Instructions for Your First Visit to Walt Disney World

By Dave Shute

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INSTRUCTIONS FOR YOUR FIRST DISNEY WORLD VISIT

Follow the instructions that follow for your first family visit to Walt Disney World to save thousands of dollars, and avoid dozens of hours waiting in line, while seeing all the best of Walt Disney World!

1. When to Go to Walt Disney World:

Most years, I suggest that if you can, you should arrive at Walt Disney World one of the first two, sometimes three, Saturdays after Thanksgiving. In 2025 I recommend the first two weeks after Thanksgiving. More… Next best dates to go…

2. How Long to Stay:

You can have a wonderful trip spending as few as 5 days. However, if you can, be in Orlando for 9 days–a Saturday through a Sunday. More… Going for a shorter trip…

3. How Old/Tall Your Children Should be:

Kids of any age can have a wonderful time at Disney World. However, if this may be your kids’ only childhood visit, consider going when your youngest child is at least 8 or 9, and your shortest child at least 48 inches tall. More… Planning for going with younger/shorter kids…

4. Where to Stay at Walt Disney World:

Stay at Disney’s Polynesian Resort if you can afford it, or at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort if you can’t. More… Next best resort options…

5. How Much to Budget:

You can have a wonderful first visit for $3,000 or less. However, to see all the best of Walt Disney World at the best time of the year to visit, budget if you can $14,000 if you are staying at the Polynesian, or $9,500 if at Art of Animation. More… Developing a much lower or a different budget…

6. When Your Plans Need to be Firm:

Your plans should be firm at least 181 days before your arrival date. More… Planning if it’s already later than that…

7. How to Eat at Walt Disney World:

8. Where to Eat:

The Basic Itinerary tells you exactly where to eat (as do the Other Itineraries). More… Next best dining choices…

9. How to Spend Your Time at Walt Disney World:

The Basic Itinerary tells you exactly how to spend your time in Orlando (as do the Other Itineraries). More… Other Itineraries…

10. What to do When:

See the To-Do List for an exact list of what to do when to prepare for your trip. More… To-Do Lists for Other Itineraries…

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1,261 comments

1 Dave { 04.13.14 at 11:57 am }: Jennifer, you can–and should–book FastPass+ beginning 30 days ahead. See this https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/03/26/off-siters-can-reserve-fastpass-in-advance-beginning-march-31/ For which to focus on, see the second part of this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/03/30/to-do-lists-updated-with-fastpass-targets/
The Fantasmic dining package has less fun meals than 50’s prime time, but great seats. It’s a tough call–you can usually find fine seats just by showing up 30 mins or more before the show–but don’t use a FastPass+ for Fantasmic on a trip as short as yours. You only get one great FP+ a day at HS, and should spend that on Toy Story Mania.
Tell me what time your Akershus reservation is. Late morning is fine, 8.10 ok, but in between no no. You lose too much valuable low-crowd time. In general, the only plus of Cindy over Akershus is setting. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/10/31/review-princess-dining-at-akershus/
There’s three evening thingies at MK–the evening Main Street Electrical Parade, the castle show Celebrate the Magic, and the fireworks show Wishes. The last two are don’t miss.
2 Jennifer { 04.13.14 at 3:43 pm }: Hey Dave! We are having breakfast at 9:15 at akershus so it looks like I’m going to try and move it. Lunch at the castle is at noon I’m going to keep the reservation for now. It’s really tough to decide between them cause your right its all about the castle!
I booked a late lunch at 50’s dinner in hopes that maybe it will be less crowed during dinner time to ride some of the more popular attractions at HS. I’m trying to maximize our time there! If you have any other ideas please let me no. For fantasmic I’m going to cross my fingers we get good seats. I have read you should give yourself about 90 min. Before it starts.
Thank you again for all your advise I do appreciate it!! Don’t be surprised if I send you another message in the next month or so.
3 Dave { 04.14.14 at 7:37 am }: Jennifer, 90 mins is too much for Fantasmic! 45 is plenty. One way to handle it is to plan to eat form the array of quick service right near the entrance. Get there, get your food, and if the line seems to be building eat it from the line…
4 Melissa { 04.18.14 at 3:08 pm }: I am so happy I found this sight. Thank you for all the work you do!
I am part of a group of 10 (6 adults, one 14 yr. old boy, two 9 yr. old girls and a 3 yr. old girl with special needs). We are going to Disney World Nov. 6 -16. The first day we get in too late to do anything but eat and the last day we leave too early to go anywhere. Please provide us with any useful information on when and where we should be. We are trying to plan our days, but we are so lost because every site has different information on where to be when. We have 3 different reservation numbers so we are also nervous about messing up ADR and fastpass options. PLEASE HELP ANYWAY POSSIBLE!!! Thanks.
5 Dave { 04.19.14 at 8:30 am }: Melissa, see this as your starting point: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/14/fastpass-itinerary-for-lower-crowd-weeks/
6 Kenneth { 04.21.14 at 1:04 pm }: With the cold weather and school closings this year. Do you feel the first two weeks of June 2014 should be lighter than normal due to school districts throughout the country extendeding the school year ?
7 Dave { 04.21.14 at 1:58 pm }: Kenneth, the response to the extra calamity days has varied so much that it’s hard for me to be firm about this…but I don’t see how it can do anything but help!
8 Monique { 04.23.14 at 10:33 am }: Hi Dave,
I just booked a trip to disney world from Dec. 7 to Dec.12. Do you have any idea when the dates will become available or Mickeys Very Merry Christmas?
9 Dave { 04.23.14 at 1:52 pm }: Hi Monique!! Word is the official dates will come out in early May. I have forecasts here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/04/13/mickeys-very-merry-christmas-party-mvmcp-in-2014/
10 Scott { 04.23.14 at 11:35 pm }: We are going to Disney 5/24 thru 5/31. There are 2 adults, (1) 20yr old, (1) 12 yr old boy, and (1) 9 yr old girl for a total of 5. This is the kids 1st trip to Disney and I haven’t been for 20yrs. We are arriving by noon on the 24th and are staying at the Port Orleans Riverside. We have 5 day tickets without hopper and are willing to add a 6th if necessary but were looking for a “slower”/”down” day in Orlando while we are there. We would also like to do 1 character meal. Can you help us please? Thank you very much in advance for your help.
11 Dave { 04.24.14 at 8:41 am }: Scott, suggest you spend two days at MK and one each at the other three parks. Those dates go to Animal Kingdom 5/25, Epcot 5/26, hit MK 5/27 and 5/28, go to HS 5/29, and either take the 30th off or return to a favorite park. I don’t have any five day itineraries, but for help with what to do each day, see this: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/
I can help with the character meal–but did you have particular characters in mind?
12 Melissa { 04.27.14 at 5:06 pm }: Hello,
We are planning our next trip to Disney World for Wednesday, October 1 through Wednesday, October 8 (mainly because of the cheaper airfare). Do you think this is a good idea? Are weekends in WDW super crowded? Which days do you suggest we visit Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon? I would like to have a day set aside for each of the water parks as well as the four main parks. That will give us 6 full days and 2 travel days. I would love to have your guidance on which days we should visit certain parks. Thank you!
13 Dave { 04.28.14 at 8:06 am }: Melissa, that’s a fine time to go other than it still being in the peak of the hurricane season!
I don’t track the waterparks closely enough to know the best days to go to them. The theme parks are so much better than the waterparks that I’d target your second waterpark for the end of your trip…so that you can skip it and return to a theme park instead if you wish…
Weekends are more crowded than weekdays–your dates especially Epcot, as the Food and Wine Festival packs them in Friday evening through Sunday.
10/1 avoid Epcot–and this will be the best day your trip to see the evening events at MK. (You are going during party seaosn, where there’s lots of 7p MK closes. These are low-crowd days at MK, but you miss the evening parade and fireworks. You can see them 10/1 and 10/8 without the bad crowds you’ll face other days MK has later closes)
10/2 avoid MK
10/3 Great MK day, avoid Epcot
10/4 Avoid Epcot, HS, MK
10/5 Avoid Epcot, HS. Great MK day
10/6 Avoid AK, MK. Great Epcot day
10/7 Avoid MK, Epcot.
10/8 Avoid Epcot.
14 Destiney { 04.27.14 at 9:32 pm }: This may be somewhere on your site, but I am unable to locate it. On your 2015 calendar the start dates are on Saturdays, why is that?
Thank you
15 Dave { 04.28.14 at 8:16 am }: Destiney…it’s because all my recommended itineraries begin on a Saturday. See for example this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/14/fastpass-itinerary-for-lower-crowd-weeks/
16 Olivia { 04.29.14 at 12:58 am }: Dave, thanks so much for this site. It helps me understand a lot, but we have special circumstances. My husband is a wounded warrior and we just found out an organization is going to provide us a free 6 night stay at a off-site luxury resort (3 bdrm 2 ba cond0 at Bahama Bay!), free passes to Universal, Sea World, Wet N Wild, and Legoland, and possibly also airfare! We are so excited! But the organization said we could feel free to visit Disney or anything we want, and we don’t have to use all the passes to the other places, they’re just available to us if we want them and Disney is basically the only place they couldn’t get passes for, and Disney is my dream destination, esp for the kids. So thinking we might use the armed forces salute discount to get 4 day park hopper tickets to Disney (because I think with the salute you can only get 4 day right?), and try to do 1 or 2 of the other places if we can during our time in Orlando. We are scheduled to check in at our resort after 4 Pm on Aug 9 and check out before 10 AM on Aug 15. So we will have 5 full days and 2 partial days to work with (not sure on flight times yet). Our whole group will be 4 adults and 4 kids ages 8, 7, 2, and another turning 3 on Aug 10th(the day after we arrive). Our family is 5 of them (2 adults and 3 kids) and the rest are another family we’re friends with who are coming too. Do you know if their daughter who is turning 3 during the trip will have to have a ticket for the days after she’s 3? Or will Disney go by the age she is the first day we’re there for the whole trip? The 2 youngest kids in our group are little girls so I’d love to be able to do Cinderella’s Royal Table for a lunch or something, even if not our whole group but just us 2 moms and the 2 little girls (in fact, I think it might HAVE to be just us girls because I can find tables for 4 but not 8 at any time during our stay for Cinderella). But would want to do at least 1 other character meal for all 8 of us so the boys can experience that too if possible. Can you suggest or point me in a good direction for planning an itinerary appropriate for us and so that we can try to hit up some of the other non-Disney places as well that the organization is so generously providing us passes for? (seeing the beach/ocean would be amazing too…tho I know, I know, we can’t do everything..) Should we do the 4 day hopper AF Salute tickets, or do less days and forgo the AF Salute? Obviously we won’t be on a dining plan or able to do extra magic hours etc so any tips/advise for us as off-site guests is also so appreciated! Sorry if all this is confusing…I am overwhelmed with excitement and the logistics of all this…
17 Dave { 04.29.14 at 8:30 am }: Hi Olivia! First, for the military salute tix, yes they are 4 days only and you can buy 6 of them.
The child who turns three will not need tix–only the age on the first day of ticket use matters.
There’s no itinerary that bridges 3 year olds and 7/8 year olds. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/how-oldtall-your-children-should-be/what-if-theyre-too-shortyoung/taking-your-too-shortyoung-kids-anyway/
I don’t have itineraries for such short trips, but see Josh’s cheat sheets here: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/
The best balance of parks, given the ages, is two days at the Magic Kingdom, and one day each at Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios. So get the 4 day salute and use it!
Those dates, avoid MK the 10th, AK and MK the 11th, HS and Epcot the 12th, AK the 13th, and MK the 14th.
It’s really hard to book anything for 8. If it continues to not work, try two sets of 4, and then when you get to the restaurant beg for them to be close…For dining suggestions, see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/where-to-eat/dining-alternatives/the-comprehensive-guide-to-walt-disney-world-dining/
The kids are really too young for Universal–unless the older ones are wild Harry Potter fans. All the age groups will like Sea World, the youngest will like LegoLand…
Hope this helps, and thanks for all your family has given us…
18 Olivia { 04.29.14 at 6:01 pm }: Thanks Dave for the reply, helps a lot! Quick question about the Salute tix..can we buy those for ourselves and also the friends coming with and they would just pay us back so they too only have to pay the $169/person? Would they be able to use them even though they are not military and not related to us as long as my husband is present upon activation to show military ID? If so, then the limit of 6 works just fine because we wouldn’t need any tix for the 2 youngest anyway.
I totally agree with all your advice on this site about children’s ages and length of trip, we would go for longer and when the youngest are older, but it would be very unlikely for us to be able to afford this out of pocket, even with the military discounts, so this most expense paid trip is probably our only chance and I know it will be wonderful regardless! I was thinking that about Universal..we will probably skip it. Thanks for the dates to avoid certain parks and the tip about trying for 2 4-seaters..hadn’t thought of that! Thanks again for all your help!
19 Dave { 04.30.14 at 7:47 am }: Olivia, yes, so long as the eligible member is present to activate them in person–and uses one him or herself–the other tix can be distributed as you see fit! I hope you have the best trip ever!!!
20 Leah { 04.29.14 at 10:42 pm }: Have the opportunity to extend a conference and take the family to WDW; looks most readily done 6/26-30 conference at Dolphin/Swan; then rent DVC for 30th to 7/4th. It’ll be our 2nd trip to WDW, first in mid Dec 2010 w/ kids 5 & almost 3-lovely low crowds but cold; kids now 9 & 6. I see high crowds, hot weather. Budget an issue, but hankering to return. Is this a huge mistake? How best to plan itinerary for 2nd trip w/ busy crowds? I know re: avoid EMH parks. Other advice? Other good bang for the buck advice? Many thanks-visiting your site gets us very excited for a return trip!
21 Dave { 04.30.14 at 8:18 am }: Leah, you can make it work–return visits are MUCH easier, as you know what to avoid, what your priorities are, and how to make it all work. The basics remain the same: as you note, avoid EMH; arrive 45 mins before posted opening; use FastPass+ judiciously scheduling it for late morning/early afternoon…
22 Daniel { 05.01.14 at 6:21 am }: Hello Dave, thanks for the fantastic site!
I´m planning to go to Disney with my family next January, and maybe to run the marathon. Have you ever compared the prices of the marathon package to the offers that are typically offered for January? What should be more interesting if I want to stay at Polynesian? Thank you!
23 Dave { 05.02.14 at 6:50 am }: Hey Daniel, I’ve never compared the marathon package, so don’t have much help there. Re the Poly, do see this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/09/04/renovation-and-construction-at-disneys-polynesian-resort/
24 Kelli { 05.03.14 at 10:52 am }: I have a reservation at a resort not participating in the FD. I want to make a new reservation at a FD resort for the exact same dates and then cancel my “old” reservation. I’m being told the system will not let me double book, that I have to cancel my current reservation first. Is this correct?
25 Dave { 05.04.14 at 11:22 am }: Kelli, double booking has gotten much harder since about a year ago when new systems were put in. The easiest way to do it is to create a whole new MDE account in the name of your spouse–or someone else on the trip with a drivers license. It can still be on the original credit card…
26 Paul { 05.05.14 at 3:22 pm }: Just FYI, but I just did this same thing last week. I had one reservation and wanted to change to another one at the same time, but only if I could get the new one and not risk losing both. The system essentially cancelled the old one and let me book the new one simultaneously. It asked me to confirm the cancellation of the old first, and once I clicked cancel it took me to the next screen where I confirmed the new one. There was not really a time period in between where I risked losing both, if that is what Kelli is concerned about.
Thanks
27 Dave { 05.05.14 at 5:35 pm }: Thanks, Paul!
28 Scott { 05.05.14 at 8:55 pm }: See post 1050 with your response at 1051. We are arriving in Orlando at 9:30 on the 5/24. We can do something that day and would prefer our “off” day to be on Tuesday or Wednesday. My wife and I will need it by then. Oh yeah my daughter would prefer a princess character meal(breakfast) but, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto or Donald would be ok. Can you help/modify what you posted. Thanks you for all your help.
29 Dave { 05.06.14 at 7:10 am }: OK Scott, go to MK 5/24, and take the 27th off. Suggest you target lunch at Tusker House on your AK day or 1900 Park Fare at GF for a pre-MK breakfast or post MK dinner. There are more fun character meals–but most will have booked months ago!
30 Leanne { 05.07.14 at 9:23 am }: HI Dave,
I was just wondering if DW offer stroller type push alongs for toddlers? like cars or something as i don’t think my little one would cope with all the walking.
31 Dave { 05.07.14 at 12:38 pm }: Hi Leanne!! At the parks, you can rent strollers for use in them. You can also rent strollers for your entire visit (i.e. including the hotels) from various third-party companies.
32 kevin { 05.08.14 at 1:51 pm }: Hi Dave, Thanks for your time and insight. Family of five arriving at Disney on the night of November 12 and departing at noon on November 18. Could you please suggest which parks to visit ? Our kids love Hollywood and Magic Kingdom most. Thank you.
33 Dave { 05.09.14 at 7:44 am }: Kevin, what ages are they?
34 kevin jollie { 05.09.14 at 9:04 am }: Three boys, ages 8, 10 & 10.
35 Dave { 05.10.14 at 7:35 am }: OK Kevin, here’s parks to avoid by day:
11/13: avoid MK
11/14: Avoid Epcot
11/15 Avoid HS
11/16 avoid HS
11/17: avoid AK
11/18 avoid MK, Epcot

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