Your vacation is booked, and now it’s time to plan out the details! Here’s a quick guide to everything that you need to know to plan the perfect Walt Disney World vacation!

My Disney Experience

Now that your deposit is paid, you can start your planning online before you hit the parks! Disney has introduced MyDisneyExperience for all guests to get a jumpstart on their planning. Once you register/log in, you will be able to link all your resort reservations, dining, and family and friends traveling with you.

Once you’re in your MyDisneyExperience account, you can link your reservation by going to the “MyDisneyExperience” tab and selecting “My Reservations & Tickets” and then “Link Resort Reservation”. At that point, you’ll enter your confirmation number and last name to link the reservation. You can also download the free My Disney Experience app on your smartphone from the app store. This will allow you to access your magical itinerary on the go!

Payments

30 Days Before Check In

Your deposit has been paid, and your final payment just has to be paid 30 days before check in. You can make as many payments as you’d like between now and then. To make a payment, you can submit your information here:

Travel Insurance

45 Days Before Check In

This plan covers you and your family for certain unexpected circumstances. The Travel Protection Plan is optional and available for purchase up until final trip payment. Travel insurance is $82.50 per adult and $6 per child. Learn more about what is covered and fill out our Travel Insurance Acknowledgment Form here:

Park Reservations

Only For Certain Tickets

Date-based tickets that are purchased individually or as part of a Disney Vacation Package no longer require Park Reservations. The Disney Park Pass system is now only for guests with certain types of tickets:

• Annual Passholders
• Disney Military Salute Tickets
• Florida Resident Discover Disney Tickets
• Student, Sport, and Convention Tickets

Dining Reservations

60 Days Before Check In

There are literally hundreds of dining options available at Walt Disney World, so there’s guaranteed to be a little something for everyone! One of the best ways to take advantage of all of the options is to make dining reservations before you arrive. Many of the most popular restaurants will book up right at the 60 day opening, so if you’re wanting to score these reservations, we’ll need to get them as soon as they open.

Lightning Lane Service

formerly known as Fastpass+/Genie+

Lightning Lane Multi Pass starts at $15 per person per day that gives you access to Lightning Lanes (aka shorter lines). It is not available for every ride, and you can only ride each ride one time using the Lightning Lane. Lightning Lane Single Pass rides in each park are purchased individually that isn’t included in the Multi Pass purchase, and the price per ride depends on the day. You can buy up to 2 Lightning Lane Single Pass rides per day, and if you have a Park Hopper, those 2 rides can be in different parks – ex: Rise of the Resistance + Flight of Passage. You can also buy just the Single Pass experiences without buying Multi Pass, so if you want to ride Flight of Passage but aren’t concerned about doing Lightning Lane for anything else that day, you can just get Flight of Passage and not purchase Multi Pass.

Guests staying at a Walt Disney World Resort can purchase and select their Lightning Lane experiences beginning 7 days before arrival while all other guests can purchase and select their Lightning Lane experiences beginning 3 days before arrival. All purchases and bookings for Lightning Lane must be done through the MyDisneyExperience app, and booking is not available on the website.

Once you redeem a selection on the day of your park visit, you can choose another Multi Pass experience from either group. If you have tickets with the Park Hopper option, you could even choose a multi pass experience in a different theme park. Ex: for our Animal Kingdom day, we booked Kilimanjaro Safaris, Festival of the Lion King, and Expedition Everest at the 7 day booking window. Once we got to the park and rode Expedition Everest, I booked our next Lightning Lane for Magic Kingdom around 2pm because we were going there after lunch. I was able to book 3 Lighting Lanes for the first few hours that we were in Magic Kingdom, and then booked more Lightning Lanes as we used them.

Pro Tip: As soon as you scan in for your Lightning Lane, immediately jump on your app and book your next one while you’re waiting in line. Some rides require you to scan in twice (like Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster) and may not let you book a new experience after only one scan, but go ahead and try to book once you scan in the first time because the second scanner is not always active on these rides.

Lightning Lane Single Pass Experiences

Multi Pass Lightning Lane Experiences

Virtual Queue

On the day of your visit, you can join the Virtual Queue at daily distribution times (7:00am EST + 1:00pm EST if there are spots available after the 7:00am drop). Select one member of your party to access the virtual queue to check for an available boarding group for everyone in your party. If multiple people in your party try to join the virtual queue simultaneously, that may inhibit your ability to join a group. Virtual Queue gives you access to the Standby Line, not the Lightning Lane Line. If you would like to be in the Lightning Lane for this experience, you need to select the ride as on option on Multi Pass (Tiana’s Bayou Adventure) or purchase the Single Pass (Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind). If your ticket requires a Park Reservation, the Park Reservation must match the park for your Virtual Queue

Pro Tip: Create your Boarding Group by 6:58am and begin hitting the Refresh button as quickly as you can at 6:59am until 7:00am for the best luck at securing a Virtual Queue spot!

MagicBands

You will also be able to customize your MagicBands in your account! These bands contain your admission to the parks, allow you to charge items to your hotel room account, etc. There are also tons of designs and colors available at Disney World or on the ShopDisney website!

I recommend MagicBands for all guests who do not have a phone or smart watch. Guests with Apple or Android phones or watches can utilize the complimentary Magic Mobile service to use their devices as their tickets. If you are going to use Magic Mobile for more than one ticket on a single device, you will have to pull up the Wallet app on your device to scan each ticket individually, but it will work as an “Express” ticket and automatically scan by just tapping your phone/watch if you add only one ticket per device.

For arrivals after 12/31/20, MagicBands are no longer complimentary.

Transportation

Magical Express is no longer available for complimentary transportation to Walt Disney World Resort from Orlando International Airport. We have a few other options for getting to and from property including a rental car, Away We Go Transportation, Mears Connect, Uber/Lyft, or private car service. Let’s talk about which mode of transportation would be best for your family!

Thank you so much for trusting me with your vacation!