I’m going to tell you a secret: You can’t trust everything you read on the internet. That’s hard to hear, I know. As well meaning and good-hearted as most people on the internet are, they are sometimes just wrong.
Case in point: If you so much as think about going to Disney, Facebook will somehow know and immediately show you posts from Facebook groups dedicated to vacationing there. Earlier this year, my family and I decided to take my 4-year-old niece to Orlando for her first trip to the Most Magical Place on Earth. But before we even had dates set, I was seeing posts about Lightning Lanes and pixie dust and AOA and MNSSHP and so many other acronyms that made my head spin.
Those pages can be invaluable sources of first-person experiences and tips, but they aren’t always correct. There is a better source you can trust: PlanDisney.
What Is PlanDisney?
In 2008, a group of Disney fans came together under Disney’s umbrella to help people put their vacations together and ask questions of people who know answers, In 2020, that group changed its name to PlanDisney.
PlanDisney is a group of about 50 panelists, or experts in one part of the Disney universe or another, including Walt Disney World Resort, Disney Cruise Line, and Disney Vacation Club. These are not Disney Cast Members or members of the Disney marketing team. They’re teachers, social workers, marketers, nurses, and all-around major Disney fans. (They are compensated with a trip to a Disney destination for their work on the panel.)
Each panelist has a Disney “specialty,” and on top of that, the panelist brings with them personal life experiences and preferences that inform their particular areas of interest. For example, Shannon is a panelist for the Disney Cruise Line, and she has an interest in the adults-only spaces and activities on the ships. Alison, who I spoke with before writing this story, has been bringing her kids (now teenagers) to Disney World for years, so she is especially skilled at helping parents navigate with children in tow.
How Does PlanDisney Work?
Think of PlanDisney as a reservoir of knowledge of both the broadest and the most obscure kind. Sure, anyone can research what time the parks open and close. But where do you ask, “What does it mean to rope drop?” and “How can I share pixie dust with others?” Don’t know what those things are? I didn’t either. PlanDisney answered for me.
- You can use PlanDisney as a search engine, asking your question to see if anyone has already asked it before. (They likely have.)
- You can also just scroll through all of the recently asked questions. You may learn something you weren’t expecting to really need to know.
- And if all else fails, you can ask a question of the Panel to get a personalized answer. (Due to the volume of questions they receive, they’ll tell you it’s possible you won’t get an answer, but here’s hoping!)
The best part about PlanDisney is that if a panelist doesn’t know the answer, they will find it for you. Because among the 50 people who serve on the PlanDisney panel are some of the most true and spirited Disney fans on the planet. So you can trust, unless your question really has no answer, that they will find it for you.
And the best part? They won’t speak in acronyms or jargon that make knowing if you need to hop the Skyliner to HS or the MR to AKL impossible.