This past February we took a family trip to Disney World and as usual I enjoyed the planning part as much as I enjoyed the actual trip. We had a lovely time and I would go back in a heartbeat. Below you can read about how I planned and prepared for our trip to Disney World. Then I have separate posts for each of the theme parks featuring what rides we went on, what we ate, the shows we saw, etc.
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For this trip, my husband and I decided to take only our oldest two kids (gasp!). After feeling guilty for 30 seconds on the plane, I knew we made the absolute right decision.
Reasons why we chose to only take our two older children (ages 7 & 8);
Obviously, grandparents were the only reason we were able to make this trip work and for that we are incredibly fortunate and grateful. Our younger children had a blast staying home and having special attention and time with their grandparents. They truly didn’t feel left out. It is our every intention to take them to Disney World at similar ages.
Another set of grandparents was on the trip in a different room. It was their points that paid for our room (#blessed). We met up with them a few times throughout the trip at the different parks but we weren’t together the entire time.
Our family of four flew directly from Chicago to Orlando. I always like to take the earliest flight in case travel goes wrong (especially in winter), so we take advantage of the Park Sleep Fly program.
Tip: Shuttle times can vary depending on which hotel you choose in the Park Sleep Fly program. I tend to lean towards hotels that have shuttles running 24 hours, every 15 minutes because I don’t like waiting!
Once we arrived, I had Grayson Towncar scheduled to pick us up. I may cheap out on a lot of things in life, but when it comes to transportation from the airport to my final destination, I don’t like to wait. I enjoy having my name on a sign. It’s one of my quirks. Our driver was great and had booster seats installed and ready to go.
We arrived at the Bay Lake Tower, which is the DVC property right next to the Contemporary Resort. Again, my in-laws used their points to pay for our room which we are forever grateful for!!
A huge benefit of staying at Bay Lake Tower is that you can walk to Magic Kingdom.
Thankfully, we were able to check into our room right away. Plus, the groceries I had ordered in advance had just been delivered thanks to my perfect planning. They were left with bell services. Bell services delivers the groceries to your room for a $6 charge.
At the time, Disney was running two different meal deals which you could purchase in advance where the kids could eat free if adult plans were purchased. I ran the numbers. For us, it was not worth the money.
My children were not interested in character meals at all.
In the mornings, we ate a few quick bites in our room. Then we would bring snacks in our bag and eat quick service meals in the parks all day. I only booked one sit-down meal and honestly, we probably didn’t even need to go to that one.
Here is what I ordered via Instacart from Publix to be delivered at our resort on the day of our arrival;
These are the items I ordered that we didn’t use: hot chocolate (If we had visited the week before when it was freezing, then we would have.), gallon storage bags, peanut butter (jar), baby carrots (bag), and Blue Lizard sunscreen lotion.
I purchased 5-day tickets from Undercover Tourist because that website codes as travel for points reimbursement with THIS CREDIT CARD and saved us thousands of dollars.
My husband and I both opened separate credit cards, each earning the welcome bonus. Then after we purchased the tickets (two tickets on each card) we applied the points towards the travel reimbursement. Plus, when we purchased the tickets on Undercover Tourist, we got discounts on Disney Dining.
For example, I was able to purchase $200 Disney gift cards for $170. I budgeted what we would likely spend in the parks on food and purchased several gift cards in advance at that discount.
Tip: For me, Lightning Lanes are totally worth it for every park except Animal Kingdom. Save money other ways. You are paying a lot of money to be there. Don’t waste your entire day waiting in line and not being able to ride everything you want to.
I did purchase Magicbands for the four of us. Do you need Magicbands – no. But I liked the convenience of them, plus I was already on my phone enough throughout the day because of Lightning Lanes. I didn’t want to have to pull out my phone any more than I already had to. For the Magicbands, I’m very glad I bought these Magicband protectors.
We did buy and bring ponchos but didn’t end up using them. It only rained once for maybe a minute and we were able to duck inside a store.
Our return flight was very late at night and I HATE being cold. Also, with two of our kids along, I thought having a travel blanket that also folds into a pillow would come in handy over the years. It easily fit into my personal item on the plane. I definitely whipped it out and used it as I had the whole row to myself!!
To add some flavor to our water (and not knowing how much we would be sweating), I packed a number of these electrolyte packets for our trip.
Tip: I also packed a few motion sickness medications, worried that one of my children would not handle the rides well but luckily it wasn’t needed. When it comes to medication, it is always better to be safe than sorry!
If you plan to wear anything Disney-related, I highly recommend purchasing beforehand because it will save you a lot of money. My kids had zero interest in costumes but did want to wear mouse ears a few times during the trip.
My in-laws generously paid for us to have the photo pass which was amazing. At all the parks you’ll see photographers everywhere and they’ll take your group pictures in front of iconic settings (sometimes adding a little magic). Then, you just scan your MagicBand to link all the photos to your Disney account. You get to be in the pictures and not bother any strangers!! A few times we had to wait in line for a family or two to go before us. Plus, all the ride photos are included. GET THE MEMORY MAKER! It is worth every penny. Then make sure you take the time and stop for photos.
Speaking of photos, for character signatures, we purchased a photo mat for characters to sign and then framed our castle photo when we got home. Now the kids can see the signatures every day when they walk past our family photo.
I LOVE planning trips (if you couldn’t tell already). But I understand that it isn’t just about me and what I want to do. For a trip to be fun, I need to involve everyone in the planning process.
My kids read through this book. It helped them understand the parks better and get excited for the trip. I also had them watch YouTube videos of almost all the rides to determine which rides each child wanted to go on. Just because a child is tall enough for a ride does not mean that kid can handle the ride emotionally. Many of the rides are scary.
We went through menus of some of the places I thought we might want to eat at to get an idea of what we would order and where would be good options to go at each of the parks.
As a family, for each park, we make a list of our “musts” – rides, shows, food, attractions, characters, etc. For example, participating in the paint-by-number at the Festival of the Arts at Epcot was a must-do (see picture below). Then we made a secondary list of items that it would be nice to get to if we still had time.
Lastly, I made a rough draft of how I thought each day would go once I had my initial Lightning Lanes selected. For example, I wrote down the time we would arrive at the park, what times our Lightning Lanes were, what rides we could squeeze in between Lightning Lanes and in what order, where we would stop for food, when we would see shows, etc.
Did my plans work out? Not exactly. Sometimes rides were broken or we were able to score a better Lightning Lane time. But overall, having a plan and having a list of “must-dos” was an enormous help. It gave us a guide of what to do next or where to go next, especially when something didn’t go to plan (like when a ride would unexpectedly shut down – which happens ALL THE TIME).
Tip: Download the Disney app and start getting used to it. The maps are handy. You can preorder food to have ready for you. It tells you where characters are and when. It lists showtimes. Everything is on the app. LIGHTNING LANES!!!!! Learn it, know it, master it.
To see what we rode, saw, and ate at each Disney World theme park, take a look at the following posts;
Epcot was by far our favorite Disney park. That fact was largely due to the…
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