Hiya Heather,
Welcome to planDisney. I am honored to be answering your planning question today. Your trip to Walt Disney World Resort is less than a month away, and I hope you are getting excited! If you haven't already, make sure that your
Disney Park Pass Reservations are booked and any dining reservations you are interested in are locked in. Having these checked off your planning checklist are essential to a great trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth.
Walt Disney World Resort has renewed its commitment to positively impacting the environment by reducing waste. As a result, unfortunately, Walt Disney World Resort does not currently send or email brochures and paper maps to Guests. I've provided the links to the digital copies of the Theme Park maps for
EPCOT,
Magic Kingdom Park,
Disney's Hollywood Studios, and
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park. You can download them and print physical copies as large as you want and use them to mark down your must see's and do's in the park. As an added tip, you can take your family wishlist and share it with
Disney's Genie. Genie will help you plan an itinerary that is magical and maximizes your time at Walt Disney World Resort.
One of the things that I used to love about the Theme Park booklets is that they showed me the park layouts, but I also learned about what was happening in the parks. For that information, I now rely on the
Disney Parks Blog. Before each trip, my family and I love to browse the articles and see what is new and upcoming when we will be there. For instance, did you know that
EPCOT's International Flower and Garden Festival will be happening during your visit? My family and I always plan our trip around festival time. This can't miss event combines all the magic of springtime with the wonder of the World Showcase.
One final suggestion I have for a fun way to build anticipation for your upcoming trip is to watch some of the fantastic documentaries about Disney Parks on Disney+. Before our last trip, we watched "
Behind the Attraction." We learned so much about some of our favorite rides, like Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion. After finishing the series, we had a much greater appreciation for tiny details when we went to the park. We made a little scavenger hunt out of pointing out the things we had seen in the series to one another. Some other shows that we have watched that we've loved include "
The Imagineering Story" and "
The Magic of Disney's Animal Kingdom." You and your family can have so much fun learning about the parks and discovering magical things you never really knew were there.
I hope this gave you some good alternatives to help you prepare for your upcoming trip. I know you will have a magical time!
Happy Planning,
Ashley F.