By Beauty & the Beast Diva
Being a Disney Travel Professional and a Disney enthusiast, everyone comes to me to help them plan their meals, fastpasses, etc… so I thought I would share the method to my madness; a little insight on what I think is the absolute best way to plan your Disney vacation, and as an added bonus, this article will have a lot of pictures for you to follow along with. Granted I am a little spoiled because I am a DVC member and an annual passholder, but I do this for a lot of friends and family who are not.
First off I pick my dates and see if there are any special events I want to attend i.e. MNSSHP, a race, a concert, etc… Then I make a little grid on a plain white sheet of paper and write out the dates, dividing them up in to morning afternoon and evening/night. Then I fill in all the extra magic hours (EMH). Now, I am ready to start planning. 
First, I decide what’s most important to me, which is usually eating. We usually go with the dining plan so I base my meals off of that. I decide where to have breakfast, lunch and dinner, or if I will just be grabbing something quick from my room. We always travel with granola bars and get some fruit or something we could grab quickly. I always try to eat in every park or at a hotel close to a park to be sure I get to watch each firework or night time show.
From there, I choose my Fastpasses. Usually I pick what I would prefer to be my top 3, in the case that the fastpass I want isn’t available. Fastpasses are usually not terribly important to me, personally, because I know I am coming back to Disney and I try to take advantage of the EMH when the lines are less crowed. I pick my meals first because I DO NOT want to be riding Space Mountain or the Tower of Terror on a full tummy. Once I know when I’m eating I know how to space out my rides!
From there I add in the extras, such as a day to sleep in. If I haven’t book a breakfast and my Fastpasses are later in the night, I make sure to add in some relaxation or shopping time! Sleeping in, a midday break and a night to get back to the hotel early are ALWAYS on my itinerary. Each day SHOULD ALWAYS consist of one of those three to make for a happy vacation.
Sadly, I am also that person at the parks that likes to dress myself, and my family for the parks. From here, my itinerary also starts to become my packing list. I start to write out what I will be wearing to each park and what my daughter will be wearing. For example, we always wear something with a tribal or animal print to Animal Kingdom and we always wear a character that we are dining with. We are the ultimate Disney Dorks and it’s okay with us.
This itinerary gets packed in my suitcase and I take a picture of it AND it goes on my Disney experience (which is all my husband, I barely know how to use the app). We really do try to stick to it as much as possible because I truly feel Disney is all about planning ahead.
From there I make my packing list and then add about ten more things to it because I am a notorious overpacker. Hope your Disney Planning and Packing goes well, and remember- a well-planned out Disney trip is a happy Disney trip!
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