Dreaming of Disney World: My Top 15 Tips for First-Timers
Oh, Walt Disney World!!!! New gem of my heart and spark in my soul! We’ve been home for a week and the whole vacation already feels like a dream. Because it was, from start to finish! And I wouldn’t just say that. I’m a HUGE Disney fan! I grew up going to Disneyland, watching the movies, wishing upon a star. As an adult, I’ve had a Disneyland pass for the past nine years, since I became a mama. I know the roots, the trivia, the Hidden Mickeys, the magic. I am ALL in, with a collection of dazzling Mickey ears ten pairs strong! I knew I would love the place I’d been longing to go for 30+ years, since the moment I first saw the EPCOT sphere flash across our bulky TV sometime in the eighties. I was ecstatic to finally see it all in living color!
What I didn’t predict, however, was that this vacation would be so far above and beyond what I had envisioned. Seriously, you guys! From the utter size, and the holy scope, to the unreal rides and world-class cuisine—the experience blew me way. I’m ridiculously obsessed. We’re still swooning! We went with our family of five, with daughters ages 8, 6, and 3.5, and my dreamy parents, in their early sixties and seventies. Every single one of us had a royal BALL!
And, while I had a blast documenting on Instagram, I know from experience that when you’re planning a giant trip like this, sometimes you just want a full-on write-up, a comprehensive article dishing the deal. Every detail, please! Bullet points are ideal! It’s the time for bold font!
Don’t worry.
I got you.
Of course!
Since there is SO much magic to share, not to mention ten-million tips, I decided to break this down into TWO separate blog posts. The first one, here, will cover my top 15 general must-know Walt Disney World tips for those of you planning or dreaming!
In the second post, I will give you a breakdown of the four main parks: Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and my favorite, Animal Kingdom! I will also recap our day at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park because it was the sneakiest, most magical, unforgettable day we didn’t see coming!
Now… are you ready to dream while I relive every detail?!
Awesome!
Hold onto your hats and glasses, folks…
Here we go!
1. Plan, Plan, Plan!
Trust me, you guys! The more you put into planning this trip, day by day, park by park, even hour by hour—the more you will get out of it. Technically, Walt Disney World requires lots of advanced reservations, anyway: Your hotel, the parks, many restaurants. But still, sure, if you wanted, you could roll into your park rezzie at Animal Kingdom around 10 a.m. on a Friday, with no map and not a clue. Gah! You could. But I wouldn’t. Some trips, you can fly by the seat of your pants and still have a top-notch time. But if you are investing the money, taking the time off, and flying to WDW, perhaps from across the country like us? Well, I think you should get the most bang for your bottom line! And the way to achieve this—to do all you want, with minimal waits, and efficient use of your time—is to PLAN. Scour the blogs. Make your lists. Prioritize your top musts. If you’re going to do this trip, put on your camp counselor ball cap, gals! Maybe even throw in a whistle!
2. Use a Travel Agent
I adore Disney, I love planning vacations, I consider myself highly organized—and even I felt overwhelmed by the task of planning this trip. After excavating the web for travel agents, I finally found my dream girl, Kelly Greer, of Key to the World Travel! Friends, I could rave about Kelly and her services for an entire post all its own! She provided me with three comprehensive options for this trip, at varying budgets. So helpful! We picked, then she asked for my top priorities for the trip. She booked our flights, locked in all of our reservations (park, dining, you name it), and created our whole itinerary. At absolutely no cost to me! That’s right. Most travel agents, like Kelly, are paid by commissions and partnerships with hotels and destinations.
As an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner, Kelly is equipped to provide extra magic, real-time updates, and a truly unmatched experience. I wouldn’t even consider going back to Walt Disney World without her help! In addition to guiding me in the months leading up to the trip, she was also readily available for the duration of our vacation to help with anything that came up—which of course, it did, because this was an eight-day, cross-coastal mega-trip with seven people including three kids. Strongly consider using a travel agent, my friends! I swear on my Mickey ears you won’t regret it!
3. Tap That Disney World App
This one is non-negotiable. You need to make the Disney World app your new BFF. This app is the portal to your entire trip. Not joking. If you’re staying at a Disney resort, it holds your room key. No matter where you’re staying, it houses your Disney dinner reservations. Mobile food orders. Attraction wait times, restroom locations, any important park updates. It’s where you can purchase Lightning Lane reservations and utilize the all-powerful Genie+ (more on that below). Create a profile ASAP in advance of your trip. Start tapping around. Get to know it. Intimately. Becoming well-versed in this puppy will serve you to the moon and back, many times over!
Bonus tip: Don’t forget to pack a portable iPhone charger, like this one, which actually comes with two! Between your Disney World app use and endless photos, you are bound to see your battery juice drop faster than the Tower of Terror. This thing saved me nonstop!
4. Stay at a Disney Resort
Of the 32 resorts within the 25,000-acre Walt Disney World property, 22 of them are officially Disney-owned and operated. While I don’t have another experience to compare it to, what do have is confirmation that Disney’s Riviera Resort was the best of the best. I don’t know how it could be beat, though I am curious! The location and ease-of-access to all four parks was phenomenal (Skyliner to EPCOT and Hollywood Studios; easy bus every twenty minutes to Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom). The kid-friendly activities and amenities were superb. The food was delicious. The rooftop view of EPCOT’s fireworks, insane! I also loved that the resort wasn’t enormous; it was a perfect, manageable size. So utterly classy. Pristine. Not to mention, the Riviera is the newest official Disney resort in Walt Disney World, so it felt so fresh and untouched! I even loved the fitness center and little coffee shop, Le Petit Café, that served up my latte each morning.
With a Disney resort, you will enjoy top-rate service and attention to detail, key linchpins of the brand—as well as some serious perks, the main one being extended park time. That’s right! Early and late access alike. Resort guests get to enter the Walt Disney World parks 30 minutes before everyone else—even earlier if you get lucky. This might not seem like a lot of time, but trust me, it is! We used the early-access every single morning, and it set each day off on such a bright and productive note that kept us singing till night!
As for the evening extra hours, these take the form of an additional two hours past regular closing, and only two days a week. Check the calendar ahead of time to plan accordingly and take advantage!
Overall, I loved the seamlessness of being at a Disney resort. If you want to really submerse yourself in the experience, I can’t recommend it enough! I’d also love to see every single Walt Disney World Resort at some point! Every property is distinctly themed yet uniformly, magically Disney. It’s all so extraordinary, to say the least!
5. Invest in Genie+
Back to Genie+, the perk that truly made our trip so sublime. With a couple exceptions, maybe three, we didn’t wait longer than 20 minutes for a ride. Usually more like 5-10 minutes. Incredible, right?! This is only because of the newish offering that is Genie+, which comes at a price. Fifteen dollars per person, per day, per park, to be precise. That’s it, though! Fifteen extra bucks and you have Genie+ on your ticket, and you get to make reservations (i.e., return time windows) for rides all day long! Genie+ replaced Disney’s old FastPass system, and yes, it’s annoying that it’s no longer free. But you’re already forking over the big bucks for this huge trip! What’s an extra $15 per person to not wait in three-hour lines? I know; I’m EXACTLY their target—Captain’s hook, line, and sinker. Ha! But with three small children, I’d do at again in a heartbeat! Now, does it take some getting used to? Are there catches and limitations? Yes, yes, yes. But it’s worth it. So worth it! You must!
6. Get to the Parks First Thing
I know I mentioned this earlier, but it bears repeating! I highly recommend getting to the parks first thing in the morning, either right when they open or up to an hour before. If you’re staying a Disney resort, perfect! Take advantage! Get there as soon as permitted! If you’re not, well, even more reason to be ready at the gates like a racehorse! Blitz right to those popular rides and you shouldn’t have any trouble getting on with reasonable wait times. The parks absolutely get more crowded as they day goes on, so keep that in mind! There’s also something so ethereal about the parks in the early morning. Grab a coffee and relish in the dawn of the day, before the Florida heat and masses descend upon you!
7. Matchy-Match Your Crew
No surprise: I’m a huge fan of matching outfits, bonus points if they’re Disney! Yes, it’s adorable, IMHO! But you know what else? It’s practical. And when you’re at a theme park the size of a county, it’s also smart! Like I said, those crowds are GOING to descend, and you are going to want to spot your people with ease. Purchasing all these matching t-shirts was not merely a fashion decision, though, of course, yes, it was that, too. LOL. But I also, always, want to keep an eagle eye on my girls in a crush of strangers. Win-win, right? The hot pink cuties! They’re mine! I bought all our t-shirts on Etsy and I’m still gushing! Here are three of the Etsy shops: ABBTeez, SchmidtsTees, and CreateAndShip. Five stars and then some, for all their products and service!
8. Build in Vacation Days
I’m so thankful I got this tip from an awesome Disney Mom before we went. Is Disney World the MOST fun? Obviously. Is it also exhausting? You bet! We walked an average of eight miles a day, guys. EIGHT! The tip is simple: Build in a few vacation days throughout your stay. For instance, tackle Magic Kingdom on a Monday, then EPCOT on a Wednesday—with a full Tuesday in between to either lay by the pool or pop over to one of the water parks for a few hours. Not only will your feet be craving some rest after a seriously long day; your senses will legitimately appreciate a moment to digest what you just experienced. There’s so much to take in, and hardly enough time to savor it before you’re bouncing off to the next!
Oh, not to mention—most of us have these small people we call kids. You know, the little reasons we came to Walt Disney World in the first place. Clearly, it’s ONLY FOR THEM! But seriously. The babes need downtime! Our breather days were a dream, appreciated by all of us, from age three to seventy-three. Hilariously, we did end up hopping back to Hollywood Studios on one of our “Rest Days” to get on a ride we had missed (Tower of Terror)—but it is a VERY different thing to pop in for one quick ride, versus tackling a park with gusto (and espresso) from sunrise to sunset. Schedule some chill time! This is vacation, after all! You won’t regret it, and I can promise you won’t be bored. Impossible at Walt Disney World.
9. Explore Beyond the Parks
Don’t miss the magic beyond the main parks. As I mentioned, Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon Water Park was one of our favorite days! In addition, each hotel is literally a world of its own, with restaurants, pools, waterslides, and often characters. So, enjoy yours! Plus, special shows and experiences abound throughout all of Walt Disney World and its lush rolling grounds, from the stunning and jaw-droppingly enormous Disney Springs Shopping Center (their far-superior version of Downtown Disney) to the Star Wars: Galactic Star Cruiser Two-Night Adventure, which we didn’t do because #girlmom but holy smokes, I can’t believe it exists, but of course does! A fully immersive Star Wars experience, ‘round the clock, in which you are the hero inside of the living story. WDW really is a whole new #world, so explore!
10. Get Ready to DINE!
I’m such a broken record with this, but YOU GUYS! THE FOOD AT WALT DISNEY WORLD IS SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD! Actual world-class chefs work in many of the Disney property restaurants, and let me tell you, it shows (tastes?). I’m so used to subpar Disneyland carnival-vibe food, so I was just continually wowed! What a gift, to run yourself wild in a park all day and end the fun with five-diamond-quality food. And these restaurants are located right there, inside the parks, casual Disney attire all but required!
I’ll go into my specific restaurant recommendations in my next post, but you’re for sure going to want to pick a handful of sit-down spots and get your reservations months in advance. For quick-service, mobile food service is the only way to go as of 2022! So many sad folks didn’t know how to use the Disney World app, clearly, and I’d breeze past their 45-minute food lines, straight to pick up the mobile order for seven that I’d placed back in line for Splash Mountain.
Prepare to eat. Prepare to eat WELL. Make some special sit-down reservations and relish in the awesomeness of the quick spots! You’re not at Disneyland anymore!!!
11. Wait Until You’re Ready
Foremost, to each her own on whatever age YOU feel is both appropriate and enjoyable for YOUR sweet family to visit Walt Disney World! I saw tons of babies cooing, sleeping, smiling, and clapping throughout the parks. There is no destination more family-friendly nor more embracing of all the ages. For us, personally, though, with the level of trip we planned and how hard we went every day—I am so happy we waited until Reese was 3.5 years old, potty-trained, no longer napping, and forty inches tall. Forty inches is a HUGE height threshold at WDW, by the way, so keep that in mind! Reese could go on just about everything except for the super-extreme rides like Space Mountain, Avatar Flight of Passage, and a couple others. For this reason, we hardly had to split up, and that was a bonus. We waited until our family was ready, but truthfully most of all, and most importantly, we waited until I was ready! This was trip my idea, after all; I’m the one who was going to take the reins. I was so ready—we all were—and because of that, it was wonderful! Reese only had three big meltdowns in the entire eight days—one of them on the flight home, after being so tuckered out—and I call that a big victory! She is three and human, after all!
12. Bring Extra Hands
I do not take for granted that I have the most selfless, kind, generous parents alive. Nor that we planned this once-in-a-lifetime-trip in the rare, precious window in which our kids were old enough to enjoy it—and my parents were young enough to join and frolic around with us, not missing a beat. Even with kids out of diapers and naps behind us, though, this felt like an all-hands-on-deck kind of trip. We really, REALLY appreciated the help! Four adults and three kids was kind of a dream ratio. If you happen to have a set of grandparents, or one grandparent, able and willing to join you, I can’t recommend it enough. And not only for the help, obviously! For the memories and joy of the multigenerational fun. You will never forget this trip! Disney is just so special in its ability to entertain and unite people literally ages one to one hundred. And if you don’t have a parent, maybe a friend, cousin, sister, nanny? It’s not essential; all I’m saying is that we really enjoyed having my parents and felt unspeakably grateful for the support! Restaurant stops, snack times, ride sharing, even plain safety! The extra hands and hearts were divine!
13. …And Maybe an Extra Suitcase
Did we go a little overboard on the Disney stuffed animals and souvenirs? Come on, guys. Is Sleeping Beauty a princess?! I don’t want to admit that we had to purchase an extra suitcase at our hotel just to bring home the loot that we bought. But, welp, there it is! I don’t regret the purchases; I really don’t. This was a special, bucket-list trip! We let our girls buy one new toy per park. I’m not great at math, but I think that equals twelve new stuffed animals, plus party favors from Mimi. What I do regret? Not just bringing a darn extra empty duffel bag with us from California! It would’ve been so easy! Pack one. Just do it. You can check it on the way back, stuffed with your goods, or lug as a carry-on.
14. Schedule a ‘Capture Your Moment’ Session
I can’t be the only one who hates the low-grade anxiety of wanting to get the perfect picture with your whole crew. Especially with momentous occasions or vacations like this, when you so badly, at once, want to both relish the moment and capture it. You did it! You planned it! You’re here! You MATCH! Enter the brilliant Disney photography service called ‘Capture Your Moment.’ For $79, you can enjoy a personal 20-minute photoshoot with up to eight people and a talented Disney photographer. This cast member will lead you to the most iconic locations within the park and/or those of your choosing—and POOF! You have the best pictures you could possibly want—a whole album’s worth, frankly—and you can enjoy the rest of your day. Castle pic: Check. Now breathe! Make your reservation online beforehand. We used the service at both Magic Kingdom and EPCOT, and I will use it in the future, hands down!
15. Pick, Relax, & Enjoy
I’m going to tell you the harsh truth you need to hear: You cannot see and do everything in one Walt Disney World trip. Phew! Now you can be relieved! If I hadn’t accepted this reality before we arrived, I would’ve been fainting of FOMO the entire vacation! Like I said, there are 32 hotels and resorts on the Walt Disney World property. Four major theme parks. Two water parks. More than 200 restaurants. Countless attractions, special experiences, and potential memories to savor! Walt Disney World is the same size as San Francisco and TWICE the size of Manhattan! You humanly can’t see it all in one swoop.
My advice, thus, is to spend some time really honing your Wish List of WDW items you don’t want to miss. Make them your priorities, and they’ll happen! As for the rest? Like Elsa, just let it go! Save them for next time and savor what’s meant for this trip!
As for a glimpse into my own planning, I mapped out 1-2 rides per every main park that were of utmost importance to us. We were not going to leave Walt Disney World without getting on Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom, the Frozen Ever After ride at EPCOT, Mickie & Minnie’s Runaway Railway at Hollywood Studios, and Avatar Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. We accepted that if we went on those, every other ride was icing on the hot churro!
I also really wanted to do the character brunch at Topolino’s Terrace, and lunch in one of the princess castles at Magic Kingdom. With proper planning, we tackled every single one of these items above, and so much more. I am thrilled! But it didn’t happen automatically. I planned and prepared to the nines—while accepting it might mean sacrificing other attractions.
So, pick.
Prioritize!
Then relax.
And enjoy!
I actually find it exhilarating that you could return to Walt Disney World hundreds of times and without ever once repeating the same vacation! Next time, for example, I’d love to stay at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge or Polynesian Village Resort. And eat in Cinderella’s castle instead of Belle’s. Try Blizzard Beach water park instead of Typhoon Lagoon.
See? The options. Endless!
***
I know this blog post is lengthy, my friends, but I wanted to give you my ultimate arsenal of Disney insider pixie dust!!!! I cannot tell you the JOY it brings my heart when you tell me you want to go to Walt Disney World now, after seeing our trip! Or that maybe, you know, you could even convince your husband to go. Ha! I sincerely hope these tips are helpful in planning your dream vacation!
Stay tuned for Part 2, which again will briefly (I’ll try anyway—LOL) recap my thoughts and recommendations from each of the Walt Disney World parks.
Bottom line, put WDW on your bucket list!
Now!
“If you can dream it, you can do it.”
—Walt Disney
Based in Orange County, California, Stephanie Mack is a longtime writer, wife to one, and mom of three little girls. She has been blogging at MOMentary Insanity® since 2014. Her work has also been featured on Scary Mommy, Faithit, Coffee + Crumbs, and more. She holds a Master of Professional Writing degree from USC. When We Blinked is her debut novel.
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My 36th birthday this year, at Disneyland with my soul sisters + favorite Disney Moms!
In 2024, one specific piece of writing advice has persisted in reaching my ears. Through the Booked Solid podcast, landing my dream agent, and my ever-trustworthy author friends, the message echoes: Get out of the slush pile.