A family's packed Disney trip is stirring debate about how much planning is actually needed for theme-park vacations

• Influencer Brooke Raybould recently shared TikTok videos about her family's Disney vacation.
• The posts went viral as people debated whether she needed to plan so intensely for their trip.

One family's Disney World vacation is sparking debate about how much preparation is needed to enjoy the theme park.

Parenting and lifestyle influencer Brooke Raybould and her husband visited the Orlando, Florida, destination in June with their four children.

Each day of their trip, Raybould shared videos on social media about their daily schedule. They aimed to show their tips for making the most of their vacation and accessing early entry to each park.

However, their TikTok video about Magic Kingdom in particular quickly went viral for another reason: the family's packed schedule and intense vacation planning.

The video posted on July 2 has been viewed more than 1.2 million times as of Thursday.

As seen in Raybould's video, her family's preparation began the night before they visited Magic Kingdom.

The mom first laid out her children's outfits before they went to sleep, and also organized her array of official theme-park maps and her custom-made vacation guides, which she's currently selling on her website for $40.

She then woke up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym as her husband returned to their hotel room from his workout.

It was 5:45 a.m. when Raybould began doing her makeup, 6:45 a.m. when she woke up her children, and 6:58 a.m. when she made reservations for virtual ride queues and Lightning Lane passes.

Raybould then said her family was "out the door" by 7:10 a.m. when they took an Uber from the Four Seasons Orlando to the entrance of Disney's Contemporary Resort. It's there that they accessed a secluded walkway — which Raybould described as the "best-kept secret" entrance — that leads to Magic Kingdom.

"7:20 a.m. and we are first in line at the kiosks," she said in her video. "We take a quick photo, then it's 7:30 a.m. and they let us onto Main Street USA."

From there, the family focused on taking photos in front of Cinderella Castle and riding the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before the line got too long.

"At the end of the day, my goal is to help moms have fun and enjoy the process as much as their kids do," Raybould said in an interview with Insider. "I love to plan. I love to execute. And I feel like that's what we've been able to accomplish as a family during Disney trips."

But reactions to Raybould's packed vacation have been mixed. While some described the influencer mom as an "inspiration," others argued that her level of planning was "chaotic and ridiculous."

"Wait hold on. You go get a full-on workout and STILL make it to the park early? This is incredible ," one person wrote on TikTok.

"This is not a vacation" and "I'm tired watching it," others wrote on Twitter.

Raybould told Insider that her vacation planning stemmed from a failed trip to Disneyland with her parents and children in 2019.

"We showed up and were so miserable," she said. "We couldn't get on any rides. I didn't know where I was or where to go. I just remembered it being so different when I was a kid. We tried to park hop from California Adventure to Disneyland, and we just walked in and walked out."

She said she proceeded to avoid Disney vacations for a few years until a friend invited the Raybould family to Disney World in 2021.

"A friend recommended a book that helped her plan when her kids were little, so I started reading," she told Insider. "That's when I realized you don't just go to Disney. You don't just show up. You plan."

Raybould's strategy might not be conventional, and she knows that some people take issue with the effort she puts into her vacations.

"I'm not doing anything extraordinary. I've just created habits," she said, noting that her Disney schedule is "parallel" to her daily routine at home. "Our morning routine is a big part of who I am as a mom, and what I regularly share with my followers."

But at the end of the day, the influencer doesn't read the comments. Instead, she said she remains happy to know that her family is getting the most out of their vacations and that she's helped other families plan their own.

"I love to help moms know that there's a way to do it, because I wish I had that information the first time," she said. "We just wanna maximize our time, our money, and our experience. Sometimes that comes out as hyper-planning on my part, but I find joy in it."