Orlando’s Disney World Resort features four theme parks, two water parks, and over 200 restaurants. If you’re overwhelmed with your trip planning, you’re not alone!
Disney World trips are an amazing way to vacation with your family, but they can also be stressful—especially if you’re visiting for the first time. You want to feel relaxed and happy at Disney World—not stressed!
To make the most out of your trip, it helps to be prepared. To learn more, keep reading to find six tips to help you have a relaxing and amazing Disney World vacation!
1. Visit at the Right Time of Year
One of our top Disney World tips is to plan your visiting dates with care. The Disney parks can get incredibly crowded, which is stressful and takes away some of the fun.
For a more relaxed visit, you might prefer to visit when the parks are less crowded. Because Disney is so geared to families, you’ll find the summer months, Easter break, and Christmas and New Year periods tend to be busiest.
However, it also helps to check Disney’s schedule of events, as they have running festivals, special activities, and other events that pack the parks.
If you’re able to visit mid-week, this can help you avoid crowds as well, as most kids will be in school. While Disney will always have some crowds, these tips can help you avoid peak periods.
2. Research Accommodation Carefully
Next, think about where you’d like to stay. The Disney World parks system is much bigger than you might think, so you ideally want to be as close as possible to the action.
Getting stuck in traffic is not a relaxing way to enjoy your vacation, so consider staying on the Disney property, such as in one of their vacation club rentals.
Disney Vacation Club guests can take advantage of Disney’s free transport options to and from the parks, which means you don’t need to worry about driving—or paying for parking.
3. Book Your Dining Reservations in Advance
Disney has some of the most unique and fun restaurants in Orlando, but here’s the thing—they can get booked very fast.
If you have your heart set on a Disney dining experience, either in the parks or at Downtown Disney, we recommend always making a reservation in advance. Disney lets you book dining up to 60 days in advance (it was 180 days before the pandemic).
This applies to character dining as well, so be sure to plan your breakfast with Mickey well in advance, or you might miss out!
4. Don’t Rush
Once your vacation has started, try not to rush! It can be hard, with so many fun things to see and do, but you’ll enjoy everything more if you take your time.
It helps to plan out which parks you want to do on which day, then book your FastPasses in advance via the Disney app. This makes it much easier to plan and prepare.
Take your time, relax, and enjoy all the little moments of Disney magic! You never know what you might discover, as Disney is famous for lots of little fun touches, like mouse ear designs hidden in the parks’ architecture.
5. Take Naps
This might sound weird, but take naps! Orlando is hot and walking all day can be exhausting, so you’re not going to enjoy it if you’re tired and run down.
It can be a good choice to visit a park in the morning, come back to your resort in the afternoon for a nap or a dip in the pool, then head back to the park in the evening for the fireworks.
You’ll find many families with kids leave in the late afternoon, so sometimes the parks are less crowded in the evening as well.
6. Dress for Comfort
To stay relaxed and comfortable at Disney, it’s all about the clothes! Disney trips don’t need to be high-fashion—almost everywhere is casual, except for a few of the fine-dining restaurants.
When you’re walking around the parks all day, you need to be comfortable—you’ll be surprised how many steps you end up doing each day!
Wear lightweight, breathable clothing, especially on hot days. You’ll be surprised how many steps you do each day!
To prepare your feet, flip flops won’t cut it—you want to invest in comfortable, supportive walking shoes. If you’re buying new shoes for the rip, purchase them a few weeks in advance, so you have time to break them in.
Otherwise, you might end up with blisters, the last thing you want on vacation.
Sunscreen, a hat, and plenty of water is essential as well. The parks have water refilling stations, so you don’t need to pay for bottled water.
Stay Chill on Your Disney World Trips With This Guide
Disney World trips can be some of the best vacations—for both kids and adults! But to make the most out of it, use the tips above to plan your experience.
Advance planning is key to ensuring a more relaxed trip, as there’ll be less you need to worry about. You might even want to purchase a small planner or notebook, where you can keep notes and write down your daily plans for the trip, along with reservation numbers.
Whether it’s your first trip to Disney or you’re a seasoned pro, we know you’ll have an amazing time!
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