Am I even allowed to ask this? Best Planning Website for 2024/2025?

[Spoisal]

I am planning a trip for early Feb 2025 for 6 adults. In the early 2000's I was considered to be the Disney expert that everyone turned to, now I know nothing LOL . For the past decade, I feel like I am starting from scratch every time I begin planning a Disney trip. I try to keep up with a few threads on Disboards (as this is really the best source of info), but you really need to have a lot of time to be able to sort through everything these days. I am looking for something a little more concise. What are the best websites are out there that can help me to organize and plan - I am especially interested in help with the best daily strategies to help me to maximize our time.

 

[scrappinginontario]

I would recommend reading the, ‘Planning a Disney Trip? Start Here!’ Thread and its corresponding links.

Note: Genie+ is changing late in July so I would not recommend spending too much time on that until we have more details. A new thread will be created once more details are released.

 

[tom1944]

I would recommend reading the, ‘Planning a Disney Trip? Start Here!’ Thread and its corresponding links.

Note: Genie+ is changing late in July so I would not recommend spending too much time on that until we have more details. A new thread will be created once more details are released.

Those threads have been very helpful

 

[LKing]

I would recommend reading the, ‘Planning a Disney Trip? Start Here!’ Thread and its corresponding links.

Note: Genie+ is changing late in July so I would not recommend spending too much time on that until we have more details. A new thread will be created once more details are released.

As someone who never goes to WDW, I am looking for a primer on what I need to do to plan for my trip next year. I appreciate the effort that goes into trying to update the first post of each pinned thread. Even with all of the updates, and probably because of the updates, several of them are confusing. Is there a way to clean them up and only list current info? Or move current info to the top, then draw a line to clearly indicate that anything below the line is for historical reference only.

As an example, for me, the park hopping thread is super confusing. Things are crossed out. There is some odd reference to April 4, 2024 and a phone number to call to check to see if park hopping is available. Is it really that difficult? How does it work for general tourist, date-based, tickets?

In the "Planning a Disney Trip" link you shared, it says, "Also, if you would like help and ask questions about your specific trip, please post these in the, Theme Park Plans sub-forum as there are many here who like to help out and that's where they look to help others with planning with WDW vacations." But the sub-forum is empty. There is an alert saying "You have insufficient privileges to post threads here." What privileges do I need in order to post my plans to get feedback?

Also, while the threads have been somewhat updated, the article "If It’s Been a While Since You’ve Been to Disney, Know Before You Go" is out of date.

 

[Mardigras2025]

I think the unofficial guide physical book is a good resource and one of the best places to start. although, as mentioned with the changes to genie might not be precise. I wonder if their upcoming August update for 2025 will have enough of the info in time, if they got early inside information from Disney before publishing.

Touringplans, Disney tourist blog are sites I like.

Reddit is one of the best for crowd sourcing. Just search topics. I sometimes check out wdwmagic forums, more for news and rumors.

YouTube - earscouts and mammoth club. Earscouts was well known for genie videos, so I’m assuming he will quickly become an expert on the new system. You could still watch his early entry videos or other topics. Had to get used to mammoth club, but now I love them. Don’t love the food videos as much.

Podcasts - Disney world is awesome, very amusing, rope drop radio. You could scroll thru episode titles and see if there are specific topics helpful to you.

 

[LKing]

I'm following the above advice and going through the pinned threads, these are my thoughts.
1. Ticket thread is more about AP than general tickets.
2. Magic Band thread - hasn't been updated in a couple of years. Says new MB+ are due in 2022.
3. PhotoPass & Memory Maker thread - It doesn't appear to have been updated since 2018. Is everything still the same?

 

[JCornell]

I think the unofficial guide physical book is a good resource and one of the best places to start. although, as mentioned with the changes to genie might not be precise. I wonder if their upcoming August update for 2025 will have enough of the info in time, if they got early inside information from Disney before publishing.

Touringplans, Disney tourist blog are sites I like.

Reddit is one of the best for crowd sourcing. Just search topics. I sometimes check out wdwmagic forums, more for news and rumors.

YouTube - earscouts and mammoth club. Earscouts was well known for genie videos, so I’m assuming he will quickly become an expert on the new system. You could still watch his early entry videos or other topics. Had to get used to mammoth club, but now I love them. Don’t love the food videos as much.

Podcasts - Disney world is awesome, very amusing, rope drop radio. You could scroll thru episode titles and see if there are specific topics helpful to you.

I'd echo these.
Unofficial Guide still seems to be a respected source. I haven't touched one in years but general comments are always positive about them.

Touringplans is always helpful, Mousesavers still is good at consolidating things.

YouTube - there are a lot of them. I could list our favorites (Tim Tracker, Super Enthused, Paging Mr Morrow, Promise Hope) but in general if you hit some of the more popular ones and those listed above, the active ones tend to keep you up to date on things since they work to keep their channel fresh.

 

[dizneedoll]

Websites: Your First Visit, Disney Tourist Blog
Physical books: Unofficial Guide to WDW (they usually publish next year’s edition in August)
You Tube: Mammoth Club, Ear Scouts and DFB Guide are the most accurate and concise.

 

[_19disnA]

I get the impression some people enjoy the planning as much as their Disney trip. Honestly, if you have been to Disney in the past, you already know where the 4 parks are located and the general layout hasn't changed even if there are some new rides/shows. We have never spent weeks planning our Disney trip and have always accomplished what we wanted. I would read up on the official Disney website about the various new paid Genie options since it sounds like that is changing later in July. Also read about whether you need park reservations since it varies based on a number of factors. Making ADR's ahead of time also is a good idea if you know of specific places you want to eat. Even if you don't make ADR's, many on here indicate that closer to the date of your trip, previously sold out places will have availability as others cancel their plans to avoid that no-show fee.

Where to stay is mostly a matter of budget, what you think of the subjective issue of 'theming' and which park(s) you intend to visit. If you have no interest in MK and plan to mostly go to Epcot or HS, then staying at one of the monorail resorts would not be my first choice. Similarly, if you only plan to visit MK, then staying near Epcot will add a lot of unnecessary travel time. No amount of advance planning is going to make the parks any less crowded when you are there.