I am certifiably insane now. Yep, insane. I spent 8 days of my 11 day vacation at Disney World in Orlando. Yep, 8 days! Oh did I tell you for 5 of them I had a 15 month old by myself.... WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?! I was thinking..... WE HAD THE BEST TIME OF OUR LIVES!
So many people couldn't believe that we would spend so much money on a trip that Bella would not even remember; I maintained that this trip was for me to experience the joy in her face as one day she will hate me and I will need these pictures to remember why humans don't eat their young (I'm referring to teenage years). I got exactly what I needed, and I learned a few things about parenting, relationships, and the joys of childhood along the way.
The biggest thing I noted was the difference between our time as a family (with Cody) and our girl time. When Dad was with us, he wasn't as into just going with the flow. I have to credit him that he did keep us on a straight course and I really enjoyed going to the bathroom by myself. Once he was gone back home, we did GREATLY miss him! The time I received one on one with my daughter was truly a gift though and I thank him very much for allowing us to stay longer with no strong opposition.
My daughter's mind was blown by all of the "magic" that abound us at Disney World, and she has came home talking more and associating more. I can tell a huge difference in her mental capabilities. That in itself was WELL worth the money! So here are my tips..... yep another list. I LOVE LISTS! In order to keep this blog from running into a novel I have limited myself to 10 tips.
1. Remember your children are innocent and you are taking them to a place FULL of magic! I saw countless parents fighting... like literally COUNTLESS. It was sad to observe, but I completely understood the pressure. You are in a race to get into the park, into the rides, into line to eat, into everything! Its one big race unless you take a step back and realize its Disney World its going to be crowded! So take a step back when you get in the parking lot and remember this place will enchant your child; don't take the magic away by fighting. Save the fight for when you get back to the hotel room.
2. Be prepared! Have a game plan together otherwise you will waste a whole day just trying to figure out what you are going to do at select parks. My suggestions for each of the parks are as follows:
MAGIC KINGDOM- This park is HUGE and CROWDED! If you have a little one (anything under teenager) try to go multiple days and break it down into sections. For instance, you don't want to fast pass an item in Tomorrowland and then have to run over to Adventureland...its a lot of walking! If you are there for limited days pick whether or not you want to get the characters autographs or ride majority of the rides. You can do both, but be sure to make one or the other a priority because both will have long lines. There are so many rides for even the wee little ones at Magic Kingdom....TONS! We spent a total of 4 days at Magic Kingdom. The characters we saw at Magic Kingdom were: Marie (Aristocats), Daisy Duck, Donald Duck, Minnie (again), Pluto (again), Rapunzel, Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, Tinkerbell, Rosettta, Ariel, Tiana, Jessie, Merida, Mary Poppins, and Fairy Godmother.
EPCOT- This park is great for seeing characters without the long lines unless you are going to see Elsa and Anna. Elsa and Anna are over in Norway and have a 3 hour wait at 9am. Its RIDICULOUS, and I believe Disney is in the works of fixing it, but for us 3 hours was not worth it. We saw Mulan, Belle, Jasmine and Alladin, Duffy the Bear, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Foulfellow, and Chip and Dale. There are still a lot of rides for little ones at Epcot, but not as many as Magic Kingdom. We went to Epcot for a total of 2 days.
ANIMAL KINGDOM- This park is great to observe the animals! There aren't very many rides to ride there for little ones, but we did get to see Pocahontas, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Rafiki (which my husband had to recreate the main scene from Lion King with-see picture below). We were only there for maybe 4 hours and watched a lot of the shows. We spent 1 day at Animal Kingdom.
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS- (Formerly MGM) We only went to this one to get a signature from Sophia the First. We went to one Disney Junior show and went on the buzz lightyear ride, but that was basically all there was to do other than see characters. We saw Sophia the First, Woody, and Buzz. We were there a few hours and then left.
Out of all the parks Magic Kingdom is the most crowded followed by Hollywood Studios, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot.
3. Split up. If you have multiple adults and multiple children, split up. I couldn't imagine having a toddler and a 3 year old or older. I think at that point, Cody and I would have had to split up. This would allow for both children to get the maximum experience and some one on one time each. We saw several parents doing that and the children looked so happy!
4. Get a Character Book. We did not have a character book at first and found that Bella LOVED the characters and went and bought one. We now have every signature but Mike and Sulley and Gaston. I was able to leave a page opening and between my camera and the Disney photo pass, I have some AWESOME pictures to put with each signature. Definitely a shining moment. You wouldn't think a 15 month old would be into the characters, but she loved it! She stood amazed until her turn and then by the end of the trip went up to the character hugged them, turned around and reached for her book from me, got their signature (while patiently waiting) and then posed for a picture. It was actually kinda sad how well trained she was. At most of the characters, Disney will have a photographer that will take your pictures and scan onto a photo pass. See below for more details.
5. Stroller. Bring your own stroller. The strollers you can rent are not suited for small children like below 18 months, and get crazy hot!! You will have to park your stroller to get on most of the rides; just be sure to get your belongings and any food items out and then don't worry of all the times we parked our stroller nothing happened. That doesn't go to say I would feel comfortable leaving my purse.
6. Food. You can bring in all kinds of food! If you can fit it in your backpack and don't mind carrying it along you can save a lot of money. We would often eat in line so I brought chips, a banana, puffs, 2-3 bottles of water because its HOT, and some fruit like grapes and strawberries. We snacked so much that most of the time we would not be hungry for lunch. We would eat a nice breakfast and a nice dinner. Who wants to waste their time in line getting food when you can be riding the Peter Pan ride!
7. Get in Early. The best time to go was early! If the park opened at 8 am we were all over it. We got the majority of everything we wanted to do at Magic Kingdom done on the two days that it was open at 8am. We just walked onto most of the rides, but by 10-10:30 it was crazy packed!
8. Fast Pass. As soon as you get there, get in line for fast passes. Each ticket gets 3 fast passes. If your whole family wants to go on the same ride you will have to use 1 of each of the tickets fas passes, but say your 1 year old wouldn't be able to handle Splash Mountain, but would love Peter Pan...use your husband and his fast pass to Splash Mountain with your older child and their fast pass and then use your fast pass to take the one year old (whom doesn't have to have a ticket) to Peter Pan. Each ride use to have fast passes, but that is now gone. You have Fast Pass Kiosks around the park where you get your fast passes put on your ticket.
9. Don't limit your child. I never once limited Bella to the rides she would like or the character experiences. I let her figure out if she liked things on her own. She did very well with every ride.. she actually LOVED them. I initially thought that Pirates of the Caribbean may be too much for her... nope LOVED it. She in fact laughed and cackled the whole time while she pointed. I can say there was not a single ride she didn't love; however, I do question my sense when we went on the Astro Orbiter at Epcot.. it scared me to death!
10. Soak in every moment. Our children will not be little long, and I found that this was the best trip I have ever had to Disney because of the way my daughter reacted. I will never forget her giggles and amazement when we would go on rides or see characters that she watches on TV. I have never felt such a sweet feeling as I did when I would see her brain wheels spinning with delight. I often felt like I had never experienced life until that moment.
We also went to Sea World and the beach which was AWESOME!!! They have a dog show my grandfather has talked about for ages and we finally experienced it with him! Bella laughed the whole time and pointed! We stayed with my grandparents in their condo and also got to experience the beauty of spending time with them. All in all we had the most delightful vacation! I did have to work a lot when Bella went to bed and found myself pulling things together for the office on my "Log Me In" app at the base of Cinderella's castle, but it was WORTH IT!
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