Plan a Trip to Walt Disney World - Avoid These 5 Mistakes

When a family decides to plan a trip to Walt Disney World, there are a few things that are important to keep in mind to help ensure that your trip is wonderful and enjoyable.

1. Not Realizing the Size - When people plan a trip to Walt Disney World, they always seem to believe that Walt Disney World is similar in size to your standard Six Flags. In reality, Walt Disney World Property is spread across 25,000 acres, almost twice the size of Manhattan. You will need to look into different forms of transportation to get you from point A to point B. Keep this in mind when you begin to plan and budget.

2. Not Booking ADRs - Advanced Dining Reservations (ADRs) are made at the 180 day mark from the day that you will arrive. Do NOT go with a plan of walking up to a Walt Disney World Restaurant whether it is at a Disney Park or Resort and be able to get a table that day, or any day that week to be quite honest. Right now you are able to call Walt Disney World generally dining line (407) WDW-DINE or you can make your reservations online (more detail on Online Advanced Dining Reservations). Some of the restaurants, such as Cinderella's Royal Table, books for the day within minutes of the ADR lines opening up, so plan ahead for your trip, and look at booking on the 180 day mark, or as close as possible to that date. In fact, some of the restaurants have websites dedicated on how to try and book a reservation at it. Take a look at, How To Get A Reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table

3. Packing 10 days of activities into 5 days - There are so many activities to plan throughout Walt Disney World and it's four theme parks, two waterparks and Downtown Disney, that trying to do everything, even with a Walt Disney World Park Hopper, is 100% impossible. The smartest thing to do, is to take a look at what the most important things that you must do on your trip, would like to do on your trip, and things that would be nice to do on you trip, and prioritize your options, make lists, plan, etc. Be realistic in what is attainable to do, keeping in mind that this is Walt Disney World and you will not be the only person there, and don't be too upset about things that you are not able to fit in. Many sites, such as www.tourguidemike.com, help people plan trips with completely detailed guides to help you fit it all in.

4. Staying off Disney Property - Many people seem to think that staying off property will make a trip cheaper, and less hectic, but what many don't realize is that with the "extras", of paying for a rental car, parking, paying rack rates for tickets and meals, the amount for the trip can quickly surpass staying at a Walt Disney Value or Moderate resort during off season. Staying on Disney property does make it easier to stick to your original plan. It allows guests to use the bus transportation throughout the Walt Disney World Resorts and Theme Parks, allows guests to plan to take advantage of the Disney Extra Magic Hours and you can plan on having "Magic" throughout your trip 24 hours a day.

5. Not doing any Research/Planning - When you decide that you are going on a trip to Walt Disney World, realize that you are going to have to research and plan - this is vital. If you quickly google "plan trip Walt Disney World", you will find millions of pages, and dozens of popular Walt Disney World communities (www.allears.net, www.mouseforless.com, www.stitchkingdom.com), that will help you plan every aspect imaginable. To ensure that you have a great vacation and you are able to do as much as the time (and your feet) allows, make sure that you at least browse through some of the sites or literature that is out there. Why spend thousands of dollars on a trip without at least making an outline of things that you plan on being able to do??? Plan, Plan, Plan!!!

How do you plan for Walt Disney World?

Click here for more Walt Disney World information and tips by Amanda M. Rose