plan the best Family vacation at DISNEY WORLD resort

Our first Disney world family vacation was absolutely magical. Our vacation package included theme park tickets, the Magic pass, and accommodations at a Disney resort. With a couple months of planning and a sprinkle of pixie dust, our first trip to Disney World was better than we could’ve imagined!! Leading up to our trip, I spent time researching attractions, dining options and entertainment that would excite our crew. Here are 10 hacks I used to plan our Disneyworld trip.

Here we are on our last day at Disney world… not ready to leave, but smiling inside and out at a week of fun and memories that will last a lifetime.

1. Join 1 or 2 Facebook groups for Disney World. These were helpful to search to glean insight from other families with kids of similar ages, or traveling during a similar time frame. Many people share their agendas for their time at Disney world and I kept a Note on my phone with helpful tips and things to avoid. (word of caution- while helpful, these groups can be intense and make you feel like your plans aren’t elaborate enough. Remember you’re planning YOUR family vacation. Your’e the expert on your family so pick and choose what will work best given the unique makeup of your family).
2. Bring your own mouse ears! Mouse ears at Disney are pricey for just a single pair… so times 7 people for any number of days the price can quickly add up. Instead, I opted to by Mickey Mouse ears on Amazon. I bought a standard pack of Mickey & Minnie Mouse ears that would go with everything. I also bought a couple sets of themed ears to match our Toy Story shirts for Hollywood studios and also our Animal Kingdom shirts.
3. Bring an extra suitcase. Depending on how many people and how much you’ll splurge on souvenirs, choose a regular suitcase or carry-on to fit your needs. We DID NOT bring an extra suitcase and ended up having to hike across to another resort to buy a suitcase just so we could fit everything back. We have 5 kids so by the time everyone picked out something from the gift shop, plus the souvenir trinkets we gathered during the week (souvenir popcorn buckets, Disney cups, etc) we very easily filled an entire suitcase just with souvenirs.
4. Book at least ONE character dining to see & get signatures from several Disney characters at once, with little to no wait. Hollywood & Vine was a win for us! We had reservations for lunch, but the food was pretty heavy so a dinner reservation may have been better. Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale roamed the restaurant while we ate. We took various combos of pictures with them and we got more signatures in that hour than we did in half a day roaming the park. (Tip: I bought Disney signature books online for much less than they are in the park. Those little savings here and there really count!)
5. Genie+- We opted to wait on this and purchase daily at the park instead of with our package. For us, rope dropping actually was the better win! We rope dropped at Animal Kingdom and did the new Avatar ride first. There was still about a 30mins wait but that was much better than the 2hr wait it teetered at for most of the day.
6. Memory Maker- we paid a flat price and had access to all the pictures Disney Photographers captured on our trip. It was well worth it!
7. Magic Bands- With 5 kiddos in tow, magic bands made it easy for everyone to have access to their own tickets for quick entrances to the parks, and made checking out for food/souvenirs pain free. Since the trip was a surprise, I picked out everyones Magic Band in advance, but it would’ve been just as much fun for the kids to pick their own.