Disney Details

I always love to read posts where bloggers tell what worked for them and what didn't with travels, baby gear, etc.  I also love a good Disney post.  So, I wanted to record {for my memory} and share some of our Disney details.  Of course, not all of these things will interest you or work for your family, but this is what worked for our family for the stage we're in now.

Travel Agent:  We used a travel agent through Small World Vacations.  I picked this agency after looking online because they are authorized Disney vacation planners.  I filled out the information online, then a travel agent near Virginia {she was in North Carolina} contacted me to plan our trip.  She booked our hotel, reserved our tickets and dining plan, and made our dining reservations.  I mainly needed her for the dining reservations but was thrilled when she found us a better deal for our resort.  We had initially planned to stay at the Art of Animation resort, but she contacted me in the fall with promotions, and we were able to stay at the Port Orleans Riverside resort for literally only $10 more.

Resort:  As mentioned before, we stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside resort.  We were very pleased with it, although we were not going to Disney for the resort experience and did not spend much awake time in the room.  We were most excited to be a little closer to the parks and to have queen-size beds.  The resort was very large.  We were luckily close to the parking lot {for getting our bags in} but were about a 5 minute walk to the main areas including dining.  That didn't bother us since we did our eating in the room or in the park.  It seemed like we shared buses with Port Orleans French Quarter to Hollywood Studios and Epcot but had our own for Magic Kingdom.  We never had a bus arrive at the hotel full, but we did have to wait at Magic Kingdom one night when we could not get onto a bus.  We were 5-10 minutes from the parks we went to, and additional bus stops at our resort added a little time.

Dining:  We were on the Disney dining plan and were allotted one table-service meal, one quick-service meal, and one snack per person per night of our stay.  Since we stayed 4 nights and did 3 days in the park, that gave us a good amount of meals.  I'll be honest when I say I have no idea if it saved us money or cost us.  I do know our table-service meals were costly.  It was just really convenient to have it take care of already.  Sam was not on a meal plan because he was free in the park.  He ate for free at the table-service restaurants, and we bought him meals when we had quick-service lunch or dinner.  That was all we had to pay for, other than gratuity at two of our table-service meals.  We only ate snacks in the morning usually, and I packed those, so we had lots of snack credits left on our last day.  We had several snacks that night, and I used our last 2 in the sweet shop.  Ned and I didn't take drinks in the park, so we used snack credits when we wanted a drink in the morning.  I doubt that's the best use of them but it worked for us.  Breakfast in the room with groceries I brought from home saved us money and time.  We filled the kids' water bottles in the room in the morning, then they were given water bottles with quick-service meals so we could fill them again.  Ned, Avery, and I received the refillable mugs with the dining plan, but because of the distance to the food court, we only used them the first night and last morning.

Memory Maker/Photo Pass: I purchased Memory Maker in advance to save $50 and to be able to add it to our bands before we got to the park.  It is expensive, but we ended up with about 80 pictures, and by purchasing Memory Maker, I was able to download all of those pictures instead of printing in the park for a hefty cost or buying a package later.  Ned and I were both pleased that we did this and I would do it again, because we have pictures with all 4 of us.  With that said, nothing is perfect.  We only rode one ride that took pictures, the picture was bad, and even though the man sad it was added to our account, it was not.  For the character meals we did {Cinderella's Royal Table, Akershus, and Chef Mickey's} the photographer was only at the entrance.  Our princess meals included the printed picture, but with Memory Maker it was also added to our account to download.  The printed picture was not included at Chef Mickey's and was just with the statue, but it too was added to our bands.  I had hoped photographers would be walking around during the meal.  Also, the focus is not great in some of the pictures, but most people probably wouldn't notice that.  We stopped for pictures as often as we could and I'm thrilled with the ones we got.  I also carried my big camera around and either kept it on my shoulder or in the backpack that Ned carried.

Magic Bands/FastPass+:  We loved the Magic Bands and had no issues with them.  We also LOVED FastPass+.  I had them reserved before we left but could always use the app to change them around.  Because of FastPass+, we literally had no wait for rides.  Ride times were always low in the morning, and I did let one FastPass go to waste when we didn't need it.  I should have switched it for something later, and I did that for things our last day.

Stroller:  We rented a double stroller from Magic Strollers.  It was identical to ours, we just didn't want to use up car space.  Our agent would have booked that for me too, but I had a coupon from the Disney planning book I bought.

Avery:  Avery was at the perfect age for Disney.  Everything was wonderful, from the characters to the rides to the buses.  Even the toilets had perfect timing with their flushes, she said!  She rode in the stroller while we walked to move faster and to keep up with her, and she did great standing in line.  She handled dark rides fine, which surprised me.  I had done some planning and knew what rides/shows we would like to do, but we followed her lead a lot, along with our FastPass schedule.  We were not far from our normal sleeping schedules, but she hung in fine.  She even rested 2 days in the room.  She did want lots of the awesome Disney souvenirs, but she didn't ask much.  Each child ended up with ears, an autograph book, and two toys.  I just really think 4.5ish is the perfect age to go.  And as I said on Facebook, we don't know if she or Sam will remember the trip, but we were more worried with living right then and making memories in the present.  We have lots of pictures, and we'll be back!  I can't imagine waiting until I think she'll remember it the rest of her life.

Sam:  Sam did phenomenal at Disney and exceeded all expectations.  Not going to lie....I was nervous.  He slept all night and napped each day in the room, which was my biggest fear.  He held it together in restaurants.  He only complained in the stroller at bus stops.  He never fussed while we held him in line for something.  Our lines were usually short or non-existent, but we had two 30 minute waits for characters.  Our issues with doing Disney with a 22-month-old were diaper changes {and they weren't real issues}, taking the time to buckle/unbuckle with the stroller, and having to stop for naps.  Not stopping for me wasn't an option, and we knew this going in.  I think we all enjoyed the break.  We also passed on nighttime parades, fireworks, etc to ensure he was rested.  I hadn't planned on it, but I knew our days depended on his rest.  You can do a lot at Disney without veering too far from a schedule.  You just have to know you won't do it all.  He had only a handful of "moments:" once on our first night when he was tired and hungry, and once on the bus heading back for nap.  But, his little face as he quietly took in the rides was priceless.  As was his joy at Chef Mickey's.  He enjoyed himself so much, and we wouldn't have done it without him.  So, while this age would not be one I would choose to take to Disney without an older sibling {solely based on how much easier it is when they're older}, it's still wonderful.  There were couples walking with just a baby, just a toddler, etc.  It is the best place ever, and if you want to take your child, do it.

Whew!  That was a lot of words!  I'm no Disney expert, and these aren't even tips.  I bought one book, pinned some blog posts, and then lived it with my family.  The main thing I planned and read up on was where to eat.  There are not enough wonderful words to describe how this trip was for our family.  I'm still in sad it's over, still checking the app and looking at wait times, and already planning our next trip.  Ned and I may not take an adult trip for a long, long time, but it's our plan to be a Disney family as often as we can.