Plan ahead!!
Make dining reservations as soon as you have dates of travel. You don’t need tickets or lodging to make dinning reservations. Go to https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/login/ and create an account or log in to start making reservations. I was making reservations (or trying to) 60-70 days in advance of travel and could not get a lot of what I wanted. Most restaurants will book 180 days in advance.
Purchase your tickets and lodging as early as possible. You can do your FastPass+ reservations 30 days before travel or 60 days if you are on property. To get some recommendations as to what to put on your very limited FastPass+ reservations check out http://www.undercovertourist.com/ They also have great info on what days to visit what parks based on historical attendance data as well as a phone app to give you wait times for rides.
The parks we are doing are Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, Blizard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon. Special events are the Pirate Cruise, the kids are doing the Kids Pirate Adventure, Marisa and I have a special dinner at Cinderella’s Table, each night at Fort Wilderness is Chip and Dales campfire sing-a-long (hopefully we can make it at least one night).
Leave a comment if you have any questions.
~John