5 tips to make planning your Disney vacation less stressful and more memorable
Planning a vacation to the Disney World can be overwhelming without the right strategy. Parenting author and travel journalist Genevieve Shaw Brown joins us to break down how to make planning your Disney trip smooth and memorable.
At a place like Walt Disney World, there are plenty of things to see and do all the time. Every travel blog seems to have their own tried-and-true method for hitting all the highlights, and when it comes down to it, trying to maximize the trip and plan the perfect vacation can seem insurmountable.
“There’s a misconception that planning a Disney vacation can be overwhelming,” Brown said. “Planning any vacation can be overwhelming if you allow it to be.”
Brown, chatting with us via video call from Epcot, offered her tips on how to relieve that pressure and make sure you still get the most out of your magical experience.
Tip 1: Start the planning conversation early for your Disney vacation
When it comes to planning a Disney World vacation, start a conversation with your travel group or with friends about what you want to see and do while traveling. Setting up the anticipation makes the chance to finally experience it that much more rewarding.
“[A trip is] more than the days of the vacation itself,” Brown said. “It’s the planning and leading up to it, and then the time after when you can relive it and experience it almost all over again.”
These early conversations are as much a part of the trip as actually being in the parks, and Brown said that those sorts of before-and-after conversations helped bring her and her family together during the planning process.
[A trip is] more than the days of the vacation itself: it’s the planning and leading up to it, and then the time after when you can relive it and experience it all over again.
Genevieve shaw brown
Tip 2: Help everyone participate and pick priorities
Particularly if you’re traveling with a family or friend group, it can be challenging to balance everyone’s preferences about what attractions to prioritize not to mention learning how to purchase Lightning Lane access or use Disney’s app. Of course, we want everyone to be happy: so how do we fit everything into a limited time?
Brown recommends each travel member pick one thing they want to see most.
“Everyone gets to make the choices that they feel most strongly about, whether it’s the restaurant that we eat at, or the attraction that we ride. … That makes everyone come away from the vacation feeling like they got what they wanted out of it without feeling overwhelmed.”
Rather than focusing on the “perfect vacation,” Brown says to focus on what makes the trip important to your group specifically, and take time for those few specific attractions instead.
Photo courtesy of Disney
“For me, that means when I’m traveling with my kids, what is my idea of a perfect vacation is not necessarily their idea of a perfect vacation. You know, I might be trying to get this perfect photo, when all they [want] is … a parent who is relaxed and having fun. So don’t let it become overwhelming, because planning a vacation can become part of the fun of taking your vacation.”
Tip 3: Build extra downtime into your Disney World vacation schedule
We’ve all been there: you plan a day on the town or at a theme park, only for the sky to start pouring buckets of rain as soon as you get in the gates. The attraction you wanted to see is closed now, and you’re stuck in a poncho staring at the closed entryway.
This doesn’t fit into the schedule, some of us might be tempted to think. What now?
Photo by Blake Taylor
“If you’re scheduling every minute of every day, you’re not allowing … for magic to happen when things don’t go according to plan,” Brown said. “Some of the best memories of vacations are things you weren’t anticipating.”
So she intentionally schedules downtime into her family’s Disney World vacations, and tries to keep travel days flexible for a change of plans. While it’s good to plan ahead and have an idea of what you want to do, she says, downtime allows for the unexpected — both good and bad — to get added into the overall experience.
Tip 4: Plan to stretch your travel dollars
For most of us, our travel budget isn’t unlimited. That’s part of the reason we plan ahead: to get a head start on finding the best possible vacation opportunities with the resources we have.
So to get the best deal on your Disney vacation, you have to know what a deal looks like for you and yours before making reservations.
“Depending on where you’re going or where you’re traveling to, a deal doesn’t always look the same,” Brown said. “A deal doesn’t always mean ‘cheap’; it means ‘value.’ So you really need to be looking for value added to the vacation, and looking at the total cost, so that you know you’re getting the most for your travel dollar.”
Photo by Olga Thompson / Disney
Find this value can come from planning for your travel group’s priorities first, or trying a travel option out of the norm.
For Brown, this looks like changing her preferred travel days based on flight prices. “That’s what I find … has saved my family’s money over the course of our travels. Traveling or flying particular off-peak days, like Tuesdays, is very helpful in terms of trying to save money on airfare.”
Tip 5: Pick events and deals to match your Disney vacation priorities
When it comes to stretching those travel dollars, Brown encourages groups to check into what seasonal discounts and shows are available at the park they’re traveling to as a factor in when and where to go.
“When you come to a place like Walt Disney World, there’s so much to see and do that you really want to hone in the experiences that are most important to you,” she said.
This summer at Walt Disney World, Epcot will reopen Test Track with a new storyline and reimagined ride vehicles. Hollywood Studios has announced two new shows for the 2025 season, including “Disney Villains: Unfairly Ever After” and “The Little Mermaid: A Musical Adventure.” Finally, Magic Kingdom will host a new nighttime parade called “Disney Starlight.”
Artwork courtesy of Disney
Walt Disney World is also offering several summer discounts and deals, including the opportunity to visit a water park on the day of check-in while your group stays at a Disney hotel until Dec. 31, 2025.
The destination is also offering a $200 per room per night discount on most check-ins between late May and early August, or 25% off room rates per day depending on the chosen hotel. For more info on current Disney vacation deals, visit their official deals page.
Do you have a favorite tip for planning a less-stressful Disney World vacation?
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