Tidbits & Tips (The Travel Post I Always Wish For)

I do a lot of research for every trip we take. This post is the post I always wish I could find when I’m researching and preparing for a family trip. There are tons, and tons, and tons of sites/message boards/blogs/books/informational resources devoted to Disney. For me, it was overwhelming– to the point where, basically, I ended up using none of them (it was simply too much information). I am no expert on Disney (obvi!!!!), but here are the things we did, our trip tips, and little tidbits that might be helpful. For anyone planning a Walt Disney World trip anytime soon, this post’s for you!

• We booked online directly via the Walt Disney World site. We did some searching to find a nice package for a decent trip.
• We did 5-day “Magic Your Way” tickets. We found that online you can go into the system and take off the “park hopper” option (which was great for us because there was no way on earth we could have ‘hopped’ parks… we were exhausted each day as it was!). It was also too cold in January for a water park, so we took off the “water park” option too. This made the trip much more affordable than if we had left those options on and made it a 7-day (instead of 5-day) pass. We found 5 days to be perfect. Enough so that we weren’t rushed, but also enough so that we were ready to be done with it by the end of day 5. We did Magic Kindom on Day 1; Animal Kingdom on Day 2; Epcot on Day 3; Animal Kingdom on Day 4; Magic Kingdom on Day 5. We’d do it exactly the same if we were to do it again. Hollywood Studios was not appealing to us because our kids don’t know enough about the films/media/Disney characters/etc.
• We used Disney’s Magical Express for airport transportation. It was great! Tip: pack your bathing suits and essentials in your carry-ons. It takes about 3 hours for your luggage to be delivered to your room. We were prepared for that, and it worked out great: upon arrival we checked in, quickly changed into our bathing suits, and hit the pool! We then had dinner at the resort. And by the time we were back in our room, our luggage was there.
• We stayed at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside. This place is considered a “moderate” resort. We liked it for the price. But we also really, really liked it because the basic rooms allow for five people. They have little pull-out beds in the rooms– it was perfect for Meera! The resort was nice. I’d recommend it. One downside: we had to wait for the bus (Disney Transportation), and the resort was a good 20 minutes from each of the parks. It would be nice if next time we go we can swing a “deluxe” resort on the monorail track!
• We booked the Disney Deluxe Dining Plan. This made our trip, basically, an all-inclusive vacation. This plan gave each of us 3 meals a day (any meal; very flexible), plus 2 snacks a day. It covered everything but alcohol. For us, this was well worth the cost for two reasons: 1) convenience — we absolutely loved not having to worry about paying for each and every single meal/bottle-of-water, and 2) our boys eat a LOT — so a dining plan is value for us [i.e., may not be for families with kids who eat less]. Here’s how it worked out for us: the adult meals were way too much food for Braydon and I, but the kids’ meals were way too little food for Kyle and Owen (just right for Meera). We would order meals accordingly (basically ‘family style’) and all share. Doing it this way, we had just the right amount of food at meals. As for the snacks, we loved being able to “spring” for snacks whenever the kids wanted them (we had already paid for them!). The kids felt like they were living it up BIG TIME because they could get a Mickey ice cream or a bucket of popcorn or a Gatorade or a bag of Cheetos whenever they wanted. This made it feel like a huge splurge of a vacation, when really… it was all part of the dining plan.
• Our princess breakfast was the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. It is located in “Norway” in Epcot. We HIGHLY recommend it!!!
• Hoop Dee Doo Musical Review is located in Pioneer Hall in the Fort Wilderness Resort. We HIGHLY recommend it!!!
• Now, granted, we are ridiculous foodies at this point (embarrassingly so), but we can also enjoy a good dose of McDonalds from time-to-time. We found Disney food to be pretty good (but we went into it with our expectations realistically set). We chose carefully. Our 3 favorite meals (in terms of actual food) were (in this order): 1) Flame Tree Barbecue (bbq ribs and chicken) in Animal Kingdom, 2) La Hacienda de San Angel (Mexican food and shockingly good margaritas!) in “Mexico” in Epcot, 3) Yak & Yeti (pan-Asian food) in Animal Kingdom.
• We rented a stroller for Meera. It had never occurred to us to do this, but on New Year’s Eve we were talking about our upcoming trip with our good friends the Slavins (who had just gone to Disney this fall), and they recommended that we get a stroller. So so so so so glad we did that! Meera hasn’t been in a stroller since she was 2, but man oh man did she (and we) LOVE having it at Disney! We rented ours (a really nice one!) online from Orlando Stroller Rentals. It worked out easily and perfectly.  I highly highly highly recommend bringing or renting a stroller! In addition to giving Meera lots of rides (which avoided an unknown number of meltdowns and tantrums!), and giving her some shade from the direct sun, it also was a place for us to store all of our stuff (so that we didn’t have to carry it all around with us on rides, into restaurants, etc). We must have said to each other, “Oh my gosh! I’m so glad we have this stroller!,” at least 50 times a day!
• Don’t miss the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom!
• We were celebrating our Adoption Day on our first day at the Magic Kingdom. If you tell someone at your resort, or at the park entrance, that you are celebrating a special something they’ll give you pins to wear. Kyle and Owen LOVED having the pins and loved telling anyone and everyone that would listen that we were celebrating our Adoption Day.
• Several people have asked about our luggage. The bright carry on luggage is awesome, and is from LLBean. We have had our eyes on that luggage for awhile now, but it was pricey. We ended up buying it for half-price during a great sale right after Christmas. I just checked their website and they don’t seem to have it anymore. I guess it was a clearance sale. It is awesome rolling, carry-on luggage, perfect for the kids. Keep checking their site… knowing LLBean they will bring it back even better than before.
• Little tip: bring a container of WetOnes. We brought one, and I was so glad we had! One container was the perfect amount for the five days (we literally used the last one on the plane coming home).