Our updated Disney vacation planning guide for 2022 will include all the tips you need to have a great vacation.
In this post
It doesn't matter if it's your first time in orlando or if you always go to disney.
We will cover various topics such as:
– How to save money on your trip to Disney
– How to save a lot of time on your trip to Orlando
– How to avoid huge crowds and queues
– Choose the best places to eat
– What are the best tours to do
In short, we will give you information to plan and fully carry out the Itinerary for Your Disney Vacation in Florida!
The information here will be updated throughout the year according to news or information that changes!
So you can be sure that none of the tips are out of date.
Many people who have never been do not imagine some of the “difficulties” they will have until they arrive at disney for the first time.
The advertisements make it look like a carefree world.
A world where everyone jumps hand in hand with the Mickey Mouse and walk for a walk. This is not reality.
You need to plan. There is a ton of information to know before visiting the walt disney world parks.
As complex as the planning may seem, the payoff is worth it.
After hundreds of trips we've already made and scripts that we put together for our customers, we learned a lot and here we will give you valuable tips to facilitate your planning and make your vacation to disney as pleasant as possible.
Because of the vast amount of information about Walt Disney World, we'll cover the basics.
However, we will try to give as much detail as possible.
If you want a deeper analysis, we recommend that you contact us for We prepare a personalized itinerary for your family.
When to Plan My Disney Vacation
First, there is no absolute best year to visit Disney.
Of course it's important to be aware of the signs of COVID and determine a good time to go.
We can say with relative peace of mind now that 2022 is looking to be a great year to plan your trip to Orlando!
If it's your first time, you might even want to wait for 2023 where several attractions scheduled to open will certainly be open by then, such as the new magic kingdom attraction, The Tron Roller Coaster!
But if it's not your 1st time at Disney, I would strongly consider 2022.
That way, you can enjoy Walt Disney World's 50th anniversary events, and a ton of new features were announced at the D23 Expo that will launch in time for that.
Of course, due to the pandemic, some attractions and restaurants are still operating at reduced capacity and others are still closed.
As there is still no forecast for a full return of normal activities at Walt Disney World, we do not recommend waiting.
Mainly because we believe that some attractions will not return to their operation, such as the NBA Experience and The Void, both in Disney Springs.
Some of the New Years
We'll quickly run through some of the latest updates about Walt Disney World, in case you're wondering what's new there.
Starting with Magic Kingdom.
Happily Ever After has been removed and replaced with the new fireworks show, Disney Enchantment, which normally runs around 9pm!
At Epcot, we have an amazing new restaurant called Space 220 where you have the opportunity to dine in space.
In addition, a new attraction opened there, the Remy Rattatouile attraction can be found in the Pavilion of France in the World showcase.
Of course, your favorite attractions like the Soarin ?Around the World and the Frozen Ever After they are still open over there!
If you have Frozen fans in your group, this attraction is a must.
At Disney's Hollywood Studios, many new features have already opened, such as:
– Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge
– Toy Story Land
– Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway.
At the moment, Hollywood Studios is one of the busiest parks and undoubtedly one of the hardest to do all the attractions in one day.
Another novelty was that Disney removed the darlings FastPass +.
But you still have the opportunity to skip the queue, the difference now is that this system is paid, and it's called Genie+ and Lightning Lane.
We won't go into detail here about them, but by clicking on their names above you can follow our guide to each one.
While many people are excited about all this news, be careful.
Because while it is a new area or attractions are super cool, the Disney parks It's getting more and more crowded!
Therefore, queuing times for all attractions in the park should increase significantly.
If your time is limited and you don't care much about Star War, you can skip the Hollywood Studios from Disney until the park returns to normal levels of capacity.
However, we do not recommend doing this as Hollywood Studios has incredible attractions!
Alternatives for your Disney Vacation
Alternatively, consider spending a day at Universal Studios Florida or Islands of Adventure.
Both have elaborate Wizarding World areas of Harry Potter which are wonderful.
although it is more expensive buy tickets for Universal 1-2 days than adding a day at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
This is if you take the face value, but if you buy the 3-day ticket and use 2 days, one and each park, this cost benefit is wonderful.
Mainly for teenagers and adults looking for a little more radical attractions.
If you want to secure your tickets at a discount, take advantage of our promotions.
Just use the coupon PARTIUDISNEYPARKS in this link.
Another very good alternative to enjoy a day and escape the huge crowds in the parks is to enjoy Disney springs!
This is the entertainment and shopping “hub” formerly known as Downtown Disney.
There are still some construction projects underway, with more restaurants in the Disney springs opening soon.
We have a post here on blog giving several tips about things to do in disney springs.
The Universal complex also has its entertainment center, the Citywalk, but this one is slightly smaller than Disney's Springs.
But you can include in your itinerary a day of citywalk together with a day of shopping in the Premium outlets which are very close to there.
When to Go to Disney
If you already know which year you are going to travel to Walt Disney World, the next related question is which time of year.
The first thing to consider is discounts.
The promotion Free Disney Dining Plan annual It's not available yet, but let's wait because it's made every year.
This is the most popular promotion of the year and a good reason to take a year-end trip.
Other discounts are normally offered throughout the year during less busy travel dates.
In addition to saving money, crowds are a big consideration. This has a huge impact on the trip, so choose wisely.
Walt Disney World can get VERY crowded!
As such, the time of year you visit can have a dramatic impact on crowd density and attraction wait times.
If you have kids in school, you're probably looking for a visit during school breaks.
But be aware that these are some of the busiest times, due to the vast majority of Walt Disney World guests being in the same circumstances.
Generally, the week (or so) long breaks are absolutely the worst in terms of crowds.
If you are planning a visit to the summer of 2022, the first piece of good news is that summer is no longer a busy season at Walt Disney World.
At least, not fully.
If you're traveling with kids, read our Walt Disney World trip planning guide with kids in addition to this post.
We have more complete tips on when to visit our page When to visit Walt Disney World.
There we take into account school schedules, crowds, climate, parking hours and special events.
How Long to Stay During a Disney Vacation
How long you should stay on a Disney vacation depends a lot on the type of trip you want to take.
Let's explain a little better.
If you're not a huge Disney fan but are taking your kids on a “once in a lifetime” trip, how long you should stay is dramatically different from how long a Disney fan would stay.
For the first time, we recommend a stay at Walt Disney World of at least 6 or 7 days.
The exact time will still vary slightly depending on how much vacation time you have.
Even if you plan to visit theme parks or non-Disney destinations, you will need more time.
Or if you only want to visit the orlando parks, or other things to do in the city.
You'll probably also want to take a few days to relax, it's your vacation after all.
By the way, we recommend doing this in the middle of your trip so you don't get bored at the theme parks.
Even because the parks are extremely tiring, avoid doing more than 2 parks in a row.
Including, another consideration for planning trips to Disney World can be how much time to spend doing other things.
You might want to do theme parks in the Orlando area like:
– Universal Studios Florida
– Sea World
– Busch Gardens
Possibly you might want to visit the beach, or visit local malls, outlets, or observe the manatees.
Speaking quickly of the other parks, Busch Gardens and Sea World put on a roller coaster show.
Both are excellent each in their context.
While Universal's parks have extreme rides and rides for all ages, they're all really great.
There are also other things at Walt Disney World besides the theme parks to consider when planning how many days you spend there.
A rule of thumb for calculating your travel days, look at your ticket expiration dates and plan an itinerary with a maximum of 2 parks in a row.
Therefore, if you want to do 7 parks, we believe this is at least a 10-12 day trip to allow enough rest time between parks.
And this rest is not necessarily about staying at the hotel, you have several excellent options in Orlando such as Disney springs, golf, restaurants, water parks and much more.
Park Tickets
If you book a complete package of trip, perhaps not much to say about which park tickets you should choose.
However, we recommend that you buy your tickets separately from an authorized seller to save money.
Buying packages often seems like an advantage, but travel agencies have to compensate somewhere in order to make money.
These packages usually come with worse tickets, hotels that are too simple and transport that leaves much to be desired.
Never wait to buy your tickets at the parks box office!
First, because buying at the time you will lose precious time, second, tickets at the box office are more expensive.
And third, now to go to the Disney parks, you also need to schedule your trip.
That's right, without scheduling, you don't enter the park!
And detail, if you wait to schedule too close to the day of your departure, you run the risk of not having more appointments available.
Types of Ticket
Walt Disney World currently uses Flex Pricing for 1-day tickets with three season pricing tiers: Value, Regular, and Peak.
This probably doesn't affect most readers of this guide.
But if you are only visiting for one day, you should try to avoid national holidays, school breaks or weekends, as these are by far the most expensive days.
The longer your park tickets last, the less they cost per day.
Disney's mantra is the more you play, the less you pay per day.
Walt Disney World day tickets are quite expensive if purchased individually.
But multi-day tickets come out with a much cheaper daily rate.
The cost of additional days on a ticket decreases substantially for each day you add after 3 days.
In other words, longer journeys are not proportionately more expensive than shorter ones.
Too bad the same doesn't apply to hotel rooms!
Other references
We have 3 posts here on the blog that can help you save and have an idea of when your trip will leave or how much you can save, they are:
- Budget Travel to Orlando: How to Travel Cheaply to Disney
Where to Stay During Your Disney Vacation
When evaluating Walt Disney World hotels, you're likely to get a bit of a shock when you look at the bill.
Hotel prices have risen considerably in recent years.
Unfortunately discounts are not as plentiful as they used to be.
If your budget is tight but you still want on-site luxury, consider getting a quote from the Disney Vacation Club rental company.
For more information about the disney hotels, we have a really cool post here on the blog where we talk a lot about them: What hotels are inside Disney?
If you're not sure where you want to stay, the first question you should answer is is it onsite or offsite?
In general, you make more money when you stay at an off-site hotel.
For there are many non-Disney hotels competing with each other, and they cannot charge Disney premium rates.
On the other hand, non-Disney hotels are usually farther away from Disney parks.
And they certainly don't offer the same immersive vacation experience that many people describe as being in the "Disney bubble".
Basically, the decision to stay off-site is likely to be spared.
Comparable (or better) off-site rooms can be significantly cheaper than hotels Walt Disney World.
So they can cheapen your trip.
But remembering that at Disney you also have more affordable options, such as All Star hotels, Art of Animation and Pop century for example.
Another option if you want to save money but want bigger accommodations than a standard hotel is also Airbnb or a vacations House.
Advantages of Staying at Disney Resort
If you're staying at Walt Disney World, the top three tiers are Value, Moderate, and Deluxe.
They are exactly as their names sound, in the order presented, from cheapest to most expensive.
There's also a Deluxe Villa category, which is basically Disney's slang for "timeshare room."
In addition to location and transportation, some of the main advantages of staying in from Disney Resort are:
– A larger booking window FastPass + (Removed)
– Complimentary Magicbands (Removed)
– Free Transfer from Airport to Hotel (Removed)
– Free transportation to the parks
– Early Theme Park Entry (Entry 30 minutes before opening at any park)
– Scheduling of Genie+ from 7am onwards.
As you can see, Disney has removed some of the perks of staying at one of their hotels.
However, for those who love Disney and the service it offers, we believe that staying there is still an advantage, even with the rising cost of lodging.
Vacation Packages
The most popular Disney vacations made directly via the site DisneyWorld.com cover a combination of hotel, park tickets and meals.
Even often, these packages offer excellent savings.
Especially in relation to the others, sometimes it's just total trip price elements grouped together.
Even if you can save a lot with vacation packages in other more distant hotels instead of staying inside the Disney resort.
We believe it's worth paying the extra for the “Disney Difference” and location.
But that might not matter much to you.
If saving money is your main criterion, read our Tips to save on your trip.
The best way to find the right vacation package for you is to use a travel agent.
If you go this route, look for someone who primarily or exclusively does Disney-related bookings.
As you probably already know, Walt Disney World is quite complex.
Even if a travel agent doesn't specialize in Disney, they probably don't know the many nuances of a Walt Disney World vacation.
Disney Screenplay
We are qualified agents to help you.
If you need it, look for us to put together a package or itinerary for your trip.
Most travel agents specializing in Disney are ?no fees?.
So you don't need to book with them any more than booking through Disney.
If you are not sure which package might be best for you.
Or if you need personalized help for any aspect of your trip.
We recommend getting in touch with us here in the comments, we'll be more than happy to help you plan your trips.
Ticket and Transport Reservation
To search for cheap airfare, we recommend the Google ITA Software.
You can't book through ITA, but it's the most robust fare search engine out there.
It gives you the freedom to choose several airports to see if nearby airports can offer better prices, and lets you check a calendar of travel dates, among other things.
Another site that we use a lot is also the SkyScanner.
It is very complete because you can make purchases.
But the ideal and most guaranteed option is to check the prices on these websites and buy directly from the airlines.
That way you avoid any kind of possible headache.
If you are not booking a fixed date trip but are willing to travel to disney whenever a good option comes up.
Transportation on your Disney Vacation
One other VERY IMPORTANT thing! You will also need to determine if you want rent a car.
And of course, we always recommend that your car rental be done on a trusted website. For those who like to solve everything online, we recommend the rent cars because in addition to being extremely reliable, you can compare prices between major rental companies and make the best car reservation for you and your group!
But if you are one of those people who prefer a personalized service, we recommend that you make your quote with our partner rental agency clicking here!
Secure your car reservation for Orlando here at the best price!
If you're not visiting other destinations outside of Walt Disney World, you might not need to waste the money on one.
This is because within the complex disney you will enjoy indoor transportation.
In fact, it's really worth it because, in addition to saving money, you can go everywhere without having to worry about paying for parking or knowing how to get there.
This is especially true because disney is now charging the overnight for disney guests.
Therefore, it becomes another daily expense in your accounts.
Also as an alternative for those who do not have a Minnie Van or Uber rental car.
In short, it all depends on how your trip will be made, if you choose to do a lot of parks, outlets, etc.
Don't even think about renting a car, although you can get anywhere in orlando relatively quickly.
We suggest that you make quotations for the cars, Gasoline, tolls, and Uber prices to compare if economics is the key factor in your case.
We have a post where we talk a little better about these values.
If you choose to rent a car, talk to us, it will be a pleasure to make a budget.
What to Pack for a Disney Vacation
It may sound hard to believe, but packing for Walt Disney World can be a huge differentiator in helping you save money and enhance your experience.
By bringing certain items in your luggage, you will improve your experience and have more fun while spending less.
I won't expand too much on this topic because it doesn't run away from the obvious.
Keep an eye on the time you go to Disney
The end and beginning of the year tend to have very cold days, so take care of your coat and socks, the middle of the year is summer in the USA.
So, don't forget your swimming trunks and bikini to enjoy the water parks.
If possible, take it from home. raincoat, flip flops.
a Plug adapter serves well because the outlet models in Orlando are different from those in Brazil.
To guarantee a very special day. We made a youtube post just about things to take in your backpack to spend the day at the parks being it Universal studios or Disney.
Food on the Trip to Disney
We see a lot of posts out there about dining and food at Walt Disney World, which is a surprisingly complex (and fun!) topic.
The most important thing for first-time travelers to know is that the tired stereotype that Disney restaurants are all about hamburgers, hot dogs and other fast food is not even remotely true.
Disney has a bunch of wonderful dining options that can be an experience in and of itself.
Once you get past that stereotype, you open up a world of possibilities for your Walt Disney World dining.
To find out where to eat, you should definitely check out some of our posts here on the blog.
– Healthy Eating at the Magic Kingdom
– Vegetarian food at Epcot
– Vegetarian food at Disney's Hollywood Studios
– Food for Kids at Disney
– Romantic Restaurants at Disney
– Disney Springs Restaurant Guide
– Top 12 Disney World Restaurants
There are numerous options for dining inside and outside the Disney parks.
Including some restaurants that you can only eat with reservations made weeks in advance.
We recommend that you review your trip planning and think about how much you want to spend and how much you want to see.
The Park we most recommend if you eat at a restaurant is Epcot for its wide variety of different types of food.
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About the Author Carlos Braga:
Unparalleled experience in Orlando and Disney! As a former Universal Orlando team member and a passionate devotee of the magic of Disney, I have become a true Orlando travel expert. Before becoming a renowned travel consultant dedicated to Orlando, I had already made hundreds of visits to the parks, cultivating my knowledge and passion mainly over the last 7 years as a consultant and specialist in Disney travel.
My journey into this enchanted world began in 1995, when I took my first trip to Orlando. Since then, my love for Disney and the city has only grown. In 2023, we celebrate the sixth anniversary of 'Partiu Disney Parks', consolidating our role as one of the main sources of information about Disney and Orlando Parks.
During these six years of existence, we have continued to offer quality and updated content, being the reliable source for all those looking for essential information to plan their trip to Disney and Orlando. With my vast experience and passion for this magical destination, I am here to guide you every step of the way towards the most incredible Orlando and Disney experience!
very good post! One question, it would be better to wait to travel in 2022 right? Is it possible to go still in 2021?
Hi Ju!
All good? So, so far it is not possible to travel because the borders are still closed with no opening forecast. Stay tuned here on the blog and on our social networks as we will announce it as soon as the borders open!