Disney World. The most magical place on earth, right? Believe the hype! It’s that and so much more!
**Disclaimer: I am NOT a Disney expert, and besides this past trip, the last time I went I was under the age of 10. So this blog post is coming to you personally from me. Someone who is a newbie to Disney, a mom of two young ones and was skeptical of the hype. (grab a drink, this is a lengthy post)**
We booked our trip in February, keeping it a complete surprise from the little peeps. 6 days, 5 nights of Disney love. We were excited about Disney, but weren’t believers (yet!), of the hype of all it was. Being a military family, we were able to get some great discounts at Disney resorts and saved a lot of money on the 4 day hopper pass.
We decided to tell the little peeps in the form of a treasure hunt the day before we left, not actually telling them where we were going until in the parking lot of the airport. See how it played out here. The Surprise!
I can not even emphasize how awesome this trip was from the minute we landed in Orlando and stepped on the Magical Express to head to the hotel, to the the time we got back to Norfolk International 6 days later.
I’ve been to many places in my life and I have to say this may have been the best vacation I have ever been on. I am actually getting teary eyed writing this blog post because I miss it so much. Maybe it was so awesome because it was our first vacation with just us 4… ever! We vacation every year, but always with family or friends. The quality time was so needed in more ways than one and we bonded so much as a family. Not having to worry about work, school, activities, life and emails (I actually turned the vacation auto responder on my email on! GASP!). It was needed on so many levels, and even being back to reality 2 weeks later, we all still have this newfound bond. Sounds cliche, but it’s the truth!
We stayed on Disney’s property and I could never imagine doing it any other way. They make everything SO easy. It was the smoothest sailing vacation ever, I didn’t feel stress once. For me, that’s saying A LOT!
So here is the down low from my point of view on Disney. Some tips from a newbie that wanted to make the most of being at the happiest place on earth.
Booking – After staying at a Disney resort, I could never imagine going to Disney and NOT! They make everything so easy. When we arrived at our hotel, a friendly lady was standing outside holding an iPad with our name on it and checked us into the hotel on the spot in 2.36 minutes flat, giving us pins to wear and goodies for the kids. You will NOT need a car when you stay on property, which is triple bonus points for me, because seriously who wants to drive? The bus system is so simple and clean!
I highly recommend calling Disney World reservations and speaking to them when booking. Not only are they super friendly (I mean they end each call with “have a magical day”), but because if you are military and wanting to take advantage of the discounted hotel rates, you will need to do so over the phone. But even if you are not military, sometimes they offer certain deals and they are just very helpful.
We decided to stay at Disney Port Orleans French Quarters. We loved it and would definitely stay here again! I don’t think the resort is as big as some of the others, which we really liked! It’s nice and clean and kind of makes you feel like you are New Orleans. The pool was awesome and the pool bar was even sweeter. My favorite thing about this resort is it is one of the only resorts that you can take a little boat to Downtown Disney. The kids and us loved that little perk, and taking the boat was maybe 10 minutes tops! They had a cute little park in the courtyard. We went there one morning to do a tabata style work out and the kids played. Some parents looked at us like we were weird….but whatever “We work out”… ; )
Magic Bands – These bad boys are so cool and are your lifeline to Disney when you are there. If you stay on a Disney Resort, you will get one of these in the mail about a month to two weeks before you leave. You can chose your colors through My Disney Experience (register for that AND def download the app on your phone). The magic bands will be your room key, your Fastpass+ tickets, your theme park tickets, dining plan and you can even upload a credit card to it to pay for items at Disney.
Dining Reservations – Even though we booked 3-4 months in advance, they were really pushy to make dining reservations soon. I really didn’t understand why..but after not getting a few dining experiences I really wanted, I realized how quick stuff books up. Especially the character ones! We had 4 character breakfasts and dinners booked and at last minute we winded up canceling each of them, just for our own reasons like wanting to sleep in or wanting to eat dinner at the hotel and head to the pool for the evening. They do want you to cancel the day before, or they do charge a no show fee (which we always did). But make those reservations early so you have them, and you can always cancel if you change your mind.
Dining Plan – I can’t touch base too much on this because we chose not to do the dining plan for a couple different reasons. One being one of my good friends who lives in the area was meeting us the day we arrived for a Mother’s Day lunch in Downtown Disney and brought with her snacks, breakfast, waters and beer for us for the week. I was also at the time still employed at a Landrys restaurant which meant I could take advantage of the 50% deal for employees. Being Rainforest Cafe and T-Rex is both Landrys restaurants and we had reservations there, that was two meals we were saving on.
After our trip, I saved ALL of our food receipts and it was cheaper for us NOT to do the dining plan. But, I could see how doing it is easier for convenience and if you are trying to eat a lot of food. We may try the dining plan next go around and then I can compare : )
Fastpass+ – Fastpass+ is awesome. Basically you are allowed to make 3 appointments ahead of time at one park a day. Fastpasses are good for attractions where wait times are insane. For example, we had a Fastpass for meeting Cinderella and Rapunzel, our Fastpass wait was maybe 5-10 minutes, stand by that day was 70 minutes…its well worth booking this as soon as you can on My Disney Experience! The good ones fill up quickly so jump on it as soon as you can. For example, meeting Elsa and Anna from Frozen was INSANE! A 2-3 hour wait from the time the park first opened on standby. People who had a Fastpass, maybe 10-20 minutes. After you use your 3 Fastpasses (you must use them though), you can then go back to a Kiosk at any of the Disney parks and get another one thats available that day, and then after that’s complete, do it again…most of our rides were all Fastpass, I don’t think we waited on many lines on standby. So take advantage of this feature! Again, this will all be on your Magic band.
The Park Hopper – Get one. So worth it! And if you are military you will save $100 on each one, we saved $400 for a family of 4! This allowed us access to all 4 parks (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios) for 4 days. We took advantage. By doing this, it allows you to do what you want, when you feel like it. We were able to see all parks (except Animal Kingdom because we opted for an extra pool day) and still have tons of R&R. For example, on Monday we went to Magic Kingdom, we got there when it first opened, stayed until 3-4 o’clock and then headed back to our hotel for pool time. Tuesday morning we did the pool in the morning, had Fastpasses at Hollywood Studios in the afternoon, went there and did those and then headed back to Magic Kingdom at night to see the electrical parade and fireworks. We actually winded up going to Magic Kingdom 3 times. It was our favorite and we loved it. We actually really liked Hollywood Studios too. The kids did also. They have a cute little section with Disney Jr. characters and you can actually see them live. Also Disney Animation Studio is there. That is where we met The Incredibles and characters from Wreck it Ralph. Toy Story mania ride is there, and its super fun.They had a cute Little Mermaid ride Ella loved and Indiana Jones show which Nicholas loved. And my crazy 6 year old went on Tower of Terror. So it can be fun with kids despite what you hear! We only needed half the day there and headed back to Magic Kingdom.
We did venture to Epcot just to see it and do a few rides. We had a Fastpass to Soarin, which is seriously awesome and the kids enjoyed the Nemo ride. We were able to take the Monorail from Epcot back to Magic Kingdom.
Magic Kingdom.
If I could move to Magic Kingdom, I would. I heart it. It’s crowded, but happy. It was definitely our happy place!
On Tuesday evening, we got there about an hour and a half before the Electrical Parade. We opted out of doing rides and decided to grab ice-cream and some light up souvenirs and snag a curbside seat for the parade! WORTH that 1.5 hour wait! The kids were content and to see this parade up close like that is…magical. Snow White actually came over to Ella, gave her a gracious pat and a gentle pinch on the cheek and finished her dance down MainStreet USA. Made my little Boo’s night!
Downtown Disney – Go here if you can! Shopping, bars and restaurants, along with a huge Lego store and The World of Disney store, makes it a fun place to be! We went 3 times. This is also where Ella went and had her princess makeover at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. If you want to do this, make reservations well in advance!
Stroller – If you have a child 5 and under, bring one! El’s hasn’t been in a stroller since her early 2’s, and she just turned 4, we were so happy to have one with her. Not only for her to go in when she got tired, but a place to put our stuff.
Camera/Backpacks/Snacks – I couldn’t imagine going to Disney and NOT bringing my Canon 5DMIII! But I knew it was really risky, but I decided to bring it. I only brought two lenses, but never took my 50 1.4 off my camera to switch to my 85. I was able to get a lot of shots with this! I carried my camera criss crossed around me in the parks and it never bothered me, I even wore it on rides. We also brought a book bag we stored snacks and waters in, change of clothes for kids, souvenirs, etc. Again, this never bothered us either and we were able to bring on all the rides. They do a bag check, and we brought food and drink in. No idea if this is allowed or not, but they never gave us an issue!
This really was the most magical vacation ever. I am so happy we were able to do this for us and our little peeps. We are already talking about our next trip to Disney and we both know it will be sooner, rather than later.
Here’s our trip in a nutshell from parks to pool from parade to happiness. Enjoy and if you made it this far in the blog, that’s for sticking around! xo.
