"It’s been almost 30 years since I went to Disney World. My memories of Disney are happy ones, but I don’t remember any specifics beyond wearing ears, getting characters to sign my special autograph book, and getting to stay up late to see the fireworks show at Epcot.
I have two daughters, almost 4.5 and 2.5, who are princess-obsessed, and so when I found out my family would be in Orlando for a few days in June, I decided to look into going to Disney World for the day. We’ll do a bigger Disney World trip in a couple of years, but kids under 3 are free (one of the few things I did know about Disney), so I figured we’d take advantage of that and give them a great surprise.
The only problem is that thinking about planning a day at Disney is overwhelming. There is so much information out there about how to optimize your time in the parks.
I decided to ask ChatGPT to plan out my day, and then I had Mary Helen Law, owner of Disney planning company Minnie Mouse Counselors and one of Conde Nast Traveller’s top travel specialists, review the itinerary. Read on to hear what ChatGPT got right and wrong and what a Disney expert had to say.
Mary Helen Law, Founder Mini Mouse Counselors
Mary Helen is a mom and travel expert. She started her career as a travel agent in 2018 while also working in marketing and business development. In 2019 she decided to leave her day job to expand her business. Since then, she has helped hundreds of families plan magical vacations around the world and is one of Conde Nast Traveller’s top travel specialists.
My Disney World ChatGPT Planning Prompt
First, here’s the prompt I gave ChatGPT to create our Disney World itinerary:
Can you plan my family’s day at Disney World? It will be me, my husband, and my two daughters. They will be 2.5 and 4.5 for the trip, and they love Ariel, Elsa & Ana, Moana, Belle, 101 Dalmatians, Cinderella, and Mary Poppins.
We’d like to go to two different parks over the course of the day but will need a three- to four-hour break in the middle of the day for a nap. We’d like to do a sit-down lunch at a themed restaurant our girls would like based on their interests. Can you plan an itinerary for the day for the parks that you’d recommend? In addition, there should be a snack stop in the morning and afternoon.
What ChatGPT Got Right About Planning a Trip to Disney World
There are a lot of things that ChatGPT got wrong about planning a trip to Disney (more on that in a bit), but it did recommend rides and activities that would be a good fit based on my daughters’ interests, like going on the “Under the Sea” ride and meeting Ariel, seeing “Enchanted Tales With Belle,” having lunch at Be Our Guest Restaurant, and seeing the Festival of Fantasy Parade at Magic Kingdom.
When my sister used a Disney planner last year, she had the opposite experience. The planner just recommended all of the most popular rides, like Tron, that my nephew would have had no interest in, so at least ChatGPT paid attention to what I told it my girls liked.
I also asked ChatGPT if it had any tips for having a successful day at Disney, and I got some good information back, like using the Disney app to check ride wait times and to order food ahead of time, and that we’d be able to use the rider switch program in case my youngest was too small to ride.
It also gave me some great recommendations for what to pack for the day, like sunscreen, baby wipes, and snacks. Law agreed that there were a few nuggets of good information but pointed out that ChatGPT didn’t include packing a portable phone charger, something she said we’d need.
What ChatGPT Got Wrong About Our Disney Day Itinerary
Three main things to remember about ChatGPT is that it only responds to what you give it, it’s pulling from information across the internet and may not always be right, and there’s no human element to help rationalize the information, either.
For example, I told ChatGPT that I wanted to go to two parks, and so it gave me an itinerary based on that prompt. It would have never suggested that I not do two parks because it would be unrealistic given my kids’ ages.
ChatGPT lacks the ability to say no or to suggest alternative ideas
ChatGPT did what I asked, but if I had embraced the suggestions, I am guessing we would have never made it back to the park after a nap and been highly frustrated.
Law, on the other hand, took a look at my prompt and told me she’d really recommend not park hopping and that we should stay at Magic Kingdom all day versus trying to leave and come back.
Law explained to me that because we aren’t staying in a Disney resort, we’ll be spending a lot more time getting from the parking lot to the parks, and that my 30-minute estimate was probably more like an hour and a half. ChatGPT doesn’t know how long it takes to get to the parking lot and back to a hotel and couldn’t accurately estimate the logistics behind this.
She also recommended a stroller nap in the air-conditioned Carousel of Progress, which she said was usually a quieter spot, instead of trying to leave and come back to the park. ChatGPT also recommended this spot and the currently closed Hall of Presidents as a great place to take a break, but overall I needed a human with more knowledge of how things work at Disney to help me understand what was realistic versus not for our trip.
ChatGPT didn’t include any wait times for rides
If you look at the itinerary ChatGPT gave me for Disney, it’s as if we would have the park to ourselves. According to ChatGPT, we’d be on a ride or at a new attraction every 30 minutes.
Even I know enough about Disney to know that that just didn’t sound right. Law said we’d probably be on the lower end of wait times since we’re going in early June but agreed that the number of things the itinerary said we’d accomplish didn’t seem realistic.
Instead, she walked me through the Disney app and showed me how I’ll be able to see what the wait times are for each ride, what the showtimes are, and how to see which characters are where.
She also talked me through the other ways we can reduce wait times by purchasing Lightning Lane passes or the Premier Pass, which is a newer (albeit expensive) program Disney is testing that gives you one entry into every Lightning Lane experience.
Using ChatGPT would be great for asking what rides would be appropriate for my girls based on their age and interests so that we’d have an idea of what to target throughout the day, but the information on how to use the app to save time that Law gave me will be much more helpful. She also helped level-set my expectations on what we’ll be able to accomplish in a day, which will help me not stress about not being able to do it all once we get there.
ChatGPT got important things wrong that would have ruined our day at Disney
Remember, I’m a Disney newbie, so I took all of the information it gave me at face value.
The problem, Law says, is that “ChatGPT just cannot keep up with the amount that Disney changes.” It pulls from sources all over the internet and can’t discern what is correct or not, so I ended up with things on the itinerary that aren’t accurate.
One of the biggest mistakes? The itinerary said we’d be able to meet Ana and Elsa, my girls’ favorite characters, in the Princess Fairytale Hall, which isn’t true. They do meet and greets in Epcot at the Royal Sommerhus.
Law sensed my disappointment and assured me that the girls would be able to wave to Ana, Elsa, and Olaf in either Mickey’s Magical Friendship Fair or in the Magic Kingdom Parade.
Other major things ChatGPT got wrong that would have derailed our day? It suggested meeting Ariel at 9 a.m when she isn’t available until 10 a.m.; said that we’d be able to enter the park at 8 a.m., which is incorrect considering that Magic Kingdom opens at 8:30 a.m. for people staying on property and 9 a.m. for people staying off property; and said that we should use Genie+ or a FastPass to cut down on wait times, both of which are services that no longer exist.
It’s easy to assume that what ChatGPT spits out is accurate, but in our case all of these errors would have caused significant frustration for the day.
Should You Use ChatGPT for Any Part of Your Disney Planning?
Law said she could see ChatGPT being helpful for “very broad spectrum stuff” when planning a trip to Disney, like recommendations for what resort to stay at or to get a general idea of what characters are at which parks (although keep in mind, ChatGPT gave me incorrect information on this).
“I think there’s a lot of job security in what [travel planners] do because of the relationships that we have and the knowledge,” she says, but says she doesn’t think it’s a bad idea to use ChatGPT to get some initial ideas before talking to a planner.
Should You Use a Disney Planner for Your Disney Trip?
You don’t have to use a Disney planner to plan your trip, but after my experience with ChatGPT, I’ll be using one, as I still don’t know where to start with all of the information out there.
Working with a Disney planner is oftentimes free, as Disney pays the planner a commission, but if it isn’t, it could still be worth the investment just to make sure you’re getting the most accurate information.
If you don’t want to use a planner, ask friends who have been to Disney for their tips and itineraries. It might be easier to understand what’s realistic versus not for your family if you have similar-aged kids and will still cut down on the work for you (The Everymom also has tips from moms for traveling to Disney World with toddlers, Disney with a baby, and even Disney World while pregnant).
Final verdict? ChatGPT might be good for some aspects of travel planning, but the itinerary it gave me based on my prompt wasn’t realistic and had a lot of errors in it. For something as complicated as Disney World, having human insights and judgment feels like a better way to try to ensure more Disney magic than headaches.
Elliott Harrell, Contributing Writer
Elliott is a mom of two little girls and is based in Raleigh, NC. She spends her days running a sales team and doing laundry and her nights writing about the things that she loves. She’s passionate about all things motherhood and women’s health. When she’s not working, writing or parenting you can find her trying a new restaurant in town or working on her latest needlepoint project.