How to Create a Disney World Itinerary
I planned our first family trip to Disney World over the course of 2 years. I did a lot of research beforehand and knew I needed a Disney World itinerary to keep all of our plans organized.. I’m a planner by nature and often make spreadsheets to clearly organize my thoughts and share them with others. Below is an example of our 7-day Disney World itinerary. Please use my included a free Disney World Itinerary spreadsheet to plan your next Disney World Vacation.
*To use this Spreadsheet if you have a gmail account click File > Make a Copy. If you don’t have a gmail account, click File > Download as > Microsoft Excel.*
How to Create A Disney World Itinerary
Add Your Travel Your Plans
The first thing you should add to your spreadsheet are your travel plans. Include your flights, car rentals, hotel check-in and park tickets/reservations. You don’t want to accidentally plan an activity that will interfere with travel plans or delays.
Update Park Hours
Check the Disney World website to include update park hours for each park. Note if parks have early entry or after hours events that may impact regular park hours.
Make Note of Special Events and Shows
If you have tickets to a special after hours event add that to your schedule. Add the evening shows to your schedule. We wanted to see the fireworks and other evening shows so I made sure to add them to my itinerary.
Add Your Dining
If you have already booked your dining reservations, add the times you will need to be at each location. You woke up super early to snag those reservations so plan the rest of your day around your dining. Even if you don’t have dining reservations you have to eat. Have a plan or at least a few options of where to eat, it will save a lot of time and stress.
Add Other Reservations
Do you have a reservation for Savi’s Workshop? Add that reservation to your plan before you plan other activities.
Rank Rides and Shows
It’s not possible to see and do everything on your Disney World vacation so you need to prioritize. Our family picked our Top 3 Must-Do’s in each park. We made it a priority to do those rides first, if possible. Then we ranked the rest of the attractions. The lower on the list the lower the priority.
Color Code things
As you can see my spreadsheet has a lot of different colors and detailed information about our trip. I like to use bold colors so I can clearly see all the specific details of our plan. For example, meals with reservations are in purple boxes and quick-service meals are in green boxes. The purple boxes with light gray text are reservations for my parents and black text include everyone. Red text means we have a reservation for an activity. It makes sense in my brain but whatever helps you get your trip organized, this spreadsheet is just a template to help you get started.
Share Your Plan
We were traveling with other family members, which I included in our plans, so I shared this spreadsheet with everyone beforehand so we could all be on the same page.
Our Disney World Itinerary
I spent hours researching and creating a plan for our Disney trip. Did we follow the plan?
Yes! More or less.
One of the great things about the way I plan our trips is I allow a lot of flexibility. Things don’t always go as planned and you need to be willing to adjust the plan as needed. Sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, kids get tired or sick, rides shut down or something more interesting pops up. Being flexible is one of the key ingredients to having an awesome Disney World vacation.
We took our camera and recorded our entire trip which you can check out on YouTube to see what our family of 6 did at Disney World.
Day 1 – Travel
We flew from Raleigh, NC to Orlando with our 4 boys and my parents. It was the boys first time flying and I think that experience was almost as exciting as the trip.
When we arrived in Orlando we took the Magical Express (RIP) to our Disney hotel, The Beach Club Resort.
After we got settled in to our hotel we headed over to Disney Springs to get some lunch and explore. Then we wanted to check out the hotel pool, Stormalong Bay, because we heard it was the best Disney Resort pool. 100% agree. We also placed an Instacart order to be delivered to our room so we would have snacks and drinks readily available.
After spending time at the pool we cleaned up in our room and walked over to the Boardwalk Pizza Window for dinner. We didn’t stay out terribly late because we were all tired from a busy day traveling and wanted to be well rested for our first park day.
Day 2 – Magic Kingdom
The kids were super excited to start our first park day at Magic Kingdom. We grabbed a quick breakfast from the Beach Club Marketplace before grabbing the bus to Magic Kingdom. At breakfast some of the kids said they didn’t want to ride roller coasters so we ditched our plans to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.
We arrived at the park before rope drop but were able to into the park and take photos on Main Street USA. My parents joined us for the first half of our day so we planned to do activities that everyone could enjoy. We waiting for rope drop in front of Adventureland so we could ride Jungle Cruise.
After Jungle Cruise the kids wanted to ride the Magic Carpets of Aladdin, then of course we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean. Then everyone was getting a little hungry so we grabbed some waffles from Sleepy Hallow before heading over to Haunted Mansion.
We saw an adorable couple get engaged in front of Haunted Mansion! However, some of our kids found the ride to be a little scary. So afterward we got in line for It’s a Small World, followed by Peter Pan’s Flight.
My parents had lunch reservations in Cinderella’s Castle (They ate dinner there when they were dating in high school, 50 years ago!) But before they headed off to their lunch reservation we watched Mickey’s Philharmagic.
We didn’t want to spend our 1 day at Magic Kingdom in a dining room so we headed over the Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe to grab a quick lunch.
After lunch my parents went back to the hotel to rest and we hit the rides hard. The kids drove like maniacs on the Tomorrowland Speedway. We got tossed around on the Mad Tea Party. Rode the most quintessential ride, Dumbo. The little kids decided to be brave and try their first roller coaster, The Barnstormer, they loved it!
It was the hottest part of the afternoon so we needed some AC so we headed to Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid. On our way to Tommorrowland we caught a princess cavalcade in front of the castle.
We had to ride the TTA PeopleMover, which was a great break for our tired feet. The we fought Zurg and saved the earth on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin.
We were hot and hungry so we headed off in search of a snack and saw Chip and Dale along the way. We wanted a Citrus Swirl but it wasn’t available. We still got some delicious frozen treats for Sunshine Tree Terrace.
We did a bit of shopping before grabbing a spot to watch the fireworks show, Happily Ever After. After the fireworks, instead of fighting with the crowds to leave the park we hopped over and rode the Speedway again.
Then we left Magic Kingdom and return to our resort to get ready for the next exciting day.
Day 3 – Epcot
We intentionally planned our second park day at EPCOT. EPCOT opens later and after a late night at the Magic Kingdom we enjoyed the restful and slow morning. Once again we grabbed breakfast at the Beach Club Marketplace. Because our hotel was right beside EPCOT we were able to walk over to the International Gateway Entrance. My parents were with us again this morning so we picked some low-key attractions that everyone would enjoy.
We first headed to the front of the park to ride Soarin Around the World. Then we hopped on Living with the Land. Next, we rode The Seas, with Nemo and Friends and explored the aquariums.
The kids were a little overwhelmed by Spaceship Earth and were afraid it would be a scary ride but we assured them it was nice and slow. It ended up being a big hit. Afterward, we headed to the front of the park where we took some photos and met Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
We skipped Test Track and Mission Space and headed straight for Mexico to grab some food at La Cantina de San Angel and ride Grand Fiesta Tour. The weather was intense and so incredibly hot so my parents headed back to the hotel to cool off in the pool.
We headed to Norway to ride Frozen Ever After and dream of cooler days. It didn’t really help us cool off so we decided to head back to the hotel as well. On the way we stopped in Japan and did a little shopping in Mitsukoshi.
After resting the room for a bit we headed back to the park with my parents and explored the Food and Wine Festival booths. We ate the filet from Canada. Stopped off the visit Figment on Journey Into Imagination. We saw Winnie the Pooh before riding Soarin again.
The kids tried different Macaroni and Cheese’s from Mac and Eats with varied results. They got donuts from the Donut Box. We explored World Showcase while my parents at dinner at the Regal Eagle Smokehouse.
Ate some more food from festival booths, got some beers and found a good spot to watch EPCOT Forever. Then we had a short walk back to our hotel and crashed.
Day 4 – Rest Day
I highly suggesting building a Rest Day into your Disney Vacation Plans. We were very happy to have a day to explore our hotel, do laundry and rest.
We started our day with breakfast at Cape May Cafe, which is conveniently located in our resort. After breakfast I headed off to do laundry while the rest of our crew went to the pool. Stormalong Bay was amazing and we spent most of the day poolside.
We grabbed a quick and easy lunch in the hotel.
We took showers and headed over to Disney Springs to do a little shopping and cookies from Gideons before our late dinner reservation at ‘Ohana.
Our “Ohana dinner reservation was so late we had to get an Uber back to our hotel as most transportation had stopped running for the evening. Plus it was much quicker.
Day 5 – Hollywood Studios
Probably the most anticipated day of our trip, Star Wars. Our family loves all things Star Wars so we were excited to see Galaxy’s Edge. Our Hollywood Studios day also happened to be the first day of Standby for Rise of the Resistances. Prior to this day you had to get a boarding pass, so we were a little worried about how long the wait time would be.
After grabbing a quick breakfast in our room we decided to walk from The Beach Club to Hollywood Studios, which took about 10 minutes or so. After entering the park we followed the crowd and got in the massive line for Rise of the Resistance. Once the park officially opened the line started moving and we only waited about 60 minutes, the wait time was 180 minutes when we got off.
Then we spent time exploring Galaxy’s Edge but because everyone was riding Rise of Resistance it was super crowded so we headed over to Toy Story Land. We rode Alien Swirling Saucers and then Toy Story Midway Mania. Everyone was a little hungry so we grabbed some lunchbox tarts from Woody’s Lunchbox.
Next, we headed back into Galaxy’s Edge to ride Millennium Falcon Smugglers Run. We crashed the Falcon!
It was lunch time so we grabbed lunch at Backlot Express. Then we stopped in to watch An Original Animated Short with Mickey & Minnie before riding Star Tours. My parents joined us later this day and we headed over to the Hollywood Brown Derby where they had lunch to meet up with them.
We then got in line to ride Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway. Then we watched A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration.
The kids were excited to take Grandma and Grandpa to see Galaxy’s Edge, we looked in shops and just explored the land. Then we had dinner at Docking Bay 7.
Smuggler’s Run had a low wait time so we hopped in line and rode it again. We crashed again.
Somehow the line for Rise of the Resistance wasn’t absurdly long so we did it twice in one day. Then we tried the blue and green milk. We were not fans of either.
We ended the night watching the Wonderful World of Animation show.
Day 6 – Animal Kingdom
Animal Kingdom opens and closes early. We were very tired from our packed day at Hollywood Studios so we didn’t spend as much time in this park as we had planned but we did everything we wanted to do.
We ate a quick breakfast in our room and got on the bus to Animal Kingdom. We got to the park and immediately headed for the Kilimanjaro Safari. The wait time was super low and we saw so many animals up and about. We even got to hear the lions roaring.
After our safari we ate delicious cinnamon rolls and pastries from Tamu Tamu Refreshments before heading over to walk the Maharaja Jungle Trek to see komodo dragons and tigers.
Then we explored the Tree of Life and watched It’s Tough to Be A Bug.
Next, we made our way over to Dinoland USA. We rode Triceratops Spin, Dinosaur and the kids played in the Boneyard. Our dino loving kid was in heaven.
We then headed over to catch Festival of the Lion King show before eating lunch at Tusker House. Our meal at Tusker House was probably our favorite meal of the trip. (Yes, better than ‘Ohana)
My parents headed back to the resort after lunch and we headed to Pandora. We rode Flight of Passage and almost everyone loved it. Then we rode Navi River Journey, got stuck for a little bit but greatly enjoyed the AC. Then we tried the Night Blossom from Pongu Pongu. Some of us liked it more than others.
We planned to stay until park close and eat dinner at Satu’li Canteen but we were tired. So we did a little souvenir shopping and headed to the bus. The buses were taking forever so we hopped on the bus to the Riviera and decided to take the Skyliner to back to our hotel.
When we got the the Riviera we grabbed some dinner at Primo Piatto and explore the resort before riding the Skyliner back to EPCOT’s International Gateway and walking to the Beach Club Resort.
Day 7 – Hollywood Studios
Because we wanted to do all thing Star Wars we planned for 2 days at Hollywood Studios. Day 2 was our Star Wars Day. Our last park day was Saturday so we had all of our reservations and plans for Star Wars. My parents spend the day at EPCOT and hanging by the pool.
We ate breakfast at the hotel and hopped on the boat to Hollywood Studios. Because most of our activities were reservations we started the day on Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway.
Then we did Toy Story Mania again before heading back to Galaxy’s Edge.
We rode Smuggler’s Run again. We crashed again! And of course, we did a little shopping in Galaxy’s Edge. Then we got some Kettle Corn at Kat Saka’s.
Galaxy’s Edge was getting busy again so we headed to see the Muppet-Vision 3D. We tried to see it on our first Hollywood Studios day but it broke right after the show started. We decided to check out more show so we headed over to Lightning McQueen’s Racing Academy.
We grabbed lunch at the Commissary and rode Star Tours again. Next we watched the parade and waved at all of our favorite characters on our way to our Oga’s Cantina reservation.
We hopped over the Toy Story Land to ride Alien Swirling Saucers again. Then we rode Star Tours again.
It was then time to build droid at the Droid Depot. We played with the droids a little bit before it was time for Joe and Jude to build lightsaber’s in Savi’s Workshop. While they built fancy lightsabers I took the younger boys to build lightsabers the kids can play with at Tatooine Traders.
We at dinner at Docking Bay 7 again. Once again we rode Smuggler’s Run. We got some cool pictures with lightsabers outside of the Millennium Falcon. And ended our night riding Rise of the Resistance one last time.
Day 8 – Heading Home
To squeeze in a little bit of last minute Disney Magic we planned a later flight our of Orlando. After we checked out of our hotel room we had the front desk hold our bags until the Magical Express came later.
We ate the last of our remaining breakfast foods that we stocked in our hotel room. The kids got captain hats from Captain Neil who was greeting guest in the hotel lobby.
The boys really wanted to check out the arcade so we spend time time playing games.
We had our final Disney meal at Beaches and Cream Soda Shop. We booked the earliest time and were fortunate to be the family of the day. After we ate lunch the kid attempted to finish the Kitchen Sink but we fell drastically short.
After lunch we said good by to The Beach Club Resort and rode the not-so Magical Express back to the airport.
Everything about our trip was magical. There were a few moments of exhaustion and meltdowns from tired kids but overall we had a wonderful time. Our plan made sure we got to accomplish everything we wanted to but with the flexibility to change our plans as needed.
Free Disney World Planning Spreadsheet
*To use this Spreadsheet if you have a gmail account click File > Make a Copy. If you don’t have a gmail account, click File > Download as > Microsoft Excel.*
DOWNLOAD DISNEY WORLD PLANNING SPREADSHEET
*To use this Spreadsheet if you have a gmail account click File > Make a Copy. If you don’t have a gmail account, click File > Download as > Microsoft Excel.*