That trip looks like so much fun! CouponingtoDisney.com reader Kristy shared her wonderful experience during her mother daughter trip recently with all of us.
Earlier this year, I had seen a woman post in the Saving for Disney C2D group on Facebook about taking a mother/daughter trip to Disney and that everyone who has that opportunity should take it! I have 3 daughters (and a baby boy) at home and thought that it sounded like such a wonderful idea, but was trying to figure out how to convince my husband of taking a trip to Disney without the family. Fast forward a few months later….my oldest daughter has been asking a lot of grown up questions lately. My husband and I talked and said it would be great if her and I could just get away for a weekend where we can talk and I can answer all of her questions without her little siblings around and have just a special mother/daughter weekend.
Immediately I thought “DISNEY” but figured he would never go for it since we had just been there in December with the family. I looked at how much it would cost and showed him that I could pay for the entire trip without taking away any money from our monthly budget by using free gift cards, mother’s day and birthday money, and money that we would have used for a small weekend getaway anyway. My daughter turned 9 a few weeks ago so instead of having a party with friends, we took that money and put it towards the trip, also. After seeing that it wouldn’t come out of our monthly budget, he was on board! So in April I made reservations for Animal Kingdom Lodge and bought our plane tickets and we were ready to go!
We arrived in Orlando Friday night and took the Magical Express to Animal Kingdom Lodge. My daughter LOVES animals (she’s wanted to be a veterinarian since she was 3) and I thought this would be a special place for our trip since we’ve never stayed at this resort. The resort is absolutely beautiful and my daughter loved it!! After checking in and sharing a flatbread pizza from The Mara, we went up to our savannah view room to relax. We went out on the balcony and an antelope was sitting right underneath our room.
Saturday morning we had breakfast reservations at Ohana with Mickey, Pluto, Lilo and Stitch. I love how even though my daughter is growing up, she is still so excited to meet the characters and give them a hug! We had a delicious breakfast with a perfect view of Cinderella’s Castle.
After breakfast, we headed back to AKL and hit up the pool. She loved going down the waterslide. I can’t even count how many times she went down that thing! After swimming, we got dressed and had some time relaxing around the resort. We went to some lookout spots and saw giraffes, zebras, warthogs, and many other beautiful animals. We had lots of time to talk about anything and everything!
Later in the afternoon, we started getting ready for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia &; Drizella. We had been there for breakfast on previous trips, but never for dinner, and was not disappointed! We got all dressed up and headed over to the Grand Floridian. Dinner was delicious and my daughter loved the character interactions! She especially enjoyed the stepsisters and their silliness! During dinner, I gave my daughter a Disney Park Pandora bracelet to remember our special trip. After dinner, we went to the gift shop in the Grand Floridian and picked out matching charms for our bracelets.
Sunday was our day at the park and I had made breakfast reservations at Be Our Guest at 8:05 a.m. So we got up early and headed over to the park. We arrived at Magic Kingdom around 7ish and got in line to go in. We were right near the front and the security guards came out to start getting everything set up. The head security guard came over to explain the process to everyone and asked if anyone had a joke. My daughter’s hand shot up right away and she told him a Disney joke that she had learned the day before. After listening to a couple other kids jokes, the security guard turned to my daughter and told her that since she was the birthday princess who told the very first joke of the day, she gets to be
THE very first guest into the park that day. So at 7:45 a.m., my daughter was the first one to walk through the gate and into the empty streets of the Magic Kingdom. It was such a magical way to start the day and something that neither of us will ever forget! We took a few pics along the empty Main Street and headed to BOG for our breakfast. We had a delicious breakfast and then walked around Fantasyland until the park opened. We did several rides and met several characters within the first 2 hours of the park being opened. I was worried about how busy the park would be, but we never had a wait of over 25 minutes the entire day.
Later on in the morning, we were walking over to meet Rapunzel and Tiana when my daughter saw they were starting a little show by The Sword in the Stone. When we had been to Disney last December as a family, we went to this and my daughter was the one who removed the Sword from the Stone. So she ran over to watch and sure enough, she was chosen to go up and try to pull the sword out. Now that she has pulled the sword out 2 times, she is convinced she is the TRUE ruler of Fantasyland!!
We spent all day (from 7:45 a.m. to 10:45 p.m.) at the Magic Kingdom! She tried to make it for the ‘kiss goodnight’ but her tired 9 year old body just couldn’t make it! We had a wonderful dinner at Crystal Palace. She rode every ride she wanted (some rides 3-4 times each) and met every character she wanted that day, including Mickey Mouse singing her Happy Birthday!! Every cast member that walked by wished her a happy birthday and one sweet cast member even came up to her and gave her a huge free lollipop! This day couldn’t have been more perfect for the two of us!
Monday morning we woke up and had breakfast at Boma. I had heard great things about the restaurant and am so glad we went. It was so good! Then we took one last dip in the pool. After we finished up our souvenir shopping in the gift shop and finished packing up our bags, we took one last stroll around the resort. As we were walking around by the pool, there was a group of kids putting together lunch for the giraffes. So my daughter hopped in and helped stuff the feeders. She was so excited to help prepare their lunch! We took one last look at the animals and then hopped on the Magical Express back to the airport.
This weekend was so special and we made memories that will last a lifetime! Some people don’t understand my obsession with Disney and that’s ok, but it is my (and my daughter’s) happy place! If you have a daughter (or a son), I HIGHLY recommend doing a special one-on- one trip! I’m so thankful for this wonderful time I had with my daughter and look forward to passing this tradition on to my other two daughters when they turn 9!
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