We’ve recently returned from our second family trip to Walt Disney World, Orlando – I still can’t believe that I was lucky enough to visit even once, so to be back in the magic for a second time was absolutely wonderful.
I know that a family trip to Walt Disney World can be an incredibly daunting, expensive and exhausting thing to plan, so I wanted to share our experiences honestly – the highs and lows, what we loved and what we wouldn’t do again, and – importantly – what it actually cost! Because people just love to talk about their incredible Disney World holidays but nobody ever seems to talk about the price, do they?!
When I was trying to plan our first family trip to Walt Disney World, I found myself getting really overwhelmed with trying to find the best deals and being completely unsure of what the average prices are like – so I want to be open about the cost in the hopes that it will help others know what to expect and what sort of reductions you can find if you know when and where to look (I’ll be covering this more in my Planning A Trip To Walt Disney World post!).
So without further ado, here is the low down on our 2024 visit.
When We Visited:
Although we did enjoy our first visit to Disney World in 2022, there were certain elements of it that were not really ideal – the main one being the weather! We knew that September was hurricane season in Orlando and we were willing to take the risk as we really wanted to visit during the Halloween festivities, but I just don’t think anything could have prepared us for how extreme the weather actually was!
2 of my children are neurodivergent, and struggle with sensory overwhelm – they found the daily hours-long rain storms and thunder/lightning too much, and none of them could handle the extreme heat and humidity at all! They were miserable and grumpy most of the time, and we spent more time hiding out in dry and air conditioned spots trying to keep cool than anything else.
So with this experience under our belts, we knew that the time of year you visit really can make or break a trip. After months of research, we decided to try January. This is usually Orlando’s driest month of the year with just 2 days of rainfall on average – it is also much cooler than September.
In the weeks leading up to our trip, I started to worry that we’d made a mistake by choosing January – that it would be TOO cold, that we wouldn’t be able to enjoy the pools etc.
But honestly? It was PERFECT for our family.
Don’t get me wrong – there WERE some times when it was pretty chilly and we needed to wear spirit jerseys or light jackets and long pants (mostly in the evenings and early mornings), but the majority of the time it was sunny and warm without being too hot.
Best of all, it only rained 3 times during our 24 night trip – one heavy storm that lasted a few hours, and 2 very light and brief afternoon showers! A world of difference from the hours of daily rain and thunderstorms we had in September!
Not being completely overwhelmed by the heat meant that walking around the parks was a much more comfortable and pleasant experience, and we were still able to enjoy pool and water park visits….but best of all, the cooler weather also seemed to mean that there were more characters walking around at random to meet and greet guests in the parks which was a lovely added bonus!
We were also pleasantly surprised to discover that the crowds were generally quite low – even during MLK weekend which we had been warned to avoid!
We have all agreed that any future visits will 100% be in January again!
The Flight:
I had really hoped to fly with Virgin Atlantic again as we had such a good experience with them last time, but I was determined not to pay more than £400 return per person for flights and despite waiting until the Black Friday sales – Virgins prices were just nowhere near that.
However, I did find Aer Lingus flights down to £350 each return just before the Black Friday sales – it was nerve wracking waiting until November to purchase flights for January but it worked out in our favour in the end! Phew!
We flew from Manchester Airport this time after finding Heathrow very overwhelming last time, and it was honestly great. A much quieter and easier to navigate airport, and definitely one we would use again.
To my surprise and delight, another unexpected perk of travelling in early January was that our flights were absolutely dead! There were only 66 passengers on the plane out, and 70 on the way home – this meant we could have a row to ourselves and spread out, which was lovely! It also meant that the air stewardesses spoiled the kids with lots of extra drinks and snacks as there were only 3 other children on the flight which was also lovely!
Aer Lingus were very much a no-frills airline – soft drinks are complementary but alcohol is not, but we are not really drinkers so we were fine with this – especially considering the bargain we’d got!
The plane wasn’t as comfortable as Virgin but it was fine, and the staff were very attentive and friendly. We were given a meal shortly after take off, a snack around an hour before landing and some pretzels and ice cream during the flight. One thing I would note is that if your children are quite fussy eaters, it is worth bringing some food on the flight for them – 2 of mine wouldn’t touch any of the plane food so I was glad I’d brought sandwhiches & crisps!
Our flights departed on time and arrived ahead of schedule, and were very pleasant…I would 100% travel with Aer Lingus again if the price was lower than Virgin.
Where We Stayed:
We are all agreed that staying on site at Disney is the only option we’re happy with as Jon doesn’t want to drive in Orlando (and I can’t drive at all!) and staying on site means that we have all of the plentiful Disney transport at our disposal.
We usually go with whatever is the cheapest Disney hotel option which should have been Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort – we stayed here on our last visit and would have happily stayed there again but unfortunately the main pool was closed for refurbishment on our dates and my kids LOVE a pool – so we went for the next hotel up in price which was Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside.
There was so much to love about this resort. Although it was similar in size to Caribbean Beach it felt much bigger to us – perhaps because our room was a lot further away from the main lobby this time so we saw more of the grounds of this resort. However although it was a large resort, it didn’t feel too big – the lobby was a very pleasant and scenic 10 minute stroll from our room and that daily walk around the beautiful lake was a highlight of every morning.
The hotel is New Orleans themed and the food served here also has a southern twist. The lobby itself housed a table service restaurant – Boatwrights Dining Hall – which we did not use, and a quick service restaurant – Riverside Mill – which we used most days. We really enjoyed the atmosphere here, the food was always pretty good (especially the jambalaya!) and the staff were wonderful – we enjoyed several “Pixie dust” gifts of free pizza and cakes during our stay!
There is also a bar which has entertainment on some evenings from Yeehaw Bob – a very funny and multi-talented pianist, as well as a shop and a small arcade which the kids loved.
The main pool is a very good size with a water slide and a hot tub, and playground just behind it. There are also several smaller pools closer to the rooms too. There are daily activities held at the main pool, including trivia quizzes and pool games which were good fun and craft activities are also offered for an additional charge. There is also campfire marshmallow toasting every evening, which was great fun as well as a poolside bar which serves beers, cocktails and light snacks such as Mickey Pretzels.
Port Orleans Riverside also has some activities on offer that you don’t find in many other Disney hotels – including a fishing hole where you can enjoy catchpole fishing for $15 per half hour for a family, and horse & carriage rides around the resort for $60 for up to 5 people. We did both and thoroughly enjoyed each of these experiences – it was lovely to be able to do some nice chilled activities in amongst all of the Disney mayhem!
Another perk of Port Orleans that we loved was the friendship boats, which run every 15 minutes from outside the lobby. They take you to either Disney Springs or Port Orleans French Quarter, and they are such a lovely relaxing way to get around! You are also able to use the pool at the sister hotel Port Orleans French Quarter which my kids really enjoyed doing and the friendship boats make this very easy to do.
As for our room – we stayed in a 5th Sleeper bedroom, which had two king sized beds and a pull down bed. It was very much the same as our bedroom at Caribbean Beach – perfectly comfortable with plenty of storage space.
All in all, we loved our stay at Port Orleans Riverside and I would be more than happy to stay here again.
But did it top Caribbean Beach? I’m not sure. I think Caribbean Beach may slightly have the edge for me just because I preferred the main pool and the theming, but both were wonderful!
Visiting The Parks
Of course the main event on a trip to Disney World is visiting the theme parks! We used the Disney buses to get to and from the parks every day, and never waited for more than 10 minutes for a bus. The buses are also scooter accessible.
I will cover the theme parks in more detail in future posts, but for now I’ll just talk a little about what each park is about and what our highlights were for each.
Magic Kingdom: This is the most recognisable of all the parks, with its focal point being the iconic Cinderella Castle.
Magic Kingdom is split into five areas – Main Street USA which is a nod to old school Americana, Tomorrowland which is a futuristic zone, Adventureland which features classic rides such as Jungle Cruise and Pirates Of The Caribbean, Frontierland which is a western themed area, and Fantasyland which is the fairytale themed area.
We absolutely love visiting Magic Kingdom – the parades and nightly firework show are spectacular, and walking along Main Street USA toward the castle just feels like stepping in to another world. Our favourite rides here on this trip were Seven Dwarves Mine Train, Peter Pans Flight, People Mover and Pirates Of The Caribbean and my eldest son loved the new rollercoaster Tron.
EPCOT: This is Disney’s future themed park, with a big focus on education but in the most fun ways imaginable! The main focal point of the park is Spaceship Earth – the giant golf ball you’ve likely seen on photos! EPCOT is also famous for World Showcase – a series of pavillions themed around different countries of the world, each featuring eateries, shops and even some shows with staff from the country itself. One of the most beloved EPCOT activities is to eat or drink “around the world” – meaning to sample items from each of the countries.
EPCOT is probably my personal favourite of all of the parks, and its even fireworks show on World Showcase Lagoon is not to be missed.
Our favourite rides here on this trip were Test Track, Soarin’ and Frozen Ever After. We also love that you can meet so many characters here without much of a queue.
Hollywood Studios: This park is mostly themed – no surprise! – after Hollywood in its hey day, and is home to the best evening firework show in all of Disney (In my opinion!) – Fantasmic!
There is also an area dedicated to Toy Story with fantastic theming, and character appearances from the likes of Woody, Jessie, Buzz and the Green Army Soldiers! Hollywood Studios is also home to Galaxys Edge – the Star Wars themed land that my partner and kids absolutely love! I’m not a Star Wars fan myself but even I enjoy the rides and theming here, and the kids love that you can often spot Stormtroopers and other Star Wars characters walking around.
Our favourite Hollywood Studios rides on this trip were Slinky Dog Dash, Star Tours and Smugglers Run – we also love the shows here, the Frozen show and Indiana Jones Stunt Show are well worth seeing.
Animal Kingdom: This park is something of a mix between a wildlife park, a petting zoo and a theme park with a big focus on conservation and nature. The central focal point is The Tree Of Life which houses the “Its Tough To Be A Bug!” experience.
Animal Kingdom doesn’t have very many rides – infact there are only 6! But it does have lots of other things to see and do – including a safari, shows such as The Lion King, Finding Nemo and Feathered Friends In Flight, and a train ride over to the petting zoo area. There are also lots of character meet and greets here too, as well as a play area called The Boneyard which my children really enjoy.
Our favourite experiences at Animal Kingdom on this trip were Avatar Flight Of Passage & Dinosaur, and my eldest always loves the Expedition Everest roller coaster.
Blizzard Beach Water Park: Disney has two water parks but usually only one open at a time. During this visit, the water park in operation was Blizzard Beach which was really lovely as it meant we’ve now experienced both – since Typhoon Lagoon was open on our last trip.
Blizzard Beach features a large wave pool, a relaxing lazy river and plenty of thrilling water slides as well as food spots. We visited here on a day that Floridians thought was freezing cold, so we had the place almost entirely to ourselves there were less than 10 other guests there during our visit which was incredible and the weather was pretty pleasant by our standards!
I’m not usually a fan of water parks, but Disney manage to make it a pleasant experience.
Disney Springs: This is Disney’s shopping disctrict and it features a fantastic range of stores, bars and restaurants. We loved to visit here to look around the shops or grab a bite to eat, it can be busy of an evening and there is often a queue to get into certain stores such as the Lego store but it is still well worth visiting. We didn’t do any restaurants in Disney Springs this time, but we still visited to bag ourselves some Gideons Cookies which are a must-have for us!
The Restaurants
On our last trip, we got a bit carried away with wanting to try ALL of the restaurants and so we ended up making way too many reservations – as Disney charge you for missing a dining reservation we had to make sure to attend them all and so this meant we spent far too much time rushing ourselves in the parks to get to our reservations on time.
This time we were determined not to try to cram so much in, and to prioritise taking our time to enjoy the parks instead – with that in mind we cut right down on the number of restaurant reservations we made.
Here are the restaurants we tried on this trip and what we thought of them:
Tusker House Breakfast
We visited here on our last trip and all loved it so much that we just had to go back again! You get to meet Goofy, Mickey, Donald and Daisy here in their safari attire and the character interaction is so much fun – each of the characters visited our table 2 or 3 times, we had loads of opportunity to take pictures and it was just really good fun.
The food is pretty excellent here too – certainly the best Disney buffet food we’ve found so far. We visited at 11am which meant they changed over from breakfast to lunch offerings while we were dining – this meant we were able to try some of each, which was great!
They serve a range of food from classic American items like pancakes, waffles and mac & cheese to more traditional African foods like Durban Curry and Mealie Pap. Its lovely to have a bit of variety, and there was honestly nothing I tried here that I didn’t thoroughly enjoy!
I think this will always be a must-visit for our Disney World trips.
Cinderella’s Royal Table Breakfast
This exclusive restaurant is inside Cinderella’s Castle itself, and so it comes with quite a hefty price tag but I really wanted to try it just once.
You get to meet Cinderella when you enter the restaurant and take photos with her which was really nice, and then in the seated area itself there are various Princesses coming around to meet and greet – we met Ariel, Aurora, Merida and Jasmine.
You’re given a plate of fruit and mixed pastries to begin with, which were all really delicious and then you order your main meal from the a la carte menu. The childrens menu is pretty basic breakfast offerings but the adults menu is a little fancier – Jon & I both ordered the caramel apple stuffed french toast with a side of bacon. The presentation was fantastic, but the food itself was just ok – nothing to write home about.
Dining in the castle was a lovely experience though, and I’m glad we tried it!
Crystal Palace Breakfast
This is a character dining spot in Magic Kingdom featuring Hundred Acre Wood characters including Winnie The Pooh, Piglet, Tigger and Eeyore.
The character interaction was pretty good (especially as we had all dressed as characters, which usually leads to fantastic interaction!) but I didn’t love the food.
It was all classic American breakfast fayre with the likes of bacon, sausage, eggs and biscuits on offer – unfortunately it just wasn’t really to my taste and i’m not sure I’d go back. I did really love the churro Mickey waffles though!
Space 220 Lunch
This is one of the newest restaurants in EPCOT, which allows you to take a rather impressive journey up to the space station via the special space elevator! Once you arrive “In space” you’re led to your table which will have a wonderful view down onto Earth, with lots of passing astronauts and spacecraft to watch as you dine!
Last time we visited here, we ate in the restaurant section which means you are required to dine from a prix fixe menu. This time we chose to sit in the lounge – these seats are only footsteps away from the restaurant and the view is really no different at all, but it means that you are NOT required to order the prix fixe menu.
This enabled us to pick and choose what we wanted to order from a range of small plates and saved us over $100! Jon & I had the short rib sliders which was one of the best meals we ate for the entire trip, while the kids chose to stick with the children’s prix fixe lunch menu – choosing Spaceghetti with chicken meatballs and cosmic cupcakes for dessert, which they all thoroughly enjoyed!
The food here is of a really high standard and I would go back again next time, but I will always choose the lounge!
50’s Prime Time Cafe
I have to be honest, I was DREADING our reservation here as – after reading the menu and watching YouTube videos about it – it just didn’t seem like my cup of tea at all.
It’s themed as though you’re eating at your Aunts house in a 50s sitcom, and made to look like a 50s style kitchen – the servers refer themselves as your cousins, and tell you off for not eating your veggies or putting your elbows on the table! Its all good fun but the classic American meals of chicken pot pie and meatloaf were just not appealing to me, and so I actually chose not to order an entree and just had an appetiser instead.
Unfortunately for me – that turned out to be a silly decision as when I tried a little of the meatloaf my partner ordered, it was DELICIOUS!!!
We did get the pineapple upside down cake for dessert which was really good. Our server – Cousin Tegan – was excellent, and picked up on the fact that my eldest son loved the theming and really wanted to be “Punished” for misbehaving so she had him collect the dishes to take to the kitchen! It was really good fun here and I would definitely go back next time and actually order something!
Ohana Breakfast
Ironically, this dining experience – which I had looked forward to for years due to it being closed on our last visit – ended up being one I enjoyed least of all!
The restaurant itself was lovely but the atmosphere was just a little chaotic and the service felt rushed. Its a character dining spot at breakfast with Mickey, Pluto, Stitch and Lilo visiting your table but it was the most rushed character visits I’ve ever experienced with very little character interaction happening – we realised after finishing
Quick Service Restaurants & Snacks
Aside from these restaurants, we ate at the various quick service locations throughout the parks. As we weren’t having so many big sit-down meals on this trip, we were able to try a lot more snacks which was good fun!
Disney World Food tends to get very hyped up on social media and so I went armed with a huge list of highly-rated items I wanted to try – unfortunately I did find most of them struggled to live up to expectations. I actually found the vast majority of the food either bland or too greasy for my liking (Cheeseburger spring rolls I’m looking at you!).
But there were a few things we tried that I did really enjoy and would get again. My favourites were:
*Sweet & Spicy Chicken Waffle Sandwhich from Sleepy Hollow, Magic Kingdom
*Corn dog from Sleepy Hollow, Magic Kingdom
*Gastons Cinnamon Bun – Gastons Tavern, Magic Kingdom
*Pepper Jack Pretzel – Cheshire Cat Cafe, Magic Kingdom
*Tomato soup & Grilled Cheese with fried green tomatoes and pimento – Pop Eats Booth, EPCOT
*Short Rib Sliders – Space 220 Lounge, EPCOT
*Poutine – Canada Booth, EPCOT
Universal
I have to be honest and say that I am not the biggest fan of Universal…in fact I’m not generally a theme park person at all! Disney is something different to me than a theme park, and as a general rule I find most theme parks to be kind of dirty and overwhelming.
I don’t think it helps matters that we always tend to visit Universal after our time at Disney which makes the differences between the two more obvious – mostly in regards to the cleanliness! Disney is VERY on it with cleaning and no sooner has a guest stood up to leave a table than staff is right on it cleaning up, but in Universal I quite often that dozens of tables are left with dirty dishes piled up for AGES after guests have left which kind of grosses me out.
I also find the rides less exciting, and the overall vibe much less magical – but I WILL say that on this particular trip the staff at Universal seemed to really have stepped up their game and were extremely friendly and welcoming, with tons of them really making our kids day with jokes and fun interactions which made a positive difference to our trip.
I did also find that the shows at Universal were exceptional – perhaps even better than Disneys! We saw the Horror Make Up Show, The Bourne Stuntacular and Animal Actors on location and I would recommend them all. I also love the little pop up performances that Universal have like the beat builders, the Blues brothers and the pop up dancers near Mels Drive In.
The character interactions were great on this trip and I felt that we saw FAR more characters out and about in January than we did in September – we met Beetlejuice, Scooby & The Gang, The Simpsons, the Blues Brothers, Hello Kitty and Marilyn.
As much as I would happily skip a visit to Universal to save money, my kids LOVE it – they love the Minions rides, and Dr Seuss area and my eldest son loves big thrill rides so the huge coasters such as Velocicoaster, Hagrids and The Hulk are perfect for him.
During our visit to Universal, we stayed on site at Universals Endless Summer Surfside hotel for 10 nights- this is the same hotel we stayed in on our last visit and we love it! Its a great budget option, we paid under £1000 for 10 nights and we find the rooms spacious and clean, we love the hotel pool and quick service as well as the Starbucks in the lobby and the regular bus transport to Universal city walk and the parks.
During our trip we also visited Volcano Bay, which is Universal’s water park. The entrance is included in our tickets and the kids love a water park so it always seems a waste not to go, but I have never enjoyed a day here…it’s just too busy, the pools aren’t as fun as Disneys, the lazy river is chaotic, and there is never enough loungers!
But if you asked my kids? They would say it was AMAZING – so maybe I’m just getting grumpy in my old age!
What Else We Did In Orlando
During the last 10 days of our trip, aside from spending 3 days at Universal we also wanted to get out and do some different things too.
We had intended to visit Kennedy Space Centre again after skipping it on our last trip, but once again – we ended up swapping it out for one last day at Disney instead! One day we’ll actually make it there!
We did visit Gatorland though. The entrance was included with our Universal tickets when we purchased them through Orlando Attraction Tickets so we thought it was worth a look.
In all honesty – it’s not my personal cup of tea at all. The whole place smelled SO BAD from the second you walked in – who knew that alligators stink so much?! But once again…the kids had an absolute ball!
As well as seeing hundreds of huge alligators they also got to feed baby alligators, watch a gator wrangling show and even have a go at wrangling a gator themselves which I was NOT prepared for but which they absolutely loved!
My son was also delighted to be able to try Gator bites here – I found it kinda weird for a place dedicated to the conservation of gators to serve gator bites but apparently they don’t use their own gators and my son had wanted to try it since our last visit when we couldn’t find any, so he gave it a try – his verdict? Tastes like fishy popcorn chicken apparently! Its a no from me.
Would I recommend a visit to Gatorland? If you have a day spare in your schedule, then sure – it’s worth a visit for something different and very “Floridian” to do.
But be aware that EVERYTHING here is an upcharge – from buying fish to feed the gators, buying feed in the aviary, buying photographs and even having to pay for the opportunity to take your own photographs with the gators…it is one of those places that is cheap to enter but you feel as though they might as well hang you upside down and shake you when you leave to make sure they get every last penny out of your pocket!
I must say that I also found the staff here to be absolutely awful when it came to customer service and just general friendliness – I have always found the US to be very friendly but NOT here. I came across two of the rudest people I have encountered anywhere …one woman serving food at the restaurant who was snappy and intimidating to say the least, and another who worked at the door to the gift shop who acted more like the devils gatekeeper and could not have been less helpful when we unfortunately encountered a lost party member situation. It really let the day down so I do hope that Gatorland can work on some staff training.
We also visited some malls and discount outlets on our trip, as we all love to shop but I have to say – we all much preferred visiting Target and Walmart to the actual shopping malls themselves! The superstores are HUGE and have EVERYTHING in them, and we find it really fun to browse the American groceries as well as the toys that aren’t released here yet. They also have fantastic ranges of Disney and Universal themed clothing at really unbeatable prices – we’ve said that in future we’ll take fewer clothes with us and just buy them there!
On our last visit we went to the Mall At Millennia which was clean and not too big, but was mostly full of designer stores so on this trip we decided to try the Florida Mall as its so much bigger – and wow it really was huge and had much more stores that we liked. However the place is absolutely FULL of sales people trying to flog everything from toy puppies to skin care and they are the PUSHIEST sales people I have ever encountered – they literally run at you as you walk down the mall, my partner got pulled into a chair and had cream put on his face before he even knew what was happening and I had to prize myself away from a girl who would NOT take no for an answer while trying to sell me a hair straightener despite me informing her that it wouldn’t even work in my country due to the voltage differences. They were practically throwing the toy puppies at the feet of our children as we passed…it was actually a very uncomfortable experience and would put me off going to the Florida Mall again to be honest.
Another random visit we had was to Hulk Hogan’s Beach Shop! We didn’t even know this place existed until we drove past it on International Drive one day and my son squealed in delight. He is a huge WWE fan and has always loved Hulk, so we had to pay a visit – it’s not a huge shop but there’s lots of cool memorabilia for fans to look at, and my son was delighted to get to take a photo in the ring holding one of Hulk’s championship belts.
The staff member here was really friendly and helpful too. If you want to visit, it’s directly opposite the huge McDonalds on IDrive.
We also spent 2 nights staying at Caribe Royale resort which was a lovely relaxation break in the middle of our busy theme park days. I’ll do a full review on this separately but it was a lovely relaxing hotel, with a beautiful pool and lots of great amenities.
The Best Parts:
*The first week while everyone’s energy and mood were at an all time high and we were all SO excited to be there
*The chilled out days at the resort, just enjoying the pool and playing (and winning!) the family poolside Disney trivia quiz
*Meeting Ariel – something I’d wanted to do for so long!
*My younger kids really enjoying more of the thrill rides which meant we could all ride together this time – Test Track and Seven Dwarves Mine Train were our favourites to ride over and over!
*The Journey Of Water exhibit in Epcot – absolutely stunning and so nice to have such a hands on, interactive and educational experience too.
*The Festival Of The Arts – I love this festival! So colourful, so interactive and just really enjoyable – definitely my favourite festival so far!
*Disney bounding – getting dressed in Disney Bounds is one of my favourite things about Disney trips, as I have so much fun planning and putting together the outfits and it’s so lovely to see how many compliments they get in the park and what lovely conservations they start with cast members and other Disney fans too. I love it!
The Not-So-Picture-Perfect Parts
I would be an absolute LIAR if I tried to pretend that ANY visit to Disney with kids didn’t result in some low points. Its busy, its loud, it’s a LOT of walking…you end up exhausted and that will always be a recipe for some BAD days, especially for UK families who visit for 14 days at a time (Try to remind yourself that the super happy families you see skipping around the parks are either on their first few days or they’re Americans who only visit for 3 or 4 days at a time!)
When you add in neurodivergent kids like mine to the mix, it gets especially difficult. Two of my kids can really struggle with certain sensory issues, and these trips are NO exception to that….here are just a handful of our low points from this trip:
*Meltdowns while we were toasting s’mores because my kid got their hands sticky and can’t handle that despite wipes being offered
*Meltdowns when we went for the kitchen sink ice cream because it came with whipped cream…and one kid doesn’t like it, which I forgot. Nothing like paying $70 for ice cream only to have a child red faced and screaming over it that you suck!
*Sensory overwhelm when Ohana was too noisy and the food was served family-style which meant it all touched, which one child could not handle
*Kids tired out from all the walking, especially from week 2 onwards – lots of complaining about sore legs and not being able to get much done because of needing constant rest breaks
But even with all that….I would still do it again tomorrow in a heartbeat, because those memories fade and the good moments outweigh them massively.
Overall Verdict:
We had the best time on this trip and almost everything about it was pretty close to perfect – the weather, the time of year, the crowd levels, the amount of things we managed to do, the characters we met, the rides we loved, the fun we had – we made memories that will last forever, and we all loved it so much that we cried coming home and all agreed that this trip was SO much better than our first trip…because we didn’t rush to cram everything in this time. We took our time, and we enjoyed the small low key moments….it was wonderful, and now we’re thinking of commemorating this amazing trip with a custom enamel pin maker to create a special keepsake for our memories.
What We’d Do Differently Next Time
I always think it’s worth taking lessons from every trip so that you can improve the next one – that’s what we did last time and it worked incredibly well on this trip, as it was SO much more enjoyable after we learned from our mistakes on the last trip not to rush so much and not to make tons of dining reservations.
Next time, I think I’d make fewer dining reservations again – repeat some firm favourites and maybe try just one new. We’d eat outside of the parks more because the food is better but also the value for money makes it SO worthwhile (Olive Garden, Panda Express and Cheesecake Factory are our favourites!).
I would also love to try to do 3 weeks on site at Disney next time, so that we could spread our park days out more and take more rest days in between – I think this would enable us to enjoy the resort downtime even more and would hopefully mean the kids were less tired out too. Ideally 2 parks followed by 1 rest day over the 3 week period, I think this would work really well.
Have you experienced a family trip to Walt Disney World? What did you enjoy most and what would you do differently next time?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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