Booking a Disney Trip: What to Do, and in What Order
A Disney trip is prepared in five dated steps: choose dates and book six to twelve months ahead, reserve dining sixty days before arrival, book Lightning Lane access seven days out if you stay at a Disney Resort hotel or three days out if you stay elsewhere, check the app the night before each park day, and arrive early on the morning itself.
What makes Disney different is this: every window opens on a precise date, and what is gone is gone. A family that starts two weeks ahead pays exactly the same price as an organized family, for a noticeably less enjoyable trip. That is the only real reason to follow an order.
Twelve to six months out: the decisions you cannot redo
This is where everything is settled. You fix the dates, the number of park days, the hotel and the flight. The most in-demand Disney Resort hotels, the Disney Skyliner ones in particular, fill months ahead for the school break and the holiday period.
Check everyone’s passport at the same time. A valid Canadian passport is required for air travel to the United States regardless of the traveller’s age, and renewals take time. This is also the moment to buy travel insurance, for reasons explained below.
Walt Disney World park tickets are date-based: you choose a start date at purchase, and the price varies with that date. A separate park reservation is no longer required for most date-based tickets, though Annual Passholders and holders of certain non-dated tickets may still need one. Have that point confirmed at the time of purchase.
Sixty days before arrival: dining
The dining reservation window opens sixty days in advance, around 6 a.m. Eastern each morning. The most sought-after tables go within minutes.
Guests staying at a Disney Resort hotel book their entire stay in one sitting from sixty days before arrival, for stays up to ten nights. Everyone else comes back each morning to open one more day. Over a seven-day trip, that is seven 6 a.m. alarms against one.
Seven days, then three days: Lightning Lane
Guests at Disney Resort hotels and select other hotels buy and book Lightning Lane access up to seven days before the start of their stay, for its full length, up to fourteen days. Everyone else books three days out.
Five attractions are not part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass and are booked one at a time, two per day at most. Our article on skipping the lines at Walt Disney World names them and explains the full mechanics.
The night before, and the morning itself
The night before each park day, open the My Disney Experience app and check three things: the park’s actual operating hours, whether a virtual queue is running on a new attraction, and your reservations for the day. Posted hours sometimes change on a few days’ notice.
On the morning itself, leave the hotel far earlier than seems reasonable. Internal transport adds forty-five to sixty minutes. Guests at Disney Resort hotels enter thirty minutes before official opening, every day of their stay. That half hour is worth two afternoon hours.
For a cruise, the timeline is different
Much lighter, in fact. The dinner seating is chosen when you book. Shore excursions, adult-exclusive restaurants and private island cabanas are reserved online before departure through your Disney account, and those are the first things to sell out. Online check-in opens on a date shown in your account; the departure terminal then assigns you an arrival time.
Gratuities can be prepaid online. Otherwise they are added automatically to your onboard account and remain adjustable during the cruise.
The full timeline
| When | Walt Disney World | Disney cruise |
|---|---|---|
| 12 to 6 months out | Dates, hotel, flight, date-based tickets, insurance, passports | Itinerary, ship, stateroom category, dinner seating, insurance, passports |
| Per supplier terms | Final payment on the package | Final payment on the cruise |
| Before departure | Link tickets to the My Disney Experience account | Excursions, adult restaurants, cabanas, online check-in |
| 60 days before arrival | Dining, from 6 a.m. Whole stay at once for Disney Resort hotel Guests | Not applicable |
| 7 days out | Lightning Lane for Disney Resort hotel Guests, whole stay | Not applicable |
| 3 days out | Lightning Lane for all other Guests | Not applicable |
| The night before | Park hours, virtual queues, the day’s reservations | Terminal arrival time, luggage tagged |
| On the day | Early entry, mobile food ordering | Boarding, safety drill, first meeting with your serving team |
The three mistakes we see most often
Booking the flight before settling the number of park days. People find a good fare, then discover they are one day short or one day long. Fix the plan, then book the flight.
Missing the sixty-day window. It is the one people forget most, because it falls two months out, when the trip still feels distant. Set a reminder on your phone the day you book.
Buying insurance the day before departure. A policy bought at booking covers events occurring between booking and departure. One bought three days out covers nothing that happened before.
What an advisor does for you
A Magic Maker holds the calendar, opens the windows on your behalf at 6 a.m., and knows which hotels fill first. That work does not change the price you pay. It changes what you get for that price.
To choose your accommodation, read where to stay at Walt Disney World. For dates, see when to go to Disney in Florida. And our Disney vacations page brings all our packages together.
Talk to a Magic Maker
Call 1-866-628-6241 or write to us. We open the booking windows for you, and we call you when a date is coming up.
