Orlando prep #2 | Planning a trip

When it comes to traveling, there's a lot of factors to consider. It can be easy but there's also room for delays or problems to be solved. So I thought I would share my process for planning a trip that can hopefully help provide an overview for others - as it has done for me! Let's take it point by point:
Where do you want to go?  It's hard going on vacation without a sense of direction. In our household, we always land on either Disneyland Paris or Orlando - not much of a spoiler there! But sometimes it can be tricky to narrow the final destination down, even from two options. That's where we start asking ourselves other questions...
What do you want to do?  Is there something special museum you want to visit? A specific theme park perhaps? *hint hint* And then we found out that yes, we actually want to visit Disney (seriously - 100% of the times!). Then it's a matter of economics for us: can we afford to travel to the US or do we have a more simple vacation to Disneyland Paris? If we were to travel now, we'd probably choose DLP but since we've chosen September of next year, there's plenty of room for saving!  Then it's time to figure out what you want to do. We've decided that we want to visit all the Disney parks and all of Universal Studios parks this time around. We've previously been out in the swamp, visited Legoland Florida and Seaworld but they're not on our list this time. 
For more specific experiences, we would love to try some Disney events such as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (more on that later in the year), and the Keys to the Kingdom tour in the Magic Kingdom. And these events are not included in your ticket price so beware and make sure to save for this too (if that's what you want to!). 
There's plenty of dining opportunities so these should be a factor too. Do some research on the theme parks' websites and see if something appeals to you. A lot of these have prices too so it's easy to incorporate dining into a savings budget! 
Where do you want to stay?  Is it important for you that you stay on property with either Disney or Universal Studios? Or would you be okay with staying off-site and either renting a car/uber-ing or use the transportation the hotels (usually) provide?  We've stayed off-site on all three trips to Orlando, staying on International Drive. The last two times we rented a car - which I highly recommend - but it's an added cost with the rental, gas, and parking at the parks. But staying on International Drive, we've always been within walking distance of Universal Studios so there's a little saving there. 
When do you want to go?  Are you seeking out special seasonal experiences like Halloween or Christmas, or something third? Or are you more of a weather-dependent person who wants nothing but sunshine? Or maybe a bit cooler weather?  When it comes to Walt Disney World, we've only ever gone in September, purely because we read (when prepping for our first trip), that this is where the crowd levels are lowest since everybody is going back to school and work after summer.  We haven't tried other times - obviously - but the crowds are very low in September. The only downside is the weather; there's sunny and warm - perhaps too warm actually and it is humid like crazy! So if that bothers you, maybe the first half of the year works best for you. But we deal with it for the sake of the low crowds and the Halloween experience!  The best tool for this, I've found is crowd calendars. There's plenty out there but I prefer Undercover Tourist (who also sells tickets). 
How much time do you need?  This is both considering how much time you need to save up those Disney bucks but also for how long of a vacation you want/can afford. For us, we've found that three weeks is the sweet spot for visiting all those theme parks, shopping, etc.  Two weeks is too short of an amount and made us tired to the point we became sick, and a little over three weeks made us homesick and tired. Three weeks gives us - roughly - two weeks of Disney and one week of Universal, with malls and outlets tossed in on random days. 
Other points to remember...  I'll just mention them in list form because I'll be writing more about some of these things later!
- ESTA (US visa) - Booking flights - Booking hotels - Buying tickets for the parks, etc. - Car rental, foreign driver's license - Health insurance

I hope this gave a quick overview of our planning process and perhaps provide you some help!