Planning a Disney Trip? (Tip of the Week)
We are planning our kid’s first trip to Disney World and boy is there a lot of planning that can go into a trip like this. I’ve been to Disney twice before and basically just showed up. But, after talking to some friends that go often with their children, I decided we might want to have a plan this time, so that we can make the most of our time before our kids hit the point of meltdown!
For starters, I purchased a copy of The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2007, by Bob Sehlinger with Len Testa. It’s a little intimidating at first (818 pages!), but I got from it what I needed surprisingly fast. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is planning a trip, especially if you are going with young children and/or during a super busy time of year. We are doing both, so we had to get organized!
The best tip in the book was how to reserve the most coveted reservations at Disney (character meals at Cinderella’s Castle, Hoop Dee Doo Review, Fantasmic! and more). The book provides step-by-step instructions, but basically you have to reserve these events (especially Cinderella’s Castle) exactly 180 days prior to your arrival. And, then you might not even get it! I did follow the book’s recommendations and scored lunch for four at the Castle in addition to the other two events mentioned above.
There is also a web site that compliments the book called, www.touringplans.com, where you can view crowd levels for every single day of the year, best and worst parks to visit each day and also utilize the online planning guide to track dinner reservation numbers, flight information, daily touring plans, etc. You have to purchase the book or pay a small membership fee to use some of the better tools on the web site. Again, it’s all well worth the book list price of $18.99.
Stayed tuned for many, many more Disney tips as our trip approaches.
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About SharpMom
Hi, I'm Katie. I’ve been successfully working at home and homeschooling my kids for the past 14 years, so I figured it’s time to get out there and start sharing what I’ve learned along the way. I'm glad you're here to join in the fun!
