Disney Wrap Up!

Well, after all the blogging about our days at the park, I needed a breather. This post will hopefully help me remember some things for when we plan our next trip in 4 or 5 years. First-- links to my day by day Disney posts:

Day 1: Travel and Animal Kingdom
Day 2: Magic Kingdom
Day 3: Hollywood Studios
Day 4: Magic Kingdom, take 2
Day 5: Epcot









Things we didn't get to that I want to do next time

1. Hollywood Studios- Fantasmic. We didn't think the kids could handle three late nights in a row, so we skipped this, but it is a must do for next time.
2. Hollywood Studios- Rock n Roller Coaster- we skipped things since neither kid could do it, but it looked fun!
3. Animal Kingdom- Expedition Everest- same as Rock n Roller coaster, plus we only had a little time at AK
4. Animal Kingdom- Nemo- we had to choose between this and Lion King as we just didn't have time for both. Next time!
5. Animal Kingdom- character meal at Tusker House- preferably a breakfast before the park opens, I have heard good things!
6. Animal Kingdom- Rafiki's Planet Watch- we just did NOT have enough time at AK, we will have a full day there next time!
7. Epcot- World Showcase- we just didn't have the energy at this point in the week, especially knowing we had an early flight the next day.
8. Epcot- Maelstrom.
9. Magic Kingdom- Space Mountain- again, the kids were both too little so we skipped it.
10. Magic Kingdom- Peter Pan's Flight- In hindsight, we should have hit this first on Thursday before going to the back of Fantasyland, but I was hoping we could pick up a FastPass.
11. A rest day. Seriously, I can see why people schedule a pool/rest/Downtown Disney day mid-trip. We didn't have enough days there this time, but would like to fit that in next time.
12. Downtown Disney- we just didn't have time for this during our trip. There are a few shops I would have liked to check out, but there was just too much to do!


Things we must do again!

1. Animal Kingdom- Safari- we loved this. I would like to do it right away in the morning as I read the animals are more active then, but they gave us a pretty good show!
2. Animal Kingdom- The Festival of the Lion King. I loved this show, it was spectacular. It wasn't supposed to re-open until July, but it opened the day before we got there. So glad!
3. Hollywood Studios- Toy Story Midway Mania- this will be better when the kids are bigger and can participate better. Wes tried, but it required more coordination than he had!
4. Epcot- Soarin' - I loved this ride!
5. Epcot- Test Track. This wasn't my favorite (it was okay), but Wes and Nick loved it, so we will go back for sure.
6. Magic Kingdom- Splash Mountain. This was a favorite all around and it will be fun to take Norah next time and all ride together!
7. Magic Kingdom- Electric Parade/Celebrate the Magic/Wishes- Awesome, Awesome, Awesome. Nothing else to say. :)
8. 'Ohana- this was fun dinner and we all liked it. It was fun to see the Polynesian resort as well. This reservation was hard to get, so I am glad I kept trying!
9. Chef Mickey's- again, I had to keep checking to get this reservation, but it was worth it. The kids were in heaven the whole time! WDW opens dining reservations 180 days in advance and people book at early. It seems crazy, but hopefully we decide on our next trip early enough to book early so we can get these without my obsessive website stalking. I did learn that a lot of people cancel 45 days ahead of time as that is when the balance is due on vacations and some change their minds, so I found several of our reservations in that time frame. We booked our trip mid-March, so I was behind the masses on this!
10. Stay on property- it was nice being in the Disney bubble. I would consider staying off property, since we will likely fly into the other airport next time (again, if we book early) and rent a car.... but it was great being emerged in Disney all of the time. I am not sure I'd choose Pop again, though it was great for being relatively cheap and having its own buses. I'd love to do Art of Animation next time. We looked at Carribean Beach Resort, and it looked fun, too, but it wasn't as themed as Pop and AofA.
11. Early Extra Magic Hours- this was great at MK. I feel like we got so many things in before it got crowded
12. The first week of June- it was not that busy, though it was pretty hot. I wouldn't mind spring break, but it would be a lot busier. A lot of schools were still in session at the start of June, so it was really not bad as far as crowds.
13. Take advantage of our Visa points! We paid for all of our food and little more with the points from our Visa credit card. We put all of our gas, groceries, and dining out on the card and pay it off monthly. Any other big purchases have gone on it and then been paid off to rack up the points. The downside is that they expire every 5 years, so that is something we have to keep in mind!

Skipping it next time...

1. One of the princess meals- I imagine we will do one of these and I bet Norah will be into princesses next time, but we will probably do just one since they were similar characters.
2. Dining Plan. It was nice to prepay, but it was too much food a lot of days and we threw away a lot of food. I have heard some people buy a gift card ahead of time with a similar amount of money than the dining plan costs so it's not such a sticker shock on the character meals. We might even plan to take lunches to the park if we rent a car and just do a sit down meal each day at some point and snacks in the park. The quick service restaurants in the parks and our hotel were, overall, not great. I liked Cosmic Rays and Be Our Guest, but the others were disappointing.


Honestly, I don't have a lot of things to skip next time. I don't really regret doing both princess meals as we had fun. I don't necessarily regret the dining plan either as it was nice to have almost everything paid for before we got to Orlando, I just think I'll do things a bit differently next time.

The perfect age to take your kid to Disney?

A lot of people wondered why we were taking the kids so young. I don't think there's a perfect time to go to Disney. If we were only going to go once, yes, I would have wanted Norah especially to be a little older and remember it. But, I do not regret going at all! We had so much fun. Disney was absolutely magical and real for both kids. They weren't meeting people dressed up as Anna and Minnie, they were meeting Anna and Minnie. Sure, there were rides that we couldn't do with the kids, but Disney is great about having so much that everyone in the family can do.

Wesley was at a great stage for the character meals as he was brave. Last summer, he would have been afraid. Norah was scared sometimes, but her reactions to Minnie Mouse more than made up for her being scared of some of the other characters. I will never forget how ecstatic she was every single time she saw Minnie (well, except the first time... she was excited to see her but also got scared). The kids were also so excited to see Cinderella's Castle... the one they see before all of their favorite movies.

It was fun to see what things they liked best. I never would have guessed that Norah would have been so excited to see the animals on the safari or see the castle. I never would have guessed Wesley would have been so brave on the roller coasters and eager to go again and again.

We just had an awesome time together as a family, and it is a vacation I will never forget! As I have mentioned, we are thinking 5 years from now for our next trip. Wes would be 9 (the oldest that kids are kids' prices to get in and eat... they are Disney adults at 10, therefore more $$) and Norah would be 6, nearly 7. They should both be old enough at that point to ride everything.... and hopefully Wes will be young enough to still think going to Disney with his parents is cool.  :) As fun as it would be to do Disney sooner, I must remember there are other fun places to travel!