9 Things To Do Right Before Your Disney Trip

Your trip is almost here! You are so close to actually arriving you can almost smell the treats from Main Street U.S.A. Before you make your way to the Magic Kingdom, make sure you have checked off the last few details for your trip. Here are a few things you need to do right before your Disney trip.

Triple check your reservations

You need to double check all your dining and fastpass reservations. Make sure everything looks right and you’ve hit all of your must-dos on the list. Remember, do not give up on dining reservations. You would be surprised what you can grab right before a trip. Everyone else is also going over their plan of attack for the trip and will likely realize they don’t want a certain reservation anymore. Do not give up. Also, don’t give up once you get there, you can walk up to any restaurant and see if they have any last minute cancellations. The worst they can say is they are full.

This goes for your hotel reservations! Make sure you put in your two requests for the type of room you would like. Every Disney hotel gives you the option to pick different things based off the room you booked. You can request to view the pool, be on the ground floor, a specific section of the resort, and more! The past few times I have had to call to make a room request because my profile wouldn’t let me do it properly. I prefer calling anyway because if you are unsure about what type of room you want, the cast member can help! Especially if you are staying in a hotel that is being renovated or has been recently renovated. It is helpful to know the areas that could be louder or have a new room to stay in.

Check the current park hours

Disney seems to change their park hours and showtimes constantly. Be sure to check the daily schedule for each park in relation to where you will be that day. You also need to compare the showtime schedule to your other reservations to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Reserve transportation

This is mostly for flying, but make sure you have thought through all your transportation needs. If you are flying out, you still need to figure out how you are getting to and from your home airport. If you are staying on Disney property make sure have made your Magical Express reservation.

Pack

Packing and unpacking are my two least favorite activities for any trip. I am always stressed I will forget something and not realize until it is too late. WDW Prep School has a great checklist for packing so even if you don’t need everything on the list, it covers what you might!

Be sure check out what you should overpack and the items you definitely need in your daily Disney parks bag!

Download My Disney Experience

If you haven’t already downloaded the My Disney Experience app, do it immediately. I recommend doing this well before your trip to get familiar with the program. It is one of the single greatest resources you will use in the parks. It has all of your reservations and information in one convenient location! Make sure all of your tickets and reservations are there. You’ll notice your fastpass reservations are already loaded in there. Take a photo of your schedule for each day and save it into an album on your phone. This can help save your phone’s battery during your trip and is a nice backup if the app doesn’t feel like working.

Finalize your plan of attack

This might seem silly since you spent all that time making the perfect plan for your Disney trip, but you made some of those decisions 180 days ago. As you are reviewing your reservations think about what it means to have everything scheduled. Did you miss something? Do you have too much? Are you already feeling overwhelmed by the list of things you have to do while at Disney? Be honest with yourself and see if the days need to be adjusted at all.

Check the weather

Florida weather is always questionable. If you are going in the summer you are pretty much guaranteed you will never need to wear pants (unless of course, you are going to a fancier dinner). This becomes truer during the winter when the weather can go from shorts to sweater overnight. It is also important to note if it looks like it will rain for a lot of your trip. While there are definite places you can escape the weather in each park, some parks, like Animal Kingdom, should definitely be saved for a nicer day. If you can swap around your plans, I suggest making sure the weather lines up with what you wanted to do.

Order groceries

Depending on how you plan on vacationing, a lot of families like to get groceries delivered to them. If you are staying on a Disney Vacation Club property, you most likely will order groceries since you have a full kitchen at your disposal. Other families simply like to order snacks and other items so they don’t have to pack them and pay for the extra weight on the plane.

Garden Grocer is the #1 recommended site to order groceries for Disney. Even if you aren’t planning on cooking or making meals in your room, you can save money by packing snacks or fruits for simple food to throw in your bag. Also, if you plan on drinking you can get beer delivered too!

Get excited!

It is a vacation after all! I like to get ready for a trip by watching some Disney movies to remind myself of the Disney magic. Others like to order some extra Mickey gear for the parks or get a fun toy to come along for the adventure. So keep counting down, your trip will be here sooner than you know!