A trip to Disney World can be the best vacation you’ve ever had, or it can be a stressful ordeal. With the right combination of preparation, planning, and purpose you can have an amazing Disney adventure. Here are my top Disney World tips for your Orlando vacation.

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 1 – Do your homework

The number-one thing to know about Disney World is that it is not like any other place you’ve ever been. Obvious, I know, but even if you’ve been to Disneyland a hundred times this is not the same.

Disney World is BIG

Disney World is its own universe. It’s the size of the city of San Francisco, encompassing four completely separate theme parks, over 30,000 hotel rooms, two water parks, golf courses, a shopping and entertainment village, several lakes, multiple freeways, and on and on.

When you visit Disney World it’s very important to know where you’re going and what you’re going to do when you get there. The more planning you do, the more you can avoid crowds and long wait times. So this is why my absolute top tip is to do your homework.

Find out what you don’t know

By “homework” I mean find out as much as you can before you even pick the date for your trip. Factors like crowd levels, seasonal weather, and which park is likely to be your favorite will impact your decision about when you’d like to visit and how long you’ll want to stay.

In turn, this information will influence where you’d like to stay too – Disney World has hotels near each theme park, but since everything is spread out there are very few hotels near multiple parks. And if you’re considering staying off-site, research can help determine if this is the best choice for you.

The good news is that you’ve already started your homework by reading this post!

Here are five more websites I recommend for your Disney research.

75-second quick guide to Disney World

Get a guide book

Another assignment I recommend is to get your hands on The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, which is super-comprehensive and will really give you a solid understanding of everything WDW. (That’s short for Walt Disney World and you’ll see it a lot as you dive into this topic).

Whatever resource you consult should be recently updated. Especially in the post-2020 era, there are a lot of updates and changes at Disney World.

The Go Informed Podcast

If you’d like to take my tips to-go, be sure to check out my Go Informed Podcast where you’ll find hours of advice to help you build the best vacation ever. There are tons of tips in the podcast archives, including a ten episode series I call “Ten days to a better Disney World Vacation”. You’ll find those shows starting with episode 9.

2 – Get there first

The absolute best way to beat the crowds at Disney World is to literally beat them to the park. Most people don’t want to get up early on vacation, and if you make the effort you can have the park virtually all to yourself.

Getting there first means arriving well before the park opens. Know that Disney World parks generally open about 15 minutes earlier than their posted time. So for a 9:00 park opening, guests will usually be allowed through the gates at about 8:45. So if you show up at 9:00 you’re late.

Rope drop the parks

At some parks, guests are allowed past the turnstiles even earlier. In this case, visitors are held behind a rope until the fanfare begins and the day officially starts. This is referred to as rope drop. If you want to be at the front of the rope, plan to arrive about 45 minutes prior to the stated park opening time.

Here’s my post and podcast episode all about how to rope drop.

Early morning has the lowest crowds

This first hour or two that the park is open will be the lowest crowds of the day, by far. If you arrive in time for rope drop you can ride as many attractions in your first couple of hours as you might ride the entire rest of the day. It is absolutely worth the effort.

Here’s my top tips to help you master your theme park morning.

3 – Stay in an on-site Disney World hotel

There are a lot of benefits to staying on-site at Disney World. My top reasons are location, early theme park entry, transportation, and the “Disney Bubble”.

For proximity to the Disney World parks, you can’t beat the on-site hotels. Some are literally within walking distance to a park, and the rest are all just a bus, boat, monorail, or Skyliner gondola ride away.

Discover your perfect Disney World hotel, with my essential guide here.

Disney World on-site guests get early theme park entry

One of the best benefits for guests who stay on-site is early theme park entry. During early entry on-site guests get the park all to themselves. It is a huge advantage in touring – and you’ll see it is my #9 tip below.

On-site guests also get a head-start on Lightning Lane selections, with the ability to pre-book reservations up to 7 days before arrival.

Here’s more about the Lightning Lane skip-the-line system at Disney World.

Disney transportation

Disney transportation between the parks and other Disney World attractions is complementary for all guests staying on-site. It’s hard to beat skipping the car for your vacation, and instead hopping on a monorail or boat right outside the hotel.

Offsite guests can also take the transportation around Disney World for free, but they’ll have to add more time and effort to get to/from WDW.

Stay inside the Disney Bubble

Staying on-site at Disney World immerses guests in the total experience, known as the “Disney Bubble”. Disney’s attention to detail in everything they do – from the bus driver’s costume, to the greeting at each hotel, to the nods to Mickey throughout the resorts – really inspires guests to let go of the real world and embrace the magic.

Thinking about a trip during the Christmas season? Be sure to read this post to find out why staying on-site at Disney World can be extra magical at Christmastime.

Here’s my essential guide to the Disney World hotels.

4 – Know the lay of the land

Disney World is BIG. Distance between the parks and hotels can easily be a 30 minute bus ride. Where you stay makes a big difference in which park will be most convenient to you, so be sure to consider location before you make your hotel reservation.

And definitely familiarize yourself with the map before you start planning your restaurant reservations and park touring schedule.

Here’s my post with maps and distances around and between the Disney World hotels.

5 – Have a plan

Have a plan for your trip to Disney World. A plan for your overall stay, and a plan for each day of your trip.

For your stay, a plan should include your top goals and requirements. Do you absolutely have to meet Chewbacca? Is gourmet dining important? Are you all about thrill rides? Start with a sense of your most important must-dos, then figure out where and when you can accomplish these objectives.

From your overall plan, you can start to flesh out your daily schedule. This doesn’t mean you need an itinerary for every minute of the day, but it does mean knowing which park you plan to visit and at least the top things you want to do there. And it means being thoughtful about where you expect to go during the day.

Want to know what to expect on your first day at Disney World? Click here for 6 quick tips.

6 – You need park reservations at Disney World

Update: Beginning January 9. 2024, park reservations will no longer be required! If you’ll be visiting before then, be sure to read the info below.

One of the big changes following Disney World’s COVID-19 shutdown is the park reservation requirement. It’s not enough to just have tickets, if you want to visit a Disney World park you must also have an advance reservation.

Every guest must have a reservation for the park where they intend to start the day. Whether you have park-hopper tickets or not, you can’t visit a different park than the one on your reservation until first entering the reserved park.

There are a limited number of park reservations each day. So before you even finalize trip plans, be sure to check the Disney parks reservation calendar here. Get your plan in place, then make your park reservations as soon as you purchase your tickets. The easiest way to make your park reservations is on Disney’s website.

Here are my 8 quick tips for making your Disney World park reservations.

7 – Buy your Disney World park tickets in advance

Don’t wait until you get to the park to buy your tickets. You can order them online as soon as you know your plans. Here’s my guide to purchasing Disney World park tickets.

Not only does this save you time at the park, having your tickets already registered to your My Disney Experience account means you can make your park reservations as far in advance as possible.

8 – Learn about Lightning Lanes

Disney has replaced its old FastPass system with an app-based ride reservation scheme called Lightning Lane. Just like with the old FastPass, you can reserve a one-hour window to skip the regular line on most attractions. Unlike the old FastPass, you pay to book them via the Disney World app.

Beginning July 24, 2024, Disney World guests will have the option to pre-book Lightning Lane selections up to 7 days prior to arrival. Here’s a quick look at how this works.

Get a quick comparison of Disney’s Lightning Lane vs Universal’s Express system, plus cost/benefit analysis, in this edition of the Go Informed newsletter.

Lightning Lane quick start guide

Here’s a 60-second look at the new Lightning Lane system.

9 – Use early theme park entry

Guests staying in an on-site Disney World hotel get a half-hour head start every morning. Even though it’s only 30 minutes, this could be the most efficient part of your entire park day.

Arriving before most everyone else means empty ride queues, quiet spaces in the park, and the chance to ride multiple attractions within the first hour. If you’re staying on-site, make the effort to get to the gates at least an hour before regular park opening time. This should put you near the very front of the crowd.

How do you get your family to the park gates so early? Here are my simple morning tips.

10 – Use a travel agent

As you can tell from the length of this post, there is a LOT of logistical detail that goes into planning a Disney World vacation. One of the best decisions you can make is to work with a Disney travel agent.

A travel agent can handle a ton of the details, usually at no extra cost to you. They can help you choose where to stay, when to go, even how to get there. And they’ll have lots of suggestions for what to do before and during your trip.

If you don’t already work with a travel agent, ask friends for a referral or reach out to your local AAA office. Any agent who is authorized to book with Disney will have lots of training and probably some experience in the parks too.

Working with a travel agent is one of my Disney hotel booking tips. Read more about it here.

11 – Train for your trip

At Disney World you can easily walk about ten miles, or more, each day. That’s around 20,000 steps! Do you walk like this in your regular life? If the answer is no, it’s time to start training.

As soon as you start planning your trip, start adding long walks into your regular routine. It’s best if you can work up to a 5-6 mile walk on a regular basis – this will at least get you through the first part of your Disney day.

Get everyone involved

And make sure everyone in your family can do the distance. Unless they are in a stroller or on an electric scooter, everybody’s going to spend a lot of time on their feet at Disney World.

A fitness tracker makes a nice gift for anyone training to go to Disney.

Click here for my Disney World training tips, including a theme-park-themed printable Bingo card to track your distance.

The post 55 Things To Know Before You Visit Disney World appeared first on Go Informed.