Niche content alert — but many of you have asked for my thoughts on our recent trip to Disney. First, a disclaimer: I am not an expert! I am an average mom sharing very earnest thoughts on our first experience visiting as a family! Take everything with a grain of salt and feel free to share your thoughts and approaches in the comments.
The main takeaway I had: there are many ways to enjoy Disney, and you shouldn’t let the hype intimidate you! The number one question I’ve received from Magpie readers on this subject: do you need a planner?! I do not think so. We did not, and we had a fantastic and magical time. But (!) as I will expand on below, it depends on your priorities for this trip. We wanted ours to be fun, full of rides, and focused on the kids, but also somewhat relaxing for us. As Landon put it: “we don’t necessarily want to squeeze everything we can out of Disney–that’s not our objective.” To this end, we were not pressed to get on every ride. We did not prioritize getting to the parks for “rope drop” (opening) each morning. If we missed something, we shrugged it off. But! You may have a different outlook depending on how much time you have, your kids’ ages, the degree to which you are “a Disney person,” your willingness to do your own research/figure out which rides to go on, etc, in which case having a planner map your experience might make sense for you. In general, though, Disney makes having fun easy — they are, after all, experts in operations and entertainment. You do not need to read 1,000 blogs; you will have a good time even if you take a lower-key approach (as we did). In fact, I found that a lot of the things I’d read online billed as “key to making the most of Disney” did not apply to our experience and unnecessarily stressed me out. This does not make those wisdoms wrong — we are perhaps idiosyncratic travelers? — but just a little reminder that for any one destination there are multiple valid paths. Trust yourself and your priorities!
The only aspect of the trip I think you really need to be on top of is buying the lightning lane multi-pass at 7 am sharp on the first day it becomes available to you (for us, three days before our first park visit — but you get more advanced access if staying at a Disney resort) and knowing which rides to pre-book using the pass. (Notes on this below.) Otherwise, you will miss out on opportunities to skip the longest lines for the most coveted rides, which I think would have been a disappointment/frustration.
Below, I’m going to share some thoughts on our travel plans, why we made them as we did, and what other options were recommended/might be worth considering. These are non-canonical! I know many friends who went about this very differently and had great experiences; will include their notes below.
+HOTEL: We stayed at the Waldorf Astoria. Most guides/friends urged us to stay “on campus” (on the monorail) in a Disney resort, but Landon and I were willing to forgo proximity to parks for a slightly quieter and more elevated hotel experience. We ended up loving this arrangement. We’d spend the bulk of the day in the parks, and then retreat to the quiet hotel pool, and eat dinner there, too. It made for really easy evenings after long, hot, busy, stimulating days! (Bonus: we found the food at WA quite good.) I would not describe the Waldorf as “a destination hotel” but it was well-appointed, spacious, and had incredible staff. In general, the hospitality in Orlando is insanely good.
ABOVE: WEARING MY CESTA PAREO IN THE TOP PIC AND MY LA VESTE TERRY AND FRINGE COVER UP
If you have younger children, you might find staying on the monorail easier, because it’s one leg of transit closer to the park. You just pop over and get started. By contrast, we had to take a shuttle or Uber to get to the monorail/ferry to then get to the park. We did not find this an issue (hotel shuttles were clean and timely; Ubers are plentiful) but could be worth considering, especially if you have littler kids with lower patience levels. I will say that we had anticipated we might spend time at the park, come back to the hotel, and then return to the parks later in the day (for fireworks, etc) but we found it impossible to motivate ourselves to get back to the park after we’d returned. It was just too much! So if you want to bounce back and forth between park and hotel (especially if you have kids that might still need to nap in the hotel), you probably want to stay on the monorail. The Disney resorts also give you earlier access to the parks and character breakfasts — not priorities for us but worth consideration if those things are important to you.
If you stay at Disney, the top rec from our travel agent and several other trusted resources is The Polynesian. However, we have friends who stayed at the Contemporary, and they said they preferred to spend less on the room, as they prioritized riding as many rides as they could, and spent so little time in the rooms anyway. Again, priorities/trade-offs!
If you want a more luxe experience, stay at the Four Seasons. We seriously considered it, but Landon and I have learned that we really appreciate a separate sleeping area from our kids in order to enjoy a trip of any duration, and the price of a suite at the Four Seasons was around $3500/night when we were booking (!) — not worth the expense in our view. We were able to get a suite at the Waldorf for less than 1/3 that price, and were able to use our AMEX amenities at the Waldorf to get complimentary breakfast, resort credits, upgraded room, etc. These were really nice perks for us — especially (surprisingly?) the breakfast. We’d fuel up with a big hotel breakfast before going into the parks so we could have a lighter, easier lunch on the go.
+PARKS: We did two days at Magic Kingdom and one day at Animal Kingdom–the rec from most friends with kids similar in age to ours. This felt exactly right for the children’s ages (5 and 8) and the scope of the respective parks. I think a third day at MK would have been too much; if we had one extra day, we would have gone to Hollywood Studios, but I’ve heard this is generally a better fit for older kids anyway. We spent around six hours per day at the parks. This was plenty for us; everyone was tired and ready for quiet/rest by this point. I’ve heard EPCOT is better for adults / more oriented around food, which was not our interest.
+LENGTH OF TRIP: We felt three nights / four days was perfect. We had a very early flight on Monday (left at 6:35 a.m.) and were at Animal Kingdom by around 10, so we did treat that first day as a true “park day.” Then we did two days at Magic Kingdom. Our travel agent had said most people prefer to stay one extra day (for a total of four nights/five days), during which you don’t go to a park / just stay at pool or do something lower key, but we felt our length was ideal. We were ready to get back after three park days.
+PASSES AND RIDES: This was the single area of our trip that required the most work, and I have two strong recs here: first, buy your kids the Birnbaum guide to Disney and second, splurge on the the lightning lane multi-pass. On the first matter: we gave our kids these guides (on the rec of a Magpie reader) a few months before heading to Disney, and our kids read them cover to cover dozens of times. The guides not only gave them a realistic preview of the parks and their rides, but got them very excited and, in the end, made them incredible sources of information! We’d ask Emory “what’s this ride?” and she’d know every detail about it, which was helpful in figuring out which rides might be too scary or too baby-ish, which rides would be the most in-demand, etc. Cannot rec enough. They also have an autograph section in the book that the kids used at the park. (Thank you to the Magpie who recommended these guides!)
On the lightning lane: Disney recently launched a version of the lightning lane pass that gives you access to every single ride but I don’t think this is necessary unless you are determined to get on every ride multiple times with no wait. Just get the standard “multi pass” one that gives you three passes to use, and make sure you have one for each member of your party. I say this is essential because we skipped multiple hour-long lines for the most popular rides AND it gave our days a useful shape, as you need to select a time for each ride, and you therefore create a little itinerary that becomes helpful to organizing your day. The key is to primarily use the lightning lane passes for the rides/experiences that have long waits. The TL;DR: try to book the following rides using the lightning pass at Magic Kingdom, and I’m listing them in descending order in terms of my kids’ enjoyment of them/the length of lines as we experienced it: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise. At Animal Kingdom: Kali River Cruise, Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safari, Dinosaur. I’m excluding from this list several of the more intense roller coasters, because our kids weren’t interested in them!
There were a few of these rides that were fully booked / unavailable to us, even with the lightning pass — they are so popular! — but don’t fret if this happens to you. We did end up waiting for a handful of these rides in the standard lines; we’d just prioritize them when the waits were a tad shorter (Disney makes this easy to see in the app) and/or earlier in the morning, when the lines are generally shorter and our kids were less likely to complain. We played games and had snacks while waiting, and most of the rides have lots of interesting things to look at and keep you moving every minute or two. Truthfully, the few waits we had in line were not bad at all, but I think this is because we were able to more or less walk on to most of the other ones using the pass. And, our kids’ ages! I’m not sure how it would feel to stand in line with a 2 and 4 year old.
Our kids’ favorite rides were Tiana, Seven Dwarfs, and Kali River Cruise. Dinosaur was a little scary for Hill. Emory LOVED Expedition Everest, but Hill was too scared to go on it.
The one area we could have been better about — mapping our days geographically. We criss-crossed the parks so many times because we’d use the lightning pass to book one ride at one end of the park, and then have a pass for another ride at the opposite end. Sometimes this just can’t be avoided because several of the rides are extremely popular and you’re more or less at the whim of when there’s availability! But I do think there are probably ways to be more organized about which order to see which rides in to reduce walking.
Final note: if budget is no issue for you, you might consider booking a VIP Guide. I think these run you ~$800/per hour, with a five hour minimium, for a family of four. But you basically show up and have a guide take you on a custom itinerary and wait in no lines whatsoever.
+KIDS’ AGES: Hill will turn six on May 31 and Emory turned eight in March. We felt the ages were absolutely perfect — they’re still delighted by the magic of the characters, found even the slower moving classic rides (“It’s a Small World”) fun, and are tall enough to go on most of the rides. They were also capable of walking the entire park on their own, per my note below! We did see tons and tons of younger kids but I feel like 4 is probably the youngest I would have taken mine just in terms of their ability to enjoy it, the expense of it, the complication of still needing naps, etc. But you know your kids, of course, and I’m sure there are many Disney-goers who have had magical times with their babies in tow, too.
+STROLLERS: I feel like I’m going to get in hot water for this one, so take with a big grain of salt. Literally every single person we consulted with insisted we needed a stroller, even for children our ages. So I rented a double stroller with Kingdom Strollers (the top stroller rental rec I found on Reddit), which made it very easy: they deliver the stroller to your hotel and you don’t even need to be there/sign off. It’s just down by the bellhop and ready for you. Same goes for pick up. Couldn’t have been simpler. But we did not use that stroller once! Landon took one look at it the day we arrived and said — “let’s see how they do without it.” He felt that if they were given the option, they’d just ride in it all the time, and it seemed unnecessary to him; we both cling to the old Montessori wisdom that “a child can walk their age in miles each day” and generally push our kids to walk farther than they think they can. Plus, the double jogging stroller was really bulky and would have been unwieldy when in dense crowds. And he was right — the kids did great! They walked almost 20 miles in three days! It was nice not to have anything to push/pull/park/etc. We went at the kids’ pace, took frequent breaks, and being stroller-free led us to pause and look at things we might otherwise have missed if we were zig-zagging from ride to ride. For example, we stopped to get signatures from Cinderella’s evil stepsisters because Emory noticed them under an awning; we accidentally wound up watching two performances while the kids were taking a break; etc.
All that said, I think a stroller would be essential for kids any younger than ours, and possibly necessary if you plan to stay from, say, rope drop at 7:30 am until fireworks at 8:30 pm. By contrast, we’d typically only spend six hours at the park per day, and Hill was pretty tired by that point — as were we. (This did not stop him from then swimming for two hours at the pool after, but still…!). The arrangement worked for our family and it made us feel that we were experiencing Disney through their eyes. But you know your kids…! Maybe you already know they’ll be whining about tired feet within an hour…!
If you are on the fence about this, and have kids of a similar age to ours, I would personally recommend skipping the Kingdom Stroller situation and renting one from the park if you really need it/are in a bind. They aren’t that much more expensive on a daily basis. Bonus that you don’t need to schlep the stroller onto the monorail/shuttle/etc. Caveat that the strollers available at the parks are much smaller and less comfortable (more like molded plastic vs the name brand options you can get via Kingdom Strollers). Still, they’ll work if you’re in a pinch.
Last consideration: we had good friends who took their three kids to Disney a few weeks before ours and insisted the stroller was essential, BUT they were much more ambitious about riding every single ride, often multiple times. I think that if your priority is getting on as many rides as you can, the stroller does make sense, as you’re flitting from lightning pass booking to lightning pass booking. That was not our priority/vibe, so we did fine just going at our own pace, going on a few rides with the lightning pass, waiting in shorter lines for the classics like the tea cups, Dumbo, etc. Just my thoughts!
+SHOWS/CHARACTER VISITS: For some reason, I was deeply moved watching total strangers hug their favorite Disney characters! I teared up multiple times?! I found it so charming. We were sort of casual about this — Landon checked the app a few times to see which characters were close by, and we got a few signatures, but we weren’t hyper-motivated about it. The character schedules seem to change at the last minute so it can be hard to map out. I’m glad we were able to see Pooh and Tigger; the kids were very excited. I would personally prioritize doing at least one character visit with your kids. For the shows — we LOVED the Mickey’s Philharmagic show. It was the first thing we did at Magic Kingdom and it was the perfect way to set the tone. It might have been my favorite “stop” at Magic Kingdom!
+TIMING: A lot of friends/guides told us to get to the parks as early as possible. I do think the parks get more crowded as the day goes on and the rides are easier to get on in the morning, but — !! We sort of went the opposite direction. In general, on this vacation and all others, we prefer to move at a relaxed pace. So this trip, we would get up (I would set my alarm for 7-ish, and the kids were usually still asleep!), have a nice breakfast, and then head to the park, arriving around 8:30-9. This worked well for us and gave the morning a less harried pace. Again, this is a personal preference; if you’re aiming to get on every single ride as quickly as you can, maybe waking up and getting there first is a priority for you.
+CLOTHING: I was really whipsawed by this; I had people tell me all kinds of conflicting things! Don’t wear socks and sneakers because you’ll get wet and have to walk around in marshy shoes! Don’t wear sandals because you’ll get a blister! Don’t wear jean shorts because they’ll get wet and you’ll be miserable! Etc. The first day, I wore jean shorts, an airy Doen blouse, my raffia hat, and Birks. The second day, I wore an athletic dress, sneakers, an Addison Bay athletic long-sleeved top, and a Clare Vivier ballcap. The third day, I wore a HHH nap dress, Birks, and had my AYR Early Morning tee for when cold.
I was hands down the happiest in the HHH nap dress and Birks. The dress is so airy and breathable; the material dries quickly; and I preferred my feet in sandals versus sweating in sneaks all day. It’s also a great length so you’re not flashing people getting out of rides, but it’s not so long you’re tripping over it. Finally, it’s machine-washable / not so precious that if you get something on it, you’ll be devastated. That said, I’d say 95% of park-goers were wearing sneakers, socks, and shorts — so I’m probably the outlier, and maybe trust the crowds on this one. But I was personally the least happy in the athletic outfit.
Re: getting wet on rides. There are only a handful that get you wet (Tiana / Kali come to mind) and you dry quickly in the FL sun — I wouldn’t fret too much about the impact this will have on you, but probably don’t wear an all white outfit.
Two details I thought were really helpful: 1) wear a belt bag / crossbody that can hold your phone, ID, credit card, and Disney pass (my Celine sling worked perfectly!; I also saw a few women wearing this Cuyana version) as you can then keep all of this on your person safely even while on rides, and have your husband wear a backpack with essentials. This worked SO well for us. 2) Bring a top layer if you get chilly easily! I would often slip into this while waiting in the air conditioned lines on rides!
My kids wore t-shirts, shorts, and either Crocs or sneakers and did not complain at all about discomfort. Definitely pack hats for them (and yourself!). I forgot to do this the first day and regretted it — they both liked having them on because it was so sunny. PS — Zara has really cute classic Disney tees for kids! I bought multiple for my son!
+WHAT TO BRING WITH YOU: This was another area of worry for me because I also had seen all these checklists of what to bring, and it was a lot. I read on some blog “be prepared because if you need cough syrup, you’ll never find it at Disney” and the sentiment kept reverberating in my head. I personally think a lot of this was over-hyped. I mean, of course, random things can happen but I don’t think you need to go out of your way to imagine every possible contingency. Just pack like you’ll be going to a playground for a few hours — bandaids, shout wipes, neosporin, wipes, etc. A few things I think are important to have that are maybe a little out of the ordinary: 1) an external phone battery — we have this one — because you will use your phone to access the lightning pass / map / etc a lot; 2) snacks for the kids that have a little protein in them, like peanut butter crackers; and 3) more sanitizer than you think you’ll need. We went through so much sanitizer! Disney is a nightmare for germaphobes. I mean, the kids touch EVERYTHING while waiting in line, and then have their hands all over the lap bars at the rides, etc! Pack extra sanitizer!
+FOOD: Again, lots of opinions on this. I read a lot of posts saying “don’t waste your time/money at the sit-down restaurants in Disney” and others with extensive dining itineraries (“don’t miss x here and y there!”). I don’t know where I land on this because I generally found the food in the parks smeh (don’t come after me!), but one of our favorite moments was a quiet, cool lunch at Skipper’s Canteen at Magic Kingdom! The meal was fun (great service with his own little performance!), the food was solid, and we enjoyed having a break to sit down in a quiet, air conditioned spot in the middle of the day. Then again, I can understand if you’re there to get on as many rides as possible, you probably don’t want to spend one hour of your day at a restaurant on premises–so it comes back to priorities.
+RANDOM NOTE: For some reason, sunglasses cases set off some kind of internal alarm if packed in your bag while going through security/detectors at Disney. We learned that if you take your sunglass cases out of your bag/backpack and hold them out in front of you as you walk through the detectors, you can avoid having security guards take everything out of your backpack for inspection. After we’d learned this, we waltzed through security holding our sunglass cases out in front of us, and the security gal said: “you’re old pros!”
Let me know if I missed anything you’re hoping to have thoughts on!
P.S. Lots of fun warm weather clothes here.
P.P.S. Magpie readers share their top tips for easier travel days and planning great vacations.
P.P.P.S. On the magic and mayhem of traveling with young children. (We are out of the woods here! If you have younger kids, just know it gets easier and easier…!)
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