ChatGPT Says What? Can AI Plan Your Disney Vacation?

Tuesday, December 16 – Magic Kingdom Day
ChatGPT Recommendation: Arrive by 8 am for Early Entry. Us: Say What?! Early Entry begins at 8:30 am on December 16th. That means that security opens at 7:30 am and the main gates open at 7:45 am. Early Entry guests will tap in to the right of Cinderella Castle around 7:48 am and will be lined up at Seven Dwarfs or Peter Pan by 7:50 am – ten minutes before the ChatGPT arrival time.
Haunted Mansion is in Liberty Square and is not part of Early Entry. But maybe that doesn’t matter? Because by the time you’re done with the extra wait from arriving 10 minutes “late” to Early Entry at ChatGPT’s direction, Early Entry will be over.
Other notable misses on the attraction lineup:

Big Thunder Mountain has been closed since January 2025 and will not reopen until sometime next year.
“Holiday Magic” should probably include riding Jingle Cruise, the holiday overlay for Jungle Cruise.
Tuesday, December 16th is a Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party day. Guests without party tickets cannot stay past 6 pm, and the fireworks that they won’t be able to see (because they’ve left the park) will be Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks and not Happily Ever After.

So how did ChatGPT do with our food & merch? Well, it allotted $150-$200 for food and souvenirs for the first day of our visit.

No breakfast suggestions are made
Lunch at Columbia Harbor House, 2x Beer Battered Shrimp, 2x Coke = $40.00
Dinner, Be Our Guest for two is $184.03 with tax and 20% tip.
1 holiday pin = $19.16 with tax
1 pair of ears = $39.39 with tax

Total = $282.58 without any food or bev before lunch. Plus, Be Our Guest may be a sentimental favorite, but it’s not highly rated by TouringPlans Subscribers (Liners). Liners rank Be Our Guest #80 of 93 table service locations in Walt Disney World.
That “Much Below Average” should give pause.
Wednesday, December 17 – EPCOT Day

No mention of Early Entry or arrival times.
Guardians of the Galaxy does not have a Virtual Queue

And if Guardians of the Galaxy did still have a Virtual Queue, wouldn’t you advise a first-timer that they needed to wake up at 7 am to get in it?

Lunch- Connections Eatery = Margherita Pizza, Hand-breaded Chicken Sandwich, and a Liege Waffle, $32.99
or
Festival of the Holidays using the same $32.99

We have no idea why ChatGPT didn’t advise a first-timer to see the well-loved Candlelight Processional. But ChatGPT suggested either Chefs de France or Via Napoli for dinner. Both of these locations participate in the Candlelight Processional Dining Package. The itinerary suggests staying for Luminous, so we can assume staying in the park until close is part of the plan. If someone was going to spend money at either of these dining locations, they should probably get the guaranteed seating for the Processional for a bit more. Below are options for both with and without the dining package.

Chefs de France Candlelight for 2 with tax and 20% tip = $219.82
Chefs de France without Candlelight = Boeuf Bourguignon, $39.95, Poulet Cordon Bleu, $39.95, Crème Brûlée, $13.95, and a French Fashioned, $17.95. Total with tax & tip = $142.88
Via Napoli Candlelight for 2 with tax and 20% tip = $166.14
Via Napoli without Candlelight = Homemade Focaccia, $8.50, Margherita Pizza, $48.00, Cannolo Siciliano, $12.00, Italian Soda, $7.00, & Sparkling Water, $9.00. Total with tax & tip = $107.99

The least expensive total without breakfast and without Candlelight = $140.98, just under ChatGPT’s $150-$180 estimate. No souvenirs for us today, we guess, since we still have to make up our $80 overrun from the Magic Kingdom. Let’s see how ChatGPT did in the remaining two parks.

Thursday, December 18 – Hollywood Studios Day
Even with a solid early entry start, it’s a good idea to get a Lightning Lane Single Pass for Rise of the Resistance. Rise may not open with the park and will definitely go down at some point each day. Any Disney World expert who is not ChatGPT would make sure that a first-timer knows this. We no longer even test Rise of the Resistance in our plans because we assume everyone will get a LLSP due to downtime.
We’ve tested dozens of TouringPlans in Hollywood Studios over the last few years, and tackling these 5 big attractions before lunch without being at the front of Early Entry (which starts at 8:30 am on the 18th) is just not going to happen. Our testing record for the Studios included Tower of Terror, Runaway Railway, Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, Smugglers Run, Star Tours, Muppet Vision (R.I.P.), and Slinky Dog Dash in 5 hours and 15 minutes on a Crowd Level 8 day with Early Entry.
For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-Along Celebration will have a holiday overlay during this time. But hey, let’s talk about Jollywood Nights.
There is no Jollywood Nights on December 18, and although ChatGPT notes that the schedule is tentative, those dates have been out since July 9, three months ago. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, since ChatGPT also didn’t know that Guardians stopped using a Virtual Queue eight months ago. But what’s especially bad about this is that we didn’t tell ChatGPT to put our Hollywood Studios day on the 18th; if it had sent us to HS on the 17th and EPCOT on the 18th instead, then we would actually have a shot at Jollywood Nights.
On the food front: ChatGPT estimates $180 for food in Hollywood Studios.

Lunch at Woody’s Lunch Box, BBQ Brisket Melt, $13.99, & Totchos, $10.99 = $26.60 after tax.
Dinner at either Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater or 50’s Prime Time Café
Dinner at 50’s Prime Time, Aunt Liz’s Golden Fried Chicken, $29.00, Grandpa Jean’s Chicken Pot Pie, $26.00, Traditional Warm Apple Crisp À la Mode, $10.00 = $83.08 with tax and tip.
Dinner at Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, Drive-in BBQ Burger, $27.00, Classic American Burger, $25.00, & Cookie Shake, $7.75 = $76.36 with tax and tip.

Either option, combined with Woody’s Lunch Box, would allow for a modest breakfast and snack budget to stay within the plan’s target spend. But Liners would definitely tip you towards Prime Time: they rate Sci-Fi 82%, Much Below Average, with a ranking of #76 of 93 table service locations in Walt Disney World. 50’s Prime Time is rated 94%, Exceptional, with a ranking of #9 of 93 table service locations.

Friday, December 19 – Animal Kingdom Day
The plan seems to fizzle out on the last day with a huge breakfast and lunch budget and no real “plan” in the plan. Expecting to hop on Flight of Passage with no mention of Early Entry or arrival times is curious.
What’s Missing
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you probably aren’t a first timer. You probably have a favorite seat on Soarin’ and a favorite bartender at the Tune-In Lounge. You’ve also likely thought of the things we did when running through the ChatGPT suggestions. Things like:

Do we get to ride TRON?
Do we get breakfast? Snacks?
Transportation. So many details go into transportation. Think through how you would tell someone all the ways to get to the Magic Kingdom alone.

Let’s acknowledge that our prompt was short. It didn’t ask for resort recommendations, character meal suggestions, the best way to get from park to park, whether or not Memory Maker is worth the money, or if staying at a Disney Springs resort is worth the cost savings. There are hundreds of tiny details that we didn’t ask about, but if someone is coming to Walt Disney World as a first timer or returning for the first time in a long while, they may not know what they don’t know. Like the best way to see resort gingerbread and holiday displays, parades, what resorts have Skyliner access, and how rapid refill mugs work. And what about discounts?!? You get the idea.
Summary
We don’t have any skin in the Disney Travel Agency game any longer, but that doesn’t mean we don’t see the value. A Disney Travel Adviser will do all of the work above for no additional cost to the guest. There are far too many free tools – (get ready for the plug) many of them right on our website and app – that mean using ChatGPT to plan a Disney vacation should be a big skip.
On a personal note, understanding Disney has been my actual job for many years now, and I still used a Travel Adviser (hi Bethanee!!) for my upcoming Very Merrytime Cruise this December. ChatGPT is not going to alert you when Disney freaks out over all of the D+ cancellations and decides to discount your booked cruise by 40%. Your Travel Adviser will. If you’re not new to DCL and you’re looking for a giggle, ask ChatGPT to help you plan your Disney cruise. It’s more of the stuff from above, except add water.
What say you? What do you think about the plans our prompt got us? Have you had any experience using ChatGPT to plan an event or trip? What are your thoughts on our analysis? Share in the comments so we can test out a few new scenarios!

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