You've Booked a Disney Vacation...Now What?

Congrats on booking your Disney vacation!!  Depending on how far out you booked, the wait may seem like forever.  I have some tips for you to pass the time:

©Set up your My Disney Experience account - you'll need this set up in order to make dining reservations, FastPass+ reservations and to personalize your Magic Bands.  You should also download the My Disney Experience app to your smartphone.

©Make a plan of attack - come up with a basic plan of which park(s) you'll do on which day.  I use WDW Prep School's monthly dashboards to figure out which parks are recommended for which days and go from there.  

©Make dining reservations - you can book your dining reservations 180 days in advance.  If you're not within that window, start looking at restaurants that you may want to try.  If you're within that window, ask your travel agent to start making your dining reservations.  You should first plan the park that you will be at for the day and make your reservations based on that. 

©Walk - if you're planning to buy shoes for your trip, buy them now and start walking in them.  You will walk several miles a day during your trip.  Start training now.  Your body will thank you!

©Watch Disney movies - prepare your family by watching some of the movies that rides and experiences are based on (or movies that are based on rides!).  The character meet and greets are always more special when you're familiar with the characters - plus it may give you ideas of things to say while you're interacting with the characters! Saturday is always our family movie night, but when we're preparing for a Disney vacation, we stick to Disney movies.  Here are some suggestions (in no particular order):

-Peter Pan

-The Little Mermaid

-Cinderella

-Haunted Mansion

-Pirates of the Caribbean

-Toy Story 

-Monsters, Inc.

-Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

-Tangled

-Swiss Family Robinson

-Beauty and the Beast

-The Incredibles

-Brave

-Dumbo

-Aladdin

-Frozen (assuming you haven't already watched it 10,000 times)

-Star Wars

-Indiana Jones

-Finding Nemo

-The Lion King

-A Bug's Life

-The Princess and the Frog

-Mary Poppins

-Sleeping Beauty

These are all movies that have an attraction and/or a character meet and greet associated with them.  

©Do your research - there are a lot of great sites out there about planning Disney vacations.  I love these.
©Start packing - of course, you don't need to actually start packing, but start thinking about what you'll want to pack and pick little things up along the way.  Here's a list of some things to purchase before your trip.  I always bring this adorable soap along with us, so I keep an eye out for it to go on sale. 

I'd love to help you every step of the way with your planning process! 

Rebecca Mitchell

Authorized Disney Travel Agent

FTM Travel

319.240.7987

www.ftmtravel.com

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Disney Travel - What to Purchase Before Your Trip

A trip to a Disney Park is a large vacation investment, so I have a few tips that you can take care of before your vacation:

©Portable phone charger - If you don't already have one, they are well worth the very small investment.  You will use your phone a lot while you are in the parks.  Using your phone for pictures, checking wait times and keeping in touch with one another in the park will drain your battery quickly.  My battery usually drains by late morning!  You can charge on the go and you don't have to look for a table near an outlet when you stop for lunch or waste your precious park time at a charging station.

©Comfortable shoes - As you know, you will walk a lot during your Disney trip.  More than you could imagine.  Like 10 miles per day.  Any amount that you spend will be worth it.  Your feet will hurt - it's just a matter of how much they hurt.  I've found that Croc flip flops work the best for me.  My son wears regular Crocs.  Whatever works for you, bring two pairs if you can.  Sometimes alternating your shoes will prevent blisters.

©First aid items - Speaking of blisters and pain, you'll want to bring some sort of blister bandage and some sort of pain killer.  My general rule of thumb when I'm packing my first aid bag: is it possible that I'll need this - YES - then pack it!  Travel sizes are great - buy them once and refill them with your larger supply.  I bring pain reliever, nighttime pain reliever, any type of BandAid you can think of, tummy medicine and Benedryl.  Not all gift shops carry first aid items and they can sometimes be hard to find and are much more expensive than they would be at Target or Walgreens.

©Rain gear - Chances are, it will rain while you are at Disney World (probably not at Disneyland).  Ziplock bags will save your electronics (phone, camera, phone charger) if you are caught in a downpour.  We also put our electronics in Ziplocks when we go on water rides - better safe than sorry!  In addition, you will not regret purchasing rain ponchos before you leave.  Umbrellas can be cumbersome while navigating the parks and if you're sitting in a theater venue, sometimes they won't let you use an umbrella at all.  The poncho really covers all.  You'll want to bring several cheap ones and toss them when you're done using them or bring a few of the pricier ponchos (maybe like $4-$5 each).  They are around $8 in the parks, so you'll be happy you planned ahead.

©Beverages/Food - You can have groceries sent to your resort via Garden Grocer or Amazon, but I'm a fan of bringing my own in my checked bag.  We bring SmartWater and Diet Coke, which saves us about $50 right there for our daily bottle of water (which you can refill) and my morning caffeine.  There are single-serve coffee machines in the Moderate and Deluxe rooms, so you're covered if that's what you're looking for.  

I'm all about saving time, money and steps when we go to Disney World and Disneyland.  I have learned the hard way on many of these tips.

All of these items fit easily in a backpack or small bag.  I use a small Kate Spade crossbody and it works just fine.    

I would love to share my Disney travel expertise with you!  Connect with me to help plan your Disney vacation:

Rebecca Mitchell

Authorized Disney Travel Agent

FTM Travel

319.240.7987

www.ftmtravel.com

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Best Disney Travel Planning Websites

As a Certified Disney Travel Agent for FTM Travel, I love to plan.  Like, looooove it (maybe too much).  That being said, there is A LOT of info to learn before you travel to a Disney Park if you want to make the most of your trip!  The following are my favorite websites for Disney Travel:

Disney World: WDW Prep School
Shannon, the author of this site, has it figured out!  This is my Disney World planning bible.  Everything from when is the best time to go to which FastPass+ selections to choose.  The site is put together thoughtfully and is easy to navigate.  It is not overrun with ads, which is awesome.

Disneyland:  DLP Prep School 
This is WDW Prep School's sister site for Disneyland.  You'll find the same great info on this site.  It's run by Casey, who has a great sense of humor and is at Disneyland about once a week, which has been especially exciting with the Disneyland 60th Diamond Anniversary Celebration!  

I recommend following both on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram to keep up to date on happenings.  Both sites do Q&A sessions on Facebook at least once a month which are incredibly informative.

What I love best about these two "prep" sites is that they will work hard to confirm rumors before putting it out there. I trust what they say - and that's somewhat hard to come by with Disney sites!

Disney Cruise Line: Disney Cruise Line Blog
The family that runs this blog has experienced numerous Disney cruises and their blog has very helpful information about the ships, restaurants, port excursions, different itineraries and helpful tips.

International Disney Parks, Disney Cruise Line and general Disney Info:
Disney Tourist Blog
Tom and Sarah Bricker run this incredible site that has trip reports and various other planning articles and reviews.  They have traveled to all of the international Disney Parks, so they have excellent planning tips if you are thinking about taking your love of Disney to the next level and traveling to Tokyo, Paris or Hong Kong.  Tom is an incredibly gifted photographer and his pictures are amazing.  You will not be disappointed!

There are so many sites out there, it's hard to know where to start.  These sites are one-stop-shops for your planning needs.  

Better yet?  Let me plan your vacation!  Please contact me today:
Phone:  319.240.7987
Email:  rcmitchell86@gmail.com
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/RebeccaMitchellDisneyTravel
Website:  www.ftmtravel.com


As much as I love to plan my own trips, I love to plan yours!  My goal is for you to have Magical Vacation that you will remember forever!  Leave the planning and research to me!  As always, if you book your vacation through me, my services are free of charge - could it get any easier than that?