Welcome, Simon! I am so excited to hear that you are planning your first visit to
The Most Magical Place on Earth! And with your sister? How wonderful! This is going to be a memorable trip!
You've come to the right place, Simon! Here at planDisney, we have decades of collective experience planning Disney vacations. We now use those skills to help other guests plan their own magical vacations! Once your dates are picked out, the next step is to look at Disney Resort hotels. This won't be easy, because there are so many to choose from! Thankfully, you can't go wrong with any of them!
Disney's All Star Movies,
All Star Music, and
All Star Sports Resorts are a great value, have fun theming, and are plenty spacious for two people. If you are looking for a little more room and amenities, consider
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort or
Disney's Wilderness Lodge.
Bookings for next year should be out in the next few months. Also, keep an eye on the
Walt Disney World Deals page. You may find something that works for your dates and plans.
Then you'll want to start thinking about park days. Walt Disney World has four major theme parks, two water parks (typically only one is open in February), and a shopping and dining district known as
Disney Springs. I recommend you begin at
Magic Kingdom Park. There's nothing like starting a first visit to Walt Disney World with a walk down Main Street, U.S.A. toward
Cinderella Castle.
One of the tasks that tends to keep Disney guests on their phones is
dining reservations. If you want to stick to quick-service restaurants, you'll be okay, but if you'd like to dine at a table-service restaurant, you will likely want advanced reservations. You can do that well before your trip, though. I, personally, like to mobile order my quick-service meals on my phone while I'm in line for an attraction to cut down on waiting later, but it is certainly not necessary.
Another time your phone is utilized is with
Lightning Lane Passes. These are sort of like reservations for return-time windows for attractions, especially those that maintain longer waits. There is no way to use this add-on service without a mobile device. The good news is that I have been to Walt Disney World many times without using Lightning Lane Passes and have still had a fantastic time, so it is an extra that you can do without if you prefer.
I hope you find this helpful, Simon! You have so much planning to do, but I promise that it's a big part of the magic! And you don't have to do it alone! If you have any more questions, please
let me know or come back and see us here at
planDisney! We're always happy to help!
Always dreaming -
Elizabeth