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!
I have a trip planned for mid November. When is the best time to make the park reservations?
Wish there was a way to sign up for alerts as to when new articles are published
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Hello Tom,
I’m hoping that, with your vast repertoire of contacts within the WDW community, you might have some indication of when the WDW Railroad would be running again. I really miss having a relaxing ride around the park…
Thanks!
Hi! Firstly thanks – we have found this site super useful. That said all the planning guides seem geared towards very able bodied guests trying to fit lots into a day. We are heading towards Disney World (Orlando) in July with our autistic son, two other kids, and older Grandmother. We are forced to tackle the holiday differently. Any chance you could produce a ‘slow Disney’ guide?
In our case we will hopefully use DAS to keep wait times calm but even then we will probably need to leave the parks for a few hours break midday and return in the evenings. We also need to avoid fireworks which can cause panic attacks. We have no choice in date (first two weeks of July – eek!) so we will plan hard to make it a success. We have a 14 day hopper ticket so can at least spread Disney over a longer slower time.
Any tips of slow Disney would be super! Thanks
On the week we are visiting, Hollywood Studios closes at 5:00 P.M. for some reason. Since we have park hopper tickets, would that be a good day to visit Hollywood Studios and then head to another park that stays open late?
It would almost certainly be an excellent day. Most people without Park Hopper tickets will NOT visit DHS that day (for obvious reasons), and it’ll likely be far less crowded. That’s what past precedent from other parks with early closing suggests.
Conversely, DHS will almost certainly be busier the days before and after the early closing day.
Please send me emails of any new posts for upcoming Floridian discount tickets or release of annual passes. Have a good day.
Thank you.
Hi Tom. Thanks for all your info. I am a seasoned traveler onto WDW, but have always traveled with my nuclear family. Now my kids are teens and we are doing a trip with the cousins. Do you have any blogs/tips for how to plan a WDW for a larger group. For example, does everyone need to get their own MyDisney before I try to link tickets and make reservations? Not sure where to start….
Thanks for your help!
Could you please tell me where I can file a complaint at Disney World. I thought if there is anyone who will actually listen you would know who they are. Thank you so much
I can’t find “unsubscribe” for this sight. Didn’t like getting pop-ups when I was on other sights and want that to stop. Did our Disney and Universal trip so I don’t need any more news at this time. Learned a lot from it and felt somewhat prepared to use lightening passes and fast passes. The first day you use these passes can be very frustrating, It gets easier, but it still zapped some of the carefree fun at the parks for our family. The most popular ride at each park were never under a 2 hour wait. Couldn’t use your passes, no virtual lines, and any singles line was closed down. All and all we had a good time and glad we went.
MELANEI
Hi, do you have a video clip for 2022 planning?
I would like to sign up for emails please and thanks
I would like to receive e-mails.
Thank you
Just signing up for email updates
Tom,
Thank you for all your blogs, we have read them all. This was our 8th time going and yes we were very cautious. Our grand daughter’s Christmas gift from 2019 came true. the week of August 15th 2021 at WDW.
Due to the Covid pandemic we cancelled our trip from March 2020, rescheduled our trip year and half later.
The Cinderella castle dining was not available. Seeing the characters in the street parade waving at us was priceless!
Greatest memories, everyone at the park was amazing despite the heat.
Follow the rules! Wear a mask- sanitize- social distance as much as you can…..
thanks again,
Dee
Please notify me of new posts by email.
Please send me email updates. Thanks!
Hi Tom,
Any advice for Canadians going to WDW and needing a PCR test before returning home?
Thank you in advance
Dom
I would like to receive emails. Thank you.