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| Meeting the Mouse himself for the first time! |
Seeing Disney World through Noah's eyes for the first time was nothing short of absolutely magical! My then 16 month old couldn't get enough of the place! As soon as we would wake up in the morning....at 6am....he was already crying and whining to get out the door and go to the parks! I was not prepared for that but I wouldn't trade it for anything else! My son absolutely loved Disney World from the minute we got there and I am so thankful I planned our trip out to the teensy tiniest of details, found soooo many tips and tricks to help me, and was able to make the trip easy peasy!
Sharing my plan with other mothers and families is something I am so excited about doing because of all the research I put into it and now being back from the trip, I know what works and didn't work for us and what I plan on doing next time. So.... here we go!
The very first part of planning of course is to find the best times of year to go. Having gone most times of the year, I cannot stress enough the absolutely perfect crowd levels and weather we experienced while being there the last week of January. The weather during the day was sunny and gorgeous, the temperatures were in the low 70's all week and at night it cooled off enough for us to put a jacket on. Absolutely perfect! The crowd levels were super low. We never waited in a single line because we were able to get fast passes to everything each time we finished a ride, but had we chosen to wait in line the stand by lines were never any longer than 20 minutes! If late January to mid February isn't an option the next best time of the year to go would be September. The weather is still pretty hot but the crowds are very low as most kids are back in school around this time.
Next once you've chosen the time of year you would like to go there is deciding whether or not to stay on Walt Disney World Property or off and which resort you'd like to stay at. For parents of toddlers I suggest staying on property. There's many perks to staying on property but the great ones for parents of toddlers include, busses to and from your resort, the parks, and all disney dining, the disney dining plan and I also suggest planning downtime in the middle of the day to head back to the resort for a nap for the toddler and to get out of the parks around the hottest and most crowded time of the day. Being so close to the park and just a short bus ride away from your resort room makes nap time easily accessible. We would have gone crazy without that down time. Disney is tiring on everyone! So assuming you've decided to stay on property...which resort would be best for your family? There are many resort options. Disney groups there resorts in three categories...values, moderate, and deluxe. I dream of the day we can spend a week in one of the deluxe resorts but being that we are a young family of college students, that won't be for some time! So we choose to go with the moderate resorts. The value resorts are absolutely fine and are a great way to save money, however since we were planning on spending an average amount of time in the room we went with one with a little more space and comfort. There are 4 moderate resorts, we stayed at Coronado Springs during our most recent stay. It is a latin themed resort that has the most beautiful layout, the bus stops to reach the parks were all within a 2-3 minute walk and the quick service meals we had there were absolutely great! Coronado Springs is considered a convention resort so it does have a little more of an adult feel to it but it was unbelievably quiet and that was a major plus! The other three are also great options for families with toddlers, it's really just a preference.
Third! How many days to spend at Disney World??? If you want my truthful answer at least 10 because seriously it's impossible to get enough! But that's not in everyone budget or vacation time frame. So a more reasonable amount of days is closer to 6 with a 5 night stay. There are 4 Disney Parks in Orlando, you could certainly take more than one day at each but one day at each is definitely a good amount of time to explore each park. It's also usually a good idea to have an arrival day and a departure day, where no time at the parks is spent, but a day to relax from the drive or flight and explore your resort and a day to pack back up and not leave in a hurry....I do however usually spend my last day at Magic Kingdom anyways because I just can't resist it and we want one last view of that gorgeous castle! I also feel like at the end of the four days the adults will feel exhausted, I can only imagine how tiring this trip is on a toddler. We came back and Noah slept for atleast 2 days straight!
Next in the planning process is the Disney Dining Plan option. To be completely truthful I haven't done a lot of research on the amount of money the plan saves you or not but we did it for the convenience. I was able to pay for all our food ahead of time and all I had to worry about paying for while at Disney World was the tip. We went with the standard dining plan which comes with 1 quick service credit, 1 table service credit, and 1 snack per day. Your meals include a non alcoholic drink, an entree, and a desert. You can use these credits at most of the dining places throughout Disney World and they work for anything on the menu. Children under three do not require the plan because they eat for free off your plate and at all buffets...major plus! The dining plan is great when you have toddlers because it allows for lots of character dining. Some toddlers would be scared straight if Mickey Mouse came up behind them... in that case character dining is definitely not for them however for the ones who can't get enough of the characters, character dining is a great way to save you some time in the parks. The characters come around to your table while you eat and each spend a little bit of time with you! This was one of Noah's favorite parts! He just could not get enough of the characters! This also means you don't have to spend time in the parks in the long lines waiting to greet the characters.
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| Ohana Breakfast w/ Lilo & Stich ..............to be continued......... |
