Jessica's big family trip report...not all I expected it to be

Walt Disney World
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So, now that I have been through my first Disney trip as an adult, I know what I’d do differently the next time. First, and this isn’t something I need to worry about as it’s over, I wouldn’t take my kids so young. I know plenty of people do, and have a great time, but for us it didn’t work. I already have anxiety (medicated), and the stress of travel is a lot for me to take. On top of that, I am kind of obsessive about my kids’ sleep and routines. They are both excellent sleepers, but they need their full nights’ sleep, and my son needs his naps. At the beginning of the trip, DS didn’t know how to just nap on the go. By the end, he started taking some stroller naps or mommy naps (see picture above). So, my next trip will not be for several years, til naps are out of the picture. I also want my kids to be able to walk and carry their own stuff. We had a double stroller that was helpful, but also a pain to bring on the bus, boat, airplane, etc.

I already mentioned I’d rent a car, or I might even consider just driving down to FL. I don’t mind driving long distances and I want the convenience of driving myself back and forth.

The dining plan…not for us. Especially not the deluxe plan. I’d rather not be tied to having a certain number of meals or types of meals, or worrying about using up snack credits.

Speaking of food, there are some restaurants I really want to eat at next visit. Biergarten (which I ate at when I was a teenager and loved), Liberty Tree Tavern, Raglan Road are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

I liked staying at POR, but I would love to be closer to the parks. I think the Epcot hotels would be great, but we’d have to start saving for that :slight_smile: Walking from HS to Epcot was awesome. Or, given the fact that I’d like more down-time during my vacation, but can’t afford to stay on-site for so many days, maybe I’d even look at staying off-site. I didn’t care for staying at two hotels, so probably not a split stay.

Speaking of Epcot, for me that is definitely a two-day park. Maybe not split exactly into FutureWorld and World Showcase, but a little of each side each day.

Well, anyway…I hope some of you enjoyed reading. I hope I didn’t come across as too negative (for the parts that were negatives). Overall, we had fun, but it’ll definitely be a few years until we go back. I think we’ll go camping for our next vacation…but close to home :slight_smile:

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42

I loved reading along! I didn’t find it negative just real life at Disney! Isn’t that what vacation with littles is? Loved reading abd your writing style. Thank you!

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43

It was originally “The Living Seas” and had a much greater edutainment/futurism feel to it. The premise was that you were taking a journey down below the ocean to SeaBase Alpha, and after you descended you took seacabs that you could see “outside” all during your journey.

I still remember enjoying the attraction, 20+ years since the last time I visited when it was TLS.

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Here’s an excellent video that gives the history of the pavilion

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I :heart: Martin’s Vids. He does a great job of getting you both the history and a chance to experience the attraction, as much as possible, though the videos.

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Yes! I saw one of these, the history of Tomorrowland. It was so awesome! Going to have to check more out now :slight_smile:

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Oh man, I hate that everyone got sick. That makes for a rough trip, but at least it was at the end.

Thanks for sharing your trip report! I loved reading it!

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I loved reading along & appreciated the real take on going with little ones & extended family.
Our one family WDW trip involved both of those things & so I commiserated so much with a lot of the difficulties you had (different touring styles, not getting to do things you were looking forward to in favor of following the group consensus/keeping the peace, everyone sick at the end- we left MK super early by our standards on our last night bc of it). So thank you for keeping it real!

And glad to hear you will be back, eventually, when they are older. (Ours were 4 & 2 but almost 5 & 3 when we went & I was glad they were old enough to help carry their own things for just the bus rides when DH was only able to manage the stroller & one refillable mug, leaving me with both kids, the 1-3 bags we had with us & the other 2 refillable mugs. Definitely looking forward to a future trip when they are even more capable now that they are 7 & 5).

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I stuck my foot out of the moving car on this ride and stopped the whole thing, was reprimanded on the overhead announcement. 20 years ago I was a rebel.

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Loved following along. I think hearing the good & bad is helpful. Thanks for sharing

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Oh two things I had intended to add…

During all the sickness, our mantra became “popcorn bucket to the rescue” Highly recommend picking one up on your first day :wink:

On that last day while we were walking to Tomorrowland, we saw a proposal in front of Cinderella’s castle. I’m not a very sappy person but it was sweet :slight_smile:️

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“Popcorn bucket to the rescue,”
That’s both hilarious and horrifying! :rofl: Glad you all made it home safely after that!

If it’s any consolation, my daughter threw up on three airplanes in three states in one day, when she was about your DS’s age. I think people are prone to coming across new germs when they travel, kids especially.

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:open_mouth: that is awful!!

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I have to agree with @lecras on this. If someone agrees to pay for a trip, IMHO, it should be viewed as a gift. You do not get to decided how a person utilizes that gift. You would hope that they appreciate the gift, but by paying for the trip does not give a person the right to call all the shots. Now I realize this view is not shared by everyone and why I would refuse if someone offered to pay for my vacation.

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We do this at DLR ALL the time and it drives our kids nuts! My Husband usually starts it “Monorail?” and I reply “Monorail!”

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LOL we do that too !!!

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My son and his girlfriend (I so hope for an engagement soon) went with us on an extended family Easter Trip a couple years ago. They were not with us the entire trip but the first morning they were late and we were all in lobby waiting, needless to say we missed rope drop. That evening as we were all retiring for the night my son’s girlfriend whispered to me, “what time are we meeting tomorrow, I will have us down on time” (my son is always late) and she did and for every time after that. I love her and her openness and frankness makes it easy to travel together. We leave for a short weekend trip this week and I asked them what they wanted to do, her only request was to eat and drink around the world, so planned on that for 2 afternoons. All about flexibility and being open, but we don’t have any little ones and I think that adds another level of complexity.

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Thank you for sharing your trip I enjoyed reading along.

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On our recent WDW trip, my 13 month old DS never learned how to nap on the go. I always feel like everyone else’s kids can nap on the go (stroller, car, etc), but not mine! :slight_smile: We had hoped he would stroller nap at some point (or nap on one of us), but it never happened. How did you get yours to adjust and finally nap on the go?

The good news was he was ok with 1 nap a day instead of his normal 2 naps so each day he took a 2 hour nap back to our resort. Not ideal, but that one nap was enough at least and he didn’t have any melt downs during the trip.

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:rofl: oh gosh I am not a MIL yet, but I can be this way on the hurry up and have fun…thanks for reminding me how silly that must be

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