Planning a 2023 Disney vacation or a few days at theme parks during your trip to Florida, California, or beyond? You’ve come to the right place. We have guides filled with tips and tricks, itineraries, and money-saving info for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Shanghai Disneyland.
These guides will help you plan every step of your visit, from pricing out hotels and airfare to using transportation efficiently, eating at the best restaurants, and more. Spending a bit of time with these free guides will save you hours of headaches on vacation and will make your trip stress-free…or as close to stress-free as possible.
Each of the guides has links to additional posts that offer more detailed information about particular subjects. Click those links if you need to know more about anything. We hope these planning guides help make your next Disney vacation an easier, less stressful, more enjoyable, and memorable experience! 🙂
Trip Planning Guides
Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide – Disney’s largest theme park resort complex, located near Orlando, Florida. Our guide covers everything you need to know about the 4 theme parks, 2 water parks, Disney Springs dining & entertainment district, and over two-dozen hotels that make up the sprawling Walt Disney World Resort!
Disneyland Trip Planning Guide – The OG of Disney theme parks, and only one Walt Disney himself ever walked. Disneyland is now joined by Disney California Adventure, a few hotels, and Downtown Disney. Disneyland also just debuted Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, one of the most highly-anticipated theme park expansions ever, and we cover how to experience it without going mad.
Disneyland Paris Trip Planning Guide – Located just outside of Paris, this complex was previously known as EuroDisney. It’s the most popular tourist destination in France, and one of the most visited locations in all of Europe. Disneyland Paris has two theme parks, several hotels, and more. It’s more of an “acquired taste” than the other parks, but like a fine French wine, it’s better sipped than chugged.
Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea Trip Planning Guide – Japan’s two Disney parks are also the two best theme parks in the world. Tokyo DisneySea is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, whereas Tokyo Disneyland is like a “greatest” hits album of the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Disneyland. These are world-class destinations that every Disney fan should make a point of visiting if they can, and even non-fans will enjoy.
Shanghai Disneyland Planning Guide – Disney’s newest park in Shanghai, China opened just a few years ago but is already growing. This is the destination where culture shock is most likely, but Shanghai Disneyland has a lot going for it–and is another park worth your time.
Hong Kong Disneyland Trip Planning Guide – Now that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge has opened at Disneyland and forever changed that park, Hong Kong Disneyland is arguably Disney’s most charming and quaint park. Its castle is currently being enlarged (yes, that’s correct) and in recent years, several Marvel attractions have debuted–with more Marvel and Frozen on the way.
Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa Trip Planning Guide – More a cross between a lavish ocean-side resort and a water park than a theme park, Disney’s Aulani Resort in Hawaii is a beautiful, relaxing, and culturally authentic experience. We highly recommend it if you’re visiting Oahu.
Disney Cruise Line Planning Guide – With its own private island and 4 ships in its fleet (plus several more coming soon), Disney Cruise Line is becoming a formidable premium product in the cruise industry. Even sailing without kids, we absolutely love Disney Cruise Line. Find out what makes DCL special in our planning guide and other resources about it!
Hope these help! If you have any questions, leave them in the comments here (or on those particular guides). We receive email notifications when a comment is left, and we try our best to respond to all questions.
In addition to our Disney trip planning resources, we have some other guides that we’ve written in response to questions received on many of our Disney Parks Trip Reports. In those, we share a ton of meticulous detail about what we do each day of our visits, share photos, and go off on random tangents about nothing in particular. We have a lot of fun in the parks, and hope that comes through in our trip reports!
We “reluctantly” concede that we do have a lot of fun when we tour the parks, and that’s because we think we enable ourselves to do that by planning and doing things right. Trips are a lot more fun when you plan properly: if you wear comfortable shoes, bring delicious and energizing snacks, read the right books to prepare for your trips, or use the right apps.
For Disney updates, discount information, a free download of our Money-Saving Tips for Walt Disney World eBook, and much more, sign up for our free monthly newsletter! If you enjoy any of our planning resources or other posts, please share them with your friends, or leave a comment below letting us know. Thanks for reading!
Your Thoughts
If you are a Walt Disney World or Disneyland veteran, what planning tips would you offer? If you’re a first-timer, is there anything else you’d like to know? Please share your thoughts in the comments. Do you agree or disagree with our advice? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback–even when you disagree with us–is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Hi Sarah & Tom. My family and I are considering an Asia Disney themed trip in 2020. We’d love your opinion on our plan to visit Toyko, Hong Kong and Shanghai parks in one trip. Is it too much? Have you done it?
Also, do you recommend trying to book this on our own or should we use a travel agent?
Thanks for all the work you put into your blog! We love it.
Me and my family are going December 26-28and I have been trying to find out how c crowded Magic Kingdom will be and what is the best time 2 go
I love all your tips and tricks–thank you! I’ve set up plans and used the Lines app in preparation for our trip in a couple weeks, but I’m concerned that I will feel go-go-go and not have time to take pictures, etc. What kind of wiggle room do you think there is? Thank you again.
HI:
How do I get a dvd Disney vacation planner?
Do they still send it?
They still do. You can even watch it on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/C1E7XAVk1tY
I just want to say thank you for all this great information. I found this website for the first time 3 hours ago, and haven’t stopped reading. Cheers!
thank you for your very thorough blog. It’s my go-to source for all things Disney. I’m not a Disney novice, but I try to throw in something different each trip, particularly now that I’m taking my daughter. I’m wondering if you’ve reviewed some of the fireworks cruises. I’ve been looking at pirates and pals vs one of the private cruises. It’s about the same price for my size group. Any thoughts?
Hi, we are looking to go to Disneyworkd in February 2019, do they offer the free finning plan then or only in the summer/fall.
Thanks
I haven’t seen free dining yet for then and I just booked Feb 2019.
Hi there, I absolutely love the blog and used it a lot while planning our Disney World trip (just got back 2 weeks ago, it was great!). We didn’t get to do Epcot due to our flight being delayed, and also didn’t do Hollywood Studios.
We would like to visit again next year but with some new lands opening I’m not sure if 2019 is ideal for visiting Disney World? Maybe Disneyland would be a better idea for 2019 and leave Disney World for 2020? What do you guys think? Would love to hear your opinion
Hi I also wanted to mention I’m only writing for some suggestions now because after doing all my research and just trying to plan… this is the first time I saw this blog site and I am so thankful for giving all your ideas and help as to what I was able to read upon so far… I will continue to read on but I just wanted to see if there is any other simple but fun we can do in disneyworld for 5 days until we come back next time I will plan this way better LOL
Hi we are planning to go to Disney world but unfortunately I wasn’t too sure how to begin and what to do and I am so totally new at planning trips what more Disney World trip… so because we are pretty much in a time constraint because we didn’t know we had to plan really well… we are also going on buddy passes to travel so we can’t really set an exact date yet to do anything… so unfortunately I didn’t plan for two weeks in Disney World because I assumed 5 days would be enough… so now I am going to just have to stick with 5 to 7 days at the most… so I was wondering because of our unset plans and time straints can you give me some tips as to what should we experience first and then we will just have to come back like later in the year with better planning? It’s just my husband and I and our two year old baby girl and our 18 year old big baby girl… we’re doing this for our 18 year old’s graduation gift. Do you have any simple but fun ideas on how we can still enjoy ourselves with such little time?
Hi guys,
This is well overdue but I wanted to say thank you for all the work which is put into this blog! My husband and I headed to Disney World in February 2017 and I spent many hours trawling your posts prior to our trip. It helped me with all my planning (and strategising!) and we had a fantastic time.
Coincidentally while we were there I’m pretty sure we walked past the two of you, I was too shocked to actually say anything!
It looks like our next trip to Disney might be some years away (we’ve just had a baby), but I’ll certainly be coming back here for planning when it is time and we can make it special for our little girl 🙂 perhaps Tokyo Disney as it’s a bit closer to home (Australia).
Keep up the great work!
Hi Tom,
I am wondering if you’ve heard anything about Disney Cruises expanding to Australia. I have read they have 4 new ships and I have heard they plan to have itineraries that include Australia in the future but can’t find anything concrete. This would be amazing as there is such a strong Disney fan base here in OZ and no park to visit close by. Visiting the parks in Japan, Shanghai and Hong Kong just isn’t the same. I read a while back that there is talk of an Australian Disney park but it seems those rumours have stoped and it doesn’t look promising.
Do you know of anything?
Hey Tom! Thanks for all the valuable info you provide. We have a MYW pkg for Sept that currently includes hotel/park hopper tickets. My hope is to modify my reservation when the free dining offer is released to include it. It’s nearing time to make our ADR’s and just found out I will have to pre pay ($211) for Cinderella’s Royal Table. Should I go ahead and add the dining plan to my pkg so I can reserve CRT (without having to pre pay) or will this hurt my chances of modifying my reservation when free dining is released? If it would hurt my chances and I go ahead and pre pay, would I be able to use TS credits later and get my money refunded without losing/having to change my reservation? Thank you for any suggestions or feedback you can provide!
If you can front the money, the best way to do this is paying now and having the money refunded once you’re at the restaurant. To my knowledge, you have to pre-pay for Cinderella’s Royal Table regardless of Dining Plan status.
Thanks so much for the quick response!!!
Hi Tom- we are headed to disney in September. My mom will be celebrating her 70th bday on the trip. We are going to do a non parks day. I am having trouble finding a place to take her to breakfast- do you have suggestions?
Thank you for your help!
Thanks for all the info. We are planning a trip to WDW next month with my adult children and their kids. Having this information has made it easier to know that we are going to have a great trip. It has made the planning more fun as we make reservations to suggested restaurants and book our fast passes using recommended park itineraries. Planned, but not over-planned leaving us time to explore. We are packing many of the items on the gear list. Thank you
Gluten free tips!
I am coming to WDW for the first time in June 2017 staying at Port Orleans Riverside, we have quick dining plan and tickets for all of the parks. We are 4 adults and 1 child age 4 and a baby 16 months. I have to say that I am totally overwhelmed with all of the information and suggestions on how to make the best of my 14 day trip. Now not sure when to use my fast pass plus tickets, what parks to go to, how to get the best from my hotel, or whether or not the casual dining is suitable for us (not even sure how to use it). Totally confused and overwhelmed really thinking that we should just turn up and do what we fancy every day, if we don’t get to see some of the attractions or get onto the rides we will just need to live with it!!!! Coming all the way from Scotland and feel that I will need a holiday after this trip!!
Please sign up for email updates on free Disney dining dates
Where do i sign up?
We are trying to plan a Disney world trip for the week of Christmas and I’m struggling! We’ve been before, but I think with so much going on I just need someone to do it for me without spending a fortune. Any suggestions?
Thank you!