As I write this it’s the deepest midwinter here in England: minus five degrees Celcius; grey and miserable. I am longing for sunshine and warmth and the chance to explore somewhere new. My thoughts keep wandering off ahead to our upcoming big trip to Boston and Cape Cod later this Spring, as well as nostalgically back to our adventures of the last couple of years – Lake Maggiore in Italy last summer and Walt Disney World Florida eighteen months ago. I still can’t quite believe so much time has passed since we had our holiday of a lifetime to Walt Disney World Florida – we still talk about it almost every day and my girls ask on a regular basis when we can go back (we need to save up first!). It seems that the Disney bug bit us all hard.
So I figured there was no better time than now to share my third and final Walt Disney World Florida post (for now anyway, until we return – hopefully in a couple of years time!). I’ve already written two posts with some tips for how to plan for a trip to Walt Disney World Florida: ‘Walt Disney World Florida: Tips, Tricks And Useful Things To Know Part One‘ (all about how to organise your trip before you go) and ‘Walt Disney World Florida: Tips, Tricks And Useful Things To Know Part Two’ (an in-depth look at each of the parks in turn).
This post is all about our top ten practical tips for how to get the best out of your trip to Walt Disney World Florida once you’re there, as well as what we’d choose to do differently next time. Please bear in mind that I am definitely not an expert – we’ve only been once! These tips are based purely on our experiences as first-timers at the happiest place on earth.
Top Ten (Practical) Tips For Walt Disney World Florida
1/ Take Snacks
Lots of snacks. And a bottle of water per person that you can refill at one of the fountains once it’s empty. It’s hot and hungry work walking around the parks all day and little ones need regular refuelling to keep their energy levels up and tiredness at bay. If you’re in a long queue to meet a character or go on a ride at what would normally be lunch or dinner time, a bag full of snacks will help tide everyone over for a bit longer. We took small, non-messy, non-perishable, easy-to-carry items like boxes of raisins, fruit bars, flapjack bars and little bags of biscuits, plus a couple of fresh fruit items like apples and pots of grapes.
Food and drink in the parks is expensive – we paid $5 (almost £4!) for a Mickey Mouse-shaped magnum! In our experience we also struggled to find simple sandwiches and salads or anything even remotely healthy to eat for lunch and we didn’t really want to eat a big or hot main meal in the middle of the day. Perhaps we were looking in the wrong places (after all, there are hundreds of food outlets!) as other people have said that they didn’t have this issue. We decided to take packed lunches with us in the end as it was more purse-friendly and so much easier to keep everyone happy with their various individual likes and dislikes. It worked out well for us – we timed our visits to arrive at the park at midday and then we’d eat the lunch we’d brought with us in the car before heading in for Disney fun. This also meant we could stay later into the evening as we’d not had a super-early start to the day.
There is so much amazing food on offer at Walt Disney World Florida though so definitely try out as much of it as you can – after all it is supposed to be a holiday! Epcot has an enormous variety of different foods from all around the globe in the World Showcase so if you’re a foodie, definitely head there to sample a bit of everything. Hollywood Studios also has some really cool places to eat – I really wanted to try out the 50’s Prime Time Café and the Sci Fi Dine In Theatre Restaurant but we just couldn’t fit it in with everything else we were doing on the day we were there. Also, we had the best ice cream of our whole trip from Hollywood Scoops on Sunset Boulevard (see photo below)
2/ Be Flexible With Your Plans/Itinerary
It’s tempting to want to plan your entire Walt Disney World Florida trip down to the minute with fast passes and dining reservations and shows because of course you want to make the most of it all whilst you’re there. I would definitely recommend leaving plenty of room for both flexibility and spontaneity in your itinerary though. Jet lag affects everyone differently and if you’ve not flown long-haul before or if it’s your first time visiting Walt Disney World Florida you have no idea how you or the children will react until you’re there. Thankfully I’m not usually affected by jet lag too much apart from being a little bit tired, but the girls were exhausted from the time difference and all the walking we were doing so they definitely needed a day off after spending a whole day at one of the Walt Disney World Florida parks.
A ‘one day on/one day off’ approach definitely worked best for us. We used the ‘day off’ to chill out in the pool at our villa or the clubhouse at Balmoral Resort (where we were staying) and we did half-day trips to places like Celebration and Pirate’s Cove Adventure Golf in the afternoons once everyone had rallied round a bit. I know several people who have been to Walt Disney World Florida and visited all the parks in the space of a week, doing full days from 8am to 10pm every day and whilst I would have loved to have been able to do that, it just wouldn’t have worked for us – two days in a row at the parks was do-able but we definitely needed to factor in the third day to be a rest day.
3/ Prioritise
Walt Disney World Florida is enormous. I definitely felt quite overwhelmed when I realised just how much there was to see and do, and I knew we would never be able to do it all in just ten days. Something that really helped was asking each member of the family what their priorities were. I asked them which characters they really wanted to meet, which rides they definitely wanted to go on, which shows they absolutely had to watch, which experiences they knew they wanted to have and which photographs they wanted to capture for their autograph books. Making sure we hit all of those priorities was quite tricky as there were six of us but it was so worth it because everyone got what they wanted out of our trip. Anything else we managed to do on top was a bonus (and we ended up having quite a lot of those too!)
My top priority was meeting Mickey Mouse and yes, I did get a little emotional as he gave me a hug. Ella wanted to meet Princess Jasmine; Mimi wanted to see BB8; Lola was desperate to meet Rapunzel; and all the teenager wanted to do was get a hug from Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. The husband would like me to say that his top priority was having a cuddle with Chewbacca, but I know that secretly his highlight of the holiday was meeting Anna and Elsa from Frozen.
4/ Manage Your Expectations
This is perhaps one of the most important tips I can give. Walt Disney World Florida is marketed as ‘the happiest place on earth’ and any trip there is likely to be a holiday of a lifetime. If you’re anything like me, from the moment the tickets are booked you’ll be imagining the ‘perfect’ family holiday – everyone getting along all of the time, big smiles 24/7 and plans going without a hitch. I had to work really quite hard to manage those expectations as I know it’s not a realistic or achieveable thing to hope for! And I’m glad I did because our Walt Disney World Florida holiday had as many less-than-perfect moments as it did perfect ones.
Just remember that not everyone is going to love everything all of the time. Meltdowns will still happen thanks to boredom in long queues, people getting ‘hangry’, and tiredness/jet lag hitting at the most unhelpful of moments. There will still be arguments and bickering between siblings (and spouses). Compromises will need to be made – we found it useful to ‘divide and conquer’ from time to time with the husband and the teenager going off to do the bigger rides whilst the girls and I had a wander round the shops or met a character or simply had a sit down in the shade. Children will still do challenging behaviours. Rides could be closed for repairs or refurbishment. It might rain (we got caught in a downpour on our first day in the Magic Kingdom and I nearly cried because I’d been expecting sunshine for the whole time we were there).
These things happen because we’re human and our imperfections don’t get put to one side just because we’re on holiday, even if it is somewhere as incredible as Walt Disney World Florida. And hand on heart I can say that even though certain aspects of our trip were quite difficult, we managed them as best we could and still had a magical time; made happy memories that will last a lifetime; and would absolutely do it all over again if we can make the opportunity happen.
5/ Be realistic
Not only is Walt Disney World Florida itself absolutely huge, there is a ton of stuff to do in the surrounding area too. I love planning a trip as much as I love being on the trip and my research into what there was to do beyond the gates of Walt Disney World Florida led to me creating a long list of places I/we wanted to visit. On our list were places such as Disney Boardwalk, International Drive, Clearwater Beach, Celebration, Kissimmee Old Town, Gatorland, Cocoa Beach and more. Don’t even get me started on Universal Studios (we only bought tickets to Walt Disney World Florida as we’re hoping to return in a couple of years time when the girls are a bit older and when we’ve saved up enough again to be able to go and do Universal).
Out of all of the places on our list we only managed to do one of them – an afternoon exploring Celebration, which I loved. Beautiful houses, a stunning lakeside boardwalk to wander around, delicious ice cream… it’s well worth a visit. I still feel a little sad that we didn’t get to go to any of the other locations on our list as well but at least I know we’ve got plenty of places to explore next time!
Just remember that no matter how much time you spend in Orlando, you will never get it all done. You’d need at least a month just to do all of the Walt Disney World Florida parks properly, let alone the other surrounding attractions. Being realistic with the time you have and how much you can physically squeeze into that time will mean that you’ll enjoy the trip so much more than feeling let down that you didn’t get to ‘do it all’.
6/ Wear Comfy Shoes
It sounds so obvious but seriously, wear comfy shoes. Not brand new ones, not ones that that you know rub your feet after an hour and definitely not heels. Trainers, ballet pumps or sandals are perfect as you will be doing a LOT of walking. We averaged between 10,000 and 12,500 steps per person per day when we were in the Walt Disney World Florida parks and your feet will thank you for it if you keep them as comfortable as possible.
7/ Think About Safety
It doesn’t matter what time of year you visit, Walt Disney World Florida is going to be ridiculously busy. American vacation times don’t always tie-in with UK school holidays so even if you think it’ll be quieter, it probably won’t be. There are big crowds of people, exciting things that capture little ones interest and entice them to wander off and the parks themselves are absolutely huge – it can be really easy to lose your sense of direction (bear in mind that this is coming from the girl who still gets lost in shopping centres!).
Make sure you have a clear plan for what to do if you get separated, and that everyone in your party knows what that plan is. Decide on an easy-to-find meeting point; make sure all the children know who is safe to approach (the Disney staff all wear similar coloured uniforms); give everyone a map; and make sure that those of your party who have a mobile phone have connected to the free wifi so you can WhatsApp call to locate each other if you do end up going in different directions.
8/ Do Your Research And Be Organised
Some of the best travel experiences are had and favourite holiday memories are made when you keep things as loose and spontaneous as possible – after all, control and military precision do not make for a fun adventure. It is entirely possible to ‘wing it’ at Walt Disney World Florida for sure (we did with regards to fast passes!) and I’m certain that there would be some amazing stories to tell if you did decide to visit without doing any planning whatsoever. However, putting a bit of effort into doing some advance research and being organised can make a big difference to how smoothly a trip goes.
Things like knowing which restaurants serve food that your children will actually eat (as well as giving them the opportunity to try new stuff too of course) can be invaluable – this was a big one for us as everyone in our party of six has such different likes and dislikes that finding somewhere that caters for all of us can sometimes be quite challenging wherever in the world we are! I did quite a lot of advance research into restaurant menus for each of the parks and it made a big difference – we knew exactly which dining options to head for which massively cut down on the dithering and “What about this place? Or this place? Or this place?” conversations.
We all LOVED the Rainforest Café at Animal Kingdom which had a huge range of choices for grown ups and younger ones, decent portions, healthy options (actual vegetables!) and a unique dining experience. It’s expensive compared to the many fast-food places within the parks, but definitely worth it – we all voted it our favourite place to eat.
Keeping your park tickets and fast passes in one place; making a note of the start times of the shows you’ve pre-booked; and researching ahead of time which characters can be found in which Walt Disney World Florida park are also all vital things to do to make sure that you get the best out of your holiday. A little bit boring perhaps, but it really will have a positive impact on your overall experience. You can find most of the information you need in the My Disney Experience app which proved to be absolutely invaluable to us – definitely download it and use it.
9/ Be Prepared
Charge your phones and cameras every night without fail – the last thing you want is a dead camera battery right at the moment you meet Cinderella for the first time, or a dead phone battery if you’ve got separated from your family. A portable charger may be useful (though we didn’t take one or need to use one).
Make sure you take everything you need with you into the Walt Disney World Florida parks every day. We took the following items with us in a backpack each time we visited: a cold bottle of water per person; enough snacks for everyone; a bottle of suncream; sunglasses & sunhats for everyone; our park tickets; my Lonely Planet guidebook (pocket sized); my DSLR camera and compact video camera; our phones; the girls’ autograph books (and spare pens); a pack of wet wipes & a pack of tissues; cash (for parking – $20 per vehicle per day) and cards; hoodies for everyone in case it rained; plasters (for blisters/minor injuries); and entertainment for the girls for long wait times in queues or in restaurants (a crossword/wordsearch/soduku book to work on together plus a few sheets of plain paper for doodling/writing down memories). I know it sounds like a lot but honestly we really did use every single one of these things every day.
10/ Say Yes
Say ‘yes’ as much as possible. I can’t emphasise this enough so I’ll say it again: say ‘yes’ to all the things you would normally say ‘no’ to. Rules and routine and sleep patterns will go out of the window and that’s absolutely ok. Walt Disney World Florida is the trip of a lifetime. Make the most of it, make memories together, stay up late, laugh lots, try new things, do stuff that scares you, spend hours in the pool, let yourself get overcome with emotion when your son or daughter meets his/her favourite character, eat the giant ice cream, wear Mickey (or Minnie!) Mouse ears/TShirts, really talk with each other (I love questions like “What has been the best part of your day?” and “What do you think you’re going to remember most from today?”), get in the photographs with your kids, and know that the stuff that doesn’t go quite how you imagined it would will soon become nothing more than a funny “Remember when…?” story that you tell once you’re home.
If We Could Go Back To Walt Disney World Florida And Do It All Again…
…what would we do differently? It’s a question I get asked quite a lot and, truth be told, I spend so much time daydreaming about our next visit to Walt Disney World Florida that I’ve thought about this on an almost daily basis since we got home eighteen months ago! I asked the girls too and between us this is what we came up with.
On our next trip to Walt Disney World Florida we will definitely:
~ Go for longer. Ten days just wasn’t enough. We’d go for a minimum of two weeks, preferably three if we can save up enough.
~ Watch more stage shows. We’d aim for one in each park. ‘Beauty And The Beast – Live On Stage’ was one that we would have loved to have seen so that would be a priority next time.
~ Make better use of fast passes. Due to a mix up with ours we only got the option to start booking them a couple of days before we flew out to Walt Disney World Florida instead of a month in advance. Now we know how the whole system works we will definitely book as far ahead as we can in order to ensure we get to do all the rides and see all the shows we want.
~ Explore more of Epcot. We pretty much just wandered through each of the countries in the World Showcase without actually stopping for a proper look around and I’d like to see more of what it has to offer next time we visit.
~ Eat more Mickey Mouse snacks. Mickey Mouse-shaped magnum ice creams and giant cupcakes with Mickey Mouse sprinkles were a good start but I know there are a whole host of other snacks that we didn’t try – the ice cream sandwich and a Micky Mouse shaped pretzel being two that are top of our list.
~ Go on more rides. It was the girls first ever experience of a proper theme park (unless you count Legoland Windsor, which we visited several years ago) and they were all a little nervous of the rides. Next time we go they’ll be older and possibly a little more keen to try them out. I’m not a huge fan of rollercoasters either to be honest but there are a few rides that I would have liked to have gone on – the Na’vi River Journey in Pandora at Animal Kingdom and Splash Mountain in Frontierland at Magic Kingdom being two examples.
~ Do a character dining experience. The girls will probably be a little too old for this next time we go, but you can’t really beat having breakfast with Mickey Mouse can you?!
~ Go to the waterparks. We didn’t have time to do Typhoon Lagoon or Blizzard Beach which was a real shame as I think we’d all have really enjoyed them. Definitely a priority for our next Walt Disney World Florida visit.
~ Make sure we meet more of the characters. We did our best (and filled up our autograph books!) but there were so many we didn’t get to meet so we’d definitely make a beeline for them first next time.
~ Go on a safari at Animal Kingdom. I didn’t even know this was possible otherwise I would have been all over it whilst we were there. We loved seeing the baby gorillas playing on the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail and the tigers on the Maharajah Jungle Trek were incredible (tigers are my most favourite animal). To see other animals roaming a bit more freely and getting a taster of an experience of what a real safari might be like (a dream travel adventure for me) would be brilliant.
~ Collect Disney trading pins. The girls love collecting things from our holidays and if I’d known about the pin trading scheme before we went we would definitely have taken part. You buy a ‘starter set’ (comprising of a lanyard and four pins I believe), and then you can swap the pins with any Disney cast member as you visit the parks in order to build up a collection of your favourites. It seems like quite a good ‘pocket money purchase’ for children who have a bit of holiday money to spend too so that they can add to their collections.
~ Finish the ‘Sorcerers Of The Magic Kingdom’ quest. This interactive (and free) game at Magic Kingdom was brilliant but unfortunately one of the portals wasn’t working whilst we were there and so we couldn’t progress any further. I’d love to finish it and defat the baddies at the end!
~ Possibly stay a little bit closer to the Walt Disney World Florida parks. Our villa was enormous, beautiful, luxurious and had literally everything we needed – it was perfect for us as a family. It just meant a 45-minute drive to the parks each day (plus extra time spent stuck in traffic). It wasn’t an issue at all and we would happily stay there again for sure. If we got the opportunity to be a little bit nearer though I think we’d take it. The girls would love to stay in a Disney hotel too, but I’m yet to find one that has rooms/suites that cater for a family of five (or offer self catering options on-site) – if anyone can point me in the right direction I’m all ears.
~ Watch the night-time show at each park. We managed three out of four (The Magic Kingdom’s ‘Happily Ever After’ fireworks, ‘IllumiNations’ at Epcot and Animal Kingdom’s ‘Rivers of Light’) but missed out on ‘Fantasmic’ at Hollywood Studios, which is supposed to be incredible.
~ Visit Toy Story Land at Hollywood Studios. It wasn’t open yet when we visited so we have to go back and see that.
~ Wear more Mickey Mouse themed clothes. We wore the ears but next time we’ll get into the spirit of it a bit more and wear the TShirts too. After all, if you can’t do it at Walt Disney World Florida, where can you?!
~ Go to Disney Boardwalk and watch the sunset. It’s supposed to be really pretty there and it was somewhere I really wanted to go but we couldn’t quite make it happen. Next time, for sure.
~ Get a cupcake from the Sprinkles ATM machine. It wasn’t working at Disney Springs when we were there on our last day and the girls were so disappointed.
~ Explore outside the Walt Disney World Florida parks. I mentioned earlier that I have a long list of places I’d like to visit in and around Orlando and beyond – next time we’ll make sure we do at least a couple of them.
~ Go to Universal Studios! The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is the biggest draw for us at the moment and the rest of it is supposed to be amazing too though I don’t know very much about it. I’d better get researching…!
Writing all of this has made me want to go back ASAP. The Disney magic is definitely real. This video covers our whole trip and all of us love watching it over and over again as it brings back such wonderful memories of our family holiday of a lifetime to Walt Disney World Florida.
I hope that this ‘Top Ten Practical Tips’ guide for a trip to Walt Disney World Florida has been useful in helping you plan your holiday-of-a-lifetime. If you’ve been to Walt Disney World Florida and have anything to add, please feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments so that readers can see them and use them too.
Please note: I have not been asked or paid to write this post. All thoughts, feelings, opinions, ideas, words and photographs are my own.
Linking up with Monday Escapes:
Kathryn Booth
Would agree with a lot of this. We tended to do early morning, have a snack for lunch, and an early dinner.or we would get an adult and a kids meal and split it. There are some healthier options, especially in Epcot world showcase. Yak and yeti cafe was great in animal kingdom.
A great place out of Disney is Sweet Tomatoes. Salad, soup, fresh pasta as an all you can eat buffet. Before you go next time, sign up to emails for discount coupons.
One of my favourite memories, and it’s still something I go back to when I want a happy place, is early morning at the boardwalk hotel. We’d had a character breakfast at Trattoria del Forno (my splurge!) which was great, and then we spent an hour just walking around the hotels, and then we found a cool spot near to the boardwalk pool, because we needed to find a loo. Alanna sat in a big deckchair just looking at the pool and dreaming of going in, I sat back and watched her. It was peaceful, cool, and just a really contented moment that I was able to appreciate and soak in. I didn’t want to leave!
I’m already planning our return, date to be confirmed. My one thing is to stay on site at Disney for a few days at least, just once!
You could try the dvc villas which are bigger than hotel rooms, pricey, but you can get some deals by renting points from members. Check out old key west resort as an example.
Also, the mini golf courses at Disney are usually included in 14 day tickets, as long as you start before a certain time, another of our favourite places, and the water parks for a more chilled out rest day.
Can you tell it’s my happy place? (I also used to work for Disney store UK, so it’s a bit ingrained!,)
Btw, I’m really looking forward to hearing more about your cape cod trip. I had never consider editing there with kids..but it’s on my bucket list, as well as more of the east coast.
Chloe Ridgway
There are some great tips here, thanks Kathryn! I really want to stay on-site at some point too – I’ll definitely look into the option you’ve mentioned. Your Disney Boardwalk memory sounds wonderful – I almost feel like I was there with you. Does Alanna remember it too? I’m so glad you’re planning to go back. What an incredible trip it will be after everything you’ve been going through recently. I had no idea you used to work for the Disney Store – what a fab job!
I’m ridiculously excited for our travels to Boston and Cape Cod. We’ve got 6 days in Boston and 4 in Cape Cod – it was supposed to be split evenly with 5 days in each but we wanted to see a RedSox baseball game and the only time they were playing at home was the day after we were supposed to move on to the Cape, so we decided to stay an extra day in the city instad so we could go and see it. It’s Mimi’s birthday wish (she turns 11 while we’re out there).
Typical Mummy
My son has never really been too fussed about Disney World (apart from when he saw Stormtroopers on one of the TV adverts!) but my daughter is now at the age when she is desperate to go and is constantly asking whether we can all go as a family. So this post will be one that I come back to I’ve I eventually csve in to her requests!! #MondayEscapes
Chloe Ridgway
Haha, the persuasive powers of little girls are strong 🙂 My girls honestly weren’t that fussed either until we told them we were going and then all of sudden they became obsessed. Our trip was eighteen months ago and we still talk about it every single day (no exaggeration). They keep begging to go back, we just need to save up (a lot) first in order to make it happen. I hope you cave to her requests sooner rather than later, it truly is such a magical place.
Jenny - TraveLynn Family
I have loved following your posts from this trip. It really has planted the seed for me for taking the boys. Such a magical place!
Jenny – TraveLynn Family recently posted…Glamping in Lanzarote: A review of our stay at Finca de Arrieta
Chloe Ridgway
Thanks Jenny, I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed my posts. I truly believe Walt Disney World Florida is somewhere that everyone should experience once in their lifetime, regardless of whether they have children or not. You MUST take your boys – the Disney magic is real!
Karen Beddow
Some absolutely fab tips here Chloe invaluable for anyone going soon.
Chloe Ridgway
Thanks Karen. You’ve been with your girls haven’t you? Do you have any tips that you’d add that I missed off?!
Katja Gaskell
It sounds like you had the most incredible time! I love your tip on saying ‘yes’ to everything, it’s such a great idea to really make the most of your time and create amazing memories.
Chloe Ridgway
Thanks Katja. I think saying ‘yes’ more is something I need to adopt for every holiday, not just Disney. I find it hard to transition from normal routine to holiday mode – perhaps saying yes more will help!
Sharon
I read your post with interest because many of your points apply to Disneyland in California too. We got a resident’s 3-days pass and have 2 to go this spring! I’ve been many times, and I think all your advice is so helpful! Your point to say “Yes” is especially good. When I see grumpy parents saying no to a child in Disneyland I always think, “Why? Aren’t you here to have fun?” The trading pins have been fun for my grandkids, but I didn’t realize how expensive they are after the starter pack. We started out, but the pins faded out. We did of course buy them something, but they tended to go for small Lego sets or action figures. Looks like you had a wonderful time!
Sharon recently posted…Exploring San Francisco with Kids
Chloe Ridgway
We’d like to explore Disneyland California too – California is high on our list of wish-list travel destinations. How wonderful to have a resident’s pass! Good to know that the trading pins are fun to collect – I didn’t realise they were expensive to buy though so I’ll have to keep that in mind for when we do eventually return. Thanks!
susanna
Sounds like an amazing trip! Love those twinning pigtails/plaits.
Chloe Ridgway
It was brilliant and I can’t wait to return. The twinning pigtails were completely unintentional but I kind of like them now when I look back!
Claire at Tin Box Traveller
Gosh! You’ve really put Disney into perspective for me. Great tips and a great series!
Claire at Tin Box Traveller recently posted…5 idyllic spots for camping holidays in France
Chloe Ridgway
Thanks Claire! It’s a big trip for sure, and totally worth all the research and planning to really get the most out of it.
jenny
Oh yes so many great tips. I have a few posts in the drafts on our Disney Trip gosh I really need to catch up as it was last February. I think it’s one of those places you could go over and over and it just gets better and you see more and you find more things to do. It’s never ending detail everywhere you go! I love it. It really is the most magical place on earth.
Chloe Ridgway
The attention to detail there is just phenomenal isn’t it – I really loved that about it. They’ve literally thought of absolutely everything. And yes, I completely agree that you could go back year after year and still find something new each and every time.
Heledd - Running in Lavender
I absolutely agree with every single one of these tips! Taking snacks is a MUST and comfy shoes is so IMPORTANT!! I was so organised when we went, I had every single one of our fast passes booked up 30 days before we went and booked all of our special dining experiences. It really is the most amazing place. I’m hoping to go again soon!!!
Chloe Ridgway
Organisation does seem to be key! Lots of people have said that the dining experiences are well worth it – we didn’t bother but I think when we go back we’ll do a character breakfast for sure.
Jo At Number 26
Wow, is it 18 months since you went to Disney, that has flown by. We’re hoping to take the boys in 2 years time, we wanted to wait until G was a bit older so he could properly enjoy it. I’ll be back to read again when we’re planning and prepping x
Chloe Ridgway
I know, I can’t believe it’s been 18 months already either. We literally talk about it every single day at some point and we’re saving hard to be able to go back in a couple of years. Your boys will absolutely love it there. Glad you found my post useful 🙂
Suzanne
Well you definitely need a trip back Chloe! This brought back loads of memories for me. Our one and only trip to WDW Florida was in 2011 and it was just the right age for mine. We actually did quite a few of the bigger rides – definitely enough for me! We didn’t do Universal Studios though and I would have liked to have done that. We did the water parks and would definitely recommend. We did similar to you in that we did 2 days in the parks and 1 day off – worked really well :). I like the sound of your holiday plans for this year – so exciting! xx
Chloe Ridgway
We do indeed need a return trip! It’s good to know that the water parks are worth it – I’ve heard mixed opinions about them, especially if you have a private or resort pool at the accommodation you’re staying in. I really don’t know much about Universal at all, though in all honesty we’ll mostly be going for the Harry Potter attractions! I’m glad my post brought back some happy memories for you Suzanne – I love reminiscing about past holidays and hope that it brought you some joy to think back over your Disney trip.
Kerri-Ann Hargreaves
I didn’t realise you only did Disney World. We have all 3 booked in and can’t wait, we’ll be the ones in the park for rope drop and arriving home super late after shows. And don’t worry about the cupcake ATM – I’ve heard they are super dry! We have Clearwater, gatorland zipline and Kennedy Space Centre all booked and can’t wait let alone all our days in the parks. Like you said it’s a lot of planning but worth it. Although we are the family with a full itinerary albeit there is flexibility in case George is tired. We cannot wait x
Chloe Ridgway
You’re going to have an amazing time Kerri-Ann – I’m excited to follow along on your blog and social media. It’s a different experience for sure with one child’s needs and wants to take into account rather than four. It sounds like you’ll need another holiday when you get back just to have a rest!
Daisy - Dais Like These Family Travel Blog
This is a really comprehensive list of tips which is going to be SO useful to people planning a trip.
We’re waiting for our youngest to be a bit older and then we’d love to go.
Love your sensible tips of being realistic and managing expectations, which are so easy to forget when you’re caught up in the excitement.
Thanks for linking up to #MondayEscapes
Chloe Ridgway
I think Walt Disney World Florida is magical at any age, though perhaps there is a certain window of time where they get the best out of it for sure. We probably could have taken the girls when they were each three years younger if we could have afforded it (5, 7 and 8). And yes, managing expectations is absolutely key – on any holiday I think!
Katy Stern
What a brilliant post Chloe. Perfect for anyone planning a once in a life time trip. We would love to take the kids one day – such a magical place of dreams and well. magic! #mondayEscapes
Chloe Ridgway
Katy your three gorgeous munchkins will absolutely LOVE it there. The Disney magic is definitely real.
Lydia
I love this thorough article Chloe. Its just a perfect guide for an adventure. Thanks
Chloe Ridgway
Thanks Lydia! Glad you found it helpful.
Steph Curtis
Love all of this! Especially tip 10, say yes. I’m going to do that as much as I can very soon! x
Chloe Ridgway
I’m so excited for your trip Steph – I hope you have the most wonderful time. Looking forward to following along and seeing what you say ‘yes’ to.
safaritravelplus
Writing it from the perspective of what you would choose to do different is so valuable because it actually helps the first time visitor to disney world.
Chloe Ridgway
I’m glad you found my post helpful! Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts.
Megan Di Emanuele
Hi Chloe, I really enjoyed hearing about your trip and thanks for the tips 🙂 You asked about Disney accommodations for your big family: the Disney Villas “on property” can sleep a good number of people and some have a full kitchen. I think all of the Deluxe hotels have Villas, which are part of the Disney Vacation Club but also available to rent through Disney – or you can rent points from a DVC owner (I haven’t mustered the courage to do this yet, but like you I’ve spent hours researching!). We stayed at the Polynesian in a Studio apartment – there’s just the 4 of us, but there were beds for both our kids, which you don’t get in the regular hotel rooms, so bonus! Polynesian is our favourite so far – you can access both monorails from there, so my hubby doesn’t have to do much driving which he appreciates 🙂 I hope you do get to go again soon, it’s sure a magical place! We’re in Canada so have only been to WDW in Florida so far – have you been to Disneyland in Paris, being closer to there? Would you recommend it?
Chloe Ridgway
Hi Megan,
Thanks so much for your comment and pointers on the accommodation for larger families at Disney. I’ve not even heard of Disney Vacation Club before (!) so that is something I’m definitely going to check out for next time. When I was looking at the on-site accommodation the Polynesian resort looked really lovely – it’s good to hear that you had a great experience staying there. We actually haven’t been to Disneyland in Paris so I can’t share any thoughts with you I’m afraid. I know several people who have been though and absolutely loved it. If you have a look at a blog called ‘Life As Our Little Family’ I think she has some posts that might help you make up your mind whether to make the trip or not. I’d like to go to the one in California one day too – it would be interesting to see the differences between there and Florida. Whereabouts in Canada are you? Canada is also high up on my list of ‘must-see’ places!