Hey everyone, it's Jacqueline at Pixie Dust PhD! We are leaving for our quick jaunt down to Walt
Disney World, just Magic Kingdom in EPCOT, for a little bit of the 50th Anniversary feels in
a few days. In this video I'll show you how I really plan for my park days to ensure that
they're basically successful. It's definitely a lot of prep work, but then I bring what I call
my theme park cheat sheets along with me to make sure I have a great day. People definitely learn
differently and take in information in different ways--this works super well for me. I'm hopeful it
may be helpful for you too!
[Music]
This is definitely really only a method that's going to work for people who like to plan out
their trips. If you basically just make your park reservation, show up, and let the day happen this
is not a video for you. I am the kind of person that will pour through the Disney World website
or app to see what are the times for the various entertainment offerings, what kind of characters
are meeting, what rides are down, that kind of stuff. Since I do that anyway, as I go through
things I just keep notes on it and rearrange them to make my day easier. Generally speaking,
all this information is available to you in the My Disney Experience app. The day you're in the park
you can simply scroll through, you can look at wait times for rides then you'll know what rides
are down, you can look at what characters are meeting, you can look at entertainment offerings,
etc. And while I find this relatively straightforward and usable and I'm not
here to bash on the user interface of My Disney Experience, it's just not laid out in a way that
works for me and how my brain wants to process information. For example, sure you can see all the
characters and you can even look at them in list view to see who is meeting and greeting relatively
at the moment. But if you want to know the times that they're meeting, whether that's a range of
times or if it's specific set times, you have to click into each and every character. To the best
of my knowledge, there isn't a page where you can simply go “what characters are meeting soon near
me?” and get a list of everybody that's meeting in the next 20 to 40 minutes or so. That's really how
my brain wants to process information. I want to see everything laid out in front of me so
I can make the best decision. In order to make this happen, I make my theme park cheat sheet,
so let's go through that. As my partner and I start to finalize aspects of our trip we keep
a master plan document. In this case it's a Google sheet that we share between us. I'm going to cover
some of this information up for privacy’s sake, but basically you can see that we've got all the
relevant days and what we'll be doing at what times. For example, on the day that we leave
we have our flight, the confirmation number we need for that, as well as the relevant times.
From there there's information on where we're going next--for us that's Bay Lake Tower. And
here we also have the confirmation for that. I tend to bold anything that's a set time,
so reservations. In this case that's dinner at Toledo. And any other considerations we might have
for the day. For example, if our flight is early or very on time we might have time to go get a
pre-dinner drink. If that is the case I've already worked out some logistics of where I might want to
go. In my opinion, doing some of this pre-planning makes it much easier to make decisions on the fly.
If it's six o'clock and we want to go grab a drink we don't have to consider all of Walt Disney World
Resort anymore; I have identified these four locations that will be convenient for us. And
for any locations I'm not super familiar with when it comes to drinks and dining, I usually
add a parenthetical to give me a cue of what is it that's here that I might be interested in. For
example, here I haven't written anything next to Tambu Lounge because we've been probably too many
times if I'm being honest, so I don't need a prompt. But when you're looking at Barcelona
Lounge over at Coronado I really don't know what that is. So my parenthetical here's G&Ts, AKA gin
and tonics. Arrival day is pretty straightforward in this case because there's no parks, and really
just the one dinner reservation. But let's get into the park days. The first park day we have
is Magic Kingdom, and you can see the first thing that I'm prompting us to do is wake up to make our
first Genie+ selection. From there we have the park hours, and I do make sure to double check
this the day before we leave to ensure those are still accurate. Then I've got other key things of
interest that have set times. The next line is Festival of Fantasy parade, this starts at 12
or 3. Then we do have a 1:25 lunch reservation, and I think we could make it back into the park
for 3 P.M., but it might be close. And that's why I listed Festival of Fantasy above that,
because the 12 P.M. showing may be the priority there. Then we've got the beacon of magic,
when the castle lights up--apparently it only actually lights up once. It stays lit the rest
of the night, but I want to see that happen, so that's at 6:30. And then of course Enchantment,
the fireworks, is at 8:15. The next line is the Mickey Celebration Cavalcade. I do kind of want
to see everyone dressed up in their outfits, but that's not as big of a priority to me as
Enchantment or as the actual parade, so that's kind of why it's listed down lower even though
chronologically the times it's going--it's obviously before Enchantment. But you can
see here I have listed out the various times, that way if we have some downtime, if there is a lull,
I can check my notes real quick and be like “oh, you know what, it's not too long until the next
cavalcade.” Same with the Friendship Faire stage show. That's not a big priority for me,
but if we're sort of in the area and we're kind of doing some down time--we're not trying to go
ride a ride or meet a character or anything, then hey I have all the times listed out for
me already without having to go through the app. Next is the various character meet and greets that
I'm interested in, and again the times that they are meeting. So even though the park is open from
8:30 [A.M.] to 11 P.M., characters do not tend to meet that whole time. That's true even for the ones that
have set indoor locations. If you do want to meet characters, definitely check on the times
that they are meeting and greeting because those times can be quite limited. I'll also probably
go through and clean this up a bit to take out times that aren't relevant to me. For example,
Aladdin characters meeting at 1:15 and 2:30. Since we have this 1:25 lunch I don't think that's gonna
matter. Below characters you can see I've listed out some quick service dining options. So we do
have sit down lunch scheduled, but we're going to need to eat again sometime after that and I don't
really want to leave the park again. So before all this I went through the Magic Kingdom Quick
Service menus and pulled out some items that I think might be interesting. Here you can see I
listed the Quick Service dining location itself as well as the relevant times--typically just
the closing time, but sometimes I will list the whole range--and then the item or types of items
I may be interested in if I don't know it off the top of my head. And finally for my Magic
Kingdom summary I've listed various magic shots I'd be interested in. You can find these on the
Disney PhotoPass Facebook page. If you go to their albums they list current magic shots by location,
though your mileage may vary. I've done this before and then gone to ask for a specific magic
shot that I thought was happening--supposedly it was according to the Facebook page--but all
the actual PhotoPass cast members in the park said that wasn't a magic shot they were doing
anymore. And in general I try to list these out by order of interest. So there is a Pua magic
shot that I just think is the cutest thing and I really really want it, so that's why
that one's first. You could also group these by location instead of by desirability. Again, it
just depends on how you best taken information and how you want your or cheat sheets to be organized.
I don't super mind walking back and forth across the park so location or proximity is not my number
one thing. For me it's definitely desirability; how much do I want to experience this thing.
Going over to EPCOT we have a similar layout. First things first, a prompt to get in that
Cosmic Rewind virtual queue, and if not try to buy an individual lighting lane. And then we need
to remember that we're checking out that day, so we need to pack up and store our luggage before
we head out to the theme park. For me, EPCOT has less entertainment at set times that I definitely
need to see. So now the next line simply is Harmonious. Then we've got the information
on the two reservations we have, including a prompt to cancel the later one if we decide we
don't actually want to do it. Next is Festival of the Arts information. If you are headed to EPCOT
during a festival, I would highly suggest you go through the festival information before you get
there. Traditionally, Disney Parks Blog has a post that lists out all of the food and drinks items
at the various booths. Even just a quick skim through this to star things you really really
want to have--to make sure you're not missing out. For me it would be so sad to come home
and then see social media posts or other creator videos highlighting a food item that I didn't even
know existed so I didn't get. By doing this prep work, I make sure I know what's available, and that
means I can identify the things that I definitely want to get. For the food booths I separate things
out between things I really really want to have and things that I like kind of want but it's
fine if we don't get them. This top portion are those items that I really want to have, and then
the drinks are in blue food is in black. Then the second portion are things that I'm interested in,
but it's not necessarily a must do. If we happen to be walking by and the line is short, I would
pop in and grab something most likely. And like we saw with my Magic Kingdom list, I have grouped
this by priority or desirability. That's how I want to take this information in. It's definitely
not grouped by location. So you may want to do it that way instead! Beyond the food booth there
are also some unique photo opportunities from Festival of the Arts that I have listed out here,
and below that again we have magic shots at EPCOT. And notably I'm not listing out every single magic
shot or every character that's meeting; typically it's just the ones that I really want or am
generally interested in. There will always be some PhotoPass opportunities and foods and stuff that I
really don't care about, so I just don't even bother writing it down. And moving outside of
Festival of the Arts information, here is general character meet and greets, again with times and
locations. And finally since we are checking out of Bay Lake Tower this day, then at the end is our
new hotel information. Essentially, that's the gist of the final plan Google sheet that we put
together to keep us organized. We will have access to this on our phones; I do also copy/paste it
into an email that I send to ourselves. You could also copy it into the notes app on your phone or
similar. However, at the end of the day I am kind of old school. There are times where I prefer not
having to rely on technology. Smartphones are amazing -- don't get me wrong! But they
can be kind of unpredictable at times. Apps can be glitchy, the search function in the mail app isn't
the best so I might lose track of this email I'm sending myself, all those things. Plus I'm always
a little bit nervous about if my phone is out of battery or if I drop it and it becomes unusable
or if I lose it all together… I am that kind of person that brings paper copies with me when we
travel. So I take all that information from our final plan Google sheet and I make physical cheat
sheets for me. My general plan is to carry index cards with me that have everything I need to know.
For shorter trips I usually have an index card per day. For longer trips I'll usually just make
a general index card for each theme park because the days are a little bit different. And then I
might have a supplementary index card with our various reservations. For this trip I'll plan
on having two index cards: one will be EPCOT front and back because there is so much information with
those Festival booths; the second will be Magic Kingdom on the front, the back of that index card
will cover Disney Springs lunch options--I kind of skipped over that but on Saturday we will be
heading to Disney Springs--as well as all of the reservation/confirmation numbers. I do organize
the index card cheat sheets fairly similar to that Google sheet overall final plan. You can see I
make use of all caps letters, bold, underline, and italics to really make categories pop. Things that
stick out right away in the Magic Kingdom sheet: we have the parade, we have the beacon of magic,
we have Enchantment, then there's other entertainment. I'm definitely trying to meet
Merida, as you can tell here. Quick service dinner options, and then PhotoPass opportunities. I'll
bring this physical cheat sheet with me in the park, and I can just take a quick glance to see
what might be going on. For me, I find this a lot easier to digest than using the app. I find this
especially true for character meet and greets. And like I said the back side of the Magic Kingdom
one will have Disney Springs lunch options. Here I'm listing the place as well as the opening time
because I'm not totally sure what time we're going to get over to Disney Springs, and if we're there
early some things don't open until noon or so. For the most part I know these establishments serve so
you're not seeing too many parentheticals here. Also generally the names make the type of cuisine
pretty obvious. But if it's something I'm not sure why I would write it down then I do make the
parenthetical. For example, Marketplace Snacks. Why is this here? Oh, they have bubble waffles.
Fantastic. Then the bottom half of this index card will be our confirmation/reservation numbers. I'm
going to block that out for privacy reasons, but you get the gist. And then the second index card
will be all EPCOT. For ease I'm going to keep one side as the Festival of the Arts food booths,
and then the other side will be much like the Magic Kingdom one--have basically everything
else. The front side of this index card is mostly PhotoPass opportunities and character meet and
greets, but these are my priorities. Then for the Festival of the Arts side of this index card,
again I split up the food boots between things I definitely want and things I kind of want.
And while I do have a printer at home somehow, I generally don't have color ink. So rather than
doing blue for drinks I just make drinks italics. For me some sort of visual difference between the
food items and the drinks makes it really easy to skim through my card in case I definitely
want to go get a cocktail or I definitely want a snack. Next we just print this out and do
a little arts and crafts time. Alright, so we have two index cards… doesn't matter what kind.
And then all the information we just went over that I put into PowerPoint. When I'm making these
in PowerPoint I do put this rectangle down and I adjust the size of this in PowerPoint to be
three by five so I know it will fit in the index card. They always end up a little bit smaller than
the index cards… maybe these are not three by five index cards, maybe they're a little big…
To make our cheat sheets we will just cut these out and then I tape them down with packaging tape,
so they become laminated essentially which is also good for Florida rain. Let's get to crafting!
That's one.
These go together.
These two will go together…
So to do this I have my packaging tape, and I'm just going to take strips out
that will definitely be bigger than this index card at first.
Try not to get them stuck to each other.
I usually do two per side.
So yeah, you can see that will work, okay.
So you want the part with the text on the sticky side.
And then… oops, this is always a little tricky.
You want there to be some overhang on the sides.
Great.
Okay. So we have--this is the text that we
printed out. Tape. And then you just place your index card on it.
Okay, set this aside for a second. Note which one it is. So this is an EPCOT one for me,
so we'll do another EPCOT one… same thing.
Is that long enough? Yep.
That was excessively long. That's okay.
Now get your half built one back. Let’s see… I like to put them facing the same way.
Okay.
So now here's the second half of that day. I'm just going to tape it in place.
It does tend to curl up sometimes. That's fine, just know that that's happening
so you can be aware of it when you're putting down your second piece of tape.
Okay. And then yeah, just sort of make sure it's really sealed.
Okay. To finish then you just cut around the excess.
Should be pretty easy because it's just packaging tape.
It's not perfectly laminated by any means, but it does the trick.
Tada!
Both sides. This is our EPCOT cheat sheet now.
Okay, let's make the Magic Kingdom/Disney Spring/confirmation one.
That's basically the process for me. As I'm doing planning for the trip,
I take notes in a more chaotic manner. And then they get transcribed into our final plan Google
sheet in a very organized manner. Then I take that, dump that information into PowerPoint,
and then print it out and make my little index card cheat sheets. I'll stick these either in my
purse or my pockets--they're obviously very small, very lightweight, easy to carry around. Then
anytime we're in the park and not totally sure what to do next or when XYZ thing is happening
I'll just whip this out and we're ready to go. I find it especially helpful for Festival food
booths to narrow down what you really definitely want and keep that on you--don't necessarily
trust your brain to remember. I also think these are wonderful for keeping track of various times
for character meet and greets because a lot of them are limited and they do overlap. If it's
two o'clock at EPCOT we might have to choose between meeting various princesses and I will
have the information I need right in my purse. I hope you found this helpful, and I would love to
hear about what sort of organizational or planning tips and tricks you have to make your park days
go smoother! And are you old school like me? Do you like having a physical something? I also like
having the physical park map sometimes over just the app. Thanks so much to everyone who has left a
like on this video and subscribed to the channel, shared it with a friend, and left a comment down
below. I really appreciate all of your engagement and support. I'm looking forward to hopefully
smooth sailing on our theme park days thanks to this prep work, and I can't wait to take you along
with me. May the rest of your day be magical, and we'll see you real soon at Pixie Dust PhD!