Planning a Disney vacation...aka....Universal is not part of Disney World

As you may have heard, we're going to Disney World in less than two months.  I have been planning this trip since March.

I heard a statistic that 70% of all people traveling to Walt Disney World (that's the one in Florida) are "Once in a Lifetime" visitors.  Meaning that those people go to WDW once and that's it.  I have an idea why those people never go back.

Sure the easy answer is money.  Disney is freaking expensive...more on that later....

I truly believe the reason most people only go once is because of poor planning.

For instance, if I want to go to the beach...All I have to do is book a hotel room, and pack my swimsuit.  Done.  No planning, right?  Of course that isn't how I would travel to the beach...I would spend hours scouring the inter-webs for the best accommodations for our budget, research the best spots of beach to visit in that area, look into what restaurants they have on the way and nearby, and also plan a day trip to something educational as a back up/when my kids are tired of being at the beach!

Disney is NOT this kind of vacation.

I always hear from people returning from Disney, that it was too hot, too crowded, lines too long, no availability at the restaurants(character meals, dinner shows, and signature restaurants fill up 6 months in advance!!!), and everyone was tired and miserable on the 1 hour drive back to the hotel that claimed to be "minutes" from the main gate!  Oh and our ticket to Disney didn't include Universal Studios!

I get it.  Walt Disney World is huge, 47 square miles...twice the size of Manhattan!  It's confusing! It has 4 theme parks (none of which are Universal Studios), 2 water parks, a huge shopping and dining area, and over 20 resorts (all with different themes and levels of amenities).

Overwhelmed yet?  Look at it this way...if you were going to throw down a couple of grand on anything else, you would do your research first!  That is the best was to approach a Disney trip.

Now take that into consideration, then add a toddler, a child with Asperger's, and a child with ADHD.  Yes it does take me 7 months to plan a Disney vacation for my family.

Over the next few posts I will walk through what I go through to get ready for a vacation like this.