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6 things that work for us on Disney vacations

• by Shannon Albert
• on June 8th, 2011
• 3 Comments

As I mentioned last time, our family went on a 10 day Disney trip and we just returned a couple of days ago. This is our fourth trip to a Disney park in the last six years. For others planning their own Disney trips, here are 10 things that work for us on a Disney vacation.

1. Kicking a trip off with a bang

I like to kick off a trip with something fun to set the tone for the whole trip. For us, that means eating dinner at Chef Mickey’s (located inside Disney’s Contemporary Resort) on arrival day. It’s not that it’s particularly great food but it’s a fun atmosphere complete with the classic characters, twirling napkins and it’s located in a hotel that’s on the monorail line and riding the monorail is just fun. As is the case with many Disney restaurants, it’s recommended anybody eating at Chef Mickey’s have a reservation ahead of time. Since this is a popular location, I would suggest getting it the earliest Disney will allow you to – 6 months ahead of time.

2. Plan some surprises

Yes, I know that a Disney trip is in itself a fun vacation but there’s nothing like throwing in some surprises during the trip. For this trip, we surprised the kids with a limo to transport us between the airport and hotel. The cost of the limo was minimal compared to our overall vacation budget and was totally worth the happiness it brought the kids (and us!).

My son told the driver "yeah, this is how we travel every day."

We also do the Vacation Fairy thing that I mentioned in the last post which entails daily surprises for the kids. On a previous trip, we booked a boat as a surprise to pick us up to watch fireworks which ended up being one of the best memories of that trip.

3. Arrive at the parks before they open

Many – actually, most – people have the mindset that they are on vacation so they’ll sleep as late as they want and get to the parks when they get there. It’s your vacation so you should do that if that makes you happy but for us, it pays to wake up early and be there just before the parks open. The parks are much less crowded and the temperatures are much more mild. You can get more done in the first two hours than you can for the rest of the day. I don’t recommend doing this after being out late at a nighttime activity because having a tired family is no good but if you plan the days out well, you can stagger late night activities and early morning parks.

4. Plan but stay flexible

I spend months planning our Disney trips because there are just so many details to consider. I even have a touring schedule for each park written down so we have something to help us navigate BUT – and this is an important but – we always stay flexible. None of my plans went as I’d imagined them and that’s OK. We changed as needed but at least we had a starting point.

5. Stay organized

This could really apply to any trip but more so with Disney trips which just seem to have more “stuff.” Staying organized is super important to me so I always throw an over-the-door shoe organizer in our suitcase and then hang it over a door in the hotel room to hold all of the little things we brought – sunscreen, jewelry, chargers, medicine, etc.

It’s also a good idea to have a folder containing all of your important documents and confirmation numbers.

6. Make use of Disney’s photographers

You know how you go someplace and your group is accosted by a pushy photographer to get a picture that you can buy later for a lot of money? Disney has photographers too but they are a different breed. They will not approach you at all (in fact, I often don’t see them) but you can approach them. You will be given a PhotoPass card by a photographer which you can then use with each photographer that you encounter. You can use that PhotoPass card after your trip to view all of the photos you had taken and then choose if you want to order them or not.

PhotoPass pic of my family at the World Showcase at EPCOT

We didn’t do this on our first trip and had lots of regrets later. The main benefit to me is that it allows everybody in your group to be in the photo and there’s no need to ask a stranger to snap your pic (actually, if you have your own camera, the PhotoPass photographers will gladly take your photo that way too). PhotoPass pictures also allow you to edit the pics online plus add borders and things like that.

Overall, we really had a fantastic trip and I’m always amazed at how much new stuff we manage to do on each Disney vacation. I’m already making a list for our next voyage to Disney World. Among the things on the list: go during a time when the Christmas decorations are on display. I don’t know when that will be but it’ll be great to not only see the decorations but go during a time that isn’t so hot.

Shannon Albert

Shannon loves to share awesome, fun and hopefully useful info that she's collected and to connect with other travel freaks. She loves the planning part of travel as much as the traveling itself. Shannon's background includes working as a web developer and as a digital producer for an advertising agency. She lives in Texas with her husband, 2 kids and dog. New York City is her favorite city. Her blog is shannonalbert.com.