Walt Disney World 2022 Itinerary, Packing List, and Trip Cost Breakdown
I just got back from 10 days at Walt Disney World - 6 of which were dedicated to work and 4 of which were enjoyed by Bryan and me! This itinerary and packing list are specifically for the 3 fun days in the parks (1 we spent resort hopping), since the other days were spent in jeans and work branded t-shirts. So much has changed since we visited in 2016, but one thing has remained entirely unchanged — the heat.
That being said, the packing list will surprise no one (shorts, tanks, tees, and tennies), but I thought the detailed itinerary would be handy if you were planning an upcoming trip to “the most magical place on earth!”
Day 1 - Magic Kingdom
Park Hours: 9 am to 11 pm
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Park Hours: 9 am to 11 pm |
Once my work obligations were complete, Bryan flew to Orlando and met me at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. He arrived to the hotel around 11:00 am, so he dropped his bags in the room, grabbed a cold brew from the Barcelona Lounge in the lower lobby, and we caught the resort bus together to the Magic Kingdom.
Transportation from Coronado Springs to Magic Kingdom
There are 4 bus stops at this resort, but since we stayed in the Gran Destino Tower, we loaded the resort buses at stop #1 outside and to the right of the main entrance. Coronado Springs is located insanely close to Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot, and even with summer crowds we barely waited for buses. While Disney promises buses every 20 minutes to the parks, we found they actually cycled every 8-10 minutes.
Park Tickets
We opted for Single-park tickets with the Genie+ service. (You can read more about the differences between the Genie+ Lightening Lane and Individual Lightening Lane services here.)
Since we visited during peak season, purchasing Genie+ for $15 each per day was worth it in order to maximize our time in the parks. As a long-time Disney goer, it’s sad to have to pay for this service — believe me! But since the old fastpass system isn’t in place anymore, it’s definitely worth purchasing Genie+ to cut down on your wait times and get the most out of your one-day park ticket.
General Genie+ Tips
I watched a lot of videos to try to understand how best to utilize the new system, and the best tip I learned is to “refresh, refresh, refresh.” New times for most rides pop up with every refresh, and it could allow you to get on rides earlier with some persistence.
You can book a new ride time through Genie+ at two key times:
Every 2 hours after the park opens. For example, if the park opens at 8:30am you can book your next pass at 10:30, another at 12:30, another at 2:30, etc., AND
Every time you use one of your lightening lane passes. As soon as you scan your park ticket to get on a ride, you are eligible to book a pass for another ride.
There is a catch, though — once you make and use a lightening lane selection for a particular attraction, you can’t make another reservation for the same attraction on the same day. You’re welcome to join the stand-by line, but you can’t snag a second lightening lane pass.
Genie+ Tips for Magic Kingdom
If you’re staying on site, book Jungle Cruise right at 7:00 am when reservations open. We weren’t able to get on it without waiting in a 65+ minute line, because I opted to prioritize Space Mountain instead.
After Jungle Cruise, book Space Mountain. We noticed these lightening lane slots didn’t fill up as quickly as the Jungle Cruise, for whatever reason.
General tip: Don’t sleep on the Magic Carpets of Aladdin. Bryan and I love that ride, because you get a great view of the park, the line is always short, and the breeze feels incredible.
Note: As of June 8th, 2022, you can no longer purchase the Genie+ service ahead of time. You’ll have to attempt to buy it at the beginning of each day of your stay, subject to availability.
What to Wear
Breezy Top - I bought this top after renting it in a Nuuly last summer. The fabric is a perfect lightweight, cotton that was super comfy even in extreme heat.
Shorts - Old Navy has great denim shorts - comfortable even in the hottest of weather!
Tennis Shoes - Super cushioned tennis shoes that support my high arches. When they wear out, I’m definitely getting another pair.
Sunglasses - A great, sturdy pair of sunnies that you don’t have to worry about getting crushed in your backpack on wild rides.
Sunscreen - Great for men and women to share, as it goes on completely undetectable and layers wonderfully under makeup!
Backpack - Similar to mine — the size is small but mighty
Water bottle - Bring one! You can ask any quick service station for cups of water to refill throughout the day to cut down on both waste and water costs.
Dining
Around 3:00 pm, we left the park, hopped on the resort monorail, and made our way to the Polynesian for a mid-day cocktail in the shade. We attempted to go to Trader Sam’s Grog Grotto, but there was a 1.5 hour wait. Rather than wait for an inside seat, we opted to sit on the Tiki Terrace (right outside of Trader Sam’s) where we snagged a table immediately and had access to the exact same cocktail menu as the indoor bar. I enjoyed the Mosquito Mojito, and Bryan had a few beers. We also got the potstickers that were great for a mid-day snack.
For dinner, we had a 7:40pm reservation at The Jungle Navigation Co. Ltd. Skipper Canteen. (I recommend making your dining reservations at least 30 days before you arrive, but most will seat small party walk-ins easily.) We ate here the last time we visited and loved that it was “elevated theme park food.” The restaurant itself is themed like the Jungle Cruise, and the menu is filled with the most delicious Asian cuisine. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a place to enjoy a slow dinner in Magic Kingdom. We ordered the following dishes and would highly recommend them all! If you like a little spice, don’t skip the Perkins Thai Noodles.
Falls Family Falafel - starter
Brazilian Cheese Bread - off menu starter
Perkins Thai Noodles with Tofu - my entree
Perkins Thai Noodles with Chicken - Bryan’s entree
Day 2 - Hollywood Studios
Park Hours: 8:30 am to 9:00 pm
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Park Hours: 8:30 am to 9:00 pm |
Hollywood Studios is easily our favorite park at Walt Disney World, and with the addition of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, we only love it more! We watched the new Obi Wan show and binged old Star Wars movies in preparation, and it seriously blew our minds. The theming is incredible, and the rides were fantastic.
Transportation from Coronado Springs to Hollywood Studios
The resort bus ride only takes 7-10 minutes, because this is the closest park to Coronado Springs. In fact, you can see a lot of this park from your hotel room window if you have a parking lot view!
Park Tickets
We opted for Single-park tickets with the Genie+ service. (You can read more about the differences between Genie+ Lightening Lane and Individual Lightening Lanes here.)
Genie+ Tips for Hollywood Studios
If you’re staying on site, have your phone ready at 7:00am to purchase the Individual Lightening Lane passes for Rise of the Resistance ($15 each, prices vary.) We were easily able to secure a time to ride mid-day, but we did have an issue with our hotel reservation that only allowed me to purchase one pass for myself, since Bryan’s name wasn’t on the reservation. A cast member ended up working it out for us at Guest Services within Hollywood Studios, and we ended up with a free pass for Bryan to make up for the snafu - Disney magic! Lesson learned: Ensure your WHOLE PARTY is on your hotel reservation so that you can make Individual Lightening Lane purchases for the whole fam, if you plan to do so.
Here are my Genie+ reservation order recommendations:
Get Genie+ Lightening Lane passes for Slinky Dog Dash. Those go QUICKLY and are usually completely claimed by 1:00pm.
Once you have Slinky Dog secured, then purchase your Individual Lightening Lane Passes for Rise of the Resistance, if you plan to do so.
Once it’s time for you to book another pass, I’d recommend going for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run or Tower of Terror.
Even though Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway is relatively new, we waited in a 20 minute line at park open and were able to get on it again using the Genie+ system in the evening, because slots were still available. No need to “rush” to book this ride!
What happens if a ride breaks down?
I’m glad you asked. Around 10:00am, we booked passes for Toy Story Mania at 10:30. Roughly 20 minutes later, we got a notification that the ride broke down and wouldn’t be running by our assigned time slot. In return, they gave us each a “generic” lightening lane pass to use on any qualifying ride - including Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. We got super lucky, because the only time slots left for that ride were around 4:00pm, which would have made it tough to use the Genie+ service to its fullest throughout the day.
What to Wear
Tank Top - I can’t link the one I wore, because it doesn’t appear to be available. It was the Pilcro mock neck tank that I rented in a Nuuly.
Shorts - I chose my trusty Madewell Denim shorts, but this day was excruciatingly hot, and I think I would have preferred some athletic shorts instead.
Tennis Shoes - same as Day 1
Sunglasses - same as Day 1
Sunscreen - Hands down my favorite tinted sunscreen. It lasted the entire day, even throughout the sweat and rain. I have the shade Melrose.
Backpack - same as Day 1
Dining
We enjoyed a late breakfast at Woody’s Lunchbox in Toy Story Land. We split the Breakfast Bowl and Lunch Box Tart, and it was plenty for two people! The raspberry tart was insanely good and definitely tasted homemade!
There was a point in the day when it was so unbearably hot that I became an absolute grump. Since Bryan and I love margaritas, we settled inside at BaseLine Tap House where it was cool and quiet and enjoyed ice cold beverages while complaining about how badly our feet hurt. It was lovely!
After our much-needed respite, we went back to Galaxy’s Edge and split the veggie Ronto Wrap, which definitely lived up to the hype. You can save a lot of money on Disney dining if you split their massive portion sizes, just FYI!
We ate at The Hollywood Brown Derby for dinner - a classic that I’m sad we haven’t tried until this trip. We started with the burrata, summer tomatoes, and warm bread. I had the tomato risotto with shrimp, and Bryan had the shrimp and scallops with blue crab toast. We ate every last bite of our meals and polished off an absinthe cocktail each. Highly recommend this place!
After dinner we went to Oga’s Cantina in Galaxy’s Edge. We were able to snag an 8:15 pm reservation around mid-day, and we’re so glad that we made an effort to do so. The theming was awesome, and the bartenders were hysterical and very in-character. They have an entire non-alcoholic menu, too, so the whole family can enjoy this place together. One thing to note, though, is that you may not get the chance to sit. We were placed at the bar, but no barstools were available since the venue is tiny. If you are lucky enough to be seated at a booth, you may have to do so with 3 other parties. It’s a weird setup, but we enjoyed our time there and both loved the Dagobah Slug Slinger (pictured above)!
Park Hours: 8:30 am to 9:00 pm
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Park Hours: 8:30 am to 9:00 pm |
Day 3 - Epcot
Even though there is a ton of construction going on in Epcot, there is still so much to do!
Transportation from Coronado Springs Resort to Epcot
The resort bus ride only takes about 10 minutes, and they drop you very close to the entrance of the park.
Park Tickets
We opted for Single-park tickets with the Genie+ service. (You can read more about the differences between Genie+ Lightening Lane and Individual Lightening Lanes here.)
Genie+ Tips for Epcot
If you’re staying on site, have your phone ready at 7:00am to join the virtual queue for Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. It will state a time that you can board the ride, but understand that the time will shift throughout the day and may overlap your other plans. When we initially joined the virtual queue it gave us a 5:40pm ride time, but we already had dinner reservations at 5:55 pm. About an hour later our window moved up to 3:20pm, and soon after that we were assigned a 2:45 pm slot. It’s unpredictable which isn’t a huge deal if you don’t have a lot of pre-arranged plans, just wanted to make you aware.
Once you’ve secured your spot in the virtual queue for Guardians, secure a Genie+ Lightening Lane Pass for Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure. It’s a really cute ride, but it’s not something I’d wait over an hour for.
After booking Remy’s, purchase the Individual Lightening Lane passes for Guardians of the Galaxy ($17 each) if you want to guarantee yourself 2 rides in one day. There is no stand-by line currently available - just the virtual queue and Individual Lightening Lane options.
Frozen and Test Track are the next most popular rides in this park, but we recommend booking Frozen via the Genie+ system and using the single rider line for Test Track. We walked right onto that ride, and while we couldn’t sit together, it was still worth it not to wait an hour or more.
What to Wear
T-shirt - I got this graphic tee from Madewell years ago, and I thought it was very appropriate for Epcot without being overtly Disney.
Shorts - Athletic shorts were so much more comfortable on the scorching hot day we had compared to the day before. The Old Navy denim shorts were more comfortable than the Madewell denim in extreme heat, though, just an FYI!
Tennis Shoes - same as the prior days
Sunglasses - same as the prior days
Sunscreen- same as the prior days
Backpack- same as the prior days
Dining
While the idea of “drinking around the world” seems super fun, nothing sounds worse (to me) than being drunk in 100+ degree heat. We opted for just 1 fantastic margarita (El Diablo) from the little tequila bar within the Mexico Pavilion, La Cava del Tequila. It was delicious and not nearly as sugary as most of the cocktails in Disney World.
For lunch, we grazed around the World Showcase and enjoyed a few bites off the limited menus at each country’s pavilion as part of the Flower & Garden Festival. Our favorite dish was the BLT Scone from the Cider House located just outside of the UK pavilion. It was $5, and it was a really generous portion size! The most underwhelming thing we had as the arancini outside the Italy pavilion. It cost a whopping $14 and wasn’t anything to write home about, but absolutely don’t sleep on the Arepas between Morocco and France - they were AWESOME! We ordered two - the shrimp and the sausage.
We tried La Hacienda de San Angel for dinner the first time (the one on the water, not the one within the Mexico pavilion), and it was outstanding! The margaritas in Epcot all earn a 10/10, and this restaurant had the same margarita menu as Cava Del Tequila within the Mexico pavilion that we enjoyed earlier in the day. I recommend attempting to get a late reservation so that you can watch the nighttime fireworks show from your dining table. The show begins at 9:00 pm, so a 7:30 or 8:00 pm reservation would be ideal.
Bryan enjoyed the El Diablo margarita (again), and I had the Cucumber Margarita. We snacked on guacamole and the chips, salsa, & queso which were all fantastic. They give you a huge serving of chips, so don’t worry about running out and having to pay the stated $2 for more! Because we went ham on the appetizers, we decided to split an entree and really enjoyed the Cochinita Pibil.
We wish we could have tried Space 220, but we couldn’t snag a reservation. Definitely recommend trying to book this one early, if you’re also interested in dining in “space.”
Overall Trip Cost for 2 People
3-Day Single Park Tickets with Genie+ Service for 2: $869.11
We purchased our park tickets through “Tickets at Work,” a corporate ticket service that saved us around $30 off the currently stated ticket prices.
3 Night Hotel Stay at Disney’s Coronado Springs: $840.39
We got a reduced corporate rate of $250 per night, but the regular rate for a standard view room isn’t much higher than this at $253 - $260 per night.
Total Food & Drink Costs for 2: ~$450 - $200 in gift cards = $250
I redeemed $200 worth of rewards from work for Disney gift cards that were able to cover our Jungle Skipper Canteen meal, drinks and appetizers at the Polynesian on Day 1, and a Star Wars ornament.
Travel Costs: $399.66
This total was only for Bryan, since my roundtrip travel costs were covered by my employer.
Rise of the Resistance Lightening Lane Reservation: $15.98
Our snafu saved us and additional $15.98, since they gave us Bryan’s pass for free.
Guardians of the Galaxy Lightening Lane reservation for 2: $36.22
Total Trip Cost: $2,411.36
Disney definitely isn’t a budget vacation, but we could have done this trip a bit cheaper had we foregone the Genie+ service, stayed in a value resort, and brought lunch/snacks with us to the parks; however, this cost was worth it to us since we visit very infrequently and haven’t had vacation since December.