Hi Courtney,
Welcome to planDisney!
This is the happiest news! I am so glad to see you planning a trip to the Walt Disney World Resort! You have come to the right place. First, take a look at the options for accommodations in the
Disney Resorts Collection. My family typically prioritizes resort hotels that 1) Fit within our budget and 2) Have multiple transportation and dining options. A few of our favorite resort hotels include Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney's Polynesian Village Resort, Disney's Contemporary Resort, and Disney's BoardWalk Inn. When the girls and I have taken a quick all girls trip, we stayed at Disney's All-Star Movies Resort. And, on a few other trips, I have enjoyed Disney's Art of Animation and Disney's Pop Century Resorts.
Once you have reviewed the room types and amenities at each resort hotel, select a few that might work and then do some comparison pricing of
vacation packages online. Be sure to also check the
Special Offers. Search by different dates so that you can check the prices for different times of year. One year, we went later in August because prices were cheaper!
Once you price that vacation package, you will need to decide what type of
theme park tickets to purchase. When our girls were younger, we did Standard 1 Park Per Day Tickets. We would head to the park in the morning, return to the resort hotel in the early afternoon to relax, and then returned to the same park at night. Now that our girls are older, we can do theme park tickets with the
Park Hopper® Option and visit multiple parks in one day. We actually became
Annual Passholders about two years ago and those came with the ability to park hop.
Once you book a vacation package, you will need to link that package in a My Disney Experience account. If you do not already have an account created, create one now. To link your vacation package, take the confirmation number, log into
My Disney Experience, click on My Plans, then click on Add More Plans. From there, click on
Link Reservations and Purchases. After you have your vacation package linked, make
Disney Park Pass system reservations for each day that you have valid theme park admission. Check the
theme park reservation availability calendar BEFORE you book. I would not want you to book a vacation package and then find out that there is no, or limited park pass availability for the dates of your visit!
Courtney, I hope this helps you get started! Be sure to also mark the date that your
dining reservation window opens and you can make
advanced dining reservations. Currently, dining reservations can be made 60-days prior to arrival for the length of stay up to 10 days. Happy Planning!
Magic and memories,
Donyell