How To Plan Your Disney World Vacation in 5 Easy Steps

Planning a Disney World vacation? Not sure where to start? With 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, several different resort-hotels and tons of different restaurants (not to mention ticket options), planning a vacation to the house of mouse can be overwhelming.

This article will hopefully simplify it for you - in 5 easy steps. Get these 5 things down and you'll be on your way to a more relaxing, fun and cost-effective Disney vacation.

#1 Decide When You Want To Go

This really depends on what you can do with your work schedule and your preferences. For example if you go during off peak times (like mid-September or mid-January), the parks are not as crowded and you won't have to wait as long in the lines for rides.

However peak times like Christmas, New Years and Halloween also have their advantages. You get more in the way of special parades, events and parties. So it really depends on what you want.

#2 Decide Where You'll Stay

There are really 2 main options: on-site at a Disney resort or off-site at a hotel, rented condo, etc.

The advantage to staying off-site is that it can be cheaper. However staying at a DW resort property also has perks. For example you get free transportation to and from the parks. You also get free transportation to and from the airport.

So you don't really have to rent a car - which will save you money.

Also, resort guests get extra perks like extra park hours, free parking at the parks (if you do rent a car), the option to get the dining plan (which again can save you money) and more time to book fastpass rides.

#3 Book as a Package or A La Carte

You can sometimes save money by booking as a package (airfare plus hotel plus park tickets). Plus this is often more convenient for many people as they get it done once and then all they do is go and enjoy.

However, you may want to book everything separately for more flexibility with your schedule.

#4 Which Tickets Do You Want?

You can get from 1 day up to 10 day tickets. These tickets will cover admission to any of the 4 theme parks. Usually the more days you buy, the more you save per day. (So a 10 day ticket works out to be much cheaper per day cost than a 2 day ticket).

Base tickets will get you into 1 park per day. For a small extra charge you can get a park-hopper ticket which will let you visit multiple parks per day.

This is great if you want to visit one park in the morning for the rides - and then visit another park at night for a special parade or fireworks display.

You can also add on an additional extra if you want to visit the water parks.

#5 Book Your Fastpass Rides

Fastpass allows you to reserve certain rides and "skip the line" so to speak. With the new Fastpass plus system, you can reserve up to 3 rides per day ahead of time online.

This is a great way to avoid waiting in long lines for the most popular park rides. Your fastpass reservations are linked to your ticket.

Disneyworld resort guests can currently reserve their fastpass rides up to 2 months in advance. Non-resort guests can currently reserve their fastpass rides up to 1 month in advance.

Once you've done this - decided on when to go, where to stay, what kind of tickets you want and booked your fastpass rides, you're on your way to an amazing Disneyworld vacation!

Kate Banning has been visiting Disneyworld every year for the past 12 years and is an expert on optimizing your Disney experience.

Get more Disney World tips at http://www.MouseWorldVideos.com.

Or get the latest Disney discounts at http://www.MouseWorldVideos.com/walt-disney-world-resort-deals/

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