A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to travel to Florida with my family and visit Disney World! Now, I know we’ve heard Disney stories before, but everyone has a different experience and I thought it would be helpful for you to hear what I did and how I would do it differently next time. However, before I get started on all of that biznass, I thought I would give a little plug to the Noonan Syndrome Foundation. As many of you may know, my nephew, Aidan, has Noonan Syndrome. While this is a very common syndrome (1 in 2,500,) there is not a lot of information about it out there so a group of mamas with Noonan kiddos raised enough funds and hosted their inaugural conference in Orlando. They did a phenomenal job recruiting the best-of-the-best doctors to help provide answers to the many questions the hundreds of families are facing on a daily basis. If you, or someone you know, has Noonan Syndrome, I highly encourage they connect with the Foundation as they are revamped and recharged!
Alright, moving on to Disney.
Travel
What we did: We drove in one giant suburban with four adults (I can count my 16-year-old bro as an adult, right?) and three kids ages 5, 3 and 6 months. We broke the trip up into two days leaving Houston at 5 am and spending the night in the beautiful (sarcasm) Mobile, Alabama. I will say, though, for a not-so-great town, the people were incredibly friendly and they have Starbucks! Day two we drove from Mobile to Orlando. On the way back, we muscled through it and made it in one (long) day. The trip, in total, took about 40 hours and cost about $215 per person ($750ish for the suburban, $419 for fuel and $250 for food). Much cheaper than a flight!
What I would do differently: I would totally muscle through the trip on the way over there. We thought we would be exhausted (which we were) but breaking up the trip just cost more money because of a hotel stay and made for another exhausting day. If driving is the only option for you, I would make it in one day. If flying is an option for you financially, do it!
Lodging
What we did: Because of the Noonan Syndrom Foundation conference, we booked our rooms at the host hotel, Renaissance Orlando at Sea World, and received the phenomenal rate of $109.00 a night (about a $100 discount from their normal prices.) Awesome rate aside, I love love love where we stayed. Not only was it a beautiful hotel, but the rooms were spacious, they came with cute little shamu gifts for us when we arrived, there was WINE when we arrived and the toddler pool area was AWESOME. The hotel was about 10 minutes from the Disney properties and a walk to Sea World (hence the Sea World in the name). The property also used Aveda products (swoon!) and had a gift shop that stayed open until the wee hours of the evening for those of us arriving late from theme parks who have toddlers who require milk before bedtime and didn’t bring it with us :/
What I would do differently: Probably nothing. I may look into staying at one of the property-based hotels/resorts through Kingdom Planners, but all-in-all our hotel was pretty awesome and I would definitely add it to your list if you’re planning a trip.
Park Visits
What we did: Because of the conference, we were limited to three days to visit parks. We prioritized Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom and opted to visit Sea World with the Noonan Foundation group as the third park. The first thing I did was reach out to Cathy at Kingdom Planners. I explained to her that we were traveling to Orlando with a conference and while we could not utilize all of her services, I could use her help with giving us a game plan upon visiting the park. I need to stress that the help she offered my family is way out of their norm (they are travel agents who plan Disney experiences from lodging to meals) but because I reached out to her many moons ago, she was willing to throw this Austin mama a bone. She provided us with daily itineraries and helped us plan our character meal. Unfortunately, on day one we didn’t get off to the magical start we would have hoped and were thrown a little bit off plan, but for the most part, her recommendations were spot on and they were the best way for us to allocate our time. I will say having a plan was wildly helpful because Magic Kingdom is like sensory overload and you want to do everything your little heart passes…just know that you’ll get to it and should take your time and enjoy the magic. Animal Kingdom was a lot less overwhelming. Sure, there was a lot to see, but because of the ages and sizes of our kiddos, we were pretty limited. My favorite favorite thing about Animal Kingdom was The Lion King show. It brought tears to my eyes, it was so good and having been a huge Lion King fan (my mom loves to tell a story of me singing “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” at the top of my lungs as a child) it was extra special to me. Sea World was great–not as crowded as Magic Kingdom and just an entertaining. The kids had a blast with all of the animals and the adults had a blast sitting in the shade watching all of the shows. BEST MEMORY of ALL THREE PARKS: The Parades. Hands down. Caroline loved seeing her favorite people in one place and all of the cast members who are in the parades are so sweet and shake hands of those nearest the front, blow kisses to the adoring fans and just make it so fun for everyone. Do not skip the parades!
What I would do differently: If given the opportunity, I would split Magic Kingdom over two days. There is so much to see there and I felt as though we rushed it. I would definitely allocate two days for Magic Kingdom to make sure Caroline got to truly enjoy each area.
Other Tips and Tricks
What we did: 1.) At the advice of my co-worker Yvonne, we bought matching t-shirts. This was awesome and people loved it. We got a ton of compliments on them and it was easy for us to find each other in the sea of people. 2.) We took water holders. Water is FREE at all of the parks, so taking water jugs/holders was a smart move on our part. 3.) We rented a stroller. DO NOT GO TO DISNEY WITHOUT A STROLLER…enough said.
Have you every been to Disney World? What did you think?
