Dining Reservations, Lightning Lanes, Shows, Rope Drop, Transportation - it can be a TON to juggle and plan out, especially when not everything goes according to plan. Luckily I’m here to help! Let’s break down exactly how you can build the perfect itinerary for YOUR family so that you can get the most out of your day WITHOUT overplanning.

Choose Your Park Days

One of the questions I get constantly is ‘what days are the best for __ park’. Spoiler - it doesn’t really matter as much as you would think! I go to the parks multiple times of week and I have to admit that in general the day to day crowds don’t change that drastically.

That being said, there are a few things you do want to consider when choosing the right parks to do each day. First up, park hours. These will usually be released around 2-3 months before, but do be aware that hours can change, so it’s a good idea to check again closer to time just in case.

Again, you aren’t going to notice a huge difference from day to day, but during certain times of the year, you’ll notice special ticketed events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that will cause the park to close early.

In this example, I know it’s super tempting to want to go to Magic Kingdom on a non-party night to get their ‘money’s worth’, but truthfully, EVERYONE has the same idea and it actually ends up being the busiest days to visit that park!

Instead, I actually recommend using a party day as your Magic Kingdom day as the crowds are usually WAAAAAY less and you will get so much more done in a shorter period of time. The only downside to this is that you will miss fireworks if you aren’t doing the party, but you can always catch the fireworks from outside the park with a dining reservation at California Grill or Narcoossee’s.

Or better yet, use that evening to check out Disney Springs, hang out at your resort, or do some park or resort hopping.

That is generally going to be the the special case, but in general, these will be a few other things to consider:

Weekends and evenings are when the locals come out, so these will typically see an influx in crowds.
Nights that have Extended Evening Hours for resort guests will also usually see an uptick in crowds in the afternoon/evening.
Special events like RunDisney may also affect some park hours in the morning and crowds!

Don’t let all this info stress you out! Truly my best advice is to peek at those park hours and find out what events may be happening during your trip and then pick the order that you WANT to do. It’s good to take some of those factors into consideration, but they don’t have to rule your trip. You can still have a fantastic day on the busiest of days as long as you are setting your expectations appropriately and spending a little time on having a game plan.

Dining

Ok, now that you have a tentative plan on what parks you want to do on which days, now it’s time to plan your dining.

Luckily since you know your park order, this will make it pretty easy to know which days to book which restaurants, BUT how do you decide which ones to do in the first place?

There are loads of fantastic restaurants all around the parks and resorts that offer a wide variety of cuisine, theming, and experience.

A great place to start is researching by watching dining reviews on YouTube or reading Blog Posts, or simply checking out the menus on the Disney World website.

We have a collection of dining reviews on our YouTube channel to get you started!

My recommendation is to only do one sit down dining meal (this means ones that you make reservations for) per day. These often will take a good hour or two out of your day and usually serve a lot of heavy food which can get to be a bit much for your park day.

Limiting yourself to one per day will both help you still get the most out of your day while also make booking those dining reservations a little easier!

Some dining for really popular options like Cinderella’s Royal Table, Space 220, and Chef Mickey’s can go pretty quickly and be tricky to snag. If you are staying a a Disney Resort you actually get access to book dining reservations for your ENTIRE trip 60 days before your check-in day. This is honestly one of the biggest perks to staying on property that I don’t think people always talk about. This means you only have to get up early one day and knock out all that dining.

Those staying off property can only book 60 days in advance of the day they want to dine, so they’ll have to get up several days in a row if they have multiple days of dining reservations. This also means it can be harder to get some reservations because resort guests have already had access for several days earlier.

If you are staying on property I would recommend prioritizing your most important or harder to get reservations for later in your trip when fewer people are competing for those reservations. Don’t worry! If you are not staying on property, and you aren’t able to get the ones that you want, you can use some third party apps like Stakeout and Mousedining to help alert you if reservations become available!

Lightning Lanes

Alright, now that we know our park days and have our dining reservations set, it’s time to talk rides. If you are using Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can book those for the length of your trip up to 7 days in advance if you are staying at a Disney resort and up to 3 days in advance for those staying off property.

Your primary goal is to just make sure that your Lighting Lane return windows aren’t also during your meal times. Remember, you can always modify your return times or cancel and book a different attraction!

When choosing your attractions, I recommend choosing the rides that are most important to you! You can absolutely go for the ‘harder to get’ rides, but if they aren’t necessarily your top priority, it’s a better idea to grab the ones you really want and then if you can get more after you use them, great.

You WILL have to book your pre-selections on your own, but if you want a little leg up on grabbing more Lighting Lanes throughout the rest of your park day, Standby Skipper can be a HUGE help!

Rope Drop (or not to Rope Drop)

If you aren’t familiar with the term, Rope Drop simply means arriving before the park opens to hop in line for an attraction (or two) before the crowds start to get thick. This can be an advantage to knock out a couple heavy hitter attractions first things so that you have more time later in the day to do more attractions, or simply have the time to take an afternoon break.

You don’t have to Rope Drop if you aren’t a fan of getting up early, but regardless, the beginning of the day is going to be the most important part of your day’s plan. If you can get things off to the right start, the rest of your day will go much smoother.

All that there really is to this is know what rides you want to head to first and figuring out what you need to do to get there. That includes what transportation you’ll be using to get to the park, what time you need to be out the door, and having a general idea of where you’ll need to go once you get in the park.

The biggest thing that will affect this is whether or not you are doing early entry. This is the extra thirty minutes that Disney Resort Guests can get into the park before regular guests. I would say that this will be the most important time to take advantage of Rope Drop!

Again, even if you aren’t a fan of getting up early to do Rope Drop, knowing where you are heading first for the day is going to get things rolling and help you not waste time deciding what to do once you get there.

Putting it all together

Ok, so now that we have all of that, the finishing touch to creating your perfect itinerary is to just have a general idea of how you want to tour the park! Do you want to go in a big circle? Are you more a fan of zig zagging to catch the low wait times? Both are good options, just make sure you have an idea ahead of time of what you want to do!

The reason this is important is because it will help you to set you expectations and priorities accordingly. You will NOT get everything done in a day, no matter how good your itinerary is, so you have to prioritize what’s most important to you and focus on those things.

If you try to do to much, you will leave disappointed because you didn’t ‘get it all done’. Alternatively if you can just focus on those few priorities (and really try to keep them limited) anything else you can fit it will feel like a bonus and make for a much more magical day! You’ll be able to actually enjoy your time in the park instead of rushing from one thing to the next.

Let’s Review:

Choose Your Park Days
Choose and Book Your Dining Reservations
Choose and Book Your Lightning Lanes (don’t let them overlap with your dining reservations)
Decide Your Rope Drop (or Arrival) Strategy
List Your Priorities and Stick to Those!

That’s it! You are ready to have a magical vacation! Don’t stress the little things! Yes, take some time to plan some of your day, but don’t overdo it. Leave some time for the magic to happen!

Planning the Perfect Itinerary for Your Disney Vacation