Tips and tricks for making your vacation at the “most magical place on earth” just that…magical! We took our five, seven, and eleven year old for their first time in January of 2023 to all of the Disney Parks in Orlando. My husband and I hadn’t been in about 15 years and this was our first trip as a family. I know for a lot of people, this may be a “one and done” trip. For us, we can’t wait to go back! However, we would make some changes for the next time around. Now, don’t get me wrong! We had a fantastic trip, but we’ve learned some lessons to make the next trip even more enjoyable (and affordable!!).
Accommodations
During this trip, we traveled with extended family and chose to stay at a Disney resort. With three kids, Caribbean Beach Resort was the least expensive option for accommodating our family of five. The resort is sprawling and there is a lot to explore. This would be a great way to spend your time on a rest day. The first mistake we made was having six (yes, six!) park days in a row. Trust me, take the rest day!! Not only did the kids need a break, but the adults would have appreciated one as well.
The rooms were pretty small, but very clean (and I’m super picky). The resort is in the process of refurbishing their rooms, and we were placed in one of the older fifth sleeper rooms. The beds were very comfortable and there were pillows galore!
There is a small “fridge” in the room, but it’s actually considered a cooler and does not hold the same temperatures as a refrigerator. It was great for cold water/drinks, but I would be extra cautious when placing anything in there that could potentially spoil at the warmer temperature.
There wasn’t a closet, but there was a nice long bar in the sink area (separate from toilet/shower area) that provided plenty of room to hang clothes. I was also pleasantly surprised at what great soundproofing the rooms had. We have a LOUD family and our extended family on the other side of the wall never heard anything from our room and we couldn’t hear anyone else either.
The resort offers many activities for the kids such as crafts (Mickey themed tie dye), campfire activities, and movies under the stars. There are smaller pools for separate areas of the resort and one main pool with slides located near the main building/lobby.
Originally, we also wanted to stay here for the availability of using the Skyliner as transportation. Unfortunately, the Skyliner was closed for maintenance the entire week we were there. Not to worry though, the busses run fairly regularly and there are multiple stops throughout the resort.
Next time, we may try staying at a hotel that is not on Disney property. There are many hotels in the area that are very affordable and offer much larger accommodations. Some guests may not be concerned with the space as they’re “only there to sleep”. However, if you have young children, you may end up spending more time in the room than anticipated for naps and downtime. Another downside to staying off property is losing the benefits of being in the “Disney bubble” and not having transportation and early entry to parks.
Transportation
Due to the rising issues with flying as well as the cost for five people, we chose to drive to Florida this time. It was definitely nice having our own transportation throughout the week. We drove to all of the parks (parking is free if you’re a Disney resort guest), but chose to take the bus on one visit to Magic Kingdom. You do have to sit through all of the stops and it may take longer than just driving yourself, but the bus drops you off at the entrance to the park and you get to skip the trek from the parking lot! Speaking of the parking lot…once you’ve parked your car at Magic Kingdom and have gone through security, you will need to take the monorail or ferry to the park entrance. We tried both. I definitely preferred the ferry. We didn’t have to fold up the stroller and it’s open air so it seems more spacious. If you are claustrophobic and dislike many people squeezed into small spaces, you’re going to want to skip the monorail!
Rides and Attractions
Prepare for wait times. We went in January during one of the slowest weeks and our typical wait time was still about forty minutes and upward. While we were waiting in all of those other lines, we tried multiple ideas to try and keep the kids happy and content. We brought snacks (dum dums, granola bars, and fruit snacks), we tried to find hidden Mickeys, and played games on our phones. The Disney parks app has a section labeled “play Disney parks”. The kids could play themed games that were either single player or multiplayer. This kept them busy and happy for quite awhile during those long waits.
Our kiddos really wanted to ride Slinky Dog Dash at Hollywood Studios, so we watched the wait time all day. It dropped once, but we were unfortunately already in line for another ride and by the time we got done the wait for Slinky Dog Dash was over two hours again. At the end of the day, we decided to just jump in the line because it wasn’t going to get much better. Waiting with kids is HARD, especially when they’re really young. I have to say our kids were amazing, but I vowed that I wasn’t ever going to do that again.
Most lines were manageable at the other Disney parks, but our first day at Magic Kingdom we didn’t do half the things we would have liked to because it took forever to get through the lines. On our last park day at Magic Kingdom, we got Genie+. In case you’re not familiar, Genie+ is basically a fast pass that lets you enter through the lightning lanes and skip the majority of the lines. You do have to pay per person and the price fluctuates. It is annoying that it’s an extra cost, however, it was worth every penny for our family. We were able to do so much more at Magic Kingdom with Genie+. We went on twice as many rides as we did the first day we were there and we even took a break in the mid afternoon. There is a little bit of a learning curve to figuring out how to book the rides as you can not book one right after the other. There are lots of “how to” guides online and on social media. My suggestion would be to become familiar with the process before you start using it.
While you’re using your phone at the park for all of those amazing pictures and Genie+, your phone battery will inevitably drain…QUICKLY. To avoid the hassle of looking for some coveted outlets around the parks, I suggest bringing Fuel Rods (as an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission from qualifying purchases ). These handy little battery packs are rechargeable and they were easy to hang on to while still using your phone as it charges. If your fuel rod runs out while at the park, there are multiple kiosks to exchange them for a recharged fuel rod for free. I bought a pack of two on Amazon during a sale and I never had to exchange them at the park, I just made sure to fully charge them overnight so they would be ready for our next park day.
Food
We had some amazing meals while at Disney. We had reservations for Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort, Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater Restaurant at Hollywood Studios, and Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom. Both the Chef Mickey and Crystal Palace reservations were for breakfast character meals. We dined with Mickey and friends at Chef Mickey and Pooh and Friends at the Crystal Palace. The character interactions were wonderful. The characters came around to each table and interacted with everyone, hugged, signed autograph books, and took pictures. The breakfast meals were also fantastic!
The Sci-Fi diner was a unique experience. The food was good, no complaints there and the staff was super friendly. The tables are booths that look like cars and are facing a projection screen where old science fiction movies are playing. The movies are old and seem really cheesy compared to today’s films, so I never imagined that it would bother one of our kids. We didn’t realize how much it had affected our 7yr old until we were home and he started describing things he is now afraid of. They are all fears from the movie clips in the diner, this is something to keep in mind if you have young children or kids that are sensitive. I in no way thought they were scary, but kids interpret things differently. Some things to know about this restaurant is that the atmosphere and vibe is a bit different. It is QUIET, something that stood out as it was unusual for a restaurant. There is little to no dinner chit chat because there are movie clips playing and your back is turned to half your table since you’re seated in a booth that faces a screen. It is also VERY dim. I thought the food tasted wonderful, but I couldn’t describe what it looked like as I wasn’t able to see it in the dim lighting.
We brought lots of different snacks with us to the parks and we tried many treats as well. Side note- you can bring a soft sided cooler into the park, but no loose ice. I had heard that you could put ice in baggies and use it that way, but we didn’t try it.
At the parks, we tried churros, soft pretzels, mickey ice cream, frozen coca cola, dole whip, and popcorn to name a few. They were all wonderful! However, next time we go I would look into more quick service meals and/or plan for more reservations. We definitely could have used the break and sat down with an actual meal. The only quick service meal we tried was Flame Tree Barbecue at Animal Kingdom. It was recommended by other guests we met at the park and it did not disappoint! I don’t really care for BBQ, but the pulled pork mac and cheese was amazing and I would absolutely get it again!
Strollers and Air Tags
If you’re debating on bringing the stroller…bring the stroller. Our youngest is 5 years old and he hasn’t used a stroller since he was 2 ½ years. He’s small for his age, we knew he was going to get tired in the parks. We used our Joovy sit and stand stroller. Our 5 yr old loved it and rode like a king and our 7 yr old sat on the bench in the back many times because he was too tired to walk. Even our 10 yr old niece (she is also very small for her age) rode on the bench when she became too tired to walk. The stroller was also a great place to store things like water bottles, sweatshirts (it was January and temps. ranged from 40-80 degrees F), bubble wands, etc. Disney does have specific rules regarding strollers. A stroller can not be bigger than 31 inches wide and 52 inches long and stroller wagons are not permitted. If you don’t have a stroller or you’re not interested in bringing one with you on your trip, strollers can be rented at Disney parks as well as other outside agencies.
When at the parks, make sure you place your stroller in the designated stroller area when not in use. A cast member will move your stroller for you if it is not parked in a designated parking area, sometimes making it difficult to find in the sea of black strollers. Some people use balloons, signs, or flags to make their stroller stand out and easy to find. We actually borrowed a tip from someone else and used a colorful beach towel. Each time we parked it, we placed the towel across the sun shade and it immediately stood out wherever it was. We also hid an Apple Air Tag on the stroller to ensure that we could find it at all times.
Speaking of tracking items, we also placed Apple Air Tags on our children and yes we did have to use it once when our 5 yr old accidentally got lost in the crowd. We used the waterproof Air Tag holders (#ad) that discreetly pinned to their clothes and no one was the wiser that they were wearing them. It still took a few minutes to find him because we made the mistake of making all of the children’s icons the same on my phone, so they were all showing up identical on the map to track him. We could see that he was only 150 feet from us, it was only a matter of locating a tiny person among all of the adults.
Planning
One of the easiest and most important tips that I can offer is to use a Disney vacation planner. Their services are free…I’ll say it again…FREE! Disney vacation planners receive a commission for their services through Disney, not you. Our planner did everything for us! In fact, if it wasn’t for our planner, I may still be trying to put our trip together! She compared prices and packages of all the resorts for us to make sure we were getting the best accommodation at the best price point for our family of five. Our planner also purchased our tickets, made our park reservations, and watched for discounts to apply to our stay (side note-We were also able to get free early entry to Universal Studios through our planner). She also made all of our dining reservations. I see so many people say that they weren’t able to get the restaurant reservations that they were hoping for, our planner got every single one of the restaurants we requested. You can find Disney vacation planners through social media groups, recommendations from friends, web search, etc. If you would like the name and email of the planner that we personally used, just leave a comment below or send me a message.
Overall, our trip was amazing and I can’t wait to go back and apply the lessons that we learned this time around. I hope you were able to find some useful tips that will be of help during your next trip. If you have other tips to share or questions about anything we experienced at the park, please comment below! Don’t forget to check out my list of packing items to help you have the most magical experience during your visit.
