The Little Disney World Moments You May Remember Most.

The biggest attractions get the attention. The smallest moments sometimes stay with us the longest.

Before a Disney World vacation, it's natural to imagine the big moments. Walking into Magic Kingdom. Seeing Cinderella Castle. Riding the attraction everyone has been talking about. Watching fireworks. Meeting a favorite character.

Those experiences can become treasured memories, but something interesting happens when you look back on a vacation years later. Sometimes, the memories that return first aren't the ones you planned.

They're the little, unplanned ones.

There are important moments even between the plans.

Maybe it's your child falling asleep against you on the bus back to the resort. Maybe it's walking through an almost-empty resort early in the morning. Maybe someone says something so funny that it becomes a family joke for years.

Maybe you sit down for five minutes because everyone is tired—and somehow that five minutes taking in the magical park or resort around you becomes one of your favorite parts of the day.

These moments don't appear on an itinerary. They happen between the things on the itinerary. If we're always thinking about what comes next, they're surprisingly easy to miss.

Slow down long enough to notice.

It is easy to always be on the move at Walt Disney World. You will hit your daily step goal with ease. There's always another attraction nearby, another show starting soon, another reservation approaching, and another thing you could be doing.

That can be exciting, but every once in a while, stop and look around.

What is everyone doing? What are they laughing about? What does this moment actually feel like?

You don't have to turn every ordinary interaction into a profound experience. Just notice it.

Let the unexpected moment finish.

This can be especially difficult when you have a plan. You're walking toward the next attraction and your child becomes fascinated by something along the way. Your instinct may be to not stop. Sometimes, you do need to keep going to catch the ride or dining reservation.

But, sometimes you don't. Maybe you can give the moment another five minutes. Watch the ducks. Listen to the music. Talk to the Cast Member. Look at the flowers. Oh, and have that Mickey shaped ice cream.

The itinerary will survive and the unscheduled five minutes may become more memorable than whatever you were rushing toward.

Take some photos that are not "the photo."

Of course, take the picture of Cinderella Castle if you want to. Take the family photo. Take the carefully posed photograph in front of the park icons like Spaceship Earth in EPCOT, Tower of Terror in Hollywood Studios, and the Tree of Life in Animal Kingdom.

But photograph ordinary things too. Years from now, those photographs may remind you what the vacation actually felt like. In that moment, you will be immersed in all the feelings you had as you walked through Walt Disney World.

Write down the human moments and funny things.

People say interest things when on vacation. In fact, for many regular Disney World visitors, one of the underrated enjoyable experiences during the vacation is sitting on a park bench, resting your feet, and, as Walt Disney once did, people watch.

A child mispronounces a character's name or says that thing everyone was thinking but no adult would say. Someone makes a comment that everyone repeats for the rest of the week. A stranger lets someone else cut them in line or gives directions to someone who looks lost while holding a park map.

Next, turn to the group you are with. Pay attention to what they say. Those are the shared experiences, jokes, and stories that develop over the course of the trip. Write them down. Not every single one, of course, but the ones that make you think:

I don't want to forget that.

Don't put pressure on the moment.

There is a paradox here. If you spend your vacation desperately trying to make memories, you can end up checking off the vacation instead of living it.

Don't force the memories. They will come naturally. If you keep your eyes and ears open, you will notice them.

Live first. Notice second. Capture something when it feels worth capturing. Then, keep going because there is even more to experience.

What you remember most from your vacation may not be what you planned.

Years later, you may still remember the fireworks. You might also remember the walk back afterward, thinking about how you can't wait to experience that someday again.

You may remember the attraction. But, perhaps even more clearly, you'll remember the expression on someone's face when it ended.

That's one reason why Plan Upon A Star is designed around two equally important ideas: Plan Your Trip. Make Lifelong Memories.

A thoughtful plan helps you experience the things that matter to you. However, having enough breathing room and flexibility lets you notice the things you didn't know would matter. Those little moments aren't interruptions to your Disney vacation. They are your Disney vacation.

Plan Your Trip. Make Lifelong Memories.