At the end of February, we travelled to Orlando with our 2 kids and another couple with their kids. We stayed at the Art of Animation resort in Disney for 2 nights. Then we boarded the Disney Wish cruise ship and went on a 4 night cruise.
It was absolutely incredible. I read about the "Disney Blues" (when you're depressed after being at Disney) and I believe it because I'm pretty sure I'm going through it. There were a few hiccups during our vacation but, honestly, it went so smooth. I'm no expert but I wanted to share my experience and some things we found worked or helped us have a great 8 day vacation with a 2 and 4 year old.
Here's our experience from the first half of our trip. I'll share more about the Disney cruise in my next post.
Airport/Plane
The airport wasn't great for our 2 year old. Lily was tired, moody, and cried a lot. All I can say is try to breathe and have patience. There's just nothing you can do when your toddler had to wake up at 3 AM to be at the airport. Once we got through security and customs, she was a different child. Probably because she could walk around and we were able to get her some milk and breakfast.
The plane ride went well for both our kids. I packed many snacks, colouring books, stickers, and our tablet for our older child. Overall, they did great and stayed pretty occupied.
Disney Resort
BRING THE STROLLER. The only thing we regret? We didn't bring a stroller. We had planned to rent a double stroller in the park and our toddler has become really independent and typically wants out of her stroller, so we didn't bring one. Well, we kicked ourselves for not bringing an umbrella stroller.
We stayed in the Little Mermaid rooms at the Art of Animation resort and it's a good 8 minute walk to the main building and transportation. Add in a slow toddler or having to carry that toddler and the walk takes FOREVER.
As I said above, we planned on renting a double stroller at the park. It was SO worth it. My oldest child, who was almost 5 during the trip and is crazy tall for her age, JUST fit. But she didn't complain. We were at the park from rope drop (8:30 AM) until 10 PM. That wouldn't have been possible without the stroller. It kept the kids from tiring out and we were able to walk at a better pace. Plus we were able to keep a couple of purchases and drinks in the stroller which was nice. If you're on the fence about the stroller, get it. You will be happy to not have to carry kids because even us adults were feeling it in our legs and backs from all the walking.
Disney Springs
If you are making a trip to Disney World, definitely check out Disney Springs. It's free and full of some incredible restaurants and stores. We only checked out a tiny area of it because the kids were starting to get tired, but what we saw was amazing. We went for dinner at Raglan Road Irish Pub and had a great dinner. Then we checked out a couple of stores before heading back. But once again, a stroller would have been useful and we might have been able to stay longer.
The best part about Disney Springs? If you stay at any of the Disney resorts, you can get free transportation to and from Disney Springs. It's really convenient. I'm super excited to check out more of this area when we go back to Orlando.
We are already planning another Disney World trip for the end of 2024. So I'm back to watching Youtube videos, reading blog reviews and watching all the Disney reels on instagram. This trip will be at least a week long and we'll be going to all 4 of the Disney parks. If you have any tips or recommendations, please let me know!
Keep an eye out for my next post about our Disney Wish cruise.
xo Jen
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