Hi there, Tara! Welcome to planDisney!
It would be my pleasure to give you some tips to help you get started with planning your family's first
Walt Disney World Resort vacation! One of the first things I do when I plan a trip is to decide which
Disney Resorts Collection Hotel I'm going to call my home away from home. I recommend checking out our
planDisney Resort Hotels Pocket Guides. These are great resources for deciding which resort hotel is right for your family.
Once you have an idea of where you'd like to stay, I suggest looking over the list of
attractions and entertainment on the Walt Disney World Resort website. This will help you to decide on your must-do experiences, and in turn, help you figure out how many days of
theme park tickets you will need. When purchasing theme park tickets, you will not need tickets for your one-year-old. Children under the age of three are considered Guests of Mickey and do not need a ticket to visit the Walt Disney World theme parks.
If your arrival date is January 9, 2024 or later and you bundle your resort hotel reservation and theme park tickets into a
vacation package, you will also have the option to add a
Disney dining plan to your vacation package. Speaking of dining, it's a good idea to also look over the list of
dining locations to decide which restaurants you might like to try. Dining reservations for table service restaurants are highly recommended and can be made 60 days in advance.
You're going to make lots of magical memories on this trip that you'll want to relive for years to come, so you may want to consider purchasing
Memory Maker. Your Memory Maker purchase gives you unlimited downloads of all your
Disney PhotoPass service pictures.
As you plan for your trip, I recommend following the
Disney Parks Blog for all the latest news and announcements. The
Panel Extras section of our planDisney website is another great source for Disney vacation tips. Be sure to also give the
planDisney Podcast a listen for tons of useful vacation planning information.
As you plan your first Walt Disney World Resort vacation, remember that you've got a friend in planDisney! Come back any time and ask us any additional questions that you might have. My fellow panelists and I want to help you and your family have the most magical vacation ever!
See ya real soon!
Samantha