I recently came across an extremely critical review of a Walt Disney World vacation in which the writer complained about how much money he had spent compared to what little “value” he received in return on his investment. He urged his readers to “think twice before (they) book and do (their) own research.” I found this statement to be rather funny because the writer had obviously not done HIS research based on his comments. He went to Disney incredibly unprepared and had not done ANY pre-planning prior to his arrival.  For instance, he did not make any reservations prior to his arrival at the parks; he waited until he was IN THE PARK to try to get a decent reservation for dinner as well as fast pass reservations. (Remember:  Guests may begin making dining reservations as early as 180 days prior to their trips and fast pass reservations 60 days in advance if staying on property (30 if off-property). WHY would anyone think that there would still be any availability the day of???

The reason I do what I do is to help people avoid the negative aspects of this man’s trip; my job is to help ensure that our clients have the “magical dream vacation” that people expect out of a trip to Disney. So, where do I start? First of all, I check a crowd calendar posted by TouringPlans.com. I pay a small annual fee for access to this website. I don’t understand the science behind their technology, but they somehow calculate expected crowd levels for every day of the year at each of the four parks. When I put a plan together, I usually choose the park with the lowest expected crowd level to visit on a particular day.  Once we know which parks will be visited each day, the clients can choose where they want to eat. Some people plan parks around restaurants, but I think you should choose park first, restaurant second.  (NOTE: To maximize park time, you want to eat either in the park that you are visiting or just right outside of that park.  You DO NOT want to waste valuable time in traveling from one park to another when there are good choices in and around every park.) I also assist clients in booking fast passes and then create a logical route through the parks so that they can avoid the question of where to go first. If you show up at the park and you don’t know where you are headed, you will waste so much time; if you plan to just hop from ride to ride in whatever order you come to them, you will waste time standing in unnecessary lines. So a plan is critical to making the most of your park time. So take a look at what I create when you book your Disney vacation through Book with Brooke:

I know, I know… with this much detail, some people believe that I have killed the idea of spontaneity on vacation. I would argue though that Disney is no place to be spontaneous. If you don’t like the idea of having a trip planned out in detail, you might consider other options for your vacation in place of Disney.