You will never forget your first trip to Disney World. The only trip that can eclipse that, is your first trip to Disney World with your children. I have always loved the wonder and magic of everything Disney, and I have waited three very very very looooooooong years (the age I knew Dannica would get the most out of the park) before vacationing there. And it was worth the wait…It. Was. Perfect.
BEFORE YOU GO
There are a few things that I knew we had to do right away. I call it the Big Three: Cinderella Royal Table (CRT), Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique (BBB) and the Perfectly Princess Tea Party (PPP). For descriptions of the activities, you can go visit the official Disney website for additional information. I have also posted videos of all three on my IG page under my highlights and you can check them out here. They are the three activities/experiences that consistently get booked out as soon as reservations open. Some people even book these three experiences even before they book their hotels and flights (yes, it is that competitive to secure). Disney allows you to make advance reservations up to 180 days in advance (IF you are staying at a Disney owned and operated resort, then you can reserve 180 days in advance of the day of arrival AND make up to 10 days of advance dining reservations that same day you call–which means you can conceivably book up to 189 days in advance for CRT & PPP). For BBB, you have to call right at 180 days in advance (they do not accept online reservations). I called right when they opened the reservations and they had one time slot at the Downtown Springs location available (there are two BBB locations, and the one inside Cinderella Castle gets booked more quickly).
Cinderella Royal Table
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique–final transformation with a bit of photo pass magic
Another reservation that is hard to obtain is the early dining reservation because you can enter the park even before it is open to the public (usually at 9AM). There are three options that offer breakfast during these times (as early as 7:55AM!!): CRT, Crystal Palace on Main St. and Be Our Guest at the Beast’s castle. The benefit is that you get to enjoy the park when it is minimally crowded (at times it feels empty)!!! I made an 8AM breakfast reservation at Be Our Guest and I have videos of Dannica running around in front of Cinderella’s castle all by herself. By the time we finished our breakfast and walked out, the Seven Dwarves mine train had a 5 min wait, and all other rides had zero standby wait time. If you have children and wake up at the crack of dawn anyways, this is a great option to start your day! Videos also available under highlights on my IG profile here.
In addition to the big three, I highly recommend making all your dining reservations and Fast Pass selections as soon as possible. Simply download the Disney App onto your phone for fast and easy reservations.
Another purchase that I loved was the Disney Photo Pass. My husband and I are always busy taking photos of the children, that we only have a handful of family photos. It was nice to walk around the park and know that we can snag a family photo at all the iconic spots around the park. In addition, when you go up for your photo, be sure to ask for *EXTRA MAGIC* for your photos. then they’ll add little surprises to your photos that you can view at the end of the day when the upload their photos. And all the flash photos that Disney captures on the bigger rides (like Splash Mountain, Seven Dwarves, Frozen) will automatically be uploaded onto your photo pass as well!
Photopass allows you to take unlimited amount of photos that you can download unlimited number of times! Photographers/automated cameras are stationed throughout the park.
One last thing to look into before you leave for your trip is to see if there are any special events going on. Disney is always hosting fun and seasonal parties at their parks and sometimes they require separate tickets. We bought tickets to Mickey’s not-so-scary Halloween Party and absolutely loved it. You can enter the park as early as 4:30 with the special ticket and stay until midnight. The lines were minimal at all the rides (5-30 minute wait times–there are no fast passes available for this special event). Dannica loved the trick or treat stations (obscene amount of treats given out–they literally grab two handfuls and shove them into your basket), and all the famous Disney villains come out for the night! To cap the night off is the Boo To You Parade (which Dannica also LOOOOOOVED), and fireworks! The other special event taking place during our stay was the Food & Wine Festival at Epcot. We definitely ate the best this day–hopping from country to country and sampling all the different kinds of foods.
Boo To You Parade at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party
LOGISTICS
When packing for your trip, keep in mind that AMAZON PRIME and INSTACART now both deliver to Walt Disney World resorts. So you can ship diapers, wipes, water, snacks, etc all in advance to your hotel room, and they will be there waiting for you (or you can even request them to bring them to your hotel room once you check in).
Download the Lyft app, because you can then access the *Minnie Vans*–these are special vehicles that are red with white polka dots driven by Disney cast members. They’re a nice alternative to the Disney busses if you’re in a rush to get from one park to another that is not that convenient to get to.
If you have young children, you can either rent strollers in advance from a third party vendor (they will also drop and pick it up from your hotel) or rent one inside the park. We decided to bring our own umbrella stroller for Dannica (we always ergo DJ), and then rent a single stroller for DJ once inside the park (too hot and humid to wear him all day). I decided against bringing our double stroller because it is too cumbersome to quickly collapse when boarding the boat and unwieldy inside the park. We also wanted the option to separate (in case DJ needed a diaper change, or go back to the hotel room and nap, then one parent is stuck with a double stroller). It just gave us the most flexibility this way. One thing I was concerned with was losing our umbrella strollers (they all look alike, the cast members move strollers around constantly, and they’re $$)!! So I printed out a paper that said CHUNG FAMILY with a photo, laminated it, and then zip tied it to my umbrella stroller (just make sure you put it in a place so that the stroller can still collapse). Other moms tied balloons or ribbons onto their strollers for easy spotting.
We decided to stay at the Grand Floridian mostly for ease and convenience–we knew that we would spend a majority of our time over at Magic Kingdom, and they have a monorail and boat that goes back and forth from 7AM to 1AM every single day. It is also where the Perfectly Princess Tea Party is held. Staying at a Disney Resort also offers other benefits–the Magical Express Bus that transports you from and to the airport, they also pick up your checked luggage and deliver them straight to your hotel room (meaning you can skip baggage claim and lugging around heavy suitcases and go straight to your hotel room/park to start your day), and so many more (like the ones mentioned above with Amazon Prime delivery and early dining reservations).
WHILE YOU’RE THERE
While you will do a bulk of your planning and research before you even set foot at Disney, there are things you can do once you are there to make things easier. Everything from here on out is in no particular order of importance.
This is the first time I have heard of Rider Switch–and it is amazing. It is Disney’s system that allows people with small children to take turns riding the bigger rides with height restrictions while the other person wait with the child. You can read all about it here in detail.
Disney has a baby station in every single park. Know where they are/ memorize where they are on the map. They have EVERYTHING a mom may need–from formula, to baby food, to diapers. They have a mini kitchen with microwaves, outlets for breast pumps, private nursing rooms… you name it– they have it.
If you weren’t able to make advance dining reservations (see above), Disney parks have plenty of fast food counters and quick service restaurants. The trick is to ORDER THE FOOD AHEAD OF TIME on the Disney app. Then you can line up separately and just pick up the food and GO!
Photo spots are located all throughout the park. We only went to Epcot and Magic Kingdom so I can’t speak for the other parks, but the photographers were pretty well staffed throughout MK & Epcot. We loved taking advantage of Disney’s photographers because it was the only way to get family photos. I also love taking photos in locations that are not so obvious. The benefit is that there will be far less people crowding in on your photos. For Cinderella’s castle, I prefer the side view of the castle on one of the many bridges that connect the main plaza to Fantasyland/Tomorrowland/Frontierland. Then you are far away enough to get the entire castle in the background with minimal crowd. There are some amazing websites you can read to find all the secret photo spots (you can click here for an article I liked).
On the bridge from Frontierland!
You will also find that it rains a LOT. During our five days at Disney World, it rained all five days, multiple times a day. I packed a box of ponchos and brought two out each day as well as my stroller cover. Another helpful hint is that when you park your stroller to go inside, ALWAYS lower the cover. Stroller parking is usually in an open/exposed area. So you may find that when you walk out from a restaurant or a ride, your stroller is sopping wet because there was yet another downpour. If it isn’t the rain, the sun will also beat down on the seat making it unbearably hot. The bright side to all these frequent downpours is that you will have the perfect lighting for photos right after the rain–that cool but bright daytime light with no harsh shadows!
Off and on downpours–but great lighting for photos 🙂 Bright side to everything!!
While it is easy to mindlessly spend money during your stay (the magic bands make it feel like you’re not spending real money– *yikes*), the two purchases that I found most rewarding were not that expensive! The first was an autograph book for Dannica to bring to all her experiences and character meetings (they sell them EVERYWHERE in all shapes, sizes and colors). It really made it fun for her to collect signatures and also a great souvenir to bring back home. The other purchase I loved were our personalized/embroidered mouse ears–so iconic and simple, and perfect to bring back home because they collapse and are paper light. They sell those at Le Chapeau–located on the right hand side as soon as you enter Magic Kingdom.
We got one for each of our family members <3
All time favorite Disney inspired OOTD
MISC
For more helpful hints and tips, you can visit http://www.mkmamas.com (Magic Kingdom Mamas).
ALL the tips, tricks, advice, must-dos and must-sees were generously shared by amazing fellow moms that I have been fortunate enough to meet on Instagram and Facebook (Wunderkin has a really fun facebook page with a group of moms who really KNOW Disney :). So I want to dedicate this post and give a shout out to all of you!! THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!
And last but not least–because it is the most IMPORTANT of all–just have fun!! No matter what, your kids will LOVE it. No matter what, YOU will love it. And no matter what, at the end of the day, all that matters is that you were all together.
.
