Starting to plan your Disney Holiday

This week the blog is focusing on where to start when planning a Disney holiday, so here are a few hints and tips to get you started. Personally, I have booked all of my trips through the same company as a package. I feel this suits my own situation best as I usually start planning my holiday over a year in advance.Also by buying the holiday as a package you are ABTA protected

Being from the UK, there are a variety of different companies that provide this service. So before looking at anything, step one would be to search online what holiday providers offer a full package holiday. I like to have the different links or websites open on my computer screen to allow me to compare prices, as well as look into the offers and holiday protection each company provides.

If you are planning a holiday less than 10 months from when you plan to jet off, I would recommend booking everything yourself separately as you tend to get a better deal than a package at this stage. The best place to start would be looking at prices of flights. For me, the go-to website would be 'skyscanner.net'. All you have to do is fill in the dates or time of year you plan to go and 'Skyscanner' will do all the comparison work for you. 

Personally, I would recommend staying in a Disney resort hotel as there are so many perks included when staying on Disney property such as 'Extra Magic Hours'. This will allow you to have access to the theme parks an hour or two before the park opens or after the park closes to the general public. This means that you will have more time to enjoy the attractions with little to no wait in the queues. 

Disney also provide a free bus service called the 'Magical Express', which will pick you up from Orlando International Airport and take you directly to your Disney resort. Although this is free, I would recommend tipping your bus driver as they will assist you with loading and unloading your luggage from the bus. Whilst staying on Disney property you will also receive free transport from your hotel to each of the different parks. 

When you check-in to your Disney hotel, every member of your party will get a free magic band. These are important as they are needed for your admission into the parks, as well as acting as your room key, In addition to this, you can personalise your magic band so that it has your name engraved on the inside and you can choose what colour you want the band to be. 

There are so many more advantages to staying in a Disney resort hotel, but I will cover these in future blogs. 

If you book over a year in advance, Disney usually do an offer for park tickets where you get a 14-day all access park ticket for the price of a 7-day ticket. This can also come with 'Memory Maker', which is an application set up by Disney where you can have all your photographs, taken by Disney cast members, throughout your entire holiday saved in one place. Disney may also have other offers on at the time of booking, so be sure to check these when booking a package deal. 

If you are booking the holiday separately, I would recommend using 'Attraction Tickets Direct'. These are a UK based ticket agent that sell tickets for a range of theme parks around the world. You can also book a Disney hotel through 'Attraction Tickets Direct', but if you decide not to stay on Disney property, this would be the company I would recommend for booking all your park tickets through. Once you have booked your tickets, they are posted out prior to your departure so you will be all set to hit the parks on your first day without the need to queue at ticket desks at the park entrance. 

These hints and tips would for me be the first points I would consider when I start booking a Disney holiday. In the next few weeks, I will go into more detail about the different dining experiences on offer, along with hints and tips on making the most of your time in the parks including the use of Disney's FastPass.

I hope you have found this useful and stay tuned for more Disney packed blogs.

"DON'T JUST FLY, SOAR!"

N x