In this blog post you’ll find printable Disney World planning checklists for the week before your trip, packing, and more!
For the past 10+ years, I’ve been an annual passholder at Disney World and visit the theme parks at least 2-3 times per year. I was curious how many times I can say I’ve been to Disney World, so last night I sat down, listed out all of my trips, and counted them up.
The grand total? 45.
And it will be 46 in just a few days, when I leave for my next trip!
You’d think that I wouldn’t need any sort of physical Disney World planning checklists or packing lists at this point, but I feel like I need them more than ever now. Especially when things at Disney keep changing, it’s a lot to keep track of!
Organizing information is literally my job (I’m a librarian), so I have to say I think I’m pretty good at it. I’ve had various lists for years that I use myself, and I’ve updated or changed them throughout the years. As I was working on the updates for this trip – like booking Lightning Lanes! – I figured it might be useful to share them.
Of course, your own personal needs might be a little bit different than mine. That’s why I always leave a few blank spots at the bottom of each section. You can write in anything else you might need.
By the way – I have A LOT of lists for all sorts of things with Disney planning. I’m so incredibly busy that I can’t possibly keep everything in my brain, so I try to keep in organized somewhere. I figured I’d start by sharing just a few of my lists, but if there is interest I can share others!
Disney World planning checklists: 1 week before you leave
This is what I turn to when I’ve got 1 week left until my Disney World vacation. I’ve broken this one down into “7 days before you leave,” “4-6 days before you leave,” “2-3 days before you leave,” and “1 day before you leave). Some of the items are self explanatory, but I figured I’d explain a few others and why I put them on the list!
Purchase and Book Lightning Lanes – this is a new one to remember at 7 days out (if you’re staying at a Disney resort) or 3 days before your trip (if you’re staying off property). It’s a paid feature and optional. Learn more about Lightning Lane passes here.
Finalize transportation – here I’m referring to the transportation from the airport to the resort. It would definitely be a bit late to be booking your airfare! But if you haven’t already, you can book Mears Connect pretty last minute. Ride shares are an option as well, or renting a car.
Online check-in – this is another item that you can do much earlier if it’s on your radar, but if you haven’t yet now is a good time. You want to make sure you do the online check-in so you can provide your estimated arrival time and hopefully be able to head directly to your room on arrival.
Finalize itinerary – once your Lightning Lanes are booked, update your itinerary with that info. It’s also a good time to double check park hours, as they often adjust them last minute.
Order grocery delivery – many people like to order groceries to their Disney resort so they can have some basics available throughout their stay. You can do this through many delivery services, but Garden Grocer is a reliable one that has been around a long time.
At-home grocery shopping – it might sound silly to go grocery shopping when you’re leaving on vacation in just a few days, but hear me out! I used to come home and not have any food in the house, often not even some snacks for coming back late from the airport. Now I make sure to grab some snacks, sparkling water, and a few frozen meals so I don’t have to run out to the grocery store immediately after coming home.
Consolidate gift cards – if you have any Disney gift cards, use their gift card website to combine them all onto one card to use during your trip. And if you have a Disney Visa card, it’s a good time to transfer any reward dollars you might have onto your card!
Download books/podcasts – this is great for the plane or car ride, or if you have some downtime on vacation (I know, I know). Pro tip: check your local library to see if they have Libby, Hoopla, or other services. Most libraries allow you to borrow ebooks and audiobooks for free! Or if you’ve got the suitcase space, hit the library for physical books too.
Double check essential items – for me, the essentials that would be really difficult to not have with me are my ID/credit cards, my contacts/glasses, and medications.
Want even more info about the week before I leave for Disney? Check out the article here!
Not sure where to start when planning your Disney World trip? Feeling overwhelmed with all of the information and how to keep track of everything?
Consider vacation planning printables – over 60 pages of trip planning, including a budget worksheet, guide to characters, trip comparison worksheet, a look at the dining plans, info about Disney Lightning Lane passes, daily itineraries, packing checklist, and much more.
What to pack for Disney World: a checklist
Of course, one of the biggest parts of the above check list the week before you leave is packing. For me, packing is a process. I’ve tried to streamline it or simplify it, but that’s just not how I operate. So I’m embracing it – and staying organized with my packing list.
This is actually one of two packing checklists I use. The other is for my RunDisney vacations, which I know is not applicable to everyone! My main packing list still has running stuff on it (yes, I’m one of those people), but not as much as I would bring for a race weekend.
A lot of this packing list is self-explanatory, but here are a few things I want to highlight:
Backup clothing. I’ve given up trying to be one of those light packers. I’m bringing more clothes than I need. Especially in Florida, a change of clothes is often very welcome. You may get caught in a rainstorm, or you may just sweat through your shirt quicker than you expect. Unless I’m staying in a 1-bedroom DVC villa, which has a washing machine in the room!
Running items. If you’re not a runner you might ignore this section of the list – but I’d still recommend body glide, KT tape, and nuun for the parks. Body glide and KT tape can help with all the walking around the parks, and nuun (or any kind of electrolytes) is important to stay hydrated.
Camera stuff. I bring a lot more electronics than the average person because I enjoy hobby photography with my DSLR. Many people will be fine with just their phones, though.
Nugget the Porg. If you don’t have a porg, I recommend it. Nugget loves to join me on my adventures, but one time I forgot him and it was very sad. Now, I’ve added him to my packing list so I never forget him again.
Find my packing list for visiting Disney in the winter here at this blog post!
Disney World planning timeline & checklist
I’m at the point where I don’t necessarily need a super detailed guide to planning my vacation (after 45 of my own and probably over 1000 planned for other people, I can almost do it in my sleep!). But when I’m balancing multiple trips of my own and trips of my clients, I want to make sure I’m hitting all of important basics.
That’s where the timeline checklist comes into play. I use this one just to remember the important things – especially those that have a specific deadline. That includes things like linking my reservation to MDE, booking transportation, dining reservations, final payment, MagicBands, and Lightning Lane passes.
I’ve also included booking park pass reservations – though the majority of guests don’t need to worry about this step anymore. Certain ticket types still do need reservations, including annual passes and military tickets.
Other Disney World planning checklists
I really do use all of these lists. Not all of them are used for every trip, but they all get used! I have others that I haven’t shared here because they need to be updated, or they aren’t very pretty looking right now.
I’d love to hear if there are any you are interested in! Then I can focus on formatting those next. Here are some of the other lists and tools I use:
- 1 month before Disney World checklist
- Itineraries (an overall one for the trip, plus daily itineraries)
- Before booking your trip checklist
- Overall step-by-step Disney World planning checklist
- Outfit planning
- Food and Wine Festival priority checklist (and other Epcot festivals)
One more thing – I wanted to provide these lists for free downloads, zero strings attached. You don’t have to sign up for an email newsletter or anything! That being said, if you would like more Disney World planning info I’d love to have you join the newsletter! I promise you I don’t send emails every day. In fact, it’s usually not even once a week (remember what I said in the beginning about being incredibly busy?). Just a few fun Disney emails a month, with other free goodies and tips!
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Which Disney World planning checklists do you find most useful? What would you like me to share in the future?
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