Because I didn’t have enough going on, what with my upcoming surgery and instant menopause, imminent birthmonth, taking over as president of the board for the kids’ swim team, and, you know, holding down a full-time job and keeping two kids alive, I have decided to plan another trip to Disney.
Now, for normal people, that last line item there wouldn’t be a big deal – an all-inclusive Disney vacation can be booked and paid for within 20 minutes.
But we all know I’m not normal.
I’ve got to research the hell out of each and every decision, and I have to do it NOW because dining reservations need to be made 180 days in advance (okay it is not required, but every good neurotic Disney planner does this) and we are there!
Before I could make dining reservations, though, I needed to make a trip plan and decide which parks we were going to hit on which days. This meant scouring the internet for crowd calendars and daily lists of recommended parks and parks to avoid. And every crowd calendar says something just a bit different, so as soon as I decided on one thing, I read something to make me change my mind.
So, with the 180 day deadline looming, I finalized the schedule last night. I made a list of the date, time and location of each reservation we’d need and ranked them in order of hardest- to least-hard-to-get, and arranged my laptop and credit card on my kitchen table so that when the alarm went off at 5:50 this morning (reservations open at 6am!), everything would be set to go.
And everything was set! Andy and I woke up early and were waiting on the clock to strike 6, and when it did, we saw this.
That’s right, 181 days to go. I was a day too early. So, we’ll have to do the same thing all over again tomorrow. But at least I will have another day to make sure everything is exactly right!
And I only have 121 days to figure out the FastPass+ system. Hold me.
I am dying laughing! That is AMAZING! If I ever make my kids’ dreams come true and go to Disney, you are planning it for me. Only way it’s gonna happen.
Can’t wait to see the spreadsheet
180 day out mark is my favorite day of the year. I literally ran through the house to the computer. I witnessed someone try to walk up to Be our guest and get a reservation for that night. Fools! BTW, I recommend lunch there over dinner.
I’m with you! Our 180 day mark is next week and I have been stalking the Disney park hours each day trying to get my plan in place. I hadn’t thought about the order of making the reservations though I always just went in day order, but now I’m going to rethink it! Thanks for the tip!
Julia, I think, generally, as long as you make the reservations right at 6 am, there isn’t much if a problem getting the ones you want. Unless you have a big party. My only suggestion is to make Be Our Guest first, everything else should be easy enough, unless you have very specific times, like the very first breakfast spot at Cinderella’s Royal Table. The real hush is whe it’s time to schedule the fast passes. Use the full website. It’s much better than the app for making reservations. BTW, the first breakfast spot at Cinderella’s is the only one I try to make, on a day that doesn’t have morning extra magic hours. If it’s a later spot, it cuts into the time when the lines are short. But with that said, it’s also really fun to be in the park before it opens, when you have to have a resturant reservation to get in. Pros and cons I guess.
So how did it go today? Hopefully you’ll post again when it’s time to schedule your fastpasses. I’d love more tips on that. Our last visit was before FastPass +