.
(For To-Do lists for other itineraries, see To-Do Lists: All Other Itineraries.)
A. MORE THAN 180 DAYS BEFORE YOUR PLANNED ARRIVAL DATE
(Note that a travel agent, such as Destinations Florida, can do almost all of this for you, for free. If you use Destinations Florida as you travel agent through a link for this site–like this one–then they share a bit of the pixie dust they get from Disney with me.)
1. Confirm your budget, planned dates, kids’ development paths and heights, and your transportation choice and its availability for your planned dates.
2. Make your plane reservations, if flying. Make any other needed transportation arrangements.
3. Set up your hotel and tickets. Call 407-939-7675 (preferred, because this allows you to tell the reservationist which building at your resort you wish to be in, which the new WDW website no longer allows you to do), or click here to use Disney’s online system. (Note: if your dates are beyond what the online system permits, see this.)
- When the page opens, click “Book Vacation Packages”
- Add your dates, party size and age of your kids
- Set up your basic package:
- Click “Advanced Search”
- Click “I know the Resort I want.”
- In the drop down menu that appears, click to open, and scroll to pick your hotel
- Click “Dining Plan”
- Click “Continue”
- Wait
- Fix the options–a page will open that has selected several options for you, most of them wrong. You will need to fix in each section, and update the sections as you go.
- At the top of the page you will be put into the most expensive room. Click the button for the least expensive instead. (The views aren’t worth it for first time family visitors, except Animal Kingdom Lodge visitors should always pick a Savannah view)
- Click “Update” and wait
- Click, in the “Park Tickets and Options” section, the button in the upper right that says “Open.”
- Unclick the “Park Hopper” and “Water Parks and More” boxes
- Change the number of days in your tickets to 8
- Click “Update” and wait
- Click “Ground Transportation” and when it opens, click Disney’s Magical Express, and add your airline info
- Click “Continue” and wait
- Click “Select this Offer” at the bottom of the page and wait
- When the pricing pages shows up, unclick Trip Insurance (if offered)
- In the “Special Room Requests” section, click to open, then click “Refrigerator”
- If you are on the phone, tell the reservationist what room you want
- If a Polynesian guest, ask for a room on the third floor (quieter) in Rapa Nui or Tahiti. (These are 2 of the only 3 buildings with both the largest rooms and balconies on all floors, and are the 2 buildings closest to the Epcot monorail. You are in fact so close to TTC that you can take the express monorail home from the Magic Kingdom–much faster than the resort monorail.)
- If a Pop Century Guest, ask for a room on the 4th floor (quieter) in the 1970s area. (This is the only building group at Pop Century that does not surround a pool, so it will be quieter at night.)
- Complete the transaction with your credit card.
B. 181 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE
Go to the online restaurant reservations page here, set up an account if you don’t already have one, and practice trying to reserve restaurants.
This may well drive you crazy, but the site works better than it used to…and is likely the only way you can get your Cindy reservations done! (as the site opens up a new reservable day at 6a, whereas the phone reservation line opens at 7a).
Collect your restaurant reservations together. You will want to do them online in order of hardest to reserve first. This is how they are listed below.
C. EXACTLY 6am EST, EXACTLY 180 DAYS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE
This material continues here
23 comments
Hi
I love your website it’s really fantastic. I would love to ask you a couple of questions though. I’m in Australia and my kids are 10 and 7 so I’m hamstrung by school holidays to a degree. I’d really love to go to WDW in early April 2011 (2-9 April) but I’m concerned about the crowd levels. It’s also quite expensive at that time. The other option is 24 September 2011. I understand it’s quite hot but we don’t mind that as we’re very used to very hot weather. I want to optimise the experience for my kids as it’s a trip of a lifetime so I’m a bit reluctant about the September option in case of hurricanes. Could you offer any advice on which time you think would be best.
Thanks and regards
Audrey Bower
Hi Audrey, and thanks for the kind words. Tell your 10,000 closest friends about the site!!
If you look at my page on 2011 Weeks weeks to visit ranked in order, you’ll note that both your weeks are strong and very close–I rank April 2 15th, and Sept 24 16th.
The positives and negatives are just what you’ve identified, except I don’t expect huge crowds the week of April 2, given the late Easter (tho I may be wrong–spring break is a tough time of year to forecast!!).
On the crowds and prices vs hurricanes issue, I tend towards the April week, if you can afford it.
The reason is the uncertainty.
If the April week ends up with higher crowds, you can deal with that by getting to the parks early. But there’s no real way to deal with a hurricane.
It is very very rare for a hurricane to ruin an Orlando vacation. But it does happen, and if this is a once in a lifetime trip, and you can afford to avoid the risk, then that’s what I’d do.
Another way to think about this is to compare the difference in prices for the two trips and ask yourself if you would be willing to spend that amount for a guarantee of no hurricanes. If you would, then April wins.
Hope this helps and have a great trip! Dave
Great site! I will tell people when they are planning a Disney trip to check it out.
Thanks, Mike!
Hi! We are planning a trip there next week…arriving 6/3 and departing 6/10. Already have been disappointed we couldn’t get reservations for any meals with the princesses…what do you suggest on how to visit the park(s), are there any websites or pamphlets on where to go first, etc? Knowing that it will be hot and humid we want to do the most that we can in the mornings and evenings. Also, can you take your own beverages into the park?
Hi Sue!
It’s hard to get the princesses if you don’t start 6 months before (when reservations open)…sorry it didn’t work out!!
For an itinerary approach see this: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/12/06/summer-itinerary-for-walt-disney-world-v2/ It odesn’t fir your dates, but gives you a general idea.
See also http://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/how-long-to-stay/other-trip-lengths/designing-your-own-walt-disney-world-itinerary/
I laso recommend the stuff at touringplans.com You can find there ideas on which parks whihc days, and also one and two day plans for each park! It’ll cost you ten bucks or so but well worth it.
Hope this helps and have a great trip!! Dave
Ooops–forgot the beverages question. Officially you can’t. However to my knowledge no one has ever been fussed at for bringing bottled water in…
Hi there! This website is really great! Thanks for letting me see the many things you can do in Disney. My son won four tickets to Disney World at a perfect attendance rally at his school. I’m going to ask, what do you recommend? Because this is going to be our first Disney trip. We are planning to go in July 20th and finish it off on the 25th. We are very excited! We are flying from San Antonio,TX. We don’t exactly know the flying plans,yet. But, all we know that our airlines is Southwest. We have my son, my other son, my daughter,and I attending. My sisiter and niece with her mother is also attending, but they paying for their own ticket. And what is the best thing to do? Take a regular rental bus to the resort? Or take the Magical Express? And what’s the best agenda for our first day? We are planning to stay at the value resort, Disney All Star Movie Resort. I hope you can help us.
Hi Irma–I can help, but tell me the ages of your kids first…
Planning a trip to DW oct 2012 and would love to stay in 2 bedroom villa at fort wilderness resort with 5 adults and 2 children 5 and 3. The villas look beautiful and seem spacious enough. My wife really wants to stay at this villa, so my question is, are the villas spacious enough for our party of 7? They are on the pricey side for us, but it may be worth it if enough room and we like the full kitchen and laundry options since we have small children…. thank you and i am sure we will have more questions once our trip gets closer:)
Hi Kevin!
The answer kinda depends on the 5 adults and how they want to sleep.
You get three sleeping spaces: a king in one bedroom, two queens or a queen and a full fold out couch in a second, and a fold-out couch in the shared living/dining/kitchen space.
For more, see http://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/02/07/review-the-villas-at-disneys-wilderness-lodge/
If this is an awkward fit to the family structure, take a look at the Treehouses: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2009/08/16/review-the-treehouses-at-disneys-saratoga-springs-resort-and-spa/
Thank you! Think the Saratoga resort is a safer bet too! Very pretty too and cheaper.
Great Kevin!–only the treehouses have this bedroom structure–the rest of the Saratoga Springs resort villas do not…I do prefer the Wilderness Lodge…but only if you fit!
Hi Dave. I will be making my ADRs on Monday (10/18) and i was familiarizing myself with the disney site today, but i can’t seem to figure out how to enter my confirmation number to let me book >180 days without clicking on the “i want to use my disney dining plan” link. Right now i just have a room-only reservation booked through Small World Vacations. Should i just click this link to associate reservations with the disney dining plan anyway since i do plan to eventually add the dining plan or will Disney block me since i don’t yet have a dining plan. Is there an easier way on line to enter my resort confirmation # without doing this?
Thx,
Mike
Mike– have you set up a Disney online account and associated your hotel res confirmation number with it? See this: http://www.themouseforless.com/tripplanning/dining/ADR.shtml The fallback is to do your ADRs over the phone–but you will still need your hotel res confirmation number…
Hello,
Love your site! We are planning on going to WDW, staying at the polynesian on March 3-10, 2012 (Saturday to Saturday). Our son loves anything Star Wars…when do you suggest we visit Hollywood Studios to do the Jedi Training? (I’m using your 7 night itinerary and it says Hollywood Studios on Monday…would we miss the Star Wars weekends then? (unsure if it’s on during spring or summer…WDW’s site is unclear).
Hi Carol!
While Disney has not yet announced Star Wars weekends, in the recent past they’ve been late May and early June.
For Jedi training, arrive at the park before it opens and head straight to the sign-up area. Right now sign-ups are in the “Sounds Dangerous” area, but double check with a park cast member when you arrive! Then pick up the itinerary form there…
Hello,
We are traveling to Orlando December 14th trough 21st with my family and my brother family(4 adults and kids range from 7 to 16) A little info, my brother and my husband do NOT do well with crowds, they have no idea what we are getting them into 
We are going to spend two days in Disney and the rest at other parks(universal/sea world). What two days and what two parks do you recommend? We will go to for sure MK one day, we are not as concerned about the special Christmas celebration as it costs more $$, just looking at low crowd days. I was thinking to try to get in Disney at the beginning of the week like the 15th and our second day to be the 17th before the Christmas crowds start showing up.
First of all I want to say this site is AMAZING!! Second of all, just looking for some tips..of course, like everybody else
Thanks for the help,
Florida Bound From Minne-SNOW-ta
Hi Shannon!
Couple of things:
Target your non-Disney days over Sat/Sun/Monday, as the non-Disney parks tend to be less crowded then.
See MK for sure, and honestly you could spend both days there. Avoid the 15th at MK (it has special morning hours for Disney hotel guests, which yield greater corwds later in the day), and don’t worry about going on an Xmas party day, as that tends to drive crowds down.
I’d do MK the 16th, and it or another Disney park the 20th, and non-Disney parks the other days. I don’t expect the heavy Xmas crowds to start showing up until the 22nd.
It’s hard to suggest a second park given your kid’s age range…but either Animal Kingdom or Hollywood studios would work…
The key to avoiding crowds is to arrive at the turnstiles well before the parks open…
Thanks for the kind words about the site, and I hope this helps! Dave
My husband and I will be going to Disneyworld at the end of September 15-22 for seven days before the festival. No kids. Its my first time to Disney. My husband went when he was 5 but doesnt remember it.
We plan on staying at Pop Century and having our day “off” at Sea World. What would you suggest for two adults and what would you skip? Would you recommend the dining plan still? Thanks.
Hi Lacey, for what to do, see the right side of the chart on this page: http://yourfirstvisit.net/2011/03/09/the-comprehensive-guide-to-walt-disney-world-rides-and-attractions/
The scoop on the dining plan is this: if you would do, on average, a sit-down meal every day, and are willing to commit to which restaurants when well ahead of time, then it saves a bit of money. If you won’t do that amount of sit-down, or aren’t willing to commit to which places to eat when soon, it’s likely not a good deal…
Most couples enjoy sit-down meals together…others can’t stand the fact that it creates hard-to-move tentpoles in your schedule…but if you try to play it by ear and decide where to eat and when when you are there, you may find that all the best and most fun dining spots are booked…(Note you can book restuarants without using the dining plan…it’s rather that if you are unwilling to book them, then don’t get the plan.)
Does this help??
We (husband , daughter 9 and son 2 )are travelling to Florida from London on the 4th May 2012.For the first few days we are in a conference in Ft.Lauderdale.On the 10th we plan to drive to WD for 2 days 1 night.Please suggest how should we go about? I kno
Hi, given how little time you have and the ages of your kids, I’d just spend two days at the Magic Kingdom
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