First some general observations, then a full trip report!
Security Lines
We travel with a lot of medical supplies as well as regular toddler/kid supplies and a double stroller, so security has always been a bit of a mess in the past. This time I ordered mesh pencil pouches to organize our park bags. The security workers loved them and so did we! I literally just pulled all the mesh bags out on the table and showed them the empty bag and then stuffed them all right back into the bag and we were on our way. I also new medical stuff was in one color of bags and regular stuff was in another color. We also used two or three ziplocs for kids’ spare clothes and cooling towels.
Strollers
We brought our double City Mini with us from home. We flew Southwest and brought a gate check bag with us. It was awesome being able to gate check the double stroller. It made airport travel SO much easier this time! I love that SW lets us gate check a double, one of many reasons why we’ll keep flying with them.
DAS
My 5yo has some medical conditions that affect her neck and stamina in addition to ADD and SPD. We have used DAS in the past and so setting it up this time was super easy. We tried to do it at Liberty Square in MK, but bailed after 10 minutes when the line didn’t move at all. Main Street right before the parade had no wait and super simple.
Medical Supplies
The 5yo has a g-tube and needs a medical formula. We actually ordered a case of her formula off of Amazon two weeks before the trip and had it sent directly to the hotel. Super simple and less that we had to travel with. We do travel with a medical carryon filled with medications, extension tubing and spare g-tube, a few formula cartons, a nebulizer, inhalers, etc. etc. The formula requires extra screening and a pat down, but overall both airports were pretty good about everything.
Our new discovery this trip is that you can buy a battery powered or USB powered nebulizer!! I had just gotten over pneumonia and both myself and the two kiddos have bad asthma. The youngest doesn’t respond to albuterol, so he needs a nebulizer medication for his rescue med. Thankfully we didn’t have to use it this time. After our first trip in 2017 he had a hospital stay in the PICU for his asthma (as in we went from home airport to pediatrician to children’s hospital). So having a nebulizer with his rescue meds on the airplane gave us peace of mind. We did end up using the regular neb for both kids daily with the Florida heat and humidity, but that actually doubled as a sound machine and would put them both to sleep at night!
Easter time
We had been on family trips in June and August before, but hadn’t done a trip over a holiday yet. I had done a Disney trip over Easter as a little kid, but don’t remember much of it. DD5 doesn’t always do the best with crowds, so we were a little nervous about how she would do. We booked EMM for both MK and HS to help get some low crowd time. Turns out that since it was such a late Easter, the crowds didn’t really pick up for us until the Friday and Saturday before Easter. Personalized touring plans, same day FP drops, and knowledge from chat also really helped 
POFQ
This was our second time staying at POFQ and we really love the resort. We love how small it is, the one bus stop, and just the general vibe. The kids absolutely love the playground, splash pad, pool, and even the coloring station in the food court.
Food Allergies
DH has a gluten intolerance and can’t have cross contamination. On vacation we typically all eat gluten free so that way the kids don’t accidentally get him sick with cross contamination. The only place where the kids had gluten was at Tusker House and we decided it just wasn’t worth it after that.
We had success at these quick services: BOG (lunch x2–preorder works super well; braised pork, Beast/s feast, lemon raspberry puff), Cosmic Ray’s (bacon cheeseburger and rotisserie chicken), Pecos (carnita nachos), CHH (grilled salmon), Backlot Express (southwest salad with chicken and kid’s chicken strips).
We had Tusker House and Garden Grill for table service this time. We loved Tusker House. The chef was great and DH got waffles, fruit, bacon, sausage, and potatoes, all of which he really liked. The kids and I had gluten, and it was manageable with good hand washing, a change of clothes, and not sharing any food/drinks for the next day or two. That said, the kids are still pretty messy eaters and we’ll have them eat GF next time the whole trip.
We had heard great things about Garden Grill being GF. We just had the chef make a family sized skillet of GF food. Everything was good until they brought a second helping of waffles and sausage and the waffles were not GF. The side effects could have been much worse, but it was unpleasant for DH for the next few days. The manager comped the meal, but we will definitely not be going back again.
We had safe and decent meals at POFQ: Jambalaya, bacon cheeseburger, chicken strips, beignets. That said the beignets were a little chewy this time, not as well made as last trip and one of the chefs had an attitude problem–actually heard her drop a ‘F*** me’ after another allergy order came in after ours. She was obviously overwhelmed and busy, but probably would have been better if she had waited until she was in the back before letting that fly.
For snacks we always love our refillable popcorn bucket, some dole whip, and then granola bars, fruit, etc. from Amazon Prime Now.
MK EMM breakfast was ok. Egg, sausage, potatoes (which were slightly burnt) and Van’s waffles (which were not warm enough). Basic hotel breakfast food. HS breakfast was awesome!! Loved the chilaquiles and the kids chicken, sweet potato tots, and chicken strips were pretty good too.
HS EMM breakfast was actually our best meal on property.
We also did Prime now and had tortillas, ham, cheese, fruit, GF bread, bagels, cream cheese, etc. in the room. PBJ sandwiches were an easy breakfast for us and much more on the go friendly than our previous go to of cereal or oatmeal.
Park Hopping
This was our first time park hopping with the kids and it worked really well! I was very surprised at how smooth hopping went and we actually hopped more than I had planned.
Next up: trip report by individual days!
