Everything You Need To Know About Planning and Booking A Walt Disney World Vacation

5. Call ahead and find out what’s prohibited

When packing, you may think bringing a selfie stick into the parks will be a great tool to help capture full-body pictures as opposed to just your face! But, when you get to the parks you’ll be turned away because selfie sticks, among other things, are completely banned in the parks. Other items that are banned are coolers, remote control toys, drones and backpacks of a certain size. Plan ahead and make sure you’re not bringing anything into the parks that you’re not supposed to. The last thing you want is to have to head back to your hotel to drop off items when you arrive at the parks.

6. Pay in installments

We won’t sugarcoat it -- a Disney World vacation is expensive. But, there is often this misconception that you need to drop a ton of dough all at once. That’s certainly not true! When you book your hotel, either by calling one of Disney’s cast members or through the MyDisneyExperiene website, you only have to pay a down payment on your reservation. You can make payments for your hotel stay every day, week or month leading up to the day of your vacation or finish paying the balance when you get there. The same goes for buying theme park tickets. You can book your hotel and buy one ticket at a time or all at once -- whatever works for you! Dining reservations can be made with no payment down  which allows for some breathing room when you’re planning your vacation.

7. Get FastPass

Even though we mentioned it earlier in this post, booking your Fastpass is the most important thing you can do when booking your vacation! FastPass can be booked 60 days before your vacation, only if you’re staying on Disney property. But don’t worry, you won’t miss this window because you’ll be notified via e-mail when the time has come to book. These passes allow for you and your guests to have little to no wait time for certain rides at specific times throughout the day. They’re free with theme park admission and are worth booking in advance to make the most out of your Disney World vacation.

8. Utilize an authorized Disney Vacation planner

One of the best things you can do is contact an authorized Disney Vacation Planner who will take care of the intricate details of your Disney World vacation to make sure that it’s full of the magic and excitement you’re looking for! Tell them what you want and they’ll do the rest. Just like magic!

There you have it: the countdown of everything you need to know about planning and booking a Disney World vacation. While there may be parts of it that seem overwhelming, when you break it down into tasks like mentioned above, it’s really easy and simple to do. I guarantee, you’ll love every part of it. Have a great time on your Disney World vacation!