Top 10 Things To Do On A Short Trip To Walt Disney World

If you have time for a quick trip to Walt Disney World, take it! It is it worth it even if you can only come for a couple of days. My recommendations are based on a two day visit, which is the shortest that I would recommend. This plan assumes you will have two full days at the resort and I highly recommend staying on Disney property to shorten the travel times between the parks and it can afford you the chance to take advantage of “Extra Magic Hours”. This is a perk for Disney resort guests only that opens a park one hour early or extends the closing time to 3 hours later just for you. You can also take advantage of choosing FastPass+ reservations 60 days before your trip. A FastPass+ reservation allows you to enter the FP+ line to get you onto that attraction very quickly. This plan is fairly aggressive but if you are motivated to do all that you can, you can do this.

10. Make a Disney resort reservation, at least 60 days out, if possible. Don’t be too picky where you end up on Disney property, as you won’t be spending much time in your room.

9. Purchase a Park Hopper 2-day pass, if you do not have an Annual Pass. You can purchase the ticket along with your resort reservation.

8. Make FastPass+ reservations for the mid-afternoon at Animal Kingdom on your first day: Avatar Flight of Passage, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Expedition Everest are good choices.

7. Make FastPass+ reservations for the afternoon on your second day at Magic Kingdom: Haunted Mansion, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and Space Mountain. Try to get Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as your earliest time if coming in the rainy season, say around 11 AM-12PM.

6. Don’t plan a table service meal because that will take too much time away from the touring plan. Check out the menus for counter-service locations in the resorts and plan to do the Mobile Food and Beverage option on your My Disney Experience App. Have breakfast on the run by bringing granola bar type food and you’ll want to be at the first park each day at least 30 minutes before official opening time.

5. Review the Time’s Guide and the Park Guide Maps on your My Disney Experience App to check operating hours for the parks and get a basic lay of the land in your head. Check to see if there is an early Extra Magic Hour for the two parks you are hitting in the morning such as Epcot and Hollywood Studios in this case. Also check to see if there are evening EMH’s for Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom. These EMH’s are golden for getting additional time in the parks.

4. First day: start the day at Disney’s Epcot – be there at least 30 minutes prior to opening time. It could take up to an hour to get from your resort room to the entrance of the park. Go straight to Soarin’ or Frozen Ever After depending on your preference. Then you can plan to Single Rider Test Track if the wait is too long.

3. Next take the Disney transportation bus to Animal Kingdom. Go to whatever counter-service location you chose for lunch and enjoy your meal… again, you can have your order ready in advance with the Mobile Food and Beverage App. Keep in mind the time of your first FP+ and be there within your hour window. Stay and enjoy the evening entertainment with Rivers of Light and Tree of Life Awakenings. Plus, Pandora – The World of Avatar glows at night! Or, you can always head back to Epcot to enjoy IllumiNations.

2. Second day: spend the morning at Hollywood Studios. Head straight to Slinky Dog Dash or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster depending on your preference. You can always Single Rider Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. Then you can jet over to Tower of Terror. Stay for a show such as Beauty and Beast Live On Stage if you have time!

1. Catch the Disney transportation bus to Magic Kingdom. A Magic Kingdom plan a quick service meal around your FastPass selections. Try to catch the afternoon Festival of Fantasy Parade and stay for the nighttime fireworks and projection show, Happily Ever After.

Remember the FastPass+ times are an hour window. As long as you arrive within your hour window you will be able to enjoy the attraction, don’t arrive early or late. If a ride goes down for weather or another reason, you will receive a message from My Disney Experience telling you the ride is down and what you can do instead of it, or you can wait to see if it will reopen and save your FP+ for it.

The bottom line is this is just a rough layout of how to swing all four parks in two days. Keep in mind you won’t be able to do everything you want to do, so make a short list of a few must-dos and make it a priority to do those. The rest is just icing on the cake!