Our First Trip to Walt Disney World - The Magic and Planning of it All

Sometime in early September, I started daydreaming about a vacation to Walt Disney World.  Unlike our National Park trips, this one would be about swimming in a pool, going on rides, and experiencing holiday lights, music, and entertainment.  It didn't take long for me to hit the "submit" button.  Before I knew it, I had booked us a reservation to Orlando, Florida, and there was no turning back.

My eleven year-old self remembered Walt Disney World when I went with my mom and Aunty Sarah.  Back then, however, there was no Toy Story, Frozen, Star Wars, or even their third theme park--Hollywood Studios. It would feel like a new experience all over again.  Big Lew had never been to Disney before, and Little Lewie, now eleven himself, would be going for his first time.  It felt great to be creating and memorializing a tradition.  "Lewie," I said, "did you know I was eleven years-old when I came here for my first time, too?  You are following in my footsteps."

About two weeks before arriving at Disney, I bought our tickets and soon learned about the My Disney Experience website and mobile app.  New to the inner workings of online vacation planning, I quickly had to acquaint myself to the FastPass+ reservation system and all the rides, entertainment, and dining experiences.  My Disney aficionado coworkers laughed at me: "You haven't started planning yet?  You better get online and start making reservations; some people start booking their rides 60 days in advance!"  Gone were the days in 1986 when my mom, aunt, and I strolled through the park and leisurely picked out our rides as we came to them.  If I didn't have a master plan, we would be doomed to a vacation of long lines and FastPass+ reservations for rides we didn't even want to experience.

Just days before our trip, I started flipping through travel guides like the Birnbaum's 2019 Walt Disney World: the Official Guide and websites like MagicGuides, where they provide a detailed list of rides, entertainment, FastPass+ Mobile App tips, and sample itineraries.  I put on my research hat and started making a list of rides at each park--not just for me--but for my two boys that are into space, technology, and all things virtual reality.  Then it was off to planning--a combination of "Yay, this ride is available," and "Darn, we missed out on that one."

In the end, I learned that the "early bird does get the worm."  There were some rides like Peter Pan's Flight (Magic Kingdom), Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (Magic Kingdom), Frozen Ever After (Epcot), and the Slinky Dog Dash (Hollywood Studios) that had 60+ minute wait times and no FastPass+ options available (even after routinely checking with the My Disney Experience Mobile App throughout the day).  Many of the other favorite rides, however, were available with multiple time-frames to choose from.  Thankfully, for procrastinators like me, we were still able to see most of what we wanted through the reservation system.  For those rides that we couldn't reserve, we made decisions about how long we wanted to wait.  For example, my two boys were willing to wait 60 minutes for Test Track (Epcot), but they were unwilling to wait 60+ minutes from Frozen Ever After (Epcot).  (I lost out!!)

I'll be writing about all our adventures at the different parks; ultimately, we went to Epcot, the Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Universal Studios (in that order) and had an AWESOME time.  There was no way we would ever get to experience and see it all in one vacation, but we certainly did make the most of it.  Unlike me, I don't think Little Lewie will have to wait until he's 44 to go on another Disney trip again.  If I can have it my way, we'll be back again before he's 20.