Planning your first trip to Disney World can be overwhelming. Once you realize how many web sites there are out there claiming to have "all the answers" you may find yourself more confused than ever.
Who is going?
This may seem like an obvious question, but you'll need to know how many people are going and what their ages are. If kids are going, you may need to know school schedules in order to determine when you can go. Knowing who is going may also determine what types of activities you decide to do and how much you do. You don't want to tackle as much if you taking an 18-month old as if you are taking teenagers!
When are you going?
Once you know who is going you can figure out when you are going to Disney. This may be something that is predetermined or may be something that you can choose. If you can choose when to go, then how do you decide the best time to go? This is somewhat of a personal decision. There are certain times you'll want to avoid, though. The busiest times are Christmas, Easter/spring break, and summer. The basic rule-of-thumb is that when kids are out of school they are at Disney World. Historically, the best times to go to Disney have been September/October, late November/early December, January (after New Years week) and February. There are pros and cons to all of these times and you'll find people who are die hard fans of their particular time of the year to go.
I've found going in the really off-season times the parks close very early and rides are often closed for refurbishment. So, I like to go in a low-to-mid time of year when the crowds will still be low, but the parks will be open fairly late. My favorite time to go, for instance, is the first/second week of May. The weather is warm enough to enjoy swimming, but not as hot as September.
As a final note, there are several web sites with crowd predictions for the parks which can help you determine when to go. www.TouringPlans.com is one site that I've used in the past for this.
How long are you going for?
The next thing I decide is how long to stay. This is usually determined by how much vacation time I have and my budget. Usually a one week trip is all we can do, but a two week trip is really nice. When we go for two weeks, we don't go to the parks every day, but two weeks gives you time to enjoy the water parks, Sea World, and have some rest days, too. Having some rest days cuts down on the cost of the overall trip significantly and makes the trip much more enjoyable.
Where will you stay?
This is probably the most controversial subject. I personally like to stay off-site because I find it more relaxing and much less expensive. However, many people find the experience of staying on-site to be worth the extra cost. See my blog comparing staying at a Disney World resort vs staying off-site at a nearby vacation house. If want to stay on-site and still save money you might also look into renting DVC points. Now that you know who is going and and the dates you are going, you can search the web and compare options.
Which parks on what days?
Where will you eat?
These two questions kind of go hand-in-hand. Especially if you are on the Disney Dining Plan. The Dining Plan has become so popular that you literally have to make reservations months in advance, especially for the most popular restaurants. At the same time, you'll want to take into account crowd prediction calendars like the one found at www.TouringGuide.com to help decide which parks you want to go to on which days. I generally use a spreadsheet or a piece of paper marked off in a grid for the week(s) we are going. I mark which park we want to go to for that day and which restaurant I would like to try to make reservations for and perhaps a second choice. As I call to make reservations I can enter the reservation number on my worksheet. I usually end up working through several iterations of this plan as I find out the restaurant I wanted is not available (unless I want to eat dinner at 9:30pm or something).
Which Tickets?
Once I have my plan all figured out and know how many days we'll actually plan on going to the park, I'll purchase my tickets. If you are not purchasing Never Expires tickets, this is especially important. For us, since we usually get the Never Expires, it's not as important. We like the luxury of not worrying about deciding to not go to the parks to day if we're too tired.
There are lots of options when it comes to ticket options. There is the basic ticket which you can get in 3 to 10 days. Then you can add options of Park Hopper, Water Parks & Fun, and Never Expires. Park Hopper allows you to go between parks on a single day. Some people find this indispensable, others can live without it. We always get it, but I can see how you could get by without it. The Water Park and Fun option is something I generally debate over, mainly because I have so many days already saved up (more about that in a minute). The Never Expires option makes it so your left over days never expire.
Generally, the more days you buy the lower the price per day. Adding the never expires option drives the price up enormously, but can be a good option in some cases. For instance, if you purchase a 10-day pass and only use 5 days on your first trip and save 5 days for your next trip. We did this on our last trip splitting it so that we only used 4 days on our last trip, saving 6 days for our next trip. It was especially good since our daughter's ticket was at the child rate this time, but would be at the adult rate the next time we go. Disney will upgrade them free of charge, so it's a good deal. The never expires option is also nice since it makes the water park and Disney Quest option much more valuable. Those tickets become never expires, too. That means we have 10 water parks days in addition to the 10 main parks days and we don't have to use them within 14 days of the other days. You just have to balance what you find valuable and decide what you are willing to pay. The basic tickets are much cheaper than if you add the Never Expires and Water Park options. Just make sure you don't buy more days than you need if you go that route because they expire after 14 days and they are non-transferable.
Finally...
There's way more that you'll need to know. These are just the basics to keep you from panicking. The best advice I can give you is to get and read (from cover to cover) a good guide book. The two best ones I've come across are Disney with Kids and the Unofficial Guide. They will be worth their weight in ice water!
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