Things to Do Before You Go to Disney World!

What a holiday Disney World was! As a family we had the most INCREDIBLE time, it's actually kind of hard to put into words how amazing our week there was! Lots of people have been asking for tips and advice for planning a trip there, especially when it comes to taking a baby and a toddler, so I'll be putting together a few posts with some tips and hopefully helpful pieces of info for anyone planning a trip to Disney World. Todays post is all about what I think are the best things to do before you go!

Plan your packing!

Packing for Disney doesn't have to be a big scary thing! My advice would be to first of all, get yourself a good check list - ones like this one are great and this Florida Holiday Checklist is also very good, showing you things to do months, weeks and days in advance of your trip. 

Also, see if you can get a family member to come over and watch the kids for a few hours to give you time to pack. My Mother-in-law who joined us on our trip kindly volunteered for this and it really helped! 

Think about baggage allowance and take into consideration any gifts/souvenirs you might like to bring back from Disney World with you. If you're traveling with a baby, check if the airline allows them any suitcases or/and hand baggage. We flew with Virgin and Logan got both! If you're taking a toddler - make sure you pack them lots to keep them entertained in their hand luggage. You can see what we took to keep our toddler entertained during the flight in this video. 

Some of the things we took on the plane to keep Ethan, nearly three, entertained. 

Get the My Disney Experience app!

The My Disney Experience app is just the best for organising and planning your Disney itinerary. We used it so much, before hand and whilst we were there! There's so much you can do from this app. One of the best things you can do is if you put together a sort of loose itinerary before you go, based on the rides and attractions that you most want to go on/see. If you're staying off-site you can book your FastPass+ passes 30 days before you go (these are the awesome passes you get that let you skip the main queue ride!). If you're staying at a Disney World resort you can book these 60 days in advance! You get to pre-book 3 FastPass+ passes per person a day, in whichever park you like! Through the My Disney Experience app you can check ride wait times, so if a ride you love the look of seems to generally have a long wait time, you'll know to pre-book one of your FastPass+ passes for it.
Another thing you can do from the app is book restaurants and it will also shows things like any spa treatments that you've booked. The app will show you what's available to book per day and show you available times. This then all shows up under your reservations tab. The app will also show you park times, allow you to create a wishlist and if you've purchased Memory Maker, holds all of your PhotoPass photos on. The My Disney Experience app is honestly so good and such a worthwhile thing to have, it's also totally free to download! 

Choose the color of your Magic Band!

Disney's Magic Bands are pretty cool. They are essentially all-in-one devices that allow you to access everything you need at Disney.With your Magic Band you can;

• Access your Disney Resort hotel room. You won't need any additional key/card.
• Enter theme and water parks if you have a valid admission.
• Access FastPass+ entrances by scanning your band at the machine.
• ConnectDisney PhotoPass photos to your My Disney Experience account.
• Charge food and any other purchases you make to your room. 

You can personalise your own Magic Bands in different colours. Currently on offer are the following 7 colours - pink, green, red, orange, yellow, blue and gray. To pick your favorite colours for your bands, you just need to log on to your My Disney Experience account either online or via the app. If you're from the UK, you will be able to collect your bands at your resort when you arrive. You can see which colours we opted for below!

I hope you've enjoyed this post and found it helpful. If you have please feel free to pin the image above to your Disney Pinterest board if you have one, as it will bring you straight back here. Next weeks Disney post will be all about what it's like actually being in Walt Disney World! :)
 
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*In association with Walt Disney World. All opinions are our own.