Initially, we weren’t planning on making the voyage to Disney World for a few more years. We figured we would wait until our youngest child was around 2 or 3 years old, at least. But the more we talked about it, the more we realized that Nora is at a really great age for Disney World. She likes the movies. She’s pretty obsessed with the princesses. She loves the music. And she believes in the magic.
Vacations these days aren’t what they used to be. We can’t just jet-set off to new cities and places that Michael and I want to explore. We learned this firsthand when we took our last vacation in California with Nora in January 2013, when she was about 2.5 years old. It was really rough at times, because we continued to try to do (mostly) things that WE wanted to do. We worked in some kid-friendly stuff like the San Diego Zoo and the beach (x2!), of course, but by far the best day was the one that was the most kid-centric: Disneyland.
We realized during that trip that we’re at a stage in our lives when the trips—at least the family ones—really have to be for the kids. And kid destinations are somewhat limited: Beaches. Amusement parks. Pools. Play. Disney World is the culmination of children’s vacation dreams.
When we took Nora to Disneyland last year, I’m pretty sure it was the best day of her life. When we woke up the next morning, she was still on cloud nine. She cheerfully got dressed and insisted on wearing her new Minnie ears headband. We happily loaded up the car at our hotel in Anaheim and headed to Los Angeles for our next stop on our trip… and a little bit into the drive, we realized that Nora had thought we were going back to Disneyland. SO SAD.
Anyway, we are excited to take Nora to Disney World. Meanwhile, we’re a little nervous about Vivienne, who will be 15 months, but we figure that if we go into it with very low expectations as to what we will “accomplish” each day, we should be okay. We’re going for 6.5 days and 7 nights in November, with some planned “rest time” (meaning non-park time) built in so we hopefully won’t get overstimulated and burned out.
We’re staying at Coronado Springs Resort on Disney property, and were excited a few weeks ago when Disney released a free dining promotion for the fall—which included our dates! It saved us like $980 off the price of our trip and will cover most of the food we’ll need for the entire week, so it’s a pretty big deal.
With the help of some friends who have deep Disney experience, we’ve started booking our dining and planning our itinerary. There is so much to do at Disney. But hopefully all of the planning upfront means that we don’t have to do much other than enjoy it all once we get there!
So… who’s been to Disney? With kids (maybe kids around the same age as our kids)? How was it? What’d you love? What would you recommend (attractions, restaurants, shows, etc.)? Itineraries that worked best for you in terms of parks, rest, etc.? I’m asking a little late since a lot of our trip has already been determined, but I’m still open to adjustments as I am doing more research and talking to more people.
Kids, man. They change everything. :) We’re honestly super excited to go, just because it’ll be so fun to experience it all through Nora’s eyes. We’ll go back to getting away to our own destinations someday… We eventually want to go on a few long weekend trips without kids, but I want to be done nursing first so that I can completely enjoy it. 2015 will be the year of a child-free trip; it has to be!
Until then, we’re hanging out with Mickey and the gang.
21 Responses to We’re going to Disney World!
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I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
A friend of mine just went with her 2 kids (slightly older than yours) and posted about it here: http://raisingsnowpeas.blogspot.com/2014/03/how-we-planned-disney.html
This was informative, Erin, thanks for sharing!
We went this past February when our son was 8 months. He was a champ, just SO tired every night. It will be different with a mobile child, surely, but our stroller was the best thing we took. We were so glad we dragged it into all of our airplanes. So worth it.
I guess my other advice is to make reservations for dining experiences as early as possible. The character dining is worth it – and I hear the princess breakfast is what little girl dreams are made of – but reservations are snapped up super fast, particularly during popular eating times (obviously).
You will have SO much fun. We took our daughter this past October when she was just shy of 3, then ended up planning a trip in March because we had so much fun the first time around. I broke both trips up with day-by-day posts on my blog. Our next trip is in September (also during free dining) and I can’t wait to ride the Mine Train ride and do a few of the 40” rides that Lena couldn’t do the first two trips.
Our favorite meals were Chef Mickeys, Akershus, and Be Our Guest (dinner). We didn’t have any terrible experiences either trip but the other restaurants were just okay. We also dined at Cinderella’s Royal Table, 1900 Park Fare Place (dinner w/ Cinderella and the Tremaine family), Crystal Palace, and Boatwright’s restaurant.
For us, it worked best to be at the parks at rope drop and then take a break in the middle of the day for naps and return in the evening. Lena is a few months younger than Nora and she doesn’t nap anymore at home or school, but she definitely needed the nap at Disney! She also surprised us by being a lot more adaptable to the early mornings and late evenings. On the last day of the March trip we spent a marathon day in Magic Kingdom and she did not take a nap and lasted from 8 am – 10 pm! No meltdowns either!
In terms of planning, I think the best thing to do is try to prioritize things and stay on top of the Disney news. So many things are still evolving with the new fastpass system. Our last trip you could only get 3 a day, but they are now allowing you to book additional fastpasses after your first 3 are exhausted and I believe park hopping will be allowed soon too with fastpass+ (if not already?) You are a planner so I am sure you will be up-to-date with everything.
I love Kenny the Pirate’s Character Locator App and have also found that he has the best touring plans and most accurate information.
Hi Andrea! We have reservations for lunch one day at Cinderella’s Royal Table, but couldn’t get into Be Our Guest, despite being right on top of it for making reservations. We decided not to go with Akershus since we’ll already have a princess meal at CRT. I also made a reservation at Chef Mickey’s for one of our “off” days, so that sounds like fun!
Nora is still napping for us at home, she almost always seems to need it. At daycare, she skips naps a few times a week, it seems. She’ll be over 4 by the time we go to Disney, but I think naps are still going to be key for us. Thanks for the tips!
We were Disney fanatics before we even had kids. We lived in Florida at the time and went a lot. Our oldest had her first trip there at 2 months old! We were a little crazy. But we’ve been there with all 3 of our girls even when they were very young and managed to have fun. You’ll have a blast! With young kids we’ve found that returning to our condo around lunch time and giving everyone a rest/nap is very helpful for everyone. And take the time to take turns and ride some of the rides your kids can’t ride yet. Mom and Dad need to have some fun and excitement too! The Soarin’ ride at Epcot is one can’t-miss example (just make sure to get a fast pass for it).
Now that we live in Virginia we only get to go once a year. November is a nice time to go because it’s not too hot and not too crowded (assuming you’re not going the actual week of Thanksgiving). We’re going this year the week after Thanksgiving and we’re excited already. Our girls will be 4,6 and 8 when we go and they should all be tall enough to ride some of the bigger rides.
Hi Katherine! Nope, not going the week of Thanksgiving. (I love celebrating the holidays too much at home to be away for them.) We actually picked the week we’re going because it had some of the lowest crowd levels all year! I hope the weather will still be warm enough for us to swim.
We went the week after Thanksgiving (before kids) and it was such a great time to go (and it’s decorated for Christmas!!). Unfortunately, when we went it was too chilly to do any swimming, but at least we weren’t miserable in the parks. We’ve taken my daughter twice, once at 21 months and once at 2.5. She loved it so much and constantly talks about going back. She napped really well in the stroller so we didn’t have to go back to the room during the afternoon, so that was nice. She wasn’t into princesses yet when we went so we spent most of our time visiting Mickey and Minnie. There are so many rides that both girls will be able to ride! We also rented our stroller through Orlando Stroller Rental. Loved them! We actually didn’t get our rain cover during our second trip and they delivered another one that day.
I loved the app Walt Disney World Lines (you do have to subscribe for all of the benefits). It’ll tell you the park crowd level, wait time for lines, etc. Disney has an app now too that will tell you most of those things and you can use it with the magic bands to book your fast passes ahead of time, but I like the WDW Lines app better for wait times.
We just came home (yesterday!) from our week long trip to Disney world with a 4.5 and 18 month old. They did fantastic. It was our first trip staying on property, my best words of advice for you – bring a double stroller and plan for “pool” days. We didn’t have any planned pool days and we could have used a couple of relaxing days by the pool. Your girls will love the trip, and the memories you make will be amazing.
I miss my “adult only” trips as well, but like the Disney land trip you took, when you see the looks on their faces – there’s nothing like it :)
Also, try to book Nora in the bippity boppity boutique. If she’s a lover of the princesses, its a necessity!
Hi Terri… I was wondering about the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique! It is pricy, but it is one of those things that I think she would really enjoy. Probably just the hair and makeup package, and maybe she can get some Disney gift cards for her birthday (in September) to help cover it. :) I guess I should probably call and see if I can make her an appointment, though… even if I decide not to do it later, I can always cancel it.
yep! totally worth it! especially once she sees all the little girls running around dressed as princesses. My DH was telling me that there was a constant run of people coming to the entrance asking about making appointments and they were totally booked. They have two locations – one is in Magic Kingdom and the other in DTD. Obviously, its more fun to be made a princess INSIDE of Cinderella’s castle :) You can help the cost by bringing your own princess dresses – we ordered ours on the disney website, they were much cheaper that way. I believe the price ranged between $50 – $170.
Oh, and Terri, we are definitely thinking we need a double stroller. We’re just trying to figure out if we should lug our big double jogger (Baby Trend Expedition), or if we should rent one when we get down there.
I’m so happy you took an 18 month old and still managed to have a good time! It’s encouraging to hear that she handled it well. Vivienne is definitely the wild card in our scenario. :)
We rented a City Mini GT double from Kingdom Rentals. It was worth every penny. I think the total was $110 and that included the rental, insurance and a case of water. Also, they offer free grocery delivery ($14 savings) if you book with them. So, we ordered yogurt, milk and other essentials to be delivered right to our room.
We took our 3 year old and 7 year old there in January and had a blast. We rented a stroller from one of the rental companies down there and it was waiting at our hotel. We also did a grocery delivery service, so we had bottled water and some snacks already in our room. We stayed at one of the Disney hotels (Port Orleans) and really didn’t know what to expect with our days. Half the people say to go back and take naps during the day and the other half say to stay at the parks and let the kids sleep in the stroller. I was worried that if we went back to the hotel, the 3 year old would be too wound up to fall asleep and we would waste time sitting in a hotel room, begging her to nap. So we played it by ear… some days she would nap in the stroller, and we could keep walking around and going on rides with the 7 year old, and on other days she stayed awake. As long as no one was melting down, we stayed at the parks. We were there for opening every day and managed to stay until fireworks every night! It was really nice to not hassle with taking the shuttle bus back and forth during the day for a nap time. I also recommend Chef Mickeys and Crystal Palace (for the Winnie the Pooh characters) for meals! We usually ate a small breakfast at our room and then did an early lunch – around 11am to avoid the noon time crowds. You can find fun autograph books on Etsy. My 3 year old LOVED finding the characters and collecting autographs. I took her picture with all the characters and added the photos to her autograph book and it was the perfect souvenir. Also – I carried my DSLR and did not purchase the photo package that was offered. I had no problems trying to take my own pictures of my kids with the characters, right along side the Disney photographers. You can even ask the photographers to take family photos with your own camera.
You’ll get lots of comments on this one, as people love them some Disney. We went for the first time with my boys last September, ages 4 and 2 at the time during free dining and it exceeded our expectations. It was nice to have a kid centered trip beyond just the usual visiting family trips we take.
I really think unless it is a character meal, I’d skip it, and just take advantage of the quick service options. The character meals were nice so the kids could get their autographs which I was so surprised they were into. While I like having a built in time to sit and not be so overstimulated with dinner reservations, I also HATED having to be somewhere at a certain time which was especially a pain if we decided to change things up because of a bad weather day. The food is pretty mediocre in my opinion, so go for the experiences when making dining reservations.
We were there Thursday and left early Tuesday morning and my kids were maxed out. We could have used a rest day in there without the parks though. And honestly if I could do it all again we’d only do the Magic Kingdom. I suppose with more time the other parks might be nice to check out, but the kids really had the best time int he Magic Kingdom.
Bring glow sticks or some other light up disney item (I bought in advance when Disney Store had a sale) because they will certainly ask for them in the park. I purchased a few things in advance and told them they could pick ONE thing on our last day.
We’re debating a quick trip in September, but my oldest will be starting kindergarten and the teacher in me is having a hard time letting him ditch school for a few days so early on in the year but I honestly cannot imagine going and dealing with crowds…standing in line for any length of time for a ride that lasts 3-6 minutes? Nope.
Have fun planning…it is a labor of love for sure, but no matter what plans you make it will be so much fun!
We took our almost 2 year old in October and it was magical! I was worried that he might be overstimulated and not sleep well but he did great! You will have a fantastic time.
Couple of notes: 1. google a little about the dining plan. Although it being free is sometimes a good idea, there are cases when you can get a discount on the room instead and save more money (you must pay full price for the room on the dining plan and it’s a lot of food – more than you would probably order if you were paying out of pocket – it also doesn’t include gratuities). 2. Stroller rentals are expensive so you might want to consider bringing your own. Also – you have to return them at each parks entrance so if you have a sleeping kid and a walk/wait for the bus, you are waking them up. I was happy to have it in the airport too. Lastly, whatever stroller you use, use something to make it identifiable – there are literally hundreds parked at some rides and they all start to look alike. 3. Might not help too much with the dining plan but check out Garden Grocer. You can order food and have it delivered right to your room. It’s a little pricier than I would pay at home, but getting a case of water, diapers, milk, paper towels and some snacks/bfast food delivered saved us room in our suitcases and money in the parks.
I can’t wait to hear your recap!
I’m kind of interested to see what the free dining promotion is like this time, simply because we are paying for three people but really will have four eating. I mean, what Vivienne will actually eat at 15 months old remains to be seen, but the fact that there is plenty of food—with an extra mouth to feed—doesn’t seem like a bad thing to me right now. The dining plan we have is seven quick service and seven sit-down meals (really only six, since Cinderella’s Royal Table eats up two), which doesn’t seem crazy to me. I don’t know. I guess we’ll see if there are any other promotions released for our dates and then make decisions from there!
As for the stroller… we won’t rent directly from Disney. There are stroller/baby gear rental companies in Orlando who will rent us a stroller that they’ll drop off and pick up at our resort, that we get to keep for the duration of our stay. To rent a double City Mini GT for a week is like $90 (including insurance for theft). Seems worthwhile to not have to buy a travel bag for and then lug our giant double jogging stroller! We’ll probably still bring our Chicco Liteway (single) for the airport, though.
I don’t know about taking an older child, but we just took our daughter in January when she was 15 months. Although I know she had a lot of fun and enjoyed the rides (Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh in particular) honestly her favorite place in the park was this tiny little play area with a slide underneath Splash Mountain. So I would say just plan things for Nora and don’t worry about it, your younger one is still at the age where she’ll just go with the flow and will have a good time no matter what.
We had the dining plan and she ate really well off our plates, she’s never been too picky, but we also did lots of buffets so could pick what she liked. Her favorite restaurant food-wise was Ohana. And favorite for entertainment was Biergarten with the oompa band. If you want Be Our Guest, you could try getting a fastpass for lunch there. One of the best things we did was bringing food from home for her- as adults we wanted to enjoy the Disney food, but she didn’t care if she had instant oatmeal for breakfast or mac and cheese for lunch (anything that could be made at the resort in the microwave). So we didn’t feel obligated to buy her food or use all our snack credits for her to eat. And the food/diapers we brought freed up room in the suitcase to take stuff home with us.
We did bring a carrier for her but only used it the day when it rained since she got soaked walking through (and falling into) puddles. And IDK if this is your style, but we brought a backpack harness with us- we weren’t sure if we’d use it but it ended up being really great while waiting in lines for rides/characters since she didn’t want to be held, but didn’t understand not to run off (and she’s small enough that she could just run under the queue).
We just went last month with my whole family. There were four kids (Ryan, who is Nora’s age, and my three nieces ages 7, 5 and 4). It was the very best kind of chaos. The key for us was keeping low expectations and not pushing to do too much each day. You’ll have a blast! Here’s my post on our trip: http://www.phasethreeoflife.com/2014/05/05/the-time-10-adults-and-4-kids-went-to-disney-world/
We took our 3 year old daughter and 14 month old daughter last August.Both of them LOVED it and we had a great time. We too has no “plans” and just went with the flow. We did a bunch of character dinners which the girls loved and kept them sitting during dinner. We would head to the park early in the AM, come home around 1-2 and go for swim then head back in the evening around 4 for dinner and a few more rides. We are heading back again in August 2015 when the girls are 5 & 3!
You’re going to have such a blast! Your girls are both a great age to go, but I’m a firm believer that ANY age is perfect for Disney World! We stayed at Coronado in 2007 and had a good time. The hotel is spread out/large (Hubs was there for a conference and it’s one of Disney’s conference hotels), and the theming isn’t our personal style, but the main pool and smaller quiet pools are great. We also loved that the bus only goes around this one resort (vs. sharing it with some of the other Disney hotels). Have SO MUCH FUN!