7 nights
5 park days
4 parks
62 hours
72 miles
126,810 steps
1 amazing week

I am not exaggerating when I say we have been thinking (and talking) about this trip for years. I had read that if you are only going to take your kids to Disney once (which was our plan), it’s best to go when they are ages 8-12. Finch is 8 and Rooney actually turned 12 on our trip!

In October 2022 we made a castle savings chart and had the kids fill it in each month. When we got close to our goal, Eric and I worked with our Disney travel agent to officially book it! This was my fourth time at Disney World, Eric’s second (we went in November 2009), and our kids’ first times! I love love love Disney, but I knew going with kids would be a totally different experience and was equal parts excited and terrified (maybe even more terrified than excited).

We truly had an incredible time! Once we got there, everything I had worried about (being cold, being tired, being overwhelmed) didn’t even matter. We got to the parks early every morning (usually before opening) and stayed for all the night shows. Our kids were so into it. They rode all the rides and never once complained about all the walking. Yes, there were times when we were grumpy and annoyed with each other, but that was to be expected, and I’ve mostly forgotten about that now!

PRIORITIES

One of my favorite things to do is plan trips, but Disney World really overwhelmed me! There are so many decisions to make, because there are so many different ways you can do Disney (rides vs. meeting characters, using a touring plan or just winging it, park hopper ticket vs. one park per day, sit-down meals vs. quick service meals, early entry and/or staying late vs. resting halfway through the day). On top of that, Disney has its own language—Genie+, Lightning Lane, Virtual Queue, rope drop, etc.—that you are trying to learn.

Because I was so overwhelmed, I found it most helpful to nail down our top three priorities:

Cooler temps (November – February)
Low crowds (we were OK taking our kids out of school if it meant lower crowds)
Staying at a Disney resort with access to the Skyliner

All of these things helped us narrow down where we wanted to stay and when we wanted to go. Even still, I wasn’t sure how many days we should do. We ended up doing five and I actually wish we had done six (or a park hopper on our fifth day). We were there Feb. 26 – March 2, 2024. The Crowd Calendar was on average 5-6 out of 10, so moderate crowds.

PLANNING

Our kids knew the trip was coming (there was no big surprise reveal), so we spent time leading up to the trip watching ride videos on YouTube, talking about what to expect, watching as many Disney movies as possible, and counting down the days. We made a list of rides and shows we for sure wanted to do. This helped us to know what we needed to plan our day around and what could be skipped if we ran out of time. I suggest going with a plan, but be prepared to be flexible! We liked including our kids in the planning!

WHERE WE STAYED

I have stayed on-site and off-site, and much prefer staying on Disney property. Not only do you get early entry into the parks, but I think the transportation options are so convenient. I’d previously stayed at Pop Century and Dixie Landings (now Port Orleans Riverside). For this trip, we had decided to stay at the Caribbean Resort, but the pool was going to be closed during our preferred dates, so we switched to Art of Animation, which is less expensive and has great theming. We had a wonderful experience!

We had booked a standard Little Mermaid room, and I had requested a specific room to be as close to the lobby and transportation areas as possible, and I also let them know ahead of time that we were celebrating a birthday … and we ended up getting “pixie dusted” and upgraded to a Cars suite! It was really nice to have the extra space, and Finch especially loved the Cars theming.

In addition to Cars and Little Mermaid, there are also Lion King and Finding Nemo themed rooms annd buildings in case you or someone in your party loves one of those movies in particular.

DINING

For this trip we did not do a Dining Plan or make any dining reservations ahead of time. Eric and I have done that in the past and decided we wanted more flexibility this trip. We ordered groceries via Walmart+ directly to our resort and brought snacks with us to the parks in a backpack each day. We grabbed a quick snack or meal when we were hungry and then moved on to the next ride or show. The mobile ordering through the Disney World app is super slick!

PARKS

I am going to do a separate post about each park, but we went to:

Our specific park order was based on the crowd calendar during our trip. On our rest day we slept in, ate breakfast at our hotel, played in the arcade, explored other areas of our resort, did some laundry and went to Disney Springs.

Everyone’s favorite park:

Eric: Hollywood Studios
Kelsey: Hollywood Studios (with Magic Kingdom close behind)
Rooney: Hollywood Studios
Finch: Hollywood Studios (it was very hard for him to choose)

We all had the same favorite park! But we all had a different favorite ride, and they are all at different parks!

Everyone’s favorite ride:

Finch: Expedition Everest (Animal Kingdom)
Rooney: Tower of Terror (Hollywood Studios)
Kelsey: TRON (Magic Kingdom)
Eric: Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind (EPCOT)

RESOURCES

As I mentioned before, we used a Disney travel agent to help us plan our trip at no extra cost to us. This was especially helpful to get it booked as well as to learn about Genie+ and other tips/tricks.
I purchased the “Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2024” to learn as much as I could ahead of time
TouringPlans.com subscription - this was how I notified our hotel of Rooney’s birthday and our specific room request
Lines app - This is part of the subscription mentioned above and how I made our list of must-dos
Disney World app - This is how we ordered food, booked rides, joined Virtual Queues, found bathrooms, got bus times and show times, opened our hotel room door, reserved dining, etc. I found this app the most helpful once we got there!
Friends - Disney lovers are not too hard to find. I loved chatting with friends before our trip to get all their tips!

TIPS

Buy Disney gift cards at Costco (10% off) and/or Target (5% off with RedCard) to save a little money (we saved $200 doing this).
If you are planning to use the Lightning Lane often, MagicBands are super convenient. We each got a MagicBand+ and needed to scan them more than a dozen times each day.
If it’s your first time, make sure you get a First Time button!
If it’s your birthday or you are celebrating a special occasion, ask for a button at the front desk!
If anyone in your group has a disability that makes it difficult for them to wait in line (autism, ADHD, IBS, etc.), I highly recommend looking into the Disability Access Service. Our trip would have been very different without this.
Bring your own snacks, meals and drinks! We did a grocery order and it saved us a lot of time and money. We brought protein bars, granola bars, meat sticks, bananas, Prime, trail mix, applesauce pouches, candy, etc., into the parks with us each day.
Go early and/or stay late as that is when the lines are the shortest.
Watch a ton of Disney movies before you go!
Expect your kids to be grumpy at times. No matter how many days you are staying, they’re long, tiring days!
On your first day, buy a refillable popcorn bucket. We refilled our bucket multiple times a day for $2.50.
What to bring in your Disney bag: sunglasses, sweatshirts, sunscreen, Band-Aids, fidgets, Kleenex, wipes, ibuprofen, portable phone chargers, debit/credit card, refillable water bottle, snacks, neck fan

Our trip could not have gone better. We didn’t do everything (that would be impossible), but we had an absolute blast. I feel like our kids were at the perfect ages. Because they are older, we focused more on rides than meeting characters. I never had to carry a child or deal with a tantrum over not buying a bubble wand. Highly recommend! I definitely have the post-Disney blues and am already excited to go back someday!