Disney World

We decided to venture on and travel from Washington to Florida with the kids and man! Talk about adventure. The end game was a trip to Disney World, but we started off at my aunts in Palm Beach and drove up from there. While 10 days was entirely too much, splitting the trip into family and fun worked well.

Disney World is a full time gig, planning, park hopping, keeping kids cool. We decided to go during the Epcot Food and Wine Festival (WORTH IT!) and had fun at Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. I spent 3 months planning and reading things on Facebook to get the most tips and tricks. Honestly, I’d not been on a trip like this with kids and was pretty nervous, but it was worth it, every complaint, tantrum, sweaty day. My five year old still talks about it and him riding his first roller coaster.

Tips & Tricks I learned on Disney World adventure with two young kids:

• Buy double stroller. We tend to use a wagon at home but Disney World has a “strict” policy on no wagons so we purchased the Zoe Double. My then four year old and one year old fit perfectly in it. The wagon policy isn’t strict we realized once we got there, but didn’t want to risk it. The Zoe was also great on the plane, super light and easy for me to handle in and out of the rental car. If you’re going during rainy season, I’d also purchase the rain cover. It is expensive at the park, I think we spent $40 on a cover, eek. When we got home I actually sold the Zoe and the rain cover for exactly what I paid for it. So I thought it was worth it. Check out the accessories we also purchased.
• Split your days up. We went to the parks for 2 days, took middle day at the hotel to rest and swim. The last two days we spent half days at the park. This gave our feet a bit of a break after two fully packed days and allowed the kids to rest. The last two days were towards the weekend and the parks were packed compared to our first two days that were at the beginning of the week.
• Buy Lightening Lane Pass. I knew our four year old would not be okay waiting in line so we did do the lightening lane pass and it was worth every penny. The longest we waited was 20 minutes for Slinky Dog and that was still “too long” per my child. Getting your rides set also helped to plan our day a bit better.
• Park Hopper was worth it. We almost didn’t do this but it was worth it for us to spend the day with the kids at the parks and tram over to Epcot for some fantastic food and the Food and Wine Festival. It also allowed us to break (sit in the AC!) during the tram ride and the kids got a decent time for a nap.
• Calm down and know it won’t all go right. It seemed almost impossible to get the times we wanted for rides and the order all the posts said, and it still turned out fine. Take a deep breath and just go with it. You’ll ride the rides eventually, the time may just not be maximized like everyone recommends. It’s okay – your kids will still have fun. Disney World is packed with people, lines and waiting. Going in with the mindset of “it is what it is” really took the pressure off. The Disney cast members are there to help so if something happened or you didn’t get a ride etc. stop at their booths, all over the park, and ask for assistance.

Disney World is not just a willy nilly park if you are traveling from out of town but it is also important to understand it is not all going to go to plan. Would I go again, no, not until my kids could walk and were done with naps. Was it worth it once, absolutely. It was a fun family trip we will always remember!

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