Around here it’s Disneyland Paris planning time! Next year we will take our very first trip to Europe and to this park. Everything is wildly new and overwhelming and I had to finally step way back and remind myself that I know how to do this! I just need a good plan in place to plan the trip! (yes, a plan for planning)
This is a subject we will cover a lot here on our blog, but to start we thought we would share the very beginning steps that we take when planning a Disney vacation. The steps we follow are:
- If this is your first visit: log onto the Disney Parks website, watch a few promo videos, look over the map, and get a sense of what you’re dealing with. Depending on which location and what your experience level is with Disney Parks this will give you a glimpse at what you’ll be looking at.
- Punch in the dates you think you’ll visit and get a quote. Be prepared for sticker shock – this is just to gauge where pricing is vs your budget and get a baseline started.
Think of this as the background research. Disney puts so much detail into their resorts, and so spending some time doing your own research will ensure you have a great trip, don’t miss out on any special happenings, and book the best trip for your needs! One of the key components to our blog here is to help share all of the knowledge gained planning (and taking!) fabulous Disney trips.
Once you’ve got a baseline of knowledge (how many parks, resort options, staying Disney vs elsewhere, etc) you can start imagining a trip in general. How many days you can spend or that you think are optimal, where a good place to stay will be, and transportation are the big three that I begin with.
I could spend months on these just debating pros and cons, struggling with indecision, but the bottom line is this:
Once you have a timeline, budget, and other basic parameters laid out for the trip THEN the real planning fun begins!
Oh, sure it’d be ideal in my mind to have three weeks in a suite at Disney World… but I have neither the time nor money to make that happen. Every trip has constraints – so once you know when you’re going, how long you’ll be there, and where you are staying then you can get to the fun part. The planning of where to eat, what to see, how to prioritize, and what are your “must do” items.
The real key is to break down the process so that you can plan effectively – and have a magical trip! We have years of experience and will be sharing our best tips and tricks and try our best to save you time and help you plan your very best trips. Stay tuned for MUCH more!