Our trip to Disney World.

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here but last week we went on vacation and so I’m thinking… what better time to add to the blog??

We spent more than a week in Florida (+ we drove!) and I do intend on (at some point) recapping the entire trip — but I want to start with Disney World. We only spent two days there, though it felt like a lot longer with the heat, and I learned so much about the world of Disney before going. It was the first time our kids have been, although Javi went to Disneyland at 18 months.

We got to Disney around 8AM and I arranged for us to check into the hotel (All Star Music Resort) to pick up our MagicBands and a stroller I had rented. After dropping off our luggage, we drove straight to Magic Kingdom. I thought that since it was so early (Magic Kingdom didn’t even open until 9) that we were ahead of the game but I was wrong! Parking was already crazy, the tram from the parking lot to the monorail was crazy, and the monorail was crazy! We chose to walk from the parking lot to the monorail because the kids had just settled into the new stroller and we would have had to fold up the stroller to ride the tram. With all the various transportation methods, plus all the security checkpoints and the lines to get in — it took about an hour and a half from the parking lot to the park!

Once we were inside we went to our first Fast Pass ride which was it’s a small world. I don’t particularly like the ride, either does Sean, but I thought Lola would enjoy it – and she did! We continued with ride after ride after ride until 12 or so. The MagicBands allow you to reserve spots on rides so you don’t wait in long lines. It’s the best! At 12:30 we watched the parade on Main Street (Mickey and Minnie) and then we walked to lunch which we had made a reservation for. Javi fell asleep on the walk over but we were able to bring the stroller right up to our table and let him sleep in the AC which was perfect.

Once we were back outside in the heat, Lola also fell asleep and we joked that they were taking about $1,000 nap in the middle of Disney! They were back up and ready for action around 2:30, so we got Javi some food and then started on more rides! Some favorites for their current ages (17 months/3.5 years) were Dumbo the flying elephant (definitely Lola’s favorite and she even refused to give up her elephant at the end of the ride), the Buzz Lightyear ride, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, Peter Pan’s Flight, the Little Mermaid ride (though Ursula was scary!!), and the Aladdin ride (though Lola didn’t make the height restriction on this). They also LOVED Mickey’s PhilharMagic and Javi LOVED the Barnstormer roller coaster that he did with Sean. He says he loved Pirates of the Carribean but I think he was also a bit scared of the pirates!

At dinner time, we made reservations at Be Our Guest which is inside the castle from Beauty and the Beast. The Beast walks around and you can take pictures with him, too. Lola was NOT a fan. SHE HATED HIM. Javi was in heaven from sun up to sun down. At this time, we were getting tornado warnings on our phones so it was a little scary! But the rain didn’t stop us and we kept going and going until it got dark. The fireworks at Cinderella’s castle were at 9:15 or something and both kids saw the beginning of them. Lola quickly fell asleep and Javi fell asleep right before they ended. First fireworks for both of them! The stroller really came in handy!

We took the monorail back to the parking lot (skipped the tram again) and took our car back to the hotel. The hotel was simple and fine for the night. We were all so exhausted that we fell right to sleep. In the morning, we got ready early and left by 7am to get back to Magic Kingdom for breakfast reservations. I had made a reservation at Crystal Palace which is a cute buffet and we had breakfast with Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger and Piglet. Again, Lola was petrified of the characters and Javi could not have had a bigger smile on his face. He loved every second of it.

After breakfast, we did some more rides (thanks, to our fastpasses) and we also met Cinderella and Elena! I had brought a Cinderella dress for Lola and changed her into it right before meeting the princess. Unfortunately, Lola HATED Cinderella TOO! So we didn’t get any pictures of them together.

We also rode the carousel and the Jungle Cruise (which I actually didn’t enjoy that much) before leaving Magic Kingdom to go to lunch at Chef Mickey’s. The monorail was down and we got stuck for over an hour in the heat. It was terrible. But we made it to lunch and the heat and the wait and the everything was worth it for Javi to meet his favorite characters, ever.

When it was time for us to leave, he actually said “no, I’m staying. I’m never leaving Disney World”. 🙂

So… what did I learn?

• Take them! So many people cautioned us against taking them at such young ages. But I say it was totally worth it. They were both able to go on nearly every ride that we wanted to go on (except for Splash Mountain and Space Mountain), Lola was free because of her age, Javi LOVES everything Disney, and they were just so into it. So, I’m happy they were the ages they are. No regrets at all. Another thing people warned us about was that we’ll never be able to “top” Disney. But I took Javi to the carwash today and he said THAT was the best thing ever. So…?
• Disney is HOT. Painfully humid and there’s no relief. Going inside someplace with AC only makes you feel more hot when you get back outside. Still though — we made restaurant reservations for every meal so that we could get out of the heat for a bit and the kids could cool down, too. It was worth it. Literally (because it was so expensive), it was worth it. We also brought hats, cooling/misting fans, drank a TON of water, tried to stay in the shade and were thrilled during the Florida rain showers. We welcomed the rain. And I hate the rain.
• Souvenirs are everywhere. You can’t get away from them. We left the park with bubble wands, stuffed animals, clothing, candy, cotton candy, bracelets — the list goes on. Of course, we could have said no but… ? Disney!
• MagicBands are worth it. We stayed within Disney so we got the MagicBands included in what we paid. But they’re amazing and I would never do Disney without them. Disney has an app and you reserve your rides, set up reservations and meet and greets and even store photos and plans for the day on the app. It allows you to reserve 3 fastpass experiences for each day you’re there and once you use all 3, you can reserve one more at a time while there. So as soon as we scanned our bands and were walking in the line of our current selection, I would jump on the app and reserve a spot on the next ride we wanted to do.
• Renting a stroller was perfect. I thought about bringing our stroller but we really didn’t have space in the car during our trip to Florida. So a few hours before we left for the 3 hour drive in the AM, I ordered a stroller from Orlando Stroller Rentals. It was $60 for the 2 days, and they dropped it off and picked it up for us. Plus included a rain cover. Worth every penny.
• Follow the children. Originally, I thought we’d spend the morning at the park and head back to the hotel for naps and then go back to park. I thought… “there’s no way they’ll nap in the middle of the park”. Well, wrong! They did their own thing, fell asleep and woke up rejuvenated and ready for the entire rest of the day. We never left the park. We kept them fed and hydrated, made a million bathroom breaks, and never had a meltdown. Unless you count Lola’s little thing at the Dumbo ride, but honestly it was hysterical and we laughed it off. She just LOVED the rides.

We (I’m going to include Sean in this “we”) loved it and plan to take them again around Lola’s third birthday. Have you done Disney?!