You’ve got your dates in mind, how long you want to stay, and now you’re ready to book that magical vacation! Now, where to begin? When we book our vacations, we almost always go through Disney themselves. However, there are other ways you can book your resorts and get your tickets. I will discuss those in depth, but for now let’s just stick with how to book through Disney.
Creating a Disney Account
We suggest that the first thing you do, is set up a Disney account with everyone in your immediate travel party, such as you and your spouse and children included on the account. However, if you have another household going with you, we recommend they set up their own account and then you can link them to your account later so you will be able to share your plans together. You can do this at: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/registration. Once you have set up your account, you will be able to start making your plans and then you can send an invite to the other members in your party and link all of your accounts. You can get your tickets, book resorts, reserve dining, get fastpasses, etc. all through your Disney account. This is also known as what’s called “My Disney Experience.” You can also download the MyDisneyExperience app onto your mobile device or tablet.
Disney Vacation Package
Now, if you have decided you want to stay at a Disney resort, then the next step would be to book your Disney Vacation Package. These packages combine your resort, tickets, dining plans, etc all in one bundle. You can also add flights to this and your ground transportation to this package as well. We are always looking for ways to save on our vacation. Who doesn’t right? Disney offers special offers on packages, resorts, sometimes tickets (not often), Military discounts, passholder discounts, and dining. When we are booking our stays, the first thing we do is go to the special offer section on Disney’s website. You can access this at: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/special-offers. Make sure you read carefully through all the offers to ensure you are choosing the right discount that works best for your family. Please note: if you are booking your vacation pretty far in advance, these offers may not be available yet for the time you have chosen to go. Don’t worry! Just check back closer to the time of your trip for the discounts. You will have the opportunity to apply certain discounts to your package.
At this point in the planning process, you know your dates and how many days you want to visit the parks. So the next step in this package process is purchasing your tickets. You do not have to have a ticket to the park for every day of your stay. For example: Say you are staying at the resort for 5 nights/4days and you only want to go to the parks 3 out of the 4 days fo your stay, you would only need tickets for 3 days. You also do not have to use those tickets all in a row. Disney gives you the opportunity to choose what days you go to the parks and what park you decide to go to. So you will have a little bit of flexibility when it comes to tickets. Remember what I said in my last blog, First Steps into the Magic, the longer you stay the cheaper the tickets are per day! Please also keep in mind, tickets will normally increase in price each year usually around the month of February. Usually they don’t increase by much, but hey every little bit saves right?
Now that you have gotten the two biggies over with, you will now have the opportunity to book dining plan options, if you choose to do so. You do NOT have to purchase the dining plan as part of the package, it is only optional. Disney offers 4 different types of Dining plan: Quick service dining, regular dining plan, dining plan plus, and deluxe dining plan. We will break down the costs and benefits of the dining plan in a later discussion.
Do you plan to fly or drive to Disney World? Well, if you decide to fly, you will be able to select a flight as a part of your package! If you are planning on flying into the Orlando International Airport, Disney offers complimentary ground transportation known as “Disney’s Magical Express” that takes you directly to your resort. This will need to be booked through your reservation, as they do not take walk ups.
Pictures are the best way of capturing all the wonderful moments and memories of your vacation. Did you know Disney has cast members that take pictures of families all throughout the parks? They are called photopass photographers. You will have the opportunity to add what’s called the memory maker to your package. The cost of the memory maker is somewhere between $150-$200. That may seem like a lot of money to spend when you can just take pictures yourself, but let me to tell you it is SO SO worth it!! The memory maker includes unlimited downloads of photos and videos taken by Disney Photopass photographers and it includes all of your attraction and ride photos! Think about buying all those individual photos and how much that would add up. Plus, that’s for all 4 of the theme parks! That’s a lot of pictures!
Once you have booked your vacation package, you will have to make a $200 deposit at the time of reservation and the final balance is due 30 days prior to your arrival. If you need some time to save up for your magical vacation, then we suggest booking in enough time for you to save up. If you are a first time park goer, we recommend to book your vacation at least 6 months in advance. This ensures you will have enough time to book your fastpasses, which we will discuss in another post, and also to be able to ensure that you have all the dining options you would like. You can’t start booking your dining reservations up to 6 months in advance and trust me, some reservations are extremely hard to get! You can call Disney resort hotel reservations to make monthly payments and pay however much you want up until your final payment date. Another way we have found to save along the way, is to purchase Disney gift cards and it would be kind of like making payments as well!
I know I have said this plenty of times already, but when planning and booking a Disney Vacation, it is real easy to get overwhelmed or stressed, but it is important to note that your trip isn’t going to be perfect, no vacation ever is right? There are always going to be mishaps and frustrating times during your vacation, but just remember where you are, the most magical place on earth! I will leave you with this quote from Walt Disney, the man who started it all:
If you can dream it, you can do it
-Walt Disney
So we know you’ve dreamed about this vacation, now it’s time to do it!! Come on and get your ears on!!
Magical Adventures and Beyond 
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