Your first trip to WDW! How exciting! How overwhelming!
Our first trip was in 2012. It was overwhelming! Our second trip was in 2019, it was overwhelming again because so much changed since 2012! But folks here guided me through. Ask questions throughout your planning process!
Lots of good tips here already. Jeff does a great job summarizing LL here: The Lightning Lane Thread! All WDW Info Here.
This depends on your availability and preferences! I use Tom’s stuff to identify my weeks: Best & Worst Weeks to Visit Disney World in 2025 & 2026 - Disney Tourist Blog. There are other resources online.
If it were me, I would choose to go as early as I can in April but not the weeks before Easter or after Easter. Earlier in April hopefully means better weather like lower humidity and the sun not trying to kill you! Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival that time of year is a feast for the eyes and the stomach! Around Easter just means heavier crowds.
October is hot and humid and the risk of hurricane is real! We were there for Hurricane Milton in October 2025, the very first hurricane we experienced! WDW was closed like by 1 PM the night before Milton made landfall. And it was closed the entire next day. The upside of the trip? Low crowds in the days before Milton. Our MNSSHP was not packed! Milton was unique because it made landfall on FL’s west coast, went over central FL, and exited out FL’s east coast. Why did we go then? We were on the plane when Milton became a hurricane! And we wanted to go to MNSSHP. Epcot will have the Food and Wine Festival going on then.
I highly recommend a lunch break in an air-conditioned restaurant everyday you are in the park! The heat and humidity are no joke. Hat, neck fan, cooling towels, and umbrellas all help. Staying out of the sun between noon and 4 pm is ideal. This can be resort rest time or indoor shows. All of the parks have air-conditioned indoor areas for shows.
Excellent planning!
Dining depends on your group’s palette! Look at the menus online for both QS and TS. If your group is interested in meeting characters, I highly recommend character dining. You get 4 characters and a meal in about 90 minutes. And depending on the restaurant, they may each come around 2-3 times! The meal is in an air-conditioned restaurant. Character meals are pricey!
This is a loaded question and looks different for everyone!
-
You can look up food prices at restaurants on the websites to help with your budget.
-
For such a large party, renting a house off site will give you good value and everyone can get their own bed. BUT as first time visitors, the onsite LL reservation perk is HUGE and as such, will take away some of the stress and anxiety of LL reservations and doing stuff in the parks. Check out the value resorts for the best resort prices. Early entry is also a huge perk, if you are early risers. WDW does have Good Neighbor hotels that offer the same perks. I know the Swan and Dolphins hotel do because I’ve stayed there. Maybe someone else can chime in on Good Neighbor hotels in case you have hotel points.
-
Bring a reusable water bottle. Buying bottled water in the park is expensive! All parks have free iced water. If the QS doesn’t have a soda dispenser that has the water, ask. Sit down restaurants will bring a pitcher to refill your water bottle before you leave or give you a cup of iced water to go.
-
Either get grocery delivery or stop by the grocery store, if you have a car. Buy easy breakfast items like cereal, granola… that your group enjoys. You can get milk at your resort store. Prices are comparable to the grocery store. Buy other things such as gallons of water to drink at the resort and to give every water bottle the first fill of the day, other drinks, fruit, and veggies. I also highly recommend some Vitamin Water or coconut water. They hydrate. You can bring drinks into the parks as long as they are not in glass bottles. DH hauls around liquid IV packages he adds to his water.
-
Share entrees, order a combination of appetizers and entrees, or order off of the kids’ menu at QS. When my 2 young adult kids, DH, and I go to a sit-down restaurant, we tend to order 3 entrees and maybe an appetizer. At QS, it may just be 2 entrees. That leaves room for dessert and snacking! When its just DH and myself, we may order one appetizer, entrée, and dessert. When it’s just me, kids’ menu from QS works really well! When it’s hot, we don’t want to eat that much either.
-
Throw some fruit that doesn’t need refrigeration into your bag each day. They make a quick, healthy, cheap, snacks.
-
Pop some ziplock bags into your bag to store leftover bought snacks such as popcorn, cookies, muffins, pretzels…
Enjoy the planning! We are here to help.