First Disney World Trip Survey

Hi,


Let me start by saying my DH and I LOVE Orlando, and we took several vacations there before having kids. We prefer Universal Studios, but we like Disney and Sea World also and ever since I was pregnant we were fantasizing about our first trip to Orlando with the kids... They are turning 2 in September. We are thinking about scheduling a trip to Orlando, but nothing is set yet, it may be another year before we go.

Inspired by the latest Disney related threads, I want to ask those of you who took your kids to Disney World a few questions:

1. How old were your kids the first time you went to Disney World?
2. Did you bring a stroller or did you rent one?
3. Did the kids make it to see the fireworks show?
3. Did you stay on site?
4. Were your kids still taking naps at the time you went and if so, what did you do about that? -Did you go to the room for the nap or they napped in the stroller?
5. Did the kids enjoy the rides and the whole experience as much as you hoped?
6. We will drive there - it's an 8 hours drive - so if you drove to Orlando, how was that experience?
7. Did you take a day of rest after each park, or were the kids OK to go to different parks on consecutive days?

Any and all advise related to this subject would be more than welcome . Needless to say I never went to a "character dinner", so I really don't understand the whole concept too well for now .

Thank you and have a nice day,

Monica

 

1. How old were your kids the first time you went to Disney World? 23 months old- they get in free still

2. Did you bring a stroller or did you rent one? We brought one with us. I think it is around $24/day to rent one. We brought Umbrella strollers so we could split up if we needed to.

3. Did the kids make it to see the fireworks show? We were there for 7 days, I think they maybe made 1 firework show.

3. Did you stay on site? We stayed at the Boardwalk hotel onsite.

4. Were your kids still taking naps at the time you went and if so, what did you do about that? -Did you go to the room for the nap or they napped in the stroller? They did not nap at that time but we did go back to the hotel to rest.

5. Did the kids enjoy the rides and the whole experience as much as you hoped? They had a good time but I have to say at age 5 and up they sure enjoyed it alot more.

6. We will drive there - it's an 8 hours drive - so if you drove to Orlando, how was that experience? I have never driven

7. Did you take a day of rest after each park, or were the kids OK to go to different parks on consecutive days? We are go go go at the parks. We did do 1 day at Blizzard Beach though.




I love Disney and we try to do something Disney related every year.

 

1. How old were your kids the first time you went to Disney World? My twins were almost 2.5 when we went last year.
2. Did you bring a stroller or did you rent one?Brought the double jogger, so much more comfy than the hard ones you can rent.
3. Did the kids make it to see the fireworks show?We made 2 fireworks shows I think but it rained a couple of times on us too.
3. Did you stay on site?Yes, we stayed at the Animal Kingdom Resort, but we've also stayed at the All Star Resorts before.
4. Were your kids still taking naps at the time you went and if so, what did you do about that? -Did you go to the room for the nap or they napped in the stroller? Yes they were and we just let them nap in the stroller if they fell asleep. It's very very time consuming to try to go back to the hotel mid-day. Figure at least 90 minutes, maybe even 2 hrs just walking out of the park to the buses, waiting on the bus, riding to the hotel, walking to your room, then reverse it to get back to the park. It wasn't worth the time for us. Most of the time they stayed mostly awake and fell asleep in the bus on the way back to the hotel.
5. Did the kids enjoy the rides and the whole experience as much as you hoped?Personally I think they were too young, but it was a discounted trip because my bro in law and father in law paid for parts of it for us. My older daughter was about to turn 5 and she was a much better age, able to do more rides, go longer without getting fussy/grouchy, the heat/rain/long lines didn't phase her as much. The twins couldn't go on several rides, if lunch was late they got grouchy, they hated the rain we had.
6. We will drive there - it's an 8 hours drive - so if you drove to Orlando, how was that experience?We drive, it's about 9 hrs from here, they did fine on the drive. We drive to canada almost every summer and that's 4 days of driving so 9 hrs is a piece of cake!
7. Did you take a day of rest after each park, or were the kids OK to go to different parks on consecutive days?Technically we didn't do a day of rest. However, by day 3, the kids were exhausted, and since it was raining in the morning, we let them sleep late and we didn't hit the park until after lunch time. It was much needed by then.


If you go I highly highly recommend Chef Mickey's character meal! It's a little price (I think it was $150 for our family of 6), but we it's a breakfast buffet. The food was amazing! Everything you can imagine for breakfast! And while you eat, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie make their way around the room one at a time. They stop at every table, sign your autograph book and pose for a few pictures before moving on. Was totally worth the expense, we didn't have to hunt down the characters in the parks, or stand in a long character line, to get autographs and pics!!

 

1.) My boys just turned four and my daughter was 2 yr 5 months.

2.) We did both. Lol! We brought our single Graco one and rented a double stroller through Orlando Stroller Rentals. It was wonderful. Less than $100 for the whole week, they drop it off at the hotel the day of your arrival, and they pick it up when you leave. I wouldn't advise renting from the actual parks, as you have to leave the stroller at the park. There is still a lot of walking to do after you leave the park.

3.) We saw the fireworks one night when we were there. It was the Christmas party night. And one was asleep in the stroller....

4.) We stayed at the moderate resort Port Orleans Riverside(family of five).

5.) All three still take naps. We never made it back to the hotel as everything was jam packed in, so they would nap in the stroller(or the dinner table lol).

6.) THEY LOVED DISNEY! And I loved watching it through their eyes.

7.) We didn't drive. But the next time we go to Florida(inlaws have a home in Naples, we are considering the drive-20 hours).

8.) We did not take a day of rest and it is definitely needed in my opinion! If we were to do it all over again, the day we arrive would be a rest day. Then two days at the park, rest, two days, rest, etc. They were wiped out, but I will say, they were well behaved too. If you are taking them this young, I would definitely add in rest time. Oh, and I would not park hop with young ones. We did one park/day and even still that was a lot.

Only other advice is dining. I wouldn't do breakfast as you have long days and late nights. Getting everyone up and out by 7 am can be tough. I think a late lunch/early dinner would be good(in terms of table service/character meals).

 

We hope to fly down for 4-5 days with a three day park hopper. We plan on doing Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom since our kiddos will be young. Then a day at Sea World and two days of rest and/or maybe another at Magic Kingdom. We hope to save Epcot and MGM for when they are older.


Have fun!!

 

How old were your kids the first time you went to Disney World? 5y2m

Did you bring a stroller or did you rent one? I wish we had brought out double jogger. We ended up renting the Disney stroller 3 of the days we were there.

Did the kids make it to see the fireworks show? Yes, but most of the days we headed back to our room for a while for swimming then resting.

Did you stay on site? Yes, at the Port Orleans French Quarter

Were your kids still taking naps at the time you went and if so, what did you do about that? -Did you go to the room for the nap or they napped in the stroller? Mine were not napping, although they did take a few naps in the room while we were there.

Did the kids enjoy the rides and the whole experience as much as you hoped? Yes!!

We will drive there - it's an 8 hours drive - so if you drove to Orlando, how was that experience? We flew, stayed on-site, and did not rent a car.

Did you take a day of rest after each park, or were the kids OK to go to different parks on consecutive days? We went to a park every day (6 days). We had the Park Hopper, so we sometimes went to one park in the morning and a different park for dinner.



It was the absolute perfect age to take my girls, IMO. They were still completely into Disney Princess and that was by far their favorite thing - eating in the castle, in their princess constumes, meeting all the princesses. They really liked the rides too, and were tall enough for a substantial number of them.

I wouldn't take them again until they are tall enough for all the rides. Just a year and a few months later, they are not really into Disney Princess at all anymore.

Oh, and Soarin' was everyone's favorite ride! It's at Epcot.

 

When are you thinking of going? Why are you thinking of skiping Epcot and Hollywood studios? My girls love Epcot. they are asking to go on Soaring. They are upset that Test Track will be closed when we go at the end of the summer.

 

1. My kids were 5 when we went to Disneyworld (they turned 5 in February and we went in March).
2. We brought a sit & stand stroller with us and were very happy to have it. We would take it to the park each day and then park it in the different stroller areas. It was nice to hold coats for later in the evening, snacks, sunscreen, etc. It was also great to have when getting out of the parks at night. We would have the kids ride in the stroller and just cruise through the crowds.
3. We saw the fireworks show at Epcot and at Disneyworld.
3. We stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort, which is a Disney resort. Very happy with the resort and had no issues with transportation to and from the different parks. The buses at night when the parks were closing were crowded, but it wasn't horrible.
4. Yes our kids were still napping at that time, but we skipped them every day and had no issues with that. We were in the parks every day from the time they opened until the closed with no major sleep issues. DD would fall asleep in the stoller every night on the way to the bus/
5. My kids loved everything about Disney. Favorites were the Buzz rides at Disney and Hollywood Studios and Soarin' at Epcot.
6. We flew to Orlando, so I can't comment on this question.
7. We had one rest day schedule 1/2 way through our vacation (6 days) but ended up skipping the rest day and going to Disney for an extra day. Day 1 - Animal Kingdom, Day 2 - Epcot, Day 3 & 4 - Disney, Day 5 - Hollywood Studios, Day 6 - Disney. They did great each day.

For us, our kids were at a great age and we really enjoyed the experience.

 

1. How old were your kids the first time you went to Disney World? DD was 5, the twins were 19mos, and the littlest one was 19mo on his first trip.
2. Did you bring a stroller or did you rent one? We brought a stroller. We brought two the year the twins were 3 and their brother was 1 as well.
3. Did the kids make it to see the fireworks show? On our first trip to Disney, we learned the hard way that one of the twins was sensitive to noise. Needless to say, he barely made it to the parks before screaming his ever loving head off. Luckily MIL was there and is a DVC member so she kept the twins at the hotel most of the trip. DD was able to handle the long days.
3. Did you stay on site? Yes.
4. Were your kids still taking naps at the time you went and if so, what did you do about that? -Did you go to the room for the nap or they napped in the stroller? Again, the first trip with the twins was a bad trip. They were at the hotel so they napped regularly. DD was still napping occasionally, but stayed up all day. Brandon slept in his stroller on his first trip and the boys (at 3+) stayed up most of the time.
5. Did the kids enjoy the rides and the whole experience as much as you hoped? DD: yes, Brandon: yes, Nathan: NO, William: well he was stuck with his brother so no idea how he would have reacted
6. We will drive there - it's an 8 hours drive - so if you drove to Orlando, how was that experience? We drive it. Normally we get down close to Orlando but stay in a cheap hotel before moving over to the Disney Resorts. That travel day is pretty much wasted to traveling so spending the extra money to be on site makes no sense to my sFIL and since we stay on his DVC points we do as asked.
7. Did you take a day of rest after each park, or were the kids OK to go to different parks on consecutive days? We did not take days off.

Each child will react differently to Disney. I unfortunately had one that couldn't handle the stimulation of it and HATED his first trip. He only somewhat tolerated it at 3.5yo. He did have a full on meltdown the first night that we were there that second trip care of the restaurant being so very loud. He has been a couple additional times and has handled it much better.

 

1. Just shy of three. Kids under three are free, so that was awesome.
2. We brought two umbrella strollers and either clipped them together with stroller clips when we wanted one person to push or separated when we were in shops and tight spots where it was easier.
3a. We never tried the fireworks. I didn't care, and they were asleep in strollers by that point. We went late, but not that late.
3b. Yes, we stayed at Wilderness Lodge. For me, saying insure is very important.
4. They were not taking naps anymore. They did sleep in the stroller some later in the day.
5. Yes.
6. We drove from Ohio. Two days each way. It was fine. The kids watched movies and were extremely good. On the way home, they slept from Orlando clear to Georgia.
7. We did four parks in four days. I would have liked a fifth day in the middle to chill out a little more, but it was completely fine.

 

Other advice: if you drive and stay onsite, drive to all the parks instead of riding the buses. So much easier at the end of a long day. The only park to bus to is Magic Kingdom because you have to park at the Ticket and Transportation Center and take Disney transportation anyway.

Get to the parks early. You can do more in those early hours than in the rest of the day combined. We liked breakfast, but we go in the off season when the parks open later.

We loved the dining plan.

 

We hope to go next year, the girls will be 7.5. We think we wont be able to afford it more than once (maybe twice) in their childhood so we wanted to make sure that 1. they remembered it 2. one DD was OK sensory wise (I would have said no way until she was 6- this summer was the first time we thought it *might* be OK) 3. they were big enough to do a lot if they wanted to 4. we could afford to stay 5-6 days


We would skip Epcot if we needed to, but if time we will go. As adults we LOVED Epcot, but a lot was geared toward older kids and/or adults. Though that was 10 yrs ago, a lot has likely changed. DH and I had so much fun just wandering the 'countries' that we wanted to try to take the girls when they are older and able to relate more. Though I do think my DDs would like it, just not as much as Magic Kingdom or Animal Kingdom. So if we are limited on time- that is what we would eliminate.

We would not do Hollywood Studios. My DDs dont watch much TV and really dont know a lot of the MGM Studios type stuff at this age-- I would rather take that day to do Sea World, which they would absolutely love.

 

When we started going the twins were turning 1.

We always bring our own stroller. Once our kiddos are about 4 they don't use the stroller, so we usually only need one.

They do make it to the fireworks show; sometimes we go back to our rooms and rest, sometimes they make it all the way through.

We always stay on site - it's very, very worth it to us. Part of the magic is the theming of the resorts!

We are an amusement park family. We go to lots of them and really there is just no comparison. For our family Disney is a much better value than any of the ones we have been to (Sea World, several Six Flags, Silver Dollar City). Even the littles can ride almost every ride (none of us are big coaster people anyway). Waiting in line is as much fun for them as riding. In other theme parks we feel overwhelmed inside the park with things that cost additional money, rides, games, etc. At Disney I love that only food and souvenirs are an additional cost.

It's always been between a 22 and 16 hr drive for us but we always drive. When it was further we stopped overnight. Now that it's 16 hrs we drive straight through. The kids are always excited enough that the ride down is pretty easy. The ride home is more challenging, but we all survive.

We never take days of rest, but we are always prepared that one us might come back to the park with tired kids for a few hours. Or one of us will stay at the rooms if there are kids not awake first thing in the AM.

 

Epcot is all of our kids' favorite park. Weirdly enough, Magic Kingdom is the one we are all just "meh" on.

We tried driving to the parks one year (from our rooms) and decided that was not for us. We did have to wait on Disney transportation, etc, but navigating their parking lots after a long, long day with little kiddos was just too much for us. It was easier for us to sit and wait for the Dis. transports than deal with that.

 

The girls love EPCOT too. I HATE HATE HATE Disney buses. People lose any manners that they ever learned while getting on there. Plus if you have a stroller it is super hard to get a spot on the buses.

Personally we only go to Hollywood Studios for Toy Story Madness and we are not huge fans of Animal Kingdom either.

 

One more thing LOL, we have stopped using the Disney Transportation from the airport. We have found out why it is free. Both times we had to sit on the bus for almost 2 hours while they dropped people off. Then both times our luggage did not arrive until after midnight. We just rent our own car now.

 

Epcot was my kids favorite also. They love the entire thing and we almost wish we would have planned a second day. The rides/shows they have in the front section (can't remember the name right now) are really geared towards the kids and they also enjoyed walking around the countries. We stopped and watched some of the shows and they were fascinated by those.

 

Thank you for all your replies. We know we don't pay for them before they turn 3, that's why we are thinking of bringing them, but at the same time I was wondering if it's worth doing. Your stories give me hope that it is doable... Our kids aren't scared of loud noises or big crowds- we bring them to our local theme park all the time - we have season passes. But at the same time, we stay there 2-3 hours then we leave. Also, they LOVED the 4th of July fireworks- that's why I hope they can make it to see the Disney fireworks, at least once.

We love all Disney Parks. I think they added a lot of kid friendly stuff in the last few years at Epcot. Magic Kingdom makes me feel like a 5 year old, I am so excited to bring them there. From obvious reasons, I am scared to bring them in the gift shops though... .

 

I think it is doable as long as you take frequent breaks and let them guide you. They can go on a majority on the rides too.