We love Disney World so much. Lane and I loved it even before the girls. We have gone many times before without children. Taking kids to Disney is a whole new ballgame. The girls’ first trip was two years ago, at age 3. They were, looking back, a little young. It was a rough trip. They had fun, but it was exhausting. That trip definitely served as a learning curve to make this trip fantastic.
Trip planning is huge for Disney. If you don’t plan ahead, you will have no dining options and you will wait in line forever for rides. Dining has become a huge part of planning a vacation with Disney because of the dining plan options. People are booking reservations now 180 days in advance! This blew my mind. That being said, pick where you want to eat and reserve it! Next thing to think about is a fast pass. This feature is wonderful. Instead of huge lines you have minimal waiting on the rides you want. With kids this is a no brainer. I do not want to wait in line for an hour with two five year olds to ride one ride, no thank you.
Technology is amazing so of course apple has a My Disney Experience App. That is where everything can be viewed. Adjust your fast passes, or look at your trip plans. It is all there. One of my favorite features is called The Memory Maker. It is a photo pass you can purchase. So when you are walking around the park and see a photographer you have your picture taken it is upload to your app. This way you have all your photos and you do not have to purchase any individually. You can have as many as you want taken. If you purchase prior to your trip it is discounted.
Next was a very important item for us even though our girls are five-strollers! Last trip we rented strollers at the park thinking it would be easier than taking our own. This was a major mistake. At the end of the day you have two very tired girls and you drop your strollers at the park, but you still have to carry girls and what ever else you have to transportation and to hotel. That was a load. We thought about renting strollers from a company that delivers to your hotel, so you have them the entire time. We settled on taking our own because we were driving so it wasn’t an issue and it saved quite a bit of money. I know our girls are older, but the park is big and they get tired. So a stroller helps extend your park time and holds all your stuff. There were times if I could have gotten in the stroller I would have! Also think about taking a rain cover for your stroller. We had some rain and I packed some but they leaked. I skimped and bought the cheap ones. Don’t skimp. If it looks like rain for your trip, get the good ones. A dry child is a happy child.
A bag was another issue I pondered on for this trip. What to carry that was cute, comfortable, and not too big. I didn’t want a cross body bag because I had cute shirts that I didn’t want to cover with a purse strap right through that middle. That option was out. My main thought was a backpack. I wanted dainty and fashionable. I ended up finding the perfect bag! It is black leather with a gold zipper. I am in love. It is lightweight and has pockets inside for my things. Problem solved. I failed to think of taking another backpack for Lane. We ended up buying a bag at one of the shops that the girls love. So we used it to hold extra clothes, snacks, sunglasses, etc.
You walk miles upon miles at Disney so the whole family got new sneakers for the trip. I let the girls pick out their own. They picked memory foam sketchers. They said they were very comfortable, and never complained about them as much as we walked. They felt very soft. I bought Adidas Ultra Boost. Oh my goodness! I am in shoe heaven. They are amazing. Lane got Adidas Ultra Boost Trail and he loves them as well. We had very comfy feet on this trip.
It is always in planning for these trips. What shirts are we going to wear? Now that Hollywood Studios has the Star Wars shows and park in the works, there was no question what Lane was wearing. He was going to wear a Star Wars shirt everyday. So he was covered. The girls have so many shirts from the park I hated not to get more use out of them so they were covered. I picked up a few more Star Wars shirts for them at Target. I knew we would all wear them the night we went to see the Star Wars fireworks. I found my shirts at the Disney Store and at Target. Target has great Disney and Star Wars shirts. Their online selection is fantastic. Florida weather in October is crazy. We wore everything from shorts and tank tops, to pants and jackets. Definitely pack an array of items. Swimsuits are a must. The resort pools are great. We always take a break in the middle of the trip. The girls and adults need a day of rest.
I always take costumes and princess dresses for the girls. We go in October so they dress up for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. They also like to wear princess gowns some too. When you are in the most magical place on earth why not walk around dressed up as a princess. If you go into Castle Couture and asked to be sprinkled with pixie dust, they will. It is fabulous! My girls loved it! (All the girls costumes came from the Disney Store)
Being a mom I am a snack packer. We drove so I packed snacks for the road. I also knew that snack options in the park are not always the healthiest. So I packed a big, organized of course, bag of snack options for all of us to have daily. We also took two cases of bottled water to keep in our room and put in the refrigerator. This was the best thing I could have done. We drank all the water, which we paid $6 for both cases total. It would have cost $3 per bottle at the park ($144). We were able to take all of this because we drove. Our girls were awesome on the road trip. If we flew this would not have been an option.
This visit we ate a Chef Mickeys, Cinderella’s Table, Crystal Palace, 50s Prime Diner, and Be Our Guest. They were all fantastic. Chef Mickeys was our favorite this trip because it was our first night and seeing our girls’ faces when they met the characters was amazing.
We love Walt Disney World. Every trip we find something new we love. Now that we have children it is so much more magical. I didn’t think that was possible. When you are in a Disney park or resort, you feel like you have been transported to an entirely different world. Everything is so magical. Seeing the excitement and wonder in our girls eyes made this trip so special. We can’t wait to go back.
Have a magical week. New post on Friday!