What I Learned In Disney World

I've recovered from a week in Disney and thought I'd write up my own personal takeaways from our trip, as I know many friends and family members that are planning trips in the next few years.  It is so overwhelming to start the planning. One, you know you may not going again for awhile, or at the very least, your kids won't ever be that age again, so you feel pressure to maximize their experience.  Two, everything is a fortune, so you are trying to spend wisely if you can. Three, there are so many details and many of them you have to plan ahead of time. The list of decisions is overwhelming! I love to plan, especially vacations, and it was a lot even for me.  Anyway - here are my thoughts!

Check off that bucket list! Our family with Mickey!

Quite literally planes, trains and automobiles!

How long should I go for?
Well, we went Saturday to Saturday.  We got in at the crack of dawn, so really we had most of that first Saturday, which meant we had 7 full days.  Realistically, we only needed 5, although the extra ones were certainly more relaxing because we didn't feel pressured to "see it all".  My husband offered his feedback on this one saying "Disney is like Vegas, there is no way you need to be there for a week!"

When should I go?
We chose to take off work and school and go during a week that the crowd calendar said would have the lowest possible crowds (Google a Disney crowd calendar to find one).  With my oldest child being in 1st grade I just didn't think it would impact his schoolwork enough to risk the adults sanity navigating crazy crowds with three kids. I am happy to report we really didn't deal with crowds or much with lines.  There were only a few rides we didn't ride because our limit for line length was 20 minutes and their waits were longer. We were able to walk into pretty much any show right before it started, which was a nice option and usually air conditioned!!

Claire says "OMG, I'm so HOT"

Which gets me to my biggest gripe with our timing.  IT WAS SO HOT. I mean, I checked AccuWeather beforehand and I saw the numbers on the screen but I did not realize how much sweat that would lead to.  Had I known, I would have probably pushed it back a couple of weeks and tried to avoid so much sweating.

So, the crowds were worth avoiding, but the heat is worth avoiding too.

Where should I stay?
I think there are a lot of options that work here, but I was happy with what we chose.  Given that I have a 2 year old, and I thought we may need to go back with her for naps some days, we decided staying on property would be best.  The ironic thing about that being a main piece to my decision is that we only went back in the afternoon one time, and then never again!

Still, it was easy for us to use the on property transportation and our resort, the Beach Club, was fairly centrally located.   It only took about 15 minutes once you were on the bus to  get where you were going. We could walk to Epcot easily and take a boat to Hollywood Studios.

Outside of transportation, we also considered room layouts.  We went with my mom and dad which was a great help with three children who did not have the same needs and wants. We chose to stay in a 2 bedroom villa, which was wonderful, because we all had access to the same room and could come and go at different times as long as someone was there with the kids.  Greg and I were able to go out a couple nights around bedtime, my dad and Blake came back one afternoon by themselves, and I stayed with Claire after a nap while everyone else went to the pool.  If we had two rooms, this would have been possible but not as easy.  We also had a kitchenette and laundry, both of which were very used and very helpful.

When choosing between resorts, one thing that I liked about the Beach Club was the great pool.  Storm Along Bay is for Beach/Yacht Club guests only and is huge, featuring a sand bar, 3 hot tubs, a swirling pool and a water slide.  My kids loved it, especially the sandbar.

Caleb and Claire in the Sandbar

View from the pool

 In order to make the Beach Club more affordable (it is in the Deluxe tier), we actually rented points from a Disney Vacation Club member through a service.  We used Scott with dvc-rental.com.  I was a little concerned that it would all work out, so it isn't the most stress free option. But we were able to stay at this a 2-bedroom villa for the price of two rooms at a Value hotel.  It gave us way more room, the kitchen and laundry and the ability to be together so I considered that worth the risk.  There are a couple of downsides. One, although the reservation is in your name, you still can only call and change so many things about it, since technically the DVC member made the reservation for you.  For example, I tried to call and request a crib and was told the member needed to call instead.  We requested one when we got there instead and it came in 20 minutes! Two, you do not get maid service.  You can pay to add it, and they come and do your towels and trash once during the week.  It is similar to renting a house off VRBO in that way.  You also get a kitchen, laundry, and limited cleaning supplies to help with this.

Other than that, I really didn't notice a difference and for us, the nicer, bigger room was absolutely worth it.

Should I go to all the parks?
My answer is yes, I think there are fun things at all of them.  That being said, my kids favorite was the Magic Kingdom.  We did not have a Park Hopper, because we were there for so many days, and we did miss it a little.  It would have been nice to know you could go wherever you wanted, and it may have changed how I planned our days.  We also could have tried out a water park. However, for the cost and the length of time we were there, it worked out OK.

Magic Kingdom

Caleb was definitely a "big kid" who loved the roller coasters and was tall enough for almost all of them.  However, he is still little and loved riding the less thrilling rides too.  He loved meeting the characters still. He could pay attention at the shows and walked almost all day without complaining.  Greg and I concluded that 6 is the perfect age to bring a child.

Epcot

Blake was definitely in the middle.  The It's Tough to be a Bug show at Animal Kingdom left him crying in the fetal position, but he loved Tower of Terror.  Once we finally convinced him that everything he saw was fake: every cobweb, every character, every scene, everything, he dealt with it all a little better.  He is my child that hates taking direction, hates going with the crowd and hates waiting, so with his personality some days at Disney were harder than others.  In fact, one afternoon he left early with my dad and lived his best life eating an entire container of cotton candy and watching his tablet for 4 hours.  Regardless, he says he had fun!

Claire bear was a total trooper.  She went into the trip on the tail end of a cold, which led to a full on viral rash on our first and second day, which was made significantly worse with the heat.  But, once she recovered she mostly went with the flow.  She loved the characters, parades and the slow rides.  She napped every day in the stroller and was patient most of the rest of the time. She pointed and waved and said "Hi, Minnie Mouse!" at every opportunity.

Animal Kingdom

Hollywood Studios

What are the best rides?
Here were our favorite rides at each park:

Animal Kingdom: Caleb's pick was overwhelmingly Expedition Everest.  Blake was too short for that one but he liked TriceraTop Spin and both boys liked The Boneyard dinosaur dig site.  My younger two hated It's Tough to be a Bug and the whole family liked the nighttime show Rivers of Light and the Kali River Rapids.

Caleb and Greg on Test Track at Epcot

Epcot: Once again, Caleb liked the thrill rides of Test Track and Space Mountain. We met the characters here which everyone liked. Claire especially liked the The Seas with Nemo & Friends and they have a great aquarium which we spent a lot of time in too. We also all loved Soarin' - it is really beautiful and a neat ride. Greg and I also loved the Epcot International Food and Wine festival- there were so many interesting drinks and dishes set up in the World Showcase it was hard to choose what to eat!

Boys Enjoying the Parade in MK

Magic Kingdom: Everyone had lots of favorites here and it is nice because there are plenty of smaller, easy to get on rides to fill in your time between the big ones.  It makes it feel like you did more.  Caleb's favorite was Splash Mountain, which is a surprisingly long ride. Blake loved Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and shooting the aliens in Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. We all loved Pirates of the Caribbean.  The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train is newer and was fun too.  Outside of those big typical rides though there are so many more that we went on in this park, making it the "most fun" from a ride variety standpoint.  We went for two days and there was plenty to do!  We also caught the 2pm parade, which everyone loved.

Hollywood Studios: Both boys loved Tower of Terror, which was definitely the ride they heard the most about going into the week. It didn't disappoint! Caleb finally got to ride the Slinky Dog Dash right at closing time and both he and Greg said it looked really neat at night.  Toy Story Land is really cute, but there are really only three rides there and they always have lines.  Claire liked the Frozen show and Caleb thought Indiana Jones was neat too!  The Star Wars fireworks at the end of the night are pretty good, but I had two children melting down at that point, so I didn't stay until the very end!

Blake is ready to go on Tower of Terror!

What should we eat?

Blake's Dessert at Sanaa

Obviously there are SO many choices here. In Animal Kingdom we liked Flame Tree BBQ, and we heard rave reviews about the Yak Attack cocktail, but the place was closed when I finally found it!  Blake's favorite was your classic Minute Made Frozen Lemonade.  I think he had at least three and you can get them everywhere. In Magic Kingdom, we had lunch from Pecos Bills and it had tons of great options, especially once you are sick of chicken fingers and fries.  I had the Jerk Chicken Lettuce Wraps. Of course, you can also get a Dole Whip in Magic Kingdom, which is a must! In Epcot there were tons of great options because of the Food and Wine festival but my favorite was the Einstok White Ale from Iceland.  Perfect after a long day of chasing sweaty children!

Ahh! It's Chef Mickey!

When it came to making dining reservations, many of them need to be made in advance. Because I just wasn't sure how much I wanted to be scheduled, I only planned one meal each day - and we didn't even end up keeping all of those.  For our first sit down dinner out we went to Raglan Road, an Irish bar out in Disney Springs.  I really just loved the live singer that was there.  Greg and I went back to see her a few nights later actually. The next day we tried Sanaa in Animal Kingdom lodge which was awesome and definitely a little out of the ordinary.  We got the naan bread with ALL the toppings.  The third day, we switched it up and went out for breakfast.  We did the classic - Chef Mickey's!  I didn't know how much the kids would be into the characters, but they went crazy for it! All three of them were shaking with excitement when each character came into the room, to our table, and signed autographs!  They also couldn't believe you could get Mickey waffles with candy on them for breakfast.  The magic of Disney!

On our way to Trattoria al Forno

The following day was date night for Greg and I.  The kids had buttered noodles at the villa and enjoyed it just as much as any of the $100 dinners we took them to!!  We didn't even end up eating dinner- we just grabbed a few drinks and appetizers in Disney Springs. The next night we ate at the Sci-Fi diner in Hollywood Studios which I only thought was OK.  The kids didn't really think it was
that cool.  I will say, we were soaked from getting caught in pouring rain, so we were all a little out of sorts.  We skipped our breakfast at Be Our Guest the next day, which I was bummed about, but my Disney planning self had too much faith in how early we could get out of the house each day! We did hit the Trattoria al Forno on the Boardwalk that night, which was delicious. The next day we went back to Epcot and had dinner around the world.

Date Night!

Rushing around to set reservations is difficult, so I was happy we had a more relaxed attitude toward the food.  I put our nicest meals on days 1 and 2 because I knew the amount of effort I would be willing to put into coercing the children to get dressed, sit nicely and be well behaved at fancy dinners would go down as the week went on.

The real shout out of all things food is Amazon Prime Now.  I am a Prime member, but Prime Now is the app where you can get your food order in 1-2 hours.  You don't have to order in bulk and it is only available in certain areas.  The food is not overpriced like your typical grocery delivery service.  I ordered our original bulk order for the week (snacks, cereal and milk, bagels, case of water, etc) and it showed up shortly after we arrived. On day three we wanted some beer and wine available in the villa without having to go order individual drinks.  I ordered two 6 packs of beer and 2 bottles of wine at 6pm and it was there by 9!  AMAZING.

Any other random advice?

Sleeping Beauty

A few quick notes on transportation.  First off, Magical Express is available to take you to and from your resort as well as your luggage and it was fabulous.  I kept one carry on with things we'd need immediately and didn't have to deal with our luggage at all outside of that.  We also didn't have to arrange any sort of airport transfers.  One less thing!

Although the bus system really is fairly efficient, it still takes a long time to walk out of the park, get to your bus stop, wait for your bus, get on and ride, get off and get to your room.  Only to rest for a little and then do it all again. For that reason, we abandoned my plan to go back for naps each afternoon and stay until closing each night.  For us, a 6-8 hour day in the parks was the max, so some days we went in the morning and left early afternoon.  One morning we spent by the pool, and left for the parks after lunch.  I'm sure every family is different in this respect, but that is what worked for us. Luckily Claire helped us out with numerous stroller snoozes.  I also was happy that I planned the more "formal" things for the first couple of days.  On day one my boys are in matching polos and on day six they are in mismatched athletic.  But, I expected that so it didn't faze me as much.

MagicBands4Lyfe

The MagicBands were a huge hit with the kids and were easy to use for us.  The Fast Pass system worked well too.  We tried to knock out all three of our daily allotment in right in the beginning and then started picking up other ones right after we were done. It helped us get on many rides faster. The Disney app crashes a lot, but works pretty well and does allow you to plan on the go as you move around the parks for sure.

Overall, I've said to numerous people, I feel like our trip was what it was supposed to be.  About halfway through I had a mini breakdown that it wasn't as "fun" as it should be.  But, when you have 7 people with different needs and wants, it's impossible to keep everyone happy all the time. It is a lot of shuffling, waiting, walking, etc. Especially the first day, it took probably two hours to get everyone out of the house, to the park and on our first FastPass.  When we finally got to ride the two minute ride Caleb was like, all that travel and waiting for that??  As the week went on though and everyone got used to how it worked and what to expect, the fun level went up.  Especially the last few days when we felt less pressure to see everything, since we were repeating parks we had already visited.  Maybe those extra two days were a good idea ;).

I'm so glad we went and am going to remember it just like these pictures!!!

The Family Dab

Bye Disney! Thanks for the Memories.