Hiya, James! Welcome to planDisney! I'm so happy that you reached out to us with your question.
Planning a trip to the
Walt Disney World Resort can be just as exciting as experiencing the trip itself. Well,
almost as exciting, especially because the process is pretty straightforward. I've planned a bunch of vacations, both to Disney destinations and to others, and I've always found Disney vacations to be the easiest to coordinate!
Since you already have a
My Disney Experience account, log in, and select "
Places to Stay." Here is where you can browse the different Disney Resorts Collection Hotels that will keep you immersed in the magic and get you access to some
great benefits and amenities! Input your dates and amount of guests and click on the green "Find Resorts" button. Once you've selected your resort of choice, you will then be prompted to add your tickets. This page will go through all of your options and you can adjust based on your needs. If you purchase these date-based tickets, you will not need to make
Theme Park Reservations since that requirement is being dropped starting on January 9, 2024, and you're visiting in February!
Once you have selected your tickets and pressed "Continue," you will then be asked if there's anything else you'd like to add to your trip. And yes, the fan-favorite
Disney Dining Plan will be an option (starting with dates on or after January 9, 2024). Once you've made your selections, you can begin the checkout process!
After that, you will want to mark on your calendar 60 days before your arrival date as that will be when you can begin to make your
advanced dining reservations (starting at 6 a.m. EST). These are highly recommended as dining fills up pretty quickly at many restaurants. Some of my favorites are
Be Our Guest Restaurant in
Magic Kingdom Park,
Tiffins Restaurant in
Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park,
Le Cellier Steakhouse in
EPCOT, and
The Hollywood Brown Derby in
Disney's Hollywood Studios.
James, best wishes with planning your trip. And keep an eye on the
Disney Parks Blog leading up to your vacation to see if
The EPCOT International Festival of the Arts will be offered when you are there. If it is, I highly recommend checking it out!
Please reach out to me if you have any other questions. I'm always happy to help!
No one knows how far you'll go,
Matt