Here are some of the ups and downs from our first family vacation to Walt Disney World. We have many WONDERFUL memories and even converted my husband to a Disney World lover, but we had somethings that I will know not to do next time we go.
1- Not Staying on WDW property our whole trip
We stayed at the All Stars Movie Resort the 1st night in Florida, after that we stayed with friends in a condo off site. We couldn’t pass up the deal of staying off site with our friends, though I felt the condo didn’t have nearly the amount of fun stuff like the kids had to do the 1st night at All Star Movie Resort. We also felt between paying for parking and the whole parking lot experience, it was a BIG pain in the behind for us to be offsite. We felt we missed out by staying off site for most of our trip.
2- Not Getting the Memory Maker
I am still kicking myself for not getting it. I didn’t think it was worth the cost but when I saw the pictures when we got home I LOVED them. I thought about ordering when we got home but somehow I forgot and now I don’t have those pictures. Next trip I will be purchasing it for sure!!
3-Booking a Late lunch at Akershus Royal Hall
The only time I was able to get our group in was a later lunch.. This was a mistake since my 2 year old was miserable waiting for lunch. Even though I had snacks, it wasn’t enough for her. I felt she wasn’t fully into the princesses since she was hungry. I will make sure next time think about people’s hunger needs when I book the meal times.
4-Paying for the Park Hopper
This was a mistake for us because we didn’t utilize it during our trip. I should have thought about having a 2 year old and how she wouldn’t make it park hopping. In the end, we wasted money on that option. I can’t say I won’t get it for our next trip since my daughter will be older, but I will definitely put more thought into it before I purchase it.
5-Bring more snacks
I kept planning/saying I wanted to pack a lot of snacks for the parks. I did pack snacks each day for the park, but I was thinking of the kids. I didn’t pack snacks for the adults which was a mistake cause us adults get hungry too!
6-Not Planning Meal times
If you noticed, a lot of my mistakes are food related. Well for some reason I forgot in my planning about food ha ha. I felt I was organized when it came to planning rides, shows and parades out. I didn’t factor meals in (unless we had reservations) which would lead us to waiting until everyone was hungry to get something to eat. This was a bad idea because we had HANGRY adults and kids who just wanted something to eat.
7-Trying to leave the Magic Kingdom during firework show
At the time we went my daughter was afraid of fireworks, so we knew we wouldn’t stay for them. I wanted to leave before they started… well that didn’t happen. Trying to rush out of the park with a screaming 2 year old and areas closed off was not one of my favorite memories.
8-Not realizing it can get chilly in the winter
We are from Michigan so we were excited for WARM weather. I packed mostly ALL summer type clothes, but the downfall to that was the first couple days we were in Florida the weather was chilly. Next time I will pack a couple cute Disney outfits for cooler weather too.
Like I said we made many wonderful memories during this trip so here are some of my positive things I am HAPPY we did.
1-Using Fast Pass
Fast passes were a great thing!! I am so happy we used them during our trip. We also had my 2 year old who couldn’t go on rides that my 9 year old would go on, so we were able to utilize the rider swap fastpasses too. That was a GREAT thing for parents who have to stay with a younger kid. I got to experience all the rides with my son too.
2-Rented a Stroller from outside company
We rented a stroller from an outside company that delivered the stroller to our hotel. This was a GREAT choice!! The stroller was nice and clean. It was nice to have a stroller, even if we weren’t at a park. I would highly recommend doing this for anyone looking to rent a stroller while at WDW!!
3-Took time to relax
We made sure to take time to relax. If we did a full day at a park we would have a later start the next day or earlier end to the day. I think this was huge to make sure the kids didn’t get over exhausted and cranky. Sometimes just relaxing at the pool is just as much fun.
4-Souvenirs from Walmart
I had heard that the Walmart nearby had great souvenirs. I am glad we stopped there for souvenirs, they were a lot cheaper than buying them at the park. We did buy some goodies at the parks, but we had family members/friends at home we wanted to pick up something for and Walmart was the perfect place for that! We will be hitting up that Walmart again when we go back on our next trip!
(Thanks Nicole)