Hi Jenelle, from a fellow Illinoisian!
Getting a new MagicBand for each of our trips is a fun tradition! Since you won’t be staying at a Walt Disney World Resort, you don’t need a MagicBand to open your resort door. But, you can still purchase and use a MagicBand for your park ticket and PhotoPass photos.
You will want to take a look at the wide variety of
MagicBands available at shopDisney, or you can wait until you get to the Walt Disney World Resort property and purchase one in a shop. Once you have them purchased, you will simply open your MyDisneyExperience app, click on the 3 lines in the lower right corner, then scroll down to “My Profile”, and then MagicBands & Cards, and enter the number on the back of the band. This is also where you can link your tickets once purchased.
Keep in mind that when staying off of the Disney property, unless your hotel provides transportation to the parks, you will want to budget $25 per day to park at the theme parks.
In December, the holiday decorations at the theme parks and resorts is spectacular! Be sure to visit Disney Springs, and follow the Christmas Tree Trail. I also love to visit Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa lobby to see the gigantic gingerbread house and purchase a gingerbread shingle.
You can’t get maps sent to you, but you can see detailed maps of
Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, & Animal Kingdom on the Walt Disney World website AND in your hand on your MyDisneyExperience mobile app! If you are using a travel agent to book your trip, I am positive that they could send you some maps.
Jenelle, I hope you have the BEST holiday trip to Walt Disney World! Please come back and visit us again at planDisney as you continue researching for your trip!
Happy Planning,
Tracy