WDW2020: Planning for Disney- What are our objectives?
/Welcome to my series of posts for planning my trip to Walt Disney World in 2020. Post “zero” of this series can be found here: Planning a Walt Disney World Vacation where I pretty much just summarize why I’m so excited to be going again, and ask for your questions about the WDW trip planning process.
Disney’s Pop Century resort.
What is the goal of your Walt Disney World Vacation?
The first step in planning a Disney vacation is to figure out your objectives. Walt Disney World is a vast place with a wide variety of vacation activities. Aside from the parks there is also dining, golfing, camping, water sports, musical entertainment, dancing, mini golf, water parks, and more- you could have a fabulous vacation at WDW without even going to the parks. As my husband likes to say, the Circle of Life lyrics “…there is more to see then can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done…” were written about Disney World.
Why are you going? Perhaps you have never been to Disney World before and you want to see what the parks are all about, or maybe you have been before and know the types of things you enjoy. Are you going because you want to bring your kids and think it’ll be a great family vacation? Are you going to explore Galaxy’s Edge with four of your besties (raises hand)? Are you going to have as much fun as possible and ride ALL THE RIDES? Or are you looking for a normal chill vacation?
Who are you going with? Will there be kiddos? How young? Senior folks? A large diverse group? Just you and your partner? What do those people enjoy? Your trip will be amazing no matter what you do, so focus on the things that will make the people in your party really happy. Don’t plan to do everything. Prioritize your interests and focus on achieving those goals. A trip with some little princesses may need to include a princess makeover and dinner in the castle. A trip with your parents may need to include sometime walking around Disney Springs and plenty of relaxing downtime. A trip with some Star Wars fans may need to include 4 days in Galaxy’s Edge.
Each trip to Walt Disney World can be a totally different experience that is unique and memorable. If you think about your party and what you want to achieve you can book your dining reservations, resort and fastpasses to reflect that. You can schedule your days to include as much as possible in the parks or plenty of time in the pool.
The view from outside the Rose & crown, a table service restaurant in epcot.
What are my objectives for my trip in 2020?
My group for 2020 consists of 6 adults (including two couples) in their 30s. Four of us are big Star Wars fans. Most of us are interested in being somewhat economical. We’ve all been to Disney World before (some of us very recently).
Our goals are to:
1) See as much of Galaxy’s Edge as possible
2) Avoid crowds caused by Galaxy’s Edge
3) Keep the trip on the less expensive side
4) Maximize our time so that we can stay for only 5 days
In 2021, I am planning on going to WDW again, but with family (and maybe some friends, who knows?). The objectives and priorities for that trip will be completely different as I’ll be catering to different people.
The most attractive bathroom exterior ever: the tangled bathrooms in the magic kingdom.
My strategy for reaching these goals
My strategy for reaching these objectives will be to favor Hollywood Studios when deciding what parks to go to when, following detailed touring plans, observing crowd calendars, utilizing extra magic hours, staying at a value resort and choosing less expensive dining options.
We are planning to hit the parks very early, take a midday break, and then return to a different park in the evening.
Some of the above strategies will be similar to my previous trips, but other aspects will be very different. I will go into detail about each strategy in the upcoming posts.
