* First and foremost, it truly is magical. The characters are ALWAYS in character. They are ALWAYS smiling. They call you "your royal highness" or "princess" or "sir." They look you in the eyes, they tell you to "have a magical day." They aim to please.
* The long lines....well, Disney aims to please there, too. There are things for you to look at, read, or do while you are in line. Sure, they are still long, but it's nice to have a few distractions along the way.
* Biggest surprise for me - each and every ride is ALSO a show. I mean, Splash Mountain practically had a play and a musical while you were on the ride. There were so many things to look at and listen to! It is serious sensory overload everywhere you go - and it's a beautiful sensory overload at that!
* It makes you want to watch your favorite Disney movies again.
* It makes you remember Disney movies from the old days.
* Fast Passes are KEY. I seriously would not do Disney without Fast Passes. Because of fast passes, the most we waited in line was approximately 45 minutes. Now- you couldn't do rides over and over and over again, but you could at least do them once with a very low wait time. Most of our waits were under 15 minutes!
* Getting to the park at opening time was also key. I would tell everyone to get there at opening. You can sprint to your favorite ride and get there with no wait at all and actually can ride it a few times in a row!
* Meal reservations were key for our family. It was just nice having a reservation every day that we knew we could sit down and enjoy the meal. You cannot get into restaurants the day of- you have to have reservations basically....so we made everything ahead of time.
* Speaking of- planning this trip six months in advance really made things easier. We got all the reservations we wanted, we got the hotel we wanted, we got fast passes we wanted, and it gave me time to read up on Pinterest.
* All of the Disney pins on Pinterest are totally overwhelming. But, I'm not going to lie- I went into Disney very prepared. Between my Disney agent, friends, and the pins, I felt like I had actually been there before!
* Disney Dining Plan- Kind of up to each visitor. We did the Disney Dining Plan because we had reservations at so many places that it was kind of worth it for me. But, if you are just going to wing your meals, you're probably better off not doing the dining plan.
* Food - is really not as accessible as one would think. I was picturing something like Adventureland- where there were different stands for food around every corner. It's not really like that....it's kind of hard to find a spot. Eating at non-meal times is helpful....for example, we ate lunch at Animal Kingdom at 10:30 and skipped breakfast that day. So, I would maybe focus on that.
* I was picturing this huge, large, expansive park that would take 20 minutes to get from side to side....but honestly, we had the park figured out in one afternoon. We could tell everyone where to go for most things (although we did lose the carousel at one point). Cinderella's Castle is a great reference point.
* Night time at the Magic Kingdom really is different. My Disney agent told me to go back at night and I'm so glad we did. It's so neat to see everything lit up and, well, "magical."
* Saylor was a walking CHAMP! And, her dad was a shoulder ride champ. I mean, we never took a stroller and never rented one and Saylor kept up with us the majority of the time. We carried her at times, but overall, she was impressive!
* Souvenirs - We bought one thing really- a little mermaid set for Saylor. I didn't even have the kids walk into the stores. It's not like we are lifelong Disney character fans, so I kind of felt like the Mickey ears and wands and all that was a waste of money. It is NOT a waste of money for kids who love love love Disney. But, my kids really didn't fall into that category!
* Number of days...I really feel as if 4 park days was perfect for us. I asked everyone if they wished they could go back to one more park, and everyone was kind of satisfied actually! It was nice to have an "extra" day at Magic Kingdom where we didn't feel rushed or pressure, but other than that, it was enough days.
* Park Hopper- This is the pass that allows you to go from park to park. I find this to be totally unnecessary but I have 3 kids under 10. I mean, you can only go so fast with 3 young kids. If I had junior high kids, I might do the park hopper....they are easy to switch gears with. When it was time to leave our parks, everyone was kind of fine with leaving. It would be nice to go see the fireworks or fantasmic at night whenever you wanted to -- but that comes at a price. So, for us, that really wasn't worth the sticker price.
* If you don't have a park hopper, that very first night you get in- you can't go to any of the parks, so that kind of stinks. But, that's why I scheduled a fun dinner for our first night there and I would suggest that to anyone. It's nice to have something to kick-start your Disney experience!
* Hotel - Contrary to lots of advice, we did NOT stay on the Monorail. There are 3 or 4 hotels located on the monorail and these are considered the "best of the best" of Disney hotels. I originally had this booked, but another good hotel went on sale. It was a $1500 price difference between our hotel - which is the "level 2" of Disney hotels and the hotel on the monorail. Because I knew this would probably be our only Disney trip, I originally thought it was best to splurge, do it right, make the travel between parks easier, etc. But, then I thought "$1500 is $1500" and frankly, I can think of a lot more things I would rather spend $1500 on. So, I switched hotels. And, I AM SO GLAD WE DID. Our hotel had a great pool, great rooms, and the location was SO easy. It took us a little bit to figure it out- but basically, you take the bus everywhere! The bus runs frequently- almost every 15 minutes! And, the ferry is available for Hollywood Studios, which was also very easy. We only rode the monorail once - to get to dinner on the first night. Again, if I had park hopper passes or older kids who can do Disney on their own a little bit- I might switch to a monorail hotel. But, honestly, I just don't think the money is worth it. Essentially, I felt like I was paying $1500 as a convenience fee....it really isn't worth it.
* Disney is ridiculously clean, and everyone works to keep it clean- including the visitors. There's just a lot of respect for Disney which is neat to witness.
* Disney with a large group- I can't say I would be interested in this, with small kids. With older kids- yes. But, you kind of have to know your own kids and their limitations to know what is going to work and what won't. It's nice to just have someone be the leader and everyone else follow....you don't really have time to debate over which roller coaster or who wants to do what. You just have to go, go go!
* Will we go back to Disney? The answer is very likely no. We are more of a one and done family. We like to have lots of experiences. I cannot tell you the number of people who go to Disney every single year. It has amazed me. I know three people who have gone 5-10 times. Now, these people may vacation other places, too. But, I personally wouldn't want Disney to be my one big trip every single year. I would be open to visiting Universal and Sea World on another trip to Orlando down the road, but I think we can officially cross Disney off of our list.
* Are you "missing out" if you've never been to Disney? That question is hard for me to answer. It would be awesome if everyone could experience Disney. But, I have to say that I feel like there are so many amazing places to visit inside our country that I can't definitively say that you would be missing out. I'm so so so so glad we did it....don't get me wrong. But, there's just SO many great things to see in this world!
* I most enjoyed seeing Disney through the kids' eyes. It was fun to see their whole face and eyes light up. To see them walk out of the roller coaster and say "I wanna go with mom!" or see Saylor watch Beauty and the Beast before her eyes...or hear them say "That was awesome." The boys thanked us lots of times throughout the trip. They truly did not know what to expect out of Disney, and I think they were super impressed.
* Joe ended the trip by saying it "exceeded all of his expectations." I think that's a good summary. And, we were all sad to say goodbye to Disney. And, the following week, we all went through Disney detox and it was miserable. We missed waking up to so many smiles, adventures, new experiences and fun times.
And, that's it- that's our Disney trip in a lot of blog posts! It was a magical trip that won't be forgotten!
