Let's rehash in pictures ('cuz that's way more fun!)
If you don't care about our trip, and just want to see our planning and tips, skip to the bottom, where I have our bullet-point list of our family-friendly tips that worked wonderfully for us.
Sleepy Riley. Strapped in to a nice, second-hand van seat that we picked up from the junk yard... just...for...this...ride!
Let me explain... we cleaned out Roger's entire work truck, shelves and all, and CONVERTED it into the coolest, hippest, phattest cross-country (or down-country?) ride EVER!!
Big kids riding in style. And yes, they are still in seat belts. More fancy junk yard van seats so everyone has room to stretch. Roger makes a make-shift table with Mom-requested cup holders. The utility bucket is multi-functional - trash can, potential barf-catcher, etc.
So, as awesome as converting your work truck into your RRV is (that's Roger-Recreational-Vehicle), once you get on good 'ole I-95 South, you run into a problem. Truck weighing stations. Do we go?? Do we not go?? They don't know we have our family in the back! Are we a truck? Are we a - aww, heck, we have no idea!! We don't wish to get chased and pulled over and searched and the whole nine yards, so we dutifully enter each open weigh station ALL THE WAY DOWN. Mostly we immediately get the green light, as we are pretty much on the smaller side anyway. Some have a guy in a booth that asks us what we are carrying. "Ummm... kids?" Roger responds. I shrink down in my seat, as I am now convinced we are going to get raided for smuggling children. The guy shrugs. No raid. Phew. On we go!
21 hours later, we stop in Jacksonville, FL to see some friends. Riley feels the ocean on her toes. The CLEAN, blue, pretty ocean in Florida. Not the gray, dolphin-killing, stinky New Jersey kind we have near us.
Stay still, look directly INTO the sun, and keep the wind out of your hair. Yeah, right!
We maximize our time with our Jacksonville peeps for a day, and roll down to Orlando... in the middle of the night. We shout to the kids, but no one moves. Oh, well - Hi Mickey, we're here!
When we pulled up to the gate, at 12:30AM mind you, the guard asks, which building are you working on? It takes us a minute before we recall that we are driving a huge box truck with our company name on the side... we sheepishly explain that we're loaded with kids and that we're guests at the resort.
This is us parked next to the cool triple-door Stretch Truck. We're not sure how they park at the grocery store, or anywhere else for that matter. We looked it up, (http://www.customautosbytim.com/) you have to own an Excursion and a F250, which we do, and then send it down to (where else?) Texas, and they will put them together for you for a cool $30K. Umm , yeah, I think we'll stick with two trucks...
We're staying at a Wyndham Resort, because the points are already paid for. We have a 2 bedroom unit with full kitchen, laundry, dining area, living room, and balcony that overlooks the 6... yes, 6... giant pools that are in the courtyard of their 6 buildings. It is not "inside" Disney, like so many packages sell, but Wyndham is smart enough to offer their own shuttles and match most of the other services that tourists look for in the packages. We don't feel like we missed out at all, in fact, when waiting in our small Wyndham shuttle line and looking at the throngs of people waiting in the regular Disney resort shuttle lines, we were happy to be staying a bit removed from it all.
Mom makes obligatory Mickey pancakes in the morning.
By staying at an outside resort, with a full kitchen, we also saved a lot of time and money by making breakfast every morning (except one obligatory character breakfast, right?), packing our lunches to eat inside the parks most days, and cooking dinners every night. We didn't have to reserve all of our meals ahead of time, or stand in line, or worry about getting somewhere on time, and we also didn't end up eating processed restaurant food all week. Non-perishables we bought at Costco and took down with us, like pancake mix, bread, and some side dishes. Unfortunately, Roger had to brave the local Wal-Mart around 8pm on our first night after the parks to get the rest of our shopping list. He said it was ridiculous, and sent me pictures of children literally sleeping on the bottom rack of the shopping cart as they were so whooped from Mouse Fun.
From my hours and hours of pregnant-bellied computer research regarding Disney, we learned that it's never best to try to get on the first shuttle of the day. We also felt no burning desire to be first at the gate, run in and be first at....well, anything. Heck, it was May. It really wasn't that crowded. That's why we picked May, after Spring Break and before June. So, we got up, ate pancakes and bacon every day, and then went on our merry way.
Day #1 - ready to roll! Since we had a 1-yr-old, we brought a stroller. We were sure the 6- and 8-yr-old's could walk. And they did. But, oh, the number of giant children we saw in strollers...!
Good sneakers and hats were mandatory to bring, but we didn't go heavy on the sunscreen. We'd put on some, but also let our bodies naturally adjust to the sun gradually as the days went by. We borrowed a fanny pack to keep cash and essentials strapped to me, we had an insulated, zippered cooler bag to carry snacks, water and lunch, plus a backpack with ponchos, baby gear, etc. Having the stroller made it easy, as everything stayed in the basket. If we went again with older kids, I'm sure everything would fit into just one backpack. No need to overdo it.
Disney is not a place to be concerned with your appearance. Comfort is the key, hence why I am clearly leaning on the stroller handles for support. I was 29 weeks preggo with RJ at the time and fighting extreme low blood pressure (translate to fatigue!) daily.
Animal Kingdom was our first stop. Again, someone (ahem...me...) insanely researched things like best and worst days, and cross-contaminated that with statistical averages per time of year. I had a whole binder full of charts and print-outs to tell us which place to go when. Add that to the Disney Wait Time App, which gives you user-input real-time wait times for each ride or event in each park, and we never waited more than 20 minutes for any one thing. The Park Hopper ticket option allowed us some freedom in coming and going, definitely worth the extra bucks. With young kids, we'd put in half a day at that day's park, wait until after the naptime shuttle-rush (which is12 noon to 1pm when everyone else decides to go back), eat our packed lunches in the park, then head back around 2 or 3pm. We'd all lay down and nap. It was glorious. Then we'd make a simple dinner (we opted for such simplicity that I even allowed Hamburger Helper to touch my table... .blech!!, and it came with a warning that it was only happening this once and never again...) and then we'd head back to the park, at about 6:30ish, when yet another round of folks were calling it quits and leaving. The timing really did give us a lot of freedom to enjoy everything without throngs of people.
At times when the shuttle was mostly empty, we just rolled Riley right in in her stroller. This stroller, which is still in use today to contain RJ when necessary, is affectionately called "the Disney Stroller." We bought it specifically for the Disney trip. Our criteria were: lightweight (to carry on shuttles), inexpensive (in case it got stolen), hardy (to weather all that walking around), big basket (to carry our cooler bag and backpack), and easy, one-handed fold (for quickness when loading the shuttle - which it does marvelously!). I got this at Babies R' Us, the Graco Lite Rider Odyssey, for $70. This thing is not the prettiest, or fanciest, or most modern thing out there, but it did exactly what we needed it to.
And there it is, Magic Kingdom! Day Two, our Jacksonville friends made the trip down to see Mickey's World with us this day. Sorry for my half of a shirt, but it was flippin' HOT for my pregnant self down there.
We deliberately did not take a whole lot of pictures while in the parks, as it's more of an experience to remember and feel and talk about than to spend your time reaching for your camera (or phone) and take shots of every little thing you see or do. But here's the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland... we got our picture with him, because no one else was waiting. We weren't going to do lines for character pics, and who cares about the White Rabbit? I mean, really....
Riley gets a lift from Dad to watch something interesting happen to the castle.
Shuttle ride, Day 3, maybe?
Obligatory Epcot Ball picture.
Virtually no line in Epcot for character shots, staged as they are, we didn't wait long at all, and wanted to see Riley's reaction to Mickey.
Ummm, where is the shuttle? Moms reads schedule wrong. There is a first time for everything, I guess... :)
Riley looks a little nervous riding the boat in It's a Small World. If you're curious, my shirt says "I'm FAT because I'm pregnant, what's your excuse?" A LOT of people and Disney staff told me they loved my shirt, and looking around while down there, I couldn't imagine why... yeah, sarcasm, lots of it.
I don't know where we were, but I just wanted to say, Baby Wraps are awesome! This is a custom-made Mei Tai from Etsy.
Did I mention our resort also had its own Lazy River? How flippin' fantasmic, right? There's Chase in the center. He just rode and rode and rode. We did make sure to enjoy the amenities at the resort at least one day.
Kids' Splash pad also, right outside our door practically.
Don't like pregnant chicks in bikinis? You are in the wrong place!
Hollywood Studios and the Indiana Jones Stunt Show. Ahhh, my childhood memories - this was one of my fave things, then and now!
One morning while everyone else was cooking, or doing laundry, or whatever, I turned around to find... this... Riley had gotten herself up onto the high stool, in the swim tube, and was checking out the resort map.
Ry in the pack-n-play. We just brought our own, since we had the room in the RRV and didn't want to get stuck in case the resort was all out (it's happened to us before!). We brought Mickey stuff from home so we weren't tempted to pay the ridiculous touristy prices for stuff down there. Toys R' Us and even the Dollar Tree had plenty to choose from, as well as Wal-Mart. Mom wrapped up things like Disney drinking cups, small stuffed animals, keychains, and other trinkets, and the kids got to find one small present every day after the parks. Sure was cheaper than shopping down there! We see no reason to spend more than you have to, EVER, no matter what your budget.
Our last day in the parks, we went back to Animal Kingdom for our one character breakfast. Mom had researched the crap out of this, too (I know you're surprised...). Safari Breakfast at the Tusker house was tops for quality of food for the price. Price-wise, it was about medium range for character meals. We chose breakfast so we wouldn't have to stop our day and wait for entrance, pictures, etc, plus we would all be good and fresh in the AM. Tusker House also offered a great variety of foods, including African food (delicious!) and we liked that, too. Many, many sites claim the Princesses can't cook, plus they're the most expensive, and we're not that into them, anyway, so all those deer-in-headlights parents can keep their costly dates at Cinderella's Castle, dragging their over-dressed toddler in her itchy dress and tripping shoes away from the rides and into a crappy meal.
Mid to late May is an excellent time to visit Disney, as it is not only low crowds, but there are baby animals everywhere! Riley especially loves watching the ducklings that lingered around picnic tables throughout all the parks.
On the last day, after a half day at Animal Kingdom, we went back to Magic Kingdom after naps to ride our faves. We stayed for the Electrical Parade, and as it was wrapping up and the Castle was doing cool color things, we left. We walked right past everyone, got out just as it ended, and got on the ferry. The fireworks began, and as everyone lined up around the park strained their necks to see, we watched it free and clear from the boat as it left the dock. It was awesome! And we totally didn't get stuck in the exit crowd, which was just as awesome.
So to rehash the details, here's a bullet point version:
- Go in January, after all the Christmas ridiculousness, or go in May, the week after Spring Break. Check online for special events, like Star Wars weekend, or other similar things that will make it crowded. You will be able to actually experience the Parks with your family, and not have to wait in crazy lines.
- Personally, I'd recommend to everyone to skip staying within Disney. A lot of it is overdone, over-priced, and you can have an equally or even more enjoyable time a bit removed from the hubbub. Do find a place that is not more than 15 minutes away, and has a shuttle that runs all day. Make sure to have a suite, with a place to cook and do laundry.
- Skip the meal plan. It's just a hassle, and would you ever voluntarily feed your family processed crap for an entire week at home? So why do it just 'cuz you're on vacation? Does that make sense? Hey, we're here to have fun, let's fill our bodies with stuff that's going to make us feel terrible. Plus, you lose a lot of freedom by having to stop and eat at certain times. Save yourself the stress of having to be somewhere on time.
- Do your research. www.undercovertourist.com and www.mousesavers.com were the two places I found to be the most helpful.
- Skip Downtown Disney, unless you are actually there to shop. I would say it's partially kid-friendly. The LEGO statues are cool to see, but it's mostly shopping and restaurants. We were bored, and will skip it next time.
- Bring your packed lunches and snacks with you. It is not difficult to pack some cut up fruit, sliced cheese (not packaged), some nuts or granola, yogurt, and other healthy things with you. It is such a time and money saver. Trust me, the parks are getting enough money from you just to get in the door!
- Shop locally at home prior to your trip for small Disney-themed items to give your kids while there, so you can avoid the overpriced tourist traps.
- Relax! And enjoy. We really wanted to do both of these things, which is why we put so much time into planning when to go, and what to do on which days. Our effort paid off, with a low-crowd time of year, great deals on tickets, eating healthy, and most of all, having fun!
