Disney World 2016 Trip Planning Guide

Planning your 2016 Walt Disney World trip can be intimidating for first-time visitors. This guide provides free tips & tricks to save money and time, avoid crowds, choose where to eat, which rides to do, and fully plan your Disney itinerary. If you’re being sucked into the rabbit hole of vacation planning, our 2016 Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide is here to help…or perhaps drag you deeper into the rabbit hole. Think of it as Disney 101, with all of the basics organized into the 10 most important aspects of Walt Disney World vacation planning. The information here is updated regularly (last update: December 26, 2015), so you can be sure that none of the information here is stale.

As complicated as planning might seem right now, the ultimate payoff is worth it. Many first-time visitors don’t realize Walt Disney World is such a complicated place until they arrive, and they are then overwhelmed. The commercials make it look like a carefree world where everyone skips around carefree, holding hands with Mickey Mouse, doing all of the best rides without any problems…but that’s definitely not the reality. You need to plan.

Even after dozens of trips to Walt Disney World, we still don’t know everything there is to know, but this post contains what we do know (most stuff…not the ultra-nerdy details like which drinking fountains are coldest). While we are fans, we don’t see the world through rose colored glasses, and we try to stay as objective as possible here, sharing the good and the bad of Walt Disney World, and all of the pros and cons. If that’s not for you, there are plenty of other planning sites that offer only positive or only negative spins on Disney.

This vacation planning guide applies to the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. That might seem silly to point out if you’re a seasoned Disney fan, but a lot of people don’t know. World=Florida, land=California. If you are visiting California, please consult our Disneyland Resort Trip Planning Guide. If you’re trying to determine which coast is right for you, read our Walt Disney World v. Disneyland post.

This page is a jumping off point to give you some background information on each aspect of your trip, with links to other blog posts that offer much more detailed information. Each post opens in a new tab, so click away as you read and prepare to waste some time reading all this. 

We promise that the payoff will be worth it, so let’s get started…

1a. Is 2016 A Good Year to Visit?

If you’re thinking about a once in a lifetime trip to Walt Disney World, your first question is probably whether 2016 is a good year to visit. The short answer: yes, we think 2016 is a moderately-good year to visit Walt Disney World. Here’s why…

On the plus side, New Fantasyland construction is complete, so attractions like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is open and the Festival of Fantasy Parade are running in the Magic Kingdom, and the new Central Plaza is essentially finished, meaning there’s virtually no significant construction in the Magic Kingdom during 2016.

Over at EPCOT, Frozen Ever After: Escape to Arendelle, the new Frozen boat ride opens, as does an expanded area of the Norway pavilion. This will be a very popular draw with huge waits (be sure to get a FastPass+ well in advance!), and its sure to be a hit with parents and kids who are still wild about Frozen.

Then there’s Disney’s Animal Kingdom, which will have its coming out party of sorts. In early Spring 2016, the new nighttime show Rivers of Light debuts, as does other nighttime entertainment. Based on everything we’ve seen, Rivers of Light looks like it will be a smash hit on par with World of Color in terms of popularity, and it alone will be enough for most guests to justify spending a whole day at Animal Kingdom, which was previously regarded as a half-day park for many guests. Even with construction ongoing for Pandora: World of Avatar until 2017, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is going to be a great park in 2016.

Rounding out the impressive slate of changes for 2016, there’s Disney Springs. This is the entertainment and shopping district previously known as Downtown Disney. Following the closure of Pleasure Island, we were not fans of this area. However, Disney Springs made fans of both of us big time late last year with solid additions such as The Boathouse, Jock Lindsay’s Hangar Bar, Morimoto Asia, and more. This is all while it was still partially under construction. The area will be even better in 2016 as construction wraps up, and we could see spending a good half day strolling Disney Springs when you need a break from the parks.

So far, this sounds great, right? Well, that’s before we get to Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Once the Osborne Lights go dark in early-January, we see little reason to step foot in Disney’s Hollywood Studios in 2016. Construction for Star Wars Land and Toy Story Land begin in 2016, and the park has had a lot of attractions closed during the last couple of years in preparation for these projects, without suitable–even short-term–replacements.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios still has a slate of a few solid headliners, but it isn’t enough to justify the time and money it costs to go here unless you’re purchasing 5+ day tickets. Even then, this is not a full-day park. While Disney has added the Season of the Force Star Wars entertainment as a stop-gap (which means no Star Wars Weekends in 2016), this lackluster entertainment still simply is insufficient. (Instead, we would encourage 2016 visitors to take a look at our Universal Orlando Resort Trip Planning Guide, and consider spending a day there to get your studio/thrill ride fix.)

The downside here is that, unless Disney’s Hollywood Studios sees a serious drop in attendance that causes management to scramble to add temporary entertainment or speed up construction, this will be the case with that park until around 2018 or later. This means that unless you’re willing to postpone your trip until Star Wars Land opens (which could be as late as 2020–there’s no concrete date yet), we will offer this caveat for the next several years.

For the foreseeable future, construction is going to be a part of any Walt Disney World visit. To an extent, this has always been the case, as the parks constantly change, removing and adding attractions. If you wait until there’s zero construction, you’ll be waiting forever. In terms of pros versus cons, we see 2016–overall–as a pretty good year to visit. We don’t hesitate recommending a 2016 visit to Walt Disney World in the least.

1b. When to Visit

If you’ve determined that 2016 is a good year for you to head to Walt Disney World, the next, related question is what time of year. This arguably has the biggest impact on the trip, so choosing wisely is key. Walt Disney World can be a crowded place, and the time of year you visit can have a dramatic impact on crowd density and the wait times you encounter for attractions. If you have kids in school and aren’t willing to pull them from school, you’re looking at visiting during school breaks, which is when the parks are busiest due to the vast majority of Walt Disney World guests being in the same circumstances.

The week (or so) long breaks are absolutely the worst in terms of crowds. Summer is a bad time to visit due to the combination of heavy crowds and hot, humid weather. If you’re traveling with kids, you’ll want to read our Walt Disney World Trip Planning with Kids guide in addition to this post.

If you’re not traveling with kids or don’t mind pulling them from school, the first thing you want to do when planning is to eliminate any days when school is out of session. The early fall, December prior to Christmas vacation, and mid-January through early March are all good times to visit from the perspective of crowds.

We have more thorough tips regarding when to visit on our When to Visit Walt Disney World page, which takes into account school schedules, crowds, weather, park hours, and special events. That post also has month-by-month summaries of what you’ll encounter, in greater depth. Check it out for more detailed information!

Of the considerations on that page, special events at Walt Disney World should be your next biggest factor when determining when to visit Walt Disney World. Visit our Walt Disney World Seasonal Events page to view the list of major events around which you might want to plan.

Walt Disney World is great any day of the year, but we absolutely recommend going during seasonal festivities. We have guides for each big seasonal offering that you can read:

• Ultimate Guide to Christmas at Walt Disney World
• Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Guide
• Flower & Garden Festival Guide & Tips
• Food & Wine Festival Guide & Tips

These are the big five as far as these events are concerned. Our favorite, by far, is Christmas at Walt Disney World. There is so much going on during the holiday season, and the parks are so beautiful that it just can’t be beat. Plus, weather is nicer and if you go at the right time, crowds are relatively light. Since there are seasonal events pretty much every time of year except the very beginning of the calendar year and the middle of summer, pretty much no matter when you visit you’re going to be at Walt Disney World during a seasonal event, so it’s a good idea to consult those guides before picking your vacation dates to see which event is most appealing to you.

 

2. How Long to Stay

How long you should stay at Walt Disney World depends largely upon the type of trip it is. If you’re not much of a Disney fan but are taking your kids on a “once in a lifetime” rite of passage trip, how long you should stay is dramatically different from how long a Disney fan. For the first time visitor, we recommend a Walt Disney World vacation of 6 to 8 days. The exact length will still vary a bit depending upon how much vacation time you have and if you plan on visiting non-Disney theme parks or destinations.

Walt Disney World has 4 theme parks. Arguably, Magic Kingdom and Epcot could each take two days. With Rivers of Light opening, Disney’s Animal Kingdom is a solid, 1-day park. By contrast, Disney’s Hollywood Studios will take a little less than a day (we recommend going at night to see the Star Wars Symphony in the Stars fireworks) if you go at all. If you park hop and want to experience most attractions, 5 days for the 4 theme parks is a good number. You’ll also probably want to build in a day for relaxation, and this is good to plug into the middle of your trip so you don’t get worn out by the theme parks.

Since you might already know how long your vacation is, the other consideration for planning trips to Walt Disney World might be how much time to spend doing other things. Other Orlando-area theme parks like Universal Orlando Resort (including the Wizarding World of Harry Potter), SeaWorld, Busch Gardens might be places you want to visit. Or maybe you want to visit the beach, or visit local outlet malls…or go manatee watching…I have no clue what people enjoy doing.

Of all these things, the one place we think you should give serious consideration is Universal Orlando Resort. We have a post titled Walt Disney World v. Universal Orlando that covers a lot of the pros and cons of visiting Universal. I am not a Harry Potter fan, but I was absolutely blown away by the new Diagon Alley area in Universal Studios Florida and Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventure. Perhaps the coolest thing is the Hogwarts Express train that connects the two areas in the two different parks. Even if you aren’t a Harry Potter fan, you should read our Universal Studios Florida & Islands of Adventure Planning Guide to see if those parks might be worth a day or two of your vacation.

There’s also other stuff at Walt Disney World besides the theme parks to consider when planning how many days you spend there. This “other stuff” at Walt Disney World consists of Disney Springs, golf, restaurants, water parks, and more. You will probably find at least 1 day of “other stuff” to do at Walt Disney World. That, plus the 5 days at the parks, plus a rest day (which can be combined with this “other stuff,” typically) plus possibly 1-2 days at other Orlando theme parks gets you in the 6-8 day range.

3. Park Tickets

If you book a package, you may not have a ton of say over which park tickets you purchase. However, we recommend buying your tickets separately from an authorized third party ticket seller to save money if you can. As for number of days, purchase tickets for for the full length of your hotel stay or possibly one less day. Read our Tips for Buying Discount Walt Disney World Tickets post for everything you need to know about choosing the right tickets and saving money on them. That post covers the 3 different authorized ticket sellers from whom we recommend purchasing discounted Walt Disney World tickets, with regularly updated links to the cheapest of the 3 for each type of ticket.

As far as which tickets to purchase, that post covers it all, but here are some things to consider in a nutshell. You’ll probably want to spend a couple of days outside the park, but it’s nice to have tickets that give you the option to visit parks every day of your trip. This gives you the option of spending part of the day relaxing at your hotel or visiting Disney Springs, and spending part of it in the parks.

It might seem like a waste of money, but the difference between a 6-day ticket and 7-day ticket (for example) is negligible. Single-day Walt Disney World tickets are quite pricey, but multi-day tickets are much cheaper per day. The cost of additional days on a ticket substantially decreases with each day you add after 3 days. In fact, the price difference between a 3-day Walt Disney World ticket and a 10-day Walt Disney World ticket is less than the cost of a 1-day Walt Disney World ticket!

Unless you have small children who are can’t spend more than a few hours each day in the parks, we also recommend adding on the “Park Hopper” option to your tickets, which allows you to visit multiple parks in the same day. This allows you to make changes to your itinerary on the fly based on crowdedness, and also allows you to visit another park after the first one you’re visiting closes for the day, among other things. We cover all of the important considerations in that “Tips” post mentioned above.

There are also a number of ways you can save money on Walt Disney World park tickets. We recommend Undercover Tourist, which is a Disney-authorized discount ticket seller for multi-day tickets. Buying there allows you to book FastPass+ selections up to 60 days before your trip (if you’re staying on-site). Whatever you do, don’t wait to buy your tickets at the front gates of the parks (or on eBay…they won’t work!), because then you can’t book your FastPass+ attractions in advance! You’ll understand why this is a huge deal in the sections below…

4. Where to Stay

We have stayed at every single Disney hotel at Walt Disney World as well as some off-site ones, and have written comprehensive reviews with our opinions and photos of the rooms (often, photos of the rooms speak much louder than words). Check out our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page, for links to each of these reviews.

If you’re trying to determine where to stay, the threshold question is “on-site or off-site?” This means, should you stay on Walt Disney World property in a Disney-owned hotel, or stay in a non-Disney owned hotel within driving distance of Walt Disney World.

In general, you get more bang for your buck when staying in an off-site hotel, as there are a lot of non-Disney hotels competing with one another, and they can’t charge the premium Disney charges for its name recognition or location. Conversely, non-Disney hotels are typically farther away from the parks, and don’t provide the same immersive vacation experience that many people describe as being in the “Disney bubble.” We have an Off-Site v. On-Site Walt Disney World Hotels article that goes into greater depth about the pros and cons of both options.

 

If you’re going to stay on-site at Walt Disney World, the three main tiers are Value, Moderate, and Deluxe, which are exactly what their names sound like they are. There’s also a Deluxe Villa tier, which is basically Disney-speak for “timeshare room.” Looking for the best hotel in each tier? Check out the following posts ranking the various Disney hotels:

• Value Resort Hotel Rankings
• Moderate Resort Hotel Rankings
• Deluxe Resort Hotel Rankings
• Deluxe Villa (Disney Vacation Club) Resort Rankings

Our favorite Value Resort is Pop Century, our favorite Moderate is Port Orleans Riverside, our favorite Deluxe Resorts are Disney’s Beach Club Resort and Disney’s Boardwalk Inn, and our favorite Deluxe Villa/Disney Vacation Club Resorts are Beach Club Villas and Villas at Wilderness Lodge.

Speaking of the Deluxe Villas/Disney Vacation Club Resorts, if your budget is tight and one of these resorts looks appealing, you might want to read our Guide to Renting Disney Vacation Club Points, as this is a great way to save money on nicer accommodations than you otherwise might be able to afford.

One of the first things to know before you go is the MyMagic+ program that includes FastPass+, Magic Bands, Memory Maker, and more. You can read more about each of these components in this system work in our MyMagic+ FAQ article. FastPass+ is now live in every park, and paper FastPasses are no more. Read our Guide to FastPass+ at Walt Disney World to fully understand the new system, and how to best take advantage of it.

The big thing to know about this system as it pertains to staying on-site or off-site is in terms of FastPass+. Guests staying at a Walt Disney World hotel can make FastPass+ reservations up to 60 days before their trips; those staying off-site can only book FastPass+ reservations up to 30 days in advance.

If you want FastPass+ for popular experiences like Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the Anna & Elsa Frozen Meet & Greet, Toy Story Mania, or other popular attractions, having the full 60 day window might be the only way to get them. Many of these FastPass+ experiences “sell out” within hours or days of their 60-day windows opening. We assume Frozen Ever After and Rivers of Light will both offer FastPass, and you will definitely need the full 60-day window for those, too.

This is a big deal because each of these attractions can have 2+ hour waits depending upon the time of year, so by being able to make these FastPass+ ride reservations with that 60-day window can be the difference between waiting an extra 4-6 hours in line per day, or not. This is also why we highly recommend buying park tickets in advance of your visit. You can still make FastPass+ reservations on the day you arrive at Walt Disney World, but you’ll be picking from leftovers that no one else really wants, so to speak.

5. Booking Airfare & Transportation

For finding cheap airfare, we recommend ITA Software by Google. You can’t book through ITA, but it’s the most robust airfare search engine out there. It gives you latitude in choosing multiple airports to see if nearby airports might offer better pricing, and allows you to check out a calendar of dates for travel, among other things.

Expedia is another option for a flight search engine, and many people prefer it because it still searches multiple airlines, but has a simpler interface and allows for immediate booking, as well as their “Best Price Guarantee.”

If you’re not booking a trip for set dates but are willing to travel whenever a deal pops up, another great option is Airfarewatchdog. You can signup for their deal alerts for trips between two cities. We opt for their daily email, which provides listings for the cheapest future airfare to numerous destinations departing out of our home airport. We use Airefarewatchdog a lot when Planning Last Minute Walt Disney World Trips.

The other aspect of transportation you’ll want to figure out is rental cars. If you’re visiting other destinations outside of Walt Disney World or are staying at an off-site hotel, you might need a rental car. If you’re thinking about renting a car, check out our Tips for Renting a Car at Walt Disney World post for money-saving tips and more. An alternative to a rental car is Uber. We cover the pros and cons of each option in our Uber v. Rental Cars at Walt Disney World post. This post also covers this easiest way to get to Universal Orlando Resort (for those who want to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, too).

If you’re only doing Walt Disney World and are staying in an on-site hotel, Disney will provide complimentary transportation everywhere you need to go, so you may not need a rental car. This includes transportation from the airport via Disney’s Magical Express. We cover the pros and cons of this service in our Disney’s Magical Express Review post.

Some people complain about the inefficiency of this transportation, but we really like it, and have assembled our Time Saving Walt Disney World Transportation Tips post to help make it as efficient as possible for you. We typically rely on Disney transportation and Uber rather than renting a car when visiting Walt Disney World, but rental cars do offer more freedom.

6. Booking a Disney Package

The most popular direct-from Disney vacations booked via DisneyWorld.com cover some combination of hotel, park tickets, and dining. Sometimes these packages offer excellent savings off rack rates, sometimes they’re merely full price elements of the trip bundled together. We have a post Rating the Walt Disney World Discounts, so you can determine which really might be the best options for you.

Even though you can save a lot with vacation packages, you’re saving that off Walt Disney World’s on-site pricing. We believe it’s worth it to pay a premium for the “Disney Difference” and location, but that may not matter as much to you. If your main criteria is to save money, read our Tips for Doing Walt Disney World on a Dime post.

If all of this is overwhelming, or even if it’s not and you just want someone else to do the work, consider using a travel agent. If you go this route, look for one who primarily or exclusively does Disney-related bookings. As you can probably gather already, Walt Disney World is fairly complex, and if a travel agent doesn’t specialize in Disney, they probably won’t know many key nuances of Walt Disney World vacations (for this reason, we don’t recommend AAA, even though many of their agents are knowledgeable about Disney).

Most travel agents specializing in Disney are “no fee” agencies, meaning that it costs you no more to book through them than it does to book through Disney (they get their cut from Disney). If you are unsure of which package might be best for you–or need personalized help with any aspect of your trip–we  recommend contacting a no fee “Authorized Disney Vacation Planner” to get a quote and to help you plan. Here’s one such recommended Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.

7. Where to Eat

A lot of the posts on this blog detail dining at Walt Disney World, which is a surprisingly complex (and fun!) topic. The most important thing for first-timers to know is that the tired stereotype that Disney dining is all burgers, hot dogs, and other fast food is not even remotely true. Disney has a lot of wonderful dining options that can be an experience in themselves. Once you get past that stereotype, you open a world of possibilities for your meals at Walt Disney World.

To figure out where to eat, you should definitely check out our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews page. Seriously–good dining can totally make a trip (and bad dining can break a trip), so if you only read more on one topic in this guide, make it dining. There’s a lot to cover, but it’s well worth it. We know a number of people who have had their opinions of Walt Disney World changed for the better simply because they “discovered” the right places to eat. That page has reviews of 50+ restaurants at Walt Disney World, plus other resources like our Magic Kingdom Counter Service Restaurant Rankings, and lots of other specific topics. Another great post with random quick-tips is our 101 Walt Disney World Dining Tips post.

Once you start salivating over all of the places to eat, you need to consider whether you should add-on the 2016 Disney Dining Plan. Whether to buy the Disney Dining Plan is one of the biggest questions most first-time guests face, so you really should read our Disney Dining Plan Pros & Cons post to determine if it’s right for you. It’s definitely not right for everyone, so don’t just assume it’s going to save you money–do the math.

From time to time, the Disney Dining Plan is included for “free” as a promotion in vacation packages, and this promotion is by far the most popular with Disney visitors. Click here to check the current Free Dining dates. If free dining is being offered during your visit, give it some serious thought. Before you book Free Dining, take a look at our Best Walt Disney World Hotels for Free Dining post. If you do book the Disney Dining Plan, make sure to make Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs). Some popular restaurants fill up in advance, and without ADRs, you might not be able to utilize the Dining Plan to its fullest.

It’s also worth noting that if you’re trying to do “Disney on a Dime,” one of the easiest ways to save money is to not eat at Walt Disney World restaurants. Dining at Disney is expensive, and unlike park tickets, it’s not mandatory. You can save a lot of money by eating off-site, or better yet, getting groceries and preparing your own meals. We have a comprehensive Tips for Buying Groceries at Walt Disney World post that covers grocery delivery, local stores, and much more.

8. Which Rides & Attractions To Do?

Planning an itinerary is a big deal, even for some frequent Walt Disney World guests. Some people create binders, spreadsheets, and schedule every step of their day. People get serious and obsessive about this. We are not those people. We like to pre-plan to a degree, but going to those lengths just seems unnecessarily stressful, especially since the best laid plans often go awry.

As mentioned above, Walt Disney World can be a crowded place with some really long lines. Having an itinerary, even a loose one, is important for first-time visitors. Doing things inefficiently can mean a lot more time spent in lines or having to skip attractions completely if lines are too long. All you need to develop a basic itinerary are our attraction guides for each park. We highly recommend reading our Disney Ride Guides and getting a rough idea of which attractions you want to do, and where you want to book your FastPass+:

• Magic Kingdom Park & Attraction Guide
• Epcot Park & Attraction Guide
• Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park & Attraction Guide
• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park & Attraction Guide

We also have guides for the Walt Disney World water parks and Disney Springs:

• Blizzard Beach Water Park Guide
• Typhoon Lagoon Water Park Guide
• Disney Springs Shopping & Entertainment District Guide

These are enough for a loose and helpful plan that will still allow for plenty of spontaneity. If you want to get more in-depth and really map out your entire day in advance, we recommend The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2016, to plan your itinerary.

Regardless, the most important things to know are: 1) how to use FastPass+, which is a free ride-reservation system allowing you to “reserve” a slot in advance for three attractions per day to skip most of the line at select attractions and, 2) to arrive at the parks just before they open. Optional step 3 if you’re the parent of a Frozen-obsessed kid: make sure to know when and where all the Frozen “stuff” is happening, and make sure to do it.

Arriving at the parks early is self-explanatory (with this you’ll also want to know which attractions have the longest wait times…there’s no use going early to avoid the crowds only to hit attractions that rarely have long waits), but FastPass+ can be confusing, which causes a lot of people to simply not use it. Since you can book your FastPass+ reservations 60 days before your trip (if you already have your tickets and are staying on-site), we highly recommend buying your tickets before you get to Walt Disney World, so you don’t waste time at kiosks when you arrive–only to find out popular attractions like Toy Story Mania and Soarin’ are fully booked.

With all of the rest of the planning that you’re doing, we strongly recommend first-time visitors do not adopt our practice of “winging it” for your daily itinerary. You don’t need to plan every movement so that there’s no spontaneity in your trip, just make sure you have at least a loose plan of what you’re going to do.

We have the following plans for each park that cover our perfect days:

• 1-Day Magic Kingdom Park Itinerary
• 1-Day Epcot Itinerary Park Itinerary
• 1-Day Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park Itinerary
• 1-Day Disney’s Hollywood Studios Park Itinerary
• 1-Day “No Parks” Itinerary

For other parks and itineraries, check out our Disney Parks Daily Itineraries page. You can use these to have what we would consider a perfect day in each of the Walt Disney World parks. These aren’t as “hardcore” as some people might want as we focus on having a good time rather than touring commando style and just focusing on attraction-count, but we think it’s a good rough itinerary that offers attractions, dining, and other things to enjoy without going crazy with mapping out every bathroom stop of your day.

9. What Else to Do

Your imagination is really the limit here. Most first-time visitors only know about the theme parks, Disney Springs, and the water parks. That’s just the surface of what Walt Disney World has to offer. There are tours, golf, fishing, nightlife, shopping, fireworks cruises, babysitting, spas, and much more. An exhaustive list would ultimately be longer than the rest of this already long blog post!

Most of our favorite things are couples or adult-oriented, which you can read about on our Walt Disney World for Adults page. Honeymooners (aka “Disneymooners”) should read our Walt Disney World Honeymoon Tips article. Those who like to imbibe in an adult beverage…or 10…should read our Top 10 Disney Bars post.

Here are some other posts that cover “other stuff” at Walt Disney World, and other ways to improve your vacation, that don’t really fit the categories above:

• Free Things to Do at Walt Disney World
• Tips for Celebrating at Walt Disney World
• First-Timer Tips for Walt Disney World
• Best Magic Kingdom Fireworks Viewing Spots

There are lots of other random posts scattered around the blog, so you might want to browse our archives to find more. If you want to add on something in addition to the “normal” experiences, we recommend contacting an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (as mentioned above in the “Booking a Package” section) and seeing what they recommend. Or, you can post a question in the comments here and we’ll recommend something!

10. What to Pack

Once you have all the details set, the last thing you need to do before your trip is pack your bags! Packing for Walt Disney World is pretty comparable to packing for any trip you might take, but there are some things wrinkles to Walt Disney World that might make packing a bit different. Check out our Walt Disney World Unique Packing List for tips on unique items to bring to improve your stay. Additionally, if you’re going in the colder months, check out our Packing for Disney in Winter post. For summer months, read Tips for Beating the Summer Heat at Disney.

In addition to those things, you might also want to bring some pins for Disney Pin Trading. Read this article to find out how to buy pins in advance for less than $1/pin (versus $10+/pin at Walt Disney World). If you’re a female looking for cute outfits to wear to Walt Disney World, my wife has a post covering What to Wear to Disney.

Since a Walt Disney World trip will be (for many of you) a memorable experience for your kids that you’ll want to cherish, getting good photos is also important. To read about the equipment I used to capture the photos on this page and for how you can take better photos at Walt Disney World, read our Ultimate Guide to Disney Parks Photography page. There’s a ton of helpful advice and links to specific photography posts there. Alternatively, if you are contemplating letting Disney’s roaming photographers around the parks take photos for you, read Memory Maker & PhotoPass+ Review.

Packing is the last step before your trip starts, and compared to the rest of the Walt Disney World trip planning you’ll want to do, packing is a cinch!

Once you’ve got the hard planning out of the way, check out our 101 Great Walt Disney World Tips article for some fun tips that’ll improve your trip!

Remember, what’s in this post is just a starting point. You’ll also want to read our When to Visit Walt Disney World post for the best time of year to plan your trip. If saving money is important, read Tips for Saving Money on Walt Disney World Tickets post to buy the cheapest tickets from legitimate sources. To figure out where to stay, our Walt Disney World Hotel Reviews page is a great resource. Want to know where to eat or if the Disney Dining Plan is right for you? Our Walt Disney World Dining Resources will help! These are just a few of many posts mentioned in this article that will provide the foundation for your planning…but these 4 other posts are probably the most important of the bunch!

If all of this is still overwhelming or you want personalized recommendations for Walt Disney World, click here to get a vacation quote from a no fee Authorized Disney Vacation Planner.

Your Thoughts…

Are you visiting Walt Disney World in 2016? If you are a Walt Disney World veteran, what tips would you add to this? If you’re a first-timer, is there anything else you’d like to know? Chances are if you have questions still, so does someone else! Please share your thoughts in the comments.